[[1]] See "History of Canada," Kingsford, Vol. VIII.
CHAPTER V
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA 1802
The year 1802 was a critical time in Canada, and so it was felt to be by the few who were there to guard it. If Bonaparte had succeeded in his plans on the American continent, and had occupied Louisiana with an army of twenty thousand men, Canada would probably have been immediately the scene of war between Great Britain and France. Another enemy, however, was nearer her borders, although ten years passed before hostilities broke out.
When Brock arrived, Sir Robert Shore Milnes, formerly governor of the island of Martinique, was the lieutenant-governor residing at Quebec. He was not of military rank, so in the absence of Sir Robert Prescott, then in England, General Hunter, the lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, was commander-in-chief of the forces in Canada. The latter was stationed at York (Toronto) which was, therefore, at that time headquarters. The population of Lower Canada in 1801 is given as 160,000. In Haldimand's census of 1784 it was 110,837 of which 108,000 were French Canadians. The towns of Quebec and Montreal were given as containing each about six thousand inhabitants, of which the proportion of French to English was two to one. In country parishes the proportion was forty to one. These were almost exclusively French; for the families of the English soldiers, who after the conquest remained in Canada and married French Canadian wives, had taken the religion and language of the mothers, and were French in all but in name.
The French Canadians
Quebec in the early days of the century remained, as formerly, the centre of society and civilization in Canada. It had then about twelve thousand inhabitants, of whom half were English, including the garrison. The government officials were exclusively English, and, if report be true, formed a rather arrogant and supercilious set. The French residents of the upper class, whose very names smacked of the old régime, were still as gay and brilliant as when Frontenac and de Vaudreuil reigned in the Chateau St. Louis. A glance at a subscription list of 1799 for a patriotic fund to send to England in aid of the expenses of her great war with France, shows, however, that the two races, French and English, dwelt together in amity. Mingled with the names of Sewell, Forsyth, Molson, Osgoode, Pownell and Coffin are those of Taschereau, de Boucherville, de Lotbinière, de Lévis and de Salaberry. The sum of eight thousand pounds was raised and the contributions came, not only from Quebec and Montreal, but from the parishes of Trois Rivières and Sorel. Another proof of the good feeling towards England that existed at the time on the part of the French inhabitants was that Nelson's victory of the Nile was celebrated by a solemn mass, and by a Te Deum which was chanted in the parish churches by order of the bishop. His mandement was:—"Messieurs les curés ne manqueront pas de prendre occasion de cette fête pour faire sentir vivement à leurs paroissiens les obligations qu'ils ont au ciel de les avoir mis sous l'empire et la protection de sa majesté brittannique, et les exhorter tout de nouveau à s'y maintenir avec fidélité et reconnaissance."[[1]]
Throughout the most trying days of the administration of Carleton and Haldimand, the priests and the seigneurs had remained faithful to British rule. It is probable that the former recognized that under it their church was more likely to hold its ancient privileges than under the sway of the new republic.
The administration of Sir Robert Milnes was not favourable to the continuance of this friendly feeling. He always distrusted the French Canadians and advised that the militia should be disbanded because, he said, it was not proper to arm and train the people of a conquered province. He possibly saw through the eyes of his private secretary, Ryland, an able but prejudiced man who had a most pronounced aversion to French Canadians and Roman Catholics.