Volume II Part 27 (1/2)
When the Canadian provinces were reduced by the British arms, the inhabitants, being entirely French, were permitted to retain their own laws, their own language in Courts and public offices, and all their vested rights which had been granted to them by the French government.
It was a generous, but, as it has been proved, an unwise policy. The form of government, as an English colony, was proposed, and acceded to by the French population, who, gratified by the liberality of their new rulers, cheerfully took the oath of allegiance. For many years, indeed it may be said until the close of the war of 1814, the population remained almost entirely French. England had been so long engaged in war, and the annual expenditure of life in her armies and her navies was so great, that she could not permit, much less encourage, emigration.
At the close of the war of 1814, the census of the population in the two Canadian provinces was as follows:--In Lower Canada, between three and four hundred thousand; in Upper Canada, from thirty to forty thousand, of which nineteen-twentieths were of French extraction. But the emigration during the last twenty-five years of peace has made a considerable change. The population of Lower Canada has increased to six hundred thousand, and that of Upper Canada now amounts to upwards of four hundred thousand. As the emigration has been almost wholly from the British dominions, it may be now fairly a.s.sumed that, taking the two provinces together, the English and French population are now on a par as to numbers; the English preponderate in the Upper province as much as the French do in the Lower. But if we are to consider the two nations of settlers as to their respective value as emigrants to the provinces, on the point of capital, industry, and enterprise, the scale will descend immediately in favour of the English population. The French are inactive, adverse to speculation, or even improvement. Every _habitant_ is content with his farm as handed down to him by his progenitor, and the higher cla.s.ses who hold the seigneuries are satisfied with their seignorial rights and the means of exaction which they afford to them.
The privileges of these seigneurs, or lords of the manor, in Lower Canada, are very extensive, and a bar to all improvement or advance.
They hold the exclusive right of hunting and fis.h.i.+ng; all the water privileges, such as the erection of saw-mills, etcetera, are insured to them. The _habitant_ is even compelled to send his flour to be ground at the mill of the lord of the manor. At the sale of every property, the lord of the manor receives one-twelfth of the proceeds. Thus, if a farm worth a few hundred pounds was to fall into the hands of an enterprising man, and he was to raise it to the value of thousands, more than the prime-cost would be deducted for the lord of the manor if he were compelled to part with it. This, with the other impediments to enterprise, has left Lower Canada in a state of quiescence, and the emigrants who have gone over have pa.s.sed it by that they might settle on the more fertile and free province of Upper Canada. One of the writers in the daily press of New York has very truly remarked:--
”When the British first obtained the Canadas, its commerce consisted of a few peltries, conveyed to France by the vessels which brought out the troops and carried back the disbanded regiments. The lumber trade was unknown. The importations were a nonent.i.ty. While at present many hundreds of vessels are engaged in the direct timber trade, and more than one hundred and fifty vessels have been frequently counted on the river St Lawrence. These, it must be remembered, are almost exclusively owned by British merchants; while the French Canadians own the land in the same proportion as the English do the trade.”
It was the knowledge of these facts, and that the English were every year rising in importance, (for they had not only secured the whole trade, but were gradually occupying the more fertile land of the Upper province,) which has created the jealousy and ill-will, and has been such a source of irritation to the French inhabitants of the Lower province. I have dwelt upon these facts because there is a very general opinion (which has most unfortunately been acted upon by our Government), that the legislature of the province should be guided by the interests of the majority, and this they have considered to be in favour of the French population; whereas in numbers they are about equal, and in point of wealth and importance, the English population are most decidedly in the advance; besides that, the former population would willingly separate themselves from the mother-country, and therefore deserve but little favour, while the latter are loyal and attached to it. The French having the ascendancy of five to one in the Lower province, have done all they can to check improvement. Public works which have cost large sums, have remained uncompleted, because the House of a.s.sembly in the Lower province has refused to allow them to be carried on. Indeed, had the Lower province been allowed to continue in her career of opposition, she would have eventually rendered difficult all communication between the Upper province and the mother-country.
This is acknowledged in Lord Durham's report, which says:--
”Without going so far as to accuse the a.s.sembly of a deliberate design to check the settlement and improvement of Lower Canada, it cannot be denied that they looked with considerable jealousy and dislike on the increase and prosperity of what they regarded as a foreign and hostile race; they looked on the province as the patrimony of their own race; they viewed it not as a country to be settled, but as one already settled; and instead of legislating in the American spirit, and first providing for the future population of the province, their primary care was, in the spirit of legislation which prevails in the old world, to guard the interests and feelings of the present race of inhabitants, to whom they considered the newcomers as subordinate; they refused to increase the burthens of the country by imposing taxes to meet the expenditure required for improvement, and they also refused to direct to that object any of the funds previously devoted to other purposes. The improvement of the harbour of Montreal was suspended, from a political antipathy to a leading English merchant who had been the most active of the commissioners, and by whom it had been conducted with the most admirable success. It is but just to say, that some of the works which the a.s.sembly authorised and encouraged, were undertaken on a scale of due moderation, and satisfactorily perfected and brought into operation.
Others, especially the great communications which I have mentioned above, the a.s.sembly showed a great reluctance to promote or even to permit. It is true that there was considerable foundation for their objections to the plan on which the Legislature of Upper Canada had commenced some of these works, and to the mode in which it had carried them on; but the English complained that, instead of profiting by the experience which they might have derived from this source, the a.s.sembly seemed only to make its objections a pretext for doing nothing. The applications for banks, railroads, and ca.n.a.ls were laid on one side until some general measures could be adopted with regard to such undertakings; but the general measures thus promised were never pa.s.sed, and the particular enterprises in question were prevented. The adoption of a registry was refused, on the alleged ground of its inconsistency with the French inst.i.tutions of the province, and no measure to attain this desirable end in a less obnoxious mode, was prepared by the leaders of the a.s.sembly. The feudal tenure was supported, as a mild and just provision for the settlement of a new country; a kind of a.s.surance given by a committee of the a.s.sembly, that some steps should be taken to remove the most injurious incidents of the seignorial tenure, produced no practical results; and the enterprises of the English were still thwarted by the obnoxious laws of the country. In all these decisions of the a.s.sembly, in its discussions, and in the apparent motives of its conduct, the English population perceived traces of a desire to repress the influx and the success of their race. A measure for imposing a tax on emigrants, though recommended by the Home Government, and warranted by the policy of those neighbouring States which give the greatest encouragement to emigration, was argued on such grounds in the a.s.sembly, that it was not unjustly regarded as indicative of an intention to exclude any further accession to the English population; and the industry of the English was thus r.e.t.a.r.ded by this conduct of the a.s.sembly. Some districts, particularly that of the Eastern Towns.h.i.+ps, where the French race have no footing, were seriously injured by the refusal of necessary improvements; and the English inhabitants generally regarded the policy of; the a.s.sembly as a plan for preventing any further emigration to the province, of stopping the growth of English wealth, and of rendering precarious the English property already invested or acquired in Lower Canada.”
It may be said, that latterly the French party, by the inconsiderate yielding of the Government at home, legislate for both provinces; and finding that they never could compete with the English in other points, their object has been to crush them as much as possible. [See Note 1.]
The policy pursued by M. Papineau and his adherents, has therefore been to keep the Lower Province entirely in the hands of the French, and with this view they have as much as possible, prevented British settlers from obtaining land in Lower Canada; and that their rule might be absolute, over the French population, they have prevented their education, so that they might blindly follow those who guided them. These two a.s.sertions will be fully borne out by an examination into the public records.
The land being almost wholly in the possession of the French, M.
Papineau's first object was, to make the possession of _landed property_ the tenure by which any employment of the trust under government could be held; and in this great object he succeeded. It must at once be perceived that, by this regulation alone, all British residents were excluded, and that if possessed of capital to any amount, whatever their stake in the colony might be, they were ruled and dictated to by the French party. No person could be an officer in the militia unless he was a landowner. The wealthy English merchant had to fall into the ranks, and be ordered about by an ignorant French farmer, a man who could not write or read, but made his cross to any paper presented to him for his signature.
By another enactment the grand juries were to be selected from those who were land-owners, and the consequence was, that in two grand juries selected in two succeeding years, there was only one man who could write or read out of the whole number, and the others fixed their cross to the bills found.
What was still more absurd was, that the office of trustee for the schools could only be held by the same tenure, and in the Act pa.s.sed, it is provided, that the trustees for national education may be permitted to affix their _cross_ to the school reports, a more convincing proof of the state of ignorance in which the Canadian French population have been held and acknowledged to be so by the French party, by the making such a proviso in the statute. I had a convincing proof myself of the ignorance of the French population during the rebellion in Lower Canada.
I handed a printed circular to about four hundred prisoners who were collected, for one of them to read aloud to the rest, and there was not one who could read _print_.
Having secured the party in the province, the next object of M.
Papineau and his adherents was, to blind the Government at home: they sent home a list of grievances which required redress, and in this they were joined by the English republican party. Among other demands, they insisted upon the right to the Lower a.s.sembly having the control of the colonial revenues. So earnest was the Government at home to satisfy them, that every concession was made, and even the last great question of controlling their own expenditure was consented to, upon the sole condition that the civil list, for the payment of the salary of the governor and other state officers, was secured.
What was the conduct of M. Papineau and his party as soon as they had gained their point? They immediately broke their faith with the Government at home, and refused to vote the sum for the civil list.
For three years, the governor and all the public officers were without their salaries, which were at last provided for by a vote of the English Parliament at home. This nefarious conduct of the French Party had one good effect, it created a disunion with the English republican party, who, although they wished for reform, would be no partic.i.p.ators in such a breach of honour.
That for many years there has been sad mismanagement on the part of the Government at home, cannot be denied, but the error has been the continual yielding to French clamour and misrepresentation, and the Government having lost sight of the fact that the English population were rapidly increasing, and had an equal right to the protection of the mother-country. It is the English population who have had real cause of complaint, and who are justified in demanding redress. The French have been only too well treated, and their demands became more imperious in proportion to the facility with which the Government yielded to them in their earnest, but mistaken, desire to put an end to the agitation of M.
Papineau and his party. Mistaking the forbearance of the English government for weakness, M. Papineau issued his inflammatory appeals; the people were incited to rebellion; but even this conduct did not seem to rouse the Government at home, who had probably formed the idea that the French Canadian was too peaceful to have recourse to arms.
Emboldened by the conduct on the part of the Government, which was ascribed to fear, and finding themselves supported by Mr Joseph Hume and Mr Roebuck at home, the republican party in Upper Canada openly declared itself, and a portion of the Canadian press issued the most treasonable articles without molestation. The Americans were not idle in fomenting this ill-will towards the mother country in the Upper Province, and the Papineau party proceeded to more active measures.
Arrangements were made for a general rising of the Lower Province; the meeting of St Charles took place, and resolutions were pa.s.sed of a nature which could no longer be overlooked by the Provincial Government.
For many months previous to the meeting at St Charles, the Provincial Government had been aroused and aware of the danger, and Lord Gosford perceived the necessity of acting contrary to the orders received from home. Proofs had been obtained against those who were most active in the intended rebellion, and at last warrants were issued by the Attorney-General for their apprehension. It was this sudden and unexpected issue of the warrants which may be said to have saved the provinces. It defeated all the plans of the conspirators, who had not intended to have flown to arms until the _next Spring_, when their arrangements would have been fully made and organised. This fact I had from Bouchette, and three or four of the ringleaders, whom I visited in prison. They intended to have had the leaf on the tree, and the cold weather over, before they commenced operations; and had they waited till then the result might have been very serious, but the issue of the warrants for the apprehension of the leaders placed them in the awkward dilemma of either being deprived of them, or of having recourse to arms before their plans were fully matured. The latter was the alternative preferred; and the results of this unsuccessful attempt are well described in Lord Durham's report:--
”The treasonable attempt of the French party to carry its political objects into effect by an appeal to arms, brought these hostile races into general and armed collision. I will not dwell on the melancholy scenes exhibited in the progress of the contest, or the fierce pa.s.sions which held an unchecked sway during the insurrection, or immediately after its suppression. It is not difficult to conceive how greatly the evils, which I have described as previously existing, have been aggravated by the war; how terror and revenge nourished, in each portion of the population, a bitter and irreconcilable hatred to each other, and to the inst.i.tutions of the country. The French population, who had for some time exercised a great and increasing power through the medium of the House of a.s.sembly, found their hopes unexpectedly prostrated in the dust. The physical force which they had vaunted was called into action, and proved to be utterly inefficient. The hope of recovering their previous ascendancy under a const.i.tution similar to that suspended, almost ceased to exist. Removed from all actual share in the government of their smaller country, they brood in silence over the memory of their fallen countrymen, of their burnt villages, of their ruined property, of their extinguished ascendancy, and of their humbled nationality. To the Government and the English they ascribe these wrongs, and nourish against both an indiscriminating and eternal animosity. Nor have the English inhabitants forgotten in their triumph, the terror with which they suddenly saw themselves surrounded by an insurgent majority, and the incidents which alone appeared to save them from the unchecked domination of their antagonists. They find themselves still a minority in the midst of a hostile and organised people; apprehensions of secret conspiracies and sanguinary designs haunt them unceasingly, and their only hope of safety is supposed to rest on systematically terrifying and disabling the French, and in preventing a majority of that race from ever and again being predominant in any portion of the legislature of the province. I describe in strong terms the feelings which appear to me to animate each portion of the population; and the picture which I draw represents a state of things so little familiar to the personal experience of the people of this country, that many will probably regard it as the work of mere imagination; but I feel confident that the accuracy and moderation of my description will be acknowledged by all who have seen the state of society in Lower Canada during the last year.
Nor do I exaggerate the inevitable constancy, any more than the intensity of this animosity. Never again will the present generation of French Canadians yield a loyal submission to a British Government; never again will the English population tolerate the authority of a House of a.s.sembly in which the French shall possess or even approximate to a majority.”
Although M. Papineau and his party were very willing to fraternise with the discontented party in Upper Canada, and to call forth the sympathy and the a.s.sistance of the Americans, their real intentions and wishes were to have made the Canadas an independent French province, in strict alliance with France. [See Note 2.] The a.s.sistance of the Upper Canada party would have been accepted until they were no longer required, and then there would have been an attempt, and very probably a successful one, to drive away by every means in their power the English settlers in Upper Canada to the United States. The Americans, on the other hand, cared nothing about the French or English grievances; their sympathy arose from nothing less than a wish to add the Canadas to their already vast territories, and to drive the English from their last possessions in America; but they also knew how to wear the cloak as well as M.
Papineau, and had the insurrection been successful, both French and English would by this time have been subjected to their control, and M.
Papineau would have found that he had only been a tool in the hands of the more astute and ambitious Americans. Such is my conviction: but this is certain, that whatever may have been the result of the former insurrection, or whatever may be the result of any future one (for the troubles are not yet over), the English in Upper Canada must fall a sacrifice to either one party or the other, unless they can succeed (which, with their present numbers and situation, will be difficult) in overpowering them both.