Читать бесплатно онлайн книгу  Canada (1535-Present Day)

автор James Munro

At the north-west angle of Lake Winnipeg he hits upon the mouth of the Saskatchewan, the gateway of the North-West, and the starting-point to another 1500 miles of navigable water flowing nearly due East and West between its alluvial banks.

Having done the things of greatest urgency, and grey-bearded father Winter being come, they needs must keep indoors, and live every man under his own roof-tree. During this time our friends had three special discomforts in this island, to wit, want of wood (for that on the said island had been used for the buildings), want of fresh water, and the night watch for fear of a surprise from the Indians who were encamped at the foot of the said island, or from some other enemy; for such is the evil disposition and fury of many Christians, that one must be more on one's guard against them than against the infidel. This it grieveth me to say; would indeed that I were a liar herein, and that I had no cause to speak it. Thus when water or wood was required they were constrained to cross the river, which on either side is more than three times as broad as the Seine at Paris. This was both painful and tedious; so that very often one had to bespeak the boat a day in advance before being able to get the use of it. On top of this came cold and snow and frost so hard that the cider froze in the casks, and each man was given his portion by weight. As for wine, it was only given out on certain days of the week. Some lazy fellows drank melted snow without troubling to cross the river. In short, unknown diseases broke out, like those which Captain Jacques Cartier has already described for us, of which for fear of vain repetition I shall therefore not give an account. No remedy could be found.

Maisonneuve sprang ashore, and fell on his knees. His followers imitated his example; and all joined their voices in enthusiastic songs of thanksgiving. Tents, baggage, arms and stores were landed. An altar was raised on a pleasant spot near at hand; and Mademoiselle Mance, with Madame de la Peltrie, aided by her servant, Charlotte Barré, decorated it with a taste which was the admiration of the beholders. Now all the company gathered before the shrine. Here stood Vimont, in the rich vestments of his office. Here were the two ladies, with their servant; Montmagny, no very willing spectator; and Maisonneuve, a war-like figure, erect and tall, his men clustering around him—soldiers, sailors, artisans, and labourers—all alike soldiers at need. They kneeled in reverent silence as the Host was raised aloft; and when the rite was over, the priest turned and addressed them:

On the eighth day (for we were eight days in continual alarms, under the eyes of our enemies and exposed to their fury and savage attacks), on the eighth day, I say, M. de la Monnerie, a lieutenant detached from the force under M. de Callières, reached the fort during the night with forty men.... So soon as I saw the officer in command I saluted him, saying:

... The Assiniboines did not yet speak of leaving, although they had purchased all they were able to do, such as painted ox-robes, deerskin, dressed buck skin, and ornamented furs and feathers, painted feathers, and peltry, wrought garters, circlets for the head, girdles. These people dress leather better than any of the other nations, and work in furs and feathers very tastefully, which the Assiniboines are not capable of doing. They are cunning traders, cheating the Assiniboines of all they may possess, such as muskets, powder, balls, kettles, axes, knives or awls. Seeing the great consumption of food daily by the Assiniboines, and afraid that it would not last long, they set afloat a rumour that the Sioux were near and that several of their hunters had noticed them. The Assiniboines fell into the trap and made up their minds quickly to decamp, not wishing to be obliged to fight.

As their numbers amount to near seven thousand persons, the driving them off, with leave to go whithersoever they pleased, would have doubtless strengthened Canada with so considerable a number of French inhabitants; and, as they have no cleared lands to give them at present, such as are able to bear arms must have been immediately employed in annoying this and the neighbouring Colonies. To prevent such an inconveniency, it was judged a necessary and the only practicable measure, to divide them among the Colonies, where they may be of some use, as most of them are healthy strong people, and as they cannot easily collect themselves together again, it will be out of their power to do any mischief, and they may become profitable, and it is possible in time faithful subjects.

28 June, 1760. Well, Quebec is come to life again. Last night I went to see the Holdernesses ... in Sion-lane. As Cibber says of the Revolution, I met the Raising of the Siege; that is, I met my Lady in a triumphal car, drawn by a Manx horse thirteen little fingers high, with Lady Emily ... they were going to see the bonfire at the alehouse at the corner. The whole procession returned with me; and from the countess's dressing-room, we saw a battery fired before the house, the mob crying, "God bless the good news!"

The first salutation our ships had on their approach near the town was seven fire-ships well filled with combustibles, and their rigging smeared with tar. These came burning down the river with the help of a strong current, directed on the body of our fleet. But as some such contrivance was expected by the Admiral, good provision was made for his defence by having all the boats of the squadron out, well manned and armed, with an officer in each boat and fire-grapplings. The fire-ships were instantly boarded by our men, who so fixed their grapplings and chains as to tow them clear of every ship to shore on the isle of Orleans, where they burned to ashes without doing the least damage. The next annoyance was 17 fire-rafts, well supplied with gun and pistol barrels loaded, granadoes, and combustibles of all sorts, each of them 103 feet long, and slackly chained together, so that at the least interruption they might surround whatever opposed their passage. They came burning down with the current, and one would have thought the whole river in a flame as they spread almost from shore to shore; but these were also grappled in like manner, and, being towed clear off all the ships, consumed with the loss only of one boat, and I believe all the men saved. General Wolfe, finding so great an opposition, published a placard and spread it in the French camp; but it had no effect on the Canadians; he therefore ordered all the habitations, barns, stables and corn on the lands, as soon as ripe, to be totally destroyed. The sides of the river began immediately to show a most dismal appearance of fire and smoke; and (as the troops employed on this service were the remains of those who escaped the massacre by the French at Fort William Henry, where they killed and scalped every wounded officer and common man) they spared little or nothing that came in their way. Admiral Holmes in the Sutherland passed a very strong battery and went about twenty leagues above the town in order to burn some frigates and other ships that were got high up the river. The French pilots themselves were amazed at the hazards we run with ships of so great burthen, as we were all higher up the river than any French ships of equal burthen ever were, above the traverse which their ships scarce ever passed.

By the list of disabled officers (many of whom are of rank) you may perceive, Sir, that the army is much weakened. By the nature of the river the most formidable part of this armament is deprived of the power of acting, yet we have almost the whole force of Canada to oppose. In this situation, there is such a choice of difficulties that I own myself at a loss how to determine. The affairs of Great Britain, I know, require the most vigorous measures; but then the courage of a handful of brave men should be exerted only where there is some hope of a favourable event. However, you may be assured, Sir, that the small part of the campaign which remains shall be employed (as far as I am able) for the honour of his Majesty and the interest of the nation, in which I am sure of being well seconded by the Admiral and by the Generals. Happy if our efforts here can contribute to the success of his Majesty's arms in any other parts of America, I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

And whereas it will greatly contribute to the speedy settling our said new Governments, that our loving subjects should be informed of our Paternal care, for the security of the Liberties and Properties of those who are and shall become Inhabitants thereof, We have thought fit to publish and declare ... that we have ... given express Power and Direction to our Governors of our said Colonies respectively, that so soon as the state and circumstances of the said Colonies will admit thereof, they shall, with the Advice and Consent of the Members of our Council, summon and call General Assemblies within the said Governments respectively, in such Manner and Form as is used and directed in those Colonies and Provinces in America which are under our immediate Government; and We have also given Power to the said Governors, with the consent of our said Councils and the Representatives of the People so to be summoned as aforesaid, to make, constitute, and ordain Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances for the Public Peace, Welfare, and good Government of our said Colonies, and of the People and Inhabitants thereof, as near as may be agreeable to the Laws of England, and under such Regulations and Restrictions as are used in other Colonies; and in the mean Time, and until such Assemblies can be called as aforesaid, all Persons Inhabiting in or resorting to our said Colonies may confide in our Royal Protection for the Enjoyment of the Benefit of the Laws of our Realm of England; for which Purpose We have given Power under our Great Seal to the Governors of our said Colonies respectively to erect and constitute, with the Advice of our said Councils respectively, Courts of Judicature and public Justice within our said Colonies for hearing and determining all Causes, as well Criminal as Civil, according to Law and Equity, and as near as may be agreeable to the Laws of England, with Liberty to all Persons who may think themselves aggrieved by the Sentences of such Courts, in all Civil Cases, to appeal, under the usual Limitations and Restrictions, to Us in our Privy Council.

And whereas it may be necessary to ordain many regulations for the future welfare and good government of the province of Quebec, the occasions of which cannot now be foreseen, nor, without much delay and inconvenience, be provided for, without entrusting that authority, for a certain time and under proper restrictions, to persons resident there: And whereas it is at present inexpedient to call an Assembly ... it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty ... to constitute and appoint a Council for the affairs of the province of Quebec, to consist of such persons resident there, not exceeding twenty-three nor less than seventeen, as his Majesty ... shall be pleased to appoint ... which Council, so appointed and nominated, or the major part thereof, shall have power and authority to make ordinances for the peace, welfare and good government of the said province, with the consent of his Majesty's Governor, or, in his absence, of the Lieutenant-Governor or Commander-in-Chief for the time being.

However, he with many other loyalists were captured and confined in Litchfield jail, where they suffered all but death until the beginning of 1777, when, having been told that all the prisoners were to be shot the next day, Anderson wrenched the bars from a window, and with his companions escaped to Canada, where he was appointed a Captain in the 1st Battalion of Sir John Johnston's corps, the King's Royal Regiment of New York. When General Burgoyne was preparing to advance from Ticonderoga, Captain Anderson was placed at the head of the workmen who were employed in making the roads through the forest from the head of Lake Champlain towards Fort Edward. He served in the battalion of the Royal Yorkers until they were disbanded in the spring of 1784. From the time of his imprisonment in Litchfield jail, his wife saw nothing of him until late in 1778, when, after suffering terribly from the cruelty of the Continentals, she abandoned all her property, paid the Yankee Governor 2s. 6d. for a pass, and with her family made her way to Sorel, where her husband was then stationed with his company of the Royal Yorkers, where they remained till the spring of 1783, when he with his two elder sons who had served under him were put on half pay when peace was declared; and at the reduction of the army, Anderson, with his family and the men of his company, received their allotment of lands in Cornwall, then a wilderness, the nearest settlement being Montreal distant 68 miles, and Kingston 105 miles. They came up the St. Lawrence by batteaux, and lived for some time under shelter of cedar boughs, until able to erect log houses for themselves. A short time after their arrival the "Dark Sunday" occurred, when at mid-day total darkness fell upon all the land, and continued for about two hours. The rain came down in torrents, flooding their temporary dwelling, causing great discomfort, while the thunder and lightning were terrific. In those days there were no merchants, no baker or butcher shops, no medical men, no ministers to console the sick or dying or bury the dead, and no means of instruction for the young. The Loyalists were generally poor, having sacrificed their property to their politics, and were obliged to work very hard. All was bush, hard labour and pinching privation for the present and long toil for the rising generation. The only mail in the early settlement of West Canada between Kingston and Montreal was in the winter carried three times by an old French Canadian, Jacques Morriseau, who travelled the whole distance on snow shoes. His food was sea biscuit and fat pork which he ate and enjoyed sitting on a snow bank, and would afterwards puff away dull care in clouds of smoke curling from his old clay pipe, the stem of which was just long enough to keep the burning punk with which he lit it about two inches from his nose. From Lachine to Cornwall, he was obliged to sleep out of doors three nights—the settlers were then so few and far between, he could not always reach a house—and the only bed he had on these occasions was of green boughs under him and a blanket to cover him. He always rested a night going either way under Captain Anderson's roof. In 1785, Captain Anderson was appointed a magistrate ... and drew half pay as a Captain until his death, which occurred in June, 1836 (born 1736), not from any bodily ailment, but accidentally falling, his hip joint was broken, and from his great age the bones would not unite.

XLIII. ... all lands which shall be hereafter granted within the said province of Upper Canada shall be granted in free and common soccage, in like manner as lands are now holden in free and common soccage in that part of Great Britain called England; ... in every case where lands shall be hereafter granted within the said province of Lower Canada, and where the grantee thereof shall desire the same to be granted in free and common soccage, the same shall be so granted; but subject nevertheless to such alterations, with respect to the nature and consequences of such tenure of free and common soccage, as may be established by any law or laws which may be made by his Majesty ... by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of the province.

28 March. Sent Marlin 15 measures mixed rum and 3 feet tobacco. Now, for you, Antitheses Philosophers, who are for ever moved by the spirit of contradiction and feel an itching to find fault where there is none, here is a fine occasion to show your wonderful parts and produce something worthy of your sect. Sending rum to the Indians, according to you, is an unpardonable error in a poor fellow's conduct; but may he beg leave, Gentlemen, to ask you a few plain questions by way of vindication of his supposed error? Pray then! will 19 packs of fine beaver have no weight in your debates? If they will not, I am sure they will in the Gentlemen of the North-West Company's pockets, when reduced into hard cash.

In winter, when the waters are frozen, they make holes in the ice around the lodges of the beavers, to which nets are fixed from the one to the other, and when they are properly extended, they uncover with axes the cabins of these poor animals, which, throwing themselves into the water and returning to breathe at the holes, are entangled in the snares, from whence none escape but such as the savages are inclined to exempt from the general havoc.

Some time after, upon advancing towards the camp, we picked up all the men on our side of the river; the men who had been thrown ashore on the other side joined us in the evening. They informed us that the Indians assisted greatly in extricating them from their difficulties; indeed, the Indians showed us every possible attention during our misfortune on this trying occasion.

On the afternoon of the 19th of June, a man in the watch-house called out that the Half-breeds were coming. The governor, some other gentlemen and myself, looked through spy-glasses, and I distinctly saw some armed people on horseback passing along the plains. A man then called out, "They (meaning the Half-breeds), are making for the settlers"; on which the governor said, "We must go out and meet these people; let twenty men follow me." We proceeded by the old road leading down the settlement. As we were going along, we met many of the settlers running to the fort, crying, "The Half-breeds, the Half-breeds." ... We had not proceeded far, before the Half-breeds on horseback, with their faces painted in the most hideous manner and in the dresses of Indian warriors, came forward and surrounded us in the form of a half-moon. We then extended our line and moved more into the open plain; and, as they advanced, we retreated a few steps backwards, and then saw a Canadian named Boucher ride up to us waving his hand and calling out, "What do you want?" The governor replied, "What do you want?" To which Boucher answered, "We want our fort." The governor said, "Go to your fort." They were by this time near each other, and consequently spoke too low for me to hear. Being at some little distance to the right of the governor, I saw him take hold of Boucher's gun, and almost immediately a general discharge of fire-arms took place; but whether it began on our side or that of the enemy it was impossible to distinguish: my attention was then directed towards my personal defence. In a few minutes almost all our people were either killed or wounded.... I was rescued from death in the most providential manner no less than six different times on my road to, and at, the Frog Plain (the headquarters of those cruel murderers).... With the exception of myself, no quarter was given to any of us.... The amiable and mild Mr. Semple, lying on his side (his thigh having been broken) and supporting his head upon his hand, addressed the chief commander of our enemies, by inquiring if he was Mr. Grant; and, being answered in the affirmative, "I am not mortally wounded," said Mr. Semple, "and, if you could get me conveyed to the fort, I think I should live." Grant promised he would do so; and immediately left him in the care of a Canadian, who afterwards told that an Indian of their party came up and shot Mr. Semple in the breast. I entreated Grant to procure me the watch or even the seals of Mr. Semple for the purpose of transmitting them to his friends, but I did not succeed. Our force amounted to twenty-eight persons, of whom twenty-one were killed and one wounded.... The enemy, I am told, were sixty-two persons, the greater part of whom were the contracted servants and clerks of the North-West Company. They had one man killed and one wounded.

So I sot down, and we soon got pretty considerably well acquainted, and quite sociable like, and her tongue, when it fairly waked up, began to run like a mill race when the gate's up.... Well, when all was sot to rights and the fire made up, the old lady began to apologise for having no candles; she said she'd had a grand tea party the night afore, and used them all up, and a whole sight of vittals too; the old man hadn't been well since, and had gone to bed airly. But, says she, I do wish with all my heart you had a come last night, for we had a most a special supper—punkin-pies and dough-nuts and apple-sarce, and a roast goose stuffed with Indian puddin, and a pig's harslet stewed in molasses and onions, and I don't know what all; and the fore part of to-day folks called to finish. I actilly have nothin left to set afore you; for it was none o' your skim-milk parties, but superfine uppercrust real jam, and we made clean work of it. But I'll make some tea anyhow for you, and perhaps after that, said she, alterin of her tone, perhaps you'll expound the Scriptures, for it's one while since I've heerd them laid open powerfully.... The tea-kettle was accordingly put on, and some lard fried into oil and poured into a tumbler; which, with the aid of an inch of cotton-wick, served as a makeshift for a candle.

The grounds of quarrel which are commonly alleged, appear, on investigation, to have little to do with its real cause; and the inquirer, who has imagined that the public demonstrations or professions of the parties have put him in possession of their real motives and designs, is surprised to find, upon nearer observation, how much he has been deceived by the false colours under which they have been in the habit of fighting. It is not, indeed, surprising, that each party should, in this instance, have practised more than the usual frauds of language, by which factions, in every country, seek to secure the sympathy of other communities. A quarrel based on the mere ground of national animosity, appears so revolting to the notions of good sense and charity prevalent in the civilised world, that the parties who feel such a passion the most strongly, and indulge it the most openly, are at great pains to class themselves under any denominations but those which would correctly designate their objects and feelings. The French Canadians have attempted to shroud their hostility to the influence of English emigration, and the introduction of British institutions, under the guise of warfare against the Government and its supporters, whom they represented to be a small knot of corrupt and insolent dependents; being a majority, they have invoked the principles of popular control and democracy, and appealed with no little effect to the sympathy of liberal politicians in every quarter of the world. The English, finding their opponents in collision with the Government, have raised the cry of loyalty and attachment to British connexion, and denounced the republican designs of the French, whom they designate by the appellation of Radicals. Thus the French have been viewed as a democratic party, contending for reform; and the English as a conservative minority, protecting the menaced connexion with the British Crown, and the supreme authority of the Empire. There is truth in this notion in so far as respects the means by which each party sought to carry its own views of Government into effect. The French majority asserted the most democratic doctrines of the rights of a numerical majority. The English minority availed itself of the protection of the prerogative, and allied itself with all those of the colonial institutions which enabled the few to resist the will of the many. But when we look to the objects of each party, the analogy to our own politics seems to be lost if not actually reversed; the French appear to have used their democratic arms for conservative purposes, rather than those of liberal and enlightened movement; and the sympathies of the friends of reform are naturally enlisted on the side of sound amelioration which the English minority in vain attempted to introduce into the antiquated laws of the Province.

There is no class resembling English "country gentlemen" among the Canadians; nor do the doctors, notaries and lawyers, who overabound in the colony, form an efficient substitute for such a class. Needy and discontented, they are more disposed to attempt an improvement in their own condition of political agitation, than to labour for the advancement of their uninstructed neighbours. The only body of men to whom the habitants can look for aid and direction are the parochial clergy, who, in the districts where their authority is unimpaired, act as a vigilant moral police, the efficiency of which is manifested in established habits of sobriety and order. Persons acquainted with the province are well aware that, in the disaffected districts, the influence of the Canadian clergy is much diminished.

On these grounds, I believe that no permanent or efficient remedy can be devised for the disorders of Lower Canada, except a fusion of the Government in that of one or more of the surrounding Provinces; and, as I am of opinion that the full establishment of responsible government can only be permanently secured by giving these Colonies an increased importance in the politics of the Empire, I find in union the only means of remedying at once and completely the two prominent causes of their present unsatisfactory condition.

You will easily believe that, after all the exertions which I have made, it is with feelings of deep disappointment that I find myself thus suddenly deprived of the power of conferring great benefit on that province to which I have referred; of reforming the administrative system there, and eradicating the manifold abuses which had been engendered by the negligence and corruption of former times, and so lamentably fostered by civil dissensions. I cannot but regret being obliged to renounce the still more glorious hope of employing unusual legislative powers in the endowment of that province with those free municipal institutions, which are the only sure basis of local improvement and representative liberty, of establishing a system of general education, of revising the defective laws which regulate real property and commerce, and of introducing a pure and competent administration of justice. Above all, I grieve to be thus forced to abandon the realisation of such large and solid schemes of colonisation and internal improvement, as would connect the distant portions of these extensive colonies, and lay open the unwrought treasures of the wilderness to the wants of British industry and the energy of British enterprise.

But, it is said, a Colony, being part of a great Empire, must be governed by different principles from the Metropolitan State. That, unless it be handed over to the minority, it cannot be governed at all. That the majority, when they have things their own way, will be discontented and disloyal.... Let us fancy that this reasoning were applied to Glasgow or Aberdeen or to any other town in Britain which you allow to govern itself. And what else is a Province like Nova Scotia than a small community, too feeble to interfere with the general commercial and military arrangements of the government; but deeply interested in a number of minor matters, which only the people to be affected by them can wisely manage; which the ministry can never find leisure to attend to, and involve in inextricable confusion when they meddle with them. You allow a million of people to govern themselves in the very capital of the kingdom; and yet her Majesty lives in the midst of them without any apprehension of danger, and feels the more secure, the more satisfaction and tranquillity they exhibit. Of course, if the Lord Mayor were to declare war upon France, or the Board of Aldermen were to resolve that the duties upon brandy should no longer be collected by the general revenue officers of the kingdom, everybody would laugh, but no one would apprehend any great danger. Should we, if Lord Durham's principles be adopted, do anything equally outré, check us, for you have the power; but until we do, for your own sakes—for you are as much interested as we are,—for the honour of the British name, too often tarnished by these squabbles, let us manage our own affairs, pay our own officers, and distribute a patronage, altogether beneath your notice, among those who command our esteem.

IV. ... for the purpose of composing the Legislative Council ... it shall be lawful for her Majesty ... to authorise the Governor in her Majesty's name, by an instrument under the Great Seal of the said Province, to summon to the said Legislative Council ... such persons, being not fewer than twenty, as her Majesty shall think fit....

I had some conversation with the clergyman after service: he is employed by the "New England Society," has been for a long time among the Indians, and knows them well: he has a better opinion of them and of their capacity for acquiring domestic and industrious habits, than most white men to whom I have spoken upon the subject have expressed. The society support a school in the village, where about forty children are boarded, educated, and instructed in trades; and they learn, Mr. N. says, as fast as Europeans: as yet, however, they are not fit to be trusted in making bargains with the whites, nor can they at all compete in matters of business with them: much of their original grant has been trafficked away to settlers, at prices wholly inadequate; and, though such transactions are altogether illegal, they have been overlooked so long that it is now impossible to annul them. A superintendent lives close to the village, who is paid by Government for the express purpose of protecting the Indian interests and managing their affairs; yet encroachments upon their rights are still perpetually made, which, however advantageous they may appear to a political economist, are neither reconcilable with equity nor with the real wishes and intentions of Government. Mr. N. is by no means without hopes that in a generation or two these Indians may become quite civilised: they are giving up their wandering habits, and settling rapidly upon farms throughout their territory; and, in consequence, probably, of this change in their mode of life, the decrease in their numbers, which threatened a complete extinction of the tribe, has ceased of late years: if it turn out as he expects, this will form the sole exception to the general law which affects their people. They are very much attached (as well they may be) to the British Government; and in 1837 turned out under their chiefs to the number of 500, and offered their services to it: they wished to attack Navy Island in their canoes, but those who were in command thought the enterprise too hazardous. The chiefs (whose office is, as among the ancient Gothic nations, partly hereditary and partly elective, i.e. ordinarily transmitted from father to son, but liable to be transferred in cases of incapacity) have still a good deal of authority among them, but, as it is of course not recognised by law, they are gradually losing it; in fact, the race is assimilating itself here far more than anywhere else to the habits and manners of the surrounding Europeans, while at the same time there is perhaps hardly any settlement where the red blood is preserved with less mixture.

The real danger is not of war with the United States. It is from what I may call their pacific hostility—from trouble to be wrought by them within this country—trouble to arise out of refusal of reciprocity—repeal of the bonding system—custom-house annoyances—passport annoyances; from their fomenting difficulties here, and taking advantage of our local jealousies; from the multiplied worries they may cause us by a judicious alternation of bullying and coaxing, the thousand incidents which may easily be made to happen if things are not going on quite well in this country, and the people and government of the States are minded to make us feel the consequences of our not getting on quite so well as we might. Whether the union of the States is restored or not, this kind of thing can go on. The danger is, that either the United States, or those portions of the United States which are near us, and which are really stronger than we are, and enterprising enough and ambitious enough, and not very fond of us, and not at all fond of the Mother-country, not at all unwilling to strike a blow at her and to make us subservient to their own interest and ambition—the danger is, I say, that the United States, or those portions of the United States near us, may avail themselves of every opportunity to perplex us, to embroil us in trouble, to make us come within the disturbing influences of their strong local attraction. Now, to pretend to tell me that the United States or the Northern States, whichever you please, are going to be frightened from a policy of that kind by our taking upon ourselves great airs, and forming ourselves into a grand Confederation, is to tell me that their people are, like the Chinese, a people to be frightened by loud noises and ugly grimaces. I do not believe they are.

146. It shall be lawful for the Queen, by and with the advice of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, on Addresses from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, and from the Houses of the respective Legislatures of the Colonies or Provinces of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and British Columbia, to admit those Colonies or Provinces, or any of them, into the Union, and on Address from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada to admit Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory, or either of them, into the Union, on such terms and conditions in each case as are in the Addresses expressed and as the Queen thinks fit to approve, subject to the provisions of this Act; and the provisions of any Order in Council in that behalf shall have effect as if they had been enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

In former times for trading purposes the unit of value was the beaver skin. The price of everything was calculated at so many skins, and they were the sole medium of exchange. In return for the skins the Indians received pieces of stick prepared in a special manner, each representing a beaver skin, and with these they were able to purchase anything they wanted at the Company's stores. Later on, about 1825, the Company established a paper currency. The highest note was for £1, the next for 5s., and the lowest for 1s. They were known as "Hudson's Bay Blankets," and no fears were ever entertained as to the soundness of the bank. It has been urged against the Hudson's Bay Company that it obstructed the development of the great North-West. On the contrary, it was engaged for two centuries in important pioneer work. Any corporation of the kind with exclusive privileges and rights was bound to make enemies; but no single province of Canada could have undertaken the administration or development of the country before confederation, and neither men nor money were available locally to permit of its blossoming out separately as a Colony or as a series of provinces. Whatever may have been the faults of the Company, history will record that its work was for the advantage of the Empire. The Company explored this vast territory, prepared the way for settlement and colonisation, fulfilled an important rôle in the history of Canada, and had not a little to do with the consolidation of the Dominion, and with the development the western country has witnessed in the last thirty years.

As I watched the muzzles of the fort guns, I confess that I hoped each moment to see a flash and to hear a round shot rush by me. I knew they had no shells, and that they did not know how to use them if they had had any. But in the rain, and in the thick atmosphere when the rain ceased for a little, it was difficult to see, even through our glasses, if there were men at the guns or not. I sent a few officers who had obtained ponies round the fort to see what was going on in rear of it. They soon returned with the news that Riel had bolted, and that the fort gates were open. It was a sad disappointment to all ranks.... But, though we did not catch the fellow, we had successfully carried out the task that was given us....

It was time to camp, but where? The Chief, Beaupré, and Brown rode ahead to see if the river was fordable. The rest followed, going down to the bank and crossing to an island formed by a slew of the river, to avoid a steep rock, the trail along which was fit only for chamois or bighorn. Here we were soon joined by the three who had ridden ahead, and who brought back word that the Athabasca looked ugly, but was still subsiding, and might be fordable in the morning. It was decided to camp on the spot, and send the horses back a mile for feed. The resources of the island would not admit of our light cotton sheet being stretched as an overhead shelter, so we selected the lee side of a dwarf aspen thicket, and spread our blankets on the gravel, a good fire being made in front to cook our supper and keep our feet warm through the night. Some of us sat up late, watching the play of the moonlight on the black clouds that drifted about her troubled face, as she hung over Roche Jacques; and then we stretched ourselves out to sleep on our rough but truly enviable couch, rejoicing in the open sky for a canopy and in the circle of great mountains that formed the walls of our indescribably magnificent bed chamber. It had been a day long to be remembered.

Two courses are possible, though it is almost an insult to say there are two, for the one requires us to be false to our traditions and history, to our future and to ourselves. A third course has been hinted at; but only dreamers or emasculated intellects would seriously propose "Independence" to four millions of people, face to face with thirty-eight millions. Some one may have even a fourth to propose. The Abbé Sieyès had a cabinet filled with pigeon-holes, in each of which was a cut-and-dried Constitution for France. Doctrinaires fancy that at any time they can say "Go to, let us make a Constitution," and that they can fit it on a nation as readily as new coats on their backs. There never was a profounder mistake. A nation grows, and its Constitution must grow with it. The nation cannot be pulled up by the roots, cannot be dissociated from its past, without danger to its highest interests. Loyalty is essential to the fulfilment of a distinctive mission—essential to its true glory. Only one course, therefore, is possible for us, consistent with the self-respect that alone gains the respect of others; to seek, in the consolidation of the Empire, a common Imperial citizenship, with common responsibilities and a common inheritance.

No country is great with only one industry. Agriculture is our most important, but it cannot be our only staple. All men are not fit to be farmers; there are men with mechanical and manufacturing genius who desire to become operatives or manufacturers of some kind, and we must have means to employ them; and when there is a large body of successful and prosperous manufacturers, the farmer will have a home market for his produce, and the manufacturer a home market for his goods, and we shall have nothing to fear. And therefore I have been urging upon my friends that we must lay aside all old party quarrels about old party doings. Those old matters are matters before the flood, which have gone by and are settled for ever, many of them settled by governments of which I was a member. Why should parties divide on these old quarrels? Let us divide on questions affecting the present and future interests of the country.

I carry the brave and bold,

The one who works for the nation's bread,

The one whose past is a thing that's dead,

The one who battles and beats ahead,

And the one who goes for gold.

As to his statesmanship, it is written in the history of Canada. It may be said without any exaggeration whatever, that the life of Sir John Macdonald, from the date he entered Parliament, is the history of Canada: for he was connected and associated with all the events, all the facts which brought Canada from the position it then occupied—the position of two small provinces, having nothing in common but their common allegiance, united by a bond of paper, and united by nothing else—to the present state of development which Canada has reached. Although my political views compel me to say that, in my judgment, his actions were not always the best that could have been taken in the interest of Canada, although my conscience compels me to say that of late he has imputed to his opponents motives which I must say in my heart he has misconceived, yet I am only too glad here to sink these differences, and to remember only the great services he has performed for our country—to remember that his actions always displayed great originality of view, unbounded fertility of resource, a high level of intellectual conception, and, above all, a far-reaching vision beyond the event of the day, and still higher, permeating the whole, a broad patriotism—a devotion to Canada's welfare, Canada's advancement, and Canada's glory.

... We were not compelled to do what we did, but if we chose to be generous, to do a little more than we were bound to do, where is a man living who would find fault with us for that action? He dreads the consequences of this action in sending out a military contingent to South Africa. Let me tell him from the bottom of my heart that my heart is full of the hopes I entertain of the beneficial results which will accrue from that action.... When the telegraph brought us the news that such was the good impression made by our volunteers that the Commander-in-Chief had placed them in the post of honour, in the first rank, to share the danger with that famous corps, the Gordon Highlanders; when we heard that they had justified fully the confidence placed in them, that they had charged like veterans, that their conduct was heroic and had won for them the encomiums of the Commander-in-Chief and the unstinted admiration of their comrades, who had faced death upon a hundred battlefields in all parts of the world, is there a man whose bosom did not swell with pride, that noblest of all pride, that pride of pure patriotism, the pride of the consciousness of our rising strength, the pride of the consciousness that on that day it had been revealed to the world that a new power had arisen in the West?

The slush on the lakes was one of the greatest obstacles which those in the field were doomed to face. From the bank it looks safe enough, but to venture upon its surface is to court certain death. Why? It is very simple to explain. The lakes freeze up under the advance of winter, but before the encrustation has assumed a sufficient thickness there is a heavy fall of snow. Under the weight of the white, fleecy mantle the ice slowly and steadily sinks below the level of the water, which, pouring over the mirror-like armour, saturates the snow. Under successive falls of snow the ice sinks lower and lower, and the slush assumes a greater and greater thickness, until at last it measures from 4 or 6 to 10 feet in depth. What is more, it persistently refuses to freeze. The appearance of its smooth surface tempts the daring to advance. It withstands his weight until he has ventured a fair distance from the shore; then, without the slightest warning, suddenly it opens up, drawing the unwary into its icy depths, where he is soon suffocated. One cannot escape from its embrace, no matter how great the struggle, and, when the end is reached, the slush gathers over one, giving no inkling of the ghastly secret beneath....

[1] Written by Mlle. de Verchères at the request of Governor de Beauharnois.