Profit was even wrested from calamity. Once a great ship, La Seine, bearing clothes and merchandise to Quebec and Montreal, had been captured and carried a prize to England. The loss had caused much distress in Canada, because up to this date the people had not grown flax and hemp, and had spun no wool, and their clothing, therefore, came across to them from France. In this emergency the Canadians, particularly the women, were obliged to show their ingenuity, and soon they began to weave coverings, blankets, and even small carpets. They found the fibre of a nettle would make good cloth, and the bark of the white wood cotton-tree was pressed into service. Slowly but surely the industry grew, until there were twenty-five different branches of trade producing druggets, cloths, and linens. The nuns commenced to make bunting for their own dress, black serge for the priests, and blue serge for their pupils.
At first there were no horses in Quebec or Montreal. But at the beginning of the eighteenth century hundreds of these animals were being bred, and to possess and train them became a passion amongst the young men. The result was that many who had before been very skilful in the use of snowshoes soon grew lazy and drove about in sleighs. This came to the notice of the Governor, who told them that Canada could not afford to have her young men unaccustomed to snow-shoes. It was by means of snow-shoes that they were able, even when a blizzard was blowing, to move silently and swiftly in time of war. He issued a decree which forbade any habitant to own more than two mares and one colt. After a certain day any colonist possessing more would be visited by an official ordered to kill the extra horses, and the order was carried out.
The population of Canada had now grown to 50,000 souls. As to life in the colony, we get an excellent picture from the writings of Father Charlevoix, who visited Canada in 1720, and spent some time in making personal observations. He tells us that the country about Montreal was wholly unsettled by Europeans excepting several fortified posts and block-houses, such as Frontenac, Niagara, Detroit, Michilimackinac, and other trading stations in the west. "In Quebec," he wrote, "one finds nothing but what is select and calculated to form an agreeable society. A Governor-General, with his staff, a high-born officer and his troops, an Intendant with a superior council and inferior court, a Commissary of Marines and other officers, and a Superintendent of Waters and Forests, whose jurisdiction is certainly the largest in the world; merchants in easy circumstances, or at least living as if they were, a Bishop, a seminary, and three convents.
"Other circles elsewhere are as brilliant as those surrounding the Governor and Intendant. On the whole, it seems to me there are for all classes the means of passing the time agreeably. Every one contributes to his utmost, people amuse themselves with games and excursions, using caleches in summer, sledges and skates in winter. There is a great deal of hunting, for many gentle folks have no other resources for living in comfort. The news from Europe comes all at once, and occupies a great part of the year, furnishing subjects of conversation of the past and future."
"The Canadians," continues this eye-witness, "breathe from their birth the air of liberty, which renders them very agreeable in social intercourse. Nowhere else is our language spoken with greater purity. One observes here no defective accent. There are here no rich people; every one is hospitable, and no one amuses himself with making money. If a person cannot afford to entertain friends at table, he at least endeavours to dress well."
From the foregoing you may be able to form a fair picture of Canada under the Old Régime.
Two hundred years ago, when Newfoundland was ceded to the English, all the French officials and fishermen removed to the eastern coast of Cape Breton. Cape Breton, despite its name, is an island, and was known to the French as Isle Royale. The place whither the French retired was a safe and spacious inlet, up to that time known as English Harbour, and it was English Harbour that the French king chose as the site of the greatest and most celebrated fortress in the New World. To it was duly given the name of Louisburg. Vauban, a celebrated engineer of his day, was called upon to design it. "Spare neither money nor labour," said the King; "we shall make it another Dunkerque." This Dunkerque, you may remember, was a fortified seaport on the north-east coast of France, upon which millions of money had been spent, and it was generally believed that no enemy could take it. To build its equal, hundreds of engineers, stonecutters, masons, bricklayers, and workmen sailed across the Atlantic. When finished, Louisburg fortress occupied an area of 100 acres, the harbour being defended by batteries on an island at the entrance. Within the fort and town dwelt never less than 2000 people. With such a stronghold so near at hand, it was not strange that the French in Acadia should dwell firmly in the belief that the flag of the lilies would once more wave over them. If few English colonists came to Nova Scotia, none at all migrated to that portion of it which was still called Acadia.
While these things were happening in the far east, in the west notable pioneers were forging a path to French dominion. The far north-west was opened up by Sieur Verendrye with his three valiant sons, a Jesuit priest, and a handful of bushrangers. Verendrye struck out westward through Michilimackinac. He had heard of the great Lake Winnipeg from the Indians and resolved to reach it. Coming upon the Lake of the Woods, there he built a strong fur-trading post, Fort St. Charles, where his party were met by the Sioux, a fierce western tribe. In the battle one of Verendrye's sons was slain. After the explorer had finally reached Lake Winnipeg, he crossed its waters and paddled with his party up the Red River. One morning they came to where the river Assiniboine joins the Red River, and there Verendrye halted and built Fort Rouge. Hard by a settlement grew up, which settlement has in our day expanded at length into the great and flourishing city of Winnipeg.