CHAPTER XI.
Extent of Canada—The Lakes—Canadian Wealth—Early History—Jacques Cartier—English and French Colonists—Colonial and Acadian Troubles—La Salle—Border Conflicts—Early Expeditions—Invasions from New England—Louisburgh and Ticonderoga—The Colonial Insurrection—Partition of Canada—Progress of Upper Canada—France and Canada—The American Invasion—Winter Campaign—New Orleans and Plattsburgh—Peace of Ghent—Political Controversies—Winter Communication—Sentiments of Hon. Joseph Howe—General View of Imperial and Colonial relations.
Extent of Canada—The Lakes—Canadian Wealth—Early History—Jacques Cartier—English and French Colonists—Colonial and Acadian Troubles—La Salle—Border Conflicts—Early Expeditions—Invasions from New England—Louisburgh and Ticonderoga—The Colonial Insurrection—Partition of Canada—Progress of Upper Canada—France and Canada—The American Invasion—Winter Campaign—New Orleans and Plattsburgh—Peace of Ghent—Political Controversies—Winter Communication—Sentiments of Hon. Joseph Howe—General View of Imperial and Colonial relations.
A victory won not a century ago gratified the animosities of the American colonies, and added to the countries ruled by the Sovereign of Great Britain a tract of territory thrice the size of his kingdom. From Labrador to the western limit of Lake Superior, a line drawn east and west within the boundaries of Canada, is 1600 miles long; but the breadth of the country from its Southern frontiers to the ill-defined boundary on the North, is but 225 miles. This vast region is divided into Upper and Lower Canada. The former lies between long. 40° and 49° N., and lat. 74° and 117° W. The latter lies between 45° and 50° North and 57° and 80° W. The three hundred and forty thousand square miles thus bounded present every variety of scenery and of soil. The climate is mainly influenced by the relations of the land to the enormous inland seas and great rivers which occupy such a space in the map of British North America. From Lake Superior, which is larger than all Ireland, flows the mighty stream which feeds Lake Huron by the River St. Mary. Huronis nearly 250 miles long and 221 miles broad. From Lake Huron the river and lake of St. Clair lead the flood into Lake Erie, which is 280 miles long and 63 miles broad. From Lake Erie the current runs with quickening pace, till it rushes in ceaseless flight into the fathomless depths of Niagara, and whirls onward to melt into the waters of Lake Ontario. The last and smallest of these seas, Ontario, is 180 miles long and 50 miles broad. The St. Lawrence, winding through many islands, emerges from its eastern extremity and commences its uninterrupted career of 700 miles to the Atlantic. The land of this northern continent in fact reverses the part of Ocean, and enfolds sea after sea within its arms. The water blesses the land for its protection; it yields an easy way to the progress of civilisation; transports the produce of the settler’s labour to distant markets, and lays open to his enterprise the wide-spreading forests and plains which, but for them, would still be the heritage of the Indian and of his prey. Among the greatest proofs of enterprise in the world are the canals by which the people living on the shores of the lakes have rendered navigation practicable from the sea to Lake Superior. The display of the natural and artificial products of the far-reaching lands watered by the giant St. Lawrence at the Great Exhibition of 1862, came to the eyes of most of us with a sort of shock. It was surprising indeed to behold such evidences of wealth given by a dependency which was associated in the popular mind with frost and snow, with Niagara, Labrador, and French insurrection—Moose, moccasins, and Indians. There we saw an exuberance and excellence of growth in timber and in cereals—in all kinds of agricultural produce, combinedwith prodigious mineral riches. Sir William Logan, assisted by the zealous, skilful, and indefatigable staff of Canadian geologists, showed what a future Canada may expect when capital and population combine to disinter the treasures which now lie hid within its rocky ribs.
According to Jesuit Hennepin, the name of Canada furnishes a proof of an ignorance and deficient appreciation of the true value of the country that still mark the workings of the European mind in reference to the resources of Canada. According to him, the word Canada was derived from a corruption of the Spanish words Capo da Nada, or Cape of Nothing, which they gave to the scene of their early discoveries when, under a conviction of its utter barrenness and inutility, they were about abandoning it in disgust. The derivation may be well doubted, but the implication may be true enough. The mainspring of Spanish, and indeed of all European enterprise in those days, was the hope of gold, and although there is reason to know that the precious metal is associated with others scarcely less valuable in Canada, of course it was not found lying in heaps and blocks on the sea-shore, and therefore the Spaniards concluded that it did not exist. It has been conjectured, with greater appearance of probability, that Canada is a modification of the Spanish word signifying “a passage;” because the Spaniards thought they could find a passage to India through Canada; as others, with greater reason, believe there may yet be found a permanent practicable way to the shores of the Pacific through its wide expanse of lake and mountain.
The accounts of the first discovery of Canada, meagreas they are, possess a romantic interest which is never likely to assume any very precise or substantial form. Although Cabot, who discovered Labrador and Hudson’s Bay, was the first person who suggested or projected the establishment of colonies or settlements in these newly-found regions, and English merchants actually established some small colonies there, it is to Jacques Cartier, of St. Malo, that the credit of the first real establishment of Europeans in Canada must be assigned. Cabot discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence: it was Cartier who found that the Gulf was but the mouth of a vast river; and who urged his little craft among its unknown dangers till he came to the site of Quebec. It was no ordinary man who, having accomplished thus much, pressed onwards till he reached Hochelaga, the site of Montreal. He was impelled by the love of gold and precious stones, and believed that here he had found them, but they were indeed only Lagenian mines. Cartier, and many another gallant sailor, found glittering mica and crystals on the shores of their new found lands, which in their innocent faith they believed to be gold and diamonds, and so filled ship and were off to sea again. The failure of these early adventures cast Canada into disfavour with those who led the enterprise of the East. Whilst the English merchants and navigators were, with uncertain steps, seeking some solid resting-place on the eastern shores of America below the St. Lawrence, Canada was left in the possession of the Indians—not a peaceable possession, because the great Tribes were as irreclaimably belligerent as the Highland Clans or the Irish Septs. It is curious to reflect on the fact, indeed, that little more than two hundred years ago the whole of the vastregion between Massachusetts and Hudson’s Bay was in the hands of the Red Man. But he was then yielding ground rapidly before the imperious strangers who had seized his shore farther south. The merchants of Bristol and of London turned their attention to Virginia before the French of St. Malo had well established themselves on the shores of the St. Lawrence. Both English and French alike were encouraged and stimulated in these early efforts by the Crown. About the time that James the First was granting charters and framing corporations for colonies in Virginia, Champlain was establishing French settlements at Tadousac and Quebec, in Nouvelle France. The early dealings of English and French with the natives are discreditable to both nations; both fomented or availed themselves of dissensions among the Tribes, and when hostilities broke out, threw their weight on one side or the other. Whilst the New England Puritans were encouraging themselves in the work of destroying the Red Man by quoting passages from the Old Testament, which clearly showed how they the chosen people of God were called upon to slay the Canaanite, Champlain, with his Roman Catholic priests, was quite as busy in rooting out Iroquois in the name of Heaven and of the Church. Of the two invading races, indeed, the French were the least exclusive, for they neither burned nor banished Dissenters. So great was the liberality of France in those days, that Protestant and Roman Catholic emigrants shared in the same enterprise, and abode in the same settlements. But the Brethren of New Plymouth took a very limited view of Christian fraternisation, and at the very outset the colonists of the Northern and of the SouthernStates were animated by principles so opposed that even in the grub state they bit and stung each other.
English and French colonists were alike undergoing the spasmodic influences of the jealousy and intrigue which usually preside over the birthplace of colonies, when the operations of the war which broke out between France and England in 1628, were extended to those distant regions. The growing power of England at sea enabled her to strike a tremendous blow at New France. Champlain, with all his garrison, was starved into capitulation by Sir David Kirke; but on the restoration of peace and of the colony to France, in 1633, he returned to Canada, where he died two years afterwards. Champlain, with all his faults, was undoubtedly a man noteworthy, politic, and valuable in his time and generation, and his name will ever be associated with the early history of the continent. Priests and nuns and missionaries after his death swooped down on the Indians, who began to hate each other worse than ever they had done before, whilst at the same time they learned to entertain a savage dislike for the race which they had welcomed to their shores so courteously and gently. Thousands of Indians were indeed converted, as it was called, to Christianity; but it was only that they might rage with greater cruelty and fierceness against their brethren. Massacres of Christians and of converts by furious savages fanned these unholy flames. Little is left of either the Indians or of their Christianity now. A common animosity to the aborigines brought about the first “rapprochement” between the French and British colonists. The New English and the New French first met in America to consider the proprietyof an alliance against their Indian enemies, which should not be broken by war between the parent countries, but the status of the two offshoots of the great European rivals was very different. The French in Canada at one time displayed a wonderful amount of enterprise, energy, and perseverance in their dealings with the savages, which can only be appreciated by those who have studied their early records, but it contrasts strongly with the quiescence and political folly of their descendants. Their early explorations were characterised by a spirit worthy of the countrymen of Cartier. Among these, the voyage of La Salle from Niagara deserves to be mentioned, as indicative of the highest qualities of a traveller. In a little craft of some sixty tons, he ascended the rapid river above the Falls of Niagara, amidst difficulties which we can but little understand, and gained the broad expanse of Lake Erie; thence boldly steering westward, he came upon the narrow river or strait of Detroit, crossed the lucid waters of Lake St. Clair, and was at last rewarded by the grand discovery of Lake Huron. Still boldly pursuing his course westward, La Salle at last came to Lake Michigan, whence in company with Father Hennepin, his jesuit historian, he undertook the feat of penetrating to the head waters of the Mississippi. Nor did he stop when he reached the mystic stream; he trusted himself to the mighty flood, and never turned round or bated breath till he floated out, 2000 miles below, on the turbid waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Whilst the hierarchy of France were busy founding bishoprics, building churches, and establishing seminaries, the English, distracted by internal convulsions, left their American colonies pretty much tothemselves. France sent out governors, councillors, and bishops to New France; England dispatched her Puritans, adventurers, younger sons, Catholic cavaliers, and Nonconformists; but the natives were sure to suffer, no matter in what form the colony was ruled, or of what Europeans it was composed. Terrible diseases, although known in Europe for two hundred years previously, according to contemporary writers, appeared suddenly, and without European communication, among the indigenes, and ravaged the miserable tribes, already decimated by intestine war and ruin. Christians were naturally held accountable for all the evil; and for a large part indeed they were.
Whilst James the Second was making a last stand for his Crown against the victorious Dutchman, La Salle, with a patent of Governor, was sailing from La Rochelle, for the dependency of Louisiana, which now completed the vast semicircle over which the King of France claimed authority, and which enclosing the British settlements in a belt from Newfoundland through the lakes, swept thence by the Ohio down to the Gulf of Mexico, far away to theterra incognitaunder the setting sun. The superior trading resources of the Indians of the South, the favourable conditions for the expansion of trade possessed by the British on the Hudson over the French, who had to struggle with longer frost, and the wintry storms of the St. Lawrence, and the greater commercial enterprise of the English colonists, nullified that vast territorial superiority. The French governors thought, by displays of vigour and violence towards the natives, to alter the course of trade; but they could not compete with their neighbours, and quarrels and petty wars vexed the life of both colonial systems. In 1690,M. de Frontenac launched three little corps of invading savages, aided and led by French troops, against the British settlements in the New England Colonies. Schenectady in New York, Salmon Falls in New Hampshire, Casco in Maine, were surprised and burned, and the colonists were given to the sword and the scalping-knife. For a time the survivors of the massacre had something else to do besides persecuting each other to death for witchcraft or torturing their heretics. They set to work to avenge their slaughtered saints. Sir William Phipps, a native of Massachusetts, led his Puritan hosts to Port Royal in Nova Scotia, but was obliged to retreat ingloriously from an attempt against Montreal. His rival, de Frontenac, had no better fortune in a projected attack by land and sea against New York. The war which raged between the colonists was terminated by the Peace of Ryswick; but peace did not last long, and the declaration of war by Great Britain against France and Spain revived the bloody contests between the borderers. The British Government sent out Marlborough’s veterans, and those sailors who had swept the seas of every enemy, to aid the colonists. An immense expedition, which seemed capable of destroying any trace of French rule in Canada, sailed from Boston in 1710, against Quebec, but failed miserably at sea and in the St. Lawrence ere it reached the city. The Peace of Utrecht, in 1713, brought about a cessation of hostilities, but not of jealousies, or of Indian wars and massacres. By that time the predominance of the white man was well established, and the faces of the Indians were turned steadily towards the setting sun, and their footsteps followed his course towards the forests of the west. Fort after fort encroachedon their decreasing domain, and Englishman and Frenchman, each after his kind, sought to reproduce in the New World those features of the mother country which he loved or admired or respected most.
In the period which elapsed between the Treaty of Utrecht and the declaration of war in 1745, both the Colonies and Canada prospered, but the increase of the former was to that of the latter as the increase of grain compared with that of moss. The people of Massachusetts, led by their colonial chief, Pepperell, with contingents from Rhode Island, Vermont, and Connecticut, were joined by the British fleet under Warren, and set out on them darling project of reducing Louisburg, the great French arsenal and station at Cape Breton. On the 17th of August, 1746, after a siege of two months, the place surrendered with all its stores to the victorious Colonists. It was with difficulty that France could communicate with her menaced dependency, for the sea was nearly controlled by the British fleets, but her pride was aroused, and great armaments were prepared and dispatched to Canada.Afflavit Deus et hostes dissipantur.Two expeditions were nigh lost altogether on the waves. A third was destroyed by the fleet under Warren and Anson. The Peace of Rochelle put an end to the passionate efforts of France to retrieve her disasters, but the rivalries and excesses of the British and French fur-traders continued the strife between the Colonies and New France. The latter claiming the whole course of the Ohio, as it appears with some reason, forbade our traders to resort there. Forts were built to enable the French to exercise their jurisdiction and authority on ground which was regarded by the British Colonists as their own, and it is a remarkable fact, that GeorgeWashington’s first military service was in command of an expedition of Virginians to capture the works erected by the French, and that he was compelled to lay down his arms by De Villiers, after a brief and inglorious—not to say very badly-managed campaign. Although Great Britain made considerable efforts to aid the colonists in their wars, she could not very well continue to do so when she was at peace with France, if her distant subjects chose to carry on hostilities on their own account. The King’s Government gave advice to the Colonies to unite for self-defence, which led in 1754 to the assemblage of a convention at Albany, at which Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York were represented. The delegates drew up a plan for what was in effect a Federal Union, but the plan fell to the ground. The Home Government refused to adopt it, because of certain encroachments which it contained on the prerogatives of the Crown; and the colonial assemblies, which had already exhibited a sturdy self-reliance and independence worthy of attention at home, were equally dissatisfied with the proposal. But the seed had been sown—the idea of Federal Union, of self-taxation, of levying troops and regulating trade, was busy in men’s minds. In the same year the Colonists were preparing for their great attack on Canada—an attack which was made, not because France was the enemy of England, but because Frenchmen in Canada were rivals of the American colonists.
The lines of invasion of French Canada marked out by the American subjects of the British Crown, were very much the same as those of the American rebelsagainst the Crown, when some twenty odd years afterwards they prepared to invade British Canada. It is singular that the men who, under the authority of the Crown of England, or using at least the pretext of a state of war between the home countries, waged war against the subjects of France in Canada, should have been foremost in the rebellion against England, and that, in the invasion of Canada, which was one of their first undertakings in pursuance of their rebellion, they should have found neither sympathy nor aid amongst the French Canadians, whose allegiance had been so recently transferred to the King of England. More singular still is it that France, which had received so many tremendous blows from these very colonists, and which suffered so much in her efforts to defend her Canadian dependencies from these inveterate assailants, should have been mainly instrumental in establishing their independence, and in leading their great revolution to a successful issue. The condition of the Scottish borders in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries furnishes but a very poor parallel to the state of the debateable land which spread from the banks of the Ohio, by the great lakes, down to the Atlantic. Constant aggressions took place from one side or the other by trading parties, bands of Indians, or by armed parties with larger purposes of occupation or vengeance. Whilst the English colonies were enjoying the full fruit of the principles on which they had been founded, Canada, regarded as a mere dependency of the French Crown, vexed with the complicated and inconsistent form of government, was daily losing ground. The ill-paid governors were corrupt, or at all events exacting: the Intendants groundthe province to powder to make the most of their office, and beneath each of these officers was an army of ecclesiastics, bent on appropriating, for that incarnation of the Church which appeared in their proper persons, the best of the land and the great tithes of all trade and commerce. Of the many encounters which took place on the borders, there are few authentic records: it is sufficient to know that neither the French nor the English succeeded at the period in effecting a permanent lodgment within the frontiers of the enemy. The Governors of Canada commemorated their victory, “Rebellibus Novæ Angliæ Incolis,” on medals and brasses, and Great Britain rewarded by various honours the colonial generals and governors who were supposed to have attained advantages over their Canadian neighbours. In 1756 war was again declared by Great Britain against France. Montcalm, availing himself of the utter imbecility of Lord Loudon, who commanded the British troops, speedily fell upon the important post of Oswego, on Lake Ontario, and captured it with its garrison, guns, flotilla, and stores. He followed up that great success in the following year, by the capture of Fort Edward, which surrendered, with its garrison of 8000 men under Monroe, who were massacred by the Indian auxiliaries. The officers who were sent from England to command the troops, and their continental allies at this period, must have inspired the American continentals with a feeling of profound contempt: but Lord Chatham, perceiving that the Colonists must be the mainstay of military operations, aroused the various New England settlements, by spirited despatches and promises of help, to make strenuous efforts against the enemy. Once more a British fleet under AdmiralBoscawen appeared upon the scene, and a force of 14,000 men, under Lord Amherst, was covered by its guns in the operations which led to the surrender of Louisburgh on the 26th of July, 1756. This success was tarnished by the defeat of a powerful army under Abercrombie, in an ill-judged assault against Ticonderoga, where 16,000 men were beaten back by the French garrison, which numbered only 3000; but Kingston, on Lake Ontario, surrendered to the British-American troops, and Fort du Quesne—in the advance against which Braddock lost his life in the former war—was abandoned without a blow by its French garrison, who would be somewhat astounded, if, revisiting the glimpses of the moon, they could gaze upon the Pittsburgh of the present day on the site of their ancient post. In July, 1759, three great expeditions were directed against Canada. The Ministry resolved at any cost to trample under foot every trace of French dominion on the American continent, and in that resolution they were mainly sustained by the passion and animosity of the New England colonists. A powerful corps under Lord Amherst was directed against Ticonderoga. Another corps, under Sir William Johnson, mainly composed of continentals and Indians, advanced against Fort Niagara, whilst an army commanded by General Wolfe, covered by the fleet, made an attack from the St. Lawrence against Quebec. Ticonderoga and Crown Point were abandoned by the French, and Fort Niagara was taken after an engagement with the enemy. How Wolfe fared all the world knows: an elaborate account of the great victory which gave Canada to the Crown would be out of place in this volume, but elsewhere I have made afew remarks concerning the events of that memorable battle. On the 18th of September the British standard floated from the citadel of Quebec. Ever since that time the country, handed over four years afterwards by the Treaty of Paris to the British, has remained under the protection of England, acquiring year by year a greater measure of freedom and self-government, till, at this moment, it may be considered as attached to the Empire solely by what Mr. O’Connell called “the golden link of the Crown.” The whole population of the country then ceded was under 70,000. The population of the British colonies in America was at least twenty times as numerous. The American Colonists were at last gratified by a conquest which relieved them from a dangerous neighbour, who was backed by the power of France, and which opened to their enterprise not only the lakes and rivers of Canada, but Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, the St. Lawrence, and all the valuable fisheries of the seaboard. It was unfortunate that no attempt was made to define the exact boundary line between the Colonies and the new territory, although the Proclamation of 1763 no doubt was supposed at the time to be sufficiently accurate; but we shall see hereafter that the neglect proved very damaging to the interests of Canada. The Americans, perhaps, would have resented any attempt to define very nicely the frontier between the new conquest of England and the territories of the colonists who had contributed to some extent in effecting it; and there were not many who foresaw the rupture which divided the mother-country and her dependencies for ever.
For fifteen years Canada, content with the preservationof her ecclesiastical establishments, of freedom of religion, and of the “Custom of Paris,” seemed perfectly indifferent to the transfer of her allegiance from one king to another, the change, perhaps, being more in the language of her rulers, and the blazon of her standard, than in the mode of government. In fact the British military governors were singularly like the French military governors; but it was felt at home, as soon as the difficulties with the colonies began, that Canada could not continue to be like a mere military division of a conquered country. In 1774, the Quebec Act was passed, which created a council to aid in the administration of the province, guaranteed the freedom of the Roman Catholic Church, and abrogated the Royal Proclamation of 1763. In lieu of the administration of a military pro-consulate, there was established a settled government, with some show of a representative basis. The American colonists were then upon the verge of the great rebellion, and as a proof of the spirit in which they acted, it may be remarked that the Continental Congress made a most violent remonstrance against the toleration of Roman Catholicism in Canada, guaranteed by the Quebec Act. The very next year the rebellious colonists captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and Montreal; and had their enterprise against Quebec succeeded, Canada might have become included in the territory which eventually became portion of the United States. So bent were the colonists on including Canada in the scope of their great design, that in 1776, immediately after their unsuccessful invasion, Franklin, who was one of the main movers of Wolfe’s expedition, and two gentlemen, were sent by Congress to offer the Canadians a free press and Staterights, and the free exercise of the faith which but two years before they had so bitterly denounced the British Government for guaranteeing, if they would but join in the revolt against Great Britain. In the war which followed between the British and the American colonists, Canada was made the base of operations against the colonies, which generally terminated in disasters, such as that of Burgoyne, though, in pitched battles, the British were almost invariably victorious. The habitans took little or no part in the contest, but on the Declaration of Independence, a number of Royalists emigrated from the States and settled in the country, in very much the same way as the Southern Americans are now taking refuge in Canada from the persecution of their Northern neighbours. The wish to give, in their new country, these devoted men some equivalent for that which they had lost, suggested a course which has been condemned by subsequent events. The Home Government resolved upon the unfortunate step of dividing the province into Upper and Lower Canada, with a governor-in-chief in Lower, and a lieutenant-governor in Upper Canada, so that the Royalists might not be quite swamped by the French element. The governors selected were often men without particular aptitude for administration, certainly destitute of the ability needed in dealing with the very peculiar state of society, trade, and interests prevailing in the provinces.
Although the legislative council and assembly of Upper Canada had equal privileges with that of Lower Canada, the condition of the people was very different, principally owing to the paucity of population. Governor Simcoe, to whom the care of Upper Canada wasfirst confided, ruled over a wilderness, in which a few clearings around the trading stations on the lakes and rivers, and some huts gathered about the military posts, were the sole vestiges of the white man and civilisation. As the English colonists gained the upper hand in the constant strife which raged during the latter period of the French occupation, the habitans of the remoter settlements had gradually withdrawn towards Lower Canada, and had concentrated in the neighbourhood of the towns on the St. Lawrence, where they could find safety in case of danger, and transport should their friends be unable to protect them. It was not surprising that the whole French population flocked into the lower province; for under a foreign rule they gained confidence and ease by the contemplation of their numbers and the concentration of their masses. Although many American Royalists came into the lake country so abandoned, they were not equal in number to the population that fled. It required no small amount of courage and perseverance in Governor Simcoe to conduct the affairs of his little government, from the site which his sagacity pointed out to him as the most favourable for the development of his province. The Red Man’s wigwam still clung to the border of the British posts, and the few intrepid men who ventured to fix their homes along the shore of the Upper St. Lawrence, found themselves amidst an uncongenial population of half-breeds and Indians, accustomed indeed to the chase, and to the rude barter which represented the only trade of those vast regions, but utterly averse to settled life and agricultural labour; obnoxious also to handicraft-men, mechanics, and the followers of the peaceful, regular pursuits which arethe handmaidens of civilisation. Under these circumstances the advance of Upper Canada, slow as it was for some years, is surprising, and the rapidity of her subsequent progress is certainly worthy of admiration. In 1793 the revenue of Upper Canada was less than 1000l.a-year; and although the machinery of carrying on government and law existed, it was but imperfectly, if at all, worked. In theory the English law prevailed, and one cannot but admit, if we are to judge by its fruits, that it was far better calculated to promote the security and prosperity of the country, than the Custom of Paris, to which the French Canadians clung in virtue of the capitulation of Quebec. Even thus early the militia occupied the attention of the legislature, although they were obliged to do battle against the denizens of the forest, and to encourage the hunter by rewards for the destruction of bears and wolves. The regulation of trade between the provinces and the United States—the establishment of ports of entry—the adjustment of land titles, and other useful matters of the kind, were not neglected by the earliest Parliaments. Unhappily religious questions arose soon after the close of the last century in Lower Canada. The national feeling became associated with the ancient religion in opposition to the aims of the British Government and of the Protestant clergy. Whilst Dissenters and Presbyterians and other schismatics from the Church of England were allowed free scope in Upper Canada, the Government set itself to work to give to the Protestant Church in Lower Canada the prestige which belonged to the Catholic Church. The Canadians raised the cry—Nos institutions! notre langue! et nos lois!
When hostilities with America seemed imminent in1807, the militia nevertheless responded to the call with enthusiasm in Lower Canada, and Acts were passed in Upper Canada for raising, training and billeting the force in case of need. Although the language for which the Lower Canadians cried out was that of France Acadianised, the institutions and the laws in which they took pride belonged only to a France of the past. The Republic had placed between Canada and France a barrier which the priesthood declared to be impassable. What had they to do with the Goddess of Reason and a calendar without a saint? What had a people steeped in feudalism, or the Custom of Paris, to do with the Code Napoleon? Nevertheless the rulers of Canada suspected the habitans of treason, whilst the habitans suspected the rulers of designs upon their faith; and so it was that want of confidence, one of the most formidable impediments to the good understanding between governor and governed which can exist, took root and grew apace. The second war with the United States was at hand. The animosity of the Americans of the Southern and Middle States against England was much augmented by the discovery of a project of the Canadian Secretary, Ryland, to detach the New England States from the Union, and to annex them to Canada. The bitter feelings which the old New England Colonists had entertained towards their French neighbours had been mitigated by the influence of a common language and the congenial religion and laws of the English rulers of Canada. Certain it is that the New England delegates opposed the war which was declared against Great Britain by the Government of Washington by every means in their power, though they were by no means complimentaryto Canada, which they supposed it to be one of the objects of the war party in America to annex. On the declaration of war in 1812, the Canadians, with the exception of the inhabitants of one parish, turned out with the greatest alacrity, and in considerable force, to defend their country. General Hall, the American Governor of Michigan, seized upon Sandwich in July in the same year; but he was soon very glad to cross over to Detroit again, where he very ingloriously capitulated soon afterwards to General Brock, with 2500 men and 33 pieces of cannon, thus surrendering the whole State of Michigan to Great Britain.
The Americans, elated by their naval successes however, resolved to conquer Canada, although Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York opposed the war with so much determination, that it seemed very probable the Union would be broken up by the persistence of the Southern statesmen in their policy. A corps under ColonelVan Rensselaerattacked the British and the Colonists under Brock at Queenstown, near Niagara, and although that gallant, intrepid, and able officer fell at the head of the 49th regiment, the British, aided by Canadians and Indians, captured or slew nearly the whole of the American invading force, under the eyes of a large number of American militia, at the other side of the river, who refused to cross to the aid of their countrymen. The Americans demanded an armistice, which was most injudiciously granted by General Sheaffe. The American General Dearborn, meantime, with a force varying, it is said, from 8000 to 10,000 men, invaded Lower Canada, but after some unsuccessful skirmishes retreated to Plattsburgh. A few days afterwards the American General Smith madean attack on Fort Erie, which was characterised by pusillanimity, and ended in disgraceful failure. When the campaign opened in January, 1813, it was not auspicious for the invading Americans. General Winchester’s force was defeated by Colonel Proctor, near Frenchtown; Ogdensburg was taken; but the Americans, nevertheless, continued the war with characteristic perseverance and foresight, and set to work to use the water communications which we had neglected, and thus gained an assured advantage. General Sheaffe was driven out of Toronto by an expedition which landed under the guns of a newly-created American lake fleet, commanded by an experienced and brave sailor, Commodore Chancey. The capture of Fort George followed; but an attempt to overrun Lower Canada ended in utter defeat, Prevost, however, being beaten back in an attack upon Sackett’s Harbour, and Proctor being repulsed in an assault on Sanduskey, so as to moderate any undue exultation on the side of the British on account of their success.
This war excited little attention in England, where men thought only of their great naval victories, in which their ships captured, sunk, or dispersed whole fleets of the enemy, or of the grand operations in Spain, where Wellington was worsting in succession the best generals of the Empire. All the strength of the United States was put forth in their war against Canada, and it is only astonishing that the Americans did so little with the means at their disposal. In July a British expedition, covered by two sloops of war, destroyed stores, barracks, and property at Plattsburgh, Burlington, and Swanton, whilst the Americans burned the British stores at York. It must be remembered that the Americanshad every facility in the command of the lakes, and in the command of the waters. The connection between Lower and Upper Canada was carried on by rapid and dangerous rivers, and by lakes which were constantly patrolled by the Americans, the roads being simply tracks through a forest, or causeways of a most rudimentary character. For some time both sides contended for the supremacy of the Lakes. On the 31st of July the British, under Sir J. Yeo, captured two of Commodore Chancey’s squadron, which was further reduced by the loss of two gunboats, which capsized in trying to escape from the victorious English. But Chancey repaired damages in Sackett’s Harbour, and on the 28th of September attacked the British flotilla, which eventually retreated under the guns of Burlington Heights. For the time, therefore, the Americans were masters of Lake Ontario, and they used their advantages in capturing British stores and reinforcements. On the 10th of September the British lost the command of Lake Erie also. An American squadron of nine vessels under Perry, far superior in size, number of men, and in calibre of guns, defeated a British squadron of six vessels under Barclay. The result of this defeat was that the British under Proctor had to evacuate Detroit and Amherstburg, and fall back to open communication with their base of supplies. On the river Thames the pursuit became so severe, that Proctor turned to bay, but he was overwhelmed by the Americans under Harrison, who numbered 3500, whilst the British did not exceed a third of that strength, Michigan was lost to us, and the only port retained by the British west of Burlington was Michilimacinac, which they had taken early in the war.Nothing less than the conquest of Lower Canada would now satisfy the Americans. A force of 12,000 men was assembled to operate against Montreal. On the 20th of September, Colonel de Salaberry, a Canadian in command of a post of militia, and a few Indians, checked the advance of the enemy, and fell back to Chateaugay, where in a most creditable and gallant action he defeated an American column under Hampton, which was intended to co-operate with an expedition down the St. Lawrence, against Montreal. Another portion of the force was defeated at Chrystler’s Farm, with some loss, by a body of British regulars, Canadian militia, and Indians. The attack on Montreal was precipitately abandoned, and the Canadians, who had done so well, were sent back to their homes. But winter did not put an end to the war. The British determined to drive the enemy out of Canada, and the Americans retired before them. On the 10th of December the enemy abandoned and burned the town of Newark. On the 18th of December the British surprised Fort Niagara with all its garrison, and gave Lewiston and Manchester to the flames. Buffalo and Black Rock were captured and destroyed by the British under Riall, and the whole country-side was laid waste in retaliation for the burning of Newark. Sir George Prevost was able to meet the Canadian Parliament with pride, and to congratulate it on the conduct of the provincial militia in the field, and the loyalty of the people. Before the coming of spring had loosed the lakes and rivers, the Americans returned to the attack on Canada, and in March, 1814, Macomb crossed Lake Champlain; but a part of his force was repulsed in an attack on Lacolle, and he retired to Plattsburgh. In May, Sir J. Yeofitted out an expedition from Kingston, which sailed on the 4th of May, captured Oswego, and destroyed some military stores, but did not succeed in a similar attempt against Sackett’s Harbour. On the 3rd of July a strong force of Americans landed near Chippewa, and defeated a body of British, Canadians, and Indians, of inferior numbers, under Riall. A very bloody and determined contest ensued on the 25th, near the same place, in which the Americans made repeated efforts to break the British, but were repulsed, and finally retired to their camp, whence they retreated towards Fort Erie, destroying their baggage and stores. The British followed, and were beaten in a desperate attack to storm the fort. Whilst these small yet sanguinary actions were breaking out sporadically along the Canadian frontier, the Government at home made use of a part of the forces liberated by the peace with France, and resolved on giving the Americans a little diversion from their pursuit of glory and conquest in Canada. A British force under Ross defeated the American army at the Races of Bladensburg, captured Washington, and destroyed public buildings and property of all kinds. A demonstration against Baltimore did not succeed because the fleet could not co-operate, although the British troops routed the American covering army with the utmost ease, and at New Orleans our troops endured a humiliating repulse. The war did not languish in Canada. The British took Prairie du Chien in the west, and seized on all the country between the river Penobscot and New Brunswick. The most important part of the State of Maine thus fell into British possession, and a provisional government was established over it till theend of the war, when Maine was restored to the United State. To compensate for these successes, the British flotilla was beaten by the Americans under McDonough, and Sir George Prevost sustained a discreditable defeat at the hands of a very inferior force under General Macomb, on the 8th of September, at Plattsburgh. The Americans, however, abandoned Fort Erie on the 5th of November, which was the last vestige of their great plans for the conquest of Canada. The Peace of Ghent put an end to a contest in which the United States would have soon found itself opposed to the whole power of Great Britain. The conditions of that Treaty were disastrous for Canada, as they shut her out from any seaport for several months of the year. In fact, Admiral Gambier, Mr. Goulburn, and Mr. Adams, knew nothing at all about their business, and exercised neither diligence, research, nor caution, in examining the stipulations of the treaty. They accepted all the American conditions and statements without inquiry or hesitation. They never bestowed a thought on the effect of such observations as “the high lands lying due north from the source of the river St. Croix, and the head of the Connecticut river not having been ascertained;” “part of the boundary between the two powers not having been surveyed,” and the like, which many years after became essential and powerful arguments in the discussion. In the war the Canadians had displayed courage and spirit, and the best American generals and statesmen were very speedily satisfied that they could effect very little in the way of conquest. They were but too glad to make peace. The war had not only damaged their resources, but threatened the very existence of theUnion. The northern delegates at the Hartford Convention had not merely objected to the proceedings of the Federal Government, but had entered upon the discussion of fundamental changes in the constitution. In the Treaty of Ghent no concession was made on any of the points on which the declaration of war was made. In some respects the contest with the United States proved of decided benefit to Canada; the money spent by the army enriched the country, and the incidents of the campaign tended to raise the reputation of the Canadians in England, and elevated the sentiment of self-respect among the people. Roads were made or projected for military purposes. Canals were discussed and planned, and steam began to contend with currents and rapids. The revenue exceeded the expenditure, although nearly 27,000l.figured as an item for militia services the first year after the war.
Had it not been for political and civil complications, the progress of Canada would have been still more rapid; but truth to say, progress encountered a considerable obstacle in the character of the people of Lower Canada. Probably not less than 35,000 of the whole population were of French descent, strongly attached to their institutions, and therefore indisposed to change—influenced by traditions of a most conservative character, and by territorial arrangements which perpetuated the very essence of feudalism. Nevertheless, emigration was encouraged, free passages were given to some immigrants, food to others, one hundred acres of land to all. Banks were established; but through all the extent of the upper province in 1817, there were not quite seven persons to the square mile. In someinstances injudicious governors exercised their power to counteract the good disposition of the House of Parliament, and occasionally Parliament marred the excellent intentions of the representatives of the Crown. Impeachment of judges, imprisonment of journalists, questions of privilege and the like arose, which interrupted the good feeling so necessary to the progress of colonial life. Constant fears of sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion, haunted the minds of governors, whilst the colonists and the habitans struggled for greater freedom of action. Although the Canadians had resisted the Americans with the greatest energy, they were suspected of a desire to coalesce with, or to imitate the institutions of, the enemy. England at this time was agitated by aspirations for reform, and those who led the masses certainly justified the suspicion with which their designs were regarded, by intemperance of language. Among the emigrants who flocked to Canada were men who were tinged deeply with the dye of dangerous democratic doctrine, and notwithstanding the great gulf fixed between the new comers and the French habitans, it was feared that the two parties would unite in founding a government which could not be congenial to one or the other. When Lord Dalhousie came out in 1820, he found however a tolerably prosperous community. The dissensions respecting the civil list which had occurred for several years previously, inaugurated Lord Dalhousie’s administration. The Assembly would not grant a permanent civil list, and took the extraordinary step of appointing an agent, who was a member of the British Parliament, to represent them in England. The impolicy of dividing the country into two provinces became more apparent asquestions connected with revenue arose, and the discussion of these questions was embittered by deficient harvests and commercial distress. Now it was seen how injuriously the want of a port open all the year affected the interests of Canada, which for five or six months was denied all access to the sea, unless through the United States. The union of the two provinces was agitated, but the French population did not support the project. They believed they would lose by amalgamation; that they would forfeit their privileges, and be deprived of the advantages they enjoyed in the free import of American produce. When it became known that the Government really had a project for the union of the provinces, Mr. Papineau, the Speaker of the Assembly, was dispatched to England with a petition against the proposed amalgamation, and it was deferred for a time. Financial difficulties increased the ill-temper of the governed, and the harshness and resolution of the Government widened the breach between them. Squabbles and ill-blood sprang up with greater vehemence and animosity every day, and the seeds of the evil which came to maturity in 1837, if not then first planted, were certainly invigorated. The energies of the English, Scotch, and Irish emigrants who flocked into the north were not to be repressed by these malign influences. The citizens of the old world pushed their way into Upper Canada, and finding lakes and rivers unfit for navigation, projected and carried out canals, and already grasped the probability of landing cargoes of Canadian wheat in Liverpool, from vessels loaded at Kingston and Montreal.
The Imperial negotiators who renounced all theclaims which they might have preferred in behalf of Canada on the peace of 1815, would probably have failed to secure for the province a port on the sea, although the British, who held so large a portion of the State of Maine, might have fairly sought some equivalent for it. At all events no strenuous effort was made to obtain such an advantage—nor was there any attempt on our part to ascertain what the precise boundaries were which the Americans claimed. We will just see how a British negotiator many years later consented to draw a line which placed the land communications of the mother country with the provinces in war time at the mercy of an enemy for many miles of its course—Canadian interests and Imperial considerations being alike neglected—peace and war alike hampered, by want of foresight, prudence, or statesmanlike consideration. The increasing prosperity of Canada forced her to enter into closer relations with the United States, and to accede to arrangements with the Federal Government, which were of course regulated by Imperial agency, and which were not always characterised by wisdom. But there was no alternative—at least not one which could then be adopted. The idea of a great confederation of the British Provinces, which would enable Canada to avail herself of the ports of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, if it presented itself at all, was seen to be surrounded by embarrassing obstacles and conflicting sentiments. The skill in the conception, and the energy displayed in the execution, of the canal system, which is the grandest and most extensive in the world, have made a practicable passage of more than 2000 miles from Anticosti up to Superior City; and worksproposed or in progress by land and water attest the enterprise and resolution with which the Canadians contended against the only impediments in the way of their prosperity and greatness. The claims of Canada to Imperial aid against invasion are strengthened by concessions made by the Imperial agents, which clear away the path of the invaders. Although all the border States had their representatives and champions, the voice of Canada was not heard in the deliberations of the Commission. It was British territory which was in debate—there are some who hold that Canada is alone called upon to defend it. Although the land may be invaded because it belongs to Great Britain, so far that Great Britain is actually attacked by aggression upon it, Canada, involved in war because of its dependency on the British Crown, must bear the brunt of defending that which British diplomacy has rendered peculiarly liable to invasion. It is plain that those who insist on leaving Canada to defend herself, are advocating a policy which tends to separate Canada from the British Crown. The provinces are ruled by a British viceroy, and are under the British flag, which would be the cause of an American attack. Canada can do nothing to provoke hostility, but the English may be struck with effect as long as the provinces are ruled by the Crown, and contain a company of British soldiers.
It would be interesting to inquire whether the Canadians would be better off by themselves than they are at present, supposing always that the new theories are likely to prevail, in case of war. Notwithstanding the violence and exaggerated language of the American press, it is only right to conclude that Canada is far less liable to insult and aggression under British protectionthan she would be without it. But that remark can only hold good in cases where the Americans do not feel more than usual irritation against Great Britain. The Canadians must feel that if they stood alone, pretexts would not long be wanting to treat the provinces as Texas was served. Canada has at present the power of England at her back, and the threat to deprive her of it by no means implies that she will be left to fight single-handed in the day of need. On the whole, balancing the chances of aggression on account of England against the chances of aggression if she stood alone, it is certain that Canada gains more than she loses by her present connection. The growth of great states along her frontier, and the excessive weakness of a water boundary in face of a maritime power, have caused us at home to insist on the engineering impossibility of defending the whole of the land and lake boundaries, but it by no means follows that the conquest of the country would be equally easy. With the full command of the sea and all its advantages—with commerce free—with a wonderful unanimity in the object of the war—with immense exaltation of spirit, and unparalleled expenditure of money, the Northern Americans have not yet subdued the Southern States, though they have more than tested the quality of their inner armour. Canada, with its narrow belt of inhabited territory, flanked by inland seas and vast rivers, offers no resemblance, it is true, to the South, but aided by Great Britain and her army, her fleet, and her purse, she might defy subjugation if she could not escape invasion. It must be noted that the Americans frequently dwell on ideas for a long time ere they attempt to carry them out, but that generallythey do make an effort to give practical effect to those theories which have taken hold of the popular mind. For many years before the annexation of Texas and the war with Mexico took place, the people were prepared for both by the constant inculcation of their necessity. It is only justice to the Government of the United States to declare that their action has been generally restrictive, and that it has acted as a drag on the wheels of the popular chariot. There is in fact a great people standing between the fringe of the noisy democracy and the highlands of Federal authority, which breaks the force of the popular wave, and hears unmovedly the beatings of the turbulent press, and raging voices of the Cleons of the hour. Shame it is indeed to them that they so often permit the worth, and sense, and honour of the nation to be represented by the worthless, foolish, degraded scum that simmers in its noisy ebullitions on the surface of the social system. We cannot be sure how far the Americans are actuated by the feelings which find expression in the most scandalous public paper of New York, but we do know that the paper in question is largely read, and that its favourite topic, when there is a lack of subjects for abuse or menace, is the forthcoming doom of Canada, “When this weary war is over.”
In case of an invasion caused by any quarrel with Great Britain, or by any policy for which the Canadians are not responsible, what ought they to expect from us? Everything but impossibilities. Among the greatest of impossibilities would be protection of the whole of the frontier, with all the aid they could give us. The greatest would be the defence of their territories without all the aid they could afford. The Canadians tellus that in the hour of danger they will be ready, but as yet they have fallen short of that degree of preparation which we have a right to expect. If the blow falls at all it will come swift and strong, but if they do their duty to us there can be no fear of our failing them in the time of peril.
The Honourable Joseph Howe has vindicated the claims of the colonies to the care, protection, and assistance of the mother country. He has pointed out the defects in our system, from which the inevitable necessity arises, that the colony shall become detached from the mother country, to become its rival, or probably its enemy at some future stage of its existence. Though California—3000 miles away—is represented at Washington; “though Algeria is represented at Paris;” the provinces of North America have no representation in London.