Part 1
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Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
More detail can be found at the end of the book.
Bell's English History Source Books
General Editors: S. E. Winbolt, M.A., and Kenneth Bell, M.A.
CANADA
(1535--PRESENT-DAY)
* * * * * *
BELL'S ENGLISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS.
_Volumes now Ready. 1s. net each._
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=1603-1660. Puritanism and Liberty.= Edited by KENNETH BELL, M.A.
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=1760-1801. American Independence and the French Revolution.= Edited by S. E. WINBOLT, M.A.
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CANADA
(1535--PRESENT-DAY)
by
JAMES MUNRO, M.A.
Lecturer in Colonial and Indian History in the University of Edinburgh
London G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. 1913
INTRODUCTION
This series of English History Source Books is intended for use with any ordinary textbook of English History. Experience has conclusively shown that such apparatus is a valuable--nay, an indispensable--adjunct to the history lesson. It is capable of two main uses: either by way of lively illustration at the close of a lesson, or by way of inference-drawing, before the textbook is read, at the beginning of the lesson. The kind of problems and exercises that may be based on the documents are legion, and are admirably illustrated in a _History of England for Schools_, Part I., by Keatinge and Frazer, pp. 377-381. However, we have no wish to prescribe for the teacher the manner in which he shall exercise his craft, but simply to provide him and his pupils with materials hitherto not readily accessible for school purposes. The very moderate price of the books in this series should bring them within the reach of every secondary school. Source books enable the pupil to take a more active part than hitherto in the history lesson. Here is the apparatus, the raw material: its use we leave to teacher and taught.
Our belief is that the books may profitably be used by all grades of historical students between the standards of fourth-form boys in secondary schools and undergraduates at Universities. What differentiates students at one extreme from those at the other is not so much the kind of subject-matter dealt with, as the amount they can read into or extract from it.
In regard to choice of subject-matter, while trying to satisfy the natural demand for certain "stock" documents of vital importance, we hope to introduce much fresh and novel matter. It is our intention that the majority of the extracts should be lively in style--that is, personal, or descriptive, or rhetorical, or even strongly partisan--and should not so much profess to give the truth as supply data for inference. We aim at the greatest possible variety, and lay under contribution letters, biographies, ballads and poems, diaries, debates, and newspaper accounts. Economics, London, municipal, and social life generally, and local history, are represented in these pages.
The order of the extracts is strictly chronological, each being numbered, titled, and dated, and its authority given. The text is modernised, where necessary, to the extent of leaving no difficulties in reading.
We shall be most grateful to teachers and students who may send us suggestions for improvement.
S. E. WINBOLT.
KENNETH BELL.
NOTE TO THIS VOLUME
For liberty to reproduce the more recent of the extracts here quoted, I have to acknowledge the kindness of Miss E. Pauline Johnson of Vancouver (No. 52); of Mr. Charles G. D. Roberts (No. 57); of Mr. F. A. Talbot and Messrs. Seeley, Service & Co., author and publishers of _The Making of a Great Canadian Railway_ (No. 55); and of Messrs. Constable & Co., the publishers of the late Lord Wolseley's _Story of a Soldier's Life_ (No. 48). To several of the sources quoted I was directed by the volume of selections published in 1907 under the title _Canadian Constitutional Development_, by Professor H. E. Egerton of Oxford and Professor W. L. Grant of Kingston, Ontario, both of whom have also made other helpful suggestions, as has Mr. H. P. Biggar, the representative of the Canadian Archives Office in this country. Finally, the task of finding what one wanted has been very greatly facilitated by the sympathetic aid of Mr. P. E. Lewin, who never loses a chance of making the superb collection over which he presides in the Library of the Royal Colonial Institute useful to anyone who may be interested in the Britains overseas.
J. M.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
1. A GREAT LAND OF RIVERS AND LAKES _Speech by Lord Dufferin_ 1
2. JACQUES CARTIER AT HOCHELAGA, 1535 _Lescarbot's "History"_ 3
3. THE FRENCH SETTLEMENT AT ST. CROIX, 1604 " " 5
4. "THE ANCIENT MARINER," 1631-2 _T. James's "Voyage"_ 7
5. TWO ENGLISH EXPLORERS IN HUDSON BAY, 1631 _"The North-west Fox"_ 8
6. THE BIRTHDAY OF MONTREAL, 1642 _F. Parkman_ 10
7. GOVERNOR FRONTENAC LEADS THE WAR-DANCE, 1690 " 11
8. MADELAINE DE VERCHÈRES, 1696 _Her Own Narrative_ 13
9. THE FRENCH CANADIANS, 1737 (in French) _Memoir by G. Hocquart_ 17
10. THE "WHITE" MEN OF THE PRAIRIES, 1738 _La Vérendrye's "Journal"_ 18
11. THE EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS, _Lieut.-Gov. Lawrence's 1755 Circular Letter_ 21
12. THE CONQUEST OF CANADA, _H. Walpole's "Letters"_ 23 1757-60
13. THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC, 1759 "_Gentleman's Magazine_" 26
14. WOLFE'S DIFFICULTIES, 1759 " " 28
15. THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM, 1759 _Capt. J. Knox's "Journal"_ 30
16. THE GOVERNMENT OF QUEBEC _SHORTT AND DOUGHTY'S UNDER THE BRITISH, 1763-74 "Const. Docts."_ 33
17. THE COPPERMINE RIVER, 1771 _S. Hearne's "Journey"_ 35
18. THE QUEBEC ACT, 1774 _Shortt and Doughty's "Const. Docts."_ 37
19. ONE OF THE LOYALISTS, 1783 _Transactions of U.E. Loyalists' Association_ 38
20. THE MACKENZIE RIVER, 1789 _Sir A. Mackenzie's "Voyages"_ 41
21. THE CONSTITUTIONAL ACT, 1791 _Shortt and Doughty's "Const. Docts."_ 43
22. TO THE PACIFIC OVERLAND, 1793 _Sir A. Mackenzie's "Voyages"_ 45
23. A SERVANT OF THE NORTH-WEST _MASSON'S "BOURGEOIS DU COMPANY, 1800 Nord-Ouest"_ 48
24. THE BEAVER, 1807 _G. Heriot's "Travels"_ 49
25. A RAPID ON THE FRASER RIVER, _Masson's "Bourgeois du 1808 Nord-Ouest"_ 52
26. LAURA SECORD, 1813 _Her Own Narrative_ 54
27. LUNDY'S LANE, 1814 _"The Annual Register"_ 55
28. ATTACK ON LORD SELKIRK'S _A "STATEMENT" PUBLISHED COLONY, 1816 in 1817_ 57
29. PROPOSED UNION OF THE CANADAS, _Canadian Archives Report, 1822 1897_ 59
30. THE FOUNDING OF GUELPH _THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF (ONTARIO), 1827 John Galt_ 62
31. SAM SLICK CRITICISES THE _T. C. HALIBURTON'S "THE "BLUENOSES," 1836 Clockmaker"_ 64
32. A STRUGGLE NOT OF PRINCIPLES _SIR C. LUCAS'S EDITION OF BUT OF RACES, 1838 Lord Durham's Report_ 67
33. THE FRENCH CANADIANS IN 1838 _Sir C. Lucas's edition of Lord Durham's Report_ 69
34. THE IRRESPONSIBLE OPPOSITION _SIR C. LUCAS'S EDITION OF IN LOWER CANADA, 1838 Lord Durham's Report_ 71
35. DURHAM'S RECOMMENDATIONS _Sir C. Lucas's edition of Lord Durham's Report_ 73
36. DURHAM RESIGNS AND APPEALS TO _1839 EDITION OF THE PUBLIC OPINION "Report and Despatches"_ 75
37. THE EVILS OF THE OLD COLONIAL _J. HOWE'S "LETTERS AND SYSTEM, 1839 Public Speeches"_ 77
38. THE BENEFITS OF RESPONSIBLE _J. HOWE'S "LETTERS AND GOVERNMENT Public Speeches"_ 79
39. THE UNION ACT, 1840 _Houston's "Documents"_ 80
40. EDMONTON IN 1841 _Sir G. Simpson's "Journey"_ 81
41. THE MOHAWK INDIANS IN ONTARIO, _J. R. Godley's "Letters 1842 from America"_ 84
42. THE POSITION OF THE GOVERNOR, _Elgin's "Letters and 1854 Journals"_ 86
43-45. THE CONFEDERATION DEBATES, _Debates in the Parliament 1865 of Canada_ 87
46. THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT, _Egerton's "Federations 1867 and Unions"_ 91
47. THE WORK OF THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY (to 1869) _Paper by Lord Strathcona_ 96
48. RED RIVER REBELLION, 1870 _Lord Wolseley's "Story of a Soldier's Life"_ 98
49. ENTERING THE ROCKIES, 1872 _"Ocean to Ocean," by G. M. Grant_ 100
50. THE DESTINY OF CANADA (1873) _"Ocean to Ocean," by G. M. Grant_ 102
51. TARIFF REFORM IN CANADA IN _SPEECH BY SIR J. A. 1876 Macdonald_ 104
52. PRAIRIE GREYHOUNDS (SINCE _POEM BY E. PAULINE 1885) Johnson_ 105
53. LAURIER'S TRIBUTE TO _SPEECH IN CANADIAN MACDONALD, 1891 House of Commons_ 106
54. CANADIAN TROOPS IN THE BOER _SPEECH IN CANADIAN WAR, 1900 House of Commons_ 108
55. PIONEERS OF THE RAILWAY, 1910 _Talbot's "Making of a Great Canadian Railway"_ 110
56. CANADIAN NAVAL POLICY, 1912 _"The Times" Supplement_ 112
57. CANADIAN STREAMS _Poem by C. G. D. Roberts_ 115
NOTES ON PERSONS NAMED IN THE EXTRACTS 117
CANADA
(1535--PRESENT-DAY)
1. A GREAT LAND OF RIVERS AND LAKES.
=Source.=--A Speech delivered by Lord Dufferin at Winnipeg, quoted in _Round the Empire_, by Mr. G. R. Parkin. London, 1893.
As a poor man cannot live in a big house, so a small country cannot support a big river.
Now to an Englishman or a Frenchman the Severn or the Thames, the Seine or the Rhone, would appear considerable streams; but in the Ottawa, a mere affluent of the St. Lawrence, an affluent, moreover, which reaches the parent stream six hundred miles from its mouth, we have a river nearly five hundred and fifty miles long, and three or four times as big as any of them.
But even after having ascended the St. Lawrence itself to Lake Ontario, and pursued it across Lake Erie, St. Clair, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior to Thunder Bay--a distance of fifteen hundred miles, where are we? In the estimation of a person who has made the journey, at the end of all things; but to us, who know better, scarcely at the beginning of the great fluvial systems of the Dominion; for from that spot, that is to say, from Thunder Bay, we are able at once to ship our astonished traveller on to the Kaministiquia, a river of some hundred miles long. Thence, almost in a straight line, we launch him on to Lake Shebandowan and Rainy Lake and River--a magnificent stream three hundred yards broad and a couple of hundred miles long, down whose tranquil bosom he floats to the Lake of the Woods, where he finds himself on a sheet of water which, though diminutive as compared with the inland seas he has left behind him, will probably be found sufficiently extensive to render him fearfully sea-sick during his passage across it.
For the last eighty miles of his voyage, however, he will be consoled by sailing through a succession of land-locked channels, the beauty of whose scenery, while it resembles, certainly excels, the far-famed Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence.
From this lacustrine paradise of sylvan beauty we are able at once to transfer our friend to the Winnipeg, a river whose existence in the very heart and centre of the continent is in itself one of Nature's most delightful miracles--so beautiful and varied are its rocky banks, its tufted islands; so broad, so deep, so fervid is the volume of its waters, the extent of their lake-like expansions, and the tremendous power of their rapids.
At last let us suppose we have landed our traveller at the town of Winnipeg, the half-way house of the continent, the capital of the Prairie Province.... Having had so much of water, having now reached the home of the buffalo, like the extenuated Falstaff he naturally "babbles of green fields" and careers in imagination over the green grasses of the prairie. Not at all.... We take him down to your quay and ask him which he will ascend first--the Red River or the Assiniboine--two streams, the one five hundred miles long, the other four hundred and eighty, which so happily mingle their waters within your city limits. After having given him a preliminary canter up these respective rivers, we take him off to Lake Winnipeg, an inland sea 300 miles long and upwards of 60 broad, during the navigation of which, for many a weary hour, he will find himself out of sight of land, and probably a good deal more indisposed than ever he was on the Lake of the Woods, or even the Atlantic.
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 now reached the foot of the Rocky Mountains, our Ancient Mariner--for by this time he will be quite entitled to such an appellation--knowing that water cannot run uphill, feels certain his aquatic experiences are concluded.
He was never more mistaken. We immediately launch him upon the Athabasca and Mackenzie Rivers, and start him on a longer trip than he has yet undertaken--the navigation of the Mackenzie River alone exceeding 2500 miles. If he survives this last experience we wind up his peregrinations by a concluding voyage of 1400 miles down the Fraser River, or, if he prefers it, the Thompson River, to Victoria in Vancouver, whence, having previously provided him with a first class return ticket for that purpose, he will probably prefer getting home _via_ the Canadian Pacific.
Now, in this enumeration, those who are acquainted with the country are aware that, for the sake of brevity, I have omitted thousands of miles of other lakes and rivers which water various regions of the North-West: the Qu'Appelle River, the Belly River, Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipegosis, Shoal Lake, and others, along whose interminable banks and shores I might have dragged, and finally exterminated, our way-worn guest.
2. JACQUES CARTIER'S VISIT TO HOCHELAGA IN OCTOBER (1535).
=Source.=--Lescarbot's _History of New France_, edited for the Champlain Society, by W. L. Grant and H. P. Biggar. Toronto, 1911.
Early next morning the captain donned his armour and ordered his men to be marshalled in order to visit the town and habitation of this tribe, and a mountain which lies close to the town, whither the captain went with the noblemen and twenty mariners, leaving the rest to guard the boats, and taking three men from the town of Hochelaga to be his guides and escort to the spot. And when on the road we found it as well beaten as could be, in a fair country like a park; with as fine oaks as in any forest in France, and the whole ground beneath them thick with acorns. When we had gone about a league and a half, we came upon one of the chiefest lords of the town of Hochelaga, with a large company, who made sign to us to rest there beside a fire which they had lighted in the roadway. And then this chief began to make a sermon and discourse, which, as we have already said, is their mode of showing joy and friendship, welcoming the captain and his company; and our captain gave him two hatchets and two knives, with a cross and a crucifix which he made him kiss, and then hung it around his neck, whereof the chief thanked our captain. This done, we went along, and about half a league further on began to come upon ploughed fields, and fair large meadows full of their manner of corn, which resembles the millet of Brazil, as large as a pea or larger, whereon they live as we do on wheat. And amid these fields is situated and placed the said town of Hochelaga, stretching up to a mountain which lies beside it, which is well cultivated and most fertile, and from whose top one can see to a great distance. This mountain we called Mount Royal. The town is built in a circle, and surrounded with a wooden palisade in three tiers, like a pyramid; the top row is crosswise, the centre row upright, and the bottom row is laid lengthwise; the whole compactly joined and lashed together after their manner, rising to about twice the height of a lance. The town has but one gate or entry, closed with bars; on it and at several points along the wall are galleries of a kind, with ladders ascending to them, provided with rocks and stones for its guard and defence. In the town are about fifty houses, each about fifty paces long or more, and twelve to fifteen broad, built all of wood, with roofs and sides made of strips of bark or of wood as broad as a table, well and cunningly knotted together after their fashion; within these are several rooms, large and small; in the midst of each house, on the ground, is a large hall where they light their fire and live in common, afterwards retiring, the men with their women and children, to their said chambers. They also have garners at the top of their houses, where they store their corn, which they call caraconi, whereof they make their bread in the following manner. They have wooden mortars, like those for beating hemp, and in these with wooden beetles they beat the corn to powder, then make paste of it and cakes of the paste, which they put on a hot stone and cover with hot pebbles, and thus they bake their bread, for want of an oven. They also make many stews of this corn, and also of beans and peas, of which they have good store; also of large cucumbers and other fruits. They have also in their houses large vats like tuns, wherein they store their eels and other fish, which they smoke during the summer and live upon in winter; of these they gather great plenty, as we by experience have seen. None of their viands have any touch of salt; and they sleep on strips of bark laid on the ground, covered with wretched skins, whereof they also make their garments, such as otters, beavers, martens, foxes, wild cats, roes, stags and other wild beasts, though indeed the greater part of them go practically stark naked.
3. THE FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN THE ISLAND OF ST. CROIX (1604).
=Source.=--Grant and Biggar's edition of Lescarbot's _History_.
During the above voyage M. de Monts worked away at his fort, which he had placed at the foot of the island, opposite the end on which, as we have said, he had lodged his cannon. This was well thought on, in order to control the whole river both up stream and down. But the trouble was that the said fort faced the north, and was without any shelter, save the trees along the shore of the island, which in the vicinity of the fort he had forbidden to be cut down. And outside the said fort was the barracks for the Swiss, large and spacious, and other small buildings like a suburb. Some had built log-huts on the mainland near the stream. But inside the fort was the dwelling of the said M. de Monts, built of fair sawn timber, with the banner of France overhead. Elsewhere within the fort was the magazine, wherein lay the safety and the life of each, built likewise of fair timber, and covered with shingles. And opposite the magazine were the lodgings and dwellings of MM. d'Orville, Champlain, Champdoré, and other notable persons. Opposite the quarters of the said M. de Monts was a covered gallery, to be used either for sports or by the workmen in wet weather. And the whole space between the said fort and the battery was taken up with gardens, at which every man worked lightheartedly. Thus passed the whole autumn; and it was not bad progress to have built their houses and cleared the island before winter; while in these parts pamphlets were being circulated under the name of Master William, stuffed with all sorts of news, wherein among other things this prognosticator said that M. de Monts was pulling out thorns in Canada. And when all is well considered, it may truly be called pulling out thorns to take in hand such enterprises, full of toils and of continual danger, care, vexation and discomfort. But virtue and the courage which overcomes all such obstacles make these thorns to be but gilly-flowers and roses to those who set themselves to these heroic deeds in order to win glory in the memory of men, closing their eyes to the pleasures of those weaklings who are good for nothing but to stay at home.