Quebec

3895

Quebec

colony; but attacks by the Iroquois and the
grasping monopoly of trade enjoyed by the
company of the Hundred Associates made
progress difficult. Montreal was founded by
Maisomieuvi; in 1642. The power of the Ro-
man Catholic Church was established firmly
under Monseigneur de Laval, who arrived at
Quebec in 1650, and in 1674 became the first
bishop of Canada.

The career of the great Frontcnac (1672-98)
infused new life into the colony. The struggle
between France and England culminated in
the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1750;

of France in the Neiv World; Suite and Fryer's
History of Quebec.

Quebec, city, Canada, capital of the prov-
ince of Quebec, is situated on the left bank of
the St. Lawrence River, at the mouth of the
St. Charles River, 173 m. n.e. of Montreal.
Picturesquely situated in a region of rare
natural beauty, once the centre of French co-
lonial commerce and civilization, and long a
leading city in the New World, Quebec is one
of the most interesting cities in America. Cape
Diamond, the highest part of its site, reaches
an elevation of 333 ft. above the river, to which

(0 Publishers Photo Service.

Old Fort at Point Levis, Quebec, on the site of one of General Wolfe's Batteries.

and in 1763 Canada was ceded to England by
the Treaty of Paris, About one fourth of the
French population of 60,000 in 1763 was con-
tained in Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers,
By the Quebec Act of 1774 England granted
an appointive council tc govern the province;
but this stirred up opposition among the small
English-speaking minority, who wanted repre-
sentative institutions; and the Constitutional
Act of 1791 divided the province into Lower
and Upper Canada. During 1841-67 Lower
and Upper Canada were under a legislative
union j but this ended in political deadlock on
account of racial antagonism. The result was
confederation in 1867, in which Quebec was
satisfied by the grant of control of provincial
affairs. See CANAOA.
Bibliography,—Consult Parkman's Pioneers

it presents a precipitous front. The Citadel of
40 acres, with bastions and parapets, is upon
the summit, which commands one of the finest
views in the world. About the citadel—the
strongest natural fortress in America—is the
Upper Town, with the chief residences, public
buildings, churches, gardens, and retail shops.
The Lower Town, built round the foot of
Cape Diamond, is the commercial section.
Warehouses and wharves line the banks of
l)oth rivers. Outside the walls, which enclose
the Upper Town, and behind the latter, are the
Houses of Parliament and the Plains of Abra-
ham, with a monument to Generals Wolfe and
Montcalm. Quebec's crooked streets, its
battlements, fortresses, castles, monasteries,
convents, and feudal gates and walls, suggest a
mediaeval city of Europe, Laval University,