-'"^c>^.1> ir^ ^D. X> 5> >■> ' ?? >-:►>> ^y^ 3 ^3r> .^.^i o > l> » i >> 1> ■>> .?>■ -> >> » ■> ' >> > I >> :) > • ?> ^ J > >> 1,. t » ::>-:>5:» No. d./^.i.'^c... DEPARTMCTk^F STATE. Alcove, Shklf, %, \/ V ' SKETCHES '^' or LOWER CANADA, HISTORICAL eiJVJ) DESCBIPTIVE; WITH THE author's RECOLLECTIONS OF THE SOIL, AND ASPECT; THE MORALS, HABITS, AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS, OF THJIT ISOLATED COVJ^TRF; DURING A TOUR TO QUEBEC, IN THE MONTH OF JULY, 1817. BY JOSEPH SANSOM, ESQ. MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, AUTHOR OF LETTERS FROM EUROPE, &IC. Most JValional Habitudes are the Result of unobserved Causes and JVecessities. Gray. NEW-YORK: TRIRTED FOR KIRK Si MERCEIU. 1817. Southern District of New-Yorlc, SS. BE IT REMEiMBERED, That on the twentieth day of September, in tlje forty-second year of the Independence of the United States "of America, Kirk k Mercein, of tlie said District, liave deposited in this. Office the title of a Boole, the right wiiereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words and figures followinfj to wit : " Sketches of Lower Canada, Historical and Descriptive'; with the Author's Recollections of the Soil and Aspect ; the Morals, Habits, and Religious Institutions, of that Isolated Country ; during a Tour to Quebec, in the month of July, 1817. By Joseph Sansom, Esq. Member of the American Philosophical Society, Author of Letters from Europe, kc. Mosi Kalional Habitudes are the Result of unobserved Causes and J\'ecessil ies. G r a ^^ In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned." And also to an Act, entitled "an Act, supplementary to an Act entitled an Act for the encourage- ment of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to tiie Authors and Proprietors of such co|)ies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending tiie benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other jirints." ROBERT FLVN, Clerk of the Southern District of IVew-York \v. ^ ,V£) TO DEi WITT CililKTOK, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK, WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED j A3 A TOKEN OF ESTEEM, FOB THJE SERVICES, WHICH HE HAS RENDERED, TO THE SCIENCE, AND LITERATURE, OF HIS COUJ^TEY. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. It is of importance that neighbouring Nations should be acquainted with each other, that they may form a just estimate of one ¬hers friend- ship, or enmity; and, for this purpose they should see, as much as possible, with their owa eyes ; not through the medium of partial, or interested, Observers ; by whose wilful, or de- signing misrepresentations. Governments are often led into fatal errors, in estimating the temper, or the resources of each other. Who ean suppose that if England — the self- styled Mistress of the Ocean, had not been de- ceived by the disparaging Narratives of superfi- cial Travellers (happy in the gratification of National prejudice, at the expense of truth) she would have inconsiderately provoked an unne- cessary struggle, in which her gallant Navy for- A 2 feited the reputation of nautical invincibility, in the eyes of all Europe ? We have hitherto had no accounts of Cana- da written by American Travellers. We have only seen our next Neighbours, through the magnifying glasses of superficial Observers ; who inverted the telescope, when they con- templated Independent America ; and we have accordingly no information, upon which we can rely, of the sentiments of the People, or the comparative situation, and future prospects of that Country. We know not whether the French, in Canada, are to be dreaded, as Enemies ; or conciliated as Friends. The Author of the following Work, when it was put to press (after having been hastily written, frqm penciled memorandums, during a fortnights stay at Ballstown and Saratoga) had no idea of any thing more than a simple Narra- tive of a Journey, during which some interest- ing circumstances had unexpectedly occurred j and the title, printed on the first page, is ac- cordingly " A Trip to Canada." But the Composition insensibly assuming a more his- torical and scientific form, in going through the press, amidst the Libraries of New- York, it was decided, in a Literary circle, at Dr. Hosack's, that the scope of the Work demanded a more elaborate designation : and the title has been ac- cordingly varied to that of " Sketches of Lower Canada, historical and descriptive ;" the discrepancy of which, with the style and matter of a Book of Travels, may possibly be ex- cused by the Learned ; in favour of the obvious occasion for more general views of Society on the American Continent, than have hitherto obtained, either at home, or abroad. New-York, Sept. 20th, 1817. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Outset from Philadelphia . , The City of New-York The Navigation of the North River Journey from Albany to Lake Charaplaia Lake Champlain Montreal .... Voyage down the St. Lawrence The Town of William Henry The Lake of St. Pierre The Town of Three Rivers General Montgomery , Quebec .... General Wolfe . . The Hotel Dieu The Cathedral of Quebec The Chapel of the Ursulines The General Hospital and the White Nuns J. B. Le Chevalier de St. Vallier, Bishop of Quebec The Legislature of Canada Pedestrian Excursion to the Falls of Montmorency The Indian Village of Loretto The first Bishop of Quebec The Climate of Canada Political Lucubrations Return t« Montreal by Land Page 1 16 23 32 37 48 50 56 58 60 63 65 69 78 83 88 92 95 97 100 118 126 129 137 147 10 Pointe aux Trembles Three Rivers, again The Commissioners at St. Regis Montreal, again The Church and Monastery of (he Recollets BJorth Western Trade The Foreign Trade of Canada Expenses of Govrnment The Chapel of the Dames Noirs The Grey Sisters, or General Hospital American Longevity The Cathedral of Montreal The Catholic Seminary Nelson's Pillar The Peasantry of Canada . Physiological Remarks Statistical Notices Circumstances unfavourable to Civil History of Canada The ancient Noblesse The President's Tour The Grand Canal of the Lakes The Rapids of the St. Lawrence Return to the United States Page Population 15& 163 168 187 191 197 201 202 206 211 213 213 228 234 236 237 241 246 249 287 291 293 294 300 INDEX TO THE NOTES. Occurrences near Brunswick 15 Accountof the City Hotel, at New-York - - 22 Description of the new Steam Boat, Chancellor Liv- ingston 64 11 Geological reflections, occasioned by the Falls of Montmorency .... Page 105 Descrii)tion of the River Saguenay ... nS Natural line of Demarcation, at Three Rivers - - 139 The zeal of Lewis XIII. for converting the Indians - 147 Solemn Representation of the Fall of Bonaparte - 170 The Seigneurie of Gros Bois 176 Description of the Bark Canoes employed in the North Western Trade 198 Epitaph of JeannB Lebel - - - - - 210 The Opinions of king David, and of the Philosopher Seneca respecting symbolic worship - - 221 An Item of the Catholic Catechism ... 227 Manner of holding Lands of the Seigneurs - - 247 Description of tlie Banks of Newfoundland - - 250 Memorable saying of a converted Indian - - 269 Humorous account of the behaviour of the English to the Indians during the first Conquest of Canada 271 The disgraceful Incursions of Generals Hull and Smyths 286 THE APPENDIX. Natural History of the Beaver of Canada - No. I. Critical Observations upon Bouchettes Topographical Accountof Lower Canada - - - - II. Historical Memento of tlie Iroquois or Five Nations, oftheWest m; TRIP TO CANADA. Under the impressions hinted at in my prefatory remarks, at 3 o'clock P. M. on the 30th day of June, 1817, I stepped on board of the Bristol Steam Boat, at Market-Street wharf, "with a portmanteau containing nothing more than was absolutely necessary, a cane in my hand, and Thomson's Sea- sons in my pocket; but no other com- panions excepting such as I might meet with in the public conveyances, who may be not inaptly considered the Tour- ist's Family, as the Inn is said to be the Traveller's home. 14 We reached Bristol in due time and in perfect safety from moving accidents hyfire or floods notwithstanding the real- ly terrifying explosions that have late- o^^"- A^^x^r^ .^ ly happened on hoard of these accom- ^^•*<-»_ yWiiix A-/t&>o |modatory conveyances, I having pur- ^^ ^H-A^a^ Iposely avoided the superior expedition ~ zjt / '^'^'^ '^Mvhich is promised by the Steam Boat ' ^ ^/ T- j^tna, for the sake of ease and safety, '^f^-^'*^-^^^^^-iT^^^^^ tlj^ graduated force of what is *'*t*^K>£^-^/;f '*^*>f!5called the lower pressure, for whose ^ ' — Secure operation we are inaebted to the late ingenious Robert Fulton of New-York. We started immediately from Bristol m the York Stage, one of the six or seven passengers being a Creole from New-Orleans, who had already travel- led in similar conveyances, fifteen hun- dred miles an end. We lodged at Princeton that night, entered the Steam Boat Sea Horse at 15 Elizabethtown-Point, and landed at New- York time enough to dine at the City-Hotel, a place of entertainment, little, if at all, inferior to the London Tavern, or the Red House at Frankfort, so much and so justly celebrated by European Travellers.* * Before entering Brunswick, or between that ancient town which ppesen'«s so much of the neatness and formal- ity of its primitive Inhabitants, and the delightful village of Newark^ which has been so often selected as the temporary residence of involuntary Refugees of quality, from diflferent parts of Europe ; as the driver lingered along the sands of Jersey, we passed by one tavern, the sign of the Union, and stopped to water at another under the same patronage . These people are great admirers of union, it would seem.. Said one of our company. Yes, replied I, they are so fond of union that they di-vide it. We had come on so very slowly, for the last few miles, that one had proposed to put n snapper upon the driver's whip, as we waited for him without quitting our seats ; and, he staid so long at the bar while the people of the house were sitting down to meat, •that another suspected he was going to breakfast there, and we should have to wait till he was done. That would be an unlucky snap for us, said I. He however presently came out again, and we drove off at an accellerated pace ; but, it v\'as not long before we snapped one of our jack-springs, and we were fain to crack our jokes with less merriment the rest of the way. 16 NEW-YORK. I SHALL not stop to describe the Bay of New-York, nor to make comparisons which might lead me to Naples, or Con- stantinople, though neither of those places unite the various advantages of sea and river communication ; and they must therefore yield, in point of con- venience, to the American Emporium — whatever superiority they may possess in expanse of water, or diversity of ob- jects the rich inheritance of a hun- dred ages. The Islands in the Bay of New-York, having been stripped of wood, are not very ornamental, and one of them, which has been fortitied, obstructs by a massy tower, the view which was for- merly enjoyed of the entrance called the narrows, through which whole fleets could be seen on their first entering the 17 Bay^ and before they approached the Basin ; where alone they are . now visible to a Spectator on the Battery — a promenade of health and pleasure always crowded of an evening with the familiar intercourse of Youth and Beau- ty amid the retiring Sons of business and care. The shores of Staten Island, and even those of the North River are too distant to admit the charm of dis- tinct variety, but those of Long-Island, as they stretch along toward the sound, are beautifully variegated with hills and valleys, woods and cultivated fields, near enough to gratify the eye with ideas of rural tranquillity, even from the busy Quays of a Sea Port Town. But as an Admirer of Architecture, I cannot pass without notice the City Hall, for the costly magnificence of which we are probably indebted to that National taste for the substantial, which B 2 18 induced the Dutch Ancestors of our New-York Burghers to erect, at Am- sterdam, a Fabric, upon piles, which is justly ranked among the first Public Edifices in Europe. The principal fi"ont, and two sides, are of white marble; the back-front, and the basement story, of free stone, of a reddish cast; both of which are found in quarries within a hundred miles of the spot. This noble Structure is two stories high, and it is ornamented with a Por- tico of eight columns, each hewn out of a single block, fifteen feet in length ; and Pilasters of the lonick and Corin- thian orders are carried round the building, with their appropriate enta- blatures — all executed in marble. The second Story shows nineteen windows in a row — the number of In- 19 diridual States at the time it was finish- ed. Thus tacitly marking the date of its erection. The five intercolumniations in the entrance, correspond to as many arcades, which open upon the Portico for egress and regress — like the arched doors, of equal number, belonging to its prototype in Holland. One of the fronts of that building (I cannot remember which) has a figure |of Atlas supporting the Globe — Admire this happy emblem of Dutch patience and perseverance. The New-York City Hall is two hundred feet long — eighty deep, in the projecting wings, which enclose a flight of twenty steps, sixty or eighty feet in length, for they are returned at the isides. It is sixty feet to the eaves, and tlie roof is surmounted by a Cu- ipola, ornamented with coupled columns, 29 and a Statue of Justice, with her sus- pended scales, at a height of ninety feet from the ground. In this Cupola a light is kept every ni«-ht, by a watchman who cries the hour, from this elevated situation : and gives the alarm in case of fire. I shall not describe the interior of this superb edifice, with its Circular Hall, and double Stair Case; with its columns, its balustrades, and its Dome. The Picture Gallery, or Hall of Audi- ence, hung with portraits of the Go- vernors of New-York, and the Presi- dents of the Union. Or the Council Chamber; ghttering with gold and scar- let : As I am not quite satisfied that so much splendour is consistent with prac- tical Republicanism; and we know that the Town Hall of Amsterdam has been alrcadij converted into the Palace of a Sovereign. 21 fn short, T am sufficiently supersti- tious in political omens, to dread the inference (however unlikely it may be thought — every where — but at Wash- ingtoti) that where there are Palaces, there will be Princes, But I can take a view of Broadway, without turning aside, as it is my road to the Hotel I put up at : ] This beautiful avenue comes in strait I for a mile, lined on both sides with every I variety of Public and private Build- I ings — Churches, Halls, Houses, many 1 of^ which are ornamented with taste : ! Shops, in which every necessary, and j every luxury of life are displayed, with I elegance and splendour. After it has j passed the Stadt House above mention- j ed, which by the way is now sadly ob- ] scured by ragged trees which entirely j prevent a front view — They might be 22 readily exchanged for a neat clump of two, at distant intervals, leaving from the street an uninterrupted view of the Structure in different directions. The Street now winds to the left, and gradually widens until it opens upon the water, after forming a triangular plot which is railed in with an iron balustrade, and once exhibited a Statue of King George. This was removed at the Revolution — but the pedestal re- mains, and it is hoped that it will not be long before the liberal and patriotic Citizens of New-York shall replace the historical Monument with — another George — far better entitled than the former to the veneration of Posterity.* * Of the extent and accommodations of the superb Inn before mentioned some idea, may be formed, by the sum which has been just laid out upon furnishing, and fitting it up, for the use of the present Tenant. It was not less tbaa thirty thousand dollars, and he pays for it the liberal rent of ten thousand dollars a voar. ss THE NORTH RIVER. Next day I took my passage for Al- bany in the Paragon, or the Car of Neptune, I forget which — but any of the j Family Parties are provided for in a distinct part of tiie , Establishment, with the use of elegant drawing rooms ; and Public entertainments are given, occasionally, in apartments of magnificent dimensions, on the principal floor : but at the Table d' Holt the fare is excellent, and ahundred Persons sit ' down there every day, in the summer sea;5on ; when New- j York becomes the grand thoroughfare between the South I and the North, during the stated migration of the Gentiy of the Southern States, toward Ihe more salutary regions of I New England, and the Canadian Provinces, where the heat j of summer is comparatively temperate, and to a Southern j Constitution highly invigorating. I Here the Scotchman of Detroit, and the Frenchman of ' New Orleans, from the borders of Lake Huron and the BanksofUie Mississippi — when at home not less than twa 1 thousand miles apart, meet each other half way, upon com- mon ground, as American Citizens, professing allegiance to j the Constituted Authorities of the same Republic. I And the Occupant of central woods and waters here j shakes hands and interchanges sentiment and information, with Brother Saiior*; who seek a livelihood upon the east- I em coeists of the Atlantic, penetrate every nook and corner ; in the Baltic, or the Mediterranean, or doubling either Cape rausack the Antipodes for objects of CoHimcrcial enterprise-. 24 Steam Boats of the North River are justly entitled to either of these proud appellations. — Since theyproceed — not, wind and iceather perTtiitting^ like all an- terior Navigators : but against wind and tide, at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour. And they are not exceeded in one of their dimensions — that of length by a Ship of the Line. We left the dock about 5 in the even- ing, and the next day, about noon, as I was leaning over the prow, and contem- plating alternately the moving land- scape on either hand, and the water over which we were imperceptibly gli- ding, I perceived something forward that looked like slender spires, at the head and foot of a distant hill. It was Alba- ny, and by 3 o'clock we stepped ashore again, one hundred and sixty miles north of the Capital, which we had quitted but twenty-two hours before. 2^ The distance, I am told, has been run down the stream, in seventeen hours ^ formerly an uncertain voyage of three or four days, or a week or two, accord- ing to the state of the winds and tides. A few miles before we reached Alba- ny, we met the Chancellor Livingston, said to be the finest boat on the River. She looked indeed very gay upon ♦he water. We passed each other with the most animating rapidity, and the ad- verse motion of two such vessels, breast- ing the surge, in a narrow part of the river, made a sensible concussion of the •waves, from shore to shore.* * On my return, a month afterward, this same vessel, the Chancellor Livingston, which had just brought up two hundred Passengers, in nineteen hours, was in course, to go down the stream. There had been a freshet in the river, rvhich is here about three hundred yards over: yet this fine ship (one hundred and fifty-seven feet long) seemed to requ-re the whole space to turn in, as she swung round from the wharf, in majestic evolution, and when she began to 2b The influx of multitudea on board these boats, arriving in crowds, on foot^ and in carriages; their punctuality of departure, which often leaves lingerers upon the wharf, to follow, as they can, in boats, which are always ready to put off after them; together with the unvarying steadiness of their progress, admitting of the most entire independ- ence, and the most unobstructed ob- servation — whether of moving life, per- petually flitting before your eyes ; or of descend the stream, which was now unusually rapid, her motion seemed to sway the river, and command the current. The wake of a ship measuring five hundred tons, and pro- ceeding at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour (for we reached Hudson, which is thirty miles, in two hours and three-quarters) soon spread itself from side to side, and pro- duced a visible agitation upon both shores of the river. — The sea-boats which ply in Long Island ^ound sometimes make thirteen knots an hour ; but one is aecustomed v> flying at Sea, and the receding shores of a river p" > % stronger sensation of rapidity, by the comparisor . rh they afiFord with the apparent motion of stationa >^i^^ She cost one hundred and ten thousand dollars, > times makes for ber owners fifteen hundred doUa 27 the face of Nature, ever calm and ma«^ jestic, yet alternately rising and reced- ing in perpetual variation, keep the mind in a state of animating excite- ment. A constant change of Company is perpetually going on, in this little world. Some getting out at every great town, or noted landing-place, and others coming in ; but all this is managed with little or no delay of the moving Ark, by merely slackening her course, and low- ering a boat, which discharges her bur- then with astonishing dexterity, and — to me, terrifying speed. There is another circumstance of communication with the adjacent shores, which takes place occasionally— Nothing is wanted but an exchange of papers, for instance — A boat puts off from the shore, and at the same instant, another 25 boat quits the vessel. Tliey meet, as it were on the wing, for the speed of the Steam Boat is not now at all im- peded to favour the operation, and it takes place between the passing Water- men, in the twinkling of an eye. The animating bugle gives notice of approach, and the bell rings for depar- ture. Every thing concurs to create bustle and interest. People of the first consequence are often among the Pas- sengers; amidst whom they can lay claim to no peculiar privilege, or ac- commodation. The only exception is in favour of the Ladies; who have a cabin to themselves, where Gentlemen are not permitted to intrude. ' By-Laws are enacted for the pre- servation of order, and the forfeiture? incurred are scrnpulously exacted. 29 Therie were no persons of particular note on this voyage, nor any of those amusing characters styled great talkers —one or more of whom is generally to be found in ail companies, who volunta- rily, and ex mero motu,\ take upon them- selves the task of entertaining the silent part of their species. On a former occasion, I had been highly diverted by a Son of Chief Jus- lice Jay — himself a limb of the law, to enforce the laws and usages of the Steam Boat, with all the affected for- malities of legal process. Under his humorous arrangement, the offender was put to the bar. Witnesses appeared, and Counsel, on both sides, pleaded the merits of the case — not to be sure with all the gravity and decorum which are laudably observed in cases of high crimes and misdemeanors ; but with suffi- cient acuteness and pertinacity. What c 2 30 was wanting in solemnity was made up in laughter, and I remember young Jay kept the quarter deck in a continual roar. I have ever since regretted that I did not preserve a sketch of his opening speech, which was introduced with all the precision of serious argument. — Several Persons of note were then present. I recollect particularly Go- vernor Lewis. Some of the Morrises from Morrisania, and the Lady of a former Governor of South Carolina. Ferry boats, propelled by steam, and so constructed that carriages drive in and out, at pleasure, may be observed at every large town on the North River. These convenient vehicles are likely to supersede the use of bridges, on navi- gable waters. They are in fact a sort of fiying bridge^ with this advantage 31 even over the numerous and costly Structures of that kind, whicli now span the broad surface of the Susque- hannah, in the interior of Pennsylvania. They do not require such expensive repairs, and they may be secured from the effects of sudden floods : but what is of far more importance, they present no obstruction to the stream, and are no hindrance to navigation. The Shores of the North River, su- blime as they are, where the Allegheny mountains must have crossed from west to east, before the lofty chain was bro- ken through, to admit the passage of the River (the sight of which is unfor- tunately lost to Travellers by the Steam Boats running through the Nar- rows in the night) owe much of their interest and beauty to the superb Seats of the Livingstons and the Clintons, some of which overhang the water, at an imposing elevation. Spectators 32 from these mostly line the bluffs, at the passage of the Steam Boats, which seem to electrify every thing within their sphere. And the antiquated Mansions of the ScHUYLERS and Van Rensselaers, in the vicinity of Albany, are beheld with historic recollections, as the places where General Burgoyne, and his prin- cipal Officers, were quartered, until they could be exchanged, after the me- morable defeat at Saratoga. FROM ALBANY TO LAKE CHAMPLAIN. Thb next day after our arrival at Albany was the 4th of July; and the good Citizens of Albany were preparing to celebrate the Declaration of Inde- pendence — not as Weld ridiculously represents, from the information of his Host, as if they rejoiced against the grain ; regretting in their hearts the protection of Great Britain; but with 33 all the zeal and fervour of heart-felt exultation, for the incalculable advan- tages of National independence, and emancipation from a Foreign yoke. But I was now become earnest to reach Canada. I had intended to take Ballston on my way, for the benefit of the Mineral waters, for which that place, and its vi- cinity have become eo cplebrated, since Sir William Johnson was conducted hither by the Indians in the year 1767, to drink the water of the Rock spring for the removal of the gout to which he was subject. But my mind I found was now too much engaged in the ultimate objects of pursuit to admit of turn- ing aside, at this period of the journey. So, finding myself in time for the next Steam Boat, on Lake Champiain, at 10 o'clock, instead of going to hear 34 a historical oration from some patriotic Burgher of Plait Deutch^ descent, I took my seat in another Stage Coach ; lodg- ed, I forget where ; and reached White- Hall, about noon ; an hour or two before the putting off of the Steam Boat for St Johns, the tirst town, or rather village, in Canada. By the way this Wiiitehall is not a Royal Palace, nor even a Gentleman's Seat; but a small post town at the mouth of Wood Creek. It is the same that was called Skeensborough (Query, why change the name ?) when Weld wrote his ingenious comparisons be- tween Canada and the United States and fearlessly quoted General W^ash- INGTON, as his authority, for the palpable falsehood that the musquitoes of this place would bite through the thickest boot — The musquitoes have since ut- terly vanished — stings and all; and they would have been quietly forgotten, 35 together with the fire flica, and bull frogs, and supposed rattle snakes of other Transatlantic Peregrinators, in American Wilds, if it had not been for this contemptible story — preserved, like bugs in amber, by their unaccountable conjunction with the pellucid name of Washington. — Rattle snakes are alrea- dy so rare in America, that I, who have travelled thousands of miles in our back country, never met with but one of them ; and no doubt they will become in another century as scarce, as snakes are said to be in Ireland, through the interference of St. Patrick ; though the fact may very well have happened, without a miracle, since Ireland has been peopled for thousands of years, and every Peasant has a hog or two, to whom snakes are a favourite repast. But before I take boat, let me recall the village of Schagticoke, which was 3G passed on the road, somewhere about midway — the never enough celebrated berg or dorff from which the Cervantic genius Knickerbocker, in his incompa- rable History of New-York, derives his pretended pedigree. The scattered houses of which it consists are built in nooks and crannies round the yaw^ning gulf of a roaring cataract, which de- scends, between jutting rocks, and craggy pines ; w ith as many tw ists and turns, and as much of spray and splut- ter, as the never to be forgotten work itself proceeds under its characteristic motto : Die wahrheit die in dunster lag, Da kommt mit klahrheit an den tag* The truth Avhich late in darkness lay Now breaks with clearness into day Or perhaps better: Truths which lay hid in daikest nig%t My pen shall bring again to light. 3T LAKE CHAMPLAIN. To return to the Steam Boat, on Lake Champlain, though it is greatly inferior, in size, and accommodation, to those on the North River ; (at least so was the boat whicli conveyed me, but a new one has 'just commenced running, which is said to excel them in elegance and speed) yet it will bear a compari- son, even with the English Post Chaise, or any other mode of easy and rapid conveyance; in despite of Dr. Johnson's ipse dixit ^ that life had few things better to boast than riding in a post chaise— h^- cause if I remember right, there tvas motion or change of place without fatigue ; since to these agreeable circumstances the Steam Boat adds the conveniencies of a tavern, of which Johnson was so fond, and the advantage of a bed at night, without loss of time. D 38 The Creek, as we call such waters, or to use the English phrase, the river, winds round broken crags, shagged with fir trees, for many miles, before it becomes more than just wide enough for the Steam Boats to veer round in. Yet in a gloomy cove, near the harbour, sufficient space has been found to moor the five or six sloops of w&r that were taken from Commodore Downie upon this Lake, Toward evening we entered Cham- plain Proper. The Lake gradually widened to an expanse of fifteen or twenty miles, and the sun set, glorious- ly, behind golden clouds, and moun- tains of azure blue, whose waving out- line, at an elevated height, was finely contrasted by the dark stripe of pines and firs, that here lines the unvarying level of the western shore. 39 Tlie solemnity of the scene was lieiglitened with indistinct ideas of Burgoyne's disastrous descent in 1777 — of the melancholy fate of the lirst Lord Howe in the year 1759, and of anterior scenes of massacre and horror which rendered the sonorous name of Ticonderoga terrific to our peaceful Ancestors— after passing the nuns grey of this dilapidated fortress (the French called it elegantly Carillon from the hub-bub usually kept up there in time of war) and those of Crown Point (called by them Fort la Cheve- lure or the scalping place) a barbarous denomination which the English melted down into Crown Point, still indicative of the same savage practice. 1 awoke in the night under these solemn recollections; and the morning star was shining in, with perceptible re- flection, at the little window of my birth. It is now peculiarly brilliant, 40 and I was forcibly impressed with a sense of God's providence, for the bene- fit of his creature Man, especially when travelling upon the waters, when his journeys must be pursued by night, as well as by day. And here let me observe, that during travel, the spirits are renewed, as well as the body invigorated. The energies of the mind, so often latent, through in- activity, are called into action, by dan- gers and difficulties, which it requires un- remitting watchfulness to steer through, or to shun; and the habitual inatten- tion under which, safe within the walls of cities, an accustomed face is beheld without notice, and a next door neigh- bour passes by unknown, is necessarily exchanged for the active exercise of observation and inquiry. In another point of view too, occa- sional journeys, especially into ForeigL 41 Countries, creating a total change of scene and habits, may he said to lengthen the sense of existence, if they do not actually prolong life. So many changes of hahit occur, and such a va- riety of unusual circumstances takes place, that the recollection of a few months, passed abroad, seems equal, in the memory, to the lapse of years, spent in the unvarying monotony of home. The suhlime operations of nature, which are rarely attended to amidst the incessant occupations of domes- tic care, force themselves upon a Traveller's observation, disengaged as he is from the daily concerns of com- mon life. — He now feels his dependence upon the varying atmosphere, and re- marks, perhaps for the first time, the subservience of the celestial luminaries to the occasions of life. d2 42 When the moon rises to illuminate his path, as the sun sets in the west, which it does with such evident co-operation^ whenever the moon is at full ; he can hardly fail to be touched with admira- tion, and gratitude, at the splendid pro- vision of which he stands so much in need. — He can but feel, with conscious elevation, the dignity of his being, as a creature of God, when, Seas roll to waft him, suns to light him rise ; His footstool earth, his canopy the skies. Yet is there ample occasion, on the face of Nature, for humbling considera- tions of the littleness of Man, and all his works, in comparison of the wide spread surface of the planet we inhabit. Inadequate must needs be the ideas of a Man who, confined for life within the streets of cities, has never seen an ex- tensive horizon, or beheld those raajes- 43 tic features of the Earth, a Mountain, or a Lake — No Man that has not travel- led a day's journey on foot, nor ever lost his way in trackless wilds, when spent with hunger and fatigue, can have a competent idea of the spaces that intervene between town and town, sometimes between one human habita- tion and another. We must have seen a good deal of the Globe we inhabit to form any just notion of the overwhelming extent of its surface in proportion to the pigmy race, to whom animal nature has been subjected, by the Creator of all things. And after all the imagination is un- avoidably confounded, amidst the bound- less sands which occupy the internal parts of Africa, and Asia. It has often revived my own humility to span their extent upon the maps in my study. And when I compare the desert of Zaarah, for instance, with the Island of 44 Great Britain, and perceive that in its vacant spaces there would be room for ten such islands, with all its Millions oi" civilized Inhabitants, I am ready to ex- claim, with Job — Lord ! wliat is Man, that thou shoiildest set tliine heart upon him ? And that thou shouldest visit him everj' morning, And try him every moment ? Having passed Burlington, the Capi- tal of Vermont, in the night, next morn- ing, after breakfast, we were called up to see the British flag flying at Illinois (Isle aux Noix as the French call it) and his Majesty's crown over the gate way, at the stairs leading to the officers' house; a handsome building, with rather a phantastic air, from being built of squared logs painted in alternate stripes of white and grey. Green Va- randas as light as gossamer, in the cen- tre, and at each end. The whole sur- mounted with a heavy pediment, and a 45 tinned Cupola, the openings of which are glazed to make it a comfortable look-out. I observed nothing particular in the fortifications at Illinois; but a sweet little Cottage struck my eye, as we passed, connected with a string of con- venient out houses, a little garden be- fore them, running to the water's edge, with covered seats, of elegant simplici- ty; in which, in all probability, some British Officer, and the fair Companion of his voluntary exile, indulge their re- collection of happier auspices, and a forsaken home. As we ran by the place, a boat put off to exchange papers, with three young Marines, in Scotch bonnets, and trim uniforms, to whom our Captain threw a rope ; but so little dexterous were they in managing it, that they had like to have overset the boat, before they 46 reached us. Tliey were however in- sensible of their danger, and I remember one of them showed a very fine get of teeth, as he laughed, with the Bystand- ers, at his own absurdity. — Enough — perhaps too much of Illi- nois. By noon we reached St. Johns, of which still less may serve, and we did but drive through it for La Prairie. — A considerable town on the St. Law- rence, nine miles above Montreal. The rest of the Company, among whom were several Ladies, from Caro- lina, crossed directly over, in a driz- zling rain ; but I, being no longer im- patient of delay, as this is a considera- ble town, of long standing, with a large French Church, and other public es- tablishments, stayed over night; and slept, though it was midsummer, under 47 I know not how many blankets, in a bed close hung with worsted curtains, in flaming red. I. was now ready to doubt whether it ever was what we call hot, in Canada ; but I had occasion afterward to change my mind, upon that score, as well as some others, as will be seen in due time. Rapid Travellers are apt to be hasty in forming their conclusions, of which in course plodding Critics take notice, at their leisure; without making one grain of allowance for the innumerable perplexities, and contrarieties, through which we have to pick our way, in the research of truth. Next morning the sun glittered upon the tinned spires and plated roofs of Montreal, Uiany of them being sheathed with sheet iron. I was told that the passage, by water, was tedious, and. 48 that a waggon would convey me mucU quicker to the ferry opposite the town. I went on accordingly to Longeuil, and crossed over from thence, in a canoe, which was managed by two diminutive Canadians, with Indian paddles. MONTREAL shows from the water like an old coun- try Sea Port, with long ranges of high walls, and stone houses, overtopped here and there, by Churches, and Con- vents; with something that resembles a continued Quay, though it is nothing more than a high bank, to which large vessels can lie close enough for the purposes of loading and unloading ; in consequence of the unusual depth of water at the very edge of the current, which sets close in shore from an op- posite Island, and a string of rocks and shoals, which obstructs it on the opposite side. 49 I took a hasty dinner, glanced at the Pubhc Buildings, which I had seen before, and walked the streets till night ; when the principal avenue, in which is the Cathedral, was lighted up, before dark, in the English manner, the twi- light being almost as long here, as it is there. I then took up my lodging on board the Steam Boat, for Quebec, which was to sail next morning at 3 o'clock. For I had now a mind to see in how short a time one might make a total change of Religion, language, Government, and climate, in quitting the Metropolis of the United States, for that of the British Provinces. It was now but the 8th day from my leaving Philadelphia, and there was a chance that I might reach Quebec on the 9th (July 8th) the current of the St. Lawrence being often so power- ful, that, when the wind favours, this passage of 170 miles, is sometimes E 50 made in seventeen hours, in sea phrase ten knots an hour, arriving at Quebec, in summer time, by sunset the same day. voir AGE DOWN TIIE ST. LAWRENCE. I WAS not now in luck, if I may be al- lowed the phrase, or to speak with be- coming dignity of a voyage upon the St. Lawrence, the wind was right ahead, and blew strong from the North East, with occasional squalls of rain, through the day, and the following night ; and I was glad to come off with two tedious and wearisome nights, spent at sea, to all usual intents and purposes, of sea- faring life, such as incommodities of every kind, apprehension of danger, disinclination to stir hand or foot, and irremediable delay. But I am antici- pating events, and ought perhaps to have kept the Header in that happy state of suspense, under which we 31 usually advance to the most dangerous, or disagreeable adventures, without ap- prehension, or reluctance. First then, of the first. After passing the night under an incessant trampling, and rummaging, overhead, the Boat- men being at work all night, stowing away heavy freight, and clearing the decks of luggage : for the Steam Boats of the St. Lawrence, are as much used for the conveyance of freight, as of Pas- sengers. I awoke an hour or two after day light, some leagues below Montreal. The great Church of Varennes, with its two steeples, yi^as distinctly visible, together with the isolated mountain, which rises near Boucherville, in the midst of surrounding plains : but every other object was at such an immeasur- able distance, for river scenery, that I was much disappointed of the boasted appearance of towns, and villages, and o2 icaltered hamlets, upon the banks of the St. Lawrence — said to exceed so far, in use and beauty, the scanty im- proveraents upon the North River. It is true that the occasional spires of the Parish Churches would be neces- sarily beautiful, if as they are described by fanciful Travellers, (fatigued by the repetition of substantial Mills and Meet- ing Houses in the United States,) they were actually seen peeping over trees and woods: but the trees are all cut away round Canadian settlements, and the unvarying habitations, stand in end- less rows, at equal distances, like so many sentry boxes or soldiers' tents, without a tree, or even a fence of any kind to shelter them; instead of being irregularly interspersed, as with us, among tields and woods, surrounded with every variety of domestic accom- modation, and collected, every ten or twelve miles into hamlets, or trading 53 towns," of which there are fifteen or twenty, upon tlie North River, whilst there are but four, in the like space, upon the River St. Lawrence, including Quebec and Montreal. These circumstances admit of no comparison, between the two rivers, and the improvements on their banks, in point of interest or effect. Still less with those of the Delaware, from Tren- ton to New Castle, where, in less than half the distance, beside innumerable farm houses, and country seats, we have the cities of Trenton, Burlington, Phila- delphia, and Wilmington ; and the beau- tiful towns of Bordentown, Bristol, Ches- ter, and New Castle ; together with a like number of inland villages, in dis- tant perspective ; literally surrounded with orchards and gardens, and fre- quently ornamented with modest spires, or rather cupolas ; which are not to be E 2 54 sure so favourable to display, half con- cealed as they are by neighbouring woods. Yet this is the only point of view, in which any comparison at all can be sup- ported between the two Countries : for it is only on the banks of its rivers, that Canada pretends to any population, or improvement, whatever; whereas with us the cheering • Tract and blest abode of Man, is scattered, more or less, over the whole surface of the soil, by hardy Ad- venturers, who are not afraid to quit their native hearths, in quest of the most distant establishments. And we have in- land towns little inferior in population to the Capital of Canada. It is but fair to observe, however, that the mode of settling upoa the River St. 5b Lawrence, seems pointed out by Na- ture, in this region of perennial snow. It would have been diilicult for Ii^liabi- tants, far removed from each other, to have kept their roads open in winter; and they must have passed the season, hke so many bears, sucking their paws, if they had been separated from each other by hills and hollows t but, in many places, the banks of this mighty stream would seem to have been formed, by its waters, into different levels, running parallel with its course. Upon these levels, the First Settlers found it con- venient to establish themselves, in lines, whose communication could be readily preserved.. — At the island of Kamouraska some distance below that of New Orleans the appearance of the neighbouring heights is said to indicate unequivocal- ly that the bed of the St. Lawrence was there once at a much higher level 5Q than that which it now occupies, a cir- cumstance which corroborates the pre- sumption that these ridges have been originally formed by the ancient current of the river. THE TOWN OF WILLIAM IIENRY. We came too about 10 in the morn- ing, at the town of William Henry, on the right bank of the River Sorel, which forms the outlet of Lake Champlain ; for the purpose of taking in wood, of which article there is a very rapid con- sumption, on board of Steam Boats. As we approached the wharf, all the people in the place seemed to be taking post at the landing. Among the fore- most came puffing a good humoured looking mortal, genteelly drest, of that description of bipeds that are said to laugh and be fat. He is currently known, it seems, by the name of Sir John Falstaif, and thus, like his proto- 57 tjpe, of facetious memory, if he be not witty himself he is oftentimes the cause q/ wit in others. Sir James Sherbrooke, the Governor General of both the Canadas, has a seat near this place, where he spends the summer months. He is now here, and I think we were told that Lady Selkirk was there, on a visit, from the dreary confines of Hudson's Bay. This is but a small town, yet here is both a Catholic, and a Protestant Church. I entered the former, while the business of the boat was expediting; and found the aisles crow ded with chil- dren, saying their catechism, in a style of tedious rotation, which alTorded a striking contrast to the compendious methods of the Lancasterian plan. At the door I bought of a little Girl a penny worth of molasses candy, for 58 whicli I put into her hand two coppers, saying I did not want any more, and she should have them both : but so compe- tently had the principle of honesty, or independence, been impressed upon her memory (under the unpromising system above mentioned,) that she ran after me, with the odd penny, crying, " Tenez Monsieur ! Voici votre cop- per."* Beggary is unknown, I find, in Cana- da, and thieving is said to be very rare. — I afterward learned, that it is no uncommon thing for the English inhabi- tants to receive again, from the hands of the Father Confessors, money which has been stolen from them, without their knowledge, carefully lapped up ; with a request to take it agairty and ask no questions. * Sfop, Sir ; here's your penny. m THE LAKE OF ST. PIERRE. Passing through the Lake, and among the woody Islands of St. Pierre, the weather being hazy, we almost lost sight of the main land; and when it again came in view, we were still tan- talized with the perpetual repetition of house after house, or rather hut after hut (for the Log hovels of the Ha^i- tants^ square hewn, and neatly white washed, as they are, even to the roofs, which are clap boarded, and sometimes thatched, with a species of long grass, which grows on some of these islands, called rherbe-au-lieu, or wild grass are little bigger than huts,) in which it frequently happens that two or three generations of Canadians pig together, preferring the pleasures of ease and fellowship, to all the advantages of in- dependence and exertion. When ne- cessity absolutely obliges a swarm of X 60 them to quit the parent hive, it is not to seek an estabhshment, where land is cheap, for the future settlement of them- selves and their children ; but to sub- divide the original patrimony, and run up another hovel, a few hundred paces distant, upon the same unvarying line, which was traced out by their remotest Ancestors, when they were obliged above all things, to consult their safety from the irruptions of the Savages. THE TOTVTV OF THREE RIVERS. Towards evening we stopped for an hour or two off the town of Three Ri- vers; there being no wharf for vessels to come too at, although this has been a place of trade more than one hundred and seventy years ; and it was once the seat of the Colonial Government — so indifferent are the Canadian French to matters of mere accommodation. Churches and Monasteries are the prin- 61 cipal features of the place, when seen from the water. One of these, that of the Recollets, is overshadowed by gi- gantic ehns. There were Indian canoes along shore, this place being yet frequented by the Aborigines of the North and West, with skins and peltry, which they bring with them, many hundreds of miles ; having their whole families on board of these fragile conveyances. Dun night, and driving rain, drove us below ; and the next morning we were still thirty or forty miles from Quebec ; having narrowly escaped the necessity of coming to anchor, by the wind's abating in the night. During breakfast time, we passed near the Church of St. Augustine Cal- vaire, whicn stands entirely exposed, upon a naked beach. 62 The mountains here begin to rise, and produce more interesting scenery. The country in view having before been invariably flat. About 9 o'clock we came in sight of the heights of Abraham, on the left, and those of Point Levi, on the right ; between which were fifteen or twenty sail of Merchantmen, and Ships of war, riding at anchor; the island of Orleans ap- pearing, in the back ground of this in- teresting picture. We rapidly passed Wolfe's Cove, and were brought too, with admirable dex- terity, at a wharf of most inconvenient height; for the tide rises, in this wild channel, from eighteen to twenty-four feet. Here, and for half a mile round the precipice, which consists of a black slate, there is but just room for one narrow street. The rock is almost 63 perpendicular, till near the top; and as you look up from the water, to the stone wall, which caps the summit of the hill, with projecting bastions, you wonder what prevents the ponderous masses from coming down upon your head. GENERAJL MOJrrGOMERY. In this dismal ditch, where it first became exposed to a strong battery, which has been since taken down, on the 31st day of December, fell General Montgomery, and his Aid-de-camp, Mcpherson, at the very first fire from the fort ; and their disheartened Fol- lowers were easily made prisoners, after a hopeless conflict. The snow being then four fret thick upon the ground. Yet I was told, upon the spot, by a Canadian Burgher of confidential ap- 64 pcarance, uho said he was in tlie place, at the time of the attack ; that the town might have been taken, by surprise, if General Arnold had pushed his oppor- tunity, when he first reached Point Levi ; instead of waiting for the Com- mander in Chief, who was then coming down the St. Lawrence. In the mean time the Citizens had recovered from the panic into which they had been thrown, by so unexpected an event. Sir Guy Carleton had thrown himself into the town, and the favourable moment for the attack was irretrievably lost. — The unfortunate General was interred by the British Commander, upon one of the bastions of the citadel, with what are called the honours of war.* ' My Informant, an old JMan, and a native Canadian, had in his youth been under the Falls of Montmorency, that is to say, within the tremendous concavity between the rock and the cataract, reverberating with incessant thunder, and dripping with perpetual spray ; and he had often jumped down into the circular basins, of unusual magnitude, worn, in the solid rock, from Avhcnce the name of the River 65 QUEBEC. Almost perpendicularly over the place where Montgomery fell, on the very brink of the precipice, which is Cbaudiere ; which now pursues its foaming course at a distance far beneath these indubitable indications of the anterior elevation of its waters. They dift'er in nothing but their size from the well-known perforations which were observable at the Falls of Schuilkill, before the progress of improvement had obliterated all remains of those curious appearances. I embrace this opportunity to record that such things were within five miles of Philadelphia, that it may not be utterly forgotten that such interesting phenomena had ever e.\isted. Nor can I forbear to put the question which they suggest, why may not these aqueous perforations be as well admitted to prove that the Globe is not of a date exceedingly remote (at least in its present form) as the con- trarj' can be inferred from the various layers of lava round Mount Etna, by the periods of whose decom[)osition the Canon Recupero could read the history of the earth, and discover, with un-misgivlng presumption, that He that made it and revealed its date, to Moses Was mistaken in its age. The largest of these perforations, which have any where been observed would not have required more time for its production, with the assistance of circulating pebbles, than is allowed by the Sacred Historian. F 2 6(3 here not less than two hunclred feet high, in lieu of the ancient Fort or Chateau of St. Louis, which name, by courtesy of England^ it yet retains, is erected the Government House, the apartments of which arc occupied by the various offices of the Civil and Mili- tary Departments, acting under the orders of the Governor General of Bri- tish America; the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia being in- cluded under his command. But his residence is in a convenient building, on the opposite side of -tke square. The lower town, from which we have not yet regularly ascended, is a dismal congeries of the most wretched build- ings, rising, in darkness visible^ amidst every kind of tilth, between the rock and the river; which is said to have washed the very base of the promon- tory, when Jacques Cartier first sailed by the craggy spot. I quitted the nar- 6T row confines, with the alacrity of a Fu- gitive, escaping from the confinement of a prison ; (though here, In dirt and darkness hundreds stink, content) by a long flight of steps, ending in slope after slope ; down which trickles perpetually the superfluous moisture of the upper town ; the streets of which, in wet weather, are rinsed, over the heads of the luckless Passenger, by those projecting spouts which are so common in the antiquated towns of Ger- many. The upper town, at a height of one hundred and fifty feet, from which it overlooks the lower; and shows the shipping so perpendicularly below, that you think you could toss a biscuit into them, from the ramparts, is completely fortified with walls and gates, and all the other inconveniencies of a garrison- ed town; such as sentinels on guard. 68 at every avenue, &:c. kc. independently of the citadel, which, Avith its outworks, of considerable extent, occupies an elevation two hundred feet higher. The Cathedral, and the Seminary for the Clergy, together with the Jesuits College, opposite, now converted into a barrack, for the troops; who make its once tranquil walls resound tw ice a day with the animating sounds of Martial music — the bugle — the fife — and the spirit stirring drum. — These extensive establishments, all originally devoted to religion, together with the Hotel Dieu, as it is called, after the name of a si- milar institution in Paris, being a hos- pital for the sick, and the single Sisters ■who attend them ; the Monastery of the RecoHets, now taken down, to make room for more useful edifices; and the Convent of the Ursuline Nuns, with other Religious Establishments, and their courts and gardens, occupied at 69 least one-half of the ground, within the walls ; leaving the streets narrow, irre- gular, and invariably up hill and down; a circumstance which must render them singularly inconvenient in frost and snow. Such is the famous City of Quebec., for the acquisition of which GENERAL WOLFE willingly devoted his life, in the year 1759 ; the only memento of which • circumstance, upon the spot, is a wooden figure of the celebrated Hero, in his broad skirted coat, with slashed sleeves, painted red, standing in a niche, at the corner of a street ; in the attitude of commanding the decisive action, which for ever separated Canada from the do- minion of France. It is called St. John Street, and it leads to the Gate of St. Louis, whence ■•'e Tourment, which is two thou- sand feet high, and therefore may be distinctly seen at the distance of thirty miles. On the right you have the rocks of Point Levi, and behold the shipping in the harbour, at an immense depth below. Imagine the eflect of this whole fairy scene, connected as it is by the broad surfaces of the River, which is seen again upon the ed^e of the hori- zon, winding round the stupendous Blud* above mentioned, in its course toward the sea. The field of battle lies a mile fiirther west — The common remains bare, and ^^ 72 uncultivated ; and a little to the left of the road to Montreal, you perceive a large stone, near which the General fell. It may be easily distinguished by the repeated efforts of British Visitors to possess themselves of the minutest specimen of this monument of National prowess, ta carry home with them, as relics, on their return to England. It is a whitish granite, of a finer grain than usual. This interesting spot has been devot- ed to History, not by an English Pro- fessor of the Fine Arts; but by our Countryman West, who considers him- self acting patriotically as a British sub- ject in celebrating any event, which is counted honourable to the British arms, that had occurred before the Revolu- tion, which established the Independ- ence of his country. *3 The French Governor ot Quebec, M. de Montcalm, fell likewise on the field of battle, jet such is the injustice of Mankind to those who seek the babble honour, in the cannon's mouth, that the Man, who died in the defence ) of his Country, is never mentioned with I applause, because unsuccessful ; whilst i the victorious Invader of a Foreign shore is puffed to the skies bv the meretricious trumpet of Fame. I sat up my head quarters, to adopt the military phraseology, that prevails here, at the Union Hotel, in the Place d^ jSrmes or Parade; intending from hence to make excursions into the Country, at my leisure : Malhiots Hotel in St John's Street is said to be the best House of entertainment at Quebec: but I generally find the second best, in this case, best suited to the indulgence of my desultory habits. 74 At this place I met daily, at dinner, while in town, a shrewd English Agent or Commissary; a man of mature age, universal information, and a cold, cal- culating temperament ; and a young Canadian from the Country, who was studying Law at Quebec. The cool headed Englishman occupied the head of the table, with the strictest observ- ance of the customary forms of polite- ness; but amidst the reciprocation of formal civilities took care to maintain a prudent reserve : but the vivacious Frenchman attached himself to me, im- mediately, with the most engaging frank- ness. This is not the first time I have had occasion to remark the mutual at- traction and repulsion, which takes place between total strangers, on sitting down together, for the first time, at a Public table; nor yet to observe the preference which the French every where discover for the American cha- racter. It was as good as a passport 75 when I was last in France ; and an ap- plication under that name was respected by Sentinels on guard, when permission was generally refused to others. " Vous " etes Americain ! Entrez Monsieur,"* and Commandants who received me with all the sternness of official author- ity, have softened their manner, as soon as I called myself an American. I thought my young Friend an Eng- lishman, so well did he speak the lan- guage ; and I afterward understood that he had renounced the French, from his childhood, and now spoke it so ill, that he declined conversing in it, even when he learned that I spoke French myself. In the perpetual ebullitions of his vivacity, he pni me to the question a great deal more tlian is agreeable to me ; but I could not find in my heart to discoun- • Are you an American ? Walk in, sir. 76 tenance his volubility, or discourage hi& wish to be serviceable to me, in the ob- jects of my pursuit. Accordingly when I left Quebec, I was furnished by him with a list of the post houses on the road ; accompanied by notes of the inns, and other infor- mation, highly useful to a Traveller by land. But this was not enough to satisfy his assiduity, I must have letters of re- commendation to no less than four Gen- tlemen of his acquaintance, in the dif- ferent towns I should pass through, though I professed, with my usual bluntness, very little expectation of de- livering any of tliem. — And there was one to his Grandmother at Machiche — but I will not anticipate the amusing visit to which this afterward gave rise. I recollected some of the sprightly sallies of JMonsicur Gugy^ \\\\\\ the in- tention of putting thera upon paper; 77 but so much of the effect of that \o\a- tile spirit Whence livcb' wit excites to gay surprise, unavoidably evaporates in repetition: and so much of its pungency de- pends upon attending circumstances, Avhich cannot be conveyed by the pen, that I shall not risque the attempt ; lest it should discredit the convivial powers of my young Friend, whose esteem I should be very unwilling to forfeit. One retort, however, which took place, when the cloth was removed, be- t^veen the two ends of the table, was JVational^ and I shall therefore preserve it. The sober Englishman was asked to mention a historical subject, upon which the Student might exercise his talents for composition, during the recess. He proposed " The Rise and " Progress of the most extensive Colony "upon the Globe"—- Not Botany Bay^ G 2 78 sure, said I. — " No, no," interrupted Monsieur^ " it shall be the Decline and " Fall of Quebec." On another occasion, the American Revolution being in question, the cause was on all hands allowed to be just: " Nay," said they, " the British Govern- " ment itself has rirtuallj acknow- *• ledged it, in granting, by Act of Parlia- " ment, to the Canadian Provinces, the " only privilege, which the leading Pat- " riots at one time contended for, that of '• not being taxed, without their own consent.''^ My young Friend would gladly have accompanied me to the Religious Houses; but to such places I always choose to go by myself One of my earliest visitations was to THE HOTEL DIEU, where a Superieure and twenty-seven Sisters take care of the sick poor, of 79 both sexes, who are lodged in separate wards, and furnished, hy them, with every thing necessary. The Sisters however, having a good deal of leisure on their hands, being themselves almost as numerous as their Patients, employ or amuse, themselves, in making orna- ments for altars, and embroidering, with fruit and flowers, a variety of trinkets, such as pocket books, and work bags ; which visitors take home with them for presents to children, or mementos of their journey. They are made of the thin, smooth, and pliable bark of a tree, which is common here, (the French call it Boulotte) it will bear writing on as well as pap^; the ink not spreading in the least. I brought away a specimen of it, from the Falls of Montmorency, which I intend to present to Peale's Museum. I introduced myself to one of the Nuns, whom I met in the passage. (She 80 was dressed in white linen, very coarse, with a black veil, pinned close acrof«s the forehead, and thrown back upon the shoulders) by asking permission to see their chapel. — " Asseyez vous, Mon- " sieur, un petit moment/'* There was a window seat at hand. " Je vais " chercher une de mes Socurs, pour nous " accorapagner."t It seems they are never allowed to go any where without a Companion, which is the reason they are always seen abroad in pairs. She returned immediately, with another Sis- ter, who saluted me with apparent pleasure. They introduced me to the door of the Chapel, but went not in themselves. The Sisters having a private place of devotion appropriated to them, along side, they never enter the Public Cha- pel, when it is frequented by others. * Sit down one minute, Sir. n am going for one of my Slaters to accompau; us. 81 I soon returned to them, finding no- thing interesting in the Building, though it seems it was founded in 1638, hy the Dutchess d'Aiguillon ; who sent over three Nuns of this order, from the Hos- pital at Dieppe, on the establishment of this charitable Institution. It con- tains but two pictures worth attention. They are large pieces, without frames, by good French Masters, leaning against the walls of the side Chapels, as if they had never been hungup. The subjects I remember were the Visitation of St. Elizabeth, and the Dispute with the Doctors of the Law. The two Sisters had waited for me, in the Sacristy, behind the Chapel. They seemed gladly to embrace the opportunity for a few minutes conver- sation, with a stranger. J was curious about their regulations. " Vous n'avez " done pas de Communaute chez vous, 82 " Monsieur."* We had not any. I was from Philadelphia. " Cepondant," said one of them, " on en a a la Louisiane. *' Mais ce n'est pas si loin. Voila la •• raison apparamment."t Did they per- mit women who had once been married, to take the veil .'^ " Oui Monsieur, Si " elles n'ont point d'enfans. Cela pourr- " oit les distraire. Etd'ailleurs elles doi- " vent plutot s'occuper a elever leurs " Enfans. — II y avoit dernierement Ma- •* dame une telle qui vouloit faire pro- " fession : Mais Monseigneur I'Eveque " a dit qu'il ctoit plutot de son devoir " d'elever ses Enfans, que de soigner les « Malades.":}: Having once entered the * Have you no Communities in your Country, Sir ? t Y et tliey have them in Louisiana : but that is not so far. That must be the reason. X Yes Sir. If they have no children — Tliat might divide their affections ; and beside, they are bound in duty to bring up their children. It is but lately that Madame Such-a-one wanted to enter the House ; but my Lord Bishop told her that it was rather her business to see to the education of her children, than to take care of the Sick. 83 House, were they obliged to perpetual residence ? — " Apres uii an et demi de " profession I'on ne peut plus sortir, " Jusques la il est permis de se retirer " (laughing) Combieny at-il degens ma- " ries, Monsieur, qui voudroient bien re- " noncer au mariage, si cela se pouvoit, " apros un an et demi de noviciat ?"*— - Assuredly, said I — a great many. — But I took the vow of matrimony, twenty years ago, and have never had occasion to repent my obhgation. THE CATHEDRA!^ OF QUEBEC. I NEXT went to see the Cathedral, which is a plain rough building, on the outside, with a handsome Steeple, ae usual, covered with tin. — It is erected on one side of the great door. — Within, * After a year and a half of trial, they are no longer pcr- mitteJ to withdraw. Until then thoy are at liberty to do so. How many married people are there, who would gladly renounce matrUnony, after the experience of a year and j» half? 84 this Church has much of the imposing effect of European Cathedrals, arising irom great length, and loftj height. I was struck with the rich carved Wainscot of the Choir; much in the style of that of Notre Dame, at Paris. Over it four Corinthian columns support an arch, in scroll work. Upon this rests the globe, on which stands a Fi- gure of the Redeemer, in the attitude of benediction, holding in his left hand, or rather leaning upon a ponderous cross ; rays of glory emanating from the body on all sides. This part is painted white, and the whole work is admirable, both in design, and execution ; as well as the open work of the Bishop's throne, and the Stalls ior the Canons; but the sculptured Pulpit, and the Statues, in the Choir, are painted and gilded, in a gaudy style, unworthy of notice, or description. 85 The Sacristan now accosted me, ob- serving my peculiar curiosity. He was a hard headed veteran of the Church, with all his features settled into that imperturbable insensibility, which is naturally contracted by beholding, without interest, or regard, the perpetual flux and reflux of the tide of human life at the doors of a Catholic Cathe- dral, where every period of existence from the cradle to the grave is in con- tinual rotation. I had myself seen that morning the different ceremonies of a Christening, and a Burial ; nothing was wanting but a marriage to complete the whole hjstory of life : and that I am told often takes place, contemporaneously, also. I asked him whether the Church was not a hundred and fifty feet long? — He said it was one hundred and eighty- six. He had measured it himself. It H 86 is ninety wide, and the middle aisle, which is divided from the side aisles by massy arcades, is at least sixty high. In what year, said I, was the Church erected ? " Monsieur, il y a environ cent " cinquante ans. Je ne saurois vous " dire le jour meme."* But the carv- ed work in the Choir is not of that age. (It is of some rich wood not yet much darkened by time) " Cest que I' Eglise " a ete brulee il ya environ cinquante " ans."t The Pulpit, said I, was probably saved from the wreck. (It is of Gothic construction, and grossly painted, in colours.) " Non, Monsieur, Rien ne fut sauve Tout est a neuf."J Was the beau- tiful carved work of the choir made in this Country? "Oui, Monsieur, ^'a ete *' fait par un de nos propres Canadiens, * Sir, it is aboiit one hundred and fifty years old. I can- rot tell you to the very day. t No, for the Church was entirely burnt down about fifty years ago. t No, sir, nothing was saved ; every thing is new. 87 '* qui a fait le voyage de France expres " pour s'en rendre capable."* Was that Lewis XIII, or Lewis XIV, that stood on the right hand of the altar? (A Mar- shall of France, perhaps Montmorenci, on the opposite side.) " Non, Monsieur, *' ce nest ni I'un ni I'autre. C'est — C'est " — Le Louis des Croisades^'f It is then Lewis the IX, or St. Lewis, said I. — " Eh '• oui, oui, Monsieur, vous avez raison. " Mais comment I'avez vous reconnu " pour etre roi ?"J By the crown and sceptre. " Oh! bin,"§ said the old Sexton, (who appeared to have, till that moment overlooked his kingship, and consider- ed the canonized Lewis, as nothing more than one of the Saints of the Choir — it being not uncommon to * Yes sir, it was made by one of our Canadians, who went over to France on purpose to qualify himself for the work. t No sir, it is neither of them. It is — It is — the Louis of the Crusades. t Yes, yes, sir; you are right — ^Buthow did you know him to be a King ? § 0! true. 88 crown tliG figures of saints in Catholic Churches.) " Les autres d'alentour," continued he, " sont St. Pierre, St. Paul, " St. He could not recollect the " name of the third — it was the Marshall " of France. St. Vous sentez bien " que nous ne les croyons pas les verita- " bles Saints memes ; mais seulement " leurs representants."* O yes, yes, I understand it. THE CHAPEL OF THE URSLLINES. Next morning I went to the Chapel of the Ursulines, in the expectation of seeing the Nuns, at their devotions: but in that I was disappointed. An old Priest was saying mass, at a mag- nificent altar — the Tabernacle uncom- monly splendid. Corinthian Columns — gilded Statues — a bishop on one side, * The others round are St. Peter St. Paul St. You understand that we do not take them to be the very saints tbem^elves. but only Uieir representatives 89 and a Queen on the other. (Probably Ann of Austria, the Mother of Lewis XIV, as this institution was founded in 1 639.) St. J oseph with the Child in his aims, over head. Seraphs are recli- ning in the angles of the pediment, and Cherubs spread their wings above, and below, the niches. Bas reliefs of Apos- tles, and Evangelists, with their appro- priate emblems, occupying the pannels of the pedestals. All this in the finest style of the Age of Lewis XIV, both sculpture, and architecture. This rich Chapel may be eighty feet long, forty wide, and forty high. It is now dark with age, though it has always been neatly kept, by the piety of the Nuns, and has therefore suffered no- thing else from time. On the left is a side Chapel hung with Gobelin tapestry, (probably a Royal present, as Lewis XIV, kept that ma- il 2 90 nufactory in his own hands for such pur- poses.) On the right is a large arched grate, with a black curtain drawn be- hind it, through which the Nuns were occasionally heard, hemming, and coughing ; for this was a silent mass. I now despaired of seeing the particular objects of my curiosity: but presently the curtains were drawn, from within, and discovered the Nuns, kneeling, in their black dresses, with white neck- kerchiefs. — This was at the moment of the elevation of the Host. And no soonerwas it over than the curtainsw ere closed again, and the slender Audience seemed to be left behind, to receive the •' Dominus vobiscum,"* and coldly re- spond " Amen." The paintings in this elegant Chapel are chiefly unmeaning representations ' The Lord he with yoD. • ■ i di of celebrated Sisters of the order, in attitudes of adoration, or beatification — on their knees — or in the clouds. There is, however, upon these venera- ble walls a historical representation of The Genius of France, just landed upon the shores of Canada, from a Eu- ropean vessel, which is seen moored to the rocks. She is pointing to the stan- dard of the cross, at the mast head ; and offering, with the other hand, to a female Savage, the benefits of religious instruction; which she receives upon her knees. Wig-wams, children, &c. are seen in the back ground. This Conventual Institution, proba- bly the most strict in North America, shorv of the Vice-royalty of Mexico, owes its rise to the piety and self-denial of a rich young Widow, who devoting herself to religion, upon the death of her Husband, chose Quebec for her 92 retreat, as a place of seclusion from the world. THE GENERAL HOSPITAL AXD THE ' WHITE NUNS. The General Hospital, which is beau- tifullj located, in a retired situation, on the banks of the little River St. Charles, about a mile westward of the town, now onlj remained to be explored. I walked that way, one evening, when all nature wears an aspect of tranquillity, and invites to meditation, or repose. It is the most regular of all the reli- gious edifices of this place, and remains, without alteration, or addition, as it was originally founded by its beneficent Patron, M. de St. Vallier, the second Bishop of Quebec, who endowed it, I believe by will, in the year 1693, for 93 the relief of the aged and infirm. They are attended by thirty-seven Sisters, under the direction of a Superieure, or Lady Abbess. This extensive Building forms a hol- low square, two stories high ; and the front next the town has a venerable appearance of antiquity, with its high pitched roof, and broad portals at each end, under the protection of St. Jo- seph, and the Virgin (if 1 remember right) in their respective niches. For- tunately I did not enter it, at this time, but sauntered about the lonely environs of the place, thinking upon the melan- choly absurdity of those human inven- tions, and traditions, by which God is robbed of his honour, so to speak, and his Son Jesus Christ, is, as it were, su- perseded by Joseph and Mary; as if the heaven-born Saviour were yet under the tutelage of earthly Parents. 94 I say, fortunately, because this cir- cumstance brought me here a second time, but a few minutes before a pro- cession took place, which was the most impressive thing of the kind I ever saw in Canada. I had passed through the lower ward, into the Chapel, attended by one of the Patients, who told me on my giving him something to discharge him, that there was going to be a procession of the Nuns that afternoon, agreeably to the rules of the Founder, which enjoin, it seems, the formal visitation of the al- tars, in the respective wards, to be per- formed by the Sisterhood, in full habit, at certain set times in every month. I bade him bring me word, when the procession was coming, and applied myself to the perusal of two broad tablets, upon the walls, which narrated 05 in French verse, the style and title — the talents and the virtues, of JEAN BAPTISTE LE CHEVAJLLIER, DE ST. VALLIER, who had been two and forty years bishop of Quebec, when he founded this beneficent Institution, and was here in- terred, at the foot of the altar. I had not near finished the verses, which had no particular merits of their own to recommend them, when my At- tendant returned, in haste, to tell me that the procession was forming. As I re-entered the ward, at the upper end, the Sisterhood were coming in at the other. They were preceded by a Lay Sister, bearing a silver crucifix. She was evidently in her noviciate, having only the white veil, which was pinned across her forehead, and fell loose upon her shoulders. The rest had all black 96 veils, of the same description ; but the dress of all of them was white, with large open flannel sleeves, a small cross depending from the neck. The cross bearer was the handsomest woman, or rather, she was the only handsome woman, I had seen in Canada — very fair — but tall, without colour, and her unusual height was set off to advantage by the little girls, that car- ried lighted tapers, on either side of her. But there was something, even in her downcast eyes, which failed to con- vince me, that the fair proselyte had voluntarily drawn the lot of a Recluse. They all three took their station on one side, directly opposite to where I stood, while the Superior, between two Sis- ters, bearing, with both hands, a pon- derous Image of the Virgin, approach- ed the altar; and, kneeling down before it, was imitated by all the Sisterhood, as they followed her, in pairs. 97 Thej remained for some minutes in this uneasy attitude, singing aloud, Virgo piissima ! Ora pro nobis ! Mater dolorissima ! Ora pro nobis ! SiC. &.C.* the Catholic Spectators on their knees responding with zealous vociferation, Domine exaudi nos !f THE LEGISLATURE OF CANADA. The Legislature of Canada holds its sittings in what was once the Bishop's Palace, a Building which has been long allowed to be applied to other uses, by the now humble Bishops of the See, who are content to reside in the Semi- nary, among their clergy ; and the old Chapel has been handsomely fitted up, by Government, for the accommodation of the Legislature. * Most pious Virgin ! Pray for us. Most painful Motheri Pray for us, t Lord, we beseech thee to hear us. Or, as it stands io our Protestant Liturgy, Good Lord, we beseech thee to hear us. m I walked into it one day, with per- mission from one of their Secretaries, who was writing in the Antichamber. The Speaker sits, as at St. Stephen's, in a high backed chair, at the upper end of the room, surmounted by his Majesty's arms. The Members sit upon benches, without desks. It will he re- collected that our Delegates in Con- gress occupy armed chairs, and every Member is provided with a desk. Which arrangement is best adapted to the va- rious purposes of discussion, and deli- beration, I shall not venture to opine; as it is, evidently, one of those ques- tions upon which much may be said on both sides. The Proceedings in this miniature Parliament, for so it is called, take place in both languages ; though I per- ceived by the names of the actual Mem- bers, which hung up in the lobby, that tl9 few of the Representatives are now French. The debates are said to be sometimes very animated ; but they are more fre- quently personal, than political; The Crown having a veto upon all their proceedings. After various changes, in the system of government, had been adopted and rejected, in the vain expectation of re- conciling the customs of France, with the laws and usages of England, in the year 1792, all the benefits of the British Constitution were extended to this part of the Empire; and the Province of Canada was divided into two separate Governments ; a Legislative Council, and Assembly, being allotted to each. But both of them were placed, together with the lower provinces of New-Bruns- wick, and Nova Scotia, under the con- trol of the same Governor General. 100 PEDESTRIAN EXCURSION TO THE F.UXS OF MOX^OIORENCY. My curiosity being now nearly satis- fied, at Quebec, I sat out, by myself, on a pedestrian excursion to the Falls of Montmorency, about eight miles north east of that City. On crossing the River St. Charles, I found myself in a muddy plain, or bot- tom, of black mould, mixed with sand ; through which I with difficulty picked my steps, for a mile or two; after which the rising ground became stony and rough. On the left I passed two or three large old French Mansion Houses, very long in Front, but shallow. They wore the appearance of desertion, and decay; but the Church of Beauport, on t'he right, with its two steeples, and a 101 comfortable college for Ihe Priests, looked in good repair, I envied them nothing however hut a small grove of trees, on a projecting knowl, through which they had laid out a gravel walk. It terminated at an oaken table, with seats for study, or reflection ; from which tranquil spot the Fathers could see Quebec, without any intervening ob- ject, but the majestic river, and the shipping in the harbour. About noon I reached the river Montmorency, which is crossed by a bridge, a little above the Fall. Having overlooked the foaming torrent from a grove of Firs (The French call them ele- gantly Pinettes) I crossed the bridge, and dined, or rather would have dined, at a small Inn, on the other side. But I found the brown bread was totally unpalatable to my pampered appetite, and nothing else, but eggs, were to be had. i2 102 A qiiiet nap however refreshed me — I forgot the want of dinner; and in the afternoon I went round the hill, on the lower side of the Falls. I saw them, on the way. to much better advantage than before ; pouring, in an unbroken sheet of foam, into the abyss below ; and, descend- ing to the beach, I approached the thun- dering cataract, near enough to be sprink- led with the spray ; and to satisfy myself that the height of this celebrated fall has been much over-rated. It does not in reality exceed, if it even equals the Gigan- tic Falls of Niaojara, in the smallest of their dimensions. I mean that of height. Heriot calls it two hundred and forty- six feet, which is about a hundred feet be- yond the truth; and yei he must have viewed it, with attention, as he gives a beautiful view of Montmorency. The bank over which it rolls, consists of a lime slate, iii horizontal strata, of 103 various thicknesses, connected together by occasional veins of fibrous gypsum. The rocks of Montmorency have re- ceived httle injury, or rather impression, from the course of the water; which does not appear to have receded many feet from what must have been its pristine situation, at the period of Noah's flood — perhaps lone: before : for I am one of those sieolo- gists who, with Professor Cuvier, of the French Institute, do not believe that the face of the earth was much, if at all, ma- terially, changed, at the time of the Deluge ; the waters of which might rise to the height mentioned in scripture, and withdraw their covering, Avithout leaving any more permanent marks of their irrup- tion, than the mud and slime which they would naturally deposite. It falls upon a flat rock, which bear? no marks below the present basin, of having ever been more worn by the 104 waters, than it is at present ; and the ad- joining banks are within a few hundred feet of the great river, to which they descend ahnost perpendicularly. These circumstances disprove the fond presumption, so lightly adopted by Schultz, and others, that the Ca- taract of Niagara; which now pours over a perpendicular wall of similar rocks (as no doubt it has done from the beginning, and will continue to do, to the end of time) has receded, from a distance of, I forget how many miles, below ; wearing away the solid rock, at the rate of so many inches in a year. This groundless hypothesis is accom- panied with sage calculations of how nearly this prodigious wear and tear can be kept within the limits of the Mosaic Chronology; and how much more time — looking forward with fearful expectations, will be suflicient to wear 105 through the remaining becl of the river, and let out the waters of Lake Erie, ta deluge the subjacent plains !* * The rocks of Montmorency afford ample confirmation of the comparatively recent date of the present state of things, according to the Mosaic Chronology ; as it is evident from the proximity, or rather juxta-position, of this Cataract to the River St. Lawrence, into which it falls almost perpen- dicularly, in connexion with the unworn surface of the flat rack, on which it falls, (every where but at the existing basin) that these waters could not have continued so to fall for any very long period of time, without having worn away the rocks over which they pour, in a much greater uegree, than they have yet done. I consider these Falls as affording palpable proof of Profes- sor Cuvier's opinion, in his Theory of the Earth, " That, by a careful examination of what has taken place, on the surface of the Globe, since it has been laid dry, for the last time, and its continents have assumed their present form, (for the learned Professor traces the formation of the rocks and mountains, through gradual, and successive, changes, both of composition, and position, at least in such parts as are somewhat elevated above the level of the ocean) it may be clearly seen, that this last Revolution, and consequently the establishment of our existing Societies (in other words, the creation of the Human race) cannot have been very re- mote. Accordingly, it is obvious to remark, that among the bones [of animals] found in a fossil state, those of the Human species have never yet been discovered." Several of those specimens, which had passed for remains of that kind, Cuvier examined, with attention, and that able Na- turalist declares, that not a single fragment, among themj had ever belonged to a Human skeioton 106 A truce to speculation — Let us return to acknowledged realities. By going round the mouth of the river, and ranging the flat rock, which forms its level bottom, I got within the influence of the spray ; and, turning from the sun, was gratified with the aerial splendours of a circular rainbow; which formed around me a perfect '^ring, or halo, of the prismatic colours. I now followed the course of the beach, down the shore of the St, Law- rence, as far as the little Church of Ange Gardien, (not less than three miles) and was by that time weary enough to have accepted a humble lodging, in one of the neighbouring cots: But I did not feel inclined to solicit admittance, while I could possibly command accommo- dation, at an Inn. I therefore stopped at a house to in- quire the road, where an old Woman, 107 and her Daughter, were weaving, in a large room, which apparently answered all their purposes, as there were several beds in it. — Whilst I was taking her di- rections, the Priest of the Parish came in, with that peculiar air of unconcern, approaching to apathy, which is so ob- servable among the Clergy in Canada. Upon the Priest's sitting down, the good Woman laid aside her shuttle, and brought in a mug of beer; which she set between us, with rustic civility — not offering it to either. — His reverence was not inquisitive, and 1 was not loquacious, under the fatigue of my journey ; so I soon rose, and took my leave. I have since regretted that I had not taken the opportunity of some professional infor- mation : but one has always something to regret ; and The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing. There was no tavern, he said, for two leagues j but there were good Houses Upon the road ; and they were accus- tomed to exercise hospitality. That is to say, in this Country, they would re- ceive Travellers, and take pay for their entertainment. — Hospitality implies, in Canada, nothing like the disinterested kindness of the Quakers in Pennsyl- vania, which has been lately sketched, with such glaring colours, in Gaits' Life of West ; nor yet does it indicate the liberal welcome of the Gentleman Farmer, of Maryland, or Virginia, to whom the company of an intelligent Stranger is such an acceptable treat, in those isolated situations, that he is re- commended from house to house, by way of conferring a favour; and he may live among the neighbouring Gentry, at free cost, as long as he chooses. I continued my progress, by cottages and hamlets, mills, and water-falls, till I came at last within ken of the expect- ed place of repose : but its wretched appearance so disheartened me, afte-r 109 walking fifteen miles, in expectation of a place of shelter, that I had, at last, a great mind to have begged a night's lodging in the neighbourhood. I actu- ally knocked at one door for that pur- pose ; but the People within answered as if they had retired to rest, (it was now between nine and ten o'clock) and I reconciled myself as well as I could to the brawling of Watermen, who were to put off as soon as the tide served, which would be some lime be- fore midnight, for Quebec. The Land- lady (one of the coarsest women I have ever seen) had some tolerable wine, as it happened, so I order^ a pint of it, and declined having any thing else for supper. I threw myself, in my clothes, upon the wretched bed that was made for me ; and next morning I turned out, as early as possible, after swallowing a couple of raw eggs, the only eatable I could stomach, in this squalid abode. K 110 The Peasants of Canada have got the disagreeable habit, so common in Europe, of never telling their price. Ce que vous voulez Monsieur (What jou please sir) is the universal answer, even at profess- ed Inns, in unfrequented places. But I must say they never asked me for more than I gave them, whatever it was ; and they always appeared to be perfectly sat- isfied. Yet there are no beggars in Canada, any more than in the United States. The Stranger is no where importuned for money, or disgusted by the shameless display of natural, or acquired deformity, with which European Roads and Cities universally abound. Whilst I was at Montreal, a street Bes^gar arrived from Europe : upon taking his stand in the Public square, he was soon noticed by the Pohce, and clapped up in a place of confine- ment, till he should learn to respect the customs of the Countrv, and betake himself Ill to some honest means of obtaining a live- Hhood. I was much annoyed, however, by the little whiffet dogs that run out upon Pas- sengers from every hovel, barking till they are out of sight. I often admired the patience of the PostllHons — but they are probably fond of it. Noise seems to be here the general passion. Church bells are perpetually ringing out, drums beat twice a day, in th« principal towns, ma- king: the streets resound with the tattoo, or the reveille ; and in the country whole dozens of little bells are constantly jingling upon the harness of every caleche. Before I turned about, I examined the ruins of the Franciscan Convent which had been burnt by General Wolfe to dis- lodge its Inhabitants, whose influence pre- vented supplies from being brought him by the neighbouring Peasantry, and the Chateau, as it was called, (I conjecture 112 irom its having been originally a Seign- orial Mansion House or Gentleman's seat) was never allowed to be repaired. The neighbouring Church called Cha- teau Richer, from this castellated mansion (whose walls are yet perfectly sound, though they have been so long disman- tled) was built in 1638; and it is now undergoing a thorough repair. The whole Island of Orleans may be seen from hence ; but its apearance is un- interesting, on so near a view ; from the monotonous style of the settlements, house after house, at equal distances, and so much alike, that you cannot distinguish one from another. The French Settlements do not extend above fifty miles below the Island, though they are sprinkled along, as far as the Harbour of Tadoussac, on one side, and the town of Kamouraska on the other; 113 from whence downward, in a space of" hundreds of miles, nothing is to be seen, on either hand, but mountains covered with brush wood, and rocks, grey with the moss of ages, over, or beside, which, innumerable streams, and rivers, seem to gush, or roll, in vain. In this gigantic River, the water is brackish, no farther than the lower end of the Island of Orleans; and the tide flows no farther than the lake of St. Pierre ; yet the white Porpoises are frequently seen to pitch in the basin of Quebec; and Whales occasionally as'- cend, as far as the river Saguenay.* * The impetuous torrent of the Saguenay, is a curiosity of the watery element, little, if at all, inferior to the thunder- ing Falls of Niagara. The banks are naked rocksjiviBhich vise from one hundred and seventy to three hundrcnb'and forty yards, above tlie stream ; whose current is at once broad, deep, and violent. In some places, falls of fifty or sixty feet cause it to rush onward with inconceivable rapid- ity. It is generally from two to three miles wide, to a dis tance of one or two hundred miles from its mouth, where it is suddenly contracted by projecting rocks to the width of k2 114 On my return toward Quebec, I pro- ceeded more leisurely than I had done, in coming down : and now Ibund time to ad- rUii^e the beautiful plants, or rather vines, which were occasionally to be seen, hansr- mg (Vom the lintel of an open window. — The windows in Canada, opening on hinges, from side to side, instead of being hung with weights, to rise, and fall, as with us. These vines, it seems, are called one mile only. At tlte place of its discharge, attempts have bees made to souiul its depth, with five hundi-ed faihoiu of iiiie, but witlumt effeoi. At two luiles u]>, the bottom is indicated at one hnndred and tliirty or forfy fathom«, and seventy miles frt^n the St. Lawrence it is stiU from titty to sixty fathoms deep. Its course is very sinnous, owing to innumerable project- ing points, contractinj; its width, from eitiirr siiore Yet the tide mns up it for $e\enty miles: and the ebl». on ac- vonntof these olxstnictions. is much later than it is in the §re Htv'cr ; in consequence of which at low water, in the fiftcHpRTtence. the force of the Saguenay is |>erreivablo for several miles, after its current has been ab^orbel^ ii the biMad bosom of the former ; which is hei-e twenty or thirty ntiles wide. Just wuhiii its mouth, is the harbour of Taiioussac, whicb h well sheltered, by surrounding heights, and furnishes aucborage for any number ef vessels., of the lai^eft si*e 115 fils tTamigner, or spiders threads, from the singular dehcacy of their tendrils. — They are suspended in small pots, which the earliest leaves soon cover, so as com- pletely to conceal the vessel which con- tains them. The plant then pushes forth its pendent strings of sprigs and flowers, green, red, and blue, the clusters of which seem to be growing in the air. — Frequently single pots of pinks, mari- golds, and other flowers, occupied the sills of the windows, in the meanest cot- tages ; and gave them, more than any thing within, an appearance of domestic enjoyment. As I walked along, the Men had gene- rally turned out to mend the roads, much rain having fallen latterly, and the surface being full of holes rooted up by the hogs. I asked one grey headed Man, how old he was. lie told me he was eighty-one. — •'Ah Monsieur,'' added he, " J'ai vn bien do 116 »• la mistre, au monde/'* I quitted him with the obvious remark, that such were generally those that lived the longest. In the yard of a large grist mill, through which the road passed, I sat down to rest my sell', among the work people, wlio were employed at their dif- ferent occupations, I soon perceived that one of them noticed me, particularly ; and I was just going to continue my journey, to avoid interroo^ation, when he asked me with more responsibility, than his appear- ance indicated ; if I would not walk into the house to rest myself. I assured him, I was very well, where I was. Then he would have me to come in, and take a cup of tea : for the French have learned to love tea, in America, though they have forgotten the receipt for soupe maigre. I civilly declined the ofl'er, wishing to reach ' A.h ' Sir. I have seen a great deal of misery, in my time. 117 Beaiiport, by dinner time, where I knew I might lay by, for the day, at a tolerable Jnn. I now jogged on, without any farther adventures, to the inhospitable Inn at Montmorency, where, however, the chil- dren now brought me plates of wild strawberries, for which I paid thom, to their hearts' content. These Canadian strawberries arc so very small, that I did not always lliiuk ilriecebsary lupull off die stems, but ate them sometimes, by hand- fuls, stems, and all. Here they had been picked clean, and were served up to me, like a delicacy, which they really are. Knowing this was no place to dine at, I went on, after a nap in my chair, and reached Bcauport, as the Family were sitting down to table. So I dined with them, as I could, upon salt fish, without eggs: for it was meagre day. The ]18 bread, however, was now eatable, for there is a baker in the village. Next morning, instead of returning to Quebec, I concluded to cross the Country to Charlebourg: dined there, after stopping at the Church, where I was glad to shelter myself from a driz- zling rain; and in the afternoon pro- ceeded to THE IXDI.iX yiLL.\GE OF LORETTO but was obliged to stop, by the way, under a friendly roof, while a smart shower refreshed the air. It cleared up before night, and I readily found the village, by the direction of the Steeple. The Canadian Loretto takes its name from a representation o( the Holy Houscy on its way, through the air, from Beth- 119 lehem, in Palestine, under the conduct of Angelic guardians ; which the Catho- lic founders of this Indian Church, whose zeal will, at the present day, be readily allowed to be more conspicuous, than their judgment, have placed over the altar. This, may I be permitted to observe, by the way, is little better than initiating the Hindoos, in the Christian faith, by explaining, or rather attempting to ex- plain, the mystery of Election and Re- probation, by an arbitrary election of Some, and rejection of Others : Whereas, the election of which the Scriptures speak (although in some parts, they are hard to be understood — and the Unlearned wrest them to their own destruction.) — The Election of Grace, is wiiversal, being in Christ, the Seed of Jacob, the Second- Adam — the quickening Spirit; and the rejection or reprobation, is of £"501/, a figure of the first-born, or natural Man — not in 120 Some ; but M. For it is a literal truth, that Flesh and Blood cantiot inherit the Kingdom of God. We must be born again. We must, actually,/??// on Christ ; or we shall never be saved by him : for he came to save his people /roni their sins — not in them. — Know ye riot., that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be Repro- bates ? " These are hard sayings," said the Jews, — " Who can bear them ?" Perhaps these Children of Nature had better have been left to *' the Great Spirit," whom their Fathers worshipped^ however ignorantly ; and their intuitive belief in, " the Land of Souls," than to have been thus impressed with one of the idlest impositions of ancient super- stition. The village consists, besides the Church, which appears now to be much neglected, of forty or fifty square houses, standing separate from each other, with 121 i»paccs between, which serve both for streets and jards, to the listless Inhabi- tants. Some young Men were lounging about. A girl, as lleet as a fawn, fro- licked round them, occasionally, and the children were at some noisy play. These simple People are of the Hu- ron Tribe, and they have long been ci- vilized, or rather naturalized, among the French in Canada. They have lost their native habits of contempt for la- bour, and fondness for war ; and now live, much in the Canadian manner, though they preserve the Indian dress, as less constraining to their limbs. They occupy about two hundred acres, I was told, of their own ; but depend, more willingly, upon the pre- carious chances of hunting and fishing; having recourse, when those fail them, to hiring themselves out, for bread? among the neighbouring Farmers, 122 Under such circumstances they are last forgetting the traditions of their An- cestors, which are no longer preserved by behs of wampum ; and renewed, by periodical revival, during the solemni- ties of a Council fire. — Even the song, and the dance, are now only taken up, at distant intervals, to the monotonous sound of Yo ! He ! Waw ! in perpetual repetition, to gratify the curiosity of European Visitors, with the ferocious attitudes, and frantic gestures, of tri- umphant massacre. The next day, being the Sabbath, I should have gone to Church, with the Indians ; but there was to be no service ; and I should have staid to dinner, with my host; but there was no meat in the house: so I concluded to go to the French Church, half a mile distant ; after visiting the Falls of St. Charles, called by the Natives Cabir Coubat, to express the abrupt turns which the 123 liver here makes, as it descends, with a shrill concussion, through narrow tun- nels which it has worn in the rocks, till it loses itself to the eye, amid overhang- ing pines. On the road to Church, the peasant- ry were collecting, in great numbers. They were decently, but coarsely clad, in jackets and trousers of grey coating ; and the youth were amusing themselves with harmless sports, till the bell rung for mass, for there was to be no ser- mon ; the Priests finding it easier to perform their accustomed rig-ma-role of the Mass ; than to task their inge- nuity with the composition of a dis- course, adapted to the uninformed si- tuation of their Parishioners; who are thus, literally, left to perish for hck of knowledge. We had what is called High Mass, that is to say, the ceremonies of the 12i Mass were accompanied with singing ; They are sometimes performed in ap- parent silence, the Priests alone utter- ing certain parts of the ritual, in a low voice, not designed to be heard hy the Congregation. And there was much smoaking of incense, and sprinkling of holi^ tvaicrj a practice so very puerile, that it is difficult for a Protestant to be- hold it, without a feeling of contempt for the operator. — But the rehearsal of a language, that has ceased to be spoken, ever since the decay of the Roman Empire ; and whicli therefore involves a period of at least fitleen hundred years, is a solemn com- mentary upon the lapse of ages. 1 consider this perpetuation of a dead language (however absurd it may ap- pear, in practice) as an unbroken link, in the chain of history : that attaches. with irresistible conviction, the J^'ew Tes- 125 lament Dispensation to that o( tke Old : and I reverence it, in the order of Pro- vidence, as I do the Jews ; that peculiar People — prepared of the Lord^ for the in- troduction, into the Worlds of his otdy be- gotten Son ; by whose Genealogies, and Prophetic annunciations, (however un- wittingly, on their part) we are assured of the birth of the Messiah; which was to be (I appeal to JMoses, and the Prophets) before the kingdom should de- part from Judah — before the Dailu Sacri- fice should be taken awai/ — and whilst it was yet possible, to trace the descent of the King of IsraeL from the House of David, and the Tribe of Judah. And if the true Believer cannot but contemn the mummery of superstition, engrafted by Priestcraft: upon Primitive simplicity ; it may yet excite his wonder, that the decayed Fabric of Christianity should have stood the shock of reibr- mation ; and been restored in the Prc- L 2 126 testant Professions to new life and vi- gour. The rocks which compose the chain of mountains, which forms an immense amphitheatre behind the village of Lo- retto, and terminates in the Promontory of Cape Tourment, consist, I am told, of a quartz of the colour of amber, sometimes white, with a black glimmer, and a few grains of brown spar. Not far from the point of the Cape, there is said to be a considerable Lake, upon the summit of the mountain. I was now nine miles north of the St. Lawrence, upon a commanding eleva- tion, from which there is an unbounded view of the great river, in its course to- ward the ocean; of the heights of Quebec, and its glittering roofs and spires, whose reflection is too poweiful for the eye, even at this distance; of the 127 Island of Orleans; of the Soutberw Coast ; and, far beyond all, of the long chain of Mountains, uhich separates Canada from the United States. — Nothing can be more sublime than this uninterrupted view of one of the greatest Rivers in the World, it being five miles wide, where it is unequally divided by the Island of Orleans, which is upwards of three hundred, from the sea. You trace the channel as far as Cape Tourment, a bluff nearly perpen- dicular, which rises to a height of two thousand feet, and is distinctly visible, in its majestic outline, at the distance of forty miles; abruptly terminating, to the eye, the dim seen mountains, that bound the horizon, at an unknown dis- tance, for at least as many leagues, allowing to the ravished eye, at one 128 protracted glance, a softened view ot' the tremendous precipices, Which pour a sweep of rivers from their sides j And, higli beiween contending Nations, rear The rocky, long, division. I now set out, in good spirits, for Quebec, refreshed myself at Charle- bourg, and reached town as the bells were tolling for seven o'clock- the hour at which the Churches are closed. Here I supped deliciously upon fresh Salmon, after the poor fare I had met with, in the country, and I listened, again, at nine o'clock, to the penetrating trum- pets, by which the hour of retirement is sounded every night. THE FIRST BISHOP OF QUEBEC was a Montmorency, of the noble House that has furnished so many Dukes and Marshalls of France, in the most bril- 129 liant periods of the French Manarchy^ I must have somewhere seen his epi- taph; though I cannot now recollect where: but the celebrated Falls we have just visited, were probably called after him; and, if so, he may be said to have a more splendid monument, than any of his illustrious Ancestors. How much more durable ! Since those were probably overturned in the fury of the Revolution, whilst the resplendent Cata- ract, faithful to its trusty will perpetuate the name of the good Bishop, to the end of the world. Quebec is subjected to frequent rains by the neighbouring mountains, which arrest the clouds in its vicinity ; and it has little to boast of, in summer, though the days are \eTj long, fram its high northern latitude, (46. 55.) The sun now rises about 4 o'clock, and sets about 8. — The winter is allowed to be the season of enjoyment here. — 130 A sufficient stock of meat and poultry is killed, when the cold sets in, which it usually does in November, continuing without intermission till April ; and sometimes encroaching upon May. The snow then usually lies upon the ground from four to six feet deep. The meat» as well as every thing else, that is ex- posed to the cold, instantly freezes; and it is thus kept, without further trou- ble, till it is wanted. As the snows fall, the Inhabitants turn out to keep the road open, that their intercourse with their neighbours may not be impeded. The air is constantly serene and healthful; the nights are illuminated with the Aurora borealis; and the time is spent in giving and re- turning visits, between town and coun- try. Dancing parties are frequently formed, by the young people, at one another's houses; and the gay scene is at its height, when the great river 131 freezes over, as it sometimes does, from side to side. The Island of Orleans is then accessible, and everj body turning out upon the " pont," as thej call it, on skates, or else in sleds and carrioles. The then gay land is maddened all to joy. Spring at length opens, suddenly; the ice breaks up, with tremendous crashes; and vegetation follows, with surprising rapidity, as soon as the surface of the ground is clear of snow. Such they say, is occasionally, the extremity of the cold, that wine freezes even in apartments heated by stoves, the pipes of which are conveyed through every room. Brandy exposed to the air will thicken to the consist- ence of oil; and the quick silver of thermometers condenses to the bulb, and may possibly congeal, for even Mercury freezes at 39 degrees below the beginning of Fahrenheit* 132 Heavy snows come in October. During- November they sometimes continue fall- ing, for weeks together; and when the cold at length purifies the atmosphere, the moon-ligrht nights are almost as brilliant as the day ; for the sun cannot rise very liisrh, between ei^ht in the morninsf, and four in the afternoon ; and the full moon, reflected by the snow and ice, is bright enough to admit of reading the smallest print. The roads which would have been ut- terly impassable had they not been kept beaten, as the snows fell, and marked across the undistinguishing waste by pine bushes, stuck in from space to space, now harden to the consistence of ice, under the runners of the Carrioles ; which seem to flit, in air, as they wliirl along the im- patient Passenger (mulfled up in furs, till nothing appears but the tip of liis nose) at the rate of fifteen or twenty miles an hour. 133 One ot' the amusements of winter Is to go a fishing upon the ice. For this purpose large openings are made, in cer- tain places, which the fish are kno^vn to frequent. The broken ice is piled up, arch wise, to shelter the fisheimen from the wind ; and the fish, coming hither for air, are easily caught, especially at night; when the Men use lights, and sometimes kindle fires ; which attract the fish to the circle, and produce a singular effect, at a distance, through the hollow masses of transparent ice, the angles of which glit- ter, on your approaching them, as if they were hung witli diamonds. Notwithstanding this extraordinary fri- 2:iditv% Canada lies in the same latitude with the smilins: Provinces of old France. The greater degree of cold upon the New Continent, must be attributed to the land stretching aAvay to the vicinity of the Pole, with little intervening sea; and expanding M 134 at the same time very far to the west. — The whole rano-e of winter winds, there- fore, from N. E. to N. W. passing over but little sea to divest them of their rigour, gather fresh cold, in traversing immense tracts of snow and ice. The Episcopal Cathedral, a handsome buildinor, erected at a great expense (1 be- hove of Royal munificence) upon the spot once occupied by the Convent and Clois- ters of the RecoUets, or Franciscan Friars, is now undergoing a reparation which marks ostensibly the peculiarities of the Climate. This Structure is of Grecian Architect- ure (lonick, if I remember right) fuiished with the broad entablature, and low pedi- ment, prescribed by the rules of that order: but its flat roof has been found incapable of supporting the weight of snow, which annually rests upon it ; and 13j to render the building tight and coml'orta- ble. it has been found necessary to sjK)il its elegant proportions, hj raising the roof, at least ten feet higher. The Steeple of this Church, though on a smaller scale, is evidently modelled fixjm that of Christ Church, Pliiladelphia, which is the handsomest strucim-e of the spire kind, that ever I saw, in any part of the World : uniting in the peculiar fea- tures of that sj>ecies of architecture, the most elegant variety of forms, with the most chaste simplicity of combination. It is allowed by all Foreigners to do great credit to the taste and talents of the Architect. [Robert Smilh.^ Quebec is much nearer to Boston, than it is to Halifax, or St. Joh/is. By the route of tlie Chaudiere, and the Kenne- beck, it is no more than three hundred and seventy miles to the capital of JS'ew 136 \i but ii b not les5 tksn iis. hun- dred and tvrcnty-seven to ikci of .^Wc Sfo/ia, by the road which iiths traced by General Hcldimaiid in the year 1783. to St. Johns in Ne\v BniD>wick. ihence cros^s- ing the Bay of Fundy u> Haliiax ; but it i> even now bardy practicable ; stretch- ing for the most part« across umnhabited dcsarts. By Craig's road, which was cut by the ccfnmand of Sir James, when Goreroor General, in 1809, toward the American ironiier ; but which remains still unfmish- ed^ it would be only two hundred mdes /o IhMnttS. a town on the Keimebeck. firom whence that river is narigable to the sea. It is but seventy nules ln>m the out settle- ments on the KennebecJk. to the French posts on die ririene du Loup, a hnnch of tke Chaudiere — ^the countrj between, moimtainous and nur^^. but intersected bT rivers and streams. 137 I now prepared for mr return, bj ^ - - - -^ > ;>« to take the caleche. the ^ rt diabe* thatlmigbi hare the better opportunitv of seeing the Coontrv. and obserrii^ tbe mawiefs of ibe People : though I had been almost discoaraged £tom tbe attoapc, by ap- prebeosioiis of impositioQ from the po^ masters and postillion^, whom I sop- posed to be no better than their Bre- thren in Europe : and the certaintjr. that this mode of (XMaverance would cost me at least twice as much, as a passage in the Steam Boat : the &re on board of which, up the river, is but iwrfre dol- lars, including erenr thing, ;^ten dollars down."^ Passengers are also pioxided for in the steerage^ on board of these boats^ at one-qoarter of tbe price. I left Quebec with a confirmed opi- nioiL that, akhoogh its citadel, reputed the strongest ibrtification in Amenca. 138 with its hundreds of heavy cannon, and its thousands ot well-disciplined troops, might possiblv, in future wars, between the two countries (which Heaven avert) fall a prey to American enterprise, and intrepidity ; yet the conquest would cost infinitely more than it could be worth ; and must be with difficulty maintained, against the re-action of the greatest Naval Power on earth, to whose ap- proaches by sea it must ever remain ac- cessible. I say not the same of Upper Canada, whose Population is, or will be, essen- tially American : and whose attachment to the Govenmient of Great Britain must inevitably yield to the habits, and opinions, of their Continental neigh- bours. In short, I may venture to pre- dict, with little apprehension of con- troversy, that by the next competition between England and America, if it be not very hastily brought on, Upper Ca- A\ Hada will be nearly Americanised. Montreal iiself will have become to all efficient purposes an American town ; the French population there, will gra- dually assimilate, or disappear; unless, indeed, French Canada should be con- solidated by National Independence; and the eventual boundary of Lower Canada w ill probably be the Sorel, on one side, and the St. Maurice, on the other ;* leaving to his Majesty of Great This b a lim of deanarcatioD, sot merelv superficial' bat which has been traced oat. for hundreds of miies. by navisiable waters: whose course, from North to Sonth, is marked by a perceptible variauoa of soil and climate. — There ii » dUerence of iix weeks, in the opening of S^Tinj, between Montreal (where the seasons do not differ maieri- ally. ijnom the meridian of Kingston > and the pet^i^^ing AVinter of Quebec. Ti;ere is at least half that difference between the Island of Monlreal. and the Eastern side of the Rivers above mentioned : and I shall ventare to sar it, (how- ever imaginary the fact may seeai) that an observant Tra- veller, ia ascending the St. Lawrence, can hcirdly fail to mark the variation, in the looks and manners of the Peo- ple ; as soon as he crosses this line, by the wide ferry, which appears to traverse the mouths of three rivers ; aa ulusion occasioned by two Islands that here divide the 5t >feimc?: into three vas the Curate of Maskinonge, return- ing from Montreal, where he had been with a neighbouring brother of the cloth (who was reading as we passed him, or appearing to read, without ever raising his eyes from his book) to pay his devoirs to the Bishop; who was about going on a visit to Quebec. We now entered a beautiful oak wood, extending for half a mile, on both sides of the way. Expressing my 182 admiration of this grateful shade, (this being the only wood through which the road passes between Quebec and Montreal; though an unbroken forest bounds the horizon, at no great dis- tance, the whole way ;) I was assured that " Tons les Generaux et les Messieurs, *' Anglois I'admiroient inliniment."* It belongs to a Seigneurie, of which we saw the manor house, called La Valterie, on quitting the road. We stopped hard by, at a decent Inn, about which a few isolated silver pines had been judiciously preserved; and, in the garden, were some of the finest roses I have ever seen. On alighting, I ran to treat myself, for a moment, with their dehghtful smell, and was politely invi- ted to help myself to as many of them as I chose to take : upon which I stuck * All the Generals, and the English Gentlemen, admirer! it prodigiously. ^ 183 one of them into my button hole ; and rode into Montreal, with this rural de- coration, as the Peasants here frequent- ly do, with flowers stuck in their hats. From this enchanting spot, (for it was on a gentle eminence, from whose airy brow an open green descended to the river ; which was now sparkling at its foot, with the cheerful play of morning sun beams ;) I was taken forward in a style of the same pastoral simplicity, by a delicate looking youth, whose manners, and appearance, resembled nothing more remotely, than the auda- city of a European Postillion. A stage or two before, I had been conducted by a boy of eleven years old ; who told me he had already driven three, and must therefore have begun to hold the reins, at the tender age of eight years. I could but congratulate myself on the child's having had soi^e 184 years oi practice, before lie took charge of me. Immediately on our arrival at the next stajre, he "vvas saluted by a Chum, in the most aiTectionate manner imaginable ; and the two Boys ^vent off together, arm in arm, like two Students at College, instead of Professors of the uhip. Now, hoMcver, taking boat at St. Sulpice, to cross over to the Island of Montreal, I fell into the hands of a surly Fellow, the only Post Boy on the whole route, w ho had ever been out of humour with his horse, or show ed the least signs of dissatisfaction with hhnsdf^ or any ihiuif about Jiim : though both liorsc ond chaise, at the Post Houses, bcloio Three JRivers, liad often looked as if a puft" of Avind might have blown them both away : and I often thought what a show the antiquated harness, and long eared vehicle, would have made for the finiifked Coachmakers of Philadelphia. 185 On this passage, an elegant Mansion House presents iiself at some distance, to tlic right ; and a new Tavern, in the neat, two story, low roofed, American style, is beheld, with pleasing anticipa- tions, by the returning Columbian. It is, I believe, or rather was, an ap- pendage of the new Bridges, which were constructed, over the different branches of the river, that here sepa- rate the adjacent Islands from the main land ; and which were intended, even- tually, to supersede this tedious ferry, by connecting Montreal, on the north side, with the adjoining shore. But the Projectors of this laudable undertaking had forgotten to consult their climate ; or to obtain security from the Great River, as the Indians expres- sively call it. Accordingly, after serv- ing the intended purpose, through the H 2 186 following winter, they were carried of!* bodily by the ice, when the roused up river* swept away every obstacle to his passage, in the spring. This idea of bridging the St. Law- rence, even where approaching Islands invite the attempt, is for the present totally abandoned. Yet I have no doubt that it will be tried again, and that with success; when adventurous New- Englanders shall have taken that as- cendency at Montreal, which the Scotch have hitherto enjoyed. The Ferrymen here vented their passions, as watermen seem to be every where, particularly apt to do, in ^-currilous provocatives. Every other word Avas Foutrc, or Diantre ; and every thing that thwarted their humour was bete ! and bougre ! and sacre matin ! ■ Thomsoo. 187 We met nothing on the road, after we reached the Island, but a solitary ca- leche or a market cart, or a foot passen- ger, at distant intervals, as ^ve drove forward, five or six miles, by a country Church, and a Tavern. It was the sign of the Three Kings, which is here a favourite emblem, as well as in Germa- ny ; though the Eastern Sages are here ir>o ludicrously transmografied, that I did not at first recognise the allusion. MONTREAL. As we entered the town, it had become very hot. I was disappointed in the comforts of the French Hotel, to which I had been directed — Did not think it worth while to change even for the Mansion House, late the residence of Sir John Johnson — Tired myself almost off my legs with perambulating the streets, and lanes — Suffered excessively with the heat, (to my conviction that it might oc- 188 casionally be hot In Canada) kwd would have set out, immediately for New-York, if I should not have been too early for the next steam boat. The thermometer was now, on the 19th day of July, at ninety-six degrees of Fahrenheit ; Reaumur was quoted, at an ale house, where I stopped for refresh- ment, at twenly-eight and three-quarters, which answers to ninety-seven of Fahren- heit, a degree of heat at which spermaiseti melts, and, at the next elevation of the scale, ether boils. In the evening, however, I cooled my- self delightfully in a floating bath, that is moored off Windmill Point; and the next morning my spirits were restored, by writing home, and making the necessary preparation for my approaching depar- ture, which was to be the next day : the weather having in the mean time become very cool and pleasant, after refreshing 189 showers ; a change which I had predict- ed at the table d hote, from the very ex- tremity of the heat, agreeable to the well known remark with us, that extreme weather seldom lasts longfer than three days. But I did not find that the opinion gained confidence. It appeared to have heretofore escaped observation; nor did any one notice the fulfilment of the pre- diction, but myself, when it took place ; as I it usually happens with voluntary prog- I nostications. I I But a French Confectioner, at whose^ I house I called, occasionally, had known , the thermometer at Pondicherry as high as a hundred and two. He was a man of observation, and remarking my full j habit, he recommended me to drink I Lisbon Wine, rather than Madeira, be- I cause Lisbon will bear the sea, whereas Madeira will not, without a powerful ad- mixture of brandy. This it seems is usually infused, immediately after the fermenta* 190 lion takes place, and before it is refined Avith isinglass. But the operation is often performed in England. Whence the term, London particular Madeira; as it will bear the short voyage to that cold climate ; but, if sent pure to the neigh- bouring hot countries, it would infallibly turn sour. It is regularly brandied, it seems, more or less, according to the cli- mate it is to go to. He drank himself nothing but Port, Claret, and the Spanish Wines, which will all bear the sea, without the perni- cious intermixture of Cogniac. It is thus, says he, a Frenchman will live in a hot climate to a hundred years ; vv^hilst Eng- lishmen, who persist in drinking Madeira, between the tropics, die accordingly at sixty.* * This Adventurer bad been in the campaigns of Moreau, upon the Rhine. From thence to the East Indies. Thence to the United States ; where he had married ;. and was now lately transfeiTed to Montreal, for the benefits of Cathglic 191 I now gave myself time to visit the Religious Institutions of Montreal, which are no less numerous and extensive than those of Quebec ; though they are far less interesting to a Southern Visitor; having mostly lost that venerable appear- ance of antiquity, which characterizes those of the capital. I say mostly, be- cause there is one antiquated exception, which I shall proceed to designate, while its chilling effect is still fresh in my re- collection. It is THE CHURCH AND :M0NASTERY OF THE RECOLLETS in the outskirts of Montreal. Nothing presents itself to the street but the dingy facade of the Chapel, and the outer walls communion. His name was Girard, spelt exactly as it is by his Countryman, that eminent Merchant, who has rais- ed, in Philadelphia, a fortune of I know not how many millions ; and is now sole Proprietor of one of our priucipaj Banks \ and Owner of half a dozen Indiamen. 192 of the Cloisters; which are still overshad- owed by coeval elms; though the pre- cincts have been given up to the use of the Troops in garrison, ever since the decease of the last surviving Incumbent. Only the Chapel, and the school rooms on one side of it, have been reserved for religious purposes. The great door is accordingly no longer opened ; but I obtained admis- sion at the wicket, by the favour of a Lay Brother; who had been sent for from the country, to retain possession of the premi- ses, upon the demise of the last of the Friars. Hr, poor soul, is content to wear, alone, the cowl of the order, to gird liimself with a rope, and walk bare- foot, in solitary singularity. The good Monk, informed me, with a face of un- conscious simplicity, that he was labour- ing to restore the Church. (11 travailloit a la restaurer.^ He did not, however, ac- company me in ; and I found that his resto- rations consisted in some tinsel lamps, which he had hung up before the altar; 193 but — iheir iighis were gone out. I found the walls dark with age, and dreary witli neo;lect, and desertion. This chapel is very lol'ty, in propor- tion to its other dimensions, which are not great. The windows are at a height of twenty feet from the floor; and the dingy intervals were hung, neither with crucifixes, nor Madonnas, but with ecstasies of St. Francis, and prostrations of Petrus RecoUectus. Pursuing my walk into the country, more sensible than ever of the cheer- fulness of open air, and day light, 1 soon came across the General Burying Ground, which is by a late law of the British Government, without the town; none but the Priests being now allowed to be buried in the cities of Canada, the health of which was supposed to have been endangered by the multi- tudes of bodies, which were formerly R 194 crowded together, in confined places, insufficiently covered over. Here was a Chapel, and a Corpse House, the one was recommended to the particular care of St. Anthony, by an inscription over head, (St. Anthoine priez pour nous*) and the other had upon its folding doors the memento mori^ which makes so little impression upon callous Survivors, " Aujourdhui pour moi, demain pour vous."t A mile further on, I marked the castel- lated mansion of the Seigneurie, which be- longs to the Seminary of this place. It has all the peculiarities of an old French Chateau. There arc round towers on each side of the gate way ; which are said to have been fortified ' in the ancient In- * St. Anthony, pray for us. t To-day for me, to-morrow for you ; or, in other word*; so often repeated upon moralizing tombstones, As I am now, so you must be. Prepare for death, aud follow me. 195 dian wars, and loop holes are still dis- eernible in them, at a secure elevation.-*- For there was an Indian village at this place, when the French arrived, in 1640, the displacing of which was an early cause of sanguinary conflicts. Directly back of this curious specimea of the specious inconveniencies of anti- quated abodes is the isolated Mountain, which rises abrupUy in the plain of Mont- real. Its summit is still covered with thick woods : but the descent upon the other side is highlj? cultivated, and beau- tifully picturesque, being thickly strewed with villages and spires, interspersed Avith wood and water. At a considerable height on this moun- tain may be seen, from the streets of Montreal, a large house, with wings, of hewn stone; and a monumental Pillar appears, in the woods behind it. The House was built, it seems, some years 196 ago, by the oldest Partner in the Firm of Mc. Tavish k Mc. Gillivrav, (a Scotch House,) long the principal Proprietors of the North West Trading Company. — Mc. Tavish died, whilst the House was building, and his Nephews, the Mc Gilli- vrays, dechning to finish the House, erect- ed this Monument to his memory. There is nothing remarkable in the inscription ; but the column itself is a striking memento of the uncertainties of life. The Heirs of the Estate prefer spend- ing it in the City, and have built them- selves fine houses in the eastern Suburbs ; where they are said to keep hospitable tables, especially for their Countrymen from Scotland, of whom such numbers have resorted hither, ever since the Con- quest, that Montreal, originally French, was in danjjer of becomins: a Scotch Colo- ny, before it began to be over-run by the still more hardy, and more adventurotis Sons of New England. /I 197 NORTH WESTERN TRADE. From the village of La Chine, which is situated at the upper end of the Isl- and, Merchandise intended for Upper Canada, together with military Stores, and presents for the Indians, are em- barked, in flat-bottomed boats, to pro- ceed up the St, Lawrence : but the Fur Trade is carried on, by the North West Company, through the Ottawa, or Grand River, by means of birch ca- noes. These are made so light that they may be easily carried up the banks of rapids, or across necks of land. Of these carrying places, there are reckon- ed no less than six and thirty, between Montreal and the New Settlement on Lake Superior, called Kamanastigua. Accordingly, the wares to be sent out are put up in snug packages; and the return of Furs comes back in solid R 2 198 packs, which the Voyageurs carry on their backs at the dilTerent portages.* About a thousand persons are sup- posed to be employed in this occupa- tion, who, spending most of their time at a distance from home, contract bar bits of idleness in the midst of hard- ships; and become so attached to a wandering and useless life, that they rarely establish themselves in society. The fare of these poor fellows is of the meanest quality, being mostly no- * The canoes employed in this trade, are about thirty ieet long, and six wide. They are sharp at each end ; the frame is composed of slender ribs, of some light wood, which are covered with narrow strips of the bark of the birch tree, about half a quarter of an inch in tiiickness. These are sewed or stitched together, with tlireads made of the fibres flf certain roots, well twisted together. And the joints are made water tight by a species of gum, that adheres firmly, »nd becomes perfectly hard, when dry. No iron work is used in them, of any description, not even nails. When complete, these fragile baiks weigh uo mere thau five hun- dred pountfe. /§' 199 filing better than bear's grease and In- qian meal, which is made up into a sort of broth, requiring httle cookery ; and they beguile the tediousness of their progress with songs to the Virgin, the solemn strains of which, in the dark- ness of night, when different parties of these poor Pilgrims overhear each other^ have a very impressive effect, amid Jthese desert wilds. When I have occa- rsionally heard them, myself, they re- minded me of Christian overhearing Faithful, when they were passing, un- known to each other, through the valley of the shadow of death. The distance from Montreal to the upper end of Lake Huron, is nine hun- dred miles, and the journey usually consumes three weeks. A number of the Men remain all winter in those remote, and comfortless regions, employed in hunting, and pack- 200 ing up skins. That of the Beaver, is, it seems, among Indians, the medium of barter. According to usage imme- morial, ten Beaver skins are given for a gun ; one, for a pound of powder, and one, for two pounds of glass beads. The River Michipicoton, one of the thirty or forty streams, which supply Lake Superior with its chrystaline wa- ters, interlocks the territories of Hud- son's Bay ; and it has been the scene of frequent disputes about property, and jurisdiction, between the Subjects of the same Prince (carrying on the same traffick, in that remote corner of the Globe) under the authority of dif- ferent patents from the Crown. The Hudson's Bay Company, it seems, are compensated for the hardships of their frozen Colony, by its superior readiness of access ; which enables them to un- dersell the tardy J^oyageurs o{' ihe North West Company; who are obliged to 201 make their way up the Rivers, antl across the Lakes of Canada. THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CANADA is chiefly confined to the different Ports of London and Glasgow, for the various Articles of British Manufacture; and to the West Indies, for the productions of the tropics ; a solitary ship or two being now and then dispatched for the Brandies, Oils, and Wines of the South of Europe ; for which they return Lum- ber, Furs, Wheat, and Flour, Beef and Pork, Pot and Pearl Ash ; some Horses and Cattle, Hemp and- Flaxseed, Gin- seng, and Castor Oil, &c. Ship build- ing is also carried on at Quebec, to a considerable extent ; but the Balance of trade would be much against Cana- da, if it were not for the sums annually expended by Government, upon fortifi- cations, and the payment of the Troops. 202 In the year 1795, at which time wheat and flour comtnaHded unusual prices in Europe, no fewer than one hundred and twenty-eight vessels arrived in the St. Lawrence, from Foreign parts, amount- ing to nineteen thousand tons, and na- vigated by upwards of a thousand men. A still larger exportation of grain (much of it, by the way^ received from the neighbouring States) took place in 1799, and the three following years. The quantity of flour shipped in 1802, was thirty-eight tliousand barrels ; and the wheat is said to have exceeded a million of bushels. EXPENSES OF GOVERNIMENT. The Colonial Revenues that year, amounted to thirty-one thousand pounds, and the expenditures of Government exceeded forty-three thousand; so little profitable is the Sovereignty of Canada to the Kingdom of Great Britain. 203 So much for Civil Government. The Military Peace Establishment, about five thousand men, can hardly be sup- ported at a less expense than two or three hundred thousands sterling. Ex- traordinaries, such as erecting new For- tifications, the repair of old ones, al- lowances for waste and peculation, with other incidental expenses, may be one or two more hundreds of thousands.. But, in time of war, when the latter items are always increased beyond all calcu- lation, or credibility, (witness our own experience^ during the late war) the sums laid out upon Canada must amount to .at least as many millions. To say no- thing of the naval armaments which protect, and the transports which con- vey, fresh Troops, across the Atlantic. Itis to these circumstances, mainly, that Canada owes her apparent prosperity. She fattens on the wealth of Britain j and the most refined policy would dic- tate to the United States to leave the 204 unprofitable possession to burn a hole in the pockets of its Possessor. As for Upper Canada, it is in fact, an American Settlement — the surplus population of the State of New-York; and it will, sooner or later, fall into our hands, by the operation of natural causes, silent but sure; or if w.e should become too wise to extend our unlimited territory, a powerful Colony of Ameri- can blood, must in time, become an in- dependent Nation ; and will naturally be to us an amicable Neighbour. Hitherto the ships employed in Fo-i reign Commerce, have persisted in as- cending the great River to Montreal ; in spite of the currents, rapids, rocks, and shoals, which opposed their course, and rendered it as difficult and danger- ous as the open sea. In some instances, when the winds, likewise, have been unfavourable, they are said to have been as long getting up this part of the 205 river, as they had been in crossing the Atlantic ; I have myself seen a fleet of sixteen sail, stemming the current, in sight of Montreal, for hours together, without advancing a furlong. But the invention of Steam Boats is likely to produce a total change in the system of Trade. There are already three of these Boats running, whose principal object is freight ; and a fourth has just been finished, of the burthen of seven hundred tons. These Boats will, it is supposed, eventually, super- sede the necessity of sea vessels as- cending higher than Quebec ; where they will probably, in future, unload their cargoes, and take in the returns. One vessel, however, may perhaps be allowed to keep the run, as long as she lasts. She was built on purpose, for this difficult navigation, and draws but twelve feet water, though of five hun- dred tons burthen, having made the 206 tedious voyage, successively, for one and twenty years. Sabbath day now occurring, for the third time since I entered Canada, and probably the last, I took the opportu- nity which I had before sought, without success, to attend morning prayers at THE CHAPEL OF THE DAMES NOIRS a charitable Institution, which was founded by the piety of a Duchess of Bouillon,, in 1644. I now found the Sisterhood sitting, or rather kneeling, in a long oratory, ranging on the left, with the Church of the Hospital ; and, through an open window, they could be seen as I approached it, in long pros- tration, before the altar. The Church was crowded with a motley Congregation of the meanest looking people that can well be imagin- 20t ed, (I speak not of dress, for they were decently clad, but of person, and countenance.) Being naturally a phy- siognomist, I could not help remark- ing the various kinds and degrees of weakness and simplicity, which were strongly marked upon their features. There was not one face among the hundred, that w^as lighted up with any indications of refinement, sensibility, or reflection. The Priest himself was little better than his flock; and I could not forbear the ready comparison of the Blind leading the Blind ; though, I dare to say, they were, every one of them, Much too wise to walk into a well* I looked over one of their books, and found that they were reciting what is called the office of the Virgin; among the innumerable clauses of which, I was ^ Pope.' 208 soon disgusted with that sacrilegious one of Dei genitrlx intercede pro Nobis :* as if we were not expressly told, in the Scriptures of Truth — the written word, that Christ himself stands at the right hand of the Father^ making intercession for the sins of the world ; and that there is no other name given under heaven^ by which ive can be saved,, but the name of Jesus Christ of JVazareth, The changes were rung, however, at the same time, upon Dominus— Domine — Domino ;t and before the audience were dismiss- ed, we had the Dominus Vobiscum from the Priest; with the response from the * Mother of God ! Pray for us ! t The name of the Lord 209 People, (whether they understood it or not) Et cum spirito tuo* which was followed by Oremus. In Scecula Soeculorum — • Anien.t The perpetual repetitions of the Catholic ritual, have certainly a stupi- fying influence upon the human mind ; inasmuch as they occupy the place of reflection, if they do not even exclude it: yet I have no doubt but that many good People have found their way to Heaven through this By-path, in the long course of seventeen hundred years, from the early corruption of Christianity; and I copied with plea- sure, from the walls of this benighted " And with thy Spirit. t Let us pray — for ever and ever. Amen. s 2 210 cell, the following modest and edifying inscription : venerable Demoiselle, Jeanne Lebel, bienfaitrice de cette Maison; qui, ayant ete Recluse quinze ans, dans la maison de ses pieux Parens. en a passe vingt, dans la retraite qu' elle a faite ici Elle est decedee le 3 d 'octobre 1714 agee de cinquante deux ans.* * Here lies that venerable Lady, Jeanne Lebel, a })enefac(ress of this House ; who having been a Recluse, fifteen years. in the House of her pious Parents, passed twenty, in the retirement of this place She deceased the 3d of October, 1714, aged fifty-two year.?. 211 I remember nothing else particularly in this Chapel ; but that the great win- dow, opening into the Nuns' oratory, was glazed, instead of being grated, and no curtain drawn; so that the Sisters could be seen, by the Audience, at their own altar. There was a picture of some Catholic Missionary among the Heathen, St. Francis Xavier, or some other legen- dary pretender to apostolic zeal, holding up a crucifix, by way of preaching the CROSS — not surely that which was to the Jews a stunihling block, and to the wise Greeks foolishness : for that was declared to be nothing less than the povjer of God, and the wisdom of God, in all them that believCi and obey, the Gospel. THE GREY NUNS. From this place I went to the Grey Sisters, or General Hospital, which is a little way out of the town. This Chapel 212 is richly ornamented by the piety of the fair Devotees ; and it has this interesting peculiarity, that the arched entrances of the cross aisles are unincumbered, either by grates, or doors ; and the corresponding windows, run down to the floor; so that you see, through them, the burying ground, on one side ; and a flower garden on the other, in which pinks and poppies, with yellow lilies, and other showy flow- ers, unite, very happily, with the golden hues of the altar, the crucifix of which is of ivory, in producing a rich glow of solemn colouring ; reminding the Travel- ler of the vivid reflection, from painted windows, in the Gothic edifices of the north of Europe. These Sisters have the care of the Lu- natic, as well as the Maimed, and the Infirm. A heavy task it seemed to me : but they appeared to show me every thing with pleasure; partly at least, we may 213 suppose, (without discrediting any senti- ment that excites to love and good works) arising from self-approbation. I dechned entering the Lunatic ward, the sad ob- jects of wliich are, I think, every where^ too freely exposed to Public view ; and would gladly have omitted that of the I aged and infirm ; but I could not so readi- ; ly get clear of my Conductress, to whom j I had given something for the Orphan ! Children (Enfants trouves) who are le- I ceived here, without inquiry, or objection. \ I asked the Sister who had the super- I intendence of this department, (a chatty old woman, who seemed determined to ' hold me a while in conversation,) whether j her Patients ever lived to a great age. — \ She said, not often; but that one had died, lately, aged ninety-eight, and anoth- er, some years ago, at a hundred and ten. I asked if they were natives of Canada. " Non Monsieur c'etoient des 214 " Francois. Les vieux Francois ont de •' bons estomacs."* Thus I found the ancient prejudice that old countrymen bom, live longer than the native Americans, prevails here, as well as with us. Because for many years it was observed that there were more instances of old people who were born elsewhere, than of such as were born in America. Althouo^h it is obvious, that as the first-Comers were not bom here; but came over from the European Continent, most of them at mature age, there could not at firsts in the nature of things, be so many natives, dying of old age, as there would be of old country born: Yet with us, in Pennsylvania, be it re- membered, that the first child born of English Parents lived to be eiglity-five. Several of our natives' born, have since * No sir, they were Frencbruen. The old French have excellent coastitutions. 215 turned a hundred. These, it has been observed, have been chieflj women. — But one is now Hving, at the town of Beaver, on the Ohio, who was born in New Jersey in 1686, within a very few years of the first settlement of the Pro- vince. Well, therefore, might our Pa- triarch Franklin say, when, during his long Agency at London, he was pressed to tell w^hether People lived as long ip America as they do in England, " I do not ** know — for the first Settlers are not all -*' dead yet." The most frequent instances of longevi- ty may now be observed to occur in the most old settled parts, such as Virginia, and the New England States; and for this plain reason, that it is there that there were most children, to take a chance for it, a century ago. The comparative numbers of old people, in any country, is not to be made upon the population of 21G those countries, when they died; but when they were born. It is well known that whilst most of the towns in the Old World have increased but little, within the period of a long life, the oldest towns in America have doubled, and quadrupled some of them ten or twenty fold. It appears by the London Bills of mor- tality for thirty years^ viz. from 1728 to 1758, that out of seven hundred and fifty thousand deaths, which took place in that city, there were two hundred and forty- two persons who had survived their hun- dredth year. This is something over one for every three thousand, which was more than half of the whole number of Inhabi- tants in Philadelphia, a hundred years ago. If therefore, the Philadelphia Bills now show two centenarians in a year, (which they invariably do) it is sufficient to place us on a similar scale with the City of London. And if that proportion 217 is greatly exceeded in Russia according* to the annual Bills for that extensive Em- pire. Let it be remembered that large deductions may be safely made from the accounts furnished by the illiterate popes and papas of a Nation, the interior of which is yet but half civilized ; and which, a hundred and fifty years ago, was little likely to be very correct about births, and dates. Let us hear no more, therefore, of the groundless presumption, that people live longer in Europe than they do in America. — It is not the fault of our climate, nor our soil, if we do not live as long here as in any part of the world ; though the general participation of the luxuries^ as well as of the necessa- ries of life, may oftener prevent, with us, the natural termof existence, among j that class of people — the hard working Poor, which most frequently, in all countries, arrives at the utmost period •of human life. 218 THE CATHEDRAL OF MONTREAL. I NOW went to the Cathedral, which has been lately new fitted up, gilded and painted, in the most glittering style imaginable. This building is neither so long, nor so high, as the Cathedral of Quebec, and it makes a very plain appearance, out- side, standing as it does, in the middle of the principal avenue, which leads round it, on the north side, across a Public square. But no expense has been spared, upon the interior, nor has any idea of Christian simplicity been suffered to check the exuberance of fancy, in the decorations of the choir. I found the tribune of this Church particularly offensive to my orthodoxy, as the great Crucifix does not occupy its proper station (Can it be possible it should have been removed to a 219 side aisle, where it now stands ?) in the centre of the Tribune, the appropriate situation, which it invariably retains, in our Philadelphia Chapels (which, by the way, are a good deal new-modelled by the benefit of surrounding observa- tion and example) to make room for a Statue of the Virgin — not as usual, with the Child in her arms, which could alone countenance the impropriety : but in the elegant contours of a Grecian female (It might pass as well for a Juno or a Ceres) standing in a niche above the altar; whilst Corinthian columns, fluted in green and gold, and surmounted with curved scrolls of the same glitter- ing materials, support over her head a crown, richly gilt. Is not this worshipping the creature^ more than the Creator ? — Yet, we are told, that the Lord, our God, is a jealous God; who will not give his glory to another, nor his praise to graven, images. 220 Alas! that the Professors of the first Christian Church — instead of, leaving those things that were behind, and, going on unto perfection, should fall short of the ancient Jews, under the shadowy Dis- pensation of the Law. They were for- bidden to make unto themselves the likeness of any thing in heaven, or upon earth — to worship it. There was accordingly (we are told by St. Paul — a Hebrew pro- selyte, of the tribe of Benjamin) nothing contained in the Ark of the Covenant (beside the Tables of the Law) — save a pot of manna, and Aaron^s rod, that budded, in the presence of Pharaoh; which things were preserved for a memorial, to succeeding Generations, of the won- ders which the Lord had wrought, in Egypt, for the deliverance of his chosen People. And, to this day, the Jews have nothing in their tabernacles, but a Copy of the Law; which is produced, before the People, every Sabbath-Day j not to be worshipped ; but merely to be commemorated, and obeyed- 221 This Cathedral is dedicated to JS'otrc Dame, rather than to God Almighty, and the perpetual recurrence of jivc Marias all over the building, shows in- deed too plainly that this is a Temple dedicated, in the first place to the Virgin Mary — in the second to Jesus Christ.* * It is truly and excellently spoken of Seneca, says Lactantius : " Consider the majesty, the goodness, and « the adorable mercies of the Almighty : His pleasure " lies not in the magnificence of temples made with " stone ; but in the piety and devotion of consecrated •' hearts." And in the book that this same Heathen Philosopher wrote against superstitions ; treating of those who worship- ped images, St. Austin obsei*ves, he writes thus : <' They " represent the holy, the immortal, and the invisible Gods, '• with the basest materials, and without life or motion, in " the forms of Men." " AH these things," continues the ancient Sage, "a wise man will observe, for the law's *' sake, more than for that of the gods ; and all this rabble " of Deities, which the superstition of many ages has " gathered together, we are in such manner to adore," says Seneca, (darkly, as one who could yet only see men as trees) " as to consider their worship to be rather matter o£ " custom, than of conscience. ' — How much farther did this enlightened Heathen penetrate into the nature of spi- ritual worship than those who venerate images .' or at least T 2 222 Even St. Peter, with his keys, has been here obliged to give way to the exclusive pretensions of the Virgin — None but Saints of their own making have been able to stand the too powerful competition here. (They worship the work of their own hands — that which their own fingers have made.) In the side chapels, opposite to the altars of the favourite Divinity, the curious Stran- ger may find a St. Francis, or sl St. Jn- Ihony, in garments of sack-cloth — gaunt make use of such representations, in Christian Churches, «i5 the means of heightening religious fervour ! But Christians have no occasion for Heathen authorities against outicard Temples, and symbolic worship. " For the •' Lord God," said David, " dvvelleth not in Temples, made •' with hands" — Not surely then in a consecrated Host, at the command of a siJiful Priest — (o bring forth, as a God ; or to put away, as a thing of nought. *' What hoase will ye build •' me, saith the Lord ? or, where is the place of my rest?'* Yet this was the same munificent Potentate, that prepared, before his death, for tlie House, that was to be built in Jerusalem, for the God of Heaven, a hu7ulred thousand talents of gold; and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and t^ brass and iron, xcithoxd weight; or nv.w.ber^ 223 and ghastly; who have been permitted to pay their obeisance to the incarna- tion ; but every close, and every open compartment, throughout the aisles and galleries, of this — I will not call it, Christian^ Temple, exhibits the name (must I say, of the idol of its adora- tion ?) in the following device of devout ingenuity ; in which, in a single cipher, are interwoven the letters M, A, for the name oi Maria, and V, for the attribute of Virginity. m Apropo of KEYS — I do not myself regret the absence of the Prince of the Apostles, as they call him at Rome. — I think St. Peter has kept the keys of Heavens Wicket* lon^ enough, since \J 'V Milion. ±24 they were first given, not to him, as a Man — subject, as the history abundant- ly testifies, to like pamons Avith his Fellow Creatures : but to the Revelation which he had received, in common with other Believers. And his Successor, like the dog in the manger, will neither enter in himself, nor suffer them that would. But Pius VII with all his briefs, and his bulls, (even if they should again be seconded by the thunder of the Vatican) cannot prevent the candle, which has been lighted by the Bible Societies, from being put upon the candlestick — no more to be hid, under a bed, or under a bushel. — The Scriptures of Truth, will at length, be circulated, throughout the habitable globe ; and there will be, if I may be allowed the comparison, a se- cond preaching of the Gospel — among all JVations. 223 £n this dark Cathedral (\ speak of spiritual darkness, for this Church is as brilliant as a ball-room) the trade of auri- cular confession is more extensively car- ried on, than in any Gothic edifice . I ever was in ; and I have been in many of them, in my time, in the most bigoted countries in Europe. I suppose there are not less than twenty Confessionals around the walls, at which Penitents are occasionally seen ringing the bells, to call their favourite Confessors to the seat of judgment ; and Priests, in their white vestments, are to be seen pacing the aisles, to answer these incessant requisitions, every hour in the day. This magnificent Edifice was now crowded to overflowing — not with the Populace merely, many of whom, hav- ing no seats in the Church, stood bare headed about the door, or kneeled upon the steps, it being impossible for them all to get in. But the Choir was lined 22 B with Priests and Chanters, in white — the Black Nuns were there — and the Grey Nuns were there, (though they have all Churches of their own to go to)-;— N^y, I found iny old Monk assist- ed nere, instead of attending to his re- storations at the Recollets, making a gro- tesque appearance; amidst glittering gew gaws, in his coarse gown and hood — which was thrown back, to discover his shaven crown. — In short, it seemed as if the Hierarchy had mustered all its forces. Black, ivhite, and grey, with all their trumpery ; Cowls, hoods, and habits. There was, however, a Sermon, to coun- tenance this universal assemblage, which was declared by an old Woman, that sat next me, (between one pinch of snuff' and another) to be ^ tin beau Sermon .' But I shall not give myself the trouble to re- port any part of it ; for next morning, 227 seeing a Catholic Catechism, in a Book- seller's window, I asked to look at it ; and returned it, with evident indigna- tion, as soon as I came to the following passage, which is w orthy of the intole- rant spirit of the darkest ages : Demande. Ya t'-il plusieurs Eg- lises Catholiques ? Reponse. Non. II n'y a de catho- liques que la seule Eglise Romaine. Hors de laquelle il n y a point de sa- lut.* Demande. Que faut il done 'penser de ces autres Societts qui se nomment Eglises, et ne professent pas la meme fo que nous ? ou ne sont pas soumises aux mcmes pasteurs?t * Question. Are there several Catholic Churches ? Answer. No. There is no Catholic Church, but that of Rome — Out of which there is no salvation. t Question. What must we then believe of those other Societies which call themselves Churches, and do not pro- fess the same faith with us .' or are not subjected to the • am e Pastors.' 228 Reponse. Elles sont des institutions buraaines, qui ne servent qu' a egarer les hommes, et ne sauroient les con- duire a Dieu.* But let me not involve myself in dark- ness till I become myself uncbaritably blind. — Adjoining to this Cathedral is the extensive Edifice called the Semi- nary, which Avas here instituted in the year 1657, by the Abbe Quetus, and a deputation of Teachers from the cele- brated Brotherhood of St. Sulpice, at Paris. The present Superiors of this noble Institution, with other Clergymen, par- ticularly of the dignified class, are said to be men of great learning, and exem- plary piety ; who confine themselves, with the most self-denying strictness, to * Answer. They are human Institutions, which sen-e to lead Men astray, and can in no wise direct them to God. 229 the exercise of their religious duties ; and lead irreproachable lives : depriv- ed as they are by their stations, of the inestimable comforts of female society. This Seminary of learning is chiefly designed for the education of the Priest- hood : but others are admitted into this truly Catholic college ; even Protestant Children, from whom conformity is not exacted. To this excellent Institution is attached an extensive garden, with shady avenues for air and exercise ; which I regret not having seen, as I have since understood that the Teach- ers are not merely accessible, but po- litely attentive to Strangers, who wish to survey the Establishment, or to pro- secute, in its academical groves, bota- nical researches. MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. The City of Montreal has thriven surprisingly, within a few years, and V 230 now contains as many Inhabitants as Quebec, say twelve or fifteen thousand. There has been, and in time of peace, will continue to be, a great influx of Americans, chiefly from the New-Eng- land States, who are winding themselves into all the most active and ingenious employments. Episcopal and Presby- terian Chapels, or Meeting Houses, have long been established here ; and of late the Methodists — those pioneers of re/or- viation, have broke ground, within the precincts of the Catholic Church — one and indivisible, as it is ! The relations of Trade increase daily, between this place and the Uni- ted States ; and such is the course of exchange, that the notes of our princi- pal Banks circulate freely in all the towns of Canada. The Merchants of Montreal are now, however, about es- tablishing a Bank of their own, with a 231 capital of two hundred and fifty thou- sand pounds sterling, something more than a million of dollars. This will have a tendency to limit the circulation of Foreign paper, and promote domes- tic improvement, as well as facilitate the operations of Trade : though the exports from hence are chiefly confined to Wheat and Flour, Peltry, Lumber, &c. received from Upper Canada, or the United States. If the vicinity of Montreal is less wildly magnificent, than that of Que- bec, it is far more luxuriant and smi- ling. Here wheat and rye seldom fail to reward the labours of the Husband- man, (however ill directed they may be) though the summers, even here, are found too short to encourage the culti- vation of Indian corn ; and Peaches will scarcely ripen, without sheltering walls. Plums, Apples, Pears, are like-r wise much better here than at Quebec 5 232 and the berry fruits, particularly Cur- rants, Raspberries, and Strawberries from foreign stocks, are produced as large, and some of them as fine, as they are with us. — The cultivated Goose- berry is much larger, the general cool- ness of the summer favouring its growth, by retarding its maturity. There is here a Society of Florists, who gave premiums, whilst I was at Montreal, for the finest specimens of Ranunculuses, and Carnations, As many (weekly) papers are alrea- dy published, both in Montreal, and also at Quebec, in the English language, as in the French j and it is evident that the former, will gain the ascendency here— perhaps at no distant day. The streets of business, and especial- ly the shops, have the snug look of an English town; and it was amusing to 233 see how exactly the Young Men, of any figure, were in the London cut. The British Officers, I am told, do not mix much in society, with the Na- tives of Canada ; yet Military manners prevail here, as well as at Quebec : The Rabble flock, in crowds, to Regi- mental parades ; and even Women, of any appearance, make a point of step- ping to a march. Before I quit Montreal, I shall not do justice to its Public Edifices, without mentioning, as a handsome Structure, the Government House, for 4he admi- nistration of Justice, &c. with the King's Arms, in the pediment, elaborately executed in Coades artificial stone. A new Jail of appropriate construction — accompanied by that eye-sore to Ame- rican feelings, the Whipping Post ; and a Naval Pillar (which has been unfa- u 2 234 vourably placed, in front of the latter) intended in honour of Lord Nelson. NELSON'S PILLAR. This beautiful Memento (I recollect nothing superior to it in England, where, to be sure, they are not remarkable for Public Monuments any more than our- selves) stands upon an elevated Pedes- tal, upon the front of which is a suit- able inscription, in which is not for- gotten the Hero's last 'order, " Eng- •• land expects every Man will do his ''' duty." On the two sides, in circular compartg^ents, are represented, in the boldest bas reliefs (of the composition before mentioned) the horrid scenes of Ships sinking to the bottom of the deep, or blowing up into the air, as they oc- curred at the Nile, and off Trafalgar. In that of the fourth side is represented the Crown Prince of Denmark, who is seen submitting to Nelson's lawless re- 235 quisltion, at the moment when, it is said, that Victory was turning against the Conqueror. The shaft of this Pillar is fifty (eei high. Upon its capital stands the Ad- miral, who makes, it must be allowed, but a very sorry figure in Statuary, with his arm in a sling ; but his Lordship leans, with peculiar propriety, upon the remains of a broken mast ; and the bare of the Column is a well wrought cable. This Monument is injudiciously placed, in the common Market place, instead of the Place d'Armes, or the Parade upon the^boulevards ; at one end of which are two very fine new Houses of hewn stone, and in the neigh- bourhood new streets are laying out, which will greatly modernise the town, and connect it with the adjacent Sub- urbs ; from which it was formerly very 236 inconveniently disjoined by the ram- parts, which are now dismantled. THE PEASANTRY OF CANADA. The Peasantry in Canada, (by which term I hope Lower Canada will be al- ways understood in these sketches) that is to say, the great body of the People, is in a state of ignorance, but little exceeding the simplicity of the Indian tribes, in their neighbourhood, and of poverty almost as little removed from a state of absolute want : yet Patient of labour, with a little pleased, they are perhaps as happy, as their more polished Neighbours ; and cer- tainly they are more harmless, and less discontented : No fancied ills, nc pride created wants, Disturb the peaceful current of (heir days 237 Relieved from the horrors of Military conscription, and feudal tyranny ; pin- ning their faith upon the Priest's sleeve; these simple People are literally satis- fied with their daily bread ; and leave the morrow to provide for itself No more — Where ignorance ia blisS) p (says the Poet) and I shall not now stop to controvert the position, , 'Tis folly to be wise. ( I In point of morality and devotion, I the French in Canada may be compar- 1 ed to the Swiss and the Scotch in Eu- I rope ; though far behind the former, in industry, and the latter, in ingenuity, and enterprise. Infidelity is unknown I among them ; and the passion for Mili- I l^ary glory almost extinct, as well as that thoughtless gaiety, which distinguishes the French in Europe, no longer enli- 238 vened by the exhilarating wines of the Mother Country ; Those healthful cups which cheer but not intbriate, as Cowper elegantly said of the English beverage — tea. So great is the change of manners and principles, which has followed, in two centuries, an alteration in the over- ruling circumstances of climate, and government. National pride, in its proper sense, as confined to the Country which gave us birth, is scarcely felt in Canada ; where every sensation of National glory reverts to the forgotten History of a distant land ; and the Government that is obeyed, per force, is foreign to the People; and they can have no senti- ments in unison with the objects of its ambition. 239 A Canadian is ready to admit the su- periority of the American character; and shows nothing of French partiali- ties, save in the display of the Gallic Cock, which is perched upon the spire of every steeple, and upon the top of every cross ; together with the sun, the flower de luce, and other (degraded) emblems of the French Monarchy; which British policy has wisely permit- ted these harmless People to retain, as long as they were content to let go tfw substance of National Independence ; and grasp — a shadow. Even in person and countenance they are perceptibly altered from their Eu- ropean Ancestors : The Canadian Pea- sant is not so tall as the native French- man ; neither is he so well shaped, or so comely in feature, as his Progenitors. He is also browner by many degrees than the Natives of France. 240 From this marked example, it would appear, that National peculiarities may be formed, by the operation of imperi-li ous circumstances, in far less time than is required to change the colour of the skin, by the influence of climate ; and we need be at no difficulty to admit the gradual origin of the variety of com- plexions, in the Human race : Since a change of feature and person can be so soon brought about, in a Colony of Eu- ropeans, thus completely separated from the Parent Stock. The French tongue, however, has been very little deteriorated in Canada. The Peasantry coming from different Provinces, left their respective allot- ments of the " Patois de chez nous" behind them, in the land of their An- cestors ; and their Posterity now speak but one language, which is very tolera- ble French: though not to be sure, like the English of America, as pure 2241 ami perfect as the chastest dialect of the Mother Country j although spread over an inhabited surface of ten times its extent. And here let me warn the British Reader, that whenever an English Tra- veller, in America, undertakes to amuse his Countrymen, as Weld has some- times done, with pretended conversa- tions of American Peasants, delivered in bad language, it is of his own manu- facture — bad English is not coined in the American Mint. There appears to have been but very little emigration from France since the year 1660, when the Province was al- ready comparatively well peopled ; and it was about the same time, in the fol- lowing century, that the Canadians yielded their independence to the as- cendency of the British arms; since V 242 which there has been far more connex- ion and intercourse between France and the American Provinces of British ori- gin, than between that powerful nation and her own descendants. Thus the deterioration of pristine vigour, that it was possible for a few centuries to produce, in National cha- racter, has been in this instance com- pletely exemplified. In North America a colonization ori- ginally gradual, and progressive, toge- ther with the incessant intercourse of Commerce and curiosity, has admitted of so little variation of National cha- racter and appearance, that the Eng- lishman of the United States is not now to be distinguished in form or feature — in temper or intellect, (ex- cepting certain shades of difference which I shall not now undertake to de- 243 fine) from the Englishman of Europe : And the two branches from the Parent stem may now be considered, with infi- nitely more propriety in the light of elder and younger Brothers, established in different countries, than in the fan- cied relationship of parent and child; which, if it was true of our Ancestors a Imndred years ago, is no longer so, of the two separate Races which have since sprung from the same Parent Stock, A hundred years hence j when obsolete pretensions have been forgotten ; and jealousies, and prepossessions, shall be no longer remembered ; it will be the proud- est boast of Britain, that she planted the Co- lonies of North America : and the dearest title of the United States, that their Pro- genitors came from Old England. To an American from the United States, the smallness of towns so noted. 244 and so long established as Quebec, and Montreal, is inconceivable, and scarce- ly credible to the observer. I could mjself with difficulty believe, that the population of the latter is now estimated at but fifteen thousand, of the former, at no more than twelve ; numbers, which might have been roughly computed by the English, at the time of the Conquest. Still less can we imagine how the po- pulation of the Country, which at that period, was estimated at seventy or eighty thousand, should have little more than doubled itself since, although sixty years have nearly elapsed ; a period in which the standing population of the United States has more than trebled it- self. I speak not of the rapid reduplica- tion of the J^ew States, which arises from emigration, and takes place at the expense of the Old. In the year 1706, the people of New France were estimated at thirty thou- 245 sand. At the Conquest, fifty-five years afterward, they were variously computed at seventy, and at ninety, thousand Souls. If the latter was the true number (which I very much doubt) they can have little more than doubled since : for on the peace of 1783 an account of them was taken, by order of the Government; and the whole amount, including the English, with the French, was only one hundred and thirteen thousand. There were at the same time ten thousand Loyalists es- tabhshed in Upper Canada. If therefore the French Stock has doubled itself, since the year 1760, it is as much as can be inferred, from the data given above. Taking the mean number (80) for a basis, it's double will be a hun- dred and sixty thousand, which is proba- bly not far from the truth : for I cannot adopt the flattering estimate of common computation, by which the present Inhabi- tants of Lower Canada are raised to the v 2 246 suppositious amount of two hundred and fiftj thousand. [See the Appendix No. II.] There are manj circumstances, in Canada, which control the energies of life; beside occasional scarcity, and the long absence of the Voyage urs ; prevent- ing the natural tendency of new Colonies to increase and multiply. The extreme heats of the climate, though not lasting, enenate the body ; and its extreme cold chilis the blood, and has a benumbing effect upon the powers of the mind. Frequent Festivals, or Holidays, introduce habits of idleness, and relaxa- tion. The lands are held by Military tenure. The Occupants are liable to the teazing claim of quitrents, and the un- seasonable exaction of Military service. At every transfer of property the new Purchaser is bound to pay one-fifth to the Seigneur, and in case of war the land 24T holder is liable to serve without pay. In short, under the Ancien Regime^ every Peasant was a Soldier, and every Seigneur an Officer; and although the Natives are now excluded from the King's Troops, the Creoles are enrolled in the Militia, and are still called out, occasionally, without fee or reward. Accordingly the frequent may-poles, to be observed on the road sides, do not mark, as at first sight I fondly imagined they might have done, the circle of a village dance, where the Sons and Daughters of Poverty might forget their wants, in their enjoyments ; but the superintendence of a Serjeant, or a Captain of Militia, as the rallying point of duty, in cases of alarm.* ' By the ancient custom of Canada, Lands en fief, or tn roture, were held immediately from the king, on condi- tion of rendering fealty and homage, upon every accessioa to the Seignorial property, and in the event of a transfer, by sale, or otherwise, except in the line of hereditary suc- cession, they were subject to the payment of a quint (one- fifth) of the purchase money. The Tenanciers, or holders of lands, en ro/t, Paris Edition 1744.] 272 minated the Father of New France. This circumstance cast a damp upon the joy occasioned hy the restoration of the Colony, to its original governors j that was heightened, a year or two after that event, by a general sickness among the Hurons; which had well nigh swept a\yay the Indians of Canada, by a bloody flux. The French, it seems, were seized by the same disorder: but to them it was not fatal ; whether owing to the difference of their constitutions, or the different manner of treating the complaint. The Court had early forbidden the Protestants to go to New France, and it does not appear that any of that long per- secuted People ever established them- selves permanently, on the banks of the St. Lawrence; but upon the Revocation of ' the Edict of Nantz, toAvard the close of this century, a considerable body of those humble and devout Professors of the 273 Christian faith, who might say with St. Paul : " After the way which they call ♦' heresy, so worship I the God of my *' Fathers ;" took refuge in the then Pro- vince of New-York, where their Posterity have become numerous and respectable. In 1642 the Hollanders of Manhat- tan are mentioned as furnishino; the Iro- quois with fire arms, and spiritous li- quors, and from this period, which ap- pears to have terminated the golden age of Canada, we read of nothing for twenty years ; but wars without, and conspiracies within; and the whole history of New France is but a tissue of attacks, and reprisals ; of missions, received, or reject- ed ; of dissentions between the civil, and ecclesiastical, authorities. To these calamities were added those of famine and pestilence, under the effects of which we can scarcely wonder, consi- dering the temper of the times, that fmces were heard upon earthy and portents 274 appeared in the air. There were eclipses of the sun, and halos round the moon. Strange lights were seen to traverse the coun- try, in the day ; and globes of fire gleamed among the shades of night. Witches, however, do not appear to have ever haunted Canada, though they were not unheard of, at this period, in France. All these thino-s were considered as manifest intimations of the wrath of God ; and such was indeed the situation of the unhappy Colonists about the year 1660, that they did not dare to leave the forts, without an escort ; and during some time the Sisters of the two Nunneries, in the outskirts of Quebec, used to retire into the city, every night, for safety. The harvest could not be gathered in, and se- rious thoughts Avere entertained of aban- doning the Settlement, and returning to France. Seven hundred Iroquois kept Quebec, all summer, in a state of siege. The next year, however, these people (it seems they were not inveterate ene- 275 mies) sent a flag down ilie great river, with proposals of peace, demanding, as the only condition, the residence of a Mis- sionary among them. The proposition was gladly embraced by the humbled Colonists ; and they now set themselves to repair the losses which they had sus- tained, by neglecting to cultivate the arts of peace, rather than those of war. In the year 1663 there were several shocks of an Earthquake, which are said to have been felt throughout New Eno;- land, and New Holland. The Earth- quake would appear to have been real : though its effects are evidently exagge- rated by the credulous Historian, since, though the houses were shaken from side to side, none of them fell down ; and in the yawning chasms which were seen to open in the bosom of the earth, no person appears to have perished. But all these supposed indications of the wrath of that merciful Father, and 276 ah gracious Benefactor, who causeth his sun to shine upon the righteous and the wicked, and sendeth rain alike upon the just, and upon the unjust, were now at an end: a new epoch com- menced under brighter auspices ; and In 1663, the King (Lewis XIV.) took the Government into iiis own hands. His Majesty sent out the Marquis de Tracy as Viceroy of New France ; the old Trading Company before mention- ed, relinquishing the privileges, which had turned to so little account in their hands, to a new Association, called the West India Company, which was mo- delled by the great Colbert. It was in the year 1671, that the first discovery was made by rambling Voy- ageurs, of the existence of that great river in the West, which was destined for the future outlet of an industrious (perhaps immense) population, by the Gulf of Mexico. It now only served to 277 confirm the ambitious views of France for the subjection of North America. In 1672 arrived the Count de Fron- tenac, as Governor General ; who built fort Cataraqui, now Kingston, at the en- trance of Lake Ontario. But the haughty manners of this Nobleman gave universal umbrage in America, and he was recalled by his Royal Mas- ter in 1682. He returned again, how- ever, in 1689, with renewed powers, the French king then entertaining the pro- ject of possessing himself of the more fertile Province of New-York ; a design which appears to have been prevented, at the time, by an irruption of the Iro- quois ; and afterward prudently aban- doned. In the summer of 1690, before the Count's arrival, the Five Nations had attacked Montreal. They landed at La Chine, twelve hundred strong, and sacked all the Plantations on the Islands The French at the same time had been obliged to abandon Cataraqui, and the neighbouring Indians, were with diffi- culty prevented from joining the Iro- quois, by the personal influence of the Sieur Perot, then Governor of Mon- treal, to whom they were strongly at- tached. New France is said to have been on this occasion reduced almost as low, as it had been in 1663, by a concurrence of similar circumstances. In the year 1690, a joint invasion of Canada was concerted between New England, that was to attack Quebec by sea, and New-York, that was to invest Montreal by land. Major Peter Schuy- ler commanded the party sent from New-York, having been joined at Alba- ny by a body of Indians, some of whom were now always enlisted in every quarrel between their European Neigh- bours. He penetrated as far as the 279 Prairie de la Madeleine, where he was repulsed by the Count de Frontenac, who was there posted, with a large body of French and Indians. The fleet destined to attack Quebec, consisting of thirty sail, fitted out in the Ports of Massachusetts, was commanded by Sir William Phips. Arriving before the town on the 5th of October, Sir William summoned the Count de Frontenac, who had by this time returned from Montreal, to surrender the place. In the chronicles of the times the pompous message is said to have received an inso- lent answer. Upon this he landed, a few miles below, thinking to take the town by storm : but he was so warmly receiv- ed by the French Commander, that he was fain to re-embark, in the night, leav- ing behind him all his baggage and ar- tillery. The fleet now cannonaded the town, but with little effect ; and being driven from their moorings, by stress of weather, Sir William retired, in disor- 280 der, on the 12th of October, under the necessity of avoiding the approach of t\inter. Several of the Ships of thi^ unfortunate Squadron were blown off to the West Indies, as they endeavour- ed to make the coast of New England ; and some of them were wrecked in the Bay of St. Lawrence, or never more heard of. Sir William himself did not arrive at Boston, with the shattered re- mainder, until the 19th of November. Quebec had been, for the first time, regularly fortified, in the summer of 1690, and was thus enabled to resist a formidable attack, which it would have been utterly unable to withstand, had it taken place but a few months before. The English and Dutch Settlers, upon the more favourable coasts and rivers to the south, had now become suffi- ciently populous and powerful to stimu- late the Iroquois or Five Nations, [See J' 281 the Appendix No. III.) to commence hostilities upon the French, during the frequent wars which have been always taking place between those two power- ful and warlike Nations. The early emigrations were princi- pally from the Northern coasts of France, which would seem to be one of the reasons why no Protestants engag- ed in this Colonial adventure, the great body of the Protestants of France be- ing situated on the coasts of the Medi- terranean ; whilst the migrations from England were almost entirely confined to Dissenters from their National Es- tablishment; a circumstance which has probably had no small share in pro- ducing the various fortunes of the res- pective Colonies. The Society of Jesuits had been among the first to locate and improve Y 2 282 the Island of Montreal, which they founded agreeable to traditional record, by the express command of Lewis XIV. as far up the great river as it was possible for ships to sail. They were followed in IGO? by the Abbe Quetus, and the brotherhood of St. Sulpice. From this time, till the Conquest of Canada by the English, which oc- curred in the year 1759, there conti- nued to take place, at distant inter- vals, repeated incursions, on both sides, between the French and English Pro- vinces, as likewise that of the Dutch, with various degrees of success, or rather of disappointment and disas- ter : for the French never gained any ground upon the neighbouring frontier, and the hardy Sons of New England had more than once invaded Canada, to as little purpose, or rather worse than none ; particularly in the year 1711. when Admiral Walker was cast 283 away in the Bay of St. Lawrence, with a fleet of ships intended to co- operate in another attack upon Que- bec ; before General Abercrombie, at the head of fifteen thousand Men, was repulsed (in 1758) by the French and Indians, at Ticonderoga; a for- midable out post at the confluence of Lake George and Lake Champlain — now far within the acknowledged boundary of the United States. It was before this savage entrench- ment, the remains of which may still be traced, by those who sail upon those inland waters, that the first Lord Howe lost his life. The same Nobleman, whose two Sons afterward acted so con- spicuous, yet so negative a part, the one as Admiral, the other as Comman- der in Chief, in the struggle that soon afterward took place between the Bri- tish Colonies, and the Mother Country, for Continental Independence. 284 In the following year General Wolfe succeeded in wresting Quebec out of the hands of the Marquis de Montcalm, who fell, together with the successful Invader, in the same bloody field. The Marquis is said to have replied, with characteristic magnanimity, when he was told that he had but a few hours to live — " So much the better ! — I shall " not live to see the surrender of Que- " bee." During the Revolutionary contest, in the year 1775, the American General Montgomery fell, in like manner, dur- ing a fruitless attack upon Quebec. — And the British General Burgoyne in 1777, having descended Lake Cham- plain, and dissipated his mighty force, among the trackless woods, which then surrounded it on all sides, was fain, at Saratoga, to strike the Royal standard to that very undisciplined multitude 285 whom his fulminating proclamation from Illinois ; for we are not the only People that are chargeable with similar rho- domontades, had begun with denomina- ting Rebels and Traitors. Five and thirty years after this event, in the year 1812, during another strug- gle between the same Parties, in sup- port of National pretensions, the Bri- tish Commodore Downie, with five or six sloops of war, was completely dis- comfitted by M'Donough, the American Commander, upon the same Lake Cham- plain ; and the trophies of his victory, their dismantled hulks, still exhibit their black and battered sides, among the dark firs, and frowning precipices of Wood Creek. Sir George Provost, who had pene- trated to Plattsburgh, at the head of fifteen thousand men, precipitately re- treating to St. Johns, upon this event, 2ai) taking place before his eyes, without his being able to do any thing to pre- vent the unexpected catastrophe.* Such are the melancholy details of National Prowess, alas! that it should have been hitherto in vain for Moralists, Philosophers, and Poets, under the im- mediate sanction of the Prince of Peace, the Captain of our salvation, to deprecate the unnecessary effusion of blood, in National quarrels. — Ah ! what more shews the vanity of life, Than to behold the Nations all on fire, In cruel broils engaged, and deadly strife ; Most Christian Kings inflamed by black desire^ With honourable Ruffians in their hire, Cause war to rage, and blood around to pour ; Of this sad work, when each begins to tire, They set them down, just where they were before; Till for new scenes of woe peace shall their force restore . • I say MOthing of the turgid Manifestoes, and retrograde manoeuvres of General Hull, or General Smytlie, u|>on Canadian ground ; and many other futile attempts on both aides to penetrate inte each others borders — in pure bra« 287 ^rHE ANCIENT NOBLESSE. Op the ancient Noblesse of Canada, the Counts (M Longueil and St. Lawrence have long been extinct ; and the small remainder, being now deprived of the ad- vantages of privilege and prepossession; and having no longer any other chance for the appointments of power and profit ; but what they must derive, in common with their fellow subjects, from personal merit, are rapidly sinking into decay, or insignificance. Events which they are said to have accelerated, by their own inattention to qualify themselves for public confidence ; and their neglecting to pre- serve their families from the supposed contamination of Plebeian intermixture. vado — or on marauding expeditions, without end or aim — since they all terminated, as usual, in such cases, in the dis- grace, or discomfiture, of the Invader ; and served no other purpose than to add another lesson to the many already forgotten by disappointed Ambition, upon the inevitablt mischances of offensive war. 288 Yet there still remain in Montreal, and at Boucherville, in dignified retirement, the noble Families of Lavigniere, De Beau Jeu, Dechambault, De la Nau- DiERE, and others. And at Quebec are yet found the ancient Chevaliers de Lery. The Baronies of Port Neuf and of LoNGEuiL, preserve, upon parchment, the obsolete titles of their ancient Lords ; but those dignities no longer descend, with the estates ; and they may be considered as virtually extinct, since the honours which they claim have not been derived from the British Crown. I much doubt the correctness of my orthography, in these foreign denomina- tions, but I have now no means of cor- recting it ; having collected most of this local information, on Board the Steam Boat, in Lake Champlain, not from printed documents, to which I might 289 again recur, but from two Canadian Gen- tlemen, one of them a Father, and the other a Batchelor Brother, of reserved habits, but o( gentle manners^ and affections mild* They reminded me of Sterne's^ " my Father and Uncle Toby,"' calculat- ing the possibilities of his eldest brother Bobby's projected tour of Europe. For these two good souls were going, all the way to Philadelphia^ to accompany the hope of the Family (a well grown youth, whom American Parents would have con- sidered fully competent to the task of taking care of himself) on his way to take shipping for France; to perfect him- self in the celebrated Schools of Paris, for the practice of physic. Which it seems is a profession less willingly em- braced, in Canada, by youths of family or spirit, than that of the Law — Creoles having no chance for preferment in the Army. *Pope. z 290 They had heard the well-merited fame of our Penitentiary, and were so- licitous to inform themselves of its de- tails, as there is a probability that some, at least, of its beneficial provisions, may be adopted, in the new places of correction, and confinement, which are now erecting at Montreal. I told them what I knew of the system, and recom- mended them to apply to the benevo- lent Managers of that Institution, for the information which I know they will most willingly impart. Thus the benevolent (may I not say, with reverence, the godlike) plan of correcting, with a view to reform, ra- ther than punish, is generally extend- ing itself, from Land to Land. May it one day pervade the World, and do away the barbarous custom of inflicting sanguinary punishments, in the face of day j with which the streets of the most 291 polished capitals in Europe, now shock the feelings of the American Traveller I And here, being already in advance with my return, let me mention, with all due decorum, and attention to eti- quette ; as I intend to take French leave of my Reader, the moment we clear the Isle aux Noix ; that as we passed by Champlain, the first American town, and port of entry, seven or eight fine Salmon were sent aboard — for the Pre- sident's dinner ; to be landed at Bur- lington, on the opposite side of the Lake ; where his Excellency was ex- pected to arrive that evening, with a numerous Suite, in his progress through the Eastern States. I should not, perliaps, have thought it worth while to mention this important circumstance; as I think there has been, upon this occasion, rather too much of the parade of Royalty ; but that I was 292 personally interested in the regal compliment. — We were allowed to take toll, for the delivery ; and two of these princely Fishes were served up upon our own table next day. They were displayed, in the highest .style of culinary magnificence, by the Steward (whom I had put upon his cre- dit to gratify the Passengers.) The Salmon Mere placed whole upon the dishes, as Dolphins are usually repre- sented, in statuary; with their mouths bent inward, their backs elegantly curv- ed, over their heads, and their forked tails spread upright. To return to Montreal, when I was here before, I entered Canada at BufTa- loe, the Indian village at the outlet of Lake Erie ; got wet to the skin, at the Falls of Niagara ; crossed Lake On- tario, in a sloop, for it was before the 293 (Convenient invention of Steam Boats had facilitated internal intercourse ; took a batteau on the river St. Law- rence ; stopped a night in the Lake of a thousand Islands ; shot the rapids of the Great River, at the rapids of the Longue Sault, the Cedars, and the Sault St. Louis ; and thus arrived at Montreal, by that protracted line of water com- munication, which, if we include the Mississippi, upon our western border, is hardly to be paralleled in the rest of the world ; forming a line of internal navigation of little less than three thou- sand miles in extent, if we reckon from the Bay of St. Lawrence, to the Gulph of Mexico. The powerful State of New-York is now tracing a canal across its western territories ; which will communicate with the great Lakes, without the in- tervention of the St. Lawrence ; and the z 2 294 long-heads in the Canadian Provinces begin to apprehend the success of a plan almost too stupendous for the ima- gination to realize ; which if it should be eventually effected, will in a great measure leave them without the main line of internal communication ; and se- cure to superior enterprise and intelli- gence, the future benefits of the North Western Trade; sending the Peltries of Canada, by a shorter cut, to Europe. I shall not attempt to describe the sensations of amazement with which I contemplated the Falls of Niagara, from the table rock; which trembled under my feet, wljilst I listened, with eager attention, to the deep toned thunder, at its foot ; but I cannot forhear de- scribiiig, or attempting to describe, the alternate emotions of terror, and de- light, with which I descended, in breath- less silence, the Rapids of the Longue Sauit, amid the threatening waves. 295 which curled around me, in every varie- ty of foaming agitation. The length of this glittering Rapid, to the sublime and beautiful of which, is by no means w^anting, the accompa- niment of terror^ is estimated at nine miles, and the Batteaux usually descend it, in twenty minutes. The Canadian Watermen mostly avoid the Rapids of St. Louis, by land- ing above them, on the Island of Mon- treal : but the American Raftsmen bid defiance to danger; and, in spite of year- ly accidents, by which whole floats of timber, are sometimes shattered to pieces, and their Conductors instantly iiigulphed by the waves ; they persevere in shooting these dangerous currents. When their safety entirely depends upon their entering the Rapids, in a strait direction, the smallest deviation from which is iuevitably fatal; and 296 whole masts of pine are seen immedi- ately, upon the occurrence of disaster, rearing up an end, in the stream, or shivering to pieces, upon the rocks. I now turn my face to the Southward, with renewed dehght; crossing the Great River, in all probability for the last time, below the Island of St. He- lene ; on the banks of which a Mill is erected, which works eight pair of stones, by the mere force of the cur- rent ; which is stopped a few yards above, and let out again a few yards below. I took the stage for La Prairie, near which place a crowd of horses and carriages were plunging, through mud and water, up to their middies, at the most imminent risque of life and limb. Because the provident Supervisors had unfloored the old bridge, to make use of the timbers, in constructing a new^ one, before the latter was fit for passen- gers. Thus, neither were now passa- 297 ble; and among other impatient Vic- tims to the awkward arrangement, (which is given as a fair specimen of Canadian management) was the Collec- tor of the Customs, at Montreal. He was in a light gig, with a powerful horse. The spirited Animal dashed and pkmged, forward, till he was entangled among bushes, then stopped and looked round, with eyes full of meaning ; shook his head at the vexatious burthen be- hind him ; and, after a while, dashed on again, with headstrong rage — then stopped again in despair ; and we left them both inextricabfy fixed in the bog; for no Canadian would lend a hand to relieve the Collector^ who, it seems, has been very strict in the execution of his invidious ofFjce. At La Prairie we changed horses, and drove rapidly across the flat unin- teresting tract, that intervenes betwixt the St. Lawrence, and the Sorel ; where ^> 298 the Canadians have long talked, and will continue to talk^ of cutting a canal between the two rivers, to approximate them to the United States. We stopped for the night at St. Johns. Next morning the Steam Boat was not to sail till after breakfast, I there- fore strolled out to a large unfinished Hotel, and a new English Church, hard by. The Projector of these buildings, I understood, was an enterprising Yan- kec, as Americans are called, in contempt^ bj the British in Canada, (though we consider it a cog-nomeri at least as dis- ci o nified as that of John Bull. Before the completion of his plans, this unfortu- nate Adventurer had broke, and run away; but he had left the Buildings be- hind him, and the Public must be con- sidered as much a sainer bv his exer- tions, as if he had not himself been a loser by it. What is this but a practical 29d illustration of the adage: " Private vices, " Public benefits?" In the Churchyard, which appeared to have been used, as such, before the Church was erected, I noted, among the frail memorials, erected nigh^ a stone which was inscribed, in English, for the English Language already prevails here, by a surviving Mother, to the memory of THE YOUNGEST OF THREE BROTHERS, who were all born, On the 25th of November, 1786. He died at the age of 23. A humbler stone recorded the lamen- tation of an affectionate and faithful Wife, for A COMMON SOLDIER of the 49th Regiment; proving that the constancy of female vir- tue, can withstand the corruption of a 300 Camp ; while it alleviates the irksomenesb of perpetual restraint, in the deleterious atmosphere of indolence and vice* by the soothing endearments of conjugal attach- ment. Many of the Officers in the Canadian Garrisons, and some of the Soldiers, it seems, are allowed to have their Wives, and domestic establishments. Those of the Officers are sometimes Ladies of rank, and quahty; who have married for love, and accompanied their Husbands into the Siberia of Britain. The bell of the Steam Boat was now ringing for departure, and 1 gladly as- cended the deck, that was to convey me to Republican America; leaving behind me, without regret, the glittering para- phernalia of Priestly imposition, and all the pomp, and circmnstance, of — Military parade. ^ Sir Walter Raleigh. 301 May neither Church Establishments, nor Standing Armies, ever encroach upon the rights of conscience ; or restrain the privileges of Political freedom, in that more genial climate, and more fertile soil, in which our Winthrops, and our Penns, disseminated the germs of Civil and Re- ligious liberty ; which our Franklins, and our Washingtons, asserted, and secured. FINIS. 2 A APPENDIX. No. 1. A DESCRIPTION OF THE BEAVER, IN CANADA. I AM unwilling to la}' down my pen, till I have added some account of that sagacious and perse- vering animal, the Beaver. He is the proper em- blem of Republican America, and was so adopted by Franklin, in his designs for the Continental bills. His merits have been strangely overlooked by European Naturalists. They would have found him an exception to their favourite theory, that Nature, for some unknown reason, has a ten- dency to belittle lier productions upon the new Con- tinent. In the deep recesses of Canadian forests, where the Beaver is undisturbed by Man, he is a practical example of almost every virtue ; Ask now, said Solomon, the leasts, and they sliall teach thee. The Indians were in the habit of prognosticating the mildness or severity of the ensuing winter, from the quantity of provision laid in by the Beavers, for their winter's stock. Tlie Beaver is a pattern of conjugal fidelity, and paternal care. Laborious, thrifty, frugal, honest, watchful, and ingonious. He submits to govern- ment, in the Republican form ; for the benefits of j>olitical association ; but is never known, in the most powerful communities, to make depredations upon his weaker Neighbours. On the first arrival of Eiu*opeans, in Canada, the Beaver was found of the size of four feet, in length, and the weight of fifty or sixty lbs. but all Ani- mals, hunted for their furs, or skins, have become much less, or rather have been prevented from becoming so large, as they were before the ap- proach of civilized Man. He is now rarely met with of a greater length than three feet, or a greater heft than twenty-five to thirty lbs. The back of this remarkable animal rises like an arc. His teeth are long, broad, strong, and sharp. Four of these, two above, and two below, are call- ed incisors. These teeth project one or two inches, and are curved like a gouge. The toes of his fore feet are separated, as if designeJ to answer the purpose of fingers. His hind feet are fitted with webs, adapted to the purpose of swim- ming. His tail is a foot long, an inch thick, and five or six inches broad ; it accordingly serves the purpose of a trowel, in plastering his dam. Wherever a number of these Animals come tbgethcrj they imrae;diately combine,, in society, to Ill perform the common business of constructing their habitations ; apparently acting under the most intelligent design. Though there is no appearance indicating the authority of a chief, or Leader; yet no contention or disagreement is ever observed among them. When a sufficient number of them is collected to form a town, the Public business is first attended to ; and, as they are amphibious animals, provision is to be made for spending their time, occasionally, both in, and out of the water. In conformity to this law of their nature, they seek a situation which is adapted to both these purposes. With this view, a lake or pond, sometimes a running stream, is pitched upon. If it be a lake, or pond, the water in it is always deep enough to admit of their swimming under the ice. If it be a stream, it is always such a stream as will form a pond, that shall be every way convenient for their purpose ; and such is their forecast, that they never fix upon a situation that will not eventually answer their views. Their next business is to construct a dam. This is always placed in the most convenient part of the stream ; the form of it is either strait, rounding, or angular, as the peculiarities of the situation re- quire ; and no human ingenuity could improve their labours, in these respects. A a 2 IV The materials they use, are wood, and Earth. — They choose a tree on the river side, which will readily fall across the stream ; and some of them apply themselves, with diligence, to cut it through with their teeth. Others cut down smaller trees, which they divide into equal, and convenient, lengths. Some drag these pieces to the brink of the river, and others swim with them to the spot, where the dam is forming. » As many as can find room, are engaged in sinking one end of these stakes ; and as many more in raising, fixing, and securing, the other ends of them. Others are employed, at the same time, in carrying on the plastering part of the work. The earth is brought in their mouths, formed into a kind of mortar, with their feet and tails : and this is spread over the intervals, between the stakes ; saplings and twigs being occasionally interwoven, with the mud and slime. Where two or three hundred Beavers are united, these dams are from six to twelve feet thick, at the bottom ; at the top, not more than two or three. — fn that part of the dam which is opposed to the current, the stakes are placed obliquely : but on that side where the water is to fall over, they are placed in a perpendicular direction. These dams are sometimes a hundred feet in length, and always of the exact height, which will answer their purposes. The ponds thus formed sometimes cover five or Six hundred acres. They generally spread over grounds abounding with trees and bushes of the softest wood, Maple, Birch, Poplar, Willow, &c. and to preserve the dams against inundation, the Beaver always leaves sluices near the middle, for the redundant water to pass off. When the Public works are completed, the Beavers separate into small companies, to build cabins or houses for themselves. These are built upon piles, along the borders of the pond. — They are of an oval construction, resembling a bee-hive, and they vary from four to ten feet in diameter, according to the number of families tliey are to accommodate. These dwellings are never less than two stories high, generally three ; and sometimes they contain four apartments. The walls of these are from two to three feet thick, formed of the same materials with the dams. On the inside they are made smooth, but left rough without, being rendered im- penetrable to rain. The lower story is about two feet high, the second is formed by a floor of sticks, covered with mud, and the upper apartment ter- minates with an arched roof. Through each floor there is a passage, and the uppermost floor is always above the level of the water. Each of these huts has two doors, one on the land side, to admit of their going out, and seeking VI provision that way ; another under the water, and below where it freezes, to preserve their communi- cation with the pond. No association of people can possibly appear more happy, or be better regulated, than the tribe of Beavers. The male and female always pair. — In September they lay up their winter's stock, which consists of bark, aud the tender twigs of trees. — Then commences the season of love, and repose ; and during the winter they remain within ; every one enjoying the fruits of his o\Vn labour, without pilfering from any other. Towards spring the females bring forth their young, to the number of three or four. Soon after tlie male retires to gather firs, and vegetables, as the spring opens : but the dam remains at home to nurse, and rear up their young. The male oc- casionally returns home, but not to tarry, until the end of the year; Yet if any injury should happen to their works, the whole Society are soon collected, by some unknown means, and they join all their forces to repair the injury, which has been sustained. Whenever an enemy approaches their village, the Beaver who first perceives the unwelcome stranger, strikes on the water with Iris tail, to give notice of the approaching danger ; and the whole careful Tribe instantly plunges iato the water. — Let us Vll iiear no more of the half reasoning Elephant ! He is but a ninny to the Beaver of America. The fur of this wonderful Animal, which is so much prized in Commerce, is an interior coat, there being a double growth of it, over all parts of the body, the outer and longer being of an inferior quality, while the inner, being thus preserved from air, and injury, is thick, fine, and as soft as silk — The sacks which contain the precious oil, used in medicine, under the name of castoreum, lie con- cealed, behind the kidneys. They vary very much in colour. The most es- teemed shade is black, and they have been found perfectly white; but the general colour of the spe- cieg, is a chesnut brown. In a state of nature, undisturbed by Man, this provident animal lives fifteen or twenty years, and prepares for several generations, adapting hjs dwellings to the increase of his Family. No. 11. BOUCHETTES TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PROVINCE OF LOWER CANADA. After my sketches of Canada were written, and since the work was committed to press, I have met w'l^h. a Book, which has been lately publisiied, in vin London, by the Surveyor General of Lower Canada, (Joseph Bouchette.) It is a Royal 8vo. of 640 pages, with a copious Appendix. The work is professedly topographical, and in that department of science, is not without the me- rits of accuracy and minuteness ; but in general views, and complicated estimates, it is so palpably erroneous, that I have not thought it necessary to correct either my statements, or my inferences, from such equivocal authority. This Book, evidently calculated for the meridian of St. James's, is dedicated to the Prince Regent, by special permission. It speaks with supercilious impertinence of the War of the Revolution, as " the period of the Rebellion ;" and describes every battle that occurred off the great Lakes, dur- ing the last National struggle, as highly honour- able to the British Arms ! As for the Prince, Qui vult decipi, decipiatur :* but the British Nation deserves to be informed, not only of — the vahie ; but of — the cost of Canada. It is the whole drift of this splendid work (price seven Guineas) to countenance the Ministry, in their excessive expenditures for the support of Ca- nada; and to persuade the People of England, that they are not altogether useless to the Nation. Industriously obscuring the momentous truth, that, <* If he chooses to be deceived, let hixa be dece^et! ix ia cherishing Upper Canada, Great Britairt is bul sowing the seeds of another " Rebellion," for ano- ther Washington to gather. English Canada, and French Canada, are two different things ; the latter will probably be long defended by the poverty of its soil, and the severi- ty of its climate, behind the insuperable barrier of its gigantic River, and the trackless wilderness, by which it is flanked. To interest his Royal Patron, the Population of Lower Canada is carried, by I know not what ratio of preternatural increase, to a grand total of three hundred and fifty thousand ! and the local, or sedentary Militia, including all Males, from sixteen to sixty, is pushed, it seems — by the Report of the Adjutant General, (who, no doubt, has substantial reasons for the amount of his return) to the formi- dable number of fifty-two thousand five hundred ! — So much for presumption — now for proof. — It shall be furnished by the Author himself. " In the year 166.3," says he, " the Population '•'of Canada, or, as it was then called. La Nouvelle " France, very little exceeded seven thousand « souls." [p. 6.] " In 1714, they could hardly number twenty *' thousand souls." [p, 6.] " In 1759, the Population may be estimated at " s eventy thousand." [p. 7-] " From this date," according to Boucliette, " tht "^^ prosjjerity of Canada has been progressive (the " loss of National spirit and subjection to Foreign " domination notwithstanding !) Some increase in " the Population," says he, " is accordingly ob- " servable : for in the year 1775, it amounted to " something more than ninety thousand." [p. 8.] No great increase is made out here — only twenty thousand from '59 to '75, a period of thne in which particular portions of the United States have near- ly trebled their numbers. But now comes the increase of the French in Canada : however tardy it had been from 1663 to 1714 ; and from 1714 to 1759 ; nay, even from the period of the " Rebellion" to the then present moment. — That is to say, between the years 1775 and 1814. " In the course of only thirty- *' nine years (to use this credulous calculator's own words) a capitation [what capitation ?] " shows an increase to have taken place from nine- " ty thousand, to no less a number than two hun- " dred and seventy-five thousand native Canadians, " Descendants of the original French Settlers. An ••' estimate," as the Author himself e.xclaims, in amaze, " which will be viewed, with astonishment, ** by every reflecting person /" But — Courage, gentle Reader, this astonishing calculation is purely anticipatory — at least half the number will vanish before the penetrating ray of XI Truth. — Like " the Jail and Court-House at Trois '• Rivieres," which this same credible witness calls, " handsome, modern, stone Edifices." — Whereas the walls of the former (when I was there, about two years after this description was published, for the satisfactiou of the good Citizens of London, as to the existing state of things in Canada) were raised at least one story and a half high, and may perhaps, be fairly roofed in, by this time But the latter is literally — a Castle in the air, not a shovel full of earth having been then dug towards its foundation. This magnificent work, however, besides being embellished with Views, and illustrated by Plots and Plans, is accompanied with a General Map of North America — from Lake Winnipeegtothe Island of Newfoundland, and from Hudson's Bay to th& City of Washington ; which is, perhaps, the most accurate, and certainly is the most elegant, repre- sentation of the innumerable Lakes and Rivers, contained within that circle, that has ever been de- lineated. This beautiful Map is concentrated into two sheets : but there is another exhibition of Upper and Lower Canada, including the Provinces of New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, and tlie adja- cent parts of the United States, which is diffused over ten sheets of super Royal, on a scale large B b Xll enough to bring out every cross road ; to swell the sides of every particular mountain ; and to trace the limits of every individual settlement, upon the long extended frontier between two jealous Nations. The motives for taking this bird's eye view of dis- puted boundaries, may be, at least, problemati- cal : but the execution of it does infinite credit to the talents of " his Majesty's Surveyor General," as a draughtsman, and topographer. No. III. THE LEAGUE OF THE IROQUOIS OR FIVE ISATIONS OF THE WEST. The justly celebrated Confederacy of Five Na- tions, which existed, in the heart of the New Conti- nent, when the first Migrators landed from Europe, was a powerful league, which had existed for ages, like that of the States of Holland, or the ancient repubhcs of Greece; for the purpose of mutual defence, against powerful Neighbours ; but without impairing the independent jurisdiction of any of its Members. It affords a striking parallel to that potent and wide spread Confederation, which has since taken XIU place, among the succeeding Occupants of the same rich and well watered Territory ; which is adapt- ed, in an unexampled degree, to carry to their utmost limits, the active energies of civilized Man. This aboriginal Association, which is entitled to more respectful notice, than has ever yet been al- lotted to it, in American History : but to which ample, though tardy, justice will be done by our future Poets and Historians (May it not be when too late to trace the features of their character, with the precision of which the interesting subject is yet susceptible !) then consisted of the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagoes, the Cayugas, and the Sennekaas. Of these, the Mohawks, then situated on the fertile banks of the river which still bears their name, were considered as the chief Nation, or Tribe ; but the great Council of the Confederacy assembled annu- ally at Onondaga (I have myself seen the great Wig Wam, sixty or eighty feet in length, in which was kindled the council fire, before the dereliction of National Sovereignty, to the Congress of the Unit- ed States, had dissolved the aboriginal union) oh account of the central situation of that place, which rendered it convenient for the assembling of the confederated Tribes. [See Clinton's Discourse oh the Red Men of America, delivered before the New- York Historical Society, in 1811.] XIV Of. this powerful league, which is supposed to have once extended the terror of its arms, from the Gulf of Mexico, to Hudson's Bay, the Sennekaas ai'e the only Tribe that is now numerous enough to be of any political importance. Tliey are yet to be found, in large bodies, upon the eastern banks of Lake Erie ; where the curious Traveller may still witness, at their occasional councils, all the striking peculiarities of the Indian character. An old War Chief, called Jhe Farmer's Brother, whose person and features are stamped with all the hardihood of Antiquity, is yet living ; and the Chief Speaker, vulgarly called Red Jacket ; but in his own tongue, with appropriate qualification, Tsekuyeaathaw, the Man that keeps you awake, may still be heard, occasionally, delivering orations that Cicero or Demosthenes would have listened to with delight. I have myself heard this native Orator speak, for hours together, at one of the last public treaties, that was held with this Tribe. His discourse was then taken in short hand. It was upon local policy, and therefore is now forgotten, though it went through the newspapers of the day ; but some of his speeches, in reply to the soUcitations of difl'erent Missionaries to the Sennekaa Tribe, to change the ReUgion of their Fathers, for the Christian Creed, have been often reprinted in our periodical PubUcations, and can only be read with XV astonishment. — They elevate the untutored Indian far above Popes' elegant apology for that supposed ignorance, and imbecility, with which self-compla- cent Europeans have been pleased to designate the wild Man of America. When Father Charlevoix, a learned Jesuit, first assisted, as the French say, at an Indian Council (for the gift of eloquence was not confined to the Orators of the Five Nations) he could not believe that the Jesuit, who acted as Interpreter, was not imposing upon the Audience, the effusions of his own brilliant imagination. Yet Charlevoix had been accustomed to the ora- tions of Masillon, and Bourdaloue ; when those emi- nent Orators displayed all the powers of pulpit elo- quence, at the funerals of Princes, upon the fertile subject of the vanity of life; but he confesses that he had never heard any thing so interesting, as the extempore discourses of an Indian Chief. Even those who have had the enviable privilege of listening, in the British House of Commons, to The popular harangue, the tart reply, The logic, and the wisdom, and the wit, that flowed, spontaneous, from Barke, and Sheri- dan, and Fox, and Pitt, during the most splendid period of British oratory, have freely acknowledged, XVI that they never heard any thing more impressive, tlian an Indian speech ; accompanied, a? it usually isjwith all the graces of unconstrained delivery . J. k. J. HARPER, TRINTEHS. §i LIBRARY OF CONGRESS i' '■■ ti I .1 017 397 838 8 c c -C c 5> < '^^ ' C c c ^ ^ X5|-ic ■ ^'Ci- s c c .