Canada and the British immigrant

IX

QUEBEC AND ITS EASTERN TOWNSHIPS

ALIKE in its scenery and its history, Quebec, which was the first “Canada,” is one of the most picturesque provinces of the Dominion.

In the year 1534, the Breton mariner, Jacques Cartier, sailed up the St. Lawrence till he could see land on both sides. Next year he came again with three well-appointed vessels (none over one hundred and twenty tons burden) to colonize and to trade. It was he who called a small bay, in which his vessels lay upon the Saint’s day, St. Lawrence, a name afterwards extended to the “Great River of Canada,” and to the gulf into which it flows. It was he, too, who, penetrating later in the year far up the river, bestowed the title of “Mont Royale”—now anglicized to Montreal—upon the “Mountain” beneath which, over a century later, the devout and gallant Maisonneuve began the settlement destined to grow into Canada’s greatest city. Cartier himself spent one winter at the point where the St. Charles enters the St. Lawrence, near the Indian village of Stadacona.

But a greater man than he was to have the honour of founding Quebec. Cartier’s men suffered horribly from the cold and from scurvy, against which ills they did not know how properly to protect themselves, and in the spring the remnant of the company sailed for home, carrying off with them the chief, Donnacona, and nine other Indians. Two or three other attempts to establish French settlements on the St. Lawrence were made by Cartier, Roberval and La Roche, but it was not till 1608 that Champlain at last “well and truly laid” the foundations of Quebec.

Of his company also two-thirds died, during the first winter, of scurvy, but this time the French were there to stay, and for a century and a-half Quebec was both the head and heart of Canada.

The proud little city, clinging to and climbing upon the rock, was the seat of the French rulers, the centre of the colony which—despite government restrictions, despite its own early limitations as a mere trading post and mission station, despite the terrible hostility of the Iroquois and the frequent attacks of the English, despite the “wanderlust” of its own more energetic sons, which led to a dissipation of the strength of New France as a whole—struck its roots so deep into the soil, that through all vicissitudes it has preserved to this day its own peculiar type of civilization.

To old Quebec, Canadians, whether of French or British descent, turn with much the same feeling that thrills an English heart at the thought of Westminster Abbey. There is something strangely satisfying in the beauty of rock and river, of distant blue hills and shining water, of ancient gabled roofs, grey walls, and antique, harmless-looking cannon; something stirring in memories of the heroes of two races, which mingle at Quebec; and inspiring for the future in the peaceful outcome of the grim struggles of the past.

But if one would really learn to know the French-Canadians of to-day, he must not be content to observe only the brisk city men in their offices and stores, nor the dainty little maidens who on Sundays promenade in gay attire on Dufferin Terrace, before that great modern hotel, the “Château Frontenac.” He must visit the markets, where the country people drive their trade in eggs and butter, poultry and small pink pigs, knitted goods and queer homegrown tobacco. He must go into the country beyond and around Quebec, and penetrate, if possible, into the quaint little wooden or stone houses, where all kinds of old-world employments are carried on by the busy mothers of families, which not infrequently number ten or a dozen children.

The French-Canadians generally are credited with being a thrifty, industrious folk, but it looks to an outsider as if the women do the heavier share of the work, for, not content with those tasks of sweeping and cleaning, cooking and milking, spinning and sewing, nursing the babies and all the house mothers’ other miscellaneous duties, the women, in their flat, black mushroom hats, are constantly seen with the men, hoeing root-crops or working in the hay-fields.

The “habitants,” as the country folk call themselves, are a conservative people, following customs much the same as those of their ancestors who first settled in Canada. But the conditions under which they live are greatly changed. During the last years of the French régime, Canada was neglected by her mother-land, and amongst the officials sent out to govern the country were not a few bent on enriching themselves at any cost. The last Intendant of New France—an official charged with the administration of justice, and the management of the finances of the colony—was a clever scoundrel named Bigot, and his devices for diverting the public funds to his own pockets, and squeezing all manner of corrupt profits from the people, were endless and shameless. In those days there was no such thing as municipal government in Canada, and the affairs of the settlement were managed chiefly by the Intendant; and appeals to the king—three thousand miles away—were difficult and often ineffective.

The system of land tenure in New France has been described as “a mild form of feudalism.” The king gave large grants of land under certain conditions to a number of seigneurs, usually of good family, who in turn made grants to tenants or “censitaires,” who were expected to clear and farm the lands, paying to the seigneur a small rent, sometimes in money, oftener in kind. The seigneur might also demand a certain portion of the fish caught by his tenants, and require them to use, and pay for the use of, his mill and his oven. But if they fulfilled the stipulated conditions, they could not be dispossessed.

No steps were taken till the nineteenth century to relieve the habitants of the burdens of seigneurial tenure. In fact, the rents had become heavier; but, in 1854, an Act of Parliament was passed abolishing the feudal rights and duties, and granting compensation to the seigneurs. Not all the tenants took advantage of this measure, and in some instances the annual rent is still paid.

But the English conquest was the beginning of a new era of freedom for the French-Canadians. As one of the race, the well-known writer, Mr. Benjamin Sulte, says, it “abolished the paper money of the old régime, and substituted cash payments; enabled the habitants, who formed nine-tenths of the population at the time, to purchase where they pleased and what they pleased, instead of being obliged to go to the company’s or government store; gave greater freedom for trade and abolished unjust monopolies; and paved the way for those legislative measures which, at a subsequent date, conferred local self-government and schools upon the French subjects of Great Britain.”

At first, indeed, there was some confusion in the province as to whether the French or English system of law was in force, but by the Quebec Act, enacted in 1774, the French laws regarding property and civil rights were definitely restored to Canada, and the free exercise of their religion was secured to the adherents of the Roman Catholic church. A few years later, in 1792, it was determined that in the parliament of Lower Canada both the French and English languages might be used. This arrangement was naturally continued when the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada were united, and is still in force in the Dominion Parliament.

The Provincial Legislature of Quebec has two chambers: a Council of twenty-four members, appointed for life; and an elective Assembly of seventy-four members.

Taxes are light. The revenue of the province is derived chiefly from the subsidy paid by the Dominion; from the sales and leases of the crown lands; and from fees for licences of various kinds. Between March, 1905, and June, 1910, the provincial debt was reduced by over $9,000,000.

Quebec, with the recent addition of Ungava (of which the value cannot yet be estimated), now stretches on the north to Hudson Strait, and is the largest province of the Dominion, containing nearly 707,000 square miles, or five times the area of the United Kingdom. Even the older part of the province is still largely undeveloped, and will remain so till there are vast additions to the population.

The climate is healthy, though admittedly cold in winter. “During the four coldest months of the year,” I quote from an official publication, “the average temperature is 15 degrees Fahrenheit in December, 10 in January, 10 to 15 in February, and 20 to 25 in March. There are some days when the mercury drops as low as 20 to 30 degrees below zero, but the atmosphere is so dry that but little discomfort is experienced, even by those who indulge in winter sports in the coldest weather.”

There is no question that the dryness of the atmosphere makes an immense difference in the extent to which one feels the cold, and though I cannot speak from experience of a Quebec winter, I know that many people do prefer the crisp cold of the Dominion’s oldest province to a damper and milder climate.

Quebec has the advantage of having plenty of snow, which makes winter travelling easy and delightful. It also “protects the grass and autumn-sown grain from damage by frost, and, as in England, tulips and crocuses which have remained in the ground all winter, push their green shoots through the disappearing snow-banks in the early spring.”

Of course, however, one must dress suitably to the weather. Warm caps, coats, gloves and overshoes are necessary, especially for driving, in Lower Canada; the “habitants” wear blanket coats, girt round the waist with a coloured sash, and woollen caps which can be pulled down over the ears and neck—a costume which is at once so sensible and so picturesque, that a modification of it has been adopted nearly all over Canada for the little folk and by their elder brothers and sisters for snow-shoeing and ski-ing.

But Quebec is not only a land of ice-palaces and deep snow. It has its hot months as well as its cold ones, and often the latter follow the former so quickly that “the rapidity of vegetation is marvellous. Peas and beans ripen six weeks after being sown. The thermometer sometimes registers 70 degrees and over in the month of May; and in the early part of July, 1911, it stood at over 80 in the shade at Quebec for several days together.” When the writer first set foot in Montreal, it was the second week in September, and coming in from the sea, in a season when the icebergs had been adrift in large numbers, it would have seemed that summer still reigned, had it not been for such a wealth of fruit—pears, apples, peaches, grapes—everywhere in evidence, as only autumn can produce.

In population, Quebec comes second to Ontario. The census of 1911 showed a total of nearly two million three thousand persons, of whom the males outnumbered the females by almost twenty thousand; and the gain during the preceding decade was greater than in any other eastern province. Four-fifths of the people in Quebec are French-speaking, and of these 70 per cent. live in villages and rural districts.

Quebec is a beautiful province of mountain and valley, forest, lake and river. It was along the rivers and the coasts of the gulf that its settlement first began. In fact, it was the St. Lawrence that made New France; yet even to-day there is only a fringe of settlement on its northern shore, backed by the Laurentide mountains, and beyond those is the vast scarcely explored wilderness. But the villages continue up the east bank of the Ottawa; and, south of the St. Lawrence, as far east as Rimouski, there is a fairly well-peopled section of country.

The pioneer settlers, like the redmen, at first used the graceful bark canoes as their chief means of conveyance. These could be carried with ease over the “portages” necessitated by the numerous rapids, but when the settlers began to build larger boats, they were soon obliged to improve the navigation of the inland waterways by constructing canals, a work that has been going on for over a century, and is likely long to continue.

Large vessels could always go up to Quebec, and vessels of five hundred or six hundred tons could reach Montreal. But in 1844 the work of cutting a deeper channel was begun. Thirty shoals had to be cut through, and during the next sixty years nearly six million dollars, over a million pounds, was expended, with the result that there is now a “submerged canal, thirty feet deep and 500 feet wide,” up which, as it is well lighted, great ships can come by night as well as day. At Montreal, which is nearly a hundred miles above tidal influence, there arrived in 1850 two hundred and ten small vessels; but in 1912 there came seven hundred and thirty-six ocean liners, with a tonnage over fifty times as great as that of 1850.

Several of the tributaries of the St. Lawrence, including the Ottawa, the St. Maurice and the Saguenay, are navigable for great distances, and Quebec is a province of numerous and beautiful waterfalls, upon which the business man gazes, with calculations of the immense “power” available for the manufactures of to-day or to-morrow. In manufactures, Quebec comes next after Ontario. High up in the list of her industrial products come those of which the raw material is obtained from forest or farm, such as lumber and paper, butter and cheese, but it contains also iron goods, boots and shoes, fur garments, clothing, cottons, cigars, etc., etc.

Montreal, with a population of about half a million, is the largest city of the Dominion, and a great industrial centre. Something has been said already of its importance as a port for ocean steamers, but it has also connections by the inland waterways with Lake Superior. In addition, it is the greatest railway centre of Canada. Here both the Canadian Pacific and the Grand Trunk systems have their headquarters, whilst a number of smaller lines give connection with the United States.

In point of numbers, picturesque old Quebec comes a long way behind its slightly younger sister, Montreal, but the former also has a fine port. In the summer it is the point where immigrants, travelling third-class by the St. Lawrence route, disembark to go to their various destinations by rail. Its chief industries are connected with leather and wood. It has also several cotton factories. Other industrial centres are Hull, with wood-working establishments, ranging from saw mills to match factories; Sherbrooke, where the first cotton factory in Canada was opened in 1844; St. Hyacinthe, Three Rivers, Sorel and Valleyfield.

The forests are one of the chief assets of Quebec. Leaving out of account the recently-annexed northern regions, eighty million acres, estimated to be worth $450,000,000, are still the absolute property of the province; but forty-five million acres have been leased to lumbermen and six million acres are in private hands. Not very long ago a government “forestry service” was established for the protection of the existing forests and the replanting of “wild and denuded lands.” In 1905 the Laurentides National Park, designed especially for the preservation of fish and game, was Quebec’s only forest reserve. Now ten reserves, comprising 165,000 square miles, have been set apart to be held for the benefit of the whole population and of posterity. The immense value of such reserves may be guessed at from the fact that even under the old haphazard system, the timber limits brought into the provincial coffers during a period of about forty-five years a sum of nearly $29,000,000 (£5,800,000).

The lumber industry gives employment, during the winter months, when most other work is slack, to over twenty thousand men, in addition to the thousands of log-drivers required every spring to take the season’s cut down the rivers to market. Much of the government forests (chiefly of pulpwood) have been inaccessible, but the construction of the Transcontinental Railway, which passes through these forests, is adding immensely to their value, and, whenever they are opened to lumbering operations, numerous pulp and paper mills are likely to be erected. In 1912 the province already had twenty-eight of these mills.

Quebec possesses much mineral wealth, but it is little developed as yet, though as long ago as the first half of the eighteenth century a small blast furnace, for smelting bog iron ore with charcoal, was established at Three Rivers. Coal has not yet been discovered in Quebec, but the vast deposits of peat may, in a measure, supply its place. Copper and gold have been produced in a small way, and there are good building stones, slates and materials from which cement, brick, tiles and pottery can be made. But the mineral product of first value, reaching considerably over $3,000,000 (£600,000) in 1911, is asbestos. In that year four-fifths of the world’s whole product came from Quebec. The deposits, of immense extent, lie in the “Eastern Townships,” about seventy-five miles south of Quebec city, and were discovered in 1878, when the Quebec Central Railway was being constructed.