Walking along the quays he admired “the granite quays” which are

remarkable for their beauty, solidity and extent. Referring to

his walk here and his interest in the immigrants, he says: “In

the spring time of the year vast numbers of emigrants who have

newly arrived from England or from Ireland pass between Quebec

and Montreal on their way to the back woods and new settlements

of Canada. If it be an entertaining lounge, as I have found it,

to take a morning stroll upon the quays of Montreal and see the

groups in hundreds on the public wharfs about their chests and

boxes, it is matter of deep interest to be their fellow passenger

on one of these steamboats and, mingling with the concourse, see

and hear them unobserved.”

Then follows a characteristic digression of the Master’s

sympathetic pleading for the poor.

At the above meeting places the events of the day would have

been discussed by the gossips, such as the marriage of Queen

Victoria on February 10, 1840, the shooting at of the young

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on June 10, 1841, Her Majesty’s

coronation of June 28th, the birth of Albert Edward, Prince of

Wales, on November 9th, and the progress of preparations for the

union proclaimed on February 10th in Montreal by Lord Sydenham.

Municipal politics would have become an absorbing topic of

conversation on January 1, 1842, when the municipal act went

into force. On March 11th when the Montreal Board of Trade was

incorporated, and on July 9th when the Shamrock was lost in

the St. Lawrence, with its many immigrants there was plenty to

discuss. Montreal, in 1843, talked of the birth of Princess Alice

on April 25th, the visit to Montreal of the new governor general,

Lord Metcalfe, on June 12th, while the “Nolle Sequi” against

Wolfred Nelson, Dr. E.B. O’Callaghan and T.S. Brown renewed the

painful memories of the revolt of 1837. This year the scientists

and educationalists rejoiced at the Museum of Geological Survey

then opened in the city. And again when, in 1844, the Mercantile

Library Association purchased the Montreal Library and the

Institut Canadien was formed.

Great interest prevailed in political circles when the seat of

government was removed to Montreal on March 5th of this year, and

the House met on July 1st.

On November 12th, such an election was held that many of the

oldest inhabitants remember it still. It was the days of open

voting and sometimes lasted for weeks. Axe handles were used,

heads were broken, the “claret” flowed, and the opposing

parties used to keep men drunk in the taverns so that the

other side could not get their men to the polls. Such scenes

were long repeated, notably in the “Barney” Devlin and D’Arcy

McGee election contests. The fight on this occasion was between

Drummond and Molson. Drummond was Irish and it was recalled that

he had been the defending lawyer for the rebels in 1837. The

French-Canadians, therefore, rallied to his support and Molson

was beaten. Parliament met on November 28th.

On March 27, 1845, Parliament was prorogued and on July 1st

the new governor, Lord Cathcart, arrived. This year various

educational movements were furthered. Bishop’s College,

Lennoxville, was opened and the Mechanics’ Institute, so long

in existence as an educational force, was incorporated. In

December, John Dougall issued his specimen Witness and the first

weekly Witness was published on January 5, 1846. Meanwhile the

commission appointed in 1845 to investigate the rebellion losses

indemnities was sitting and on April 18, 1846, it presented

its report that the sum of £100,000 would be sufficient to

pay all real losses. Already bitter feeling was being aroused

among the English on this point. But the railway era, then

commencing, diverted some attention from their grievances. In

June, James Ferrier and others sought a charter for a railway

from Kingston to Prescott and John A. Macdonald, then beginning

his parliamentary career, and others, sought one from Montreal to

Kingston, John Molson and others demanding one from St. Johns to

the international boundary. On August 10th, on the Champ de Mars,

a gathering of 2,000 Montrealers resolved to have a railway to

the sea. Men were seeing visions and the Hon. John Young wrote

this year to the Economist, advocating a bridge across the St.

Lawrence. His dream was to come true.

The year 1847 saw the line from Montreal to Lachine opened.

Otherwise the year was one of disaster--that of the ship fever.

In this year 100,000 emigrants, mostly from Ireland, escaping the

scourge of typhus fever and famine, came to Canada, but being

exposed to ship fever nearly 10,000 became its victims; hundreds

and hundreds died. The quarantine station of Grosse Isle was the

most pestilential spot in the country. Every ship that could be

chartered, good, bad and indifferent, was engaged in transporting

emigrants. They were all slow-going vessels. Through want of

sufficient room, neglect of ventilation, need of eatable food and

cleanliness, the worst form of typhus soon appeared. “On the 8th

day of May,” says Maguire’s “Irish in America,” “on the arrival

of the ‘Urania’ from Cork, with several hundred immigrants on

board, a large proportion of them sick and dying of the ship

fever, it was put into quarantine at Grosse Isle, thirty miles

below Quebec. This was the first of the plague-smitten ships from

Ireland which that year sailed up the St. Lawrence. But before

the first week of June as many as eighty-four ships of various

tonnage were driven in by easterly gales. Of all the vessels

there was not one free from the taint of malignant typhus, the

offspring of famine and of the foul ship-hold.”

Montreal suffered terribly, also. There the Government caused to

be erected three sheds of provisory hospitals from 100 to 150

feet in length and from 40 to 50 feet in width on the river banks

at Point St. Charles. Soon eleven sheds had to be erected to

receive the sick. In June, the city was in consternation and many

fled to the country. But there were many who did noble service.

The governor general, Lord Elgin, who had made his first coming

to Montreal on January 29th, visited the sheds; the mayor, John

E. Mills, also made frequent visits and in November his assiduous

devotion brought him low in death, a martyr to civic duty. The

clergy, the doctors and the women of the city, Catholic and

Protestants, were heroic in their services. The priests hurried

down to the sick who were mostly Catholics, but only a few,

two Sulpicians and a Jesuit, du Ranquet, could speak English

adequately. In this extremity the rector of the Jesuits, who had

returned to the city since 1842, sent to Fordham University,

and two priests, Fathers du Merle and Michael Driscoll, were

sent to assist Father du Ranquet, who was the first of the

Montreal priests on the ground. This devoted man found the sick

or dead lying in rows stretched on the bare ground, and there he

ministered till 3 o’clock in the morning.

Conditions were soon improved by the municipal authorities.

Wooden bunks were built to hold two patients; there were no

mattresses but only straw strewn under them. Oftentimes the

living lay side by side with the dead. To add to the horror, the

letters of this period tell us that “after a few weeks’ service

these wooden structures contained colonies of bugs in every

cranny; the wool, the cotton, the wood were black with them.

Double the number of nurses and servants would not have sufficed

to keep this monstrous hospital clean.”

Things were better when the tents to be given to those who,

unable to find shelter in the sheds, were placed on the banks

of the St. Lawrence with a blanket over them, under the trees.

Fortunately it was summertime.

Bishop Bourget called upon the nuns to act as nurses. The

Providence Sisters were the first approached, on June 24th. Each

one answered simply, “I am ready.” Next morning twelve of these

brave women were driven in carriages to the sheds. There they

found hundreds of the sick crouched upon straw, wrestling in the

agony of death; little children weeping in the arms of their

dead mothers; women, themselves stricken, seeking for a beloved

husband, amid a doleful chaos of suffering and evil odours. Other

nuns were called out; even the enclosed Sisters of the Hôtel Dieu

were allowed to leave their cloisters for the sad work of tending

the dying and burying the dead in their hastily constructed, rude

coffins of planks. Fifty or sixty died each day and their bodies,

awaiting burial, were placed in an immense charnel house erected

on the river banks. In this were some that were buried alive.

Many of the orphans were adopted in the city or cared for by the

nuns. For this the Irish population of Montreal love the city

with a personal love.

Not only did the mayor die, but numerous others, physicians,

clergy and nurses, and the police officers of the city.

The events of 1848 include the flooding, on January 15th, of

Wellington and Commissioners streets, and the run on the Savings

Bank of the city on July 15th, which was shortly followed by a

re-deposit. Educationalists will note the opening of the Jesuits’

College on September 20th in the improvised school at the corner

of Alexander and Dorchester streets.

The year 1849 was one of political turmoil already recorded,

centering around the rebellion losses bill and resulting in the

burning of the Parliament house and the removal of the seat of

government from the city, a loss to its social life.

An aspect of the burning of the Parliament house was that, with

the political rancour there was mixed, in certain misguided

quarters, a fanatical religious frenzy. It was planned to burn

the “Grey Nuns,” near at hand, as well as the Jesuits’ residence

and St. Patrick’s Church. The menaces came to nothing, owing

to the guards of Irish watchers. Yet at the time, according to

a letter written from Montreal in August, 1849, by the Jesuit

Father Havequez to a friend in France, the Grey Nuns hard by were

likely to become a prey to the fire “had not the brave Irish run

to the rescue and succeeded, after extraordinary efforts, in

mastering the flames.”

The imposing public ceremony this year was the funeral, in the

military cemetery on Papineau Road, of Sir Benjamin D’Urban, from

whom Durban, in South Africa, bears its name, the charger of the

deceased soldier being led through the streets in the procession

by the groom, carrying the reversed boots of this companion of

Wellington. It was long a remembered incident.

The next year, 1850, saw the first meeting of the Mount Royal

Cemetery Company for the burial of non-Catholics and the

consecration of the Rev. Francis Fulford in Westminster Abbey as

the first Bishop of Montreal, both signs of the growth of the

English-speaking population.

This year there was a great charity ball and it is interesting

to note that among the subscribers to this ball were the Earl

and Countess of Errol; Sir George and Lady Simpson (who lived

at Lachine in a big stone mansion, standing on the present site

of the Lachine Convent); the Chief Justice and Madame Rolland,

Sir James and Lady Alexander, Colonel and Mrs. Dyley, Honorable

Mr. and Mrs. Moffatt, Honorable Mr. Justice and Madame Mondelet,

Honorable Mr. and Mrs. Drummond, Madame Rochblave, Mr. and Mrs.

John Molson, the Commissary General and Mrs. Filder, Honorable

Mr. and Madame Rolland, Mr. and Madame de Beaujeau, Honorable

Mr. Justice and Mrs. Smith, Mr. Sheriff and Mrs. Coffin, Mr. and

Mrs. Ogilvy Moffatt, Captain and Mrs. Claremont, Major and Mrs.

MacDougall, Lieut.-Col. Sir Howard Dalrymple, Honorable McCall,

Major Chester, Major Colley, Mr. and Mrs. Collingwood, Mr. Arthur

Mondelet, Mr. Arthur Lamothe and many others.

The band of the Nineteenth Regiment also attended by kind

permission of Lieutenant-Colonel Hay.

The Grand Trunk was formed in 1851. The name of the incorporators

which follow are also those of familiar families in the city of

today: Thomas Allan Stayber, William Collins Meredith, Sir George

Simpson, William Macdonald, David Davidson, J.G. McTavish, N.

Finlayson, John Rawand, Edward B. Wilgress, John Boston, Theodore

Hart, T. McCullough, John Matthewson, John M. Tobin, E.H. Mount,

Wilkinson John Torrance, Isaac Gibb, Donald P. Ross, Robert

Morris, James Henderson, Aaron H. David, John Ostell, J.H. Birss,

William Lunn, Dougall Stewart, C. Wilgress, William Molson, W.S.

McFarlane, A. Dow, John Lavanston, Peter McKenzie, D. McKenzie,

John McKenzie, Hector McKenzie, William Foster Coffin, Hon. James

Ferrier, William Molson, George Crawford, Duncan Finlayson,

John Silveright, John Ballenden, Allen Macdonnell, Samuel Gall,

Benjamin Hart, John Carter, Andrew Cowan, Walter Benny, John

H. Evans, James H. Lamb, W. Watson, Charles H. Castle, J.B.

McKenzie, James Crawford, W. Murray, M. McCullough, M.E. David,

J.F. Dickson, John Leeming, Jesse Joseph, D.L. Macpherson,

James Cormac, Archibald Hall, Hugh Taylor, Colin Campbell, John

Simpson, Thomas Taylor, E.M. Hopkins, John Miles, Charles Geddes,

John Macdonald, E.T. Renaud, J.D. Watson, and William Cunningham.

Educational movement also began to gain strength in 1851. The

College Ste. Marie on Bleury Street the Young Men’s Christian

Association and the new Theatre Royal were opened, while this

year the first external signs of the modern movement for woman’s

emancipation was strikingly illustrated in July in the streets

of Montreal by the appearance for the first time of the “bloomer

costume,” made famous at the time by the cartoons of Punch.

Times of commercial prosperity seemed now promised.

The next year, 1852, McGill received its new lease of life,

obtaining its new charter, and from this date its success was

assured.

The great fire of 1852 started on July 8th; it is said to have

burnt 11,000 houses, while thousands were rendered homeless.

Money, however, was not scarce, for this year in December £5,000

was raised by merchants for a Merchants’ Exchange. Another

financial sidelight is that in October of this year the Bank

of Montreal issued its first notes like those of the Bank of

England, the denominations being water-marked.

The Gavazzi riot, already described, with the investigations into

its cause, was the social excitement for the year 1853, as well

as the preparations for the Atlantic service between Montreal and

England, secured by the first charter of May 23d.

On July 22d Pier No. 1 of the Victoria Bridge was begun, and on

August 24th Lake St. Peter was deepened four feet, two inches.

On July 20th of the next year, 1854, the first stone of the

Victoria Bridge was laid and on August 2d the first cofferdam was

ready for masonry. On October 11th the St. Lawrence and Atlantic

Railway was opened from Longueuil to Richmond. These facts

illustrate the early movement of the era of progress by land and

water, then beginning.

Among other events of this year it was announced that accounts

could be kept from September 1st to the end of the year, either

in pounds, shillings, or pence, or in dollars and cents, the

decimal currency being expected to be generally in use by

January 1st following. Money order offices were first opened on

December 1st; reciprocity was established between Canada and

the United States; the seigneurial tenure was abolished and the

secularization of clergy reserves was brought about.

The year 1854 was memorable as that of the Crimean War, when the

English and French were allied against the Russians. In 1914

all three are allied against a common foe. The social life was

invaded by the spirit of patriotism. An appropriation of £20,000

sterling was made by the Canadian Government “in favour of the

widows and orphans of England and France.” It was the gift of

the people of both French and English descent and the Emperor of

the French, in acknowledging the gift, commented on the union of

races it implied. A patriotic fund was organized in Montreal by

concerts and other forms of charity as in 1914.

The year 1854 is also sadly memorable by the Asiatic cholera

which carried off 1,186 persons.

After the commercial depression of 1854, due to the Crimean War,

the spring of 1855 saw brighter prosperity.

The annals of this year record as signs of general progress the

first issue, in February, of money orders in Canada, the coming

into force of the reciprocity act with the United States, the

establishment by the H. & A. Allan Company of the Montreal Ocean

Steamship Company with four steamers fortnightly, the completion

of the general postoffice, the new building of the Mechanics’

Institute, the incorporation of Molson’s bank, and the opening of

a new industry through the completion of Redpath’s sugar refinery.

In March the Industrial Exhibition, promoted to select articles

to be sent to the coming Paris Exhibition was formally opened by

the governor general, Sir Edmund Head, who made his first visit

to Montreal on this occasion.

On July 27th the first French ship to sail the St. Lawrence

since the conquest reached Montreal under Commander de Belvèze.

The object was to obtain information to extend the commercial

relations between Canada and France. The occasion, coming so

soon after the fall of Sebastopol, was one of great public

demonstration, illuminations and torchlight processions, the like

of which the city had never yet beheld. The arrival of Admiral

Belvèze’s warship, with dinners and receptions, especially among

the French citizens, also made 1855 a memorable social year.

In 1856 Montreal was filled with preparations for the great Paris

Exhibition and Alfred Perry was voted £500 to represent Montreal.

It is remembered that at this exhibition he had a fire fighting

invention on show which was lucky enough to be in readiness to

stop a conflagration in the exhibition, a fact largely noticed

in the continental papers and illustrated journals. A balloon

ascension on September 16th in Griffintown, in the “Canada,” is

seriously chronicled by the annalists as a striking novelty of

the year.

On June 11, 1856, thirty-five lives were lost in the Grand Trunk

ferry boat to Longueuil by the explosion of the boiler, through

the carelessness of the engineer. The burning of the steamer

Montreal off Quebec on June 27, 1857, which was carrying to

Montreal about five hundred emigrants who had just arrived from

the John McKenzie, caused great excitement in the city and was

the occasion of much hospitality. As the immigrants it carried

were mostly Scotch, the activities of St. Andrew’s National

Society were largely engaged.

On June 18, 1856, the Thirty-ninth Regiment which had fought in

the Crimea reached Montreal transported by the John Munn and

Quebec. A civic dinner closed the day in the City Concert Hall

with covers laid for 1,200 guests.

The 12th and 13th of November saw the city again en fète to

celebrate the opening of the Grand Trunk between Toronto and

Montreal, which terminated on the 12th in a banquet at Point St.

Charles with 4,000 present. The evening of the 13th closed with a

promenade through the brilliantly illuminated city with the roar

of cannon at intervals and a great ball.

On November 5th a violent hurricane swept over Montreal and on

December 10th Christ Church Cathedral was burnt down.

This year the additions and new works of Montreal waterworks were

being made ready for use.

The cause of science received a great impetus in the city by the

convention which started on Wednesday, August 12, 1857, of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was

continued for a week, during which the University of McGill,

the Natural History Society and other learned organizations

entertained their distinguished guests. In September of the same

year the Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition was successfully

held.

On September 7th 500 of the Thirty-ninth Regiment left Montreal

for active service, for this was the year of the Indian mutiny.

Educational circles remember the year of the meeting in Montreal

of the American Association for the Advancement of Learning

and as the opening of the Jacques Cartier and the McGill

Normal schools for teachers. This was practically the earliest

converging point of the two boards of school commissioners in the

building up of their educational system.

January 1, 1858, marks the supplanting of the L.S.D. system by

the decimal coinage; January 5th, the purchase of the Montreal

and Bytown (Ottawa) Railway for £5,300 by Mr. (afterward Sir

John) J.J.C. Abbott.

On February 26th, Griffintown was flooded and beds stood three

feet in water, being one of the annual spring floods.

The martial enthusiasm of the citizens was evoked in the city in

the early part of 1858 by the Indian mutiny, when the Imperial

Government accepted the offer of a regiment to be raised in

Canada for service abroad under the title of the “One Hundredth

Prince of Wales Royal Canadian Regiment.” The recruiting

sergeant, with his flying ribbons, fife and drum band and his cry

of “Come, boys, and join the war,” was a novelty then. Montreal

contributed for the first overseas contingent 110 young men, who

drilled with the detachment of 500 men on St. Helen’s Island

previous to being embarked for England in July following. This

was the first contingent raised for the front, but it did not

get as far as India, doing duty at Malta and Gibraltar. None the

less, as the old ballad says, “Their will was good to do the

deed, that is if they’d have let ’em, with a ‘Re fol de roy,

etc.’”

On September 1st the laying of the first Atlantic telegraph cable

was celebrated in the city by trades, military and torchlight

processions, the latter being two miles long on the average of

six abreast. A bonfire on the mountain signalized this occasion.

Next year, 1859, the Prince of Wales presented the One Hundredth

Regiment with its colours at Shorncliffe.

On December 12th, the Victoria Bridge was at last opened and on

the 17th the first passenger train went through. It was called

the “Victoria” after the revered Queen of that name and it was

hoped to have had Her Majesty formally open it.

Before leaving the construction works the men engaged placed the

great boulder over the resting place of the many victims of the

ship fever of 1847. The words of a Montreal lady, Mrs. Leprohon,

commemorate the event thus:

“Long since forgotten, here they rest,

Sons of a distant shore

The epoch of their short career

These footprints on life’s sand,

But this stone will tell through many a year

They died on our shores and slumber here.”

This year Mr. Charles S. Rodier was mayor. A picture worth

preserving has lately been given of the city hall life of that

time. The city was then very small and the questions were

comparatively parochial and the revenue was negligible in

comparison with today’s, yet the meetings were very important

and very dignified and probably more eloquence flowed than now.

The English were then predominant and Mr. Rodden was the leader

of the council. The mayor, Mr. Rodier, was, as a contemporary

has recently described him, “a man of much eccentricity, but a

man also of education and ability. He was what you might call

an aesthete--well groomed, neat, and polished, to the finger

nails; always with his frock coat and silk hat; always ready to

make a sweeping bow; always on the watch to assist a lady from

her carriage--a lady who might be shopping on Notre Dame Street,

which was the great retail street of the city in my young days.

It didn’t matter that His Worship was not always acquainted with

the ladies; he was naturally a gallant and, anyway, there was

less formality in those days than now.”

As he was the first mayor to receive royalty this description

will serve as an introduction. Mr. Rodier’s home was at the

corner of Guy and St. Antoine streets and was afterward purchased

by the Dominion Immigration Agency for its offices.

The next great social event was the reception of Albert Edward,

Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward VII, the Peacemaker, and the

preparation of the exhibition which was to be opened by him,

both in connection with the formal opening of the great Victoria

Bridge, marking the era of railways now prevailing.

In preparation for this event the Board of Arts and Manufactures,

in March, 1860, decided upon and took immediate steps for the

erection of a Crystal Palace for a permanent exhibition on

land purchased by them on Peel Street, above St. Catherine

Street. On Tuesday, May 22d, a public meeting was held to form

the “reception committee fund.” A programme of festivities

and functions was drawn up in June. Triumphal arches and

illuminations were prepared, the house of the Hon. John Rose,

afterward owned by the Ogilvie family, was decorated for the stay

of the young prince therein and on Friday, August 24th, the royal

visitor, described as a Prince of Romance, under the escort of

the austere Duke of Newcastle, arrived by river from Quebec in a

perfect deluge of rain. But he did not land till next day and all

went well. The mayor, Mr. Rodier, the council, magistrates, the

clergy, the heads of national and other societies with regalia,

received him under a superb pavilion. Then followed the great

procession, headed by the Caughnawaga Indians in full native

costume. The scene was wild, with church bells ringing and the

shouting of enthusiasm and loyalty. All the society of Canada

had come to the city to be present. The royal party visited the

Crystal Palace, where an address was presented by the governor

general, Sir E.W. Head, and the Prince declared the Palace open.

In the afternoon took place the ceremony of the laying of the

last stone by the Prince of the Victoria Bridge. The royal

party entered the car of state and proceeded to the centre of

the bridge and the Prince drove in the last--a silver--rivet.

The party then proceeded to the other side of the river, where

Mr. Blackwell, in the name of the Grand Trunk, presented the

Prince with a gold medal, executed by Wyon, commemorative of

the occasion, the suite receiving similar ones, but in silver.

The royal car then returned to the city. A great lunch took

place and the city and the harbour were given over that evening

to wonderful illuminations, when the Prince rode through the

streets. On Sunday the Prince and royal party attended divine

service at the recently rebuilt Christ Church Cathedral on St.

Catherine Street and were received at the door by Sir Fenwick

Williams and Sir A. Milne. Bishop Fulford officiated and Reverend

Mr. Wood read the sermon. In commemoration of this visit His

Royal Highness presented to the Cathedral a magnificent Bible

with an autograph inscription.

In the evening the Montreal Oratorio Society of 400 voices

performed a grand cantata especially written by a Mr. Semper and

composed by M. Sabatier, in commemoration of the royal visit. On

this occasion Marie Louise Lajeunesse, afterward Madame Albani,

sang. She was then unknown, although she had made her debut as

a piano player at the Mechanics’ Institute about 1854, when but

seven years of age.

The great ball, at which the young Prince danced with the ladies

of the charmed circle chosen by the committee of reception,

took place later in the completed Crystal Palace, a building of

colossal dimensions for the time, being nearly three hundred feet

in diameter. It was then thought to be in the fields.

A recent reminiscence of the time describes the scene:

“But the grand ball in Montreal was the climax of the Prince’s

visit. A special pavilion had been built for the occasion, and

here the élite of the city, the province, the whole country it

might be said, had assembled. The Prince with his suite appeared

about ten o’clock and opened the ball. The Duke of Newcastle

presented the Hon. Mrs. Young, and the ball was opened by the

Prince dancing with that lady. He had on his right the Hon. Mr.

Cartier with Mrs. Dumas, on his left Major Teesdale and Miss

Rodgers. On the Prince’s right were Governor Bruce and Mrs.

Denny, Captain Connolly, and Miss Penn; and on his left the Earl

of Mulgrave, and Miss de Lisle, and Captain De Winton and Miss

Tyre. His Royal Highness danced incessantly from half-past four

in the morning, with a large number of ladies, most of whom are

dead and gone.

“Among the ladies who had the honour of dancing with the Prince

were Miss de Lisle, Miss Tyre, Mrs. F. Brown, Miss Leach, Miss

Fisher, of Halifax, Mrs. Sicotte, Miss de Rocheblave, Mrs. C.

Freer, Miss Laura Johnson, Miss Belson, Miss Napier, Miss King,

Mrs. Forsythe, Miss Sophia Stewart, the Hon. Mrs. J.S. Macdonald,

Miss Servorte, Lady Milne, Mrs. King, Miss E. Smith.

Although all the ladies, or most of them, are dead, they have

relatives who might be interested in recalling the brilliant

scene, which was witnessed at the famous ball, which was

described with great particularity, even by the United States

press, which sent over many representatives.”

On Wednesday morning there was a review at Logan’s Farm,

now Lafontaine Park, the property of Sir William Logan, the

geologist, who was knighted about 1856, and the Prince appeared

in his uniform as colonel of the One Hundred Prince of Wales

Royal Canadian Regiment. In the evening the firemen had a

torchlight procession, each fire fighter carrying a torch or

Roman candle. On Thursday night the “peoples’ ball” took place

in the new ballroom, with the Prince present. That night the

foot of the mountain was illuminated with fireworks. Next day

the royal party proceeded to Ottawa. The visit to Montreal was

a great success. Its cost to the citizens’ reception committee

was $43,031, not including the decorations of public buildings

which cannot have been less than ten to twenty thousand dollars

more. One of the permanent mementos of the visit is the name of

Victoria Square, which a by-law of the city changed from its

former title of Haymarket and Commissioners Square.

One of the acts of the young Edward, the Peacemaker, was on this

occasion of his visit, to establish uniformity and harmony in

the various companies comprising the Prince of Wales Regiment,

which had heretofore turned out on parade in different facings

and different racial emblems according to the company. This had

always been provocative of rivalry, but henceforth uniformity

ruled.

Two events of artistic and literary interest marked this period.

On the 23d of April the Art Association of Montreal was formed

and on August 13th the first number of the Daily Witness appeared.

The year 1861 stands out preeminently in the military history of

the city, for it was that of the Civil War between the northern

and the southern states of the adjoining republic, and Montreal

reflected the general turmoil. The Civil War began on January

9th, when the Southern Confederacy fired into the Federal steamer

Star of the West. It was early feared that there might be war

between Great Britain and the United States and the North British

troops were ordered to Canada in January. Meanwhile, in January,

the city was excited over the case of a fugitive slave named

Anderson charged with murder, whose extradition was demanded.

A meeting was held and addressed by Messrs. Dorion, Drummond,

Holton, Benjamin Holmes and John Dougall, Dr. W.H. Hingston and

the Rev. Messrs. W. Bond and Cordner, opposing surrender. In

February it was decided that Anderson was not to be delivered

without instructions from England. Finally he reached England in

June.

Montreal sympathies were with the Southerners, but as yet

according to instructions from Queen Victoria on May 13th, strict

neutrality was to be observed. The position became, however,

acute after November 8th, when Captain Wilkes, of the United

States warship San Jacinto, took from the British mailship Trent

the Confederates John Slidell and John G. Mason, Confederate

commissioners to the Imperial Government. On the refusal of the

American Government to hand them over, war was anticipated and

there was extreme tension. Six steamers were chartered to bring

troops to Canada. Reinforcements of regulars were sent from

England and in Montreal, space being inadequate to receive them,

the Molson College on St. Mary Street, the Collège de Montreal

on College Street and the stores at the northeast corner of St.

Sulpice and Notre Dame streets, then recently erected on the

site of the property of Hôtel Dieu, which had been also recently

transferred to Pine Avenue, were leased and known as Victoria

Barracks. Canada was prepared to share the troubles of the Empire

should war break out, and in consequence Montreal saw a hurrying

to and fro of citizen soldiers. Recruiting in every arm of the

service and drilling went on everywhere. “Stand to your arms,”

“Defense not defiance” and such mottoes are to be found in

newspapers of the period, in the exercise of their duty of making

public opinion.

For two weeks the tension was great in the city. One of the

soldiers has recently given his reminiscences of this time as

follows:

“We marched to Molson’s College in the east end. Yes, it was

called a college then, and had originally been built for some

educational purpose. It was at the back of St. Thomas’ Church, or

rather, this church, at the time, formed part of the building.

Back of this again, and close to the river, was Molson’s

Terrace, which is a pretty tawdry place today but which, when

I was stationed in the city with my regiment, was most select.

Why, the Molson’s themselves lived in the Terrace--that is, the

founders of the brewery and of the college. The houses were then

considered elegant, and that part of the city had a reputation

which it does not now possess.

“At the time I am speaking of, the total military strength of

Montreal was considerable. There was the First Battalion of

the Sixteenth Bedfordshire Regiment, to which I belonged. The

Forty-seventh Lancashire; the Fourth Battalion; Sixtieth Rifles,

which latter was quartered in the College Street Barracks; the

Second Battalion of the Guards; the Second Battalion of the

Scotch Fusiliers; three field batteries of Artillery, which later

were stationed at the Quebec Gate Barracks where the Dalhousie

Square depot is now, and the Forty-seventh Regiment.

“This Quebec Gate Barracks had two entrances--one on Water Street

for the men, and one on Notre Dame Street for the officers. In

that same barracks were two companies of the Royal Engineers. The

commissariat and two troops of the Military Train were stationed

at Hochelaga.

“The city was full of troops at the time. There was every belief

that we would speedily be at war with the North, but the ill

feeling passed over. Nothing happened. We remained, and lived the

lives of soldiers. We had good times; we had no care; we had our

beer; we had a brisk time in Montreal.”

His recollection of the officers is as follows:

“At that time the sons of noblemen thought it an honour to

belong to the army, and the officers in Montreal were, for the

most part, highly connected. Now the commission is obtained by

competitive examination; but the old soldiers like to be under

gentlemen born. Some of the officers stayed at the Donegana

Hotel, and many of them messed in the building opposite Dalhousie

Square, where the band played in the evening; but the bulk of the

higher officers put up at the St. Lawrence Hall. The officer of

the day, and the subaltern of the day, always lived in Molson’s

Terrace, to be near the scene of their duties.

“Several of the officers, I remember, put up at the Cosmopolitan

Hotel, which stood on the present site of the New York Life

Building. Opposite Molson’s brewery was the regimental hospital,

while the Garrison Hospital was on Water Street. Each regiment

had its own hospital.”[1]

At the time the hero of Kars, Lieut.-Gen. Sir William Fenwick

Williams, Bart., K.C.B.; commander of the forces in British North

America; Lord Paulet, in charge of the Guards; Sir William Muir,

chief medical officer of the forces; Major Penn, of Crimean fame,

in command of the gallant Grey Battery; Colonel Peacock, of the

Sixteenth Bedfordshire; and others, were among the officers then

in Montreal.

In its midst news came of the death of Queen Victoria’s husband,

the Prince Consort. A loyal city sent its message of condolence

to their beloved Queen. But on the release of Slidell and Mason

the war alarms were over. This good news came on December 28th,

and on Sunday the continuance of peace between the Empire and the

United States was devoutly and thankfully blessed. The outburst

of militarism served to keep the companies as already organized

on a permanent basis. On January 1st, Slidell and Mason were

released by the United States, but on January 4th Victoria Bridge

had still to be guarded for fear of destruction by marauders from

across the boundary.

“The alarm, which soon subsided, was really the birth of modern

militia movement in Canada. I remember well,” says Lieut.-Col.

Robert Gardner, in a reminiscence, “the excitement that ruled

everywhere. I can recollect the time when the business men and

merchants of Montreal were all imbued with the necessity of

defending their country. So enthusiastic were they that drilling

was going on practically all the time. Everyone expected war, and

patriotic feelings ran high. Business men would slip out in the

morning and put in an hour at drill, another drill would be held

after lunch, and more in the evening. It was that war scare of

1861-2 which really showed the necessity of a defensive force,

and proved the forerunner of our militia system of today.”

During the war there were, however, merry times at the hotels and

at Dolly’s restaurant. A reminiscence relates:

“That was a merry time in Montreal. The Americans had plenty of

money, and were not afraid to spend it. The officers, too, were

well supplied, and they, too, were prodigal with it. St. James

Street was always busy, what with the soldiers and officers,

the Southerners, the local military, the excitement attending

the events of the war, and which were reflected in the city

in the matter of sentiment, as well as the matter of money. I

recollect very well that the feeling of our people was in favour

of the South in the struggle. As time went on, the conviction

gained ground that the South would be defeated; but the general

feeling was in its favour. This made life for the Southerners

very pleasant. They fraternized with the people; they spent their

money; they made life merry in and about the old St. Lawrence

Hall.”

Greenbacks, however, were looked askance at till the fortunes of

war were with the North, so that silver was in demand. The Civil

War meant good times for Canada for the farmers’ produce and

stock were readily bought by the United States.

The military troops in town came in for a great recognition on

the 6th, 7th and 8th of May, 1862, when they were feasted in

sections on these days. It is recorded that among the items for

the festivities there were ordered 3,200 pounds of sandwiches,

5,000 tarts, 3,700 pounds of cake, 50 barrels of fruit, besides

an abundant supply of tea and coffee, the entertainments being on

strictly temperance principles.

Montreal’s generosity was also that year shown to the destitute

operatives in the manufacturing districts of England, when in

consequence of a meeting in the Merchants’ Exchange $30,000 was

subscribed for their relief.

The Civil War over, the arts of peace were resumed. The Montreal

Street Railway, started in the year previous, was making its

humble beginnings with its few horse-drawn cars. On April 2d

there was a municipal by-law to establish the fire brigade. On

May 20th, the Montreal waterworks were enlarged and improved as

a result of the dearth of water at this time which had caused

the ancient custom of providing water in puncheons again to be

resorted to.

This year the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society was founded and

the Corn Exchange organized, being incorporated the next year,

when eight floating elevators were proudly said to be discharging

hourly 24,000 bushels.

1863 saw the fire alarm established on January 19th, indicating

the progress of our fire service.

On July 15th, the Corvette Oernen, the first Norwegian vessel

to visit the St. Lawrence, sailed up to Montreal and civic

hospitality was again displayed as previously to the French

vessel.

The Provincial Exhibition, held on the 9th of September of this

year, was superior to any other. A grand rifle tournament was

opened by Sir William Fenwick Williams and lasted over ten days.

On April 21, 1864, there appeared a published letter of D’Arcy

McGee, the Irish poet, litterateur and politician, in which he

said: “Even the threat of assassination covertly conveyed and

so eminently in keeping with the entire humbug has no terrors

for me. I trust I shall outlive these threats,” indicates that

there was a ring of organized Fenianism in the city in sympathy

with the movement now looming large in the United States. About

this time he exposed the dangers and sophisms of those seducing

the young Irish of the city and moreover told some of his young,

hotheaded auditors at several meetings, then and subsequently,

that he held in his pocket evidence enough to hang some of them.

“I ask you,” he said, “to frown upon this thing. I ask you to

have nothing to do with it. I tell you that I know many of the

men who are associated with Fenianism. And I say this, that if

they do not separate themselves from the organization, I will

denounce them to the Government. Come out from among them. The

organization will bring you to ruin. There are some who think

they are secure; that they can go on and that they cannot be

found out. I tell you I know such, and will denounce them if they

do not mend their ways.”

At this time McGee was told that his days were numbered. Thus

coming events cast their shadows before. But Confederation was in

the air and its discussion was uppermost.

The Shakespeare centenary of 1864 was brilliantly celebrated

at Montreal in April at the Crystal Palace. But sad news fell

upon the city when, on June 29th, a train of eleven cars, having

aboard 354 German emigrants leaving St. Hilaire for Montreal,

was precipitated through an open drawbridge into the river at

Beloeil. Ninety were killed and a very large number were drowned.

The hospitable city opened its hospitals and public institutions

for the sufferers and the bodies of the dead were brought to the

city and buried in the Protestant cemeteries.

In September, 1864, the city saw the departure of six companies

of the Scotch Fusileers and other military.

In November there was excitement in the city over the St. Alban’s

raiders who had been captured and brought to the city for

examination. On the 19th of October some southern raiders from

Canada had made a descent on the St. Alban’s bank, compelling

Mr. Sowles, the cashier, to surrender the bank’s money, and

after intimidating the citizens, saying that “we represent the

Confederate States of America and we come here to retaliate

outrages committed by General Sherman,” they had returned to

Canada on captured horses.

On March 30th of the next year, the St. Alban raiders were

discharged. On this occasion Mr. Bernard Devlin had an opportunity

of airing his forensic eloquence, being employed to defend certain

of the prisoners. It is said that the motive behind the raid was

to make a diversion in favour of the South by means of the raid

which was to bring Federal troops from southern points to defend

the invaded territory of the North.

The year 1865, which opened with the usual spring floods in

April, was otherwise an interesting and exciting time to the

merchants of the town, for Mr. Adams, the American minister

in London, gave the requisite notice to terminate reciprocity

between the United States and Canada on March 17, 1866. In

July there was a convention at Detroit, from the 11th to the

14th, which promoted the forming of a new reciprocity treaty.

At this several Montrealers attended, but only to give desired

information. In September there was a delegation to Montreal to

form an International Board of Trade. This year the Board of

Trade Building, erected in 1855, was burnt down.

The following resolution, passed unanimously on April 19th by

the city council, on the motion of Alderman Grenier, seconded

by Alderman Rodden, on the occasion of the assassination of the

President of the United States, shows the gloom and commiseration

of the city which went into mourning on the day of the funeral:

“Resolved, That in respect to the memory of the late President

of the United States and sympathy with the people in the great

calamity which has befallen them, and also as an expression of

the regret and horror felt at the crime perpetrated upon the

person of President Lincoln, this council do now adjourn.”

This allows us to cast a glance at our peaceful municipal life.

One[2] who knew it well has recently recorded his reminiscences:

“Citizens criticized the council then as they do today and on

one particular occasion they manifested their disapprobation on

some burning question by gathering in front of the council room,

and, after due oratory from their leader, sent a volley of stones

through the windows, to show the depth of their feelings. This

stirred up the members most effectively, and if the celerity

with which they jumped from one place to another, to avoid the

‘arguments’ was any indication of the attention they would

give to the cause in question, it would not have remained long

unattended to.

“One member, however, more courageous than the others, kept his

seat with contemptuous indifference until he saw a missile coming

direct for his desk, when he cleverly caught it in his hands,

and called on the mayor to maintain order. His Worship looked

unutterable things, and told Darcy to do it. The latter, however,

disappeared, and was not seen more that night. It was suspected

he went over to the enemy, and when he told me next morning

that it was ‘the best bit of fun he had seen for many a day,’ I

thought there was ground for the suspicion.

“But criticisms of the council were not confined to

demonstrations of this kind. The press was not backward in saying

what it thought, although in a more refined and cultured way. One

editor, for instance, gave a free notice of a meeting of council

in the following words, in large type:

“‘The Municipal Banditti meet in their den at the City Hall at 8

o’clock this evening.’

“We were more deliberate in those days than at the present. We

were deliberate in all things. We did not hurry away the snow as

we do now. We thought it cheaper to let the sun do that. Now in

this advanced age we think nothing of spending $10,000 to beat

the sun by twenty-four hours; but speed is everything today. At

the time of speaking our whole revenue was not one-fourth of the

interest on our debt today.

“I have enumerated the personnel to show the speed of time, for

at the present time not one of those mentioned, except myself,

remain. They have all passed to the ‘majority.’

“Prominently among the aldermen of that period were Ferdinand

David, and William Rodden; the former as chairman of the roads

committee, may be regarded as having been the father of our

expropriation system, and the latter, as chairman of finance, was

regarded as the father of our 7 per cent consolidation. Were both

these men alive today they would be appalled at the outcome of

their pet schemes. In those days we spoke with bated breath of

$100,000, now we play with the millions as a very little thing.

Then our 6 per cent securities sold at a heavy discount, since

then our 3 per cent securities have sold over par.

“An orator about this time, haranguing the taxpayers from the

steps of the Nelson Monument, assured them that if they should

elect him as their representative, he would reduce their taxes

150 per cent. Poor fellow, he meant well, but he was allowed to

sink, with his invaluable arithmetical genius, into oblivion,

while the other one, who was able to rouse another mob, occupies

a seat on the king’s bench. This shows that it is better to break

people’s windows than to abolish their taxes and give them a 50

per cent bonus beside. O, tempora, O, mores.”

This year (1865) Sir John Michel was sworn in as administrator

of the governor general, then absent in England. As he took up

his residence in the city and during his administration the

executive council met here twice in each month, this event may be

chronicled in the series of social events.

The peaceful progress of the inhabitants was again thrown into

confusion and the military spirit reincarnated when news came the

latter part of this year, 1865, that the threatened invasion of

Canada by the Irish Fenian Brotherhood, led by “General” O’Neil,

were at last becoming actual. They made use of the ill-feeling

aroused between the United States and Britain by an element

discontented through hard times, to strike a long premeditated

blow. The first Fenian invasion eventually came to nothing at all

of importance, but it was a great scare. Montreal was on the _qui

vive_ for a while, fearing the invasion, for the supineness of

the American Government in allowing the invasion to be planned

and provided for by filibusters, gave an unpleasant impression,

suggesting that there might, possibly, be serious consequence if

a strong front were not presented to the audacious attempt. The

feeling, too, at the time, was not too friendly to Canada, which,

with Great Britain, was supposed to sympathize with the South

during the Civil War.

On Monday, March 13, 1866, a company of the Prince of Wales

regiment and a battery of artillery were reviewed at 5 P.M. and

by 9 P.M. were sent to the threatened frontier. A patriotic

“relief” fund was started on March 26th. On June 2d, on account

of news arriving on June 1st, the Fenians being already at Fort

Erie, a further detachment of four more companies were sent to

the west, viz., Nos. 3 and 8 batteries of the Brigade of the

Montreal Garrison Artillery, under Captains Brown and Hobbes; a

company of Prince of Wales Rifles, under Captain Bond; Victoria

Rifles, under Captain Bacon; Royal Light Infantry, under Capt.

K. Campbell; and the Chasseurs Canadiens, under Captain Labelle,

who all left by special train for Point St. Charles for St. Johns

and Isle aux Noix. The same evening a strong reinforcement of

regulars left for the same stations, and on the 4th, several

additional companies of volunteers were dispatched to Hemingford

and other places along the frontier. Among those going to the

front were the famous “Barney” Devlin, the great criminal lawyer

and the political opponent of D’Arcy McGee, and the Rev. Father

James Hogan of St. Patrick’s, who acted as chaplain.

The chief fight in Lower Canada was at Pigeon Hill, in the

Township of St. Armand, adjoining the State of Vermont, which was

attacked by the Fenians on June 17th, but from which, after a

brief skirmish, they retired, not without several of their party

being secured as prisoners by the “Montreal Guides,” and being

brought, a sorry and ragged crowd, to the city gaol.

On June 18th, the volunteer companies returned, being welcomed

enthusiastically by their fellow citizens, and June 23d was

observed as a day of general rejoicing and inspection. The mayor,

on behalf of the civic authorities, tendered an address to the

troops, offering sincere expressions of gratitude and thanks

for their devotion, loyalty and courage in the late emergency,

and bidding them a hearty welcome back to the city and to

their happy homes and beloved and expectant families. This was

responded to by Major-General Lindsay.

The loyalty of all sections of the community had again been

proved against a common enemy. Every section had answered

the call to arms, for Fenianism, after all, had few weighty

supporters in Montreal.

The military enthusiasm, however, evoked by the late events had

an immediate effect in determining the city council and other

authorities already considering the point, to open a drill hall

capable of meeting the increased demands, and in May, 1867, the

contract for the armory on Craig Street, opposite the Champ de

Mars, was given to Foster & Roy.

The confederation of the provinces was now in the air. It was

not universally understood at the time and it was feared, and

somewhat actively combatted, especially by the group of young

French-Canadians opposed to Cartier in their new journal the

Union Nationale, as likely to absorb them so that they might lose

their political identity.

Confederation was, however, to mark a great period of progress

and to see Montreal emerge from provincial citydom to the

great metropolis of today. Before passing to the story of its

achievement, a glance back will show that Montreal was a very

quiet place under the Union. Yet it produced strong-minded and

able men, even if the racial, religious and political rancours

of a “heart burning town” showed themselves in no equivocal

colours. The foundations of our present artistic, literary,

religious, charitable and financial associations were also

already being well laid. The life was simple; there was not much

society but great heartiness. There were no millionaires, but the

people spent freely. Public amusements were fewer, but private

hospitality greater. The city hall was decorous, there were no

emoluments for service, and the best men of the time thought it

an honour to represent their wards.

Into the simplicity of the life there entered the society

centering around the military. At the close of the Union there

were about a hundred officers generally stationed here, many

of them distinguished men of high rank and fame. There were

often four or five regiments in the town, and the soldiery

fraternized with the citizens. Pranks there were, the ringing of

bells, the wrenching off of knockers and signs, and more serious

peccadillos, but the indulgent public was not censorious. The

officers gave many parties, balls, receptions, dances and hunts,

all of which the prominent citizens participated in and returned.

There were not highly organized kennel or hunt clubs, but they

ranged the country far and wide. The officers were good judges of

horse flesh as were the humbler citizens and Tattersalls, on St.

James Street, opposite the present Star offices, was a busy place

for such. It was no infrequent sight to see the horses being

trotted up and down past Dolly’s, St. Lawrence Hall and Banque

du Peuple for inspection along the street which is today’s busy

financial thoroughfare, lined with banks and insurance buildings.

The ordinary people participated indirectly in the gaiety of the

military régime through the brisk, lively trade with the officers

and soldiery, who spent freely.

The life, colour, and zest they gave were also a free

entertainment. Not only were the streets bright with the uniforms

of the soldiers and gay with the sound of fife, drum and brass,

but the people would make their way to the Champ de Mars during

the day to see the evolutions of the military, where the firing

of the cannon frightened the timid boys and girls, or in the

early evening the young folk would stroll sweethearting to

Dalhousie Square (now the Viger Station tracks) to hear the

regimental bands in Barrack Square, and the boys and girls, now

no way shy, would peep in at the mysteries of the officers’ mess,

which was in plain view. The music would last for hours and the

square would resound with laughter till the sun-down gun from St.

Helen’s Island proclaimed the time for early bed.

Art, literature and music were cultivated by associations at the

time and to these the military officers contributed no little

initiative. The scholastic system of the two boards of school

commissioners was being solidified and Montreal at the end of

the Union was progressing substantially, but not so dramatically

or so visibly as after the next few decades when bustle began to

rule. Life was then more leisurely, more reposeful and at least

quite as happy and more contented.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Reminiscences of Private Fitzgerald, who came out with the

Sixteenth Bedfordshire Regiment in 1861. Cf. “I Remember” series

of the Star, 1913.

[2] Mr. William Robb, recently city treasurer. Cf. I Remember

Series, The Star, 1913.

CHAPTER XXII

CONSTITUTIONAL LIFE UNDER CONFEDERATION

FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL INFLUENCE

MONTREAL AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL

POLITICS--CONFEDERATION TESTED--CARTIER AND THE PARTI ROUGE

AT MONTREAL--ASSASSINATION OF THOMAS D’ARCY M’GEE--THE

HUDSON’S BAY TRANSFER--THE METIS AND THE RIEL REBELLION--LORD

STRATHCONA--THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY BILL--RESIGNATION

OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD--SECOND FENIAN RAID--THE “NATIONAL

POLICY”--VOTING REFORM--TEMPERANCE BILL--ORANGE RIOTS--SECOND

NORTH WEST REBELLION--THE “SIXTY-FIFTH REGIMENT”--THE

MANITOBA SCHOOL QUESTION--PROMINENT CITIZENS--BRITISH

PREFERENTIAL TARIFF--BOER WAR--“STRATHCONA HORSE”--THE

NATIONALIST LEAGUE--RECIPROCITY AND FEAR OF ANNEXATION--THE

ELECTIONS OF 1911--NAVAL BILL--PROVINCIAL POLITICS--MONTREAL

MEMBERS--PROVINCIAL OVERSIGHT OVER MONTREAL--HOME RULE--THE

INTERNATIONAL WAR OF 1914--THE FIRST CONTINGENT--MONTREAL’S

ACTION.

Constitutionally Montreal has always been an influence in the

moulding of the Dominion. This has been brought about by its

geographical situation and its public men. From the first the

city has been favored in its sons--men who have controlled the

destinies of the growing country, and who in turn have been

influenced by their closer environments. This is seen in the

constitutional acts of both the Province and the Dominion, for

practically most public events, particularly since Confederation,

have been shaped to meet the requirements of the commercial

metropolis.

Confederation had its opponents, particularly amongst the younger

members of the “parti rouge” or democratic party, who in Lower

Canada, but now the Province of Quebec, had been waiting for an

opportunity to break the power of Sir George Etienne Cartier,

the great French Canadian leader in the confederation movement,

so that in the elections called for to ratify the British North

America Act, they determined, in spite of the advice to the

contrary, of their brilliant leader (Dorion), to give Cartier

the fight of his life. The new Federal government realized that

the permanency of the constitution depended largely on the

attitude of Quebec and much anxiety was felt as to the results of

the elections which were to be held in the autumn of 1867--the

British North America Act having come into force on July 1st.

Cartier particularly realized the crisis, and put his whole

energy into the fight. He personally contested Montreal East,

now St. James Division, having as opponent Médéric Lanctot,

a popular labour leader. Every division in the Province was

contested, but thanks to the strong stand made by the Roman

Catholic[1] church in approving Confederation, the party headed

by Cartier, who beat his opponent, won and the new constitution

was confirmed in the Province of Quebec forty-three out of

sixty-five seats. In Ontario the government won sixty-eight

out of eighty-five seats and in New Brunswick twelve out of

fifteen seats, but in Nova Scotia, owing to the opposition of

Joseph Howe, only one government supporter, Charles Tupper, was

returned. On the whole, Confederation was confirmed by the people.

Practically this most momentous election--upon which depended the

future of Canada’s national life--was decided in Montreal, for

had Cartier failed in winning his own seat, the impetus given to

the “parti rouge” would have been strong enough to have wrecked

the government and consequently the British North America Act.

The Provincial legislature returns showed a similar result, the

first provincial premier being that brilliant Montreal writer and

orator, the Hon. P.J.O. Chauveau, who held office until 1873, his

two immediate successors in the premiership being Montrealers

also, the Hon. G. Ouimet and Sir Charles E.B. de Boucherville.

The last named is still living, in the best of health, though in

his ninety-fourth year, and enjoying the dual offices of Senator

for Canada, and member of the Legislative Council of Quebec. Sir

Charles is the last of the dual office men.

During the adjourned session of the first Dominion parliament

which had met in Ottawa in March, 1868, the Hon. Thomas D’Arcy

McGee, who represented Montreal West, was assassinated just

outside his Ottawa lodging. There is no doubt that this dastardly

outrage was the consequence of Mr. McGee’s condemnation of the

Fenian movement against Canada, and though one man, Whelan, an

ex-soldier and tailor, suffered the extreme penalty for being the

instrument, the real miscreants got away. The murder of D’Arcy

McGee robbed this country of one of her best sons. Brilliant

and large minded he had risen to cabinet rank before he was

thirty-eight years of age and in the last government under the

Union he held the port-folio of Agriculture. Always a believer

in the closest union between the component parts of British

North America, he was an eloquent advocate for Confederation and

on the formation by Sir J.A. Macdonald of the first Dominion

government (1868) McGee’s eminent services gave him every right

to be included, but his sense of loyalty made him stand aside so

as to allow Sir John to form his cabinet on territorial lines.

This great man, whose remains rest in Cote de Neiges Cemetery, is

still--forty-six years after his death--the outstanding figure of

Irish Canadianism--an example in broad mindedness and patriotism.

Another Father of Confederation was the Hon. A.T. Galt, whose

representation of Sherbrooke, P.Q., and his years of residence

here, made him a local figure. Mr. Galt’s great financial

ability was very helpful in making equitable arrangements in the

consolidation of the Dominion. To commemorate the consummation

of confederation the Hon. J.A. Macdonald received the honour of

Knight Commander of the Bath, while his co-workers, including

Cartier and Galt, received companionships of the Bath. The title

was refused by both Cartier and Galt for the reason that being

representatives of Lower Canada they could not accept a lesser

title than Sir John Macdonald. The difficulty was overcome by a

baronetcy conferred on Cartier and a K.C.M.G. on Galt.

In 1868 Cartier and William McDougall went to England on

behalf of the Canadian government to negotiate the transfer of

the Western territories from the Hudson’s Bay Company to the

Dominion. The Hudson’s Bay Company asked the sum of $5,000,000

for the cession of its rights but had to be satisfied with

$1,500,000 and a reservation of one-twentieth of the fertile

belt. But a new difficulty had arisen in the transfer--in the

territory itself--for in 1870 the half-breed settlers, who

had the distinctive title of the “Metis,” feeling that they

and their holdings had not been affected--stopped the new

lieutenant-governor, the Hon. William McDougall at the border,

and under Louis Riel the first North West rebellion was started,

soon, however, to be broken. It was in this rebellion that

the late Lord Strathcona, as chief officer of the Hudson’s

Bay Company, was first brought into the public limelight. Mr.

Donald Smith, as he was then known, and whose headquarters were

at Montreal, was asked to go to Fort Garry (now Winnipeg) with

Col. de Salaberry and Abbé Thibault with the object of pacifying

the settlers, but the mission failed. On the breakdown of the

rebellion Donald Smith administered the affairs of the territory

until the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor Archibald.

Around this time (1870) the home government withdrew the Imperial

troops from Canada--with the exception of a garrison left at

Halifax--which was a blow to the social life of the commercial

metropolis. The officers of the local garrison with their bright

uniforms and gentlemanly manners and their cultivated entourage

had been an acquisition to Montreal society, literary, social and

artistic.

The material building up of Canada, and particularly Montreal,

has been made possible by the splendid transportation facilities,

both by stream, canal and rail, engineered by the big men of the

time. During the ’70s and ’80s Montreal was well represented by

names like Cartier, Dorion, and Sir John Rose, who though in

separate political camps fought hard together for the Grand Trunk

in parliament, and won.

Cartier in introducing the Victoria Bridge Bill met much

opposition; the principal objection being that it would take

the trade out of the country. His reply, which proved correct,

was that the bridge would bring trade into the country. In the

agitation for the Intercolonial Railway with its terminus at

Montreal, Cartier was the leader. He was also the introducer into

the parliament of 1872 of the first Canadian Pacific Bill. Both

of these undertakings were urged as the best and most practical

means of consolidating the new Dominion.

One cannot leave railway legislation without referring to what

is known as the Canadian Pacific scandals, though Sir Charles

Tupper in his “Reminiscences of Sixty Years” writes of it as the

“Canadian Pacific Slanders,” because two of the principal actors

were Montrealers and the place, Montreal. The bare facts are: Two

companies, one of which was under the control of Sir Hugh Allan

of Montreal, had competed for the construction of the railroad,

the bill for which the Government, through Cartier, had passed in

parliament. Owing to disputes an effort was made to amalgamate

the companies but without avail, so that Sir Hugh formed a new

company under the title of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

This Company obtained a charter on February 19, 1873, to build

the railway, and it was in connection with the granting of this

charter that in the following April a Mr. L.A. Huntingdon charged

the government with making a corrupt bargain with Sir Hugh Allan;

in other words, that the Montreal promoter and his company had

advanced large sums of money to the Conservative fund to secure

the returns of candidates favourable to their obtaining the

charter. The receiving of the money was neither contradicted

by the government nor the contractors, and on behalf of the

government it was offered as an extenuating circumstance that it

was only in accordance with the “invariable custom,” and before

a Royal Commission the ministers denied any corrupt bargain

having been made. But the whole country was up in arms, and Sir

John Macdonald, seeing inevitable defeat for his government,

placed his resignation in the hands of the Governor-General.

In the elections which followed, the new government, under the

leadership of the new premier, the Hon. Alexander McKenzie, was

sustained by a large majority.

When in 1870 the Fenians for the second time under “General”

O’Neill made a raid into Canada, crossing the border at Trout

Lake in the Eastern Townships, a flutter was caused at Montreal,

but the “general” was soon routed by a small contingent made up

largely by volunteers from Montreal.

Owing to a depression in trade, which set in about the fall of

1873 and which gradually grew worse in centres like Montreal

as the years rolled by, Sir John A. Macdonald’s appeal to the

country that it should protect its own industries by placing

heavy duties against goods imported from other countries, met

with success and he was returned at the elections of 1878 by a

large majority. This became known as the “National Policy” and

though immediate prosperity was the outcome, there is no doubt

that the same policy has made possible the formation of trusts,

which in this country go under the name of mergers.

The next constitutional act of importance that affected Montreal

was the passing of an act which relieved the elections from the

old time voting. On May 26, 1876, a Federal bill was passed

introducing the vote by ballot, simultaneous elections, the

abolition of property qualifications for members of the House of

Commons and making stringent enactments against corrupt practices

at elections.

The Canada Temperance Bill of 1878 (usually called the Scott Act)

was the result of a great temperance movement that spread over

the whole of Canada and has been the foundation in Montreal of

scores of temperance societies. Practically all the churches have

joined in lessening the drink evil and on the same platforms will

be found the Roman Catholic and Anglican bishops of Montreal, as

well as the ministers of other denominations. Montreal is a much

more temperate city today than it was thirty years ago, in spite

of a rapidly growing cosmopolitan population.

About this time (1878) there occurred in Montreal the Orange

riots, which resulted in the death of one of the citizens named

Hackett by shooting, an event of no importance, though magnified

by certain writers.

In 1885 occurred the second North West rebellion. This was felt

very deeply in Montreal for the reason that, the insurgents

being French half-breeds, charges of disloyalty were made

against the whole French speaking people. To show its sense of

loyalty Montreal despatched a large contingent to the scene of

the disturbance, including the French-Canadian regiment--The

Mount Royal Rifles, now known as the Sixty-fifth Regiment. This

regiment did some remarkable work, marching as many as forty-five

miles a day through brush and muskeg and arriving in time to take

part in the routing out at Frog Lake of Big Bear, the Cree Chief

who was supporting Riel, the rebel leader. The spirit of loyalty

underlying this splendid achievement was sufficient evidence of

the patriotism of French Canadianism, even to satisfy the most

rabid of partisans.

The execution of Riel, which took place in Regina in the

latter part of the year, again raised the racial cry and many

demonstrations were held in Montreal by both French and English

partisans. To exaggerate the feeling of bitterness, about

this time small-pox had broken out and the heads of the local

industries having insisted on vaccination and the bulk of the

employees being French Canadian, the cry was raised that the

employers were interfering with the work of Providence.

Montreal has not been directly affected by what is commonly known

as the “school question,” that has at different times raised so

much bitterness in other parts of Canada, particularly in New

Brunswick and Manitoba, but because the majority of its citizens

are Roman Catholics, and the fact of its own separate school

system working satisfactorily, the local political parties have

always taken a keen interest in the school problem in the other

provinces, and every government when dealing with it has to

take Montreal sentiment into account. This Cartier found to his

cost in the 1872 elections, when, because his government sided,

though only on legal grounds, with the New Brunswick Provincial

government in its determination not to have separate schools,

he lost his seat to Mr. L.A. Jetté, who afterwards became

Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. Again because in Manitoba

in 1890 the provincial legislature, by adopting nonsectarian

schools, had in the minds of Roman Catholics broken the clause of

the Manitoba Act of 1870, which secured to the religious minority

the right in respect to denominational schools, much bitterness

was caused in Montreal. To this vexed question a settlement was

brought about in 1896 by the Laurier government, by which the

Manitoba Government while adhering to the principle of a national

school system under provincial control, agreed to make provision

for religious teaching during certain school hours.

In the year 1888 two Montrealers of cabinet rank died, Sir John

Rose, a former cabinet member, and Hon. Thomas White, M.P.,

Minister of the Interior.

Montreal in 1891 was particularly honoured in one of its citizens

in the person of Hon. J.J.C. Abbott, who had twice been mayor,

becoming Premier of Canada on the death of Sir John A. Macdonald,

though he only held office for little more than a year, resigning

November, 1892, on account of ill-health. In this year also died

Sir A.A. Dorion, Chief Justice of Queen’s Bench, Montreal, who

had been a big factor in the public life of Canada. As leader of

the Liberals, or “patri rouge,” he was Sir G.E. Cartier’s chief

opponent, and on the formation of the Liberal Government of 1873,

he was appointed Minister of Justice, which office he resigned on

June 1, 1874, to become Chief Justice of Montreal.

On August 15, 1893, the Behring Sea Tribunal of Arbitration, of

which Canada’s Prime Minister was a member, gave the decision

that the Behring Sea was to be kept open and that seals be

protected. At a banquet given in his honour by the citizens

of Montreal, the Premier in a great speech explained Canada’s

advantage by the arbitration.

In 1895 a treaty was made between this country and France which

largely affected the trade of Montreal, because of the impetus

given by the agreement to the importation of wines.

When the Liberals came into power in 1896, very largely on a

Free Trade policy, it was found inexpedient by the government

to change the general tariff of the country, but it made a

compromise in 1899 by giving a preferential tariff of 25% to

British made goods, which in 1901 was increased to 33⅓%. This was

a popular move and no doubt, together with the wave of prosperity

which spread itself over the country and in which Montreal

largely participated, did much to keep the Liberals in power for

fifteen years.

In 1898 the Boer war broke out, when the country as a whole

demanded that the Federal government on behalf of Canada should

take its share of the burden, although there was a certain

contra agitation amongst a section of French Canadians, led by

the eloquent and versatile grandson of Louis Joseph Papineau M.

Henri Bourassa, who afterwards became the Chief of the young

Nationalist Party.

In October of 1899, Mr. Bourassa gave up his seat for St.

Hyacinthe in the Federal House in order to vindicate his position

on the constitutional aspect of the participation of Canada in

the South African war, contending that such participation, as

contemplated and organized by the British Government and its

representative in Canada, meant a deep change in our relations

with Great Britain upon which the people of Canada should be

thoroughly enlightened and directly consulted. In January of the

following year he was returned by acclamation.

Though the attitude taken by Mr. Bourassa was mostly academic

yet, like his renewal in 1914 of a similar obstructional and

dialectical position, not always understood by the general public

especially in time of war, it helped to encourage demonstrations

of loyalty and patriotism throughout the Dominion, which forced

the government to raise an expeditionary force. The first

contingent embarked for the Transvaal October 30, 1899. At

the beginning of the following year, Lord Strathcona equipped

a mounted infantry regiment of 500, which became famous as

“Strathcona’s Horse.” This body was despatched to South Africa

with the second contingent. The Canadian regiments throughout

the war did splendid service, particularly at Paardeburg, when

the Boer general Cronje was completely surrounded and defeated.

Montreal itself contributed largely to the contingent which

represented Canada.

In 1902 the Nationalist League was organized by Mr. J.T. Olivar

Asselin, who became president of the Montreal branch and Mr.

Henri Bourassa became recognized as the outstanding leader. The

Nationaliste was founded as the party organ in 1904 by its editor

Mr. Asselin who, on its lapse, became a writer on the Devoir

founded by Mr. Henri Bourassa.

A political event of far reaching importance took place in

1910 when the Hon. William Fielding and the late Hon. William

Patterson on behalf of the Canadian Government signed an

agreement with the government of the United States by which

certain goods, principally food-stuffs, were to pass from one

country to the other free of duty. Since 1866 the United States

had steadily refused all offers to negotiate for reciprocal

relations, but in the spring of 1910 they veered around and sent

plenipotentiaries to Ottawa. The Dominion Government received

them courteously and sent Messrs. Fielding and Patterson to

Washington to carry on the negotiations, which resulted in what

became known as the “Reciprocity Pact.” But in submitting the

agreement to the country for ratification in the election of 1911

the government was badly defeated. It should be stated though

that the main issue itself throughout the country, and especially

in Montreal, had become involved, from a question originally of

purely commercial reciprocity, into one also of fear of danger

of annexation to the United States. This was sufficient to bring

out the latent patriotism of the electors, who gave a very

decided answer to those across the line who had any belief in the

American slogan that reciprocity was to be but the first step

to annexation. The Montreal election returns showed this very

strongly, not in the change of representatives, for there was

none, but in the comparison of the votes. In the country parts of

the Province the Navy Bill of 1910, which was unpopular with the

French Canadians, gave an opportunity to the Nationalists, who

by joining forces with the opposition were enabled to reduce the

Federal Government’s majority sufficiently to cause its downfall.

[Illustration: THE STRATHCONA HORSE (From the plaque on the

Strathcona Monument, Dominion Square)]

The defeat of the Federal Government ended the lengthy

premiership of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, one of the Empire’s great

statesmen. Sir Wilfrid has many associations with Montreal and

many of his triumphs, national as well as political, have taken

place in the city. The new government in 1911 introduced a bill

into Parliament giving a contribution of $35,000,000 to the

British admiralty to represent Canada’s naval contribution to the

Empire. The bill passed the Commons but failed in the Senate.

It was in connection with this naval contribution that the late

Hon. F.D. Monk, the member for the Jacques Cartier division of

the city, and one of Montreal’s brightest and most upright minds,

resigned from the government, his reason being that a plebiscite

of the people should have been made on the naval question. His

death following hard upon his departure from politics made the

latter the more deplored.

Of importance to the Port of Montreal is the West Indian

commercial agreement made in 1913 between Canada and the British

West Indies. By this reciprocal pact Canada secured a new market

on advantageous terms, and the principal factor in bringing it

about was the Canadian West Indian League with its headquarters

in Montreal.

As in Federal politics, so also in the life of the Provincial

parliament, Montreal has also been a large factor, the principal

reason being that it supplies the biggest share of the income of

the Province, and also because the city’s representatives have

usually been leaders of thought and probity. Practically all the

premiers, from confederation to the present holder of the office,

have been either citizens of Montreal or largely connected with

the city. In the first legislative assembly of 1867 Montreal had

four members; they being Sir George E. Cartier, Edward Cartier,

his brother, and law partner, and who Sir George always said

was the legal brains of the firm; A.W. Ogilvie, a prominent

member of one of Montreal’s best known families; and the Hon.

Louis Beaubien, who became Commissioner of Agriculture in the de

Boucherville and Flinn administrations. Since that time Montreal

has been represented at Quebec by such men as the Hon. L.O.

Taillon (1875-1887) who became Premier in 1887, and afterwards

joined the Federal government as Postmaster General; to-day

he is Postmaster of Montreal; Hon. James McShane (1878-1891),

who became in turn Provincial Minister of Public Works, Mayor

of Montreal and Harbour Master of the Port; Hon. L.O. David

(1886-1890), now Senator of Canada and City Clerk of Montreal;

Dr. G. A. Lacombe (1897-1908), the author of the famous Lacombe

Law of 1906, by which a debtor upon being too hard pressed by his

creditors could come under the protection of the courts without

any extra cost to himself; Sir Lomer Gouin, the present Premier,

who first entered the legislature as member for St. James in

1897; Henri Bourassa (1908-1909); D.J. Decarie (1897-1904),

and his son, the Hon. Jérémie Decarie, Provincial Secretary,

who succeeded his father in the latter year; Hon. Dr. J.J.E.

Guerin (1895-1904), Cabinet minister and Mayor of Montreal;

Robert Bickerdike (1897-1900), the present federal member for

St. Lawrence division of the city; the Hon. H.B. Rainville and

the two George Washington Stephens--father and son--the one

representing Montreal Centre from 1881 to 1886 and the other the

St. Lawrence division, 1904 to 1908, being afterwards Chairman of

the Harbour Commission.

The work of the Provincial legislature being largely of a

constructive nature, such as the raising of taxes for the

building of roads and the conserving of its vast resources, its

principal effect on the city of Montreal itself is the oversight

of the legislative work of the city council, and if acceptable

to make it legal by passing it in the form of amendments to the

city charter. In this respect a very important amendment to

the charter was made in 1910 as a result of the report of the

Cannon inquiry, which condemned the city administration of the

period. Under the amendment the Council is cut in half by each

ward having one instead of two representatives, and its work is

of a legislative nature only, leaving the administration subject

to the ratification of the council, in the hands of a board of

control composed of four members, who with the mayor is elected

by the city as a whole.

For a long time there has been a strong feeling that Montreal

should have more freedom and a large measure of Home Rule in its

local affairs, some even going so far as to urge that the island

of Montreal should be a separate Province. At present, there is

certainly a groping toward some such autonomy.

MONTREAL REPRESENTATIVES IN THE SENATE OF CANADA FROM

CONFEDERATION

The Honourable:

Jacques Bureau

Louis Renaud

John Hamilton

James Ferrier

Thomas Ryan

F.X.A. Trudel

E.G. Penny

Hector Fabre

J.R. Thibaudeau

A.W. Ogilvie

A. Lacoste

L.A. Senecal

Sir J.J.C. Abbott

J.B. Rolland

Sir George A. Drummond

C.S. Rodier

E. Murphy

A. Desjardins

James O’Brien

J.C. Villeneuve

William Owens

Sir W.H. Hingston

L.J. Forget

A.A. Thibaudeau

Raoul Dandurand

J.P.B. Casgrain

Robert McKay

Frédéric L. Beique

Laurent O. David

Henry J. Cloran

Arthur Boyer

Joseph Marcellin Wilson

MEMBERS OF THE FEDERAL PARLIAMENT FOR MONTREAL

SINCE CONFEDERATION

Date of Election. District. Member.

1867 Montreal City

West Hon. T. D’Arcy McGee

Centre T. Workman

East Hon. G.E. Cartier

1868, April 30th West M.P. Ryan, vice Hon.

T.D. McGee, deceased.

1872 Montreal City

West Hon. J. Young

Centre M.P. Ryan

East L.A. Jetté

1874 Montreal City

West F. McKenzie

Centre M.P. Ryan

East L.A. Jetté

1874, December Montreal City F. McKenzie (re-elected,

former election being

voided)

1875 Montreal City

West T. Workman, vice McKenzie

(election voided)

1875, January 12th Montreal City

Centre B. Devlin (elected vice

Ryan, election voided)

November 26th B. Devlin (re-elected,

former election declared

void)

1878, November 21st Montreal City

West M.H. Gault

Centre M.P. Ryan

East C.J. Coursol

1882 Montreal City

West M.H. Gault

Centre J.J. Curran

East C.J. Coursol

1887 Montreal City

West Sir Donald A. Smith

Centre J.J. Curran

East C.J. Coursol

1888 Montreal City

East A.T. Lepine, vice

Coursol (deceased)

1891 Montreal City

West Sir Donald A. Smith,

K.C.M.G.

Centre J.J. Curran

East A.T. Lepine

1892 Montreal City

Centre J.J. Curran (re-elected

on accepting office)

1895 Montreal City

Centre James McShane

J.J. Curran (appt. Judge)

1896 Montreal (St. Anne) M.J.F. Quinn

(St. Antoine) T.G. Roddick

(St. James) William Demarais

(St. Lawrence) E.G. Penny

(St. Mary) Hercule Dupré

1900 Montreal (St. Anne) Daniel Gallery

(St. Antoine) T.G. Roddick

(St. James) William Demarais

(St. Lawrence) Robert Bickerdike

(St. Mary) Hon. J.J. Tarte

1902, June Montreal (St. James) Joseph Brunet

(vice Demarais)

(St. James) Brunet (unseated Dec.,

1902)

1904 Montreal (St. James) H. Gervais

1904 Montreal (St. Anne) D. Gallery

(St. Antoine) H.B. Ames

(St. James) H. Gervais

(St. Lawrence) R. Bickerdike

(St. Mary) C. Piché

1906 Montreal (St. Anne) C.J. Walsh

(St. Mary) Médéric Martin

1908 Montreal (St. Anne) C.J. Doherty

(St. Antoine) H.B. Ames

(St. James) H. Gervais

(St. Lawrence) R. Bickerdike

(St. Mary) M. Martin

1911 Montreal (St. Anne) Hon. C.J. Doherty

(St. Antoine) H.B. Ames

(St. James) L.A. Lapointe

(St. Lawrence) R. Bickerdike

(St. Mary) M. Martin

MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY FOR MONTREAL FROM THE

CONFEDERATION, 1867, TO THE PRESENT

(From 1867 to 1890)

Date. District. Name.

1867-1871 Montreal Centre Edward Cartier

1871-1874 Montreal Centre The Hon. Luther H. Holton

1874-1875 Montreal Centre Charles Alexander

1875-1878 Montreal Centre Alexander Walker Ogilvie

1878-1881 Montreal Centre Horatio Admiral Nelson

1881-1886 Montreal Centre George Washington Stephens

1886-1890 Montreal Centre James McShane

1867-1871 Montreal East Sir George Etienne Cartier

1871-1875 Montreal East Ferdinand David

1875-1886 Montreal East Louis Olivier Taillon

1886-1890 Montreal East Laurent Olivier David

1867-1871 Montreal West Alexander Walker Ogilvie

1871-1873 Montreal West Francis Cassidy

1873-1878 Montreal West John Wait McGauvran

1878-1886 Montreal West James McShane

1886-1890 Montreal West John Smythe Hall

1867-1886 Hochelaga Louis Beaubien

1886-1887 Hochelaga Joseph Octave Villeneuve

1888-1890 Hochelaga Chas. Laplante dit Champagne

(From 1890 to 1912)

1890-1891 Montreal Division No. 1 Joseph Béland

1892-1897 Montreal Division No. 1 Francois Martineau

1897-1908 Montreal Division No. 1 George Albini Lacombe

1908-1912 Montreal Division No. 1 Napoleon Séguin

1890-1891 Montreal Division No. 2 Joseph Brunet

1892-1897 Montreal Division No. 2 Olivier Maurice Augé

1897-1908 Montreal Division No. 2 Lomer Gouin

1908-1909 Montreal Division No. 2 Henri Bourassa

1909-1912 Montreal Division No. 2 Clément Robillard

1890-1891 Montreal Division No. 3 Henri Benjamin Rainville

1892-1897 Montreal Division No. 3 Damase Parizeau

1897-1904 Montreal Division No. 3 Henri Benjamin Rainville

1904-1912 Montreal Division No. 3 Godfroi Langlois

1890-1891 Montreal Division No. 4 William Clendenning

1892-1896 Montreal Division No. 4 Alexander Webb Morris

1896-1900 Montreal Division No. 4 Albert William Atwater

1900-1904 Montreal Division No. 4 James Cochrane

1904-1908 Montreal Division No. 4 G.W. Stephens

1908-1912 Montreal Division No. 4 John T. Finnie

1890-1897 Montreal Division No. 5 John Smythe Hall

1897-1900 Montreal Division No. 5 Robert Bickerdike

1900-1904 Montreal Division No. 5 Matthew Hutchison

1904-1906 Montreal Division No. 5 Christopher B. Carter

1907-1912 Montreal Division No. 5 Ernest C. Gault

1890-1891 Montreal Division No. 6 The Hon. James McShane

1892-1895 Montreal Division No. 6 Patrick Kennedy

1895-1904 Montreal Division No. 6 James John Edmund Guerin

1904-1908 Montreal Division No. 6 Michael James Walsh

1908-(election

set aside) Montreal Division No. 6 Denis Tansey

1908-1912 Montreal Division No. 6 Michael James Walsh

1890-1896 Hochelaga Joseph Octave Villeneuve

1897-1904 Hochelaga Daniel Jerome Décarie

1904-1912 Hochelaga Jérémie Décarie

(from 1912)

1908 Jacques Cartier Philémon Cousineau

1908 Laval Joseph Wenceslas Lévesque

1912 Maisonneuve The Hon. Jérémie Décarie

1912 Montreal Dorion Georges Mayrand

1912 Montreal Hochelaga Séverin Létourneau

1912 Montreal Laurier Napoléon Turcot

1912 Montreal Ste. Anne Denis Tansey

1912 Montreal St. George C. Ernest Gault

1912 Montreal St. James Clément Robillard

1912 Montreal St. Lawrence John T. Finnie

1912 Montreal St. Louis J.E. Godfroi Langlois

1912 Montreal St. Mary Napoléon Séguin

1912 Westmount Charles Allan Smart

[Illustration: HON. LOMER GOUIN, K.C. Prime Minister of Province

of Quebec]

[Illustration: LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL A High

Commissioner for Canada]

[Illustration: SIR WILFRID LAURIER A Prime Minister of Canada]

[Illustration: MONTREAL FOUNDED 1642 In 1905 this monument,

by Philippe Hébert, was erected to the memory of the first

Governor of Montreal, Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, and

commemorates, with its bas reliefs and supplementary statuary,

several of the principal personages and dramatic incidents in the

early days of the settlement.]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Practically every bishop in the Province of Quebec issued an

amendment which tended to create Union and promote the acceptance

of Confederation. Cf. “The History of the Life and Times of Sir

George Etienne Cartier” by John Boyd (McMillan, Toronto, 1914),

pp. 288 et seq. The reader will find further interesting details

on the political life of Montreal of this period, in the above

work.

CHAPTER XXIII

SUPPLEMENTAL ANNALS AND SIDELIGHTS OF SOCIAL LIFE

UNDER CONFEDERATION

1867-1914

CONFEDERATION--IMPRESSIONS OF--FUNERAL OF D’ARCY M’GEE--PRINCE

ARTHUR OF CONNAUGHT--THE SECOND FENIAN RAID--THE “SILVER”

NUISANCE--ORGANIZATION OF CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD--RUN ON

A SAVINGS BANK--FUNERAL OF SIR GEORGE ETIENNE CARTIER--NEW

BALLOT ACT--THE “BAD TIMES”--THE NATIONAL POLICY--THE ICE

RAILWAY--THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD CONTRACT--THE FORMATION

OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA--OTHER CONGRESSES--THE

FIRST WINTER CARNIVAL--FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF ST. JEAN

BAPTISTE ASSOCIATION--THE GREAT ALLEGORICAL PROCESSION AND

CAVALCADE--THE MONUMENT NATIONAL--THE RIEL REBELLION--SMALLPOX

EPIDEMIC AND RIOTS--THE FLOODS OF 1886--THE FIRST

REVETMENT WALL--THE JESUITS ESTATES BILL AND THE EQUAL

RIGHTS PARTY--LA GRIPPE--THE COMTE DE PARIS--ELECTRICAL

CONVENTION--HISTORIC TABLETS PLACED--THE TWO HUNDRED AND

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF VILLE MARIE--THE BOARD OF TRADE

BUILDING BURNT--THE CITY RAILWAY ELECTRIFIED--HOME RULE FOR

IRELAND--VILLA MARIA BURNT--THE “SANTA MARIA”--CHRISTIAN

ENDEAVOURERS CONVENTION--THE CHATEAU DE RAMEZAY AS A PUBLIC

MUSEUM--MAISONNEUVE MONUMENT--LAVAL UNIVERSITY--QUEEN

VICTORIA’S DIAMOND JUBILEE--MONTREAL AND THE BOER WAR--THE

VISIT OF THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CORNWALL--TURBINE STEAMERS--A

JAPANESE LOAN COMPANY--FIRST AUTOMOBILE FATALITY--FIRES AT

McGILL--ECLIPSE OF SUN--THE WINDSOR STATION ACCIDENT--THE

“WITNESS” BUILDING BURNT--THE OPENING OF THE ROYAL EDWARD

INSTITUTE--GREAT CIVIC REFORM--THE DEATH OF EDWARD VII--THE

“HERALD” BUILDING BURNT--THE EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS--MONTREAL A

WORLD CITY--THE DRY DOCK--THE “TITANIC DISASTER”--CHILD WELFARE

EXHIBITION--MONTREAL AND THE WAR OF 1914.

The same foreword as that prefacing a preceding chapter is

similarly applicable here. The curious reader is warned to pursue

the history of the main movements indicated, in the second part

of special history.

Confederation was received with mixed feelings. There were

many of the _parti national_ who thought that Confederation

came too soon, that it had been hurried through without the

people thoroughly being instructed in the details and without

their being consulted, and that the French Canadians would be

politically annihilated, a foreboding never realized. It was

indeed the quietus to the _parti national_, who had opposed it

in their newspaper, the Union Nationale, established in 1865 by

Médéric Lanctot, which represented the views of the young blood

opposed to Cartier, such as Messrs. Joseph Loranger, Doutre,

Dorion, Judge Delorimier, Lanctot, Labelle, Laflamme and L.O.

David, then a brilliant writer on its staff. But in 1867 on the

advent of Confederation agitation ceased and the inevitable was

accepted with growing satisfaction. The country, however, was at

the time in a bad state, suffering from the abrogation of the

reciprocity treaty in 1866.

The year 1868 marks an important event in the French Canadian

life of the city, for it saw the Papal Zouaves leave Montreal on

February 7th, to fight in Italy against Garibaldi who wished to

curtail the temporal sovereignty of the papal throne. On February

15th the roof of St. Patrick’s Hall, the home of St. Patrick’s

National Society, at the south end of Craig Street, fell in. In

March the first 3-cent letter stamp was issued in Canada, and on

April 1st the first postoffice savings banks were opened. This

same month saw the assassination of D’Arcy McGee at Ottawa. His

funeral took place in Montreal on April 13th and was a great

public testimonial to his citizenship and to his devotion to his

adopted country.

Eighteen hundred and sixty-nine is remembered as the year the

present Governor General, H.R.H., the Duke of Connaught, then the

young Prince Arthur, a bright, frolicsome, light-hearted boy,

first came to the city, in August, to join his regiment, the

First Battalion of the Rifle Brigade. Rosemount, at the head of

Simpson Street, a house which was occupied by Sir John Rose, and

afterwards owned by the Ogilvie family, was set aside for him,

under the tutelage of Lord Elphinstone. His advent added to the

military and social gaiety of the small city. Among the brilliant

officers then in the city was Col. Garnett Wolseley, then known

only as a gallant officer who had served in the Crimea, who had

now gone on the Red River expedition to the Northwest to quiet

the first Riel rebellion, which occurred about this time, and who

lived, at this period, at 172 Havelock Terrace, Mountain Street,

above the Canadian Pacific Railway bridge. Another was General

Windham, who was buried in this city on February 12, 1870.

One of the acts of the young Prince was to open the Caledonia

skating rink on December 15th. A photograph of this represents

the Prince surrounded by such men as David Brown, A. McGibbon,

F. Gardner, Colonel Lord Russell, Mr. Hugh Allan, Mr. Andrew

Allan, Colonel Dyde, H. Hutchinson, the architect, and the Rev.

Dr. Robert Campbell. During his stay the Prince also opened the

Royal Arthur School on Workman Street, and conferred in the St.

Patrick’s Hall the order of St. Michael and St. George on Mr.

A.T. Galt,--a striking and unusual ceremony in those days.

The Sixth Art Exhibition was held in Montreal the next year on

March 8th and Prince Arthur was present.

The young Prince had more functions for he was soon to accompany

his regiment in repelling the second Fenian raid.

Meanwhile, about April 10, 1870, an intimation having been

received by the Dominion Government, from the British Minister

at Washington, of an intended Fenian raid into Canada, several

frontier corps were ordered to hold themselves in readiness for

immediate action. There was great military enthusiasm in the

city and by the end of the week all the battalions so ordered

were under arms. From Montreal, on the Monday following the

receipt of this information, Muir’s troop of cavalry was ordered

out and they arrived at Huntingdon on Tuesday afternoon, whither

also went Prince Arthur. Colonel Chamberlain had already gone

to Missisquoi to bring out the force under his command, whilst

a large force of the volunteers in Montreal was collected under

Lieutenant-Colonel Fletcher, the entire force being under Colonel

Lowry.

[Illustration: FUNERAL OF THOMAS D’ARCY McGEE]

[Illustration: FUNERAL OF THE LATE T.L. HACKETT AS SEEN COMING

DOWN ST. JAMES STREET]

The volunteer movement received an impetus and recruiting was

lively. During the following week the streets of Montreal

appeared gay with marching troops and sounds of martial music

from the many bands which were moving to and from the execution

of their military duties, now vividly recalled by the citizens of

that time who have lived to see the great call to arms of 1914.

The day after the Queen’s Birthday, May 25th, the band of 200

of these, misguided Fenians, under command of “General” O’Neil,

crossed the frontier and entered Canada, trying to effect a

lodgment at Pigeon Hill. A finely equipped little army of itself

in the shape of the Prince Consort’s Own Rifles (Regulars), 700

strong under command of Lord A. Russell and accompanied by our

present Governor-General, then Prince Arthur, went by special

train to St. Johns, where the volunteers had preceded them.

General Lindsay assumed command of the whole. The only fighting

that occurred was at Cook’s Corners, where the whole of the

Canadian troops did not exceed seventy men, though ample reserves

were in waiting at points near at hand. The actual fighting was

of no importance; it was a flash in the pan that made a great

scare.

On May 26th President Grant issued a proclamation against Fenian

raids into Canada and on May 30th in Montreal the mayor thanked

the volunteers for their services. Little had had to be done but

it was serious work mobilizing and there was much activity over

the city in preparation.

Several other events are to be recorded for this year, the

appearance of the Tyne Crew and the meeting to form the Dominion

Board of Trade. The Frazer Institute was incorporated in 1870 and

opened to the public in 1885 after a long delay from litigious

actions. This year the “silver” nuisance was lessened by the

export of $4,000,000 at a cost of $140,000, through the adoption

of the plan of Sir Francis Hincks and Mr. William Weir, afterward

president of the Ville Marie Bank.

In 1871 the first post cards issued by the Dominion postoffice

were welcomed in the city. In this year the fuller organization

of the Canadian Pacific Railway, organized by Montreal men, took

place and the preliminary surveys were made for which Parliament

had in 1870 appropriated $250,000.

On February 27, 1872, loyal Montreal observed the day as one of

thanksgiving for the recovery of the Prince of Wales. On April

27th the intense interest of Montrealers in the new railway

culminated in the voting on the million dollar railway subsidy.

October 2d of this year saw St. Patrick’s Hall burned down; a

run on the City and District Bank on the 7th, which was stopped

by a citizen’s large deposit and by the timely advice of the

Rev. Father Dowd, the pastor of St. Patrick’s parish; and on the

17th the city cars, then horse drawn, were stopped, owing to the

animals suffering from the epizooty. This year was marked by the

establishment of the first cotton mill at Hochelaga.

The memorable events of 1873 include the obtaining of the charter

of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the public funeral in Montreal,

on June 13th, of Sir George Etienne Cartier, who died in London

on May 20th at the age of fifty-nine years, the unveiling of the

statue of Queen Victoria by Lord Dufferin and the opening of the

Wesleyan Theological College and the new Y.M.C.A. building.

In 1874 the manifesto of the Canada First party was issued on

January 6th, preceding the general elections of January 29th.

In March the Queen’s Hall, the home of concerts and theatrical

entertainments, was burnt down.

In September, 1875, the reinterment of Guibord in the Catholic

cemetery took place under military escort.

On May 26th an act was passed that introduced vote by ballot,

simultaneous elections, the abolition of property qualifications

for members of the House of Commons and stringent enactments

against corrupt practices at elections. On June 6, 1876, the

Emperor and Empress of Brazil were entertained in this city.

This year was chiefly noticeable for trade depression and the

number of business failures. This was in consequence of the bad

times begun in 1874. On August 14th a great mass meeting was

called to consider the Montreal taxes. The country was in a poor

state after the abrogation of the reciprocity treaty with the

United States and was suffering from the reaction after the Civil

war.

In 1875 the Mechanics Bank and the Banque Jacques Cartier

suspended payment. The industries were very few and could not

compete with those of the States, and agriculture was feeble.

There were heavy duties to pay for the many goods coming from

the States. There was little population and many crossed the

border line. Work was scarce; there was great distress. People

were starving and free public soup kitchens were established for

poor relief by the charitable agencies. Funds were too low for

more liberal treatment. Politicians placed the blame on the free

trade policy of Mr. McKenzie’s party then in power. This was

opposed to the genius and the needs of a young country feeling

its industrial way. While the Americans had a duty at that time

of twenty to seventy per cent the Canadians for purely revenue

purposes had only something like fifteen per cent, and nothing

for protection. The occasion was one that demanded practical

relief and not finely strung political theories, built on the

experience of the custom prevailing in England. But nothing was

done so that the people became hopeless and gloomy and there was

a project about this time, as already recorded, for annexation,

encouraged by the American party in Montreal for business reasons.

Meanwhile the city saw, in June and July, of 1878, the Orange

troubles and the shooting of Hackett, a state of excitement no

doubt caused by the general unsettled state of affairs. The

great hope of this time was the national policy which Sir John

A. Macdonald began to make public. The effect was magical at

the start. In March, 1878, he expressed his opinion that to

be prosperous Canada must adopt a “national policy” for the

protection of home industries. It had to be fought out at the

polls. There was now hope in every breast. Financial men began

to look out for sites upon which to build mills and factories,

the sugar refineries were reopened, the people took heart and

when the policy carried at the polls in September by a tremendous

majority and was ratified by a formal vote in the house, and when

the national policy was introduced March 14, 1879, going into

effect next day, it was felt that Montreal and Canada were saved.

It was the remembrance of this that caused the older men to vote

against reciprocity when before the public in 1911.

A social event of this year was the investiture by the Marquis of

Lorne, Governor-General of Canada, authorized by Her Majesty, of

the six knights of the most distinguished Order of St. Michael

and St. Gregory.

On January 1, 1880, the South Eastern Railway began the

construction of a railway across the ice from the north side of

the river to the station between Bellerive Park and Longueuil

Ferry, across to Longueuil. The contractors were Auguste Laberge

& Son, who had built the city hall, its promoters being Mr.

Sénecal, A.B. Foster, Judge Mousseau, J.B. Renaud and others. On

the 29th of January loaded cars were drawn across to Montreal.

Next day an engine of 50,000 pounds avoirdupois crossed from

Montreal. On March 15th horses replaced the engines; on March

31st twenty cars were on the ice railway, when it began to be

found insecure so that the rails were removed from the ice on

April 1st.

In September the Governor General visited the exhibition at

Montreal, when 50,000 persons were present.

On October 1st the contract was signed for the Canadian Pacific

Railway, but at midnight on December 10th it was placed before

the House. On February 16th of the next year the company received

its letters patent and on May 2d broke the first ground for the

great transcontinental railway.

On December 23d of this year Sarah Bernhardt made her first

appearance here.

On January 5th, 1881, the South Eastern Railway laid a railway

again across the ice but it was shortly abandoned on the loss of

an engine by the freight train breaking through, without the loss

of life.

The next year, 1882, was one of intellectual progress in the city

for this year, on May 25th, the Royal Society of Montreal was

formed with Sir William Dawson, principal of McGill, as president.

On August 21st there were the meetings of the Forestry and

Agricultural congresses and on August 23d the American

Association for the Advancement of Learning again chose the city

for its convention after twenty-four years’ absence.

The first Montreal Winter Carnival was held in January, 1883,

and was the outgrowth of a suggestion by Mr. R.D. McGibbon, an

advocate of the city. One of the great features was the ice

palace, which was erected in Dominion Square, a mediaeval castle

of transparent crystal. The attack of 2,000 snowshoers, and the

defence by the volunteers, was a great scene amid the detonation

of bombshells and the interchange of pyrotechnic missles till

at last the castle capitulated. After this an immense line of

showshoers, each bearing aloft a blazing torch, scaled the

mountain in a seemingly endless trail of fire. This has been

repeated at more or less regular intervals but the fear that the

ice palace would harm prospective immigrants through unnecessary

fear of our bright, brisk and invigorating winter has caused the

carnival pageant to fall into desuetude. Yet the carnival is but

a development of the old frost fairs on the Thames, that most

known being on the occasion of the visit of Charles II and the

Royal Family to the Frost Fair of 1684, when the printers made a

souvenir as follows:

Charles, King Mary, Duchess

James, Duke Anne, Princess

Katherine, Queen George, Prince

Hans in Kilder

London, printed by J. Croome on the ice on the River

Thames, Jan. 31st, 1684.

The month of June, 1884, was the scene of great festivity among

the French-Canadian population on the occasion of the fiftieth

anniversary of the foundation of the parent society of St.

Jean Baptiste Association of Montreal, being taken to hold a

national congress of French-Canadians from June 24th to the 28th,

to inaugurate the placing of the first stone of the Edifice

Nationale, which afterwards became the “Monument National.”

Outside of the literary, artistic and other intellectual sessions

of the congress there were public sports, balloon ascensions and

amusements, and a great procession of all the societies of St.

Jean Baptiste in Canada and the United States, when a magnificent

array of allegorical cars representing the chief features of

Canadian history passed through the principal streets of the city.

In addition there was a grand historical cavalcade representing

St. Louis, King of France, receiving the oriflamme of St. Denis

and departing for the Seventh Crusade. The dresses for this

dignified cavalcade cost about ten thousand dollars and the whole

spectacle was one that far surpassed any similar dramatic pageant

that had preceded it or has followed since in Canada.

On January 1, 1884, the River St. Lawrence again notably flooded

the lower part of Montreal as was usual in the spring.

On July 4, 1884, Louis Riel arrived at Duck Lake and began to

inflame the discontent in the half-breeds and Indians, who feared

dispossession of their lands by the incoming settlers and the

encroachment of the iron road of the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

This, together with the Soudan war then in progress, produced a

revival of the military spirit so that in the following year,

1885, Montreal sent the Sixty-fifth Regiment to suppress the

rebellion.

The Montreal contingent returned home at a critical juncture

and was employed to quell the anti-vaccination riots of 1885.

At this time a virulent epidemic of smallpox had broken out in

the city and a compulsory vaccination act had been passed which

was resented by a great portion of the people, many complaining

that the vaccine used had poisoned them, while others complained

on sentimental and medical grounds. It was a time of terror.

Mobs attacked the houses and even the persons of Larocque, Drs.

E. Persillier-Lachapelle, J.W. Mount, Hingston, and others, who

were before the public as the chief promoters of the vaccination

movement. Meanwhile the doctors appointed for each district had

their stations and went from door to door to vaccinate, while the

houses could be seen with their isolation papers posted on them

and with guards around and the yellow ambulances plying through

the streets, taking away the affected sick or the dead.

The friends of many of the victims refused to allow the patients

to be removed to the Exhibition grounds where a temporary

hospital had been arranged. All the local troops were called out.

The cavalry was there, too. A tremendous mob assembled at Mount

Royal and attacked it with stones. Many of the men received cuts

in the face. When the mob was at its worst, it was discovered

that there was no magistrate to read the riot act, and no

ammunition for the rifles, in case the rifles had to be used.

However, the cavalry rode through the crowds. A better feeling

finally prevailed, so that the patients were peaceably allowed to

be taken to the public hospital.

[Illustration: WINTER SPORTS IN MONTREAL: Skiing]

[Illustration: WINTER SPORTS IN MONTREAL: Snow shoeing]

[Illustration: WINTER SPORTS IN MONTREAL: The Ice Palace]

[Illustration: WINTER SPORTS IN MONTREAL: Hockey match at

Victoria Rink]

[Illustration: WINTER SPORTS IN MONTREAL: Toboggan slide on

Mount Royal]

The epidemic had important results in the effect it had on the

modernizing and reconstruction of the medical bureau of the city

hall.

The Montreal annals of 1886 for January 2d recall the meetings

of the famous evangelist, D.L. Moody. In the same month Sir John

A. MacDonald, while in England, defended French-Canadian loyalty

and affirmed at the same time that 40,000 of the best soldiers in

Canada were ready to leave to defend Imperial interests in Burmah

or Turkestan.

This year was signalized by Montreal’s worst inundation, so

that on April 17th from the foot of Beaver Hall Hill there was

a 5 cent ferry by boat and carts to St. James Street. The flood

abated on April 20th, after having been five feet, ten inches

above the revetment wall. A similar flood occurred next year and

a delegation went to Ottawa to arrange with the Government for

adequate protection. In consequence the following year a wooden

embankment, filled with cement, was built and pumping stations

were erected to protect Montreal from further inundations. This

revetment wall, however, gave place to the present one of stone.

On the 28th of June the first passenger train to the Pacific left

the city, reaching Vancouver on July 4th, a distance of 2,906

miles having been covered in 140 hours.

On May 12, 1888, the Quebec Parliament passed the Jesuits’

estates bill.

On September 3d the first labour day was celebrated in the city,

5,000 taking part in the procession.

During the next year, 1889, the Jesuits’ bill was contested by

the Equal Rights party; finally the Quebec Legislature paid

the Jesuits $400,000 which was further divided among Catholic

educational bodies and an additional sum of $60,000 was turned

over to the Protestant Board of Education.

The year 1890 opened with la grippe which was then prevalent in

the United States, Canada and Europe.

On May 6th the lunatic asylum at Longue Pointe was burnt down

with the loss of seventy lives, owing to the incendiarism of a

patient.

This year saw the reception of the Comte de Paris and his son.

The reception tendered them was a brilliant affair. Not only

the French population but the English also received them most

royally, although a counter demonstration was started by a few

revolutionary spirits, but they had no following and their

efforts came to nothing.

The annals of 1891 recall the arrival in the city, on August

21st, of the Continental Guards from New Orleans.

On September 8th there was the first electrical convention and

this was followed on September 18th by the Montreal Exhibition,

which took place on the former Guilbeault’s zoological and

pleasure grounds above Mount Royal Avenue, these having been

moved from the first location on Sherbrooke Street, the

attendance at the exhibition being 50,000, surpassing those of

1880, 1881, 1883 and 1884.

Lovers of the antiquities of the city will note the date of

October 21st, as that of the historic tablets being unveiled

under the auspices of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society

of Montreal, the movement having been promoted by Messrs. W.D.

Lighthall with the aid of A.U. Beaudry, Gerald Hart and others of

a subsequent committee.

The fifth jubilee of the founding of Montreal occurred in 1892.

As early as April 17, 1888, a resolution was passed by the above

association to celebrate it by an international exhibition

in 1892. In October of 1888, Mr. Roswell Corse Lyman, one of

its members, wrote a pamphlet “Shall we have a World’s Fair

in Montreal in 1892 to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth

anniversary of the founding of Ville Marie?” It never eventuated

in this city, but Montreal can rightly claim that through this

pamphlet and the Montreal initiation the wonderful Chicago

World’s Fair of 1893 had its origin.

In April many Jewish families left Montreal to colonize the

Northwest.

April of 1893 opened with three incendiary fires and on April 3d

Bonsecours Market was partially burnt with a loss of $20,000,

without insurance. On May 18th the cornerstone of the new Board

of Trade Building was laid by Sir Donald Smith, who humorously

remarked that he had come down from Ottawa as a common labourer,

but that his brother member of Parliament, Mr. J.J. Curran,

afterward the Hon. Mr. Justice Curran, had come to make a

speech. On May 28th the will of Mr. J.W. Tempest was published,

bequeathing the Art Association of Montreal about $80,000. One of

the first benefactors to this had been Mr. Benajah Gibb, a former

citizen.

At the second congress of the Chambers of Commerce of the Empire,

held in London from June 28th to July 1st, the Montreal Board

of Trade was represented by Mr. Donald A. Smith and Mr. Peter

Redpath.

On July 5th, Sir William Dawson welcomed the Teachers’

Association to the city.

This year the street railway of Montreal was electrified and city

planners saw the beginning of the present leap in the growth of

Montreal through its suburbs following on the annexations which

began in 1883.

On July 19th the city granted a thirty years’ franchise to the

Street Railway Company.

In 1893 the progress of McGill University since 1852 was made

manifest. University life was enlivened in this city on January

20th, when the students of the universities of Vermont and

McGill held a joint concert in the city. At this time McGill

had sixty-six professors. In April the chairs of pathology and

hygiene were founded by the chancellor, Sir Donald A. Smith.

McGill was benefited this year by the addition of the engineering

and physics building, the gift of (Sir) William C. Macdonald, by

the workshops, the gift of Thomas Workman, the library, by Peter

Redpath, and the new Aberdeen medal, given by the new Governor

General, Lord Aberdeen. But in the midst of the triumphs of this

year, McGill regretfully received the resignation of Sir William

Dawson, whom it had received as its principal in 1852, the year

of its second lease of life.

On February 23d the International Mining Association met in

Montreal.

On April 24, 1893, the interest of Montrealers in Imperial

politics was manifested by the telegram of St. Patrick’s Society

to the Canadian statesman, the Hon. E.S. Blake, a member of

Parliament for an English constituency, to congratulate Mr.

Gladstone and himself on the second reading of the Home Rule bill.

[Illustration: A GROUP OF MONTREAL RESIDENCES]

[Illustration: Residence of Sir William C. Van Horne]

[Illustration: Residence of the Hon. Dr. James J. Guerin,

Ex-Mayor of Montreal]

[Illustration: “Ravenscrag,” residence of Sir Hugh Montagu Allan]

[Illustration: Montreal residence of Lord Strathcona and Mount

Royal]

[Illustration: Residence of the late Hon. Sir William Hales

Hingston]

[Illustration: Residence of the late Charles M. Hays, Esq.]

On May 1st there was held the first meeting of the Corn Exchange

in its newly erected building. On the 23d Montreal was visited

by the tornado which passed over the province, but without much

injury or death.

On June 8th, Villa Maria, belonging to the “Congregation”

Sisters, one of the largest educational structures on the

American continent, was destroyed by fire.

On June 19th the three caravels, intended as the facsimiles of

the ships of Columbus, were at Montreal on their way to the

World’s Fair at Chicago. In the summer of 1914 one of them, the

Santa Maria, reappeared at Montreal on a long tour in preparation

for the Panama Exhibition at San Francisco in 1915.

The harbour also saw in July the arrival of the warship Etna.

July witnessed a great convention of many thousands of an

unsectarian body named the Christian Endeavourers. This year

the railways of Montreal were flourishing and the fact that

132 trains were daily entering by the Canadian Pacific and

Grand Trunk railways show the steady growth of the population

and commerce. The earnings of the Canadian Pacific Railway had

increased by almost five million dollars since 1887.

On October 30th the city mourned the loss by death of a great

Montrealer, the late Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, K. C, M.G.,

a former mayor of the city and a prime minister of Canada. His

burial took place on November 2d and his remains were followed

by his successor, Sir John Thompson, and by many hundreds of the

leaders of Canada.

The most important event closing the year of 1893 was the

inauguration of the Royal Victoria Hospital in honour of Her

Majesty, Queen Victoria.

On November 27th, Montreal experienced a shock of earthquake

which was felt over Canada with no loss of life and little of

property.

In 1894, Sir William Van Horne, the president of the Canadian

Pacific Railway, and one of its pioneers, was knighted.

This year closed on December 31st with one of the greatest

windstorms ever recorded in the history of Montreal, the velocity

of the wind reaching eighty miles per hour, so that much damage

was done.

In 1894, the first attempt towards a public portrait gallery,

a museum of antiquities and the securing of the Château de

Ramezay as its permanent home originated with the members of the

Antiquarian Society of Montreal, the idea of the picture gallery

arising with Mr. de Léry MacDonald, that of saving the Château

from passing into private hands, with Mr. Roswell Lyman, and

the employment of it as a public historical museum by Mr. W.D.

Lighthall, which was promoted by a petition to the mayor and

aldermen organized by Mr. R.W. McLachlan and others and signed

by about three thousand principal citizens. The agitation was

successful and the first reception was given in the Château de

Ramezay on November 11, 1897.

The next year, 1895, was marked with the inauguration of other

public movements. On June 6th the statue of Sir John A. MacDonald

was unveiled in Dominion Square by Sir Donald A. Smith and the

Maisonneuve monument by Phillipe Hébert was unveiled on the

Place d’Armes on Monday, July 1st, by the Hon. J.A. Chapleau,

lieutenant governor of the Province of Quebec, the president of

the committee being M.S. Pagnuelo and the secretary being the

Vicomte H. de la Barthe. This was followed on October 8th by the

inauguration of the new edifice of the Montreal branch of Laval

University, but recently established in the city.

In 1896, Sir Donald A. Smith, later Lord Strathcona, was

appointed High Commissioner for Canada. Another prominent

Montreal citizen, Mr. Charles M. Hays, was appointed general

manager of the Grand Trunk Railway.

Among the notable city events of 1897 were the meeting, in

Montreal, of the Behring Sea Commissioners on June 16th, the

celebration of the first day of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee,

the consecration on June 30th of His Grace, Archbishop Bruchesi,

by the Apostolic delegate, Mgr. Merry del Val, and the great

meeting of the British Medical Society on August 31st.

In 1898 the public benefactions of a notable citizen, Sir William

C. MacDonald, were rewarded by a knighthood.

January 1, 1899, is memorable as the day when the reduction of

the 3 cent postage stamp to 2 cents came into force.

This year also marked the progress of the movement for the

higher education of women by the opening of the Royal Victoria

College for Women, being endowed with a gift of $1,000,000 by the

chancellor of the University of McGill, Lord Strathcona.

This year being that of the beginning of the Boer war, Montreal

again shared in the Imperial burden by providing a considerable

part of the Canadian contingents for service in South Africa,

it being represented in the first contingent by Company E,

which sailed on October 30, 1899, and more largely in the

second contingent which departed on January 4, 1900. The famous

Strathcona Horse of three squadrons with 597 of all ranks sailed

on March 1, 1900. During the progress of the war the citizens

were actively engaged in promoting the patriotic fund and in

works of providing comforts for the soldiers and those left

behind by them.

During the course of 1900 the statue of Queen Victoria by

Princess Louise was unveiled by the Governor General, Lord Minto.

The year 1901 was ushered in by the disastrous fire which

destroyed the Board of Trade and many other commercial buildings

on St. Paul Street to the extent of $2,500,000 loss. The new

building was raised on the same site and was taken possession of

on May 1, 1903.

On September 18, 1902, Montreal was honoured by the royal

visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, who are now happily

reigning as King George V and Queen Mary. The loyalty of the

city was manifested as on previous royal visits, the city being

magnificently decorated and illuminated.

The growing importance of Montreal as a factor in Imperial

commerce was demonstrated in the following year, 1903, when the

Chambers of Commerce of the Empire met in the city.

The destruction by fire of the Mount Royal Club, frequented by

the wealthiest and most important citizens, taking place this

year is another sidelight calling attention to the growth of

club life since the old Beaver Club days. Other clubs had, in

the meantime, been established in great numbers to cope with the

growth of its needs.

In 1905 the first turbine steamers to cross the Atlantic, the

Virginian and Victorian, of the Allan Line, were placed on the

St. Lawrence route, a fact showing that navigation methods at

Montreal have always kept abreast with the times. This same year

the value of new buildings erected was $5,590,698.

The year 1904 opened with a terrible conflagration at St.

Cunégonde on January 18th.