Old Quebec: The Fortress of New France

by Gilbert Parker; Claude Glennon Bryan

But the tide of war turned once more against the Canadians, when the British fleet on Lake Erie surrendered to Commodore Perry, and Proctor, the victor of Frenchtown, met with a humiliating defeat at the hands of General Harrison, a future President of the Republic, Chief Tecumseh being among the slain. On the ocean, however, British naval prestige was restored, and among the events of this year was the celebrated duel between the Shannon and the Chesapeake. But while, in the west and centre, the issue was hanging thus in doubt, events more decisive were happening in the east.

The army of the north was sent once more against Montreal and Quebec, this time in two divisions, the first of which was to march northward from Albany, and at Châteauguay to effect a junction with the second division, coming down the St. Lawrence in three hundred boats from Sackett's Harbor. The St. Lawrence army, commanded by General Wilkinson, was intercepted by a force of French Canadians, and sustained a memorable defeat at Chrystler's Farm, near Long Sault Rapids; and the force from Albany was now to meet a similar fate. Late in September this first division, under General Hampton, crossed the Canadian frontier south of the historical outpost of Isle-aux-Noix; but as De Salaberry was once more in command of the advanced line of defence, again holding a strong position at Blairfindie, the enemy, in order to effect the necessary junction with the other division, was compelled to make a long detour by way of the Châteauguay River. In spite of the difficulties of the route, they pressed forward towards the shore of Lake St. Louis. De Salaberry was not dismayed by this new movement, and hastening westward from Blairfindie, he ascended the Châteauguay and took up a strong position on ground intersected by deep ravines. The same tactics which had destroyed Braddock's legion at Monongahela in 1775, were now brought to bear with equal effect upon the Americans themselves. The Canadian general, having destroyed the bridges, erected a triple line of defence, under cover of which he held his force, consisting of only three hundred Canadians, a band of Indians, and a few companies of Highlanders. Early in the morning of October 26th, the American army advancing to the ford, the banks of the river suddenly blazed with musketry fire. For four hours the invaders strove in vain to force the passages of the river in the face of De Salaberry's death-dealing trenches, bravely attempting to outflank the Voltigeurs; but before those unyielding breastworks, numbers and impetuosity were both unavailing; and, at last, after heavy losses, Hampton was constrained to recall his men and retire from the field. This victory, nobly fought and won by the French Canadians, ranks with Carillon in the annals of the Lower Province, and the bullet-riven flags of both engagements are still shown among the trophies of Quebec. The loyalty and courage of the French population had decided the issue of another campaign in favour of Great Britain.

A BEGGAR OF CÔTE BEAUPRÉ

In 1814 the chief events of the war in Canada happened once more about Lake Champlain and Niagara. The invaders were again driven back with loss at Lacolle Mill; but at the end of the season they recovered ground in this quarter by dispersing the British army and the fleet of Lake Champlain at Plattsburg, an engagement which led to the recall of Sir George Prevost, whose bad generalship was blamed for this reverse. Meanwhile, the hottest battle of all the war had been fought in the Upper Province, when the American armies, planning to reach Kingston, and having won some minor successes, were finally scattered at Lundy's Lane, near Niagara Falls, and compelled to fall back upon Lake Erie.

ST. LOUIS STREET, PLACE D'ARMES, AND NEW COURT HOUSE

But apart from the fortunes of war, when peace was finally proclaimed by the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, the chief gain to the British cause, so far at least as Canada was concerned, lay not so much in the undoubted advantage held throughout those three trying years, but rather in the sure knowledge that the people of French Canada had remained loyal at a crisis when their disaffection would have turned the scale and lost to England her remaining North American colonies. As De Salaberry wrote to the House of Assembly, in reference to the victory at Châteauguay: "In preventing the enemy from penetrating into the province, one common sentiment animated the whole of my three hundred brave companions, and in which I participated, that of doing our duty, serving our sovereign, and saving our country from the evil of an invasion. The satisfaction arising from our success was to us adequate recompense...."

Temptations to treason had been multiplied; for besides many grievances at home, the French inhabitants were constantly exposed to the emissaries of the United States, who preached specious doctrines of liberty throughout the parishes of Quebec; and it was indeed fortunate that the unique influence of the Catholic clergy, powerfully led by Bishop Plessis, was actively exerted on the side of loyalty, just as at a later time they earned a sincere tribute from Lord Durham, and "a grateful recognition of their eminent services in resisting the arts of the disaffected."

"I know of no parochial clergy in the world," wrote Lord Durham, "whose practice of all the Christian virtues, and zealous discharge of their clerical duties, is more universally admitted, and has been productive of more beneficial consequences....In the general absence of any permanent institutions of civil government, the Catholic Church has presented almost the only semblance of stability and organisation, and furnished the only effectual support for civilisation and order."