volume 2, chapter 4.

CANADA: A. D. 1760. The completion of the English conquest. The end of "New France."

"Notwithstanding the successes of 1759, Canada was not yet completely conquered. If Amherst had moved on faster and taken Montreal, the work would have been finished; but his failure to do so gave the French forces an opportunity to rally, and the indefatigable De Levis, who had succeeded Montcalm, gathered what remained of the army at Montreal, and made preparations for attempting the recovery of Quebec. ... After several fruitless attacks had been made on the British outposts during the winter, De Levis refitted all the vessels yet remaining early in the spring and gathered the stores still left at the forts on the Richelieu. On the 17th of April, he left Montreal with all his force and descended the river, gathering up the detached troops on the way; the whole amounting to more than 10,000 men. Quebec had been left in charge of Murray, with 7,000 men, a supply of heavy artillery, and stores of ammunition and provisions; but the number of men had been much reduced by sickness and by hardship encountered in bringing fuel to the city from forests, some as far as ten miles away. Their position, however, had been very much strengthened. ... De Levis encamped at St. Foy, and on the 27th advanced to within three miles of the city."

_R. Johnson, History of the French War, chapter 21._

"On the 28th of April, Murray, marching out from the city, left the advantageous ground which he first occupied, and hazarded an attack near Sillery Wood. The advance-guard, under Bourlamaque, returned it with ardor. In danger of being surrounded, Murray was obliged to fly, leaving 'his very fine train of artillery,' and losing 1,000 men. The French appear to have lost about 300, though Murray's report increased it more than eightfold. During the next two days, Levi [Levis] opened trenches against the town; but the frost delayed the works. The English garrison, reduced to 2,200 effective men, labored with alacrity; women, and even cripples were set to light work. In the French army, not a word would be listened to of the possibility of failure. But Pitt had foreseen and prepared for all. A fleet at his bidding went to relieve the city; and to his wife he was able to write in June: 'Join, my love, with me, in most humble and grateful thanks to the Almighty. Swanton arrived at Quebec in the Vanguard on the 15th of May, and destroyed all the French shipping, six or seven in number. The siege was raised on the 17th. with every happy circumstance. The enemy left their camp standing; abandoned 40 pieces of cannon. Happy, happy day! My joy and hurry are inexpressible.' When the spring opened. Amherst had no difficulties to encounter in taking possession of Canada but such as he himself should create. A country suffering from a four years' scarcity, a disheartened peasantry, five or six battalions, wasted by incredible services and not recruited from France, offered no opposition. Amherst led the main army of 10,000 men by way of Oswego; though the labor of getting there was greater than that of proceeding directly upon Montreal. He descended the St. Lawrence cautiously, taking possession of the feeble works at Ogdensburg. Treating the helpless Canadians with humanity, and with no loss of lives except in passing the rapids, on the 7th of September, 1760, he met before Montreal the army of Murray. {378} The next day Haviland arrived with forces from Crown Point; and, in the view of the three armies, the flag of St. George was raised in triumph over the gate of Montreal. ... The capitulation [signed by the Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor, against the protest of Levis] included all Canada, which was said to extend to the crest of land dividing branches of Lakes Erie and Michigan from those of the Miami, the Wabash, and the Illinois rivers. Property and religion were cared for in the terms of surrender; but for civil liberty no stipulation was thought of. ... On the fifth day after the capitulation, Rogers departed with 200 rangers to carry English banners to the upper posts. ... The Indians on the lakes were at peace, united under Pontiac, the great chief of the Ottawas, happy in a country fruitful of corn and abounding in game. The Americans were met at the mouth of a river by a deputation of Ottawas. 'Pontiac,' said they, 'is the chief and lord of the country you are in; wait till he can see you.' When Pontiac and Rogers met, the savage chieftain asked: 'How have you dared to enter my country without my leave?' 'I come,' replied the English agent, 'with no design against the Indians, but to remove the French.'" Pontiac, after some delay, smoked the calumet with Rogers and consented to his mission. The latter then proceeded to take possession of Detroit. In the following spring he went on to the French posts in the northwest.

_G. Bancroft, History of the United States. (Author's last revision), volume 2, pages 522-524._

ALSO IN: _W. Smith, History of Canada, volume 1, chapter 7 (giving the Articles of Capitulation in full)._

_F. Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, chapter 29-30 (volume 2)._

CANADA: A. D. 1763. Ceded to England by the Treaty of Paris.

See SEVEN YEARS WAR.

CANADA: A. D. 1763-1774. The Province of Quebec created. Eleven years of military rule. The Quebec Act of 1774. Extension of Quebec Province to the Ohio and the Mississippi.

"For three years after the conquest, the government of Canada was entrusted to military chiefs, stationed at Quebec, Montreal and Three Rivers, the headquarters of the three departments into which General Amherst divided the country. Military councils were established to administer law, though, as a rule, the people did not resort to such tribunals, but settled their difficulties among themselves. In 1763, the king, George III., issued a proclamation establishing four new governments, of which Quebec was one. Labrador, from St. John's River to Hudson's Bay, Anticosti, and the Magdalen Islands, were placed under the jurisdiction of Newfoundland, and the islands of St. John (or Prince Edward Island, as it was afterwards called), and Cape Breton (Ile Royale) with the smaller islands adjacent thereto, were added to the government of Nova Scotia. Express power was given to the governors, in the letters-patent by which these governments were constituted, to summon general assemblies, with the advice and consent of His Majesty's Council, 'in such manner and form as was usual in those colonies and provinces which were under the King's immediate government.' ... No assembly, however, ever met, as the French-Canadian population were unwilling to take the test oath, and the government of the province was carried on solely by the governor general, with the assistance of an executive council, composed in the first instance of the two lieutenant-governors of Montreal and Three Rivers, the chief justice, the surveyor general of customs, and eight others chosen from the leading residents in the colony. From 1763 to 1774 the province remained in a very unsettled state, chiefly on account of the uncertainty that prevailed as to the laws actually in force. ... The province of Quebec remained for eleven years under the system of government established by the proclamation of 1763. In 1774, Parliament intervened for the first time in Canadian affairs and made important constitutional changes. The previous constitution had been created by letters-patent under the great seal of Great Britain, in the exercise of an unquestionable and undisputed prerogative of the Crown. The colonial institutions of the old possessions of Great Britain, now known as the United States of America, had their origin in the same way. But in 1774, a system of government was granted to Canada by the express authority of Parliament. This constitution was known as the Quebec Act, and greatly extended the boundaries of the province of Quebec, as defined in the proclamation of 1763. On one side, the province extended to the frontiers of New England, Pennsylvania, New York province, the Ohio, and the left bank of the Mississippi; on the other, to the Hudson's Bay Territory. Labrador, and the islands annexed to Newfoundland by the proclamation of 1763, were made part of the province of Quebec. ... The Act of 1774 was exceedingly unpopular in England and in the English-speaking colonies, then at the commencement of the Revolution. Parliament, however, appears to have been influenced by a desire to adjust the government of the province so as to conciliate the majority of the people. ... The new constitution came into force in October, 1774. The Act sets forth among the reasons for legislation that the provisions made by the proclamation of 1763 were 'inapplicable to the state and circumstances of the said province, the inhabitants whereof amounted at the conquest, to above 65,000 persons professing the religion of the Church of Rome, and enjoying an established form of constitution and system of laws, by which their persons and property had been protected, governed, and ordered for a long series of years, from the first establishment of the province.' Consequently, it is provided that Roman Catholics should be no longer obliged to take the test oath, but only the oath of allegiance. The government of the province was entrusted to a governor and a legislative council, appointed by the Crown, inasmuch as it was 'inexpedient to call an assembly.' This council was to comprise not more than twenty-three, and not less than seventeen members, and had the power, with the consent of the governor or commander-in-chief for the time being, to make ordinances for the peace, welfare, and good government of the province. They had no authority, however, to lay on any taxes or duties except such as the inhabitants of any town or district might be authorized to assess or levy within its precincts for roads and ordinary local services. No ordinance could be passed, except by a majority of the council, and every one had to be transmitted within six months after its enactment to His Majesty for approval or disallowance. {379} It was also enacted that in all matters of controversy, relative to property and civil rights, recourse should be had to the French civil procedure, whilst the criminal law of England should obtain to the exclusion of every other criminal code which might have prevailed before 1764. ... Roman Catholics were permitted to observe their religion with perfect freedom, and their clergy were to enjoy their 'accustomed dues and rights' with respect to such persons as professed that creed. Consequently, the Roman Catholic population of Canada were relieved of their disabilities many years before people of the same belief in Great Britain and Ireland received similar privileges. The new constitution was inaugurated by Major General Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester, who nominated a legislative council of twenty-three members, of whom eight were Roman Catholics."

_J. G. Bourinot, Manual of Const. History of Canada,