Picturesque Quebec : a sequel to Quebec past and present

by Sir J. M. Le Moine

A sketch of this fashionable thoroughfare—St. Louis street—the headquarters of the judiciary, barristers, politicians, etc., would be incomplete without a mention of the chief trysting-place of travellers and tourists for the last thirty years—the leading hostelry of Quebec. St. Louis Hotel is made up of two or more private dwellings joined together. That on the corner of Haldimand and St. Louis streets formerly was owned as a residence by the late Edward Burroughs, Esq., P. S. C. Next to it stood, in 1837, Schluep's Hotel—the Globe Hotel—kept by a German, and where the military swells in 1837-8-9 and our jolly curlers used to have recherché dinners or their frugal "beef and greens" and fixings. In 1848, Mr. Burroughs' house was rented to one Robert Bambrick, who subsequently opened a second-class hotel at the corner of Ste. Anne and Garden streets, on the spot on which the Queen's printer, the late Mr. George Desbarats, built a stately office for the printing of the Canada Gazette—subsequently sold on the removal of the Government to Ottawa —now the Russell House. The Globe Hotel belonged to the late B. C. A. Gugy, Esq. It was purchased by the late Messrs Lelièvre & Angers, barristers, connected with two or three adjacent tenements, and rented, about 1852, to Messrs. Azro and Willis Russell (represented now by the Russell Hotel Company) for the St. Louis Hotel. Connected by a door through the wall with the Music Hall, it is a notable landmark in St. Louis street and an object of considerable interest to city cabmen as well, during the season of tourists. Its dining saloon, on the second flow, has witnessed many bountiful repasts, to celebrate social, military, political or literary events, none better remembered than that of the 17th of November, 1880, when the élite of Quebec crowded in unusual numbers— about one hundred and eighty citizens, English and French—to do honour, by a public banquet, to the laureate of the French Academy, M. Louis Honoré Fréchette, [30] to celebrate his receiving in August last, in Paris, from the Académie Française, the unprecedented distinction, for a colonist, of the Grand Prix Monthyon (2,000 livres) for the excellence of his poetry.

Subjoined will be found the names of some of those present, also, extracts from a few of the addresses delivered. We regret much that want of space precludes us from adding more of the eloquent speeches delivered, because they throw light for English readers on the high degree of culture French literature has attained at Quebec. All, we are sure, will rejoice with us that, for the cause of letters, M. Fréchette was timely rescued from the quagmire of political warfare and hustings promises.

THE FRÉCHETTE DINNER, NOVEMBER 17, 1880.

"Mr. L. H. Fréchette, the laureate of the French Academy, was last night the recipient of marks of honor and esteem, in the shape of a magnificent banquet given him at the St. Louis Hotel, by the citizens of Quebec and vicinity. The tables were laid in the large dining hall of the St. Louis Hotel, which was handsomely decorated for the occasion. The walls were partially covered with French and English flags, and wreaths of evergreen surrounded all the windows. Behind the Chairman, on a bracket, was an excellent bust of the Canadian poet, having on either side paintings of scenes in Mr. Fréchette's drama, 'Papineau,' by Mr. E. W. Sewell, Levis.

"Over 125 gentlemen sat down to the banquet, amongs-whom we noticed—
The Honorable Judge Henri T. Taschereau, M. Lefaivre, Consul of
France, Count de Premio-Real, Consul-General of Spain, the Baron
Bols, Consul-General of Belgium, Major Wasson, Consul of the United
States, M. Thors, Hon. W. Laurier, Hon. I. Thibaudeau, Hon. C. A. P.
Pelletier, C.M.G. Hon. D. A. Ross, M.P.P., Achille Larue, N.P.,
Charles Langelier, M.P.P., Hon. H. G. Joly, M.P.P., Hon. F. Langelier,
M.P.P., Hon. Arthur Turcotte, Speaker of the Assembly, Dr. Rinfret,
M.P.P, P. B. Casgrain, N.P., James Dunbar, Esq., Q.C., Nazaire
Turcotte, Dr. Colin Sewell, Oscar Dunn, C. Antil, B. Bédard, G. T.
Davie, G. Paré, Henri Delagrave, W. E. Brunet, E. W Sewell, F. X.
Lemieux, Faucher de St. Maurice, F. M. Dechêne, G. E. T. Rinfret, O.
L. Richardson, Louis Bilodeau, Oscar Lanctôt, N. Levasseur, George
Stewart, jr., Edward Thomas, D. Chambers, F. G. Gautier, Paul de
Cazes, R. J. Bradley, D. J. Montambault, T. Godfroy Papineau, N.P.,
Montreal, De La Broquerie Taché, C. Massiah, James M. LeMoine,
President Literary and Historical Society, W. J. Wyatt, Alphonse
Pouliot, Dr. L. LaRue, Colonel Rhodes, Dr. Pourtier, C. Duquet, V.
Bélanger, Charles Langlois, W. C. Languedoc, Alfred White, Peter
McEwan, George Henry Powell, A. P. Beaulieu, Alfred Lemieux, Elie
Lachance, Richard L. Suffur, Lieut.-Col. Turnbull, H. M. Price, R. St.
B. Young, G. R. White, Captain Gzowski, J. U. Laird, Chariot,
Fitzpatrick, E. Swindell, E. J. Hale, Cecil Fraser, Aug. Stuart, C. V.
M. Temple, Timolaus Beaulieu, C. S. Beaulieu, N. Laforce, George
Bouchard, L. N. Carrier, J. B. Michaud, Dr. Lamontagne. Dr. Collet,
Arthur Lavigne, P. Boutin, M.P.P., F. Fortier, G. Bresse, J. S. C.
Wurtele, M.P.P., P. E. Godbout, Paul Dumas, Lieutenant Drury, Captain
Wilson, H. G. Sheppard, J. B. Charleson, Dr. Hubert LaRue, H. J. J. B.
Chouinard, Président de l'Institut Canadien, H. J. Beemer, J. L.
Renaud, E. W. Méthot, E. C. E. Gauthier, O. Leger, J. E. Pouliot, D.
R. Barry, L. P. Lemay, Jacques Auger, Ernest Pacaud, J. Allaire, M.P.,
T. G. Tremblay, M.P., J. J. Gahan, Joseph Blondeau, Thomas Potvin, J.
B. Z. Dubeau, Frs. Bertrand, J. C. Hamel, Emile Jacot, John Buchanan,
Antoine Carrier, William Breakey.

"The Chair was occupied by Hon. Judge H. T. Taschereau, having on his right the guest of the evening, L. H. Fréchette, the Count Premio- Real, Hon. C. A. P. Pelletier, Mr. Wasson, Hon. F. Langelier, M. Thors of Paris, &c., and on his left the Consul-General for France, Hon. Mr. Laurier, Mr. Bols, Hon. D. Ross, &c.

"The banquet was given in the well-known excellent style of the Russell Hotel Company, which never leaves anything to be desired. After full justice had been done the good things provided for the occasion, silence was obtained, when the following resolution, presented to Mr. Fréchette by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, was read by the Secretary, Mr. Delagrave:—

"At a monthly general meeting of the Literary and Historical Society, held on the 13th October last:

"It was proposed by Commander Ashe, R.N., seconded by R. McLeod, Esq.,

"That the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec has witnessed with the highest satisfaction the literary honours conferred in August last, by the Académie Française, on Monsieur Louis Honoré Fréchette, for the poetical excellence of his two poems, 'Les Fleurs Boréales' and 'Les Oiseaux de Neige.'