Picturesque Quebec : a sequel to Quebec past and present

by Sir J. M. Le Moine

THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S CENTENARY FÊTE.

It would be hardly possible to imagine a more graceful or unique gathering than that which assembled in the rooms of the Literary and Historical Society last evening, for the purpose of celebrating with all possible éclat that gloriously memorable event, the repulse of the troops commanded by General Richard Montgomery, of the American Army, whilom officer of the 17th Regiment of Infantry in the service of his Britannic Majesty George III, who on the blusterous wintry morning of the 31st December, 1775, attempted an assault upon the redoubts and fortifications which at that time did the duty of our present Citadel, and whose intrepidity was rewarded with a soldier's death, and his want of success formed the nucleus of the power which is so firmly established in this Royal Canada of ours to day.

The arrangements made by the Society for the reception of their unusually numerous guests and the decorations of the various apartments, were all that could be wished—commodious and tasteful. In the entrance hall the Royal standard floated, and there the B. Battery Band was placed. Turning up the left hand flight of steps the visitor —passing the large class room of Morrin College, transformed for the nonce into spacious refreshment buffets—was ushered into the lecture room, from the galleries of which flags of many nations and many colours were drooping. The raised dais, occupied during the delivery of the addresses by James Stevenson, Esq., Senior Vice-President, L. & H. Society, in the chair; Lieut.-Col. Bland Strange, R. S. M. Bouchette, Esq., Dr. Boswell, Vice-Presidents, J. M. LeMoine, Esq., and Commander Ashe, R.N., ex-Presidents, was flanked on either side with the blue and silver banners of St. Andrew's Society, bearing the arms and escutcheon of Scotia, and their proud motto "Nemo me impune lascessit." Bunting and fresh spruce foliage gave an air of freshness to all the adornable parts of the room. Immediately opposite the lectern, which was illuminated with wax candles, placed in last century candlesticks, and attached to the gallery railings, was a fine collection of Lochaber axes, clustered around a genuine wooden Gaelic shield studded with polished knobs of glittering brass. Long before the hour of eight the company had increased to such an extent that the room was crowded to the doors, but not inconveniently as the ventilation was unexceptionable. With accustomed punctuality, James Stevenson, Esq., acting in the absence of the President, opened the meeting with some highly appropriate remarks relative to the historical value of the subjects about to be discussed and summarising very succinctly the events immediately previous to the beleaguering of the fortress city. He alluded in stirring terms to the devotion which had been manifested by the British and French defenders, who resolved rather to be buried in the ruins than surrender the city. He stated that he thought it especially meet and proper that the Literary and Historical Society here should have taken up the matter and dealt with it in this way. He alluded in eulogistic terms to the capability of the gentlemen about to address them and, after regretting the unavoidable absence of Lt-Col. Coffin, a lineal descendant of an officer present, formally introduced the first speaker, Lieutenant- Colonel Strange, commandant of Quebec Garrison, and Dominion Inspector of Artillery. This gallant officer, who on rising was received with loud and hearty cheering by the audience, plunged with characteristic military brevity in medias res, simply remarking, at the outset, that he, in such a position, was but a rear rank man, while Colonel Coffin would have been a front-ranker; but his soldierly duty was to fill that position in the absence of him to whom the task would have been officially assigned. The subject which formed a distinct section of the major topic of the evening was then taken up. Inasmuch as it is our intention, and we believe that of the Society, to reproduce faithfully in pamphlet form the graphic, interesting and detailed word-pictures of the ever memorable events of the 31st December, 1775, as given by the learned and competent gentlemen who addressed the meeting, it suffices to say in the present brief notice of the proceedings that Colonel Strange exhaustively treated that portion which referred to the attack and defence at Pres-de-Ville—the place in the vicinity of which now stands the extensive wharves of the Allan Company. Many incidents of the siege, utterly unknown to ordinary readers of history were recalled last night, and many things that have hitherto been dubious, or apparently unaccountable explained away. The story of the finding of the snow-covered and hard-frozen corpse of the unfortunate General and his Aide-de-Camp, was told with much pathos, as were details of his burial. The references to descendants of then existing families still residents in Quebec, were extremely interesting, because many were among the audience. At the conclusion of Colonel Strange's admirable resumé, and some further pointed remarks from the Chairman, Mr. J. M. LeMoine, who is par excellence and par assiduité our Quebec historian, whose life has been mainly devoted to compilation of antiquarian data touching the walls, the streets, the relics, the families, the very Flora, and Fauna of our cherished Stadacona—commenced his erudite and amusing sketches of the day, taken from the stand point of the enemy's headquarters, and the fray in the Sault-au-Matelot. Interspersing in his own well digested statement of events, he chose the best authenticated accounts from contemporaneous participants, British, French Canadian and American, proving that the record as presented by Col. Strange and himself last night, was a "plain unvarnished truthful tale," a reliable mirror in which was faithfully reflected all that was historically interesting as affecting Quebec in the Campaign of 1775-6. When Mr. LeMoine had terminated his address, which was of considerable length, Mr. Stevenson concluded this portion of the proceedings with a most eulogistic and deserved recognition of the devotion which the two gentlemen who had read during the evening had shewn in preparing their respective papers, and a vote of thanks to them was heartily and unanimously accorded. He also made reference to the topic of the day, the restoration and embellishment of our oft- besieged, city, gracefully attributing honour where it was due, first and foremost to His Excellency the Governor-General, Earl of Dufferin, at whose instigation the plans had been prepared; secondly, to His Worship the Mayor, Owen Murphy, Esq., (who was present), for his untiring exertions and valuable assistance in developing, maturing and preparing the way for an early completion of said designs, which are to make Quebec a splendid architectural example of the deformed, transformed; thirdly, to the hearty co-operation of the public, aided in their views by the enterprise of the proprietor of the Morning Chronicle, who had prepared the splendid illustrations of these improvements, thereby reflecting infinite credit upon himself. After a few other remarks the ladies and gentlemen were invited to inspect the library, which for the rest of the evening was the centre of attraction. The coup d'oeil, when once one had fairly entered into this beautifully designed, permanent focus of intellectual wealth, around whose walls were ranged the imperishable memorials of nearly all of man's genius that has been thought worthy of preservation, was striking and memorable. As in the lecture room, those emblems, which are our symbolical as well as actual rallying points in all times of trouble or war, draped and covered the book shelves which contain the essence of almost all that human intelligence, human thought, human wit, man's invention and ingenuity has as yet brought to light. Here, historian and poet, geographer and engineer, humorist and preacher, dramatist and theologian, are congregated, serving in the one great cause of public instruction and the expansion of the limitless ramifications which exist in the ever growing tree of knowledge. The student and litérateur, the bibliophile and dilletante novel reader, the most frequent visitors here last night were replaced by groups of fair women and patriotic men assembled to commemorate an event which had a marked effect upon the history of this continent in this nineteenth century, which will expire a few hours after these lines meet the reader's eyes. In lieu of study and thought, the attention of the throng was attracted to the splendid stand of arms reaching from floor to ceiling, and which was as it were defended by the Dominion standard that fell in long festoons behind. In the centre of a diamond-shaped figure, made up of scores of sabres pointing inwards, was a large glittering star of silvery steel bayonets. In chronological order were pink and gilt tablets, containing each one the names of the Lieutenant-Governors of Canada, commencing with Carleton, in 1775, and proceeding through the noble list, which includes Haldimand, Dorchester, Dalhousie, Gosford, Colborne, Durham, Sydenham, Bagot, Cathcart, Elgin, Head, Monk, Lisgar, down to the present glorious epoch, when this prosperous country is vice-regally and right royally presided over by Lord Dufferin, in the year of grace, 1875—on the opposite side of the room, under a similar spiky coronet of bristling steel, was hung the sword of the dead and vanquished, but honoured and revered hero, the trusty blade which only left Montgomery's hands, when in his death- throes he 'like a soldier fell,' and the pitiless snow became his winding-sheet. On a table below this interesting and valuable historic relic, now in possession, as an heirloom, of J. Thompson Harrower, Esq., of this city, was exhibited the full uniform of an artillery officer of the year 1775. Several quaint old sketches and paintings were placed around the Library, which, with the Museum, was converted for the time into an extempore conversazione hall, and while the melodies of the 'B' Battery band were wafted hither and thither through the building, the dames and cavaliers gossiped pleasantly over their tea or coffee and delicacies provided by the members for the guests, and declared, with much show of reason, that the Literary and Historical Society's centennial entertainment was a red-letter day in the annals of that learned and well-deserving body."

THE JESUITS' CHURCH.

This little church, of which the corner stone was laid by the Marquis de Tracy, "Lieutenant du Roi, dans toutes ses possessions Françaises en Amérique," on 31st May, 1666, existed until 1807. "It is built," says Kalm, "in the form of a cross. It has a round steeple, and is the only church that has a clock." The oldest inhabitant can yet recall, from memory, the spot where it stood, even if we had not the excellent drawing made of it with a half dozen of other Quebec views, by an officer in Wolfe's fleet, Captain Richard Short. It stood on the site recently occupied by the shambles, in the Upper Town, facing the Russell House. Captain Short's pencil bears again testimony to the exactitude, even in minute things, of Kalm's descriptions: his Quebec horses, harnessed one before the other to carts. You see in front of the church, in Captain Short's sketch, three good sized horses, harnessed one before the other, drawing a heavily laden two-wheeled cart. The church was also used until 1807 as a place of worship for Protestants. Be careful not to confound the Jesuits' Church with the small chapel in the interior of their college (the old Jesuit Barracks) contiguous thereto. This latter chapel had been commenced on the 11th July, 1650. The Seminary Chapel and Ursulines Church, after the destruction by shot and shell, in 1759, of the large Roman Catholic Cathedral, were used for a time as parish churches. From beneath the chief altar of the Jesuits' Church was removed, on the 14th May, 1807, the small leaden box containing the heart of the founder of the Ursulines' Convent, Madame de la Peltrie, previously deposited there in accordance with the terms of her last will.

You can see that the pick-axe and mattock of the "bande noire" who robbed our city walls of their stones, and demolished the Jesuits' College and city gates, were busily employed long before 1871.

THE JESUITS' BARRACKS.

There are few, we will venture to say, who, in their daily walk up or down Fabrique Street, do not miss this hoary and familiar land mark, the Jesuits' College. When its removal was recently decreed, for a long time it resisted the united assaults of hammer and pick-axe, and yielded, finally, to the terrific power of dynamite alone.

The Jesuits' College, older than Harvard College, at Boston, takes one back to the dawn of Canadian history. Concerning the venerable institution, we translate the following from the French of Mr. T. B. Bédard. It appeared originally in the Journal de Quebec:—

"The recent discovery of human bones at the Jesuit Barracks has excited the curiosity of the public in general, and especially of antiquarians and all interested in historical research. Naturally, the question presents itself—who were the individuals interred where these bones were found, and what was this place of sepulture? An attentive study of the subject leads me to believe that the remains of the three skeletons discovered, with two skulls only, are those of Brother Jean Liégeois, Père du Quen, and Père Francois du Peron, deceased at Chambly, and whose mortal remains were sent to Quebec for interment. The spot where the bones were found must have been the site of the chapel built at the same time as the other portions of the Jesuits' College. But inasmuch as the demolition of this more than venerable edifice approaches completion, a sketch of the history of its construction may not be amiss.