Canada under British Rule by Sir John George Bourinot (story reading txt) 📖

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 régime 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 RÉGIME (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



CHAPTER I.


THE FRENCH RÉGIME. 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 régime; 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 régime, 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