Chapter 28
The _chansons populaires_, which have been so long in vogue among the people of all classes in the province of Quebec are the same in spirit, and very frequently in words, as those which their ancestors brought over with them from Brittany, Normandy, Saintonge, and Franche-Comté. Some have been adapted to Canadian scenery and associations, but most of them are essentially European in allusion and spirit. The Canadian lumberer among the pines of the Ottawa and its tributaries, the _Métis_ or half-breeds of what was once the great Lone Land, still sing snatches of the songs which the _coureurs de bois_, who followed Duluth and other French explorers, were wont to sing as they paddled over the rivers of the West or camped beneath the pines and the maples of the great forests. It is impossible to set the words of all of them to the music of the drawing-room, where they seem tame and meaningless; but when they mingle with "the solemn sough of the forest," or with the roar of rushing waters, the air seems imbued with the spirit of the surroundings. It has been well observed by M. Gagnon, a French Canadian, that "many of them have no beauty {452} except on the lips of the peasantry." There is "something sad and soft in the voices that imparts a peculiar charm to these monotonous airs, in which their whole existence seems to be reflected."
I give below the most popular and poetical of all the Canadian ballads, and at the same time a translation by a Canadian writer:[2]
À LA CLAIRE FONTAINE. TRANSLATION.
À la claire fontaine Down to the crystal streamlet M'en allant promener, I strayed at close of day; J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle Into its limpid waters Que je m'y suis baigne. I plunged without delay. Lui ya longtemps que je t'aime, I 've loved thee long and dearly, Jamais je ne t'oublierai. I 'll love thee, sweet, for aye.
J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle Into its limpid waters Que je m'y suis baigné, I plunged without delay; Et c'est au pied d'un chêne Then 'mid the flowers springing Que je m'suis reposé. At the oak-tree's foot I lay.
Et c'est au pied d'un chêne Then 'mid the flowers springing Que je m'suis reposé; At the oak-tree's foot I lay; Sur la plus haute branche Sweet the nightingale was singing Le rossignol chantait. High on the topmost spray.
Sur la plus haute branche Sweet the nightingale was singing Le rossignol chantait; High on the topmost spray; Chante, rossignol, chante, Sweet bird! keep ever singing Toi qui as le coeur gai. Thy song with heart so gay.
Chante, rossignol, chante, Sweet bird! keep ever singing Toi qui as le coeur gai; Thy song with heart so gay; Tu as le coeur à rire, Thy heart was made for laughter, Moi je l'ai-t à pleurer. My heart 's in tears to-day.
{453}
Tu as le coeur à rire, Thy heart was made for laughter, Moi je l'ai-t à pleurer; My heart 's in tears to-day; J'ai perdu ma maîtresse Tears for a fickle mistress, Sans pouvoir la trouver. Flown from its love away.
J'ai perdu ma maîtresse Tears for a fickle mistress, Sans pouvoir la trouver; Flown from its love away, Pour un bouquet de roses All for these faded roses Que je lui refusai; Which I refused in play.
Pour un bouquet de roses All for these faded roses Que je lui refusai; Which I refused in play-- Je voudrais que la rose Would that each rose were growing Fut encore au rosier. Still on the rose-tree gay.
Je voudrais que la rose Would that each rose were growing Fût encore au rosier, Still on the rose-tree gay, Et que le rosier même And that the fated rose-tree Fût dans la mer jeté. Deep in the ocean lay. Lui ya longtemps que je t'aime, I 've loved thee long and dearly, Jamais je ne t'oublierai. I 'll love thee, sweet, for aye.
_À la Claire Fontaine_ has been claimed for Franche-Comté, Brittany, and Normandy, but the best authorities have come to the conclusion, from a comparison of the different versions, that it is Norman. In _Malbrouck s'en va-t-en-guerre_, we have a song which was sung in the time of the _Grand Monarque_. Of its popularity with the French Canadians, we have an example in General Strange's reply to the 65th, a French Canadian regiment, during the second Northwest rebellion. One morning, after weeks of tedious and toilsome marching, just as the men were about to fall in, the General {454} overhead the remark--"Ah! when will we get home?" "Ah, mes garçons," laughed the General--
"Malbrouck s'en va-t-en guerre Mais quand reviendra-t-il?"
"Malbrouck has gone a-fighting, But when will he return?"
and with their characteristic light-heartedness the men caught up the famous old air and the march was resumed without a murmur.
These _chansons populaires_ of French Canada afford some evidence of the tenacity with which the people cling to the customs, traditions, and associations of the land of their origin. Indeed, a love for Old France lies still deep in the hearts of the people, and both young and old study her best literature, and find their greatest pride in her recognition of their poets and writers. But while there exists among the more influential and cultured class a sentimental attachment to Old France, there is a still deeper feeling, strengthened by the political freedom and material progress of the past forty years, that the connection with the British Empire gives the best guaranty for the preservation of their liberties and rights. This feeling has found frequent expression in the forcible utterances of Sir Wilfrid, the late Premier of the Dominion. No doubt the influence of the Roman Catholic priesthood has had much to do with perpetuating the connexion with England. They feel that it is {455} not by a connexion with France or the United States that their religious and civil institutions can be best conserved.
All classes now agree as to the necessity of preserving the federal system in its entirety, since it ensures better than any other system of government the rights and interests of the French Canadian population in all those matters most deeply affecting a people speaking a language, professing a religion, and retaining certain institutions different from those of the majority of the people of the Dominion.
No French Canadian writer or politician of weight in the country now urges so impossible or suicidal a scheme as the foundation of an independent French nationality on the banks of the St. Lawrence. The history of the fifty years that have elapsed since the dark days of Canada, when Papineau wished to establish a "Nation Canadienne," goes to show that the governing classes of the English and French nationalities have ceased to feel towards each other that intense spirit of jealousy which was likely at one time to develop itself into a dangerous hatred. The spirit of conciliation and justice, which has happily influenced the action of leading English and French Canadian statesmen in the administration of public affairs, has been so far successful in repressing the spirit of passion and demagogism which has exhibited itself at certain political crises, and in bringing the two nationalities into harmony with each other. As long as the same wise counsels continue to prevail in Canada that {456} have heretofore governed her, and carried her successfully through critical periods, the integrity of the confederation is assured, and the two races will ever work harmoniously together, united by the ties of a common interest,--always the strongest bond of union--and a common allegiance to the Empire to whose fostering care they already owe so much.
[1] The illustration represents the ancient church which was built in 1658, but was taken down a few years ago on account of its dangerous condition, and rebuilt on the old site near the basilica, in exactly the original form with the same materials.
[2] _Songs of Old Canada_. Translated by W. McLennan.
{457}
XXX
RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA.
In the ordinary course of events this history of the Dominion should have closed with an account of the old French Province of Quebec, its people, their characteristics and their progress. But so much has happened in the second decade of the twentieth century that the impress of France is slowly being obliterated by a Canadianism which is peculiar to itself. Of course this does not mean that the French language is disappearing or that all the customs of the old régime are giving way to new. But _autres temps, autres moeurs_. For this the Great War has been largely responsible. Previous to it, the average French Canadian had been too prone to dwell on the ties which bound him to La Belle France. But a part in the world-conflict convinced him that in the hundred and fifty years he had been disassociated from the country of his birthright, he had worked out his destiny along lines essentially Canadian. This view is likewise affecting and influencing the standpoint of those who have settled in the Great Northwest. The result is a stronger feeling of Canadian nationality in that association {458} of nations which we are pleased to term the British Empire.
After the tragic death of Sir John Thompson in 1892 Canada struggled along politically under several Conservative Premiers which undoubtedly prepared the way for Sir Wilfrid Laurier's great victory four years afterwards. Then, surrounded by the men who had been so many years in opposition with him, he evolved those practical principles of Liberalism which kept his party firmly in power until he advocated free trade in 1911. Since that time both Liberals and Conservatives have come to the conclusion that a protective policy is the one best suited for Canada's growing needs and future prospects. It is interesting to recall, however, that in the dying days of Conservative rule, Nicholas Flood Davin, a prominent member on the Government benches, introduced a Bill for Woman's Suffrage, a reform which was not realised in the Dominion until 1917. As for Quebec it has adhered steadily to manhood franchise, although there is a decided possibility that women will receive the vote in 1922. Some three years afterwards, or, to be exact, September 29, 1898, a Prohibition plebiscite was carried in Canada, but it was fully twenty years before it was put into effect by the various provinces, always with the same exception--that of Quebec, It will therefore be seen that in some respects the old province of Lower Canada does not adopt innovations lightly, or, at least, until they have been first tried and found to be worthy of some measure of support.
When the outbreak of the Boers startled Canada and roused in her the dormant desire to respond {460} to the call of the Motherland, it was Sir Wilfrid Laurier who took up the challenge of non-intervention or neutrality.
We acted in the full independence of our sovereign power. What we did we did of our own free will. . . . If it should be the will of the people of Canada at any future stage to take part in any war of England, the people of Canada will have to have their way. . . . The work of union and harmony between the chief races of this country is not yet complete. . . . But there is no bond of union so strong as the bond created by common dangers faced in common.[1]
What a prophecy. How well was it realised fourteen years afterwards. But at the time the Canadians, believing that war would not pass their way again, erected monuments in all the leading cities to commemorate their losses, little thinking that the courage and traditions achieved would be perpetuated at the second battle of Ypres, Vimy Ridge, and the Somme.
The general election of 1900 sustained Sir Wilfrid, and from that time until 1911 he gave to his country a vision and a courage worthy of the great statesman who had preceded him in the premiership during many years. Possibly the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York the following year also opened up new vistas to him of the Empire upon which the sun never sets. At any rate life flowed on evenly enough for him and the Canadian people until there came one of those imperial acts of negotiation which sorely, perhaps unwarrantably, tried the loyalty and patience of everyone in the Dominion, irrespective of race, party, or creed. As a result of it {461} any future Dominion Government would be very brave indeed if it agreed to an arbitration affecting common Canadian and American interests where the negotiators were not of themselves. However, if the Alaska Boundary Award 1903 gave the United States command of the ports leading to the Klondike it also gave to the Canadians a very clear lead as to what they should do when treaties affecting their own interests came up for consideration. Happily both Motherland and Dominion now see eye to eye in this regard, and no greater evidence of the solidarity resulting can be seen than in the signing of the recent Treaty of Versailles by the Overseas delegates.
Deep as was the chagrin at the time, internal expansion and growing wants diverted the attention of most of the settlers to the new problem being worked out in the West. Immigrants were pouring in ceaselessly. A charter for a Grand Trunk Pacific Railway had just been given by the Dominion House. Everyone was ambitious. All these reasons created a desire upon the part of the people for full provincial organisation instead of the territorial system which could not possibly satisfy the demands of a virile Northwest. The Autonomy Bills of Saskatchewan and Alberta were soon presented by the Dominion Government, and on September 1, 1905 two provinces were formally constituted from the old territories.
There were many in the Eastern Provinces who viewed these evidences of expansion not without certain misgivings. Most of the newly arrived settlers were intelligent Americans of considerable {462} means. They had brought their household furniture, agricultural implements, and herds of horses and cattle with them. All this, however, was desirable and praiseworthy. But what worried the older settlers of the west and particularly the residents in the east was, did they intend to disseminate their previous Republican ideas? In justice to them it must be affirmed that they did not. On the contrary, they settled down as resident Canadians, loyally supporting existing institutions and the Crown. Many of them, however, were Canadians by birth, returning to their native land, or the children of Canadians. But whether Canadian by parentage or naturalisation they are a splendid asset to the west. And their knowledge of modern farming methods is by no means the least important of their accomplishments. In their train, there has also arrived a large number of skilled and unskilled European labourers.
When the House of Commons on May 22, 1919, adopted a recommendation of an address to the King not to grant further titles to Canadians, it was asserted by some that it was primarily caused by this western invasion. But it can be rightly maintained that such action was caused by conditions existing at the time entirely independent of this influence. It may be that in the future the resolution will be withdrawn. Resolutions in Canada are not as fixed as the ancient laws of the Medes and the Persians.
Side by side with this agricultural expansion there has been an era of discovery in the Dominion unequalled even by the golden age of '49. Alexander {463} Macdonald, a Scotchman from New Brunswick, found a fortune in the great Klondike rush of 1894-8 and other Canadians did the same at Cobalt, Ontario, in 1903, where a member of a railway construction gang picked up a silver nugget by accident, thereby disclosing to an eager continent the famous Cobalt silver fields. Canada has, as a result, one of the greatest gold and silver-mining centres in the world.
As if to keep pace with this unexpected development, Dr. Charles E. Saunders, of the Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, announced his successful evolution of Marquis wheat. The Doctor had been experimenting with mid-European Red Fife and Red Calcutta ever since 1903. By successfully crossing the two, an early ripening, hard red spring wheat with excellent milling and baking qualities was evolved. Marquis wheat, as it was named, is now the dominant spring wheat throughout America. Over three hundred million bushels are produced annually, and it was largely owing to Canadian Marquis that the Allies were able to overcome the food crisis in 1918. The wealth of the world has thus been increased enormously by it.
In 1911 Sir Wilfrid, who had been attending the Imperial Conference in London during May and June of that year, returned home determined to place himself again in the hands of the electorate. Unfortunately he had either not profited by the lesson of 1891 or he now believed that the Dominion was ripe for reciprocity with the United States. The contest resulted in the overwhelming defeat of his ministry. For fifteen years he had enjoyed the same confidence of the people as was extended to {464} Sir John A. Macdonald, and the story of his premiership was practically the political history of Canada for that period.
The Hon. Sir Robert Borden, who had led the Conservative party after Sir Charles Tupper had resigned in 1901, now succeeded, and a new era opened in Canadian politics. Throughout the ten years of his two terms of office he invariably viewed the questions and problems before him from a judicial standpoint. At the end of his term of office he carried into his semi-retirement the respect and honour of the Canadian people. If he lacked the personality and the fire of Sir John A. and Sir Wilfrid, on the hustings and in the House, he made up for it by a mind well balanced in statesmanship. Never was this seen to greater advantage than on those occasions when he participated in the Imperial Conferences and at the Peace negotiations ir Versailles.
Early in the winter of 1913, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, an Icelander from Manitoba, set out on one of his explorations of the Arctic regions of Canada. Public opinion had been so roused and excited over Admiral Peary reaching the North Pole on April 6, 1909, that the Canadian Government felt that they owed it to the Empire to make some attempt at charting the northern regions for the Dominion. Under Government organisation and supervision the enterprise lasted for five years. Thousands of square miles were added to Canadian territory within the Arctic Circle, many of which, contrary to popular conception, are green and habitable. The geography of certain lands and seas was amplified and corrected, interesting and useful {465} scientific material was obtained, and much light thrown on general conditions prevailing in those latitudes which had escaped the observation of Roald Amundsen when he accomplished the navigation of the Northwest Passage during 1903-6.
The opening years of the second decade of the twentieth century, however, had not been without their toll of the Empire makers in Canada. Just before the Great War broke on an unsuspecting Dominion, Lord Strathcona passed away in his 94th year. From an apprentice clerk in Hudson's Bay Company he had passed from honour to honour until his death, when he was High Commissioner for Canada in London. Not many months later he was followed by the last surviving Father of Confederation, Sir Charles Tupper, who had preceded him in the office. Both of these pioneers in Canadian life wielded an influence very far reaching in the interests of the British Empire.
At the outbreak of the war similar losses in Canadian public life passed without much notice in the stress and strain of the struggle to which Canada was to devote herself during the ensuing years.
The prompt action of Sir Sam Hughes, the Minister of Militia, the sending of 400,000 men overseas to fight the great fight, the seemingly never-ending battles of Ypres, St. Julien, Festubert, Givenchy, St. Eloi, Sanctuary Wood, Vimy Ridge, Loos, Hill 70, Courcelette, Passchendaele, and the Somme, under General Lord Byng and General Sir Arthur Currie, appear too vivid in the mind as yet to be regarded as history.
{466}
Something of the spirit of the Canadians in sharing the common sacrifice is reflected in the beautiful though poignant lines of Colonel Macrae of the Canadian Army Medical Corps, who himself made the supreme sacrifice in one of the early engagements of 1915:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Beneath the crosses, row on row That mark our place, and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly, Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe; To you, from falling hands, we throw The torch. Be yours to lift it high! If ye break faith with us who die, We shall not sleep, though poppies blow In Flanders fields.
As for those at home, now that the war has passed into the ages-long annals of the Empire, no words can express their thoughts better than those of Laurence Binyon at the entrance of the British Museum in London, England:
They shall grow not old As we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them Nor the years condemn, At the going down of the sun And in the morning We will remember them.
But the years 1914-20 were constructive ones for Canada. Hitherto she had been content to be {467} regarded as a Dominion with a definite place in the Empire, proud of her position in that Association of Nations but not unmindful of her shortcomings. The world-conflict, however, caused her to realise her own constructive ability and possibilities only limited by population. Under the Imperial Munitions Board factories were converted into munition works, old plants were enlarged, and new machinery installed, so that the country is industrially equipped to supply a population considerably larger than it is to-day. Not only was wooden ship building revived, but also steel ship building plants were laid down. As a result there is a Government Merchant Marine arranged in conjunction with the Government railways, sailing the high seas to wherever Canadian produce can find a market. Closer international relationships are being fostered instead of considered as outside of the Dominion's power and her desire. These cords of commerce will undoubtedly strengthen British hegemony in the years to come.