Book: Canada under British Rule 1760 1900

J >> John G. Bourinot >> Canada under British Rule 1760 1900



CANADA UNDER BRITISH RULE 1760-1900

BY

SIR JOHN G. BOURINOT, K.C.M.G., LL.D., LITT.D.

Author of 'Parliamentary Procedure and Practice', 'Constitutional
History of Canada,' 'The Story of Canada,' etc

WITH EIGHT MAPS

1900




CAMBRIDGE HISTORICAL SERIES

EDITED BY G. W. PROTHERO, LITT.D., LL.D.

Honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and Late Professor of
History in the University of Edinburgh.







GENERAL PREFACE.

The aim of this series is to sketch the history of Modern Europe, with
that of its chief colonies and conquests, from about the end of the
fifteenth century down to the present time. In one or two cases the
story commences at an earlier date: in the case of the colonies it
generally begins later. The histories of the different countries are
described, as a rule, separately, for it is believed that, except in
epochs like that of the French Revolution and Napoleon I, the connection
of events will thus be better understood and the continuity of
historical development more clearly displayed.

The series is intended for the use of all persons anxious to understand
the nature of existing political conditions. "The roots of the present
lie deep in the past"; and the real significance of contemporary events
cannot be grasped unless the historical causes which have led to them
are known. The plan adopted makes it possible to treat the history of
the last four centuries in considerable detail, and to embody the most
important results of modern research. It is hoped therefore that the
series will be useful not only to beginners but to students who have
already acquired some general knowledge of European History. For those
who wish to carry their studies further, the bibliography appended to
each volume will act as a guide to original sources of information and
works more detailed and authoritative.

Considerable attention is paid to political geography, and each volume
is furnished with such maps and plans as may be requisite for the
illustration of the text.

G.W. PROTHERO.




PREFACE.

I devote the first chapter of this short history to a brief review of
the colonisation of the valley of the St. Lawrence by the French, and of
their political and social conditions at the Conquest, so that a reader
may be able to compare their weak and impoverished state under the
repressive dominion of France with the prosperous and influential
position they eventually attained under the liberal methods of British
rule. In the succeeding chapters I have dwelt on those important events
which have had the largest influence on the political development of the
several provinces as British possessions.

We have, first, the Quebec Act, which gave permanent guarantees for the
establishment of the Church of Rome and the maintenance of the language
and civil law of France in her old colony. Next, we read of the coming
of the United Empire Loyalists, and the consequent establishment of
British institutions on a stable basis of loyal devotion to the parent
state. Then ensued the war of 1812, to bind the provinces more closely
to Great Britain, and create that national spirit which is the natural
outcome of patriotic endeavour and individual self-sacrifice. Then
followed for several decades a persistent popular struggle for larger
political liberty, which was not successful until British statesmen
awoke at last from their indifference, on the outbreak of a rebellion in
the Canadas, and recognised the necessity of adopting a more liberal
policy towards their North American dependencies. The union of the
Canadas was succeeded by the concession of responsible government and
the complete acknowledgment of the rights of the colonists to manage
their provincial affairs without the constant interference of British
officials. With this extension of political privileges, the people
became still more ambitious, and established a confederation, which has
not only had the effect of supplying a remarkable stimulus to their
political, social and material development, but has given greater
security to British interests on the continent of North America. At
particular points of the historical narrative I have dwelt for a space
on economic, social, and intellectual conditions, so that the reader may
intelligently follow every phase to the development of the people from
the close of the French regime to the beginning of the twentieth century
In my summary of the most important political events for the last
twenty-five years, I have avoided all comment on matters which are "as
yet"--to quote the language of the epilogue to Mr. Green's "Short
History"--"too near to us to admit of a cool and purely historical
treatment." The closing chapter is a short review of the relations
between Canada and the United States since the treaty of 1783--so
conducive to international disputes concerning boundaries and fishing
rights--until the present time, when the Alaskan and other international
controversies are demanding adjustment.

I have thought, too, that it would be useful to students of political
institutions to give in the appendix comparisons between the leading
provisions of the federal systems of the Dominion of Canada and the
Commonwealth of Australia. I must add that, in the revision of the
historical narrative, I have been much aided by the judicious criticism
and apt suggestions of the Editor of the Series, Dr. Prothero.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, OTTAWA, CANADA. 1st October, 1900




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.

THE FRENCH REGIME (1534--1760)

Section 1. Introduction

Section 2. Discovery and Settlement of Canada by France

Section 3. French exploration in the valleys of North America

Section 4. End of French Dominion in the valley of the St. Lawrence

Section 5. Political, Economic, and Social Conditions of Canada
during French Rule


CHAPTER II.

BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH RULE (1749--1774)

Section 1. From the Conquest until the Quebec Act

Section 2. The Foundation of Nova Scotia (1749--1783)


CHAPTER III.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS (1763--1784)

Section 1. The successful Revolution of the Thirteen Colonies in America

Section 2. Canada and Nova Scotia during the Revolution.

Section 3. The United Empire Loyalists


CHAPTER IV.

DEVELOPMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS (1784-1812)

Section 1. Beginnings of the Provinces of New Brunswick, Lower Canada
and Upper Canada.

Section 2. Twenty years of Political Development. (1792-1812)


CHAPTER V.

THE WAR OF 1812-1815

Section 1. Origin of the war between Great Britain and the United States

Section 2. Canada during the War


CHAPTER VI.

THE EVOLUTION OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT (1815-1839)

Section 1. The Rebellion in Lower Canada

Section 2. The Rebellion in Upper Canada

Section 3. Social and Economic Conditions of the Provinces in 1838


CHAPTER VII.

A NEW ERA OF COLONIAL GOVERNMENT (1839-1867)

Section 1. The Union of the Canadas and the establishment of Responsible
Government

Section 2. Results of Self-government from 1841 to 1864


CHAPTER VIII.

THE EVOLUTION OF CONFEDERATION (1789-1867)

Section 1. The beginnings of Confederation

Section 2. The Quebec Convention of 1864

Section 3. Confederation accomplished


CHAPTER IX.

CONFEDERATION (1867--1900)

Section 1. The First Parliament of the Dominion of Canada (1867--1873)

Section 2. Extension of the Dominion from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Ocean (1869--1873)

Section 3. Summary of Noteworthy Events from 1873 until 1900

Section 4. Political and Social Conditions of Canada under Confederation


CHAPTER X.

CANADA'S RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES AND HER INFLUENCE IN IMPERIAL
COUNCILS (1783--1900)

APPENDIX A: COMPARISONS BETWEEN CONSTITUTIONS OF THE CANADIAN DOMINION
AND AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH.

APPENDIX B: BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

INDEX

PLANS AND MAPS.

Map showing Boundary between Canada and the United States by Treaty of
1783.

Map of British America to illustrate the Charter of the Hudson's Bay
Company.

International Boundary as finally established in 1842 at Lake of the
Woods.

Map of the North-Eastern Boundary as established in 1842.

Map of British Columbia and Yukon District showing disputed Boundary
between Canada and the United States.

France, Spain, and Great Britain, in North America, 1756--1760.

Outline map of British Possessions in North America, 1763--1775.

Map of the Dominion of Canada illustrating the boundaries of Provinces
and Provisional Districts.

A SHORT HISTORY OF CANADA UNDER BRITISH RULE.




CHAPTER I.

THE FRENCH REGIME. 1534--1760.


SECTION I.--Introduction.

Though the principal object of this book is to review the political,
economic and social progress of the provinces of Canada under British
rule, yet it would be necessarily imperfect, and even unintelligible in
certain important respects, were I to ignore the deeply interesting
history of the sixteen hundred thousand French Canadians, about thirty
per cent of the total population of the Dominion. To apply to Canada an
aphorism of Carlyle, "The present is the living sum-total of the whole
past"; the sum-total not simply of the hundred and thirty years that
have elapsed since the commencement of British dominion, but primarily
of the century and a half that began with the coming of Champlain to the
heights of Quebec and ended with the death of Wolfe on the Plains of
Abraham. The soldiers and sailors, the missionaries and pioneers of
France, speak to us in eloquent tones, whether we linger in summer time
on the shores of the noble gulf which washes the eastern portals of
Canada; whether we ascend the St. Lawrence River and follow the route
taken by the explorers, who discovered the great lakes, and gave to the
world a knowledge of the West and the Mississippi, whether we walk on
the grassy mounds that recall the ruins of the formidable fortress of
Louisbourg, which once defended the eastern entrance to the St.
Lawrence; whether we linger on the rocks of the ancient city of Quebec
with its many memorials of the French regime; whether we travel over the
rich prairies with their sluggish, tortuous rivers, and memories of the
French Canadians who first found their way to that illimitable region.
In fact, Canada has a rich heritage of associations that connect us with
some of the most momentous epochs of the world's history. The victories
of Louisbourg and Quebec belong to the same series of brilliant events
that recall the famous names of Chatham, Clive, and Wolfe, and that gave
to England a mighty empire in Asia and America. Wolfe's signal victory
on the heights of the ancient capital was the prelude to the great drama
of the American revolution. Freed from the fear of France, the people of
the Thirteen Colonies, so long hemmed in between the Atlantic Ocean and
the Appalachian range, found full expression for their love of local
self-government when England asserted her imperial supremacy. After a
struggle of a few years they succeeded in laying the foundation of the
remarkable federal republic, which now embraces forty-five states with a
population of already seventy-five millions of souls, which owes its
national stability and prosperity to the energy and enterprise of the
Anglo-Norman race and the dominant influence of the common law, and the
parliamentary institutions of England. At the same time, the American
Revolution had an immediate and powerful effect upon the future of the
communities that still remained in the possession of England after the
acknowledgement of the independence of her old colonies. It drove to
Canada a large body of men and women, who remained faithful to the crown
and empire and became founders of provinces which are now comprised in a
Dominion extending for over three thousand miles to the north and east
of the federal republic.

The short review of the French regime, with which I am about to
commence this history of Canada, will not give any evidence of
political, economic, or intellectual development under the influence of
French dominion, but it is interesting to the student of comparative
politics on account of the comparisons which it enables us to make
between the absolutism of old France which crushed every semblance of
independent thought and action, and the political freedom which has been
a consequence of the supremacy of England in the province once occupied
by her ancient rival. It is quite true, as Professor Freeman has said,
that in Canada, which is pre-eminently English in the development of its
political institutions, French Canada is still "a distinct and visible
element, which is not English,--an element older than anything English
in the land,--and which shows no sign of being likely to be assimilated
by anything English." As this book will show, though a hundred and forty
years have nearly passed since the signing of the treaty of Paris, many
of the institutions which the French Canadians inherited from France
have become permanently established in the country, and we see
constantly in the various political systems given to Canada from time to
time--notably in the constitution of the federal union--the impress of
these institutions and the influence of the people of the French
section. Still, while the French Canadians by their adherence to their
language, civil law and religion are decidedly "a distinct and visible
element which is not English"--an element kept apart from the English by
positive legal and constitutional guarantees or barriers of
separation,--we shall see that it is the influence and operation of
English institutions, which have made their province one of the most
contented communities of the world. While their old institutions are
inseparably associated with the social and spiritual conditions of their
daily lives, it is after all their political constitution, which derives
its strength from English, principles, that has made the French
Canadians a free, self-governing people and developed the best elements
of their character to a degree which was never possible under the
depressing and enfeebling conditions of the French regime.


SECTION 2.--Discovery and settlement of Canada by France.

Much learning has been devoted to the elucidation of the Icelandic
Sagas, or vague accounts of voyages which Bjorne Heriulfson and Lief
Ericsson, sons of the first Norse settlers of Greenland, are supposed to
have made at the end of the tenth century, to the eastern parts of what
is now British North America, and, in the opinion of some writers, even
as far as the shores of New England. It is just possible that such
voyages were made, and that Norsemen were the first Europeans who saw
the eastern shores of Canada. It is quite certain, however, that no
permanent settlements were made by the Norsemen in any part of these
countries; and their voyages do not appear to have been known to
Columbus or other maritime adventurers of later times, when the veil of
mystery was at last lifted from the western limits of what was so long
truly described as the "sea of darkness." While the subject is
undoubtedly full of interest, it is at the same time as illusive as the
_fata morgana_, or the lakes and rivers that are created by the mists of
a summer's eve on the great prairies of the Canadian west.

Five centuries later than the Norse voyagers, there appeared on the
great field of western exploration an Italian sailor, Giovanni Caboto,
through whose agency England took the first step in the direction of
that remarkable maritime enterprise which, in later centuries, was to be
the admiration and envy of all other nations. John Cabot was a Genoese
by birth and a Venetian citizen by adoption, who came during the last
decade of the fifteenth century, to the historic town of Bristol.
Eventually he obtain from Henry VII letters-patent, granting to himself
and his three sons, Louis, Sebastian, and Sancio, the right, "at their
own cost and charges, to seek out and discover unknown lands," and to
acquire for England the dominion over the countries they might discover.
Early in May, 1497, John Cabot sailed from Bristol in "The Matthew,"
manned by English sailors. In all probability he was accompanied by
Sebastian, then about 21 years of age, who, in later times, through the
credulity of his friends and his own garrulity and vanity, took that
place in the estimation of the world which his father now rightly fills.
Some time toward the end of June, they made a land-fall on the
north-eastern coast of North America. The actual site of the land-fall
will always be a matter of controversy unless some document is found
among musty archives of Europe to solve the question to the satisfaction
of the disputants, who wax hot over the claims of a point near Cape
Chidley on the coast of Labrador, of Bonavista, on the east shore of
Newfoundland, of Cape North, or some other point, on the island of Cape
Breton. Another expedition left Bristol in 1498, but while it is now
generally believed that Cabot coasted the shores of North America from
Labrador or Cape Breton as far as Cape Hatteras, we have no details of
this famous voyage, and are even ignorant of the date when the fleet
returned to England.

The Portuguese, Gaspar and Miguel Cortereal, in the beginning of the
sixteenth century, were lost somewhere on the coast of Labrador or
Newfoundland, but not before they gave to their country a claim to new
lands. The Basques and Bretons, always noted for their love of the sea,
frequented the same prolific waters and some of the latter gave a name
to the picturesque island of Cape Breton. Giovanni da Verrazzano, a
Florentine by birth, who had for years led a roving life on the sea,
sailed in 1524 along the coasts of Nova Scotia and the present United
States and gave a shadowy claim of first discovery of a great region to
France under whose authority he sailed. Ten years later Jacques Cartier
of St. Malo was authorised by Francis I to undertake a voyage to these
new lands, but he did not venture beyond the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
though he took possession of the picturesque Gaspe peninsula in the name
of his royal master. In 1535 he made a second voyage, whose results were
most important for France and the world at large. The great river of
Canada was then discovered by the enterprising Breton, who established a
post for some months at Stadacona, now Quebec, and also visited the
Indian village of Hochelaga on the island of Montreal. Here he gave the
appropriate name of Mount Royal to the beautiful height which dominates
the picturesque country where enterprise has, in the course of
centuries, built a noble city. Hochelaga was probably inhabited by
Indians of the Huron-Iroquois family, who appear, from the best evidence
before us, to have been dwelling at that time on the banks of the St.
Lawrence, whilst the Algonquins, who took their place in later times,
were living to the north of the river.

The name of Canada--obviously the Huron-Iroquois word for Kannata, a
town--began to take a place on the maps soon after Cartier's voyages. It
appears from his _Bref Recit_ to have been applied at the time of his
visit, to a kingdom, or district, extending from Ile-aux-Coudres, which
he named on account of its hazel-nuts, on the lower St. Lawrence, to the
Kingdom of Ochelay, west of Stadacona; east of Canada was Saguenay, and
west of Ochelay was Hochelaga, to which the other communities were
tributary. After a winter of much misery Cartier left Stadacona in the
spring of 1536, and sailed into the Atlantic by the passage between Cape
Breton and Newfoundland, now appropriately called Cabot's Straits on
modern maps. He gave to France a positive claim to a great region, whose
illimitable wealth and possibilities were never fully appreciated by the
king and the people of France even in the later times of her dominion.
Francis, in 1540, gave a commission to Jean Francois de la Roque, Sieur
de Roberval, to act as his viceroy and lieutenant-general in the
country discovered by Cartier, who was elevated to the position of
captain general and master pilot of the new expedition. As the Viceroy
was unable to complete his arrangements by 1541, Cartier was obliged to
sail in advance, and again passed a winter on the St. Lawrence, not at
Stadacona but at Cap Rouge, a few miles to the west, where he built a
post which he named Charlesbourg-Royal. He appears to have returned to
France some time during the summer of 1542, while Roberval was on his
way to the St. Lawrence. Roberval found his way without his master pilot
to Charlesbourg-Royal, which he renamed France-Roy, and where he erected
buildings of a very substantial character in the hope of establishing a
permanent settlement. His selection of colonists--chiefly taken from
jails and purlieus of towns--was most unhappy, and after a bitter
experience he returned to France, probably in the autumn of 1543, and
disappeared from Canadian history.

From the date of Cartier's last voyage until the beginning of the
seventeenth century, a period of nearly sixty years, nothing was done to
settle the lands of the new continent. Fishermen alone continued to
frequent the great gulf, which was called for years the "Square gulf" or
"Golfo quadrado," or "Quarre," on some European maps, until it assumed,
by the end of the sixteenth century, the name it now bears. The name
Saint-Laurens was first given by Cartier to the harbour known as
Sainte-Genevieve (or sometimes Pillage Bay), on the northern shore of
Canada, and gradually extended to the gulf and river. The name of
Labrador, which was soon established on all maps, had its origin in the
fact that Gaspar Cortereal brought back with him a number of natives who
were considered to be "admirably calculated for labour."

In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the English began to take a prominent
part in that maritime enterprise which was to lead to such remarkable
results in the course of three centuries. The names of the ambitious
navigators, Frobisher and Davis, are connected with those arctic waters
where so much money, energy, and heroism have been expended down to the
present time. Under the influence of the great Ralegh, whose fertile
imagination was conceiving plans of colonization in America, Sir
Humphrey Gilbert, his brother-in-law, took possession of Newfoundland on
a hill overlooking the harbour of St. John's. English enterprise,
however, did not extend for many years to any other part of North
Eastern America than Newfoundland, which is styled Baccalaos on the
Hakluyt map of 1597, though the present name appeared from a very early
date in English statutes and records. The island, however, for a century
and longer, was practically little more than "a great ship moored near
the banks during the fishing season, for the convenience of English
fishermen," while English colonizing enterprise found a deeper interest
in Virginia with its more favourable climate and southern products. It
was England's great rival, France, that was the pioneer at the beginning
of the seventeenth century in the work of exploring, and settling the
countries now comprised within the Dominion of Canada.

France first attempted to settle the indefinite region, long known as
_La Cadie_ or _Acadie_[1]. The Sieur de Monts, Samuel Champlain, and the
Baron de Poutrincourt were the pioneers in the exploration of this
country. Their first post was erected on Dochet Island, within the mouth
of the St. Croix River, the present boundary between the state of Maine
and the province of New Brunswick; but this spot was very soon found
unsuitable, and the hopes of the pioneers were immediately turned
towards the beautiful basin, which was first named Port Royal by
Champlain. The Baron de Poutrincourt obtained a grant of land around
this basin, and determined to make his home in so beautiful a spot. De
Monts, whose charter was revoked in 1607, gave up the project of
colonizing Acadia, whose history from that time is associated for years
with the misfortunes of the Biencourts, the family name of Baron de
Poutrincourt; but the hopes of this adventurous nobleman were never
realized. In 1613 an English expedition from Virginia, under the command
of Captain Argall, destroyed the struggling settlement at Fort Royal,
and also prevented the establishment of a Jesuit mission on the island
of Monts-Deserts, which owes its name to Champlain. Acadia had
henceforth a checquered history, chiefly noted for feuds between rival
French leaders and for the efforts of the people of New England to
obtain possession of Acadia. Port Royal was captured in 1710 by General
Nicholson, at the head of an expedition composed of an English fleet and
the militia of New England. Then it received the name of Annapolis Royal
in honour of Queen Anne, and was formally ceded with all of Acadia
"according to its ancient limits" to England by the treaty of Utrecht.

[1: This name is now generally admitted to belong to the language of the
Micmac Indians of the Atlantic provinces. It means a place, or locality,
and is always associated with another word descriptive of some special
natural production; for instance, Shubenacadie, or Segubunakade, is the
place where the ground-nut, or Indian potato, grows. We find the first
official mention of the word in the commission given by Henry IV of
France to the Sieur de Monts in 1604.]

Copyright (c) 2007. knowncrafts.net. All rights reserved.