Part 22

The chateau, wherein the governor resides, is a plain building of common stone, situated in an open place, the houses round which, form three sides of an oblong square. It consists of two parts. The old and the new are separated from each other by a spacious court. The former stands just on the verge of an inaccessible part of the rock; behind it, on the outside, there is a long gallery, from whence, if a pebble were let drop, it would fall at least sixty feet perpendicularly. This old part is chiefly taken up with the public offices, and all the apartments in it are small and ill contrived; but in the new part, which stands in front of the other, facing the square, they are spacious, and tolerably well finished, but none of them can be called elegant. This part is inhabited by the governor’s family. The chateau is built with out any regularity of design, neither the old nor the new part having even an uniform front. It is not a place of strength, as commonly represented. In the garden adjoining to it is merely a parapet wall along the edge of the rock, with embrasures, in which a few small guns are planted, commanding a part of the lower town. Every evening during summer, when the weather is fine, one of the regiments of the garrison parades in the open place before the chateau, and the band plays for an hour or two, at which time the place becomes the resort of numbers of the most genteel people of the town, and has a very gay appearance.

Opposite to the chateau there is a monastery belonging to the Recollets or Franciscan friars; a very few only of the order are now left. Contiguous to this building is the college belonging to the Jesuits, whose numbers have diminished even still faster than that of the Recollets; one old man alone of the brotherhood is left, and in him are centered the immense possessions of that once powerful body in Canada, bringing in a yearly revenue of £. 10,000 sterling. This old man, whose lot it has been to outlive all the rest of the order, is by birth a Swiss: in his youth he was no more than a porter to the college, but having some merit he was taken notice of, promoted to a higher situation, and in the end created a lay brother. Though a very old man he is extremely healthy; he possesses an amiable disposition, and is much beloved on account of the excellent use he makes of his large fortune, which is chiefly employed in charitable purposes. On his death the property falls to the crown.

The nunneries are three in number, and as there is no restriction upon the female religious orders, they are all well filled. The largest of them, called L’Hospital General, stands in the suburbs, outside of the walls; another, of the order of St. Ursule, is not far distant from the chateau.

[Sidenote: QUEBEC MARKET.]

The engineer’s drawing room, in which are kept a variety of models, together with plans of the fortifications of Quebec and other fortresses in Canada, is an old building, near the principal battery. Adjoining thereto stands the house where the legislative council and assembly of representatives meet, which is also an old building, that has been plainly fitted up to accommodate the legislature.

The armoury is situated near the artillery barrack, in another part of the town. About ten thousand stand of arms are kept in it, arranged in a similar manner with the arms in the Tower of London, but, if possible, with greater neatness and more fancy.

The artillery barracks are capable of containing about five hundred men, but the principal barracks are calculated to contain a much larger number; they stand in the market place, not far distant from the square in which the chateau is situated, but more in the heart of the town.

The market of Quebec is extremely well supplied with provisions every kind, which may be purchased at a much more moderate price than in any town I visited in the United States. It is a matter of curiosity to a stranger to see the number of dogs yoked in little carts, that are brought into this market by the people who attend it. The Canadian dogs are found extremely useful in drawing burthens, and there is scarcely a family in Quebec or Montreal, that does not keep one or more of them for that purpose. They are somewhat similar to the Newfoundland breed, but broader across the loins, and have shorter and thicker legs; in general they are handsome, and wonderfully docile and sagacious; their strength is prodigious; I have seen a single dog, in more than one instance, draw a man for a considerable distance that could not weigh less than ten stone. People, during the winter season, frequently perform long journeys on the snow with half a dozen or more of these animals yoked in a cariole or sledge.

[Sidenote: SUBLIME VIEWS.]

I must not conclude this letter without making mention of the scenery that is exhibited to the view, from various parts of the upper town of Quebec, which, for its grandeur, its beauty, and its diversity, surpasses all that I have hitherto seen in America, or indeed in any other part of the globe. In the variegated expanse that is laid open before you, stupendous rocks, immense rivers, trackless forests and cultivated plains, mountains, lakes, towns, and villages, in turn strike the attention, and the senses are almost bewildered in contemplating the vastness of the scene. Nature is here seen on the grandest scale; and it is scarcely possible for the imagination to paint to itself any thing more sublime than are the several prospects presented to the sight of the delighted spectator. From Cape Diamond, situated one thousand feet above the level of the river, and the loftiest part of the rock on which the city is built, the prospect is considered by many as superior to that from any other spot. A greater extent of country opens upon you, and the eye is here enabled to take in more at once, than at any other place; but to me it appears, that the view from the cape is by no means so fine as that, for instance, from the battery; for in surveying the different objects below you from such a stupendous height, their magnitude is in a great measure lost, and it seems as if you were looking at a draft of the country more than at the country itself. It is the upper battery that I allude to, facing the bason, and is about three hundred feet above the level of the water. Here, if you stand but a few yards from the edge of the precipice, you may look down at once upon the river, the vessels upon which, as they sail up to the wharfs before the lower town, appear as if they were coming under your very feet. The river itself, which is between five and six miles wide, and visible as far as the distant end of the island of Orleans, where it loses itself amidst the mountains that bound it on each side, is one of the most beautiful objects in nature, and on a fine still summer’s evening it often wears the appearance of a vast mirror, where the varied rich tints of the sky, as well as the images of the different objects on the banks, are seen reflected with inconceivable lustre. The southern bank of the river, indented fancifully with bays and promontories, remains nearly in a state of nature, clothed with lofty trees; but the opposite shore is thickly covered with houses, extending as along other parts of the river already mentioned, in one uninterrupted village, seemingly, as far as the eye can reach. On this side the prospect is terminated by an extensive range of mountains, the flat lands situated between and the villages on the banks not being visible to a spectator at Quebec, it seems as if the mountains rose directly out of the water, and the houses were built on their steep and rugged sides.

[Sidenote: BEAUTIFUL SCENERY.]

Beautiful as the environs of the city appear when seen at a distance, they do not appear less so on a more close inspection; and in passing through them the eye is entertained with a most pleasing variety of fine landscapes, whilst the mind is equally gratified with the appearance of content and happiness that reigns in the countenances of the inhabitants. Indeed, if a country as fruitful as it is picturesque, a genial and healthy climate, and a tolerable share of civil and religious liberty, can make people happy, none ought to appear more so than the Canadians, during this delightful season of the year.

Before I dismiss this subject entirely, I must give you a brief account of two scenes in the vicinity of Quebec, more particularly deserving of attention than any others. The one is the Fall of the River Montmorenci; the other, that of the Chaudiere. The former stream runs into the St. Lawrence, about seven miles below Quebec; the latter joins the same river nearly at an equal distance above the city.

The Montmorenci River runs in a very irregular course, through a wild and thickly wooded country, over a bed of broken rocks, till it comes to the brink of a precipice, down which it descends in one uninterrupted and nearly perpendicular fall of two hundred and forty feet. The stream of water in this river, except at the time of floods, is but scanty, but being broken into foam by rushing with such rapidity as it does over the rocks at the top of the precipice, it is thereby much dilated, and in its fall appears to be a sheet of water of no inconsiderable magnitude. The breadth of the river at top, from bank to bank, is about fifty feet only. In its fall, the water has the exact appearance of snow, as when thrown in heaps from the roof of a house, and it seemingly descends with a very slow motion. The spray at the bottom is considerable, and when the sun happens to shine bright in the middle of the day, the prismatic colours are exhibited in it in all their variety and lustre. At the bottom of the precipice the water is confined in a sort of bason, as it were, by a mass of rock, extending nearly across the fall, and out of this it flows with a gentle current to the St. Lawrence, which is about three hundred yards distant. The banks of the Montmorenci, below the precipice, are nearly perpendicular on one side, and on both inaccessible, so that if a person be desirous of getting to the bottom of the fall, he must descend down the banks of the St. Lawrence, and walk along the margin of that river till he comes to the chasm through which the Montmorenci flows. To a person sailing along the St. Lawrence, past the mouth of the chasm, the fall appears in great beauty.

[Sidenote: GRAND FALLS.]

General Haldimand, formerly governor of Canada, was so much delighted with this cataract, that he built a dwelling house close to it, from the parlour windows of which it is seen in a very advantageous point of view. In front of the house is a neat lawn, that runs down the whole way to the St. Lawrence, and in various parts of it little summer-houses have been erected, each of which commands a view of the fall. There is also a summer-house, situated nearly at the top of the fall, hanging directly over the precipice, so that if a bullet were dropped from the window, it would descend in a perpendicular line at least two hundred feet. This house is supported by large beams of timber, fixed into the sides of the chasm, and in order to get to it you have to pass over several flights of steps, and one or two wooden galleries, which are supported in the same manner. The view from hence is tremendously grand. It is said, that the beams whereon this little edifice is erected are in a state of decay, and many persons are fearful of entering into it, lest they should give way; but being ignorant of the danger, if indeed there was any, our whole party ventured into it at once, and staid there a considerable time, notwithstanding its tremulous motion at every step we trod. That the beams cannot last for ever is certain; it would be a wise measure, therefore, to have them removed or repaired in proper time, for as long as they remain standing, persons will be found that will venture into the unsteady fabrick they support, and should they give way at a moment when any persons are in it, the catastrophe must inevitably be fatal.

The fall in the River Chaudiere is not half the height of that of the Montmorenci, but then it is no less than two hundred and fifty feet in breadth. The scenery round this cataract is much superior in every respect to that in the neighbourhood of the Montmorenci. Contiguous to the latter there are few trees of any great magnitude, and nothing is near it to relieve the eye; you have the fall, and nought but the fall, to contemplate. The banks of La Chaudiere, on the contrary, are covered with trees of the largest growth, and amidst the piles of broken rocks, which lie scattered about the place, you have some of the wildest and most romantic views imaginable. As for the fall itself, its grandeur varies with the season. When the river is full, a body of water comes rushing over the rocks of the precipice that astonishes the beholder; but in dry weather, and indeed during the greater part of the summer, we may say, the quantity of water is but trifling. At this season there are few but what would prefer the falls of the Montmorenci River, and I am tempted to imagine that, upon the whole, the generality of people would give it the preference at all times.

+LETTER + XXV.

_Of the Constitution, Government, Laws, and Religion of the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada.—Estimate of the Expenses of the Civil List, of the Military Establishment, and the Presents to the Indians.—Salaries of certain Officers of the Crown.—Imports and Exports.—Taxes._

Quebec.

FROM the time that Canada was ceded to Great Britain until the year 1774, the internal affairs of the province were regulated by the ordinance of the governor alone. In pursuance of the Quebec Bill, which was then passed, a legislative council was appointed by his Majesty in the country; the number of members was limited to twenty-three. This council had full power to make all such ordinances and regulations as were thought expedient for the welfare of the province; but it was prohibited from levying any taxes, except for the purpose of making roads, repairing public buildings, or the like. Every ordinance was to be laid before the governor, for his Majesty’s approbation, within six months from the time it was passed, and no ordinance, imposing a greater punishment on any person or persons than a fine, or imprisonment for three months, was valid without his Majesty’s assent, signified to the council by the governor.

Thus were the affairs of the province regulated until the year 1791, when an act was passed in the British parliament, repealing so much of the Quebec Bill as related to the appointment of a council, and to the powers that had been granted to it; and which established the present form of government.

The country, at the same time, was divided into two distinct provinces; the province of Lower Canada, and the province of Upper Canada. The former is the eastern part of the old province of Canada; the latter, the western part, situated on the northern sides of the great lakes and rivers through which the boundary line runs that separates the British territories from those of the United States. The two provinces are divided from each other by a line, which runs north, 24° west, commencing at Point au Baudet, in that part of the river St. Lawrence called Lake Francis, and continuing on from thence to the Utawas or Grand River. The city of Quebec is the capital of the lower province, as the town of Niagara is of the upper one.

[Sidenote: CONSTITUTION OF CANADA.]

The executive power in each province is vested in the governor, who has for his advice an executive council appointed by his Majesty. The legislative power of each province is vested in the governor, a legislative council, and an assembly of the representatives of the people. Their acts, however, are subject to the controul of his Majesty, and in some particular cases to the controul of the British parliament.

Bills are passed in the council and in the assembly in a form somewhat similar to that in which bills are carried through the British houses of parliament; they are then laid before the governor, who gives or withholds his assent, or reserves them for his Majesty’s pleasure.

Such bills as he assents to are put in force immediately; but he is bound to transmit a true copy of them to the King, who in council may declare his disallowance of them within two years from the time of their being received, in which case they become void.

Such as are reserved for his Majesty’s assent are not to be put in force until that is received.

Moreover, every act of the assembly and council, which goes to repeal or vary the laws or regulations that were in existence at the time the present constitution was established in the country respecting tithes; the appropriation of land for the support of a protestant clergy; the constituting and endowing of parsonages or rectories; the right of presentation to the same, and the manner in which the incumbents shall hold them; the enjoyment and exercise of any form or mode of worship; the imposing of any burdens and disqualifications on account of the same; the rights of the clergy to recover their accustomed dues; the imposing or granting of any farther dues or emoluments to any ecclesiastics; the establishment and discipline of the church of England; the King’s prerogative, touching the granting of waste lands of the crown within the province; every such act, before it receives the royal assent, must be laid before both houses of parliament in Great Britain, and the King must not give his assent thereto until thirty days after the same has been laid before parliament; and in case either house of parliament presents an address to the King to withhold his assent to any such act or acts, it cannot be given.

By an act passed in the eighteenth year of his present Majesty’s reign, the British parliament has also the power of making any regulations which may be found expedient, respecting the commerce and navigation of the province, and also of imposing import and export duties; but all such duties are to be applied solely to the use of the province, and in such a manner only as the laws made in the council and assembly direct.

[Sidenote: LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.]

The legislative council of Lower Canada consists of fifteen members; that of Upper Canada of seven. The number of the members in each province must never be less than this; but it may be increased whenever his Majesty thinks fit.

The counsellors are appointed for life, by an instrument under the great seal of the province, signed by the governor, who is invested with powers for that purpose by the King. No person can be a counsellor who is not twenty-one years of age, nor any one who is not a natural born subject, or who has not been naturalized according to act of parliament.

Whenever his Majesty thinks proper, he may confer on any persons hereditary titles of honour, with a right annexed to them of being summoned to sit in this council, which right the heir may claim at the age of twenty-one; the right, however, cannot be acknowledged if the heir has been absent from the province without leave of his Majesty, signified to the council by the governor, for four years together, between the time of his succeeding to the right and the time of his demanding it. The right is forfeited also, if the heir takes an oath of allegiance to any foreign power before he demands it, unless his Majesty, by an instrument under the great seal of the province, should decree to the contrary.

If a counsellor, after having taken his seat, absent himself from the province for two years successively, without leave from his Majesty, signified to the council by the governor, his seat is also thereby vacated.

All hereditary rights, however, of sitting in council, so forfeited, are only to be suspended during the life of the defaulters, and on their death they descend with the titles to the next heirs[32].

Footnote 32:

No hereditary titles, with this right annexed, have yet been conferred on any persons in Canada by his Britannic Majesty.

In cases of treason, both the title and right of sitting in the council are extinguished.

All questions concerning the right of being summoned to the council are to be determined by the council; but an appeal may be had from their decision to his Majesty in his parliament of Great Britain.

The governor has the power of appointing and removing the speaker of the council.

The assembly of Lower Canada consists of fifty members, and that of Upper Canada of sixteen; neither assembly is ever to consist of a less number.

[Sidenote: THE ASSEMBLY.]

The members for districts, circles, or counties, are chosen by a majority of the votes of such persons as are possessed of lands or tenements in freehold, in fief, in boture, or by certificate derived under the authority of the governor and council of Quebec, of the yearly value of forty shillings, clear of all rents, charges, &c. The members for towns or townships are chosen by a majority of the votes of such persons as possess houses and lands for their own use, of the yearly value of five pounds sterling, or as have resided in the town or township for one year, and paid a rent for a house during the time, at the rate of ten pounds yearly.

No person is eligible to serve as a member of the assembly, who is a member of the legislative council, or a minister, priest, ecclesiastic, or religious personage of the church of England, Rome, or of any other church.

No person is qualified to vote or serve, who is not twenty-one years of age; nor any person, not a natural born subject, or who has not been naturalized, either by law or conquest; nor any one who has been attainted of treason in any court in his Majesty’s dominions, or who has been disqualified by an act of assembly and council.

Every voter, if called upon, must take an oath, either in French or English, that he is of age; that he is qualified to vote according to law; and that he has not voted before at that election.

The governor has the power of appointing the place of session, and of calling together, of proroguing, and of dissolving the assembly.

The assembly is not to last longer than four years, but it may be dissolved sooner. The governor is bound to call it at least once in each year.

The oath of a member, on taking his seat, is comprised in a few words: he promises to bear true allegiance to the King, as lawful sovereign of Great Britain, and the province of Canada dependant upon it; to defend him against all traitorous conspiracies and attempts against his person; and to make known to him all such conspiracies and attempts, which he may at any time be acquainted with; all which he promises without mental evasion, reservation, or equivocation, at the same time renouncing all pardons and dispensations from any person or power whatsoever.

The governors of the two provinces are totally independent of each other in their civil capacity: in military affairs, the governor of the lower province takes precedence, as he is usually created captain general of his Majesty’s forces in North America.

[Sidenote: QUEBEC BILL.]