The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation. Volume 1

by Charles Roger

Some idea will now have been formed of the state of the Church of England "establishment," in Canada, about a time, when it was intended to amalgamate with it the fabrics of Rome. Bishop Mountain had a seat it in the Legislative Councils of both provinces. He only was the embodiment of Church and State.

Mr. Secretary Ryland, anxiously active against the Church of Rome, was very favorably disposed towards the Church of England. His creed with regard to the "Protestant Church Establishment," in the provinces, was for it to have as much splendour and as little power as possible. His chief desire was to make episcopalianism fashionable. He would have given to the Bishopric of Quebec a Dean, a Chapter, and all the other ecclesiastical dignitaries necessary for show, and he would have endowed the See with sufficient lands to support the establishment in the most liberal manner. But not a grain of civil power beyond their churches and churchyards was he inclined to give to the clergy. He even thought that in regard to the particular case at Montreal, and in any other case where a church should be, or was about to be built by private contribution, the bishop would exhibit infinite discretion, if he did not do more than wish to advise and to consecrate. The same rights, privileges, prerogatives and authority as bishops enjoy under the common Law of England could not safely be given to colonial bishops, nor could it be possible to obtain them. A more worldly view of church extension could not well be conceived, but the suggestion was not by any means an imprudent one. Bishops, being but men, are too apt to abuse power, and it is surely well that too much of it should not be granted to experiment upon.

While all this was quietly going on, sub rosa, in Lower Canada, the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, were quietly taking hold of the public mind in Upper Canada. Although the meeting houses were only few and far between, and churches and chapels were extremely rare, the most illiterate of the sects were itinerating, hither and thither, with wonderful success.

About this time there was also a disposition to diffuse education. His Majesty, the King, gave directions to establish a competent number of free schools in the different parishes, to be under the control of the Executive, but the project was strenuously opposed by the Roman Catholic clergy, and only grammar schools in Montreal and Quebec were provided for, which have languished and died. It was feared by Bishop Mountain that the want of colleges and good public schools would render it necessary for parents to send their children to the United States, to imbibe, with their letters and philosophy, republican principles. It was at his suggestion also that the idea of free schools was entertained. The Canadians were deplorably ignorant, and their children, it was designed, should be free from that reproach. It is only now, however, that they are emerging from the most debasing state of mental darkness, into something like enlightenment. Example has done that which force would have failed to accomplish.

As illustrative of the saying "there is nothing new under the sun," it is worthy of remark here that upon the arrival of the intelligence in Canada, respecting the breaking out of the war with France, in 1798, some of the leading members of the House of Assembly, which was then sitting, proposed to levy the sum of £20,000 sterling, by a tax on goods, wares, and merchandize, to be applied, as a voluntary gift to His Majesty, from the province, to enable the King the more effectually to prosecute the war. This was proposed by Mr. Attorney-General, Mr. Young, and Mr. Grant, and as far as the House was concerned, the measure was found practicable. But General Prescott, the Governor, having been informed of the matter, did not think it expedient to encourage a scheme which Lord Elgin would have jumped at.

In 1805, the whole revenue of the province was only £37,000, yet, it appears that Sir Robert Milnes, the Governor, did not think that he could sufficiently entertain to gain a due consideration from the principal persons in the province, on £4,000 a year. He sent a whining letter to Lord Hobart on the subject, begging for an increase of salary. £5,000 was not a sufficient sum to keep up the hospitality of Government House. It would hardly support the summer residence at Spencer Wood. He had said nothing about so delicate a matter, while the war lasted, though he had expended £1,000 a year out of his own private income. And he would rather resign than sacrifice the comforts and waste the means of his family.

Canada, now, continued steadily to advance, both politically and commercially. Neither her political advancement nor the extent of her commerce was great, but both were yearly becoming greater. During the summer of 1806, one hundred and ninety-one vessels, 33,474 tons of shipping, entered at Quebec. Coasters were in full and active employment, and shipbuilding was to some considerable extent carried on. The military of the garrison were still antiquated. The army made no perceptible progress, soldiers still plastered their hair, or if they had none, their heads, with a thick white mortar, which they laid on with a brush, afterwards raked, like a garden bed, with an iron comb; and then fastening on their heads a piece of wood, as large as the palm of the hand, and shaped like the bottom of an artichoke, they made a cadogan, which they filled with the same white mortar, and raked in the same manner, as the rest of the head dress.[11] The army wore cocked hats, knee breeches and gaiters. The habitants, or peasantry, had retrograded, and Volney found that, in general, they had no clear and precise ideas: that they received sensations without reflecting on them; and that they could not make any calculation that was ever so little complicated. If asked how far the distance from this place to that was; a French-Canadian peasant would reply:—"it is one or two pipes of tobacco off," or "you cannot reach it between sunrise and sunset." But the better classes, in close contact with the upper classes among the English, were rapidly improving, and began to entertain the idea that they had political rights. They even started a newspaper called "Le Canadien" and began most vigorously to abuse "les Anglais" and the government. The "Canadien" published entirely in French, first appeared in November 1806. Had it been less anti-British, possibly, it would have been less disagreeable; but the idea had strongly taken possession of its supporters that French-Canadians were looked upon, by the government and its satellites, as mere serfs, and they agitated accordingly. Not only that. They began to exhibit some sparks of independence. Their watchword became:—"Nos institutions, notre langue, et nos lois." They branded the British immigrants and the British population as "étrangers et intrus." Mr. Crapaud's temper was fairly up. There was cause. The worm will bite when trodden upon. Unless there had been substantial grievances, the Canadien could not by any possibility have become so popular as to have given not only umbrage, but uneasiness to the government. Yet it did cause such uneasiness and was peremptorily checked. It was impossible then for a native-born Canadian, whether of English or French extraction, to look a home-appointed government official in the face. "Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis."

On the 21st January, 1807, Mr. President Dunn again met the Legislature of Lower Canada. That invaluable constitution enjoining on the ruler to meet his parliament once a year, rendered it imperative upon him to summon the Council and Assembly for the despatch of business. He recommended to the assembled wisdom before him the propriety of continuing several temporary acts then in force; congratulated them on the brilliant success of His Majesty's arms; alluded with pride to the conquest of the Cape of Good Hope; and touched upon the repeated victories obtained by Sir John Stuart in Calabria. The Assembly replied in terms most flattering to the President personally, promising to do as he required. On proceeding to business, the first subject which engaged the attention of the House was the propriety of defraying the expenses of members of the House residing at a distance from Quebec. The House was disposed to defray such expenses, but nevertheless, the further consideration of the matter was postponed by a majority of two. The expediency of having a Provincial Agent or Ambassador, resident in London, to look after the interests of the province at the metropolis of the empire was discussed, and it was resolved in the affirmative. The Alien Act was passed, and that for the better preservation of His Majesty's government continued for another year, together with several other acts, and on the 16th of April, the parliament was prorogued.

Serious apprehensions of a war between England and the United States now began to be entertained. American commercial interests were grievously affected by the war in Europe, and a kind of spurious activity, in the hostile preparations which would surely follow a declaration of war against England, on which country in peace the merchants of New York, Boston, and the other seaports of the United States principally depend, seemed to be the only incentive for such a war. But while the filibusters of "the greatest nation in creation," were looking for any cause of war, a good cause, in American eyes, arose. The American ships of war were mostly manned by British seamen. Men were greatly in demand for British war vessels, and it was conceived that the right to impress a British sailor anywhere on land or water belonged to His Majesty's naval officers. It having reached the ears of Admiral Berkeley, the Naval Commander in Chief, on the Halifax Station, that the American frigate "Chesapeake," was partly manned by British seamen, the Admiral, unthinkingly ordered Captain Humphreys, of the "Leopard," to recover them. The men on board of the "Chesapeake" were indeed known to be deserters from H.M.S. "Melampus." William Ware, Daniel Martin, John Strachan and John Little, British seamen, within a month after their desertion, had offered themselves as able seamen at Norfolk, in Virginia. Their services were accepted, and the "Chesapeake," on board of which they were sent, prepared for sea. Being made aware of the enlistment of these men, the British Consul at Norfolk, formally demanded their surrender by the Captain of the "Chesapeake." Their surrender was refused. Application for them was then made to the American Secretary of the navy. But he did not consider it expedient to give them up. Three of the men were natives of America, two had protection, and the other had merely lost his protection. The "Chesapeake" sailed on the 22nd of June, and on the same day was intercepted by the British frigate "Leopard," of 50 guns, off Cape Henry. Captain Humphreys, of the "Leopard," stepping on board of the "Chesapeake," demanded the muster of the crew of the American frigate. Captain Barron, in command of the American frigate, refused compliance. The British Commander returned and both vessels got ready for action, the American frigate only, it is said, anticipating hostilities. Then the Leopard fired upon the Chesapeake and, in thirty minutes, so disabled her that she struck, when Captain Humphreys boarded her and took, from among her crew, Ware, Martin, and Strachan, together with one John Wilson, a deserter from a British merchant ship. The United States now burned with indignation. Their outraged nationality could never brook such an insult. Every British armed vessel was ordered to leave the waters of the United States by the President. A special meeting of Congress was held. And the American Minister at the Court of St. James was ordered to demand satisfaction. He did do so. Mr. Canning, the British Minister, at once offered reparation, but he objected to any reference to the general question of impressments from neutral vessels being mixed up with an affair so unfortunate. Mr. Munroe was not authorized to treat these subjects separately, and further negotiation between the two ministers was suspended. Great Britain then sent a special minister to the United States, empowered to treat concerning the special injury complained of. Before he arrived most ample preparations were being made in the United States for war. Millions of dollars were appropriated towards the construction of 188 gun-boats, and the raising of horse, foot, and artillery. It was not until 1811 that this huge mistake was settled, when the British Minister communicated to the American Secretary of State that the attack on the Chesapeake was unauthorized by His Majesty's government; that Admiral Berkeley was recalled; that the men, taken from the Chesapeake, should be restored; and that suitable provision for the families of the six American seamen killed in the fight should be made. But, settled as this gross and deplorable mistake was to the perfect satisfaction of the President, the trading community of the United States were every day becoming more dissatisfied with the state of affairs in Europe and the consequent state of affairs at home. The situation of affairs, on this side of the Atlantic, was indeed gloomy and critical. France and England were fiercely at war, and were arraying against each other the most violent commercial edicts to the destruction of the commerce of neutral nations. There was the British blockade from the Elbe to Brest; Napoleon's Berlin decree; the British Order in Council prohibiting the coasting trade; the celebrated Milan decree; and the no less celebrated British Orders in Council, of November the 11th, 1807, together with the American Government's edicts respecting non-intercourse with Great Britain and France to set on edge the teeth of a people now little scrupulous as to what they did, provided money could be made, or power be obtained. Strife had introduced a disposition to intrigue; political cunning had become fashionable; and political duplicity had lost much of its deformity in the United States. The finger of derision was no longer pointed at meannesses; the love of honor, and manliness of conduct, was blunted; cunning began to take the place of wisdom; professions took the place of deeds, and duplicity stalked forth with the boldness of integrity. The American people wanted a quarrel that the whole boundless continent might be theirs. They had badgered France out of Louisiana, and they would badger England out of Canada and the West Indies. In New York and Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore, it was customary to talk of walking into Canada and squat a conquest, as was afterwards carried into effect with regard to Texas. Mr. Dunn, the President of the Canadian government, looked upon the state of feeling in the adjoining republic with suspicion. He conceived it expedient to feel the public pulse in Canada. Like a skilful physician he approached the patient cautiously and good humouredly, to prevent flurry or agitation, and in putting his hand on the pulse of public opinion, he found it to be healthily strong and regular. He prescribed only a draft of one-fifth part of the whole militia of the province. The draft was taken immediately. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec, or rather the yet only Superintendent of the Romish Church in Quebec, Mr. Plessis, now rapidly rising into favor with the Colonial Court, promptly issued a mandement to the faithful, concerning the war, and a "Te Deum" was sung in all of the churches under his control in Lower Canada. The Canadians turned out with great alacrity. His Honor the President and Commander-in-Chief expressed his satisfaction in general orders. Burn's artillery company volunteered. In ballotting, young bachelors procured the prize tickets of the married men. Some that were not drawn purchased tickets from some that were drawn, and there were not a few married people who refused to sell out, if all that is stated in a Quebec paper of that period can be credited. No doubt the glories of war were uppermost in men's minds. It is possible to make war popular and the braggart tone of the Americans had doubtless contributed considerably to its popularity with the Canadians.

Colonel Brock was then Commandant at Quebec. He was a man of much decision of character and of strong natural sense. With the President he made the most vigorous exertions to discipline the militia and to put the fortifications of Quebec into a good state of defence. Night and day men labored at the fortifications. Every addition that "science, judgment and prudence could suggest," was made.