La Chine appears to be an insignificant village, though in consequence of its favourable situation, it is said to do considerable business. The French was spoken so badly here, that I thought myself transported to our provinces of Hennegau or Namur. The village is said to have obtained its name from the circumstance that during the time the country was occupied by the French colony, they believed they could pass to China by way of the St. Lawrence; and with this object, an expedition had been fitted out, which embarked at La Chine.
Between La Chine and Montreal, the river has a very dangerous rapid, on account of which the government has built a canal as far as this place, which is nine miles long, has several locks, and is said to be of much importance to the trade. As we preferred going by land we hired a stage-coach, and started about eight o’clock in the evening during a violent thunder-storm. Lady Clare, who was scarcely recovered from the fear which she experienced on the water, would willingly have spent the night here in a tavern, as she was much afraid to travel during a thunder-storm at night. It soon turned out that her fears were not unfounded. We had scarcely passed three miles over a good turnpike road, before we came in contact with several carts that stood in front of a tavern, loaded with iron bars. The drivers had gone into the tavern, and left their carts in the middle of the road, and as the night was dark we approached one of them so suddenly that three of the iron bars entered the breast of our shaft-horse, which immediately fell and expired. After much dispute between the coachman and the carters, we rode on with three horses, and arrived at Montreal about ten o’clock at night. We stopt at the Masonic Hall, a hotel which has been established within the last year. It is a very large, convenient, massy building, four stories high, and built of blue stone. It affords a fine view of the St. Lawrence, which is upwards of twelve hundred yards wide here. At our arrival, I became immediately acquainted with Captain Mellish, of the engineers, who was sent from England on a scientific expedition into the interior of the colony.
We remained at Montreal nearly three days. The city, which I examined in company with Lieutenant Colonel Evans of the seventieth regiment, in garrison here, contains about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. It extends upon a hill to a considerable distance, between the St. Lawrence and Le Mont Réal, which is about seven hundred feet high, and is lined with timber. It has two principal streets, which run parallel with the river, and are intersected by a third, that runs along the ditch of the demolished fortresses. The houses are generally built of blue stone, and covered with bright tin, have iron doors and shutters to protect them against the fire, which give the city a very dismal appearance. In our walk we passed a number of young men who wore belts, and were dressed in blue coats, the seams of which were covered with white cord. We were informed that they were the pupils of the Catholic ecclesiastical school. It is well known that most of the Canadians, and four-fifth of the inhabitants of Montreal, are Catholics; they are bigotted, and the lower classes are exceedingly ignorant. There is a very broad street, which unites the two principal streets, and in the centre is the market-house. At one of the extremities of this street, are the court-house and prison; behind which is the place where the old forts stood, since converted into a parade. Montreal has several hospitals, which are superintended by nurses. These hospitals, however, are not sufficient, especially as the nuns do not admit any fever patients. In consequence of this, some of the most wealthy citizens have joined, and selected a healthy spot, on which they have erected a new hospital, three stories high, capable of containing seventy patients of both sexes. In this hospital, the sick, fifty in number, receive cheap and excellent accommodations. They are under the care of nurses, and are attended gratis, by the best physicians of the city. The arrangement is similar to that of the hospital at Boston, but there is less of luxury here in their management.
The public library is as yet small, though it is rapidly increasing. It has united with it a cabinet of natural history. We also observed the foundation for a large cathedral, which is to be built by private contributions. At the barracks of the subalterns, I was much pleased with the mess-room, which has a library connected with it; I was also much gratified with the school for the education of the soldiers, and their children. The barracks were formerly occupied as the Jesuit college, which stood in the old French citadel, of which not a vestige remains. Not far from the barracks is a steam-engine, which conveys the water from the river into the city, at the same time that it moves a mill. At the market-house stands a monument erected by the colony in honour of Lord Nelson. It consists of a statue resting upon a single column. On one side of the pedestal is an inscription; two others contain representations of naval engagements; and the fourth, a representation of the capitulation of Copenhagen.
The next day, Lieutenant-colonel Mac Gregor conducted me to the parade, where a part of his regiment was assembled. They formed a battalion of six divisions. The battalion exercises were not performed, but the manœuvres, which were very complicated, and only adapted to the place, were executed with much precision and admirable celerity. I learned a new mode of making ready. At the command “ready,” the soldiers levelled their muskets, cocked them in this position; at the command “fire,” they brought them slowly to their cheeks. The infantry were divided into two bodies, but in making a flank march, they formed into three, by passing through the files. The platoons were divided into sections, containing from four to six files, in consequence of which the oblique march was easily executed.
After this manœuvre was completed, we took a boat, in company with the officers, for the island of St. Helen, oppositely to Montreal, in the middle of the St. Lawrence. This island contains a large artillery depôt, under the direction of Major Wallace. Upon landing we were saluted with a discharge of twenty-one guns from the battery on the neck of the island. This battery is of a crescent shape, and serves as a training-place for the company of artillery stationed here. The gunners were just practising with one nine, and one six pounder, and a seven-inch howitzer, each of which was charged with grenades. The mark stood in the river, and their dexterity was such that the grenade never exploded before reaching it. The skill consists chiefly in the proper calculation of the fuse, so that the powder of the grenade may explode the moment it is over the mark.
St. Helen was the only point that the French retained after all Canada had submitted to the British power. It is about two miles in circumference, and is covered with fine elms and different kinds of nut trees, particularly the hickory. The soldiers have made excellent paths through and around the island. A botanic garden was established here a few years ago by the government, in which all the North American plants are collected, for the purpose of furnishing gardens in England. On the north side of the island you have some beautiful views of the shores of the river, and Montreal, with her numerous churches, and situation at the foot of the green mountain, presents a very imposing appearance. Here are also the arsenal and barracks, new massy buildings, which are protected against a coup de main by a breast-work, as well as by embrasures in the walls. The interior of the island is hilly, and in a really romantic valley is a powder-magazine, containing four thousand barrels of powder. Through Major Wallace, who resides in a very beautiful house at the barracks, we became acquainted with his wife and daughter, who pass their time very pleasantly at their solitary habitation in music and drawing. During the winter, the people who are obliged to stay on the island are sometimes prevented from going to Montreal for six weeks, in consequence of the ice.
After our return to Montreal we took another ramble through the city, and observed some very large stores. As Montreal carries on some fur trade through the Ottawa river, with the Hudson Bay and North-west Company, I had supposed I should be able to procure some cheap fur; but I found little that was good, and this was valued at an enormous price. In the evening we went to the Royal Circus, whose pompous advertisement had promised a large company of riders and a good play. The riders, four grown persons and two boys, performed some tolerably good feats; but the play was so badly managed that we soon returned to the house. The theatre is in other respects handsomely arranged: it has two tiers of boxes, and a circle for the horses, which, during the play, forms the pit.
