Part 4

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,

JAMES WOLFE.

15. The Plains Of Abraham (1759).

=Source.=--_An Historical Journal of the Campaigns in North America, 1757-60_, by Captain John Knox. London, 1769.

Thursday, September 13, 1759. Before daybreak this morning we made a descent upon the north shore, about half a quarter of a mile to the eastward of Sillery; and the light troops were fortunately by the rapidity of the current carried lower down between us and Cape Diamond; we had in this debarkation thirty flat-bottomed boats containing about sixteen hundred men. This was a great surprise on the enemy, who, from the natural strength of the place, did not suspect, and consequently were not prepared against, so bold an attempt. The chain of sentries which they had posted along the summit of the heights galled us a little and picked off several men and some officers before our light infantry got up to dislodge them. This grand enterprise was conducted and executed with great good order and discretion; as fast as we landed, the boats put off for reinforcements, and the troops formed with much regularity; the General with Brigadiers Monckton and Murray were ashore with the first division. We lost no time here, but clambered up one of the steepest precipices that can be conceived, being almost a perpendicular and of an incredible height. As soon as we gained the summit, all was quiet and not a shot was heard owing to the excellent conduct of the light infantry under Colonel Howe; it was by this time clear daylight. Here we formed again, the river and the south country in our rear, our right extending to the town, our left to Sillery, and halted a few minutes. The General then detached the light troops to our left to rout the enemy from their battery and to disable their guns, except they could be rendered serviceable to the party who were to remain there; and this service was soon performed. We then faced to the right and marched towards the town by files till we came to the plains of Abraham, an even piece of ground which Mr. Wolfe had made choice of while we stood forming upon the hill. Weather showery: about six o'clock the enemy first made their appearance upon the heights between us and the town; whereupon we halted and wheeled to the right, thereby forming the line of battle.... The enemy had now likewise formed the line of battle, and got some cannon to play on us with round and canister shot; but what galled us most was a body of Indians and other marksmen they had concealed in the corn opposite to the front of our right wing and a coppice that stood opposite to our centre inclining towards our left; but the Colonel Hale, by Brigadier Monckton's orders, advanced some platoons alternately from the forty-seventh regiment, which after a few rounds obliged these skulkers to retire: we were now ordered to lie down, and remained some time in this position. About eight o'clock we had two pieces of short brass six-pounders playing on the enemy, which threw them into some confusion, and obliged them to alter their disposition, and Montcalm formed them into three large columns; about nine the two armies moved a little nearer each other. The light cavalry made a faint attempt upon our parties at the battery of Sillery, but were soon beat off, and Monsieur de Bougainville with his troops from Cape Rouge came down to attack the flank of our second line, hoping to penetrate there; but by a masterly disposition of Brigadier Townshend they were forced to desist, and the third battalion of Royal Americans was then detached to the first ground we had formed on after we gained the heights, to preserve the communication with the beach and our boats. About ten o'clock the enemy began to advance briskly in three columns with loud shouts and recovered arms, two of them inclining to the left of our army and the third towards our right, firing obliquely at the two extremities of our line from the distance of one hundred and thirty until they came within forty yards; which our troops withstood with the greatest intrepidity and firmness, still reserving their fire and paying the strictest obedience to their officers; this uncommon steadiness, together with the havoc which the grape-shot from our field-pieces made among them, threw them into some disorder and was most critically maintained by a well-timed, regular, and heavy discharge of our small arms, such as they could no longer oppose; hereupon they gave way and fled with precipitation, so that by the time the cloud of smoke was vanished our men were again loaded, and profiting by the advantage we had over them pursued them almost to the gates of the town and the bridge over the little river, redoubling our fire with great eagerness, making many officers and men prisoners. The weather cleared up, with a comfortably warm sunshine; the Highlanders chased them vigorously towards Charles's river, and the fifty-eighth to the suburb close to John's gate, until they were checked by the cannon from the two hulks; at the same time a gun, which the town had brought to bear upon us with grape-shot, galled the progress of the regiments to the right, who were likewise pursuing with equal ardour, while Colonel Hunt Walsh by a very judicious movement wheeled the battalions of Bragg and Kennedy to the left, and flanked the coppice where a body of the enemy made a stand, as if willing to renew the action; but a few platoons from these corps completed our victory. Then it was that Brigadier Townshend came up, called off the pursuers, ordered the whole line to dress and recover their former ground. Our joy at this success is inexpressibly damped by the loss we sustained of one of the greatest heroes which this or any other age can boast of,--GENERAL JAMES WOLFE, who received his mortal wound, as he was exerting himself at the head of the grenadiers of Louisbourg.... The officers who are prisoners say that Quebec will surrender in a few days: some deserters, who came out to us in the evening, agree in that opinion, and inform us that the Sieur de Montcalm is dying in great agony of a wound he received to-day in their retreat.

=Source.=--The Letter in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, December, 1759, already quoted (13).

[Wolfe was wounded three times.] He then went reeling aside, but was soon supported by an officer, of whom he inquired if the enemy were put to flight; and, being assured they were, and that our troops were in pursuit, he smiled and said he died with pleasure on the spot he ever wished to die on, and then closed his eyes. Thus died this great young General, whose behaviour on this day will ever be an honour to his country....

'Tis a noble summer's work, though many brave fellows have suffered much by it; but all, both soldiers and sailors, to a man behaved nobly. The French army consisted of about 5000 regulars, the rest Canadians, some of very considerable fortune, many of whom fell in the action, and the rest are reduced almost to beggary. The prisoners all agree that this is the greatest stroke the French ever felt from the English arms; and I readily believe it, as the place is incredibly strong, and by its surrender we must make North America our own.

16. GOVERNMENT OF QUEBEC UNDER THE BRITISH (1763-74).

=Source.=--The Proclamation of 7th October, 1763, printed in _Documents relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-91_, edited by Adam Shortt and Arthur G. Doughty.

WHEREAS we have taken into Our Royal Consideration the extensive and valuable Acquisitions in America, secured to our Crown by the late Definitive Treaty of Peace, concluded at Paris, the 10th Day of February last; and being desirous that all Our loving Subjects, as well of our Kingdom as of our Colonies in America, may avail themselves with all convenient Speed, of the great Benefits and Advantages which must accrue therefrom to their Commerce, Manufactures and Navigation, We have thought fit, with the Advice of our Privy Council, to issue this our Royal Proclamation, hereby to publish and declare to all our loving Subjects, that we have, with the advice of our said Privy Council, granted our Letters Patent, under our Great Seal of Great Britain, to erect, within the Countries and Islands ceded and confirmed to Us by the said Treaty, Four distinct and separate Governments, styled and called by the names of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida and Grenada....

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.

17. ON THE COPPERMINE RIVER IN JULY (1771).

=Source.=--Samuel Hearne's _A Journey from Prince of Wales Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean_. London, 1795.

After a sleep of five or six hours we once more set out, and walked eighteen or nineteen miles to the South South East, when we arrived at one of the copper mines, which lies, from the river's mouth about South South East, distant about twenty-nine or thirty miles.

This mine, if it deserve that appellation, is no more than an entire jumble of rocks and gravel, which has been rent many ways by an earthquake. Through these ruins there runs a small river; but no part of it, at the time I was there, was more than knee-deep.

The Indians who were the occasion of my undertaking this journey, represented this mine to be so rich and valuable, that if a factory were built at the river, a ship might be ballasted with the ore, instead of stone; and that with the same ease and dispatch as is done with stones at Churchill River. By their account the hills were entirely composed of that metal, all in handy lumps, like a heap of pebbles. But their account differed so much from the truth, that I and almost all my companions expended near four hours in search of some of this metal, with such poor success, that among us all only one piece of any size could be found. This, however, was remarkably good, and weighed above four pounds. I believe the copper has formerly been in much greater plenty; for in many places, both on the surface and in the cavities and crevices of the rocks, the stones are much tinged with verdigris.

It may not be unworthy the notice of the curious, or undeserving a place in my Journal, to remark that the Indians imagine that every bit of copper they find resembles some object in nature; but, by what I saw of the large piece, and some smaller ones which were found by my companions, it requires a great share of invention to make this out. I found that different people had different ideas on the subject, for the large piece of copper above mentioned had not been found long before it had twenty different names ... at last it was generally allowed to resemble an Alpine hare couchant: for my part, I must confess that I could not see it had the least resemblance to any thing to which they compared it....

Before Churchill River was settled by the Hudson's Bay Company, which was not more than fifty years previous to this journey being undertaken, the Northern Indians had no other metal but copper among them, except a small quantity of iron-work, which a party of them who visited York Fort about the year 1713 or 1714 purchased; and a few pieces of old iron found at Churchill River, which had undoubtedly been left there by Captain Monk. This being the case, numbers of them from all quarters used every summer to resort to these hills in search of copper; of which they made hatchets, ice-chisels, bayonets, knives, awls, arrow-heads, etc. The many paths that had been beaten by the Indians on these occasions, and which are yet, in many places, very perfect, especially on the dry ridges and hills, is surprising; in the valleys and marshy grounds, however, they are mostly grown over with herbage, so as not to be discerned.

The Copper Indians set a great value on their native metal even to this day; and prefer it to iron for almost every use except that of a hatchet, a knife, and an awl; for these three necessary implements copper makes but a very poor substitute.

18. THE QUEBEC ACT (1774).

=Source.=--Shortt and Doughty's _Constitutional Documents_ (_cf._ 16).

... for the more perfect security and ease of the minds of the inhabitants of the said province, it is hereby declared, that his Majesty's subjects professing the religion of the Church of Rome of and in the said province of Quebec, may have, hold and enjoy the free exercise of the religion of the Church of Rome, subject to the King's supremacy ... and that the clergy of the said Church may hold, receive and enjoy their accustomed dues and rights, with respect to such persons only as shall profess the said religion....

... all his Majesty's Canadian subjects within the province of Quebec, the religious Orders and Communities only excepted, may also hold and enjoy their property and possessions, together with all customs and usages relative thereto, and all other their civil rights, in as large, ample and beneficial manner ... as may consist with their allegiance to his Majesty, and subjection to the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain; and ... in all matters of controversy relative to property and civil rights, resort shall be had to the laws of Canada as the rule for the decision of the same....

And whereas the certainty and lenity of the Criminal Law of England, and the benefits and advantages resulting from the use of it, have been sensibly felt by the inhabitants, from an experience of more than nine years, during which it has been uniformly administered; be it therefore further enacted ... that the same shall continue to be administered, and shall be observed as law in the province of Quebec....

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.

19. ONE OF THE LOYALISTS (1783).

=Source.=--A Memoir by his Grand-daughter, Mrs. Sophia Rowe, in the _Transactions_ for 1899 of The United Empire Loyalists' Association of Ontario.

The late Captain Samuel Anderson was born of Irish parents near Boston on 4th of May, 1736. He was a lawyer in good practice and married Miss Prudentia Deliverance Butts of Boston, who was born 1743 and died 1824. Samuel Anderson went to the West Indies early in life for the benefit of his health. On his return he joined the King's forces, probably as one of the contingent furnished by the New England Provinces after the breaking out of the war with France in 1756. He served under General Abercrombie in 1758, and under General Amherst in 1759-60-61.... After the close of the war, he settled on a farm near Boston, where he resided until the breaking out of the rebellion in 1775. He was offered a company in the Continental Service, which he refused. Some time after, he was offered command of a regiment in the same service, which he also refused. This caused him to be looked upon as a _King's Man_ and led to an attempt on the part of some of his neighbours to convert him from the error of his ways by one or other of the gentle means of carting, flogging, or tar-and-feathering then in vogue amongst the revolutionary party. Five or six of them started out to try the experiment; they found him on his farm splitting rails; he politely asked them their business, and, on being told they had come to teach him a lesson, he invited them to "come and try." As he was a very large and powerful man, they looked at him, then at the axe in his hand, and moved off, evidently considering "discretion the better part of valour." Several attempts were made to arrest him, and he was at one time secreted on his own property, when a party of Continentals billeted themselves at his house. The sergeant read a proclamation offering a reward of five hundred pounds for the body of Samuel Anderson dead or alive, after which the party conversed in French, not thinking they would be understood by Mrs. Anderson; but the brave woman, without betraying the slightest fear or knowledge of what they talked of, heard all they purposed doing to her husband, should he be found. She directed her servants to prepare food and beds for all, had their horses stabled and fed, then, waiting till all was quiet, went in the dark to her husband and bade him fly for his life.

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.

20. THE DESCENT OF THE MACKENZIE RIVER (1789).

=Source.=--Sir Alexander Mackenzie's _Voyages from Montreal through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in the years 1789 and 1793_. London, 1801.