The Makers of Canada series

parfcman Edition

THE MAKERS OF CANADA

VOL. X

THE MAKERS OF CANADA

PAPINEAU

OARTIER

BY

ALFRED D. DECELLES

TORONTO

MORANG & CO., LIMITED

1909

Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada
in the year 1904, by Morang & Co,, Limited, in the
Department of Agriculture

SEP 5 1959

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I Page

THE EARLY YEARS OF PAPINEAU . . .1

CHAPTER II
A RETROSPECT . . . . . 7 ~

CHAPTER III
THE PARLIAMENTARY REGIME . . 19 ,

CHAPTER IV
HIS FIRST STEPS IN POLITICS ... 27

41

CHAPTER VI

PAPINEAU RETURNS TO CANADA— AT WAR WITH

LORD DALHOUSIE .... 65

CHAPTER VII
PAPINEAU'S TROUBLES WITH HIS FRIENDS 65

CONTENTS

CHAPTER VIII Page

LORD AYLMER IN THE PATH OF DALHOUSIE . 75

CHAPTER IX
THE NINETY-TWO RESOLUTIONS . . 85

CHAPTER X
"LA CONVENTION" . . .99

CHAPTER XI
LORD GOSFORD : NEARING THE DENOUEMENT . Ill

CHAPTER XII
TO ARMS ! . 127

143

CHAPTER XIV
EXILE AND RETURN TO CANADA . . .163

CHAPTER XV
CONCLUSION . . . . 185 |

INDEX 201

CHAPTER I

THE EARLY YEARS OF PAPINEAU

THE reader will perhaps find it somewhat odd to
see united under the same cover, the biogra-
phies of Papineau and Cartier, men whose careers
were so different and whose temperaments had so
few points in common ; men, who for a moment, it
is true, fought under the same flag, but were after-
wards divided forever.

The name of Papineau recalls the tribune who,
from 1820 to 1837, is the personification of a whole
people ; who defends their most sacred rights ;
the melodious speaker who fascinates and over-
powers the multitudes with his sonorous sen-
tences, his ample gestures and his commanding
appearance — the true sovereign, indeed, of his pro-
vince of Quebec. Whilst the influence of Lord
Dalhousie and of Lord Aylmer does not extend
beyond the walls of Quebec and Montreal, Papi-
neau's voice reaches the most remote hamlet of the
province. He is the star around which, for twenty
years, all the notabilities of French Canadian blood
gather, until he disappears in a political storm.

As a living contrast, Cartier represents the man
of action, all absorbed in his work, though wanting
in those bewitching gifts which captivate the crowd,

1

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

and attract men as with an irresistible magnetism.
His words point directly to the object he has in
view, and he never tries to win his audience with
rhetorical devices. The first is a speculative person-
ality wedded to theories of his own ; the other
believes only in what he can handle and put in
tangible form. Wisdom and caution take hold
more and more of the practical man, when called
upon to assume the responsibilities of power, and
cause him to weigh beforehand the consequences of
his policy. Theories, on the contrary, do not bind
firmly to any particular line of conduct, but they
too often tend to overexcite the mind of their
originators. The work accomplished by Cartier who
hated everything that was not positive, is consider-
able ; it is to be found in our statutes and it has
left its imprint on our institutions, while Papineau
is looked upon by many as a mere agitator, a
verbose tribune, a violent critic of his opponents,
having left after him nothing but the hollow
renown of a great popular orator.

Nevertheless, his name still shines resplendent, a
star of the very highest rank in the constellation of
our Canadian celebrities ; he is still a legendary god,
shrouded in a somewhat mysterious halo of glory;
the people admire him without having understood
him, as if they were hypnotized by the renown
of his eloquence which has encircled his memory
for over fifty years. For the educated as well as for
the masses of our people he is still the prototype of
2

ORATORICAL FAME

eloquence and the recognized standard employed
in the appreciation of the oratorical powers of the
modern speaker. The term " He is a Papineau,"
constitutes the highest praise which can be con-
ferred in our days on a master of the art of speaking.

If his name is not connected with any radical
reform, circumstances rather than his own deficien-
cies must account for it. Is it not a rather summary
proceeding to stamp him as an unpractical states-
man of merely negative talent, when it is manifest
that opportunity never was furnished him to display
his usefulness ? As a minister of the Crown, Papin-
eau might have been a very different man from the
tribune. Having missed that opportunity, he was
left without a chance of displaying the positive
qualities of his intelligence. If we admit that the
troubles of 1837 hastened the dawn of liberty, then
Papineau must be given a large share of credit for
its appearance.

Papineau, like most Canadians who have achieved
a glorious career, came from the ranks of the people,
his ancestors being ordinary craftsmen. As the poet
says : —

" Arbre ou peuple, toujours la force vient d'en bas.
' ' La seve monte et ne descend pas."

" As for the tree, so for the nation, strength ever
comes from below. The sap ascends never to return."

Both our hero and his father were self-made men,
with no high-sounding pedigree. But what does it
matter? As Dumas, the younger, said : " When a

8

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

man is the son of his own industry, he can claim to
be of a very good family."

His father, Joseph Papineau, broke the tradition
of the family and became a notary by profession.
He was one of the recognized celebrities of his day,
and when England granted us the constitution of
1791, the electors of Montreal honoured him with
the important charge of representing them in the
legislative assembly, where we find him at the very
first session of parliament, in 1792, fighting ener-
getically for the maintenance of the French lang-
uage, the use of which in the House of Assembly
was seriously attacked by the English minority.
Bedard and Joseph Papineau stand foremost in the
ranks of the members at that time. Garneau, the
historian, has left us a portrait of the latter:

"The two athletes about to catch the eye, as
foremost in the parliamentary arena, will be Pierre
Be'dard and Joseph Papineau, whom tradition
represents to us as patriots endowed with uncom-
mon oratorical powers. Both were the firmest
defenders of our country's rights, yet the most
faithful and disinterested advocates of English
supremacy; for the royal cause the latter showed
himself most zealous during the period of the
American revolution. Both sprang from the people;
they had received a classical education in the
college of Quebec. Mr. Papineau soon became the
most notable orator of the two Houses. Majestic of
stature, imposing in mien, having a strong and
4

FATHER AND SON

sonorous voice, gifted with vehement eloquence
and great argumentive powers, he could not but
exercise a commanding influence in public meet-
ings. To the latest day of his life, his patriotism was
of the purest, and he enjoyed the confidence of his
fellow-citizens, who were proud to show a special
respect for the grand old man whose erect figure
and venerable head, adorned with long silvery hair,
still retained the impress of the energy of his youth."

It will not be out of place to mention here the
fact that during the American invasion of 1775-6,
Papineau, the elder, contributed his share to the
defence of the country. He performed the remark-
able feat, in company with Mr. Lamothe, of
carrying despatches to Governor Carleton from
Montreal to Quebec, when the country on both
sides of the St. Lawrence was swarming with bands
of Americans. The two young militiamen with
their despatches concealed in hollow walking-sticks,
travelled by night, secreting themselves during
daylight in barns or farm-houses, their trip occupy-
ing ten days. Papineau, the younger, also rendered
good service in 1812 to the British Crown; and the
conduct of these two noted Canadians goes a long
way to show that their opposition, later on, was
directed, not against the Crown but only against
colonial misrule.

In 1804 Joseph Papineau became the owner of
the seigniory of La Petite Nation, on the north
shore of the Ottawa river ; there he laid the founda-

5

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

tion of a settlement and built a home for himself,
on Tile a Roussin, opposite to what is now the
village of Montebello. It was then an unknown
spot lost in the forest, which could be reached only
by using the, mode of travelling employed by the
North West voyageurs.

Louis -Joseph Papineau having inherited the
seigniory, built on the mainland the splendid manor
of Montebello, until his recent death occupied by
his son, M. Amed^e Papineau.

Louis- Joseph was born in 1786 ; he followed a
course of studies in the Quebec seminary, became
an advocate, and was elected in 1812, a member of
the House of Assembly, where he made his d£but
in the presence of his father, then at the height of
his prestige and enjoying the esteem of his country-
men. The latter had prepared for his son a heritage
heavy to carry, but with his brilliant gifts and his
eloquence, the son was worthy of his sire and added
still greater lustre to the already celebrated name.
Papineau, the elder, lived until 1841; long enough
to witness his son's short but dazzling public career
during which he truly reigned over his native pro-
vince— long enough also to mourn his defeat, in
the midst of a crisis which seemed, at the time, the
final downfall of the cause for which both had so
sternly fought.

6

CHAPTER II

A RETROSPECT

IN order to enable the English reader to under-
stand Papineau thoroughly, it is necessary to
set before him a rapid outline of certain pages
of the history of Lower Canada prior to the appear-
ance on the stage of the famous tribune. The first
years following upon the downfall of French rule,
constituted for these new subjects of the English
king a period of agitation, resembling the death
throes of a nation. Exhausted by a long series of
wars, ruined by the administration of Bigot, feudal
corvees, exactions of every kind, and the loss of
their crops, the Canadians were face to face with
masters who bore them little good-will ; from the
capitulation of Montreal (1760) until 1774, when
the Quebec Act shed upon them the first rays
of long deferred justice, they were governed as
a conquered people, in the face of treaties, articles
of capitulation, arid laws of nations.

The royal proclamation of 1764 deprived them of
their laws, and the test-oath, sought to be imposed
upon them, made our unhappy forefathers outlaws
in their own country, on the soil they had wrenched
at the price of their best blood from the grasp of
barbarism. Murray, who ruled at first with a rod

7

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

of iron, after a time allowed his rigour to relax, and
ended by recognizing none the less cordially when
listening with bated breath to the rumbling of
rebellion in the bosom of the neighbouring colonies,
the noble qualities of the Canadians, and claiming
for them royal protection and justice. He held
that England could best consult her own inter-
ests, if she considered the retention of her new
colony as an advantage, by treating the Cana-
dians with justice, and he himself, combining prac-
tice with precept, allowed the application of French
laws in the matter of landed property and the right
of succession.

At the inception of English rule, it was laid
down as a principle, that the Canadians had no
right whatever to the use of their own laws or their
own language. Such was the starting-point, and
when we contrast their unhappy position at that
time with what we ourselves enjoy to-day, we are
tempted to conclude that there coursed through the
veins of those who won our liberties for us, some
strain of the blood of those Norman barons who on
the field of Runnymede wrested from the hands of
John the great charter of English liberty.

From time to time the question as to the origin
of our rights is discussed amongst us. Some main-
tain that they spring from the capitulation of
Montreal and Quebec, while others tell us that they
are the free gift of the Crown of England. The
question should be examined dispassionately and
8

ORIGIN OF POLITICAL RIGHTS

with a mind free from all foregone conclusions, in
the clear light of historical truth. This we propose
to do in the following pages, in the hope that
our readers will conclude with us that our rights
are derived: — (1) From the Treaty of Paris ratifying
the articles of capitulation of Quebec and Montreal;
(2) From the law of nations, and (3) From our status
as British subjects.

Our task will be comparatively easy, for we shall
be guided by the opinions of the councillors of
George III., and our judgment will rest on their
reports, ultimately embodied in the Quebec Act of
1774, which establishes French civil law in Canada,
and ratifies the article of the Treaty of Paris (1763)
relating to the free exercise of the Catholic religion.
This statute is truly the magna charta of the French
Canadian people. We shall see with what a breadth
of view, with what generosity, these enlightened
minds of the eighteenth century viewed our position ;
and it is but seemly that we who are enjoying the
fruits of their policy, should do homage to the noble
sentiments which placed them above the narrow
prejudices of race and sect.

The urgency of discharging our duty hi this
respect is the more manifest in that we have by no
means found everywhere, even during the closing
days of the century so proudly claiming to be the
age of enlightenment, that impartiality and sense
of equity which prevailed in Europe and especially
in England, over one hundred years ago. In fact, if

9

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

we go back to past ages, and find among the Romans
notions more just and more in harmony with the
law of nations than those which form the political
stock in trade of many of our contemporaries, it is
truly disheartening to reflect how very slowly the
human mind progresses 1

According to our conception of our rights they
flow from three sources : the law of nations has
secured to us civil rights and our customs; the cap-
itulations of Quebec and Montreal are our security
for the free exercise of our religion ; and lastly, we
owe our political rights to our status as British
subjects. Some there are who imagine that to con-
quer a country by force of arms gives absolute
rights over the vanquished. The idea is quite obso-
lete and would have been scouted by the contem-
poraries of Sallust and Cicero. " Our fathers," said
the latter, " deprived the enemy of nothing but of
the power of injury." Neque victis quidquamypraeter
injuriae Ucentiam eripiebant. Grotius lays down the
principle that conquest confers on the victors nothing
but the right of sovereignty over the conquered
country. With the change of supreme power there
results a change of allegiance for the people who
still remain in possession of their laws, their pro-
perty and their customs. The ministers of George
III. were well versed in international law, for they
frequently quote Grotius in the course of the debates
on the claims of the Canadians. The king's council-
lors, who, after the conquest, were the first to deal
10

THE QUEBEC ACT

with the fate of the Canadians, in order to secure
for them better terms and conditions, were At-
torney-General Yorke, and Solicitor-General de
Grey. Their report (1776) on the condition of the
king's new subjects, was to the effect that the
French civil law should be restored to the Cana-
dians ; and this report was quoted later on in
support of their own contention in favour of the
same policy, by Messrs. Thurlow and Wedder-
burne, the successors of those eminent statesmen,
in the cabinet of Lord North. This view prevailed
with the councillors of George III., and as a conse-
quence, the bill which became the Quebec Act was
presented to parliament. The bill was first dealt
with by the House of Lords, and reached the
Commons on May 26th, 1774. After a debate shared
in by Lord North and Messrs. Thurlow, Townsend,
Charles Fox, Dunning, Glynn and Wedderburne,
the bill became law by a majority of one hundred
and five votes to twenty-six.

The attorney-general spoke on behalf of the
government. We give the salient points of his
speech : " It is expressly stipulated in the capitula-
tions that the Canadians, and especially the religious
orders, are to have the full enjoyment of their pro-
perty, and the free exercise of the Catholic religion."
Then coming to the objection by which he had been
met, that the royal proclamation of 1764, which,
after the Treaty of Paris, established the civil gov-
ernment of Canada, and had introduced the common

11

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

law of England, he withstood the claims and ridi-
culed the proclamation, characterizing it as unfair,
badly constructed, incoherent and full of absur-
dities, which must be put an end to.

"Now, sir," he continued, "a proclamation con-
ceived in this general form, and applied to countries
the most distant from each other, not in situation
only, but in history, character, and constitution,
will scarcely, I believe, be considered as a very well
studied act of state, but as necessary immediately
after the conquest. But, however proper that might
be with respect to new parts of such acquisitions
not peopled before, yet, if it is to be considered
according to that perverse construction of the letter
of it ; if it is to be considered as creating an English
constitution ; if it is to be considered as importing
English laws into a country already settled, and
habitually governed by other laws, I take it to be
an act of the grossest and absurdest and crudest
tyranny that a conquering nation ever practised
over a conquered country. Look back, sir, to every
page of history, and I defy you to produce a single
instance, in which a conqueror went to take away
from a conquered province, by one rough stroke,
the whole of their constitution, the whole of their
laws under which they lived, and to impose a new
idea of right and wrong, of which they could not
discern the means or the end, but would find them-
selves at a loss, and be at an expense greater than
individuals could afford, in order to inform them-
12

THE RIGHTS OF THE CONQUERED

selves whether they were right or wrong. This was
a sort of cruelty, which, I believe, was never yet
practised, and never ought to be. ...

" My notion is, that it is a change of sovereignty.
You acquired a new country ; you acquired a new
people ; but you do not state the right of conquest,
as giving you a right to goods and chattels. That
would be slavery and extreme misery. In order to
make the acquisition either available or secure, this
seems to be the line that ought to be followed, —
you ought to change those laws only which relate
to the French sovereignty, and in their place
substitute laws which should relate to the new
sovereign ; but with respect to all other laws, all
other customs and institutions whatever, which are
indifferent to the state of subjects and sovereign,
humanity, justice, and wisdom equally conspire to
advise you to leave them to the people just as they
were. Their happiness depends upon it; their allegi-
ance to their new sovereign depends upon it."

Thus the English ministers expressed the opinion
that the Canadians were entitled to their own civil
laws, because being guaranteed the possession of their
properties under the Treaty of Paris, it followed as
a natural consequence that they were entitled to
the use of the laws governing property, and also
because it is an essential principle of the law of
nations, that a conquered people can only be com-
pelled to change their allegiance. Nearly four-fifths
of the members of parliament of that day took this

13

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

liberal view of the matter. Would it be impossible to
find in the present day people who have not attained
to that degree of liberality? In order to render the
above demonstration more complete we quote the
following extract, in reference to the same question,
from the report of Solicitor-General Wedderburne,
under date of December 6th, 1772 :—

"Canada is a conquered country. The capitu-
lations secured the temporary enjoyment of certain
rights, and the treaty of peace contained no reserva-
tion in favour of the inhabitants, except a very
vague one as to the exercise of religion. Can it
therefore be said that, by right of conquest, the
conqueror may impose such laws as he pleases?
This proposition is maintained by some lawyers
who have not distinguished between force and
right. It is certainly in the power of a conqueror to
dispose of those he has subdued, at discretion, and
when the captivity of the vanquished was the
consequence of victory the proposition might be
true ; but in more civilized times, when the object
of war is dominion, when subjects and not slaves
are the fruits of victory, no other right can be
founded on conquest but that of regulating the
political and civil government of the country, leav-
ing to the individuals the enjoyment of their
property, and of all privileges not inconsistent with
the security of the conquest."1

Some persons express regret and surprise at the

1 R. Christie, vol. I., page 28.
14

ENGLISH LIBERALITY

fact that there was no reference, either in the
capitulations or in the Treaty of Paris, to the use of
the French language. De Vaudreuil and de Levis
deemed it an unnecessary precaution. Language is
part of the human personality, it is a part of the
soul, unassailable within the inner consciousness.
To assail the language of a people is a crime for
which there is no name, an act of high treason
against humanity.

Does it follow that our argument, if well founded,
relieves the French Canadian of any debt of grati-
tude towards England ? Such is not our view of the
matter. England, it is quite true, only did her duty ;
but for this alone we are deeply indebted to her,
when we see so many governments who neither
understand their duty nor accomplish it. The mere
fact that, having the power to oppress us, she re-
frained from doing it, entitles her statesmen to our
grateful respect. In contrast with the English min-
istry and its supporters in parliament, there were
then many individuals in Canada who would not
have hesitated for a moment to make of our coun-
try another Ireland and of our people their "hewers
of wood and drawers of water."

The opinion of the law advisers of George III.
and of his ministers, bearing on the interpretation
of the Treaty of Paris and the law of nations applic-
able to our circumstances, was embodied after many
debates in parliament, in the Quebec Act of 1774.
Are we not warranted in considering that act which

15

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

is the outcome of the claims of our forefathers and of
the deliberations of those best authorized to speak
for England, as the great charter of our liberties, as
precious and as inviolable for us as the charter of
King John is for the people of England ? Does it
not consecrate the rights essential to our national
existence ? The liberties since acquired have grown
from it; they are, so to speak, a development
induced by a national evolution, retarded at times
by various obstacles but never quite arrested. When
General Amherst said in reply to De Vaudreuil's
representations in behalf of the Canadians, "They
shall be English subjects," was he not uttering a
threat? Some sought to interpret these words as au-
guring nothing good for the king's new subjects, but
from the covert sense of these words the Canadians
have realized unexpected results. It was in virtue
of that very status as English subjects that they
claimed and secured for themselves the privileges
of self-government.

The Quebec Act received the royal sanction in
1774, and in less than one year thereafter, the
Canadians, constituting nineteen-twentieths of the
population, rallying to the flag under which they
had been fairly treated, put an end to the American
invasion beneath the walls of Quebec. The policy
of the English government was not only just,
but it was eminently politic and far-seeing. Her
statesmen had made an excellent investment of
which they soon reaped the result, and a splendid
16

FRENCH CANADIAN LOYALTY

result it was — the preservation of Canada for the
British Crown.

The French Canadians have never ceased to
make full return for the generosity of the mother-
country in their regard : witness their conduct in
1812, when the Americans who had been barely
checked in the West, saw their forces wholly
defeated in the Province of Lower Canada. Some
such facts of our history may be usefully recalled
from time to time, for the benefit of certain persons
whose prejudices and self-interest make them anx-
ious to throw the veil of oblivion over things
redounding to our credit.

17

CHAPTER III

THE PARLIAMENTARY REGIME

THE new constitution, which created only a legis-
lative council appointed by the Crown, was wel-
comed with enthusiasm by England's new subjects,
but it contained no provision enabling them to take
part in public affairs. That it should, despite this
shortcoming, have satisfied the aspirations of our
ancestors need not surprise us in the least. Men do
not always feel the privation of advantages which
they have never enjoyed. Now, in 1774, the separa-
tion from France had existed but fourteen years,
and the recollection of the absolute French regime,
imparted to the English rule an appearance of
comparative freedom. The principles of self-govern-
ment did not form part of the mental outfit of the
Canadian of that day, habituated as he was by
monarchical tradition to look to the king for every-
thing, and to await his commands as the child
awaits his father's. Hence when the question was
first mooted of creating a House of Assembly com-
posed of representatives of the people, to act side
by side with the legislative council and the gov-
ernor, the project met with anything but a cordial
reception on their part, for it was to them fraught
with all the terrors of the unknown. We have

19

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

before us the text of the protest forwarded to
London on the subject. Embodied in their petition
is the following : —

"What we cling to most closely is our religion
and the laws regulating our property and our
personal freedom, and the Quebec Act of 1774
secured us all that. We dread the establishment of
an assembly, in view of the possible consequences
of the creation of such a body. Can we as Catholics
hope to preserve in an assembly the same privileges
as the Protestants ? And must not the time come
when the influence of the latter will preponderate
over that of our descendants ? If the proposed
changes were carried out, should we ourselves, or
should our descendants, enjoy the privileges afforded
by the existing constitution ? Moreover are we not
justified in fearing that the taxes now levied on
commerce and paid it is true, indirectly, by the
inhabitants of the country, but only in proportion
to individual consumption, — may be levied on our
properties? Have we not reason to fear that this
assembly of representatives may one day sow the
germs of discord which would find a congenial soil
in the intestinal animosities resulting from the con-
flicting interests of the old and new subjects of
His Majesty?"

These objections to the creation of a representa-
tive chamber, manifest a degree of foresight and
prescience on the part of those by whom they were
formulated, which an English historian felt bound
20

DEFECTS OF THE NEW SYSTEM

to notice. The Canadians of 1778, in view of the
current of immigration into our country, which the
American revolution had created, foresaw that the
new comers — the Loyalists — would come into con-
flict with them on the very first contact. This
protest of the Canadians made a certain impression
in London, and instead of establishing but one
assembly for the whole colony, in accordance with
the first proposal, it was decided to divide Canada
into two provinces, each having its legislature.

This constitution of 1791, with the governor and
the ministry, the legislative council appointed by
the Crown and the chamber of representatives, was
to be in reality, in its working, but a prolongation
of the Quebec Act. On the whole it promised
much more than it gave. As a governmental instru-
ment it lacked elasticity. Under its rule the country
remained as before, subject to the personal control
of the governor. While the assembly held certain
powers, they were purely negative, the governor,
supported by the legislative council filled with his
own supporters, being always able to hold the pop-
ular branch under restraint. Deprived of all means
of rendering service to the people, the members of
the Lower House one day discovered the fact that
they had been involuntarily allowed to retain the
power of making themselves disagreeable and thwart-
ing the action of the government; they ventured to
use and in fact abuse that power.

While the constitution of 1791 wore a threaten-

21

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

ing aspect for the Canadians living under the pa-
ternal, and absolute regime of the Quebec Act, their
successors, with that keenness of vision which seems
to be a special quality of the French Canadian in
matters political, soon foresaw all the advantages it
would be possible for them to derive from a popu-
lar chamber endowed with the ordinary attributes
of such an institution. Great was their disappoint-
ment when the absolutism of the governors made
them feel that they were still living under a regime
recalling the French regime du bonplaisir.1

The Canadians entertained for a time the hope
of securing the means of wielding effective influence.
Up to 1818, the English government provided the
funds for the civil list of Quebec. It struck them
that if they were entrusted with the payment of
the government officials, they would have only to
refuse the vote of supplies to the Crown, in order to
bring everything to a standstill and compel the
governor to respect the will of the assembly. It was
an illusion. Yielding to their wishes, the English
government granted the assembly, in 1818, the
privilege of voting supplies to the Crown, which
implied the cognate privilege of a refusal This
expedient did not prove a success, for when it was
attempted the governor parried the blow by drawing

1 The absolute government of Louis XIV. and of his successors knew
no law but the king's will ; hence the axiom of the old monarchy :
Si veut le roi, si veut la loi — so wills the king, so wills the law. All
the king's ordinances ended with these words : " Car tel est notre bon
plaisir."

22

AN IRRESPONSIBLE MINISTRY

from the military chest the funds required for the
public service. What was lacking in the govern-
ment system of that day was a provision for points
of contact between its several parts. Logically,
the ministers should have sat in the chamber,
in order to explain to the representatives of the
people the policy of the governor, and when neces-
sary, to defend it, and to open up more frequent
intercourse between the supreme authority and the
people ; but there was no law compelling them to
be elected ; they were not responsible to the people
and were accountable only to the colonial office
that appointed them.

The difficulties of the situation would have been
mitigated had the legislative council intervened as
mediator between the assembly and the governor ;
but far from so doing, it undertook to fan the flame
of discord, under the influence of the governor,
who filled it with his own friends in order to use
it as an ally against the assembly and as an instru-
ment of obstruction.

All things considered, the Quebec Act would for
a while have suited the country better. While it
did not bestow upon the people self-government, it
stated the fact without hesitation or circumlocution,
whereas the regime of 1791 was but an arbitrary
rule disguised under the features of popular govern-
ment The fatal defect of this system was that it
yielded to the people a mere semblance of political
rights, giving an impetus to the. national representa-

23

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

tion and then tripping it up when it had entered
upon its career. To this fatal defect was superadded
the abuse of personal power in surrounding the
governor with a multitude of courtiers overflow-
ing with interested loyalty and the exclusive re-
cipients of all honours and places of emolument.
The same cause produced everywhere the same
effects. In Upper Canada the family compact
monopolized all the patronage. In our province
there were no favours for any but the bureaucrats.
But when the partisans of the system were asked
to account for the deadlock which ensued, the
answer in reference to the western province was
"It is the fault of the constitution" but as to Mont-
real and Quebec, Papineau and his friends were
held responsible for the like trouble. Nova Scotia,
which was placed under a regime identical with
that of the two Canadas, succeeded no better. We
need only mention that, in 1840, Lord Sydenham
was compelled to proceed from Montreal to Halifax
where the governor and the assembly were at
loggerheads. Lord Sydenham refers to the subject
as follows : — "As in Upper Canada, the population
in Nova Scotia has gradually outgrown the monop-
oly of power in the hands of a few large families."

The remedy of the strained and dangerous
situation created by the constitution of 1791, was
in the hands of the government. Why not obey the
dictates of logic which manifestly urged them to
carry out their principles to a conclusion? The
24

CAUSES OF AGITATION

creation of a representative chamber implied the
presence in that body of the advisers of the Crown,
responsible to the people for their conduct. The
responsibility of ministers is a wonderful instrument
of government. It brings into power, in turn, the
leading men of the two parties, instead of condemn-
ing one party to perpetual opposition, as occurred
here before 1837. This alternation of administra-
tions acts as a safety-valve for the overflow of
political strife, and affords the relaxation needed
amid the extreme tension caused by party struggles.
For want of this mechanism, the faction hostile
to the government in Lower Canada rushed into
political agitation of a quasi revolutionary character,
and dark days saddened the country. Those who
had, so to speak, provoked the storm, suffered
least from its effects, while the thunderbolt fell
on the victims of a state of things for which the
sufferers were in no sense responsible. The scaffold
and proscription did their work after the uprising
of 1837-38, and the constitution of 1791 was forth-
with suspended.

25

CHAPTER IV

HIS FIRST STEPS IN POLITICS

WHEN the mind of young Papineau first
awoke to political ideas, Lower Canada was
passing through that violent crisis which our his-
torians, with no slight degree of exaggeration, have
designated the reign of terror. Sir James Craig was
then governor, and, soldier that he was, administered
affairs manu militari. Under the previous adminis-
tration of Sir Robert S. Milnes, the intercourse
between the French and English population of
Quebec and Montreal had been embittered, — a
state of things resulting from a discussion which
should not have caused, it now seems, such bad
blood. The merchants of those cities had suggested
altering the mode of taxation by reducing customs
duties and levying a tax on property. The proposed
change met with a strenuous opposition in the
House of Assembly at the hands of Pierre Itedard,
who was a prominent figure in the politics of the
day, leading, in fact, the French Canadians. He
pointed out that a tax on property would not strike
the merchants of the cities, by far the wealthiest
class, whilst customs duties reached all consumers.
His views prevailed, and hence the irritation of the
commercial community which their organ, the

27

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

Quebec Mercury, expressed in a bitter and pro-
voking manner: — "This province is already too
French for a British colony. Whether we are at war
or in peace, it is essential that we should strive by all
means to oppose the increase of the French and of
their influence. It is only fair that after a possession
of forty-seven years the province should be English."
Of course, this expression of opinion was not shared
by all those for whom the Mercury pretended to
speak. It was, however, under such provocation that
Be'dard, Panet, Blanchet and others, deemed it ad-
visable to establish a paper with the symbolic name
Le Canadien (1806), and bearing the motto, Fiat
justitia, mat ccelum. It was ably edited, and while ex-
pressing moderate views, vigorously defended French
Canadians against the aspersions of the Mercury.

It was in these troubled times that Sir James
Craig set foot in Canada, and suspicious as he was,
he very naturally conceived the worst opinion of
the king's new subjects. Ryland, his secretary and
confidential adviser, the bitter enemy of the Cana-
dians, poisoned his mind in regard to Be'dard and
his friends, and the governor was only too prone to
look upon them as dangerous revolutionists. When,
therefore, Le Canadien dared to criticize his policy
mildly, he at once ordered the names of Panet,
Taschereau and Blanchet to be struck off the militia
list, on account of their supposed relations with that
paper. When the assembly, following in the foot-
steps of the House of Commons, decided to dis-
28

A HIGH-HANDED GOVERNOR

qualify the judges and public officers from sitting in
parliament, he took a stand against the popular
assembly; and when Le Canadien condemned his
attitude in this connection, that paper was sup-
pressed, and Be'dard, Taschereau and Blanchet, its
supposed contributors, were sent to jail. Not satisfied
with these high-handed proceedings, he likened the
conduct of Be'dard and his friends to treason because
they had asked that the province be allowed to defray
the expenses of government. Still, when both these
questions, the exclusion of judges from parliament,
and defraying the expenses of civil government,
were referred to the colonial office, they were de-
cided in accordance with the views of the assembly.
Taschereau and Blanchet were released, but Be'dard
would not leave the prison until the charge against
him had been made public and tried before the
court. A few months later he was set at liberty,
with the understanding that no accusation stood
against him.

This was government as it was understood by a
governor, in 1810. It was found subsequently that
he had not gone the full length of his intentions,
for in one of his reports, he advises the English
government to deprive the Bishop of Quebec of the
appointing of parish priests and to confer that
power on the governor ; to suspend the constitution
of 1791 ; to make but one province of Upper and
Lower Canada, and to confiscate the estates of the
Sulpicians.

29

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

It was also under the administration of this
governor, who was naturally morose, and who was,
moreover, suffering the ever increasing pangs of a
loathsome disease, that the question of supplies is
first heard of. Up to 1818, the British government,
as we have just said, provided the funds for the
expenses of the administration. In 1810, the assem-
bly petitioned the king asking to be allowed to
provide for that expenditure, representing that the
prosperity of the province was such as to warrant
their undertaking the charge. It is seldom that
men, or bodies of men, of their own motion, invite
the imposition of such a burden. And hence, Craig
finds the petition of the Canadians anomalous and
contrary to usage, and makes no secret of the vex-
ation it has caused him, for he had a clear intuition
of their intentions. It was impossible, however, to
ignore or suppress the petition, and he had to for-
ward it to the king, who intimated to the assembly
that its request would be granted.

It was not until eight years later that the House
was given the privilege of dealing with the budget,
and even then, only in an imperfect and incomplete
form. From this half measure grudgingly con-
ceded by the government, sprang the long struggle
which was not to end until 1837. The motive which
impelled the assembly to claim the right to control
the supplies — a right inherent in the English sys-
tem, was in the first place the desire to possess that
right, which naturally belonged to them, and then
30

the determination so to use it as to curb the pride
of the officials and to punish them for their insol-
ence towards its members. Being under the pay of
the executive, these functionaries availed them-
selves of their independence to cast aside all
courtesy towards the representatives of the people.

This glance at the events of Craig's administra-
tion lets us into the secret of the policy of the
period and of the years that followed, and gives the
key to the political situation in the years interven-
ing between 1800 and 1837. At the head of the
state was a governor, responsible for his acts to his
English superiors only, supported by an executive
council devoted to him, and a legislative coun-
cil made up of his own friends. Next to these
powers stood a House of Assembly elected by the
people. In any and every country, the essential
condition of the normal working of the govern-
mental machine is the existence of a good under-
standing between all its several parts. Now this
condition was nearly always lacking in Lower
Canada. The arbitrary character of the governor
and the churlishness of the legislative council, with
its eagerness to thwart the action of the assembly,
produced in the latter body a degree of irritation
and exasperation which betrayed its members into
lapses such as calm reflection would have made
them avoid.

With a man like Papineau, intelligent, proud,
and conscious of his own strength, placed under

31

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

such circumstances as these and forced to give
battle unceasingly against overwhelming odds, there
could be but one result. Despite all possible efforts
to maintain his self-control, under incessant pres-
sure of unremedied abuses, his sense of irritation
must grow daily stronger until at length, losing all
idea of moderation, he will reject as insufficient, the
offer of concessions which at the outset he would
have deemed acceptable. Such was the case of
Papineau.

He made his appearance in the assembly in 1812,
amid the e'clat of his father's renown, and himself
already surrounded with the prestige of his pre-
cocious success at college. De Gaspe\ a fellow
student, tells us hi his interesting Memoirs that
"never within the memory of teacher or student
had a voice so eloquent filled the halls of the
seminary of Quebec." De Gaspe* adds that it was
chiefly in the assembly that he had heard Papineau,
and that, strange to say, the eloquence of the
tribune of the people had never stirred his feelings
hi the same degree as that of the youthful student.
Papineau did not climb to fame by slow degrees.
His de'but in the assembly was a masterly effort,
and at one stroke won him the highest place.

Upon the advent of Sir George Prevost (1811)
quiet was for a time restored to the province, for
on the eve of the call to arms for the war of 1812,
Papineau and his friends felt that intestinal struggles
must be set aside. Following in the footsteps of his
32

BECOMES SPEAKER

father, who in 1775 had rendered valuable service
to the cause of England in America, Papineau
entered the ranks of the militia and served through-
out the campaign as captain. We are told that
he was an accomplished soldier, as fearless under
fire as he proved himself humane and generous after
the fight. On one occasion, when escorting at the
head of his company a number of American pris-
oners, he sternly reprimanded his men for taunting
their victims by shouting in then* ears the strains of
"Yankee Doodle." Does not the mere fact that the
two Papineaus served under the British flag prove
clearly that their opposition was not directed prim-
arily against the principle of loyalty, but against
the arbitrary exercise of power and against the
tyranny of the governor and his following, leagued
together in hostility to the Canadians to prevent
them from attaining power and to restrict them in
the enjoyment of their rights ?

In 1815, Papineau, notwithstanding his youth,
was called to the speakership of the House of
Assembly in succession to M. Panet. From that
date up to 1820 — the advent of Lord Dalhousie —
we do not find him taking an active part in parlia-
ment. Confining himself to the discharge of his
duties as speaker, he gave up his spare time to the
study of history, mastered the spirit of constitu-
tional law, and assimilated a vast store of know-
ledge from which he was enabled subsequently to
draw at will without exhausting the supply when

33

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

he became the leader of his party and could no
longer have recourse to his books. A perusal of
what remains to us of his speeches, which abound
with reminiscences, traits and allusions to things of
the past, will convince the reader of his extended
intellectual culture.

While leaving a free field to his friends in the
assembly, he gave full vent to his energies outside.
No sooner had his advocacy of the cause of the
Canadians placed him in conflict with Lord Dal-
housie than it became evident to all that his
eloquence had already won for him the mastery of
the people of his native province, from the highest
in rank and birth to the humblest of her citizens.
Men of note, such as de St. Ours, Debartzch,
Cuthbert, Bishop Plessis and his clergy, eagerly
followed in the wake of Papineau and accepted his
leadership.

From 1815 to 1820, when in the full maturity of
his powers, he still hoped for the removal of the
abuses complained of. Nothing could be easier, he
thought, if the government would but take the
trouble to avail itself to the full of the advantages
afforded by the constitution of 1791. For, strange
to say, Papineau then looked upon that constitu-
tion as a nearly perfect instrument of government.
The opinion he then formulated is worth recording.
He pronounced it in Montreal, in 1820, in the
course of an eloquent address, which we quote from
the Quebec Gazette: —
34

BENEFITS OF BRITISH RULE

"GENTLEMEN: — Not many days have elapsed
since we assembled on this spot for the same
purpose as that which now calls us together, the
choice of representatives. The necessity of that
choice being caused by the great national calamity,
the decease of that beloved sovereign who had
reigned over the inhabitants of this country since
the day that they became British subjects, it is im-
possible not to express the feelings of gratitude for
the many benefits received from him, and of sorrow
for his loss, so deeply felt in this as in every other
portion of his extensive dominions. And how could
it be otherwise, when each year of his long reign
has been marked by new favours bestowed upon
this country? To enumerate these, and detail the
history of this colony for so many years, would
occupy more time than can be spared by those
whom I have the honour to address. Suffice it then
at a glance to compare our present happy situation
with that of our fathers on the eve of the day when
George the Third became their legitimate monarch.
Suffice it to point out the fact that under the
French government (both internally and extern-
ally, arbitrary and oppressive) the interests of this
colony had been more frequently neglected and
mal-administered than those of any other part of
its dependencies.

" In my opinion Canada seems not to have been
considered as a country which, from fertility of soil,
salubrity of climate, and extent of territory, might

35

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

have been the peaceful abode of a numerous and
happy population; but as a military post, whose
feeble garrison was condemned to live in a state of
perpetual warfare and insecurity, frequently suffer-
ing from famine, without trade — or with a trade
monopolized by privileged companies, public and
private property often pillaged, and personal liberty
daily violated, when year after year the handful of
inhabitants settled in this province were dragged
from their homes and families, to shed their blood
and carry murder and havoc from the shores of the
Great Lakes, the Mississippi and the Ohio, to those
of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Hudson Bay.
Such was the situation of our fathers; behold the
' change.

"George the Third, a sovereign revered for his
moral character, attention to his kingly duties, and
love of his subjects, succeeds to Louis the Fifteenth,
a prince then deservedly despised for his debauch-
ery, his inattention to the wants of his people, and
his lavish profusion of the public monies upon
favourites and mistresses. From that day the reign
of the law succeeds to that of violence; from that
day the treasures, the navy, and the armies of
Great Britain are mustered to afford us an invinc-
ible protection against external danger; from that
day the better part of her laws becomes ours, while
our religion, property, and the laws by which they
were governed, remain unaltered; soon after are
granted to us the principles of its free constitution
36

DUTIES OF REPRESENTATIVES

— -an infallible pledge, when acted upon, of our
internal prosperity. Now religious toleration ; trial
by jury (that wisest of safeguards ever devised for
the protection of innocence) ; security against arbi-
trary imprisonment by the privileges attached to
the writ of habeas corpus ; legal and equal security
afforded to all, in their person, honour, and property;
the right to obey no other laws than those of our
own making and choice, expressed through our
representatives; all these advantages have become
our birthright, and shall, I hope, be the lasting
inheritance of our posterity.

"To secure them, let us only act as becomes
British subjects and free men. Let us select as
representatives men whose private interest is closely
connected with that of the community ; who, warm
friends to the country, will attentively examine its
wants and make themselves thoroughly acquainted
with its constitution; for those who understand
these privileges must value them, and valuing them
must be steady friends to whatever may promote
the general weal, and inflexible enemies to what-
ever may endanger it. They will contrive that good
laws shall be framed and duly obeyed ; they will see
that none shall rise above the laws ; that none shall
ever consider themselves so great, or others so little,
as to command an obedience not required by law,
or to commit injustice with impunity. They will
contrive that the administration of justice shall be
pure, inexpensive, prompt, impartial, and honoured

37

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

by public confidence. They will grant a public
revenue proportioned to the means of the country
and the wants of the government, distributed with
that wise economy which must refuse to solicita-
tion what should be reserved for the recompense
of meritorious service ; but such as will, at all
times, enable the government to avail itself of the
abilities of persons qualified to fulfil its duties.
They will hold sacred the freedom of the press,
that most powerful engine, the best support of
every wise political institution, and best exciter and
preserver of public spirit. They will multiply schools,
well knowing that men are moral, industrious and
free in proportion as their minds are enlightened.
They will leave agriculture and the mechanic arts
as exempt from burthens and unrestricted by regu-
lations and privileges as may be expedient ; aware
that freedom and competition will generally ensure
cheap, abundant and improved productions. In fine,
they will know, love, and promote the general good
of society."

How can we account for this eulogy of the con-
stitution on the part of Papineau, a eulogy utterly
at variance with his subsequent bitter criticisms of
that same constitution ? There is this, in the first
place, to be said : had the constitution of 1791 been
administered by men determined to be guided by
its spirit rather than the mere letter, it would have
fulfilled the legitimate aspirations of the country.
It did not, as we have already stated, provide for
38

CHANGED VIEWS

ministerial responsibility, but even without that
most valuable feature, it was still sufficiently elastic
and resourceful to form an excellent instrument of
government. The essence of the parliamentary
system is the power, vested in the representatives of
the people, of voting on the levying of the taxes and
of controlling the public expenditure. This in the
main was what Papineau and his friends justly
demanded. Did he hope after the administration of
Prevost, during which the war with the Americans
put a stop to all intestinal quarrels, and after the
comparatively quiet rule of Sherbrooke and Rich-
mond, a time of truce, as it were, in which a
peaceful solution was sought for — did he hope to
see their successor, Lord Dalhousie, adopt a policy
of conciliation? Considered in the light of this
hypothesis, Papineau's pronouncement does not
clash so harshly as might be thought with his sub-
sequent declarations. It moreover reflects the high-
est credit on himself and on his friends, for it goes
to show that he was during several years neither
an irreconcilable, nor an obstinate adversary of the
government. If his mind one day succumbed to
exasperation, it was after eight years of hostility
persistently carried on against our people by Lord
Dalhousie, with the evident design of crushing us;
it succumbed during the administration of Lord
Aylmer, who was still more aggressive than his pre-
decessor, more determined to curb the House of
Assembly, and to indulge in ceaseless provocation

39

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

with all the aggravating circumstances suggested by
his determination to be unfair and arbitrary.

The Lex tationis for which there is no justifi-
cation in political matters, seemed a perfectly legiti-
mate weapon to a body of men who felt themselves
to be persecuted in their aspirations and in their
passionate efforts to secure for themselves all the
liberties they were entitled to claim as British sub-
jects. Stung to fury by their wrongs, they assumed
the name of Patriot es. Their judgment became
clouded under the breath of intolerance ; they lost
the true sense of the situation, and convinced that
there was nothing more to be hoped for from the
government, which had been so long deaf to their
complaints, they one day went to the length of
refusing to accept at its hands an ample remedial
measure.

40

CHAPTER V

THE UNION SCHEME OF 1822

WITH the advent of Lord Dalhousie we enter
upon the acute stage of Canadian politics.
A man of distinction and taste and high intellectual
culture, Lord Dalhousie was the founder of the
Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, He
it was also who caused to be erected in memory of
Wolfe and Montcalm the well-known monument
seemingly symbolical on his part of that spirit of
conciliation, which was by no means apparent in
his conduct towards the majority of the people of
the province.

He lacked force of character and fell under the
influence of the coterie who reigned at Chateau St.
Louis and who, under cover of the governor, had
ruled and exploited our province for forty years.
Ryland, secretary to Craig, was the prototype of
those gloomy, cold-blooded fanatics, who, under the
pretext of safeguarding the interests of England,
strove in every way to destroy the rights of the
French Canadians. History will refuse to admit
even the plea of sincerity in their behalf. Their
contempt for our people who were so often made
the victims of their overweening self-conceit, was
probably not as genuine as it seemed to be. What

41

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

the coterie craved above all things was to retain
power in their own hands with a view to the profits,
honours and emoluments to be derived therefrom,
and of which they availed themselves to the utmost
limits of abuse.

With the first session of parliament called by the
new governor (1820) the conflict between the
council and the assembly burst forth more furiously
than ever. Papineau having insisted on the budget
being voted item by item, in order to ensure com-
plete control of the public monies by the repre-
sentatives of the people, the council rejected the
bill, affirming its assumed right to participate in
voting the supplies, and its resolve to reject the
civil list divided into chapters. This amounted to a
reprimand administered to the House, at which the
latter took umbrage and made answer that the
council could not dictate to it as to the manner
of voting the supplies, which was its own exclusive
privilege. Unfortunately, Lord Dalhousie took sides
with the council instead of suggesting a compro-
mise in order to put an end to the dead-lock from
which there seemed to be no escape.

Did Dalhousie witness the conflict with a certain
degree of satisfaction ? A despatch from Lord Bath-
urst would seem to indicate that such was the case.
The instructions of that minister to the new
governor assume, when carefully examined, the
features of a hideous machination devised to pro-
voke an upheaval in the two chambers, which
42

OFFICIAL ABUSES

might be used as a proof that all government was
impossible in the province. In order to overcome
the deadlock thus brought about, the union of
Upper and Lower Canada would then be insisted
on as the supreme and last means of restoring
order. . . . Machiavelli himself could not have
shown keener craft.

The struggle between the council and the assem-
bly was not the only cause of irritation. All the
abuses which absolutism fosters swarmed in the
most aggravating form. Favouritism of a bare-faced
character prevailed. Here was to be found a friend
of the government who was at one and the same
time a legislative councillor and a judge ; a parlia-
mentary official sitting on a magisterial bench ;
a lieutenant-governor, while living out of the coun-
try, in receipt of a salary without discharging the
duties of his office ; elsewhere, a judge, who was
paid by the state, compelling litigants to pay him
fees. Some of these abuses, which were made known
to the governor, were of a character so outrageous
that Dalhousie, in spite of his partiality, promised
to provide a remedy.

While Papineau and his friends were clamouring
for a reform of these evils, they learned with dis-
may and indignation that steps were being taken in
London to strike a fatal blow at the life and liber-
ties of their race. A bill had been introduced in the
House of Commons, making a single province of
Upper and Lower Canada, abolishing the use of

43

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

the French language, and giving an enormous
preponderance to the representation of the English-
speaking element in our parliament. The bill would
have gone through all its several stages at West-
minster but for the intervention of Mackintosh,
Labouchere and Hume, who indignantly protested
against the measure, and put its authors to shame
by demonstrating the utter injustice of so gross an
attempt on the liberties of British subjects, of
men, they might have added, who on two occasions
had saved Canada for England. The majority sided
with our defenders, and called upon the govern-
ment to defer the recording of our death sentence
until the following session.

Prompt action now became a matter of urgent
necessity in order to avert the danger which was
upon the province. Forthwith, at Quebec, Mont-
real and Three Rivers, at Papineau's suggestion,
committees were organized to secure the signing of
a petition in opposition to the proposed union;
within a few weeks the number of signatures had
reached sixty thousand. Meantime the question as to
the proper person to lay the monster petition at the
foot of the throne was no sooner asked than one and
the same answer fell from every lip : " Papineau ! "
He resisted the general wish for some time, but his
great devotion to the public interests made him
feel that he could not shirk the duty so clearly
incumbent on him, in view of his position as leader
of the Liberal party in the province.
44

PRESENTING A PETITION

At this date (1822) Papineau had attained the
culminating point of his power; his influence, every-
where acknowledged by all classes, held undisputed
sway. Not only did the people look up to him as
their leader, but the clergy, with Bishop Plessis at
their head, proclaimed him the man of the hour.
M. Charles de St. Ours, a man of great weight, the
heir of a distinguished family, whose ancestors had
won fame on many a battlefield, wrote to Papineau
as follows : — "The Canadians must do their utmost
to parry the blow with which the country is
threatened, and it is to be hoped they may succeed
in doing so, in spite of the intrigues of our enemies.
I see with great satisfaction that all eyes are turned
towards you, in the hope that you will present our
petition in England. I know no one more worthy
and more capable than yourself of undertaking that
honourable mission." An eminent and influential
ecclesiastic, a member of the faculty of the seminary
of Quebec, Rev. Joseph Demers, also urged him
strongly to proceed to England, saying : — "Let me
beg and implore you not to abandon our poor
country until we shall have conquered in the fearful
struggle now upon us. I know it involves a great
sacrifice on your part, but I know also that such
sacrifices have long been nothing to you." Solicita-
tions such as these poured in upon him from all
parts of the country. There lived at that time, at
St. Charles, on the Richelieu, a man of much
wealth for that day, gifted with intellectual powers

45

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

of a high order, and wielding great influence
throughout the whole region between Sorel, Mont-
real and St. Hyacinthe: this was M. Debartzch,
brother-in-law of M. de St. Ours, and the father
of young girls then renowned for their great beauty
and mental gifts, and who subsequently became
Mesdames Kierskowski, Rottermund, Drummond
and Monk. He writes to Papineau as follows : —
" I ought not to ask you again, but when I reflect
on your great ability and your genuine patriotism,
I feel constrained to do so, in spite of myself. Do
accept this honourable mission, which you alone
can worthily fulfil."

Papineau found allies also amongst the English-
speaking citizens, several of them persons of high
standing, who took sides with our people, as for
instance: James Cuthbert of Berthier, a member
of the council and proprietor of an important
seigniory, — Leslie, and John Neilson, proprietor of
the Quebec Gazette. The latter was also selected as
a delegate to London. The flagrant injustice of the
oligarchy that ruled the province had long excited
the indignation of Neilson, and on every possible
occasion, both in parliament and at public meetings,
he took sides with the French Canadians. His
sound judgment and moderation of character en-
abled him to give wise counsel to the Patriotes and
to moderate the passions of the more violent
amongst them. The proposed union measure of
1822 he looked upon as a peril to the country, and
46

VOYAGE TO ENGLAND

he laboured as earnestly as Papineau to avert it.
"The country," he writes, December 12th, 1822,
"will not submit to the injustice planned against us
by a handful of intrigant who want to sacrifice,
to their own ambition the happiness of the Canadian
people. These men whom chance has made so
great in this country, and who would have remained
in obscurity anywhere else, might well have re-
mained content with the numberless preferments
they now enjoy, without undertaking to rob the
people of our province of their rights. Blinded by
the most unfounded and unreasonable prejudices
against our most cherished institutions, and nour-
ishing as they do, in their hearts, and even openly
manifesting, utter contempt for the peculiar usages
and manners of the Canadian people, they cer-
tainly are guilty of an abuse of power calculated
to endanger the peace and tranquillity of the coun-
try." It is manifest from this that the excesses
and insolence of the bureaucracy had excited the
indignation of Neilson quite as much as that of
Papineau and his friends. But who were the hand-
ful of intrigant to whom Neilson alludes ? • They
were the merchants of Montreal and Quebec and
the bureaucracy, who had suggested to Ellice, a resi-
dent of London, very influential with the colonial
minister, and proprietor of the seigniory of Beau-
harnois, the idea of uniting the two Canadian
provinces, with the avowed object of annihilating
the influence of the French.

47

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

Papineau and Neilson took ship at New York
for Liverpool in the month of January, 1822. On
February 25th following, taking up their quarters
at 28 Norfolk Street, Strand, they sent notice
of their arrival to the secretary for the colonies,
Lord Bathurst, craving an audience in order to
submit to him the protest of the French Canadian
people against the union, and also the petition of
six thousand freeholders of Upper Canada in opposi-
tion to that measure.

Papineau produced a most favourable impression
in London. His high intellectual culture, his ease
and grace of manner and his imposing mien, insured
him a cordial welcome in the political world. " Can
this be," men seemed to ask themselves, "one of
those who have been described to us as steeped in
ignorance and more like savages than civilized
beings in their mode of living?"

A more extended knowledge of Canada would
have made it manifest to the leading minds in
London that there were then in Quebec, Montreal,
and every other centre of any importance in the
province, men of high breeding and refined man-
ners, who would not have been out of place in the
best salons of Paris or London. Great refinement
of manner and old-time courtesy were the charac-
teristics of the Canadians of old, and these qualities
were to be found not only among the seigniors and
persons of education, such as the officials and
merchants and the clergy, but among the simple
48

THE BILL WITHDRAWN

habitants who tilled the soil. This it was that made
Andrew Stuart declare, " The Canadians are a race
of gentlemen."

During their residence in London the conspiracy
against the French Canadians became manifest to
Papineau and Neilson in all its hideous malice. The
peril had not been exaggerated ; on the contrary,
they found that, at Ellice's suggestion, the ministry
had resolved to push forward the Union Bill not
by forced marches, but quietly throughout all its
stages. A singular incident had revealed the plot.
There was then in London a man named Parker, a
personal enemy of Ellice, who had quarrelled with
him about a matter of business. Parker, who was
cognizant of Ellice's design, determined, for ven-
geance sake, to thwart it, and promptly revealed the
plot to Sir James Mackintosh and Sir F. Burdett.
The latter had no difficulty in demonstrating the
infamous character of this attempt to alter the con-
stitution of Canada, in order to punish the French
Canadians for crimes imputed to them on charges
which they had not been given an opportunity to
disprove.

It was an easy task for our delegates to confound
the calumniators of our people, and the ministry
undertook to drop the bill, which was destined, in
the minds and hopes of its promoters, to consoli-
date and perpetuate their own ascendency. A letter of
Papineau's gives us a portion of the petition of the
partisans of the union in Montreal and Quebec.

49

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

The following extracts therefrom will not be found
inappropriate. We venture to say that the fair-
minded reader will be struck with the degree of
audacity and blind passion which must have domin-
ated in the minds of men who sought to enslave a
whole people on such futile grounds and reasoning.
"The fertile source of all the evil complained of,"
said the petitioners, "is to be found in the Consti-
tution of the Assembly. Hence the ever recurring
difficulties between the several Branches of the
legislature. Hence it is that the Powers of the
Executive Government for the improvement of the
Colony have been paralyzed; hence the extension of
British settlement has been impeded ; the increase
of the British population . . . prevented ... all com-
mercial enterprise crippled ... and the Country
remains with all the foreign characteristics which
it possessed at the time of the conquest. It is in all
particulars, French. The adoption or rejection of
the Union will determine whether, under the dis-
guise of a British dependency for some time longer,
it is to be forever French. . . . The unreasonable
extent of political rights conceded to this popula-
tion . . . with a sense of their growing strength, has
already had the effect of realizing in the imagina-
tion of many of them their fancied existence as a
separate nation, under the name of La Nation
Canadienne. ... A system of government which
in its ulterior consequences must expose Great
Britain to the mortification and disgrace of having
50

IN FAVOUR OF UNION

at immense expense, reared to the maturity of
independence, a foreign^ conquered colony, to be-
come the ally of a foreign nation and the scourge
of its native subjects, ought not to be persisted in.

"The inhabitants of Upper Canada would imper-
ceptibly be induced to form connections with their
American neighbours, and, being unnaturally dis-
joined from Lower Canada, would seek to dimmish
the inconveniences thence resulting by a more
intimate intercourse with the adjoining States, lead-
ing inevitably to a union with that country. The
injury produced by the French character which
now belongs to the Country, and the predominance
of French principles . . . without a union of the
provinces, must be aggravated by the augmented
influence of those causes arising even from a recent
Act of liberality on the part of the mother country.
According to the colonial system recently adopted,
a direct intercourse between Lower Canada and
France is now permitted. The immediate effects of
this will be to give increased strength to those na-
tional feelings and prejudices which, during sixty
years of interdicted communication with France,
have remained unabated, and to render more invet-
erate the causes of disunion between His Majesty's
Subjects in Lower Canada.

"Notwithstanding the unlimited generosity which
had been displayed toward the conquered, by con-
firming to them their laws and their religion, by
admitting them to a participation in the Govern-

51

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

ment and in all the rights of British Subjects . . .
no advance had been made in effecting a change in
the principles, language, habits, and manners which
characterize them as a foreign people. . . . The
French Canadian population, for a short period of
time after the adoption of the present constitution,
partly from incapacity to exercise the political
powers with which they had become invested,
partly from some remaining deference for their
English fellow-subjects, used their ascendency with
moderation, but this disposition soon yielded to the
inveterate anti-British prejudices, and the English,
with the exception of a small number who have
been elected rather for the sake of appearances than
from any regard for their qualifications, have been
excluded from the House of Assembly. For many
years hardly one-fourth of the representatives were
English. At the present time, out of fifty members,
only ten are English. ... As illustrative of the spirit
by which this body has been actuated ... no person
of British origin has ever been elected Speaker."

After quoting these extracts from the Unionist
petition, Papineau exclaims: — "Are not these ac-
cents of rage and hatred? Are these the sentiments
we might look for from brothers-in-arms with whom
we have so recently striven (1812) to repulse a
common enemy? Will the provincial government
still refuse to sign the petition against the Union?
Or will they, with their usual imbecility, when the
whole country is crying out with indignation against
52

ELLICE AND PAPINEAU

this infamous act of violence, isolate themselves
and sever their interests from those of the country
which it is their duty to govern and not to outrage?"

Ellice and Papineau met by accident, at the
residence of Burdett. The former availed himself
of the opportunity to question his political ad-
versary as to whether the ministry had promised
him to abandon this measure. Papineau replied in
the affirmative, whereupon, Ellice became furiously
angry and declared that they had broken their
pledge to him, and that if they persisted in refus-
ing to fulfil their undertaking, he would publicly
denounce them.

In spite of Ellice's protests, the Union Bill was
well and duly shelved in 1823, and filed away in
the records of Downing street, whence it was to be
brought forth eighteen years later. Ellice and the
Montreal and Quebec merchants were to carry
their point in the end, and conquer soon after their
defeat.

53

CHAPTER VI

PAPINEAU RETURNS TO CANADA— AT WAR
WITH LORD DALHOUSIE

ON his return to Canada in November, 1823,
Papineau wrote forthwith to Neilson, who
had been compelled by important business matters
to return before him. Neilson had no sooner arrived
than he became the object of a shabby perse-
cution on the part of Lord Dalhousie, and was de-
prived by him of the government patronage. "I am
much grieved," Papineau writes to his, friend, "to
find on my return home, that our wretched Admin-
istration, instead of appreciating the services which
a man of your high integrity would be in a position
to render to them, if their policy were just, have
undertaken to persecute you. The first adventurer
who is willing to-day to flatter an incapable such as
the Governor, a vain creature such as the Chief
Justice [Sewell], a contemner of all the rules of
courtesy such as Richardson [a legislative councillor
who had insulted the French Canadians], and some
others of like character, will be received into the
favour of these men — as they received Henry and
other such knaves — in preference to men of high
character, ability and influence, who would refuse
to approve of their odious acts of usurpation."

55

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

Such was the spirit in which Papineau once more
rushed forward to the assault against the crying
abuses he had already so often attacked, and which
owed their prolonged existence to the fact that so
many individuals found profit in maintaining them.

It looked as though the government were playing
into Papineau's hands. He had, time and again,
pointed out the danger of not exercising control
over the public expenditure, of not providing for
responsibility on the part of public officials. These
representations had hardly been uttered again on
his return, when Lord Dalhousie was compelled to
inform the House that the receiver-general, Cald-
well, whose extravagance was a public scandal, had
appropriated to his own use £96,000 of the public
monies. Taking this enormous defalcation as the
basis of his attack, Papineau, in the House, assailed
the governor in a speech which, as we are told by
the historian Bibaud, recalled to one's mind by its
violence the Philippics of Demosthenes and the
fierce invectives of Cicero against Catiline.

Violence of language is not argument, but does
not the government at this time seem to have
been acting in open defiance of decent public
opinion, in allowing this unfaithful official, guilty
of embezzlement and liable to imprisonment, to re-
main at liberty ? It was an insult to the people, who
had been audaciously robbed ; an outrage to public
morality, and a pilfering which recalled the crimes
of Bigot, with the difference that the latter had
56

THE FINANCES

been called to account before the courts by Louis
XV., notwithstanding that that king was not him-
self overburdened with scruples. Time and again
had the assembly denounced the incredible negli-
gence of the government, in failing to require from
Caldwell the ordinary security for the honest dis-
charge of his duty. And yet, strange and incredible
as it may appear, his successor was also appointed
without being compelled to find sureties for the
faithful administration of his office 1

Naturally enough the conclusion of Papineau's
address was an appeal to the House to refuse to
grant supplies. Vallieres, who had come to terms
with the governor, argued against Papineau's motion
and succeeded in defeating him. A rivalry thus
sprang up between the two men, and they will
thenceforth be found acting at times in antagonism.
The supply bill was nevertheless rejected by the
legislative council on the ground that it reduced
the vote for salaries to civil servants by twenty-five
per cent. This was an additional fault to be scored
against the Upper Chamber.

The eternal question of the finances held the first
place during Dalhousie's term, in the councils of the
French Canadians. Appeal after appeal was heard in
London in relation thereto ; but in every instance
these were decided unfavourably to Papineau, whose
temper must have been sharply tried by such a
reply as this from the secretary of state for the
colonies : — " The claims of the House of Assembly

57

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

are unreasonable ; it is the proper term to apply to
them, for they are contrary to the law, and that
body has violated a principle of constitutional law
by refusing to appropriate any portion whatever of
the large revenue it controls, unless the permanent
revenue of the Crown be given up." This was going
too far, and Downing street exaggerated the short-
comings of the House of Assembly. A written
constitution is a very elastic instrument of govern-
ment and in the hands of a man of ability may be
made to adapt itself to the exigencies of the
situation. At the period herein dealt with, Nova
Scotia regulated her expenditure as she thought
proper, without the intervention of the executive-
Papineau writing to Sir James Mackintosh informs
him that in an interview with Lord Dalhousie he
said to the governor: — "When you were governor
of Nova Scotia, you allowed the assembly to vote
the supplies item by item, while you refuse to toler-
ate this procedure here." His Lordship said in reply:
"I was about to alter that system when I was called
to Quebec." This explanation of the governor's was
a pitiful subterfuge which shows clearly that he was
not actuated by principle but simply and solely by
the wish to keep the reins of power in the grasp of
the coterie who had so long profited by its abuse.

What the assembly sought to attain by securing

control of the supplies was the removal of the

abuses which prevailed from top to bottom in every

department of the government, the cumulation of

58

OFFICIAL ABUSES

offices, the sinecures — such as the lieutenant-gov-
ernorship of Gaspe* the incumbent of which was out
of the country, and the post of lieutenant-governor
of Lower Canada.

In the executive council consisting of ten mem-
bers, there sat seven members of the legislative
council, the attorney-general and two clerks of the
legislative council. The president of the executive
council, Jonathan Sewell, also wore the ermine of
the chief justice and president of the court of
appeal. Beside this body strutted a swarm of sine-
curists, including two lieutenant-governors whose
faces had never been seen by those they were
supposed to govern. Of the members of the execu-
tive council, but one was a native of the province
of Lower Canada, the others hailed from the
neighbouring provinces.

No responsibility attached to their acts in the
colony, for their instructions came from the king.
This permanent body was in point of fact the
embodiment of authority, for it possessed the covert
but absolute control of the finances. No sooner did
a new governor arrive than he fell as a matter of
course into the hands of the executive councillors,
who so influenced and indoctrinated him as to
make him an instrument in their hands. Full of
prejudice against the French Canadians and puffed
up with pride and self-conceit, they constantly
treated with scorn and contempt men superior to
themselves in intellect and often in birth.

59

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

The legislative councillors followed in the foot-
steps of the members of the executive in their de-
plorable work. Thus it is that we find that legislative
body on one occasion in their anxiety to please the
executive uttering with full solemnity the constitu-
tional heresy embodied in the following resolution :

"Resolved that the Resolution of the Assembly
in the words following : — 'Resolved, that this House
'will hold personally responsible His Majesty's Re-
' ceiver-General and every other person or persons
' concerned, for all monies levied on His Majesty's
'subjects in this Province, which may legally come into
'his or their hands and be paid over by him or them
'under any authority whatsoever, unless such pay-
'ments be or shall be authorized by an express pro-
' vision of law,' is an attempt to raise their separate
vote above the law by dictating to an officer who is
constitutionally bound to act according to his in-
structions from the Executive Government and not
from either of the two Houses of the Legislature."

It was for a moment hoped that an understanding
had been arrived at on this vexed question. In 1825,
Lord Dalhousie being in England, Sir Francis
Burton, lieutenant-governor, laid before the House
a budget prepared in accordance with its wishes.
This was promptly voted amidst the applause of
the whole country. "At last," people exclaimed,
"here is the question which has caused so much
discord and excited so much angry feeling, banished
from the political arena."
60

CONTINUED STRIFE

This satisfaction was of short duration ; our people
had forgotten the hostility of the colonial office, and
Lord Dalhousie, in the session of 1826, intimated
that Sir Francis Burton had exceeded the limits of
his power and that the House must recur to the
system it had so often refused to accept. To
withdraw a concession once made, even though
made in error, is an act of bad policy, dangerous,
and fraught with provocation. As a matter of fact
it would have been extremely difficult to point out
a single abuse consequent on the budget of 1825.
The governor's course was a challenge and a defi-
ance, and the House expressed its indignation by a
fresh refusal to comply with his wishes as to the
mode of voting the monies required for the ends of
the government.

At the session of 1827 the national party entered
the House stronger than ever; the general elections
held in the previous July had added to the num-
ber of Papineau's followers. He stood forward as
the avowed adversary of Lord Dalhousie, and the
struggle between the two men assumed the charac-
ter of a personal war. Hence, when the House
elected Papineau speaker, the governor refused to
confirm the election. The members refused to
cancel the election, and the governor dissolved
parliament in a speech filled with bitter reproaches
addressed to the House of Assembly.

"I come to close this session of the Provincial
parliament, convinced by the state of your proceed-

61

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

ings, that nothing likely to promote the public
interest can be now expected from your delibera-
tions. Gentlemen of the legislative assembly, it is
painful to me that I cannot speak my sentiments
to you in terms of approbation and thanks. I have
seen seven years pass away without any conclusive
adjustment of the public accounts. I have seen the
measures of the government directly applicable to
the wants of the province thrown aside, the forms
of parliament utterly disregarded ; and in the ses-
sion, a positive assumption of executive authority
instead of that of legislative, which last is alone
your share in the constitution of the state."

Papineau's spirit revolted against these reproaches
which assumed, in his mind, the character of so
many insults offered to his country in the person
of her representatives. Stirred by his eloquent words
the whole province was aroused, and an outburst of
indignation answered his appeal. Resolutions con-
demning the governor were adopted and petitions
addressed to the English government were signed.
As in 1822, it was Papineau who directed the
great national protest. The petitions set forth the
grievances we have just described, but they dwelt
more strongly on certain abuses. Thus, while com-
plaining of the usurpation of authority by Lord
Dalhousie in spending the public monies without
the authorization of the House, the petitioners
pointed out to His Majesty that more than one
half of the revenue was absorbed in paying the
62

ANOTHER APPEAL

salaries of the officials, and that the expenditure
under that head was increasing in face of a declining
revenue. At that time, moreover, public instruction
was cramped and paralysed, and money was needed
in order to place the system on a proper footing.
For thirty years the assembly had striven to secure
the revenue derived from the estates of the Jesuits.
"The properties confiscated from the Order had
been granted to them by the kings of France for
the purposes of education ; let these estates be
devoted to the purpose for which they were origin-
ally granted." Such were the reasonable demands of
the petitioners. As a matter of course, the petitions
are filled with violent attacks on the legislative coun-
cil, "that body composed for the majority of men
who are dependent for their own and their families'
support on salaries attached to their positions, which
they hold only at the governor's good pleasure."
John Neilson was again selected to bear the
complaints of the French Canadians to London.
They relied upon his experience and his modera-
tion and upon the fact that he was a Scots-
man, sharing the opinions of the French Canadians,
and could not be suspected of race prejudice.
M. Cuvillier and D. B. Viger accompanied him.
Our delegates found their mission an arduous task
and a cruel ordeal, struggling as they did against
indifference, contempt, or ill-concealed hostility.
By dint of persistent pleading, however, they suc-
ceeded in putting a committee of the House of

63

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

Commons in possession of the facts of our case ;
and that committee after considering the grievances
complained of, declared : "That the French Canad-
ians must not in any way be disturbed in the
exercise and enjoyment of their religion, their laws,
and their privileges ; that although the right to
appropriate the revenue collected under the Act of
1774 belonged to the Crown, the committee were
of opinion that the true interests of the provinces
would be best promoted by placing the collection
and expenditure of all public revenues under the
control of the House of Assembly; that the
majority of those composing the legislative council
should not consist of persons holding office at the
good pleasure of the government ; and that as
regards the judges, excepting the chief justice only,
it would have been better that they should not
have taken part in the affairs of the House."

The ministry did not press the adoption of this
report in the House of Commons. It did not help
our delegates much, except as eliciting a mild
expression of opinion. It settled nothing and left
matters in statu quo. True the government put
an end to Lord Dalhousie's administration, but the
mere removal of the official head was of no avail, so
long as the abuses continued to exist. It was not
the governors that needed changing, but the spirit
by which they were animated and which had its
inspiration in London.

64

CHAPTER VII

PAPINEAtTS TROUBLES WITH HIS FRIENDS

AS Papineau became more deeply involved in
-^L\. the struggle undertaken against the gover-
nor, the executive council, and the legislative
council, difficulties, sufficient, one would think, to
exasperate him and drive him to despair, sprang up
on every hand. His enemies grouped together hi
solid phalanx, presented an unbroken front to his
attack, while his friends wavered in their allegiance,
and the result of division and jealousy became
manifest in their ranks.

Quebec and Montreal were almost at logger-
heads. As early as 1822 this tendency to a scat-
tering of forces had appeared. The selection of
Papineau and Neilson as delegates to treat with
the English government, had not found approval in
Quebec. On this subject, M. Je'rome Demers, an
ecclesiastic, writes to him from Quebec: "I am by
no means pleased to learn that you have been
selected to take the address to England. All your
Quebec friends are filled with anxiety about you.
All are, of course, convinced that the interests of
the Province could not be entrusted to better
hands, nor would they have ever thought of others
had you not been Speaker of the House. They

65

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

cannot conceive how you could desert your post
without the Consent of the House. They think
you will probably on reaching England find there
letters from Canada blaming you for your so-called
desertion."

So much for his friends, but the envious had also
to be dealt with, and these were the chief cause of
anxiety to M. Demers. But let us further quote his
letter. He says: "Another Speaker must be chosen,
and this election will be the apple of discord cast
into the arena of the Assembly. There are am-
bitious men amongst us whom we do not know
well enough. An unhappy selection might become
fatal to us. But even though the choice be a judic-
ious one and the election be quite irrespective of
passion or personal feeling, would the Executive
give its approval? We have bickering and cavilling
enough already without creating additional cause of
strife. What I dread most is division in our ranks —
division would destroy everything. I wish you were
here for a moment amongst your Quebec friends. I
feel certain that you would remain if you heard
their arguments."

It is evident from this confidential letter that as
early as 1822 Papineau's policy did not commend
itself to all the members of his party. Whether
through weariness or fear of consequences, these
symptoms had become still more marked in 1828;
and there had been here and there outbursts of
revolt against Papineau's absolute rule.
66

HIS RELATIONS WITH NEILSON

The successful conduct of a campaign such as he
was leading demands abundant energy, and skill
in the handling of men — a knowledge of when to
restrain and when to stimulate their energies, and
how to crush the vacillation and discontent which
engender discouragement. Papineau was well fitted
for this work, and his active intellect enabled him
to accomplish the many calls upon his energy. We
find him dispensing unstinted praise on his leading
lieutenants, such as Neilson of Quebec, whom he
seems to have held in highest esteem among them.
He congratulates him on his successful efforts,
and wishes he but had a host of such friends. To
Neilson he unbosomed himself when in ill-humour,
to that friend he opened his heart in the dark hours
which come to all who are charged with the man-
agement of other men. On January 9th, 1827, he
writes to him: — "The injustice done to my coun-
try revolts me, and so perturbs my mind that
I am not always in a condition to take counsel of
an enlightened patriotism, but rather inclined to
give away to anger and hatred of our oppressors."

He is not gentle with those of his party with
whom he feels bound to find fault, or with those
who seem to him to be striving to counteract his
plans. His policy leads him to bear with the latter
as long as possible, and to crush them as soon as he
loses all hope of bringing them once more into line.
In the elections of 1834 we find him slaughtering
certain former adherents whose zeal had grown cold

67

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

in view of his revolutionary tendencies. The diffi-
culties of his position left no room for pity. Napo-
leon, with what has been called his contempt for
the lives of other men, said that in a battle min-
utes are everything and soldiers nothing. Papineau
seemed to think that, in a political struggle in par-
liament, individualities are nothing and votes every-
thing. Thus it was, with seeming cruelty, that he
sacrificed friends whose votes he could not calculate
upon as absolutely safe for his cause. The vacillat-
ing conduct of the Patriotes in Quebec who had un-
dertaken the preparation of the petition against Lord
Dalhousie excited his wrath.1 The protest made by
the Montreal committee seemed to them too severe,
and they decided to prepare one to suit their own
views. Papineau awaited the result of their delibera-
tion, and when several days had passed without
news, gave vent to his anger in the following letter
to Neilson, dated at Montreal, October 8th, 1827:
"I share in the annoyance you must feel at the
sluggishness and hesitations of your committee in
reporting resolutions and the draft of an address to

1 During Papineau's struggle his friends assumed the name of
Patriotes and their opponents were called Bureaucrats. He re-
ferred to the men in power as I' oligarchic. As to those of the French
Canadians who sided with the Bureaucrats and V oligarchic, they were
dubbed Chouayens. The origin of this word is thus explained : At the
taking of Oswego, called Chouagen, by the French led by Montcalm,
some militiamen deserted, and were afterwards called Chouayens with
a slight deflection in the word. Etienne Parent was the first to apply
this soubriquet to those pusillanimous or cowardly countrymen of his
who refused to follow Papineau.
68

A LETTER TO NEILSON

the King, or to Parliament, setting forth the num-
berless grievances chargeable to the present govern-
ment. You will share in our disappointment here
when you learn that all our efforts, so far, have
been confined to the task of restraining the eager-
ness of the people, who are impatiently calling for
a public meeting where their charges may be form-
ulated against Lord Dalhousie. Your committee is
responsible for the false position in which we now
stand. Had the two cities acted in full concert, the
county committees would have followed suit; and
such a combined expression of the wishes of the
country would have more weight than a number of
varying addresses, and best of all, would secure
more prompt action in the matter. We have found
it difficult to induce the people of Montreal to wait
with patience, and I now learn that your people
have only got to the length of talking and speech-
making without coming to any conclusion. A letter
just received informs me that our friend M. Berthe-
lot thinks it may be better simply to send over an
agent without any petition, to ask that he be
followed by another agent and that M. Vallieres
is pouring forth strings of high-sounding elegant
phrases to show that much may be said both for
and against the policy of petitioning the King.
Heavens, what a deluge of words ! And it is not for
lack of brains, but simply lack of character. Does
he feel his silk robe so stuck to his skin that he
cannot lose it without losing strips of flesh and

69

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

enduring unbearable torture? Does he hope to
retain it — can he honourably do so in view of the
affront offered him by his Lordship, in dismissing
him from his position in the militia on account of
his vote in Parliament? To no other man but
yourself would I say thus freely what I think of
M. Vallieres, but I cannot help giving vent to my
grief and vexation when I see him prostituting the
talents with which nature endowed him, at the feet
of a man whom he cannot but hold in contempt."

Amidst all these bickerings and hesitations, Pa-
pineau and his friends must have felt a momen-
tary satisfaction when the bearers of the petition
accomplished the decapitation of Lord Dalhousie.
It was a personal success for him — a sentimental
victory it is true for his self-love — but still a victory.
He did not, however, exult in it in the slightest de-
gree, and, as we find afterwards, he is quite as wrath-
ful as before and hopeless of getting justice from Eng-
land, in view of the fact that her parliament did not
adopt the report of the committee as above stated.

After the departure of Lord Dalhousie, Sir
James Kempt took the reins of power, and there is
then a lull in public affairs, such as that which
characterized the brief administration of Sir Francis
Burton, who was acting-governor during the ab-
sence of Lord Dalhousie, in 1825. Kempt was a
man of seemingly moderate and conciliatory char-
acter and Canadians augured well of his administra-
tion. But the publication of a report made by him
70

KEMPT'S REPORT

in 1829 on the state of the province, once more
upset everything. The minister having asked for his
views as to the expediency of so modifying the
composition of the executive and legislative councils
as to give satisfaction to those forming the majority
of the people of the province, his recommendation
in reply fell short of the demands of the assembly.
Hence, he soon became unpopular and ere long
retired from his position. Nevertheless, his reply to
the home government embodied the open and
undisguised avowal that reforms were needed in
the direction suggested by the minister. A change
was required, he said, in the composition of the
legislative council, consisting as it did of twenty-
three members, of whom twelve were office-holders
and only seven of the twenty-three Catholics; and
also in the executive council, which contained but
one minister who was independent of the Crown
and one single Catholic. After these admissions,
Kempt erred in recommending but little change.
He must, nevertheless, be credited with having
suggested to the minister the policy of taking
members of the legislative assembly into the execu-
tive council. This representation would have had
the effect of giving the people a more direct force in
the administration of the affairs of the country, and
also of placing the government in closer contact,
with the assembly, where matters might have been
discussed in a more practical manner between the
rival parties. Some are inclined to think that the

71

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

presence of one or two ministers in the House of
Assembly was ministerial responsibility in embryo,
and that the full responsibility would have promptly
resulted therefrom. Such was also the opinion of
Cartier expressed in parliament in 1854, when he
blamed Papineau and his friends for having ex-
pelled from the assembly Dominique Mondelet
who had been called to the governor's council.

We know that Papineau was called to the
executive council in 1822 and refused the honour.
Did he see in the proposal a plot to destroy his
ascendency in the House, while leaving him with-
out influence, standing alone in the midst of his-
political opponents ? It is evident that his presence
in the council might have produced excellent
results, had the elements with which he had to
deal been amenable to his influence; but it was far
otherwise. Nor must we forget that Papineau was
the leader of a party and that his party would have
been but a headless trunk, had he entered the
council. There would have been a manifest in-
compatibility between the two positions. Finding
himself in a like alternative, in 1841, LaFontaine
refused to enter the Draper ministry at the request
of Lord Sydenham, on the ground that the interests
of the French Canadians would have been inade-
quately represented.

The same grounds could not be urged against the
presence in the ministry of Dominique Mondelet.
He was not a leader, and in the House and in the
72

PARTY SPIRIT

council his services might have been of use, but
party spirit ran so high at the time, that his ap-
pointment suggested a betrayal. It was one of the
paradoxes of the period: our Patriotes never ceased
complaining of the fact that all the remunerative
posts were given to the English, and yet no sooner
did a godsend of the kind fall to the lot of one of
their own men, than they raised the cry of "Treason !"

73

CHAPTER VIII

LORD AYLMER IN THE PATH OF DALHOUSIE

WE have now reached the year 1830. Papineau
had been in parliament for eighteen years,
and from the hour of his distinguished d£but in
the legislative assembly, he had not ceased to
prosecute the claim of his countrymen to enjoy the
liberties and privileges to which they were entitled
as British subjects. At the close of the eighteen
years of pleading and claiming, he had won nothing
but promises never fulfilled, and that with endless
bickerings and personal insults. Is it to be wondered
at, that under the constant renewal of his hopeless
struggle, his temper should have become embittered,
and that he should have lost confidence in the spirit
of justice of the colonial office where he had so
often applied for redress ; and when Lord Goderich,
a minister of broad views and rational grasp of the
situation, offered him concessions, is it to be won-
dered at that he refused to believe in the sincerity
of his advances ; or is it surprising that he should fail
to believe in the apparent good-will manifested by
Lord Aylmer on his arrival ? During the session of
1830, after perusing the list of grievances com-
plained of by the Canadians, the governor expressed
his astonishment at their number and their im-

75

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

portance, and then, with a degree of frankness
hardly to have been expected from a diplomatist,
but quite natural from a soldier, begged of the
House to say whether the list was quite complete,
and urged them to make diligent search for any
further wrongs that might exist. "For," he said,
"we must put an end to them once for all, and
leave no cause of complaint unremoved."

This conciliatory spirit manifested, at least in
appearance, by the governor on his arrival, was not
exhibited in the relations between the legislative
council and the assembly. With an intensity greater
than ever these two bodies, between whom it was
so desirable that harmonious relations should pre-
vail, looked upon and treated each other as enemies,
and each watched for opportunities to counteract
the plans of the other. Their mutual hostility was
bringing affairs to a crisis. In this session of 1831,
the assembly having sent to the Upper House a bill
excluding judges from the executive and legislative
council, the latter threw out the measure, as it had
thrown out the supply bill the year before.

In the midst of these dissensions the important
despatch from Lord Goderich, offering to Papineau
and his friends a most acceptable compromise in
relation to the financial question, was received in
Quebec. The minister for the colonies declared that
the English government was prepared to give to
the assembly the absolute control of the expendi-
ture, save as to the casual and the Domaine
76

GROWING IRRITATION

revenue, in exchange for a provision of a 'civil list
of £19,000, during the lifetime of the king. In the
second session of 1831, Papineau, with the help of
Bourdages, who was also an advocate of extreme
action, succeeded in defeating the motion for the
adoption of the measure proposed by Lord Goderich.
This was an error much to be regretted on the part
of Papineau. Garneau, the historian, who was him-
self a participant in the events of the period, and
who will hardly be charged with partiality for
the assembly, condemns the conduct of Papineau
and his friends. " Never," he says, " did the House
commit so serious a blunder. But it was already
evident that some fatal influence was hurrying it
beyond the bounds of prudence."1

The irritation which raged in parliament and in
the executive council at length communicated itself
to Lord Aylmer, who in 1832 was at open war with

1 Strange to say, Lord Durham in his famous report on Canadian
affairs, finds extenuating circumstances to Papineau's conduct in refus-
ing to accept full control of the revenue in exchange for the civil list,
because this arrangement would still have left the civil service independ-
ent of the assembly.

"The assembly, after it had obtained entire control over the public
revenues," said Durham, " still found itself deprived of all voice in the
choice or even designation of the persons in whose administration of
affairs it could feel confidence. All the administrative power of govern-
ment remained entirely free from its influence ; and though Mr.
Papineau appears from his own conduct to have deprived himself of
that influence in the government which he might have acquired, I
must attribute the refusal of a civil list to the determination of the
assembly not to give up its only means of subjecting the functionaries
of government to any responsibility."

77

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

the assembly and no longer made a secret of his
antipathy. His entourage fanned the flame of his
displeasure, and did not fail to remind him exult-
ingly that on his first arriving they had told him
how intractable the French Canadians were. Thence-
forth we have but the record of a succession of un-
fortunate and unpardonable blunders. Aimless dis-
cussions take place from day to day, and instead of
seeking to come to an understanding, each party
spends its energies in an effort to inflict annoyance
on the other.

In refusing to accept the concession of Lord
Goderich, Papineau and his friends had departed
from the rule of action of the English system, which
is averse to the absolute, and proceeds only by com-
promise and mutual concessions. Every concession,
however small it may be, must be accepted and in
its turn made the basis of further demands. But the
long and fruitless struggle seemed to have exhausted
the patience of the most hopeful, when we find such
men as LaFontaine, Morin and Bleury, who sub-
sequently proved themselves, under all circum-
stances, moderate in their views and opposed to
every form of violence, joining the ranks of the
followers of Papineau. The fault committed by the
English government was that it waited until 1834
to offer what the Canadians had been claiming
since 1810. It is wise to make concessions to the
people, but they should be granted in due season,
and in such a manner that what is granted freely
78

AN ELECTIVE COUNCIL

and willingly may not appear to be given under
compulsion. Had Louis XVI. and his advisers but
met halfway the men of 1789, who demanded con-
stitutional changes which had become necessary,
perhaps they might have escaped the men of 1791
and 1793. Lord Goderich made his generous pro-
posal at the moment when Papineau, in the height
of the struggle between the assembly and the
council, was making desperate efforts to secure
another reform, to his mind the one, indispens-
able reform, and calculated to bring with it all
the others: the reform of the legislative council.
"An elective council" was the new battle-cry of
1834, and invectives were showered on the partisans
of the vidllards malfaisants (malevolent old men) as
the creatures of the government were denominated.
Addressing the electors of Montreal on Novem-
ber 1st, 1834, Papineau, in a three hours' speech,
attacked the legislative council, and summed up
his grievances against his irreconcilable enemy as
follows: "I solemnly declare that no harmony
whatever can exist in this country, or between the
several branches of the legislature, until the elective
principle shall have been applied to every part
of the administration ; it must above all be applied
to the legislative council, where a pack of old men
paralyse by their ceaseless opposition all the efforts
of the representatives of the people. This opinion is
not mine alone, it is shared by the leading statesmen
of England. The people will therefore support those

79

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

who call for a reform of the council, and they
are sure to succeed. O'Connell, the great friend of
the human race, has promised us that we shall se-
cure this reform if we only persist in our demands.
"Permit me now," he added, "to refute certain
false charges made against us by the council, and
to point out the lack of logic and independence
which characterizes the conduct of that body. Thus
they gave currency to the statement that the
assembly was opposed to any immigration into
this country. Nothing could be more contrary to
the truth. We have done everything possible to
encourage and promote it; in the first place by
giving to foreigners every facility for securing
naturalization, then by taking steps to protect the
immigrants against ill-treatment on the part of
masters of vessels, and by providing them with
assistance on their arrival in the country when they
happen to be in distress. But what happened ? Will
it be credited, the legislative council threw out the
measure making provision for the accomplishment
of those objects, and the subsequent conduct of
that body shows clearly the spirit by which its
members were actuated. On the morrow of the day
on which the bill was rejected, there came a minis-
terial despatch from England recommending the
levy of a tax in order to provide means of assisting
immigrants. We then had the strange spectacle of
seeing the same council reconsider the bill they
had thrown out two days before, and give it their
80

AGAINST THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

sanction, as though to prove to the whole world
their subserviency to the will of the English minis-
ter. We have seen them refuse to grant to persons
charged with crime the British privilege of being
defended by counsel ; we saw them refusing to
allow an action for felony to be entered against the
receiver-general, who had appropriated to his own
uses £100,000 of the monies of the province, and
attempting to justify such refusal by the childish
objection that he was a legislative councillor.

"Let us now speak of another abuse, which,
however, does not seem to be one in the eyes of
that body. We know that the sheriffs of Montreal
and Quebec receive a fee of two and a half per
cent, on the proceeds of the sales they make under
the authority of the law. We may form some idea
of the enormous profits they derive in this way
when we consider that the seigniory of Terrebonne
sold for £20,000 and that the fee of two and a half
per cent, was paid on that sum. The assembly
wanted to put a stop to this abuse, but the council
opposed their views in this matter, because the
sheriff of Montreal is a legislative councillor and
because the son of the sheriff of Quebec is also a
member of that body.

"A bill had been passed," added Papineau, " by
the House of Assembly providing for the printing
of the statutes, and it went to council for approval.
The latter amended it and, inasmuch as it was a
bill dealing with money, the assembly could not

81

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

consent to any alterations being made therein by
the council, any such procedure being contrary to
the principles of the constitution. Nevertheless,
rather than see the bill lost, the assembly adopted
another measure embodying the amendment pro-
posed by the council, and sent it to the latter body.
What are we to think of the council when we find
that they thereupon threw out the bill embodying
their own amendment! Such conduct as this has
no parallel unless we take that of the tyrant Nero
who had his laws inscribed in such small characters
and hung up so high, that nobody could read them,
and yet inflicted torture and death on the man who
was found ignorant of the law or who disobeyed
any of its enactments."

But, a truce to quotations ; we might refer to
many of the grievances chargeable to the council,
which body one day incurred the censure of Lord
Stanley ; but the latter was not then minister of the
colonies, a position in which he showed himself the
cruel and pitiless enemy of the Canadians. Was not
Papineau's proposal to make the council elective an
error in tactics ? Could the English government
accede to his wishes ? To make the council elective
would have been to create alongside of the assembly
another body in which the French element would
predominate, thus giving to that race the ascend-
ency and supremacy in the administrative system.
There would thus have been once more a rupture
in the equilibrium of the forces. In theory, Papineau
82

THE MINORITY CASE

seems to us unassailable, for the Canadians, being
subjects of His Majesty by the same right as the
others, it was utterly unjust to consider their origin
a blemish. That they would have used the power
concentrated in their hands in such a manner as to
satisfy the aspirations of all classes of the popu-
lation, there is no reason whatever to doubt; sub-
sequent experience has demonstrated this clearly.
But then, was Papineau justified, before the experi-
ment, in expecting for a moment that the British
statesmen of the colonial office, men subject like
most men to prejudices of race and religion, would
consent to place those of their own nationality
at the mercy of a French majority — looked upon
as hostile to the English element ?

Many of our writers who have studied this period
have considered its issues as though French inter-
ests alone had been at stake. Now, if it be admitted
that the election of the members of the legislative
council by the people would virtually annihilate the
power of the English minority, it is unreasonable
to suppose that this minority would readily permit
itself to be thus stripped of political influence.
Papineau should have felt that it was impossible to
comply with the demands ; and he probably did
feel it. Why then did he persist with such violent
obstinacy in urging them ? His very natural exas-
peration had, in the end, rendered him intractable
and he could no longer control himself when he
saw his opponents ceaselessly plotting, as he writes

83

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

to Neilson, "in order that the minority may rule
the majority without being annoyed by the com-
plaints of their victims. It is odious," he adds,
"to see every office and position closed against our
people when the laws do not exclude them ; to see
them contributing nine-tenths of the revenue and
receiving but one-tenth, and to feel that the posses-
sion of influence in this country is a passport to
persecution." Simply because the Canadians then
claimed their share of patronage, certain persons
have ventured to conclude that, after all, the chief
cause of the agitation was a struggle for place and
position, in which the Canadians were disappointed.
To deal with the question in this way is to look at
it through the wrong end of the glass, to debase it
to the level of vulgar interest, when the disinterest-
edness of Papineau should place him high above
such contemptible insinuation. Had he been willing
to accept the offers of Lord Dalhousie, it is clearly
manifest that his fortune was made.

The insinuation is not worthy of consideration.
No doubt the question of patronage was a factor,
and rightly a factor, in the claims of the Canadians,
since they contributed nine-tenths of the revenue.
That the holding of places was of importance, the
adversaries of Papineau could not deny, as they
themselves made such efforts to monopolize them.
What it was worth their while to grasp and cling
to with might and main, the others might surely be
allowed to seek and to share in.
84

CHAPTER IX

THE NINETY-TWO RESOLUTIONS

WHEN about to rush into the throes of revo-
lution, men feel it needful to pause and
reflect before venturing into the hazards of the
fateful struggle. In 1774 the representatives of the
English colonies assembled in Philadelphia de-
clared their independence. This defiance hurled at
England was couched in forcible language, setting
forth the grievances which Virginia and her neigh-
bours complained of, and formulating the principles
which, from the standpoint of the malcontents,
underlie the liberties inherent to humanity. These
grievances numbered twenty-seven. The men of
1789 in France, in order to show their fealty to
tradition, put forth their famous declaration of the
rights of man, which has since furnished the theme
of many an eloquent piece of declamation. Papineau
and his friends formulated their grievances in the
shape of ninety-two resolutions, the drafting of
which is attributed to Morin, the ablest political
writer of the day. The inspiration is, of course,
from Papineau, and there are to be found through-
out the lengthy indictment violent outbursts but
little in harmony with the indolent character of
the gentle Morin, which doubtless are retouchings

85

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

from the hand of Papineau. One recognizqs here
and there the lion's claws.

The statesman requires as a quality of tem-
perament a degree of patience and good humour,
which Papineau lacked at this period of his
career. "We must take all things seriously and
nothing tragically," said Thiers to Jules Favre,
when the latter spoke despondently during the
negotiations with Bismarck for the treaty of 1871.
Papineau's state of exasperation in and about 1834
caused him to take everything au tragique: the
sayings and doings of the governor, the uncom-
promising attitude of the legislative council, etc.
When Lord Aylmer says a word of remonstrance
to the assembly for persistently refusing the sup-
plies, the censure forthwith becomes a national
insult. Papineau's young friends, LaFontaine and
Morin, and his lieutenant, O'Callaghan (of The
Vindicator), elected in the wholly French county of
Richelieu by will of the chief, were not shocked by
the violence of his language, while moderate men,
such as Neilson, Cuvillier, Quesnel and Debartzch,
withdrew from his camp. Meantime, the press
devoted to the cause of the Patriotes poured hot
shot into the ranks of the common enemy. The
attacks are no longer confined to the provincial
authorities, but include also the British govern-
ment. The intemperance and license of language
verges on sedition. Such is the exasperation of the
Patriotes, and so distorted is their mental vision by
86

RIOT AND BLOODSHED

passion that they fancy they see conspirators every-
where, and when gathered in conclave in their
committee-room they hear footsteps in the wall
and dread of treason haunts them on every hand.

There occurred in 1831 certain untoward events
which brought to a climax the bitterness of the
strife between the parties to the struggle. It is easy
to fancy, in view of the exasperation of mind
which prevailed, the acrimony with which the elec-
toral contests must have been fought out in the
towns where the English and the Canadians looked
upon each other as deadly enemies. They were
carried on amid scenes of wrangling and fighting;
sticks and stones and blows took the place of
argument and discussion. During the election which
took place in Montreal in May, 1831, violence so
ruled that it became necessary to call out the
soldiers of the garrison to put an end to a serious
riot. They were ordered to fire on the rioters, and
three citizens were shot. Colonel Mackintosh, the
commander of the troops, was branded as a mur-
derer by the press, and Papineau called upon Lord
Aylmer to come from Quebec to Montreal and deal
with this deplorable affair. Lord Aylmer disregarded
the summons, and his adversaries strove to make
him responsible for the loss of life.

As though this unfortunate affair had not already
sufficiently exasperated national animosity in the
province, the Asiatic cholera, imported into the
country by immigrants, scattered death, mourning

87

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

and consternation in Montreal and Quebec, and the
enemies of the governor and his entourage did
not hesitate to denounce them before the public as
the first cause of the ravages of the dread scourge.
It was, they declared, their culpable negligence or
their guilty subserviency to the merchants of Mont-
real who opposed the preventive measure of a quar-
antine, that left the country unprotected against
the entrance of the disease.

In 1834, on the second appearance of the cholera,
and following the precedent of 1832, the national
party again sought to hold Lord Aylmer responsible
for the ravages of the scourge. " It was he," they
declared, "who refused to shut it out by closing the
gate of the St. Lawrence; he it was who enticed the
sick immigrants into the country, in order to deci-
mate the ranks of the French Canadians." The more
moderate simply charged him with having, as be-
fore, refused, in deference to the merchants, whose
interests would have been affected by the quaran-
tine regulations, to stop the infected vessels below
Quebec.

At a meeting of the constitutional committee
held at Montreal on November 3rd, 1834, at which
were present Papineau, LaFontaine, D. B. Viger,
Joseph Cardinal and A. N. Morin, it was resolved
to appoint a committee "to enquire into the ravages
caused last summer by that cruel disease the Asiatic
cholera; into the causes of its introduction, and the
participation therein, whether by act or omission,
88

THE RESOLUTIONS

culpable and voluntary, of the present Governor-
General and the Provincial Executive." As a matter
of course, this forms one of the grievances set forth
in the ninety-two resolutions. It is difficult to
believe that sensible men could commit themselves
to so glaring an exaggeration. But we must re-
member that in times of excitement the mind often
becomes disturbed and loses its sense of proportion,
A thing, which in ordinary times passes unnoticed,
then assumes gigantic importance. In such an
atmosphere of excitement the ninety-two resolu-
tions were conceived, calculated as they were to
produce an effect contrary to what must have been
the expectations of their framers.

Couched in the pompous, grandiloquent language
of the period, they embody, together with the enu-
meration of the grievances so often complained of,
a number of things entirely out of place, if the
Patriotes were anxious to secure the reform of
the abuses complained of. Nothing was gained by
saying to the king, to whom the resolutions are
addressed: "We are in no wise disposed to admit
the excellence of the present constitution of Can-
ada, although the present colonial secretary un-
seasonably and erroneously asserts that the said
constitution has conferred on the two Canadas the
institutions of Great Britain." Were such criticisms
calculated to win over the minds of those from
whom the reforms were to come? Hardly less of a
blunder was the declaration of democratic principles

89

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

forming the basis of the thirty-seventh resolution.
Any one who reads that declaration of radical prin-
ciples will see what a deplorable effect it must have
produced in London: "Your Majesty cannot fail to
observe that the political world in Europe is at this
moment agitated by two great parties, who in
different countries appear under the several names
of Serviles, Royalists, Tories, and Conservatives, on
the one side, and of Liberals, Constitutionalists,
Republicans, Whigs, Reformers, Radicals, and sim-
ilar appellations on the other; that the former party
is, on the American Continent, without any weight
or influence except what it derives from its Euro-
pean supporters, and from a trifling number of
persons who become their dependents for the sake
of personal gain, and of others who from age or
habit cling to opinions which are not partaken
by any numerous class, while the second party
overspreads all America. We are, then, certain that
we shall not be misunderstood with regard to the
independence which it is our wish to see given to
the Legislative Council, when we say that Your
Majesty's Secretary of State is mistaken if he
believes that the exclusion of a few salaried Officers
would suffice to make that body harmonize with
the wants, wishes and opinions of the People, as
long as the Colonial Governors retain the power of
preserving in it a majority of Members rendered
servile by their antipathy to every liberal idea."
Now what possible accession of strength could
90

DEMOCRATIC IDEALS

this democratic profession of faith afford to the just
claims of the French Canadians ? To our mind it is
a strangely discordant episode, and more injurious
than helpful to the cause. But let us not forget
that great popular movements are always a fruit-
ful field for declamation. Full of the subject,
thinking of nothing but their own cause, Papineau
and his adherents sought the means of attain-
ing liberty; their aspirations towards an ideal of
justice, seldom realized, took complete control of
their minds, and impelled them to give full vent
to their sentiments at every possible opportunity.
Nor must we overlook the fact that the great
current of the romantic school, with all its exuber-
ance of language and its grandiloquence, which
pervaded France in 1830, was then overrunning
the world with its high-sounding periods. But how
flat this vehement contrast of American democracy
with European monarchism must have fallen upon
English ears!

The next resolution is couched in a strain still
more objectionable, with its preface that no threat
is intended, and then proceeding in a comminatory
tone throughout: "With regard to the following
expressions in one of the Despatches before men-
tioned from the Colonial Secretary: 'Should events
'unhappily force upon Parliament the exercise of
'its supreme authority to compose the internal dis-
'sensions of the Colonies, it would be my object
'and my duty as a Servant of the Crown, to submit

91

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

'to Parliament such modifications of the Charter of
'the Canadas as should tend, not to the introduction
'of Institutions inconsistent with Monarchical Gov-
' eminent, but to maintaining and strengthening
'the connection with the Mother Country, by a
'close adherence to the spirit of the British Consti-
'tution, and by preserving in their proper place,
'and within due limits, the mutual rights and
'privileges of all classes of His Majesty's Subjects'
— if they are to be understood as containing a threat
to introduce into the constitution any other modi-
fications than such as are asked for by the majority
of the people of the Province, whose sentiments
cannot be legitimately expressed by any other
authority than its representatives — this House would
esteem itself wanting in candour to Your Majesty,
if it hesitated to call Your Majesty's attention
to the fact, that in less than twenty years the popu-
lation of the United States of America will be
greater than that of Great Britain, and that of
British America will be greater than that of the
former English Colonies, when the latter deemed
that the time was come to decide that the inappre-
ciable advantage of being self-governed, ought to
engage them to repudiate a system of Colonial
government which was, generally speaking, much
better than that of British America now is. Your
Majesty will doubtless do Your Majesty's faithful
Subjects sufficient justice not to construe into a
threat this prediction founded on the past, of a fact
92

OFFENSIVE REFERENCES

which from its nature cannot be prevented. We
are, on the contrary, convinced that the just appre-
ciation of this fact by Your Majesty will prevent
those misfortunes which none could deplore more
deeply than we should do, and which would be
equally fatal to Your Majesty's Government, and to
the People of these Provinces. And it is perhaps
here that we ought to represent with the same
frankness, that the fidelity of the People and
the protection of the Government are correlative
obligations, of which the one cannot long subsist
without the other; and that, nevertheless, by reason
of the defects which exist in the Laws and Consti-
tution of this Province, and of the manner in which
those Laws and that Constitution have been ad-
ministered, Your Majesty's faithful Canadian sub-
jects are not sufficiently protected in their lives,
their property and their honour."

One would think from the offensive tone of
this untimely and disagreeable reference to the
American revolution, which is made with such ap-
parent relish, that the House wanted to defy the
English government. There is nothing more about
imploring a redress of grievances, but a warning
that unless justice be quickly done, comfort will
be sought in Washington. Such was the singular
blindness with which the serious part of the ninety-
two resolutions was prefaced with threats, with the
evocation of past events full of unpleasant memories
for the British government, and with a reference to

93

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

the progress of the Americans, which could not
mean anything else in this instance but that the
House would in the end seek their assistance. This
was a poor way of conciliating those to whose sense
of justice an appeal was made for a fair consideration
of the claims of the Canadians, and was a foolish play-
ing into the hands of the unionists, who unceasingly
charged Papineau and his friends with disloyalty.
These unfortunate episodes were the more to be
regretted from the fact that the real grievances are
afterwards set forth in the manifesto with a degree
of force and clearness which demonstrates their
seriousness.

Some of the resolutions are truly to the point,
when, for example, attention is called to the fact that
the executive government has, for a great number
of years, contrary to the rights of the House and the
constitution, set up claims to the control over and
power of appropriating a great part of the revenue
raised in this province ; that it has sold the waste
lands of the Crown to create for itself a revenue ;
that the result of the secret and unlawful distribution
of a large portion of the revenue has been that the
provincial government has considered itself bound
to account for the public money to the commissioner
of the treasury in England, and not to the House ;
that the abuses aforesaid have taken from the
House even the shadow of control over the expen-
diture of the province, and rendered it impossible
to ascertain at any time the amount of revenue
94

CHARGES AGAINST AYLMER

collected, the disposable amount of the same, and
the sums required for the public service.

The arraignment of the legislative council in the
ninety-two resolutions is still more severe than that
of the executive. We must remember here that
if under Lord Dalhousie the battle cry was, " Give
us control of the supplies," during Lord Aylmer's
rdgime, the Patriot es wrote on their banner, "Re-
form of the Legislative Council." This body was the
arch-enemy whose members were held up to public
contempt as vieillards malfaisants. The past history
of the legislative council is recalled in violent terms,
and in its present situation it is depicted as a body
composed of sinecurists, largely paid by emoluments
from the Crown, whose devotees they were. It was
thought by Papineau that an elective council would
strike existing abuses at their root, that is, give the
assembly control of the finances. Lord Aylmer is
also bitterly attacked in the resolutions. Parliament
is asked to impeach him "for having recomposed
the legislative council so as to increase the dis-
sensions which rend the colony; for having disposed
of public money without the consent of the House,"
and on other grounds, ten in number. One would
have expected to find the Canadians, instead of
demanding a reform of the legislative council by
making its members elective, pointing to a still
surer means of obtaining justice. Why did not
Papineau claim ministerial responsibility ? There is
no reference to it in the petition embodying the

95

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

ninety-two resolutions. And yet, as far back as 1808,
Pierre Bedard, as Papineau well knew, had moved
in the House of Assembly a resolution to the effect
that the House would gladly see its benches occu-
pied by ministers holding office in virtue of the
suffrages of the representatives of the people. Minis-
terial responsibility did not exist at Washington,
and Papineau looked only in that direction for
his ideal of government.

Following Papineau's manifesto — the ninety-two
resolutions — the press of the day never wearied of
publishing comparisons between the English system
of government and the American. Whether from
policy or from sincerity there was an attempt to con-
vince Downing street that the Patriotes borrowed
their political ideas from the United States. And,
in fact, ever since that day, it has been the fashion,
whenever things go wrong in Canada, to hold up an-
nexation as the panacea for all the evils complained
of. In 1848, our leading politicians advocated an-
nexation as a means of bringing prosperity to Can-
ada, and since confederation sporadic demonstrations
of annexationist sentiment have broken out in several
of our provinces, occasioned by depression of trade
or vague dissatisfaction with the new system.

A study of Papineau's manifesto, and a general
examination of the ideas current at that time
have convinced us that the non-fulfilment in the
past of the oft-repeated promises of reform made
by the British authorities had long since destroyed
96

AN AVOWED ANNEXATIONIST

in his mind all hope of ever obtaining justice at
their hands. Distrust took possession of him once
and for all. Moreover, a fresh influence had imper-
ceptibly begun to exert its power over the tribune
of the people with the effect of urging him to ad-
vance more resolutely on the new lines. The breach
between Papineau and Neilson, so long his trusted
mentor, had thrown the former into the hands
of a group of young and ardent men, including
O'Callaghan, who saw no salvation for Canada but
in a union with the great republic. The endless delays
of the colonial office, the tyranny of the governor,
the contemptuous attitude assumed by the entou-
rage of that official towards the Canadians, and the
hostility of the legislative council had made Papi-
neau an annexationist.

97

CHAPTER X

"LA CONVENTION"

THE vehement protest known as the "Ninety-
Two Resolutions," which voiced the complaints
and indignation of half a million of people, was
apparently to fall flat and bring no result. Did Lord
Stanley, the colonial minister, intend to treat the
Canadian people with silent contempt? Papineau
soon gave him to understand that he was not the
man to accept scornful silence in place of a serious
answer. No sooner was the House called together
than the storm raging within his breast burst forth
with fury. The sittings of February 23rd and 24th,
1835, when Papineau and his lieutenants gave
vent to their pent-up wrath, were days to be
remembered in the annals of parliament. They
resembled the revolutionary scenes of the Conven-
tion of 1792; the importance of the interests at
stake, the violence of language, and the theatrical
attitude, recall, on a reduced scale of course, the
memorable debates wherein the lives of the speakers
were at stake. This tragic side is lacking in the case
of the assembly, but in the perspective of the
future, we have a glimpse of the executions of
1838.

In the foreground of this struggle, playing the

99

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

two-fold and contradictory part of speaker of the
House and party leader, is Papineau. His duty as
speaker is to soothe the angry passions which, as gen-
eralissimo of the Patriotes, he himself has aroused,
and this duty he carefully refrains from doing.
With his fierce voice, his real or simulated bursts
of anger, the prestige of his eloquence, his manly
head well set upon his stalwart frame, is not he
another Danton, but a Danton without his cruelty?
Words can give no idea of the violence of his out-
bursts of passion, and of the agitation produced in
the House, when, addressing Lord Aylmer person-
ally, he held him responsible for the death of the
three Canadians shot down by the soldiers during
the Montreal election in 1831. "Craig," he ex-
claimed, "merely cast the people into prison, but
Aylmer slaughters them." One remarkable feature
amongst many others of the session of 1835 is the
attacks upon the governor. In our day the governor
reigns but does not govern, and in all his acts he is
shielded by his ministers. It is understood by all
that his person is to remain outside, and that he is
to be excluded from all discussion. In striking con-
trast with this modern usage was the practice hi
Papineau's day. The governor was then the chief
object of attack, and we find the tribune furiously
assailing " Mathew, Lord Aylmer," and calling upon
the English government to impeach him.

Morin opened fire. This worthy citizen, who,
from and after 1840, seems to have been a model
100

MORIN AS A PATRIOTE

of moderation, serenity, and reserve, has always
seemed to us to have been out of place in the
character of an agitator. The future cabinet minister
(of the MacNab-Morin government) and judge
of the court of appeal was not, however, averse
to the use of strong language if he be the au-
thor of certain articles in La Minerve of that
day, articles which were absolutely seditious. We
must not judge Papineau's lieutenants by then*
subsequent demeanour and conduct ; for it is mani-
fest that prior to 1838 they thought and acted
wholly under the spell of their leader who had
imparted to them something of his own fierce spirit.
While not up to the standard of Papineau's dis-
courses for vivacity or sentiment, the address in
which Morin presented his motion to take into
consideration the state of the province contains
passages of such animation and vigour as to sur-
prise us coming from him, — for example his opening
words: "I rise to move that the House do now go
into committee of the whole to consider the state
of the province, a step which I hold to be necessary
in order that we may ascertain whether we are to be
governed in accordance with the laws and the rights
of British subjects, and whether we are to enjoy in
very truth the advantages of constitutional liberty,
or to grow beneath the yoke of the tyranny which
now oppresses us, and which is spreading its infec-
tion amongst us under the most odious form."
Conrad Augustus Gugy, a noted personage of

101

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

the period, undertook to defend the government.
A shrewd advocate and a well seasoned debater, he
was now the only man fit to break a lance with
Papineau, for Neilson, the Stuarts, Cuvillier, and
Quesnel had lost their seats in parliament as the
penalty for opposing the ninety-two resolutions.
He was not master of the higher order of eloquence,
but how skilfully he wields the blade of irony and
sarcasm 1 His mode of fighting was precisely that
best calculated to exasperate Papineau, and cause
him to lose all self-control.

In order to take things in their proper order, let
us point out that Morin's motion was moved on
the first day of the session, before the consideration
of the governor's speech which, according to con-
stitutional usage, is the first matter to be dealt with
by parliament. This departure from established
usage elicited the following remarks from Gugy:
"It seems to me we are going very fast. We have
only just heard His Excellency's speech, and we
are already calling for a committee on the state of
the province 1 The governor tells us that he has
received despatches, and we do not know whether
he has not received orders to remedy the grievances
of which the majority complained last year, and yet
we are already calling for a committee. This is
going faster still than I expected. I have not
opposed the appointment of this committee because
I had not the faintest hope of succeeding. But,
according to my view, it would have been natural
102

GUGY'S DEFENCE

to hope for a removal of the grievances and to wait
for it."

Gugy then enters into the pith of the subject,
and deals with the grievances of the Canadians. In
a bantering tone and in the presence of the popular
tribune, who was so deeply sensible of the greatness
of his own mission, and who had complained that
the abuses set forth in the ninety-two resolutions
were still in a most active existence, Gugy under-
takes to belittle the cause of the Patriotes: " After
all is said and done," he declared, " the whole thing
is a mere hunt for offices, which positions are
claimed without any attempt to inquire whether
there are to be found a sufficient number of edu-
cated Canadians to fill them." Papineau and his
friends, with their threats against England and
against the governors, are in Gugy's eyes simply
revolutionists and followers of Robespierre and
Danton. He compares the House to the French
Convention and charges it with driving the country
into civil war, a prediction too soon to be realized,
but which at the time raised a laugh at the expense
of the speaker.

Papineau in his reply began' by pleasantly chaff-
ing the " military " member. Gugy was a major in
the militia, and we shall find him in 1837 serving
with the English soldiers, and notably with Colborne
at St. Eustache, where he was one of the first to
enter the church after the defeat of Chenier's party.
"Mr. Gugy," says Papineau, "has talked to us

103

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

again about an outbreak and civil war — a ridiculous
bugbear which is regularly revived every time the
House protests against these abuses, as it was under
Craig, under Dalhousie, and still more persistently
under the present governor; the honourable gentle-
man, no doubt, having studied military tactics as a
lieutenant in the militia — I do not say as a major,
for he has been a major only for the purposes of the
parade ground and the ballroom — is quite com-
petent, perhaps, to judge of the results of a civil
war and of the forces of the country, but he need
not fancy that he can frighten us by hinting to us
that he will fight in the ranks of the enemy. All his
threats are futile, and his fears but the creatures of
imagination. Our constitution has been meted out
to us by a champion of aristocratic privileges, an
enemy of liberal institutions, by Mr. Pitt, whose
political system has revolutionized Europe, and who
has delayed reform in England, and who has shown
himself not a whit more favourable to liberty for
Canada than for England itself; and when we
ask for an amendment of this imperfect and faulty
Constitutional Act, from the very authority which
enacted it, the English parliament, we do not
expect that our claim shall be considered revo-
lutionary, or calculated to create a rebellion in the
land. But the men who make these charges call
themselves Reformers 1 This it was that made Mr.
Hume say recently in his address to his constitu-
ents : The name of Reformer has become a term of
104

A REFERENCE TO AYLMER

reproach since the Tories, the most tenacious uphold-
ers of abuses, have usurped it. Now in this country
our so-called Reformers talk of Revolution when we
ask for reforms."

After he had thus disposed of Gugy's charges,
Papineau dealt with the subject of the motion in
relation to the consideration of the state of the
province: "The objections raised by the honourable
gentleman [Mr. Gugy], to this motion," he said,
"are based on no other arguments but these: you
are going too fast ; the thing is new and unusual.
He is quite satisfied with things as they are, and is
perfectly calm and undisturbed amidst the com-
plaints and sufferings of a whole people. In these
unhappy times, under the rule of an administration
daily guilty of fresh errors and fresh blunders, it is
absurd to set up the pretext of mere forms and
usages in order to prevent us from considering the
state of the province. But is it necessary that M.
Morin's petition should be dealt with by the House
and adopted by vote ? This must be the wish of all
who desire that wheresoever the power of England
rules, there also English liberty may prevail. Under
the rule of a soldier [Aylmer] who is governing us
with ignorance, passion, and partiality for the mili-
tary to the extent of shielding them when they
have slaughtered our fellow-citizens, it is necessary
that we should once more address the English
parliament. This petition sets forth the grievances
which have cropped up since last year under this

105

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

military governor. The honourable member for
Sherbrooke [Mr. Gugy] says that the governor has
received despatches, and that probably these des-
patches shall fill our hearts with joy and happiness.
But happiness cannot come to us through those
who have inflicted on us so many evils. The greatest
happiness of all would be the removal from amongst
us of the men who have been the scourge of this
colony. The institutions we have complained of, the
injuries, the injustice, the flagrant abuses are still
the same, nay, they have increased and multiplied
C in an appalling manner ! Shall we hesitate to declare
I that we are ruled by a corrupt faction ? "

Throughout the session of 1835, a very short
one, the debates were all characterized by this
excited strain. The year before, on the adoption of
the ninety-two resolutions, Lord Aylmer had taken
upon himself, in dismissing the House, to assert that
these obnoxious resolutions were so far removed
from the normal moderation and urbanity of the
French Canadians, that persons unaware of the true
state of things would find it difficult to believe that
they were not the result of an extraordinary public
fermentation, notwithstanding that the utmost
tranquillity prevailed without. This characterization
of the ninety-two resolutions, Papineau caused at
the present session to be erased from the journals
of the assembly, and declared discourteous and
unconstitutional, in spite of the protestations of
some of the Patriotes, who were astounded by
106

AGAINST THE GOVERNOR

Papineau's way of acting. The fact was that he
loved to act with authority where he felt himself to
be the stronger, even at the expense of offending
some of his weak-kneed followers.

Let us now see how Papineau answered Lord
Aylmer's reprimand. His reply is quite the most
virulent speech he uttered during the session: "Mr.
Morin has told us that he would not submit to the
committee any other matters but this petition.
Many other questions might be dealt with, but
I venture to refer specially to one matter of great
importance, which also requires the attention of
this committee, namely, the uncalled for and insult-
ing speech delivered by Mathew, Lord Aylmer, at
the close of the last session. Nothing could be more
debasing and indiscreet than this discourse. A man
with a certain dignity to maintain should not de-
base and degrade himself to the extent of taking
pleasure in offering insult. His speech to the mem-
bers of this House was addressed to the people.
The insult is offered to them as well as to us, their
representatives. It is futile to object that the speech
was directed against the former House, for we are
bound to avenge an insult cast at the whole
nation.

"As to the grievances set out in this petition
[a new statement of grievances addressed to the
king], I shall confine myself to the declaration that
the country is suffering under the worst possible
evils, and that grief and affliction prevail through-

107

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

out the land. Complaints and discontent are wide-
spread. Men ask what is the meaning of a repre-
sentative government, when its officials think they
have the right to do and dare everything. Con-
vinced of the existence of this state of things, and
well aware of the sentiments of our people, I will
strive my utmost against a government whom it
would be a crime not to denounce, sustained as it
is by one branch of the legislature, which has the
bare-faced effrontery to call itself the protector of
the minority. The English minority are untrue to
their citizenship when they segregate themselves
from their fellow-subjects in order to secure privi-
leges for themselves only; and thenceforth they are
no longer entitled to the protection of the laws,
unless the people of this country are so far demoral-
ized as to lie down submissively at the feet of the
few, which I do not believe. But our opponents say
rto us: 'Let us be brothers!' I am perfectly willing
for my part, but you want all the power, all the
places, and all the pay, and still you complain more
than we do. This is something we cannot put up
with. We demand political institutions in keeping
with the state of society in which we live, and
which have rendered the former colonies of Eng-
land far happier than we are. These reforms would
completely change and alter for the better the very
men who, as members of the council, feel that they
have a mission to do evil. They crept in by the
portal of flattery, and they maintain their position
108

LAFONTAINE AND THE STRUGGLE

by the exercise of oppression. Hence, not a day
should be lost in the effort to secure the good
results we have in view. I recommend also that the
speech at the close of the session be considered as
embodying a censure of this House, of which an
instance occurs in the speech of General Craig
in 1810. Craig, I may remind the House, confined
himself to inflicting only imprisonment on our
people, whereas the present man shoots them down.
Speeches such as this have always been discussed,
and that of the last session must not be passed over
in silence."

It is needless to add that the obnoxious speech
was struck off the journals of the House. Every-
thing went through with a rush, in these memor-
able sittings of the year 1835. And whenever some
weak-kneed member begged for time to look into
the question submitted for consideration, he was
rudely and promptly snubbed by the high-handed
leader himself, or by Morin or LaFontaine. The
latter often took part in the debates, speaking with a
degree of vehemence, probably factitious, which he
never manifested after the great crisis of the period.
He was, as a rule, cold and extremely abrupt
when he spoke. We never find him indulging in
the simplest flight of the imagination, and he gave
his hearers nothing but logic stripped of every
ornament. There was nothing in his style or manner
to suggest a recurrence to the type of the French
Convention, and while some of his speeches in 1835

109

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

are of a violent character, it is because he was
under the spell of Papineau's eloquence, and simply
the echo of his domineering leader.

It was during this session of 1835 that the great
agitator broke away forever from the English gov-
ernment and parliament, for he had as little confi-
dence now in the Whigs as in the Tories. "When
reform ministries," he said, in addressing the House
on February 24th, 1835, "who called themselves
our friends, have been deaf to our complaints, can
we hope that a Tory ministry [Peel's], the enemy of
Reform, will give us a better hearing? We have
nothing to expect from the Tories unless we can
inspire them with fear or worry them by ceaseless
importunity." The irreconcilable spirit manifested
by Papineau in the foregoing declaration inevitably
forced him into conflict with the new governor,
Lord Gosford, who being entrusted with a mission
of conciliation by the English government, and full
of pacific intentions on his own behalf, came for-
ward with the olive branch of peace in his hand.

110

CHAPTER XI

LORD GOSFORD: NEARING THE DENOUEMENT

CONSIDERING the fact that the quarrel be-
V_^ tween Lord Aylmer and Papineau was steadily
assuming a more aggravated character, the colonial
office put an end to his administration in the fall of
1835, and sent out in his place Lord Gosford, in the
two-fold capacity of governor and royal commis-
sioner, appointed with two colleagues, Sir Charles
Grey and Sir George Gipps, to inquire into the
condition of the province, with a view to finding
a solution of the serious problem which had then
absorbed public attention for thirty years.

By character and temperament, Lord Gosford
was a man of moderation. Hence, no sooner had he
reached Quebec than he sought to win the con-
fidence of the Canadians. He presided unceasingly
at all their entertainments, attended the distribution
of premiums at the Quebec Seminary, and gave
a ball on the feast of Sainte Catharine. He went
so far in his efforts to please the people in every
possible way, that the official class and the legis-
lative council party showed signs of taking umbrage.
Doctor Henry, surgeon to a regiment then in
garrison at Quebec, expressed the views of his
associates on Lord Gosford's way of acting, in a

111

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

letter addressed to the governor through the press,
and couched in the following words : " My Lord, I
have observed the kindness of your nature shown in
many ways, I have witnessed your urbanity and
affability to all, and you will, I hope, pardon me for
adding that I have also been cognisant of your
extensive private charities. You have undertaken
the task of reconciling conflicting interests, passions
and prejudices, and you have thrown into the en-
deavour all the cordiality of a generous Irishman.
Would to God that your praiseworthy attempts
to calm the waters of political strife may not all
be thrown away ! Yet I am deeply pained, fearing,
as I do fear, that you are in fact and truth de-
ceiving yourself in the honesty and generosity
of your heart. My Lord, I fear that you are ex-
pending political courtesies and private conviviali-
ties with a lavish hand, and * coining your cheek to
smiles/ in vain. There is one fatal and insuperable
obstacle in your way. There is one man, Papirieau,
whom you cannot convert, because he is absolutely
unconvertible By a wrong-headed and melan-
choly alchemy, he will transmute every public
concession into a demand for more, in a ratio equal
to its extent; whilst his disordered moral palate,
beneath the blandest smile and the softest language,
will turn your Burgundy into vinegar."

Papineau, it is true, occasionally accepted Lord
Gosford's invitations, and the latter subsequently
(1847) asserted that if he had known the popular
112

LORD GOSFORD

tribune better, he might have come to terms with
him. But an unfortunate incident put an end to the
seeming harmony which now began to dawn ; we
say seeming, for it may be that Papineau went
to government house simply to ascertain, in his
intercourse with Lord Gosford, what were the real
views of the colonial office. The idea of seeking in
annexation the freedom which Downing street
persistently refused to grant us, had then a strong
hold on his mind. Nevertheless, is it not to be pre-
sumed that, in view of the vast responsibility he
was assuming, he may have felt some hesitation
about going to extremes, and may thus have been
led to lend an ear to the governor's proposals? On
the other hand, it might be argued that his posi-
tion was strengthened by this apparent attempt
at conciliation, for he was thenceforth in a position
to declare that he had not crossed the Rubicon
until every road by which he might return was
closed behind him.

Lord Gosford summoned parliament in October,
1835, and in a speech characterized by great modera-
tion, made a touching appeal to the spirit of concilia-
tion of both parties, representing "the Canadians and
the English as sprung from the two leading nations
of the world." Many of the members were inclined
to listen with favour to the kindly representations
of the governor, when suddenly the publication in
Toronto of the secret instructions given to Gosford
renewed the ill-feeling. These instructions seemed

113

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

to the more ardent spirits of the national party to
be a complete repudiation of the advances made by
the governor, which had given grounds to hope for
a removal of the grievances. Now the secret in-
structions from Downing street to Lord Gosford
were to the effect that no concessions whatever
were to be made to the Canadians, except on one
point, a possible repeal of the Land Act, an
iniquitous measure passed by the English parlia-
ment, which had enabled certain speculators to
grasp a million acres of our best lands.

After this incident, the last ray of hope for a
reconciliation, which the moderate conduct of Gos-
ford had led a few to expect, vanished, and it
looked as though some evil genius had cast into the
already superheated atmosphere, fresh elements of
conflict and agitation. What answer had the mother
country made to the ninety- two resolutions ? Noth-
ing had come from London but vague and evasive
promises, which led O'Connell to exclaim in par-
liament: "If this is what you mean by justice,
Canada will soon have no reason to be jealous of
Ireland. The admission made by the honourable
minister for the colonies is a proof of the abuses
committed by those who are governing Canada.
For, with a population three-fourths French Can-
adian, only one-fourth of the public offices is
awarded to that element. The composition of the
legislative council is also defective, since some of
its members are either ministers of the Crown, or
114

judges, or public officials of some kind, which gives
a two-fold advantage to the government."

In the midst of passionate excitement on the
part of some and anxiety and fear on that of others,
the governor called parliament together for the
autumn session of 1836. The speech from the
throne manifested his uneasiness and alarm. The
governor strove to remove the deplorable impres-
sion created by the extracts from the secret instruc-
tions which, he declared, "when the fiill text is
examined, do not bear out the interpretation put
upon them." He then stated that his sole object in
calling parliament together was to ask them to vote
the supplies. Once more, therefore, the eternal
question of the supplies, which for twenty years
had been the apple of discord for parliament, had
come to the front. At the previous session, Papineau
had consented to vote the monies required for the
public service, but for six months only. But now,
as the grievances still existed, with aggravated cir-
cumstances, he intimated to the government that
this time the House would decline to take any
initiative whatsoever, and would remain absolutely
inactive, so long as their representations remained
unheeded. In modern parlance, the House was "on
strike." In replying to the speech from the throne,
the assembly said: "We have not deemed it neces-
sary to enter into detail upon the consideration of
the various subjects adverted to by Your Excel-
lency until such time as, according to promise, you

115

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

shall have more fully communicated to the House
the reasons which have caused the convocation of
parliament." This occurred on September 24th, and
inasmuch as, up to October 4th following, Papineau
and his friends persisted in their determination, the
governor dismissed them. "There being no longer,"
he said, "any prospect of a good result from the
message I communicated a few days ago, I hasten
to put an end to this session."

Thenceforward nothing could avert the cataclysm
which approached with giant strides, and the agita-
tion became more intense from day to day. The
clergy, who as early as 1834 had broken off from
Papineau, in view of his revolutionary tendencies
and the exaggerated ideas set forth in the ninety-
two resolutions, now vainly strove to restrain the
popular madness. Some of Papineau's lieutenants,
going beyond his instructions, openly preached re-
bellion, resistance to England, and annexation to
the United States, "which will deliver," they in-
sinuated, "the people of the country from the seign-
iorial tenure and the obligation to pay tithes to the
clergy." These appeals to popular passion, coupled
with the highly provocative attitude of Papineau,
created alarm in the minds of a host of French citi-

;zens, who forthwith took sides with the governor.
Some signs of revolt even in the ranks of the popu-
lar party in the House, who the previous year were
unanimous in supporting Papineau, now became
apparent. This defection had taken hold of nearly
116

DEFECTIONS FROM THE PATRIOTES

all the representatives from the district of Quebec.
Elze'ar Be'dard was one of the first to flinch from
unyielding opposition to the government, and yet
it was he who had moved the ninety-two resolutions
the year before. It was hinted at the time that Pa-
pineau had selected him to perform that honourable
task in order to retain him within the camp, and
that even in 1834 there was doubt as to the sound-
ness of his principles. Was he about to follow
Neilson, Cuvillier, Debartzch, and Quesnel, every-
one then asked? And when Gosford appointed him
in succession to Judge Kerr, Papineau's scathing
invectives pursued him beneath the ermine on the
bench.

Etienne Parent, who was one of the most popu-
lar journalists of the period, a man of well-balanced
mind, of whom the Canadian people may well be
proud, also withdrew from the ranks of the men of
violence, and advocated moderation, while still call-
ing for redress of the grievances. This second de-
fection, a justifiable one to our mind, left Papineau
completely under the influence of certain extremists
who were inclined to resort to the most violent
measures.

The year 1837 opened under the most gloomy
auspices, and amid the effervescence of political
passions created and fostered by the agitator, came
the astounding intelligence that Lord John Russell,
far from granting the demands of the Canadians,
had just submitted to the House of Commons

117

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

resolutions empowering the governor to expend the
monies of the province without the authorization of
the House. This blow struck at the constitution, and
this unexpected answer to the ninety- two resolutions
and the many petitions asking for a wider appli-
cation of the parliamentary regime, created wide-
spread dissatisfaction throughout the country ; far
from being extended, the privileges of the House
were now to be further restricted. In justification of
this measure, Lord Russell pointed out that ever
since 1832, the House had persistently refused to
vote the necessary supplies. It was expedient, no
doubt, to put an end to this anomalous state of
things, but was it reasonable to make the legislative
assembly alone responsible for this calamity, which
was brought about by Papineau and his friends on
the one hand, and on the other by the legislative
council and the colonial office ? Considering the
condition of the public mind at the time, was not
this stroke of authority a great blunder; did it not
go to justify Papineau's contention that there was
no justice to be expected from the English parlia-
ment?

Papineau did not fail to avail himself of the
errors committed by his adversaries, and to use their
blunders for the advancement of his cause, which
was a desperate one indeed; for the support of the
other provinces, all of them with cognate griev-
ances against the colonial office, had failed him
shortly before this, all along the line. For several
118

SEDITIOUS APPEALS

years, with great energy and ability, Papineau had
laboured to combine the malcontents of Upper
Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia under
his own guidance, in order that they might make
common cause with Lower Canada. At one time
the opposition in those provinces had become quite
strong, but in the end the government had in all of
them recovered its ascendency, so that Papineau
and his party were left to struggle alone in Lower
Canada.

The more desperate the situation, however, the
more daring did Papineau and his lieutenants
become in their wild exaltation, and now we
find them opening a campaign for the purpose of
denouncing the Russell resolutions. Papineau al-
ways repudiated the charge of having entertained
the idea of taking up arms. But the language then
used by him at the various meetings he attended,
breathed nothing but sedition and was fraught with
appeals to violence sufficient to justify his arrest for
high treason. Thus he advocates smuggling, urges his
friends to apply to the American congress for re-
dress of the grievances they complain of, and
eulogizes the men who effected the American revo-
lution of 1774. At St. Ours, on May 7th, 1837, he
had carried a resolution declaring: "That we cannot
but consider a government which has recourse to
injustice, to force, and to a violation of the social
contract, anything else than an oppressive govern-
ment, a government by force, for which the measure

119

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

of our submission should henceforth be simply the
measure of our numerical strength, in combination
with the sympathy we may find elsewhere." Did
Papineau not raise the flag of revolt at St. Laurent
on May 14th, 1837, when he said : " The Russell
resolutions are a foul stain ; the people should not
and will not submit to them ; the people must
transmit their just rights to their posterity, even
though it cost them their property and their lives to
do so"?

Then he continues in the same key: "We are
fighting the old enemies of the country, the gov-
ernor, the two councils, the judges and the bulk of
the officials, whom your representatives have long
denounced as forming a corrupt faction hostile to
the rights of the people, and bound by self-interest
alone to maintain a vicious system of government.
.... This faction is still quite as eager to do harm,
but it no longer has the same power to do it ; it is
still the savage beast ready to bite and to tear its
prey, but it can now only roar and howl, for you
have drawn its fangs ; times have changed for these
people. In 1810, a bad governor cast your repre-
sentatives into prison ; since then your representa-
tives have driven away the bad governors. Some
years ago, in order to be able to govern, and in order
to shield from the effect of the charges laid by the as-
sembly, the low courtiers, his accomplices, the tyrant
Craig was compelled to show himself far more wicked
than he was in reality. He did not, however, succeed
120

INVECTIVES AGAINST THE GOVERNOR

in frightening any one ; the people laughed at him
and at the royal proclamations, and even at the
inopportune mandements and sermons, extorted by
surprise and in order to strike terror into the people.
To-day, in order to govern and in order to shelter
the low courtiers, his accomplices, from the punish-
ment justly inflicted on them by the assembly, the
governor is compelled to show himself shedding
tears in order to excite pity and to try to appear
far better than he is in reality. He has become
humble and caressing in order to deceive. . . . But
the evil work has not been accomplished, and his
artifices are worn out. . . . He can no longer pur-
chase traitors, patriots are no longer to be deceived.
And inasmuch as, in an honest population, the
number of cowards up for sale and ready to be
auctioned to the highest bidder, cannot be large,
they are not to be feared."

Recollections of the history of the United States
were constantly in the minds of Papineau and the
Patriotes. They found in the example of the men
of the revolution of 1774 motives to induce them
to follow up their own struggle, and reasons to
hope for its happy issue. Indeed their whole course
of action is moulded on that of the companions of
Washington. Do not the resolutions of the meetings
at St. Charles recall to the reader's mind the Dec-
laration of Independence? The Americans had re-
solved that they would purchase no more English
merchandise, and following the lead of their proto-

121

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

types, the Patriotes of '37 swear to replace the
'cotton goods and cloths of Manchester with the
^ products of home industry. The short session of
1837 (August 18th to 26th) afforded the peculiar
spectacle of nearly all the members of the House
clad in Canadian frieze.1 Our Patriotes, in fact,
went a step beyond the policy of American exam-
ples, for they urged their supporters to take to
smuggling as a highly meritorious calling. The
rebels of 1774 had their "Sons of Liberty," and in
Montreal, in November, 1837, our "Fils de la
Liberte" exchanged blows and even shots with
members of the rival Doric Club, the sworn ene-
mies of Papineau. La Minerve and The Vindicatory
the only journals advocating the cause of the
Patriotes, became more violent with every issue,

1 Referring to this, the Quebec Mercury laughed at their expense in
the following : — " A number of Her Majesty's lieges of this city — our-
selves among the number — are still suffering from f pains in the sides,'
occasioned by their cachinatory powers having been cruelly overrated and
worked upon yesterday about noon, by a number of individuals who
arrived from Montreal in the steamer Canada. These were no others than
members of the House of Assembly attired in the etoffe du pays, con-
formably to general orders lately issued from smuggling headquarters.

"Mr. Rodier's dress excited the greatest attention, being unique
with the exception of a pair of Berlin gloves, viz. : frock coat of granite
colored etoffe du pays; inexpressibles and vest of the same material,
striped blue and white ; straw hat, and beef shoes, with a pair of home-
made socks, completed the outrt attire. Mr. Rodier, it was remarked,
had no shirt on, having doubtless been unable to smuggle or manufac-
ture one.

"Dr. O'Callaghan's 'rig out' was second only to that of Mr. Rodier,
being complete with the exception of hat, boots, gloves, and shirt (he
had a shirt !), and spectacles.

122

THE ST. LAURENT SPEECH

the former going so far as to say on one occasion:
"Our only hope is to elect our governor ourselves,
or, in other words, to cease to belong to the British
empire." Meetings also were held in Lower Canada,
and notably at Quebec and Yamaska, at which
Papineau and his lieutenants were denounced. La
Minerve meantime thunders with incredible rage
and fury against Les Chouayens and the bureau-
crats opposed to Papineau; against M. Etienne
Parent, whom it denounced as a traitor because he
counselled moderation, and against the ecclesiasti-
cal authorities for preaching prudence and forbear-
ance, and warning the people against the spirit of
revolution.

The government and the authorities might well
feel alarmed when they were confronted with this
other part of Papineau's speech at St. Laurent: "A
member of the British parliament, a man of vast

"Mr. Perrault. — Smalls and waistcoat of the prevailing material ;
remainder of attire composed of real British duty-paying articles.

"Mr. Viger (Beau Viger). — Vest only, as far as we could ascertain,
of ttoffe.

"Mr. Meilleur, Mr. De Witt, Mr. Cherrier, and Mr. Duvernay. —
Same as Mr. Perrault.

"Mr. Jobin. — Complete with the exception of boots, shirt and
spectacles.

"Dr. Cote. — A full suit of linsey-woolsey, viz. : grey frock coat
trimmed with black ; unmentionables and vest of the same material,
striped blue and white ; 'a, shocking bad hat,' so worn that it was
impossible to distinguish any traces by which the country in which
it was manufactured could be ascertained. Dr. Cote stumbled upon the
block avoided by Mr. Rodier, and sported hose, shirt, spectacles,
shoes, etc., of vile British manufacture and materials.

"Mr. LaFontaine. — Same as Beau Viger."

123

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

wealth, eminent for his great ability and high prin-
ciples, and, best of all, a man devoted to the cause
of the people, to the love of justice and to the
liberty of Canada, has said in the presence of the
ministers themselves: 'If you mean to complete

* your work of iniquity, the Canadians are morally

* bound to resist you ; yes, if the same blood ran in
' their veins as that which produced the Washing-
' tons, the Franklins, and the Jeffersons, they would

* drive you out of their country as you were justly
'driven out of your former colonies.' There have
been meetings held in London in which the people
have re-echoed these energetic denunciations of a
guilty ministry, this kindly expression of sympathy
for our sufferings, and friendly warning that it is
both our duty and our interest to meet violence
with violence. I must say, however — and it is neither
fear nor scruple that makes me do so — that the day
has not yet come for us to respond to that appeal.
It is not fear, for if it became a matter of necessity,
the strength of the country in its remoteness from
England and its proximity to the United States,
would enable us to accomplish the object in view.
It is not scruple . . . for it would, so to speak,
associate us with the renown of the greatest and
purest of men were we to advance successfully in
the path traced out for us by the patriots of '74.
The situation of the two countries is different, and
our friends in England do not understand it when
they think us deserving of blame, or consider us an

124

THE MEETING AT ST. CHARLES

inferior race, if we do not resist forthwith. . . . Must
we strike down or is it not better to bear a bad
government ? "

Mgr. Lartigue, then Bishop of Montreal, could •
not remain indifferent in view of the dangerous
movement which daily assumed more formidable
proportions in his diocese. A first warning addressed
to his clergy in the month of July, urging them to
keep the people within the path of duty, was
followed in October by a pastoral letter exhorting ^
them to mistrust the men who were hurrying
them into rebellion. It was the meeting at St.
Charles, the last of the series and the most im-
portant of them all, that brought about the inter-
vention of the church authorities. In view of the
declaration formulated at that meeting, and the
men who took part in it, it stands as the most
serious of all the demonstrations made in the sum-
mer and autumn of 1837; it was, so to speak, the
forerunner of the explosion which followed a month
later. Papineau was once more the central figure,
surrounded by Nelson, Viger, Lacoste, Cote, Brown
and- Girod, Canadians and outsiders being repre-
sented in the number.

Unusual preparations had been made to render
the proceedings impressive. The ceremony of plant-
ing the tree of liberty was carried out amid the
acclamations of a host of Patriotes from the six
neighbouring counties, whose eyes were greeted
everywhere by the highly significant mottoes:

125

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

"Papineau and the Elective System!" "Indepen-
dence!" "Our Upper Canadian friends," etc. The
men of action, such as Nelson and Brown, on this
occasion took the lead more markedly than ever
before, over those who wanted to use only con-
stitutional means in striving for redress of their
grievances. This was so evident that Papineau be-
came alarmed. His speech reflected something of
the perturbation of his mind, and was considered
too moderate. While he deprecated any recourse to
arms, and advised his hearers simply to refrain from
purchasing English goods, in order to starve out the
government, Nelson exclaimed, it is said: "Let us
have no petty expedients, the time has come to
melt our spoons into bullets!" A month later we
find Nelson and Brown at St. Charles and St. Denis
amid the crash of musketry and the whistling of
bullets, to which these generals had then appealed,
to their own destruction and that of so many
deluded Patriotes.

126

CHAPTER XII

TO ARMS !

TIJLUNDER after blunder on the one hand, and
J-J outbursts of violent language, provoked if not
justified thereby, on the other — such is the record
of the sayings and doings which followed the publi-
cation of the Russell resolutions, and which involved
in a sanguinary conflict the rival forces, now reck-
less under the stress of violent and over-excited
passion. In the month of November, 1837, pre-
parations for a general stampede were hastily made
in Montreal, the central point of the agitation; com-
bats broke out in the streets on the seventh of the
month between the Constitutionals of the Doric Club
and the Fils de la Liberte, followed by the sacking of
the offices of The Vindicator, and an attack on the
residence of Papineau. In deference to the wishes of
a priest, his personal friend, who urged him to leave
the city, "because his presence in Montreal was a
cause of disorder," Papineau set out for St. Hya-
cinthe; and the authorities who had so long been
dozing and indifferent, suddenly, at last awoke with
staring eyes which magnified and distorted out of
all proportion every object offered to their vision,
and made up their minds that the popular leader
had set out to organize an armed revolt. Thereupon,

127

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

without further reflection, they charged Papineau
and O'Callaghan with high treason, and took out
warrants for their arrest. This was going too fast
and too far. Had Gosford, at the time of the first
meeting in the month of May, taken steps to
maintain order, there would have been no dis-
turbance in the autumn. At the period we have
now reached, the middle of November, matters
were rapidly coming to a head. Men no longer con-
trolled events ; events rather swept away those who
sought to control them, and guns were soon to go
off spontaneously, so to speak, as though some
mysterious hand discharged them. Meantime orders
were given for the arrest at St. Johns of Demaray
and Davignon, who, according to rumour, were
fomenting disorder. A company of the Montreal
Volunteer Cavalry, by whom they were escorted,
was attacked on the march from Chambly to
Longueuil, and forced to surrender their prisoners
into the hands of Bonaventure Viger, who had pre-
pared this coup de main with a small party of
Patriotes. The fight between the Fils de la Liberte
and the Doric Club, and the rescuing of Demaray
and Davignon were the opening skirmishes for the
more serious affairs on the Richelieu River.

The improvised generals, Wolfred Nelson and
Storrow Brown, had gathered together at St. Denis
and at St. Charles some hundreds of Patriotes, de-
termined to resist the arrest of Papineau and O'Cal-
laghan. Colonel Gore, a Waterloo veteran, was
128

COLONEL LYSONS'S NARRATIVE

entrusted with the task of dispersing these " rebels,"
and arresting their leaders. Gore was to proceed to
Sorel and thence to ascend the Richelieu as far
as St. Denis, while Colonel Wetherall advanced
in the opposite direction in order to attack St.
Charles. Colonel Lysons, then a lieutenant, an
officer who accompanied Gore, has left us a de-
scription of the former expedition. We quote a few
passages from his narrative:

"Lieutenant- Colonel Wetherall, with six com-
panies of infantry and two light six-pounder field
guns, was to cross the Richelieu at Chambly, and
move by night down the right bank of the river on
St. Charles, a distance of about nineteen miles;
Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes, of the 24th Regiment,
with five companies and a twelve-pounder howitzer,
was to move from Sorel up the right bank of the
river on St. Denis, which was not supposed to be
strongly held, a distance of about twenty-one miles,
also by night, the two forces to appear simultan-
eously before their respective destinations. Colonel
Hughes was then to push on to St. Charles. Colonel
the Honourable Charles Gore was named to take
command of the whole expedition, but he was to
accompany Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes's force. I
went with him.

"At ten o'clock on the night of November 21st,
the troops of Colonel Hughes's column turned out
in the barrack square at Sorel; the rain was pour-
ing down in torrents, and the night was as dark as

129

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

pitch. We were to move by the road called the
Pot-au-beurre road, in order to avoid passing
through St. Ours, which was held by the rebels. I
got a lantern, fastened it to the top of a pole, and
had it carried in front of the column; but what
with horses and men sinking in the mud, har-
ness breaking, wading through water and winding
through woods, the little force soon got separated,
those in the rear lost sight of the light, and great
delays and difficulties were experienced. Towards
morning the rain changed into snow, it became
very cold, and daybreak found the unfortunate
column still floundering in the half-frozen mud
four miles from St. Denis.

" It soon became evident that the rebels were on
the alert; the church bells were heard in the dis-
tance ringing the alarm, and parties of skirmishers
appeared on our left flank. As the column ap-
proached nearer to St. Denis, we found all the
bridges broken up. Without much delay I managed
to reconstruct them strong enough to bear the
howitzer, and the column continued to advance,
Captain Markham leading. On reaching the out-
skirts of the village the rebels opened a brisk fire
on us. Markham pushed on, taking house after
house, until his progress was arrested by a stockade
across the road, and a large fortified brick house
well flanked on all sides.

"Captain Crompton, with a company of the 66th,
and Captain Maitland, with a company of the 24th,
130

THE AFFAIR AT ST. DENIS

were then brought up, and the howitzer came into
action. The engagement was kept up until a late
hour in the afternoon ; the enemy had a very strong
position, and appeared to increase in numbers.
Captain Markham succeeded in taking one of the
flanking-houses, but in doing so he was severely
wounded, receiving two balls in the neck and a
wound across the knee. Several of his men also
were hit. At length, as the men had had nothing to
eat since the previous day, and the ammunition
had fallen short, Colonel Gore deemed it necessary
to withdraw his force. We had no ambulance or
transport of any kind, so we were obliged to leave
our wounded behind ; there were seventeen of them,
their wounds had been dressed, and they were put
in beds in one house. Six men had been killed.
Markham 's men were first withdrawn from the
flanking-house. They brought away their favourite
captain with them under a heavy fire from the
fortified house. On his way back he was again shot
through the calf of the leg, and one of the men (a
corporal) carrying him was wounded in the foot.
The other bearer was a sergeant. They had to come
across a rough ploughed field frozen hard. As soon
as they got near the road we ran out and lifted
them over the fence; we then placed poor Mark-
ham on the only cart which remained with the
column, and sent him to the rear.

"We retreated for a short distance along the
road we had advanced by, and then crossed over a

131

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

bridge to the left in order to march by the front
road. Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes, conducting the
rear guard with great coolness and determination,
soon stopped the rebels who were following us.
Night came on, and it continued to freeze very
hard. After we had crossed the bridge the gun-
horses completely broke <Jown. Lieutenant New-
coman, R.A., assisted by Colonel Hughes's rear
guard, did everything in their power to save the
howitzer. I got Crompton's horse and put it in with
my own as leader, doing driver myself. We then
succeeded in moving the gun a short distance, but
it stuck fast again and got frozen firm into the
ground. At last the ammunition that remained was
thrown into the river, and the howitzer was spiked
and abandoned."

Here we have to deal with a painful incident.
On the eve of the fight Papineau left St. Denis at
the request of Dr. Nelson, who seems to have said
to him : "Do not expose yourself uselessly, you will
be of more service to us after the fight than here."
Papineau submitted, but at a subsequent period, in
1849, when political events had divided the two
men, Nelson denied having advised Papineau to
depart. The latter is fairly entitled to the benefit of
the doubt, if any there be, on this point, and we
must conclude that Nelson did in truth tell him to
go. But we venture to think that had he declined
the advice, posterity would have thought none the
worse of him for doing so.
132

THE ENGAGEMENT AT ST. CHARLES

Wetherall, who had been prevented by the bad
weather from marching on St. Charles on the
22nd, the day of his departure from Chambly,
as it had been settled, went forward on the 25th,
and reached St. Charles the same day. With troops
well equipped and provided with some pieces of
artillery, he was expected to make short work
of the undisciplined bands of men under Brown,
with their wooden cannon and their old-fashioned
muskets. In his report on the affair at St. Charles,
Brown declares that the number of guns he had at
the disposal of his men was one hundred and nine.
About two o'clock Wetherall approached within a
short distance of the village and opened fire on
its best fortified point, a part of the place which
was enclosed by a palisade, and as the besieged,
whom he hoped to dislodge with his artillery,
showed no signs of stirring, he gave the signal
for an assault. A fearful carnage ensued. An eye-
witness asserts that he counted one hundred and
fifty dead, and all the houses, except that of M.
Debartzch, were committed to the flames.

It was said at the time, that Brown took to flight
before the action. He answered this charge in a
letter to Nelson in 1851, in which he says that,
having gone forward to reconnoitre, he had been
forced to retreat with his men, whom he strove
in vain to control, but " finding after a long trial,
my strength and authority insufficient, I considered
my command gone, turned my horse and rode

133

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

to meet you at St. Denis, where I arrived at mid-
night."

After the affair at St. Charles, quiet and a sense
of terror prevailed on the Richelieu, but Colborne
deemed it expedient to make a fresh demonstration.
On November 30th, under his orders, Gore set out
anew for St. Denis by way of Sorel ; the same day
he halted at St. Ours, and reached St. Denis on
December 1st. Near that village his men discovered
the body of Lieutenant Weir, a young man of much
distinction and greatly esteemed, who had fallen
into the hands of the Patriotes before the fight. He
was mercilessly cut down, on his attempting to
escape, by the rebels to whose care he had been
committed by Nelson. Gore's men were excited to
fury by the sight of poor Weir's mangled body, and
in spite of their commander, sacked the village
of St. Denis and committed every dwelling to the
flames. There was no real justification for the
slaughtering of this officer, and the deed was
mercilessly avenged at St. Denis and elsewhere, as
we shall see later on. If men, before acting, would
only reflect on the probable consequences of their
proposed actions, what calamities would be avoided 1
But with popular commotions, wisdom and re-
flection have little to do.

The disastrous occurrence on the Richelieu River

should have opened the eyes of the infatuated

Patriotes in the other sections of the country, but

unfortunately, reason had no hold on certain fire-

134-

ST. EUSTACHE

brands of St. Eustache where Amury Girod, a self-
appointed general, headed a band of excited and
misguided peasants. This Girod was a Swiss — and
it may be here remarked, as in the case of the
two Nelsons and Storrow Brown, a stranger to the
people under his command. Colborne, with artil-
lery, horse and foot, an imposing army when com-
pared to the rabble to be put down, marched on
St. Eustache and met Dr. Chenier, who had re-
placed Girod; the latter, on hearing of the approach
of the English troops, had fled, and fearing vengeance
at the hands of the people, had committed suicide.
Colborne reached St. Eustache on December 14th.
What then occurred will be better told by one who
took part in the action, Lieutenant Lysons, from
whose narrative we have already quoted :

"When approaching the village, one brigade with
the Field-Battery continued to advance on the road
running parallel to the river; the other brigade
turned off to the right and went across to the end
of the street leading down the centre of the village,
at right angles to the river. Lines of skirmishers
from the village met the riverside brigade and
opened fire on them, but soon retired. The field-
battery then opened fire on the church and stone
buildings around it; but there was no reply; so Sir
John Colborne, seeing that the houses were empty
and that everything was quiet, thought the rebels
had retired and abandoned the place. He therefore
sent Brigade-Major Dickson and his aide-de-camp

135

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

down the main street, facing the great stone church,
with orders to bring round the other brigade into
the village. As soon as they got down near the
church a rattling fire was opened on them, and they
narrowly escaped with their lives. It was now evi-
dent that there was yet to be a fight.

"One of the howitzers was brought round into
the main street, and an attempt was made to batter
in the big doors of the church, but this failed. Ned
Wetherall of the Royals then managed to creep
round behind the houses and get into a large stone
house that was at right angles to the front of the
church and to windward of it ; he there upset the
burning stove on the floor, and pulled every in-
flammable thing he could find over it. In a few
minutes the whole house was on fire, and volumes
of smoke mantled the front of the church. Colonel
Wetherall took advantage of this and advanced his
regiment under cover of the smoke at the double
down the street. I jumped off my horse and went on
with them. We got round to the back of the church
and found a small door leading into the sacristy,
which we battered in, and Ormsby and I rushed in,
followed by some of our men. We then turned
to our left and went into the main body of the
church, which appeared quite dark, the windows
being barricaded ; here the rebels began firing down
on our heads. We could not get up to them for the
staircases were broken down, so Ormsby lighted
a fire behind the altar and got his men out.
136

THE QUIET OF DESPAIR

"The firing from the church windows then ceased,
and the rebels began running out from some low
windows, apparently of a crypt or cellar. Our men
formed up on one side of the church, and the 32nd
and 83rd on the other. Some of the rebels ran out
and fired at the troops, then threw down their arms
and begged for quarter. Our officers tried to save
the Canadians, but the men shouted * Remember
Jack Weir/ and numbers of these poor deluded
fellows were shot down."

After crushing the Patriotes at St. Eustache,
to the cry of " Remember Jack Weir," Colborne's
soldiers shot down without mercy the unfor-
tunate companions of Chenier, and the country
once more became quiet; but it was the gloomy
quiet of despair, for the situation was even more
disheartening than that which ensued after the
capitulation of Quebec and Montreal. With the
constitution suspended and their leaders in prison
or in exile, what was to become of the Canadian
people left to the mercy of a triumphant govern-
ment, wielding the strong arm of undisputed power?
No man ventured to answer this portentous ques-
tion, which was present in the minds of all.

On December 5th, Lord Gosford proclaimed
martial law in the district of Montreal, and set
a price on the heads of Papineau, Nelson and
the more noted of their followers. Nelson fell into
the hands of the enemy, but Papineau had made
good his escape. After the fight at St. Charles

137

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

he betook himself to St. Hyacinthe, and thence
to the United States. His journey into exile was
performed under circumstances of extreme misery
and hardship, in the most severe weather of the
year. Often suffering for lack of food, half frozen,
and compelled to struggle forward in the dark
nights of a Canadian winter, he was more than once
reduced to the utmost extremity by cold, hunger
and exhaustion. But, coupled with his bodily pains,
was the mental anguish which he must have then
felt and continued to endure for many a long day.
How could he banish for a moment from his mind
the memory of the arena wherein, for over twenty
years, he had with so much e'clat and amid scenes of
such thrilling excitement, steadily held the first
place, and the recollection of his native province,
for which he had dreamt so glorious a destiny, and
which he now saw sinking into a slough of despond
amid the ruins of its shattered hopes ?

In February, 1838, Gosford returned to England,
to be succeeded first by Colborne and then by Lord
Durham, High Commissioner, clad with extensive
powers. The latter found the prisons crowded with
Patriotes, who had been taken with arms in their
hands. In place of sending them to trial and the
scaffold, he simply exiled some of them to Bermuda,
amongst them being Wolfred Nelson and R. S. M.
Bouchette. His clemency did not meet the approval
of the English parliament, and the ordinance deal-
ing with the political prisoners was vetoed by the
138

THE SECOND OUTBREAK

Melbourne government. Durham's pride would not
allow him to submit to this rebuke, and he resigned
his position. Undefined and extensive as they were,
his powers could not justify the sending into exile,
without any trial, of the eight Bermuda prisoners.
It was an act in direct contravention of British
procedure in criminal matters, and one which par-
liament could not condone. Durham smarted under
the censure passed on his conduct, and issued,
before leaving Quebec, a proclamation which was a
defence of his action, and which drew down upon
him from the Times the epithet of "Lord High
Seditioner." When accused of having violated the
constitution, he retorted: "Where was the law in a
country where the executive took it upon them-
selves to spend public money without the consent
of the people?"

History has not given credit to Durham for the
humanitarian sentiments which inspired his conduct
in dealing with the insurgents. The penalty ap-
pointed by law for the crime of high treason is
death, and from motives of humanity the high com-
missioner wanted to save from the scaffold Nelson,
Bouchette and many others who had been arrested
in open rebellion.

Colborne returned to power, and the task once
more devolved upon him of crushing an outbreak,
that of 1838, — the second with which he had to deal.
Anything more crazy than this wretched expedition
headed by Robert Nelson and Dr. Cote, of Napier-

139

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

ville, it would be difficult indeed to imagine. There
was no prospect whatever of a successful issue to
the attempt, and it was manifest to the simplest
understanding that it must involve in certain des-
truction the deluded victims of men who were
themselves carried away by some unaccountable
hallucination. Defeated at Lacolle and Odelltown,
Nelson returned to Vermont after the collapse of
his unfortunate invasion, covered with the ridicule
he had richly earned by his proclamation of a
Canadian Republic and his own election as presi-
dent, and loaded with the awful responsibility of
having caused the loss of many lives, besides helping
to hurry to the scaffold or into exile men who had
been duped by his fallacious representations.

Sentiments of humanity and a horror of blood-
shed had no place in the breast of a soldier such as
Colbome, the old "Firebrand," as he was called, who
set fire to so many villages that in some districts the
sky became, as it were, a sea of fire from the
reflection of the fateful flames. All the insurgents
confined in the prison at Montreal were tried by
courtmartial, and ninety-nine of the most deeply
involved were sentenced to death ; twelve were
executed and the remainder transported to Aus-
tralia, that far land of exile where most of them had
nothing to expect but a death more lingering but
no less certain than that of the scaffold. The punish-
ment exceeded the magnitude of the offence, and it
would have been quite sufficient for the ends of
140

HOMO HOMINI LUPUS

justice and sound policy had the chastisement been
limited to the chief offenders only. Complaints as to
the severity of repression come, it is true, with a
bad grace from men who undertake a revolt; but
humanity never loses its rights. Colborne, who was
severe and implacable unto cruelty towards the
Canadians, was a prodigy of clemency in the eyes
of the bureaucrats. Note the fact that only twelve
executions out of jiinety-nine death sentences grati-
fied the thirst for blood of those who, with the
Herald, in the fall of 1838, called for a general
slaughter of the prisoners on the score of economy :
" Why winter them over, why fatten them for the
gibbet ? " Such was the pitch to which racial
animosity had excited the minds of certain men in
those terrible days. In times of revolution and civil
war, the spirit of savagery latent in the hearts of
men is easily roused to action. Leibnitz was right in
saying: Homo homini lupus.

141

o

CHAPTER XIII

THE REBELLION AND ITS CAUSES

N the morrow of some great revolution, dis-
aster or defeat, men naturally discuss the
causes of the event, and strive to place the re-
sponsibility where it is due. For long years, histor-
ians debated the question whether it was Grouchy's
disobedience to the emperor's orders, or a blunder of
Napoleon himself, that gave the victory to Wel-
lington on the field at Waterloo. In Canada the
question is still asked whether it was precipitation
on the part of Montcalm or the inaction of Vaud-
reuil that made it such an easy task for Wolfe to
win the day beneath the walls of Quebec. In like
manner the apportionment of the responsibility
for bringing about the sad events of 1837 rests
with the tribunal of posterity. Did Papineau advise
a recourse to violence, or was it O'Callaghan and \s
Nelson who organized the fatal rising of the Cana-
dians? Before as well as after the crisis, Papineau
invariably repudiated the charge of having sought
to wrest by violence the reforms which the English
government refused to grant in compliance with
his constitutional remonstrances. "O'Connell," he
declared, "is my model, and like him I will employ
for the attainment of my ends those peaceful means

143

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

which the English constitution places at my dis-
posal." If such were his intentions, it must be
admitted that his own words often belied them, for
there is no mistaking the bellicose nature of his furi-
ous orations. It is not in the public arena that we must
seek for proof of his real designs. His letters show no
trace of warlike intentions, but merely indications
of a wavering spirit, which leave on the mind the
impression that had he seen his way he would have
followed the example of the English colonies in 1774;
nor do the minutes of the "Comite* Constitutional"
of Montreal, whose proceedings were conducted in
secrecy, throw any light on Papineau's views. In
November, 1834, after the Montreal election which
had involved the death of three Canadians shot
down by the troops, Papineau dictated the follow-
ing for his friends in Quebec: "The Patnotes of
this city would have avenged this massacre, but
they were so poor and so badly organized that they
were not fit to meet regular troops." He then goes
on to ask them whether they considered it advisable
to prepare for an armed resistance. Writing in 1844
to Christie, Papineau said: "The overt acts of
1837 were sudden and unpremeditated, and they
imperilled the position of England more seriously
than is commonly thought. The smallest success
at Toronto or Montreal would have induced the
American government, in spite of the president, to
support the movement." This declaration is cal-
culated to give the impression that Papineau was,
144

WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE ?

at the time, negotiating with friends in the United
States. The passage quoted can hardly be explained
otherwise.

Nelson, who was in command at St. Denis,
repudiated the primary responsibility for the unfor-
tunate conflict. "The whole initiative," he says,
"came from Papineau. I was his assistant, his
subaltern, and not his superior. I acted entirely
in obedience to his orders and to his suggestions."
It is but fair to state that when Nelson made this
declaration (in 1849) he had quarrelled with his
former friend.

Dr. O'Callaghan, who left Montreal at the same
time with Papineau in order to accompany him to
St. Hyacinthe and St. Marc, states, in writing to
Garneau in 1852, that there was nothing premedi-^/
tated in the rising of 1837; that it was a spon-
taneous explosion provoked by the order for the
arrest of Papineau and Nelson. O'Callaghan, an
Irishman who had joined Papineau through hatred
of the British government, and who was elected for
Yamaska by the influence of the great tribune, was
a born conspirator himself, and, of course, saw
conspiracies in everything done by his enemies. To
his mind the events of 1837 were simply the appli-
cation to Canada of the methods adopted in Ire-
land, where the English government provoked
uprisings which they were prepared in advance to
crush ; and this for the purpose of justifying after-
wards the extreme measures of repression inflicted

145

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

on that unhappy country. Gosford, according to
O'Callaghan, had forced a crisis upon the Canadians
in order to render unavoidable a suspension of the
constitution of 1791. His letter is, nevertheless,
well worth quoting:

"I do not agree with your logic as regards the
movement of '37. You say (je le blame puisqu'il ria
pas reussi, et qu'il a eu de si tristes consequences pour
nous* This is a post hoc, ergo propter hoc, which is
not authorized by the school. My dear Sir, if you
will look carefully through Lord Gosford's des-
patches of 1836, as well as those of the colonial sec-
retary of that and preceding and subsequent years,
you will find that Gosford recommended the sus-
pension of your constitution more than a year
before there was any shadow of an outbreak.

"The truth is, the government both in Quebec
and Downing street determined on abolishing the
Lower Canada assembly, and only sought a pre-
text to justify its violence. Debartzch, who was
Gosford's 'confidence man/ came to coax or brow-
beat me in '36 into voting for the supplies, and
when he found me inebranlable, he very plainly
told me that the result would be, that Papineau
and I would be hanged! About that time Gosford
recommended that the Lower Canada assembly
should be abolished. Debartzch no doubt was in
the secret, saw the consequences and founded his
prophecy or threat or warning on the knowledge
he had of the programme.
146

O'CALLAGHAN TO GARNEAU

"It was Castlereagh and the Irish Union over
again. Goad the people into violence and when
they fall victims to the snares, abolish their consti-
tutional rights. Read the history of Ireland and its
legislative union with England, and you will see,
as in a mirror, the plot of 1836-7 against Canadian
liberty.

"The movement of '37, as far as I had any
knowledge, was the movement of the government
against peaceable citizens in order to hurry the
latter in an indignant resistance of personal violence.
When they dragged and isolated poor peasants, in
the early part of 1837, from the Lake of Two
Mountains into Montreal jail for assault, which
they call treason, where was the movement ? When
they pulled down The Vindicator office, where was
the movement? When they dragged Davignon and
his friend, tied with ropes, from St. Johns through
Chambly to Longueuil, to irritate the habitants —
then peaceable and quiet — where was the move-
ment?

"The truth is, the whole was a settled plan of
Gosford, Ogden and Debartzch to goad and drive
individuals into a resistance to personal violence so
as to make out a case with which the minister might
be able to go down to parliament and ask for the
destruction of the act of 1791. And lest that should
not suffice, Colborne backed it up by saying in one
of his despatches, months before any opposition had
been offered, that Papineau was drilling troops

147

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

somewhere near Three Rivers. This is as far as my
memory serves me, for I have not the despatch by
me. It was written somewhere in 1837, and you can
probably turn to it. I recollect well calling Mr.
Papineau's attention to it, at the time, and suggest-
ing to him the propriety of contradicting it, for
I was personally cognizant of the falsehood of the
statement — but as is his wont and habit too often,
he treated the thing with contempt — for it was the
most atrocious lie I ever saw in print.

" I saw as clearly as I now see that the country
was not prepared. But you might as well whistle to
a tornado, as endeavour to contend against the
deep and damnable conspiracy that was prepared
and had burst forth against the rights and liberties
of the people.

"The immediate fons et origo of the whole

•y matter was the refusing of the supplies in 1836.

The government thereupon set about bringing a

collision a la Castlereagh en Irlande. They called

out and armed volunteers, issued warrants a tort et

, a travers, and when they had the people maddened

by insult they called it a rebellion. If you are

to blame the movement, blame, then, those who

plotted and contrived it, and who are to be held in

history responsible for it. We, my friend, were the

victims, not the conspirators, and were I on my

death-bed, I could declare before heaven that I

had no more idea of a movement or resistance when

I left Montreal and went to the Richelieu River

148

BOUCHETTE'S EVIDENCE

with Papineau than I have now of being bishop of
Quebec. And I also know that Mr. Papineau and I
secreted ourselves for some time in a farmer's
house in the Parish of St. Marc, lest our presence
might alarm that country and be made a pretext
for rashness. The issuing of warrants and the arrest
of Davignon, followed by the affair at Longueuil,
came on shortly after, and matters were beyond the
control of any individuals. The movement, there-
fore was begun in the Castle St. Lewis, and we
were like straws, hurried away by the torrent
and the debacle"

Let us take again the evidence of another of
the actors in the drama of 1837 — Robert S. M.
Bouchette, who subsequently was for many years
commissioner of customs at Ottawa. His word
will have the more weight from the fact that,
owing to his social standing and his tastes, he was
far more closely connected with the governor's
party than with that of the French Canadians.
When Lord Russell's resolutions became known in
Quebec, he considered them to be a violation of
the privileges of the House, took sides with Papin-
eau and placed himself at the disposal of Nelson.
Having been taken prisoner at Moore's Corners, he
was sent to Montreal. During his imprisonment,
Colonel Dundas, a personal friend, wrote to him
expressing regret at seeing him in so unfortunate a
position, and deploring especially having learned
that he had been arrested as a rebel. Bouchette

149

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

replied in forcible and eloquent terms, as may be
seen by the following quotation from his very able
letter :

"At this period (1834) and under the circum-
stances adverted to, commenced my political career.
The side I took in the questions at issue was in
accordance with my convictions, though it was at
variance with my tastes, for it tended to alienate
from me many of my friends, most of whom stood in
the ranks of my political opponents. Nevertheless, I
resigned myself to the sacrifice, and did so the more
readily owing to the prevalence in my mind of that
lethargy of social feeling that makes one alike
indifferent to the frowns as to the blandishment of
society. My professional pursuits and the rights
of the people henceforward divided and altogether
engrossed my whole attention. When I say the
rights of the people, I do not mean those abstract
or extravagant rights for which some contend, but
which are not generally compatible with an organ-
ized state of society, but I mean those cardinal
rights which are inherent to British subjects, and
which, as such, ought not to be denied to the inhabit-
ants of any section of the empire, however remote.

"A thorough knowledge that these rights were
denied to the Canadian people, in practice, that we
had the shadow and not the substance of the
British constitution, that the wheels of government
were clogged by corruption, that the most unworthy
partiality poisoned the fountains of trust, of office
150

BOUCHETTE'S LETTER

and power, that irresponsibility pervaded every
department of the local government, in fact that
the colony was the devoted nursery of mere home
patronage ; a thorough knowledge, I say, of these
grievances nerved my advocacy of the cause and
lent new vigour to my exertions as an individual,
to obtain a reform of these odious abuses and the
more general introduction of elective institutions
which I conceived to be the only effective remedy
against existing evils.

"Since 1834 the political horizon had gradually
darkened ; the legislative assembly boldly resorted
to its constitutional privilege of withholding the
supplies — the breach hence became wider. In
1837, Lord John Russell proposed and parliament
passed his famous Canadian Resolutions — reso-
lutions more impolitic if possible than they were
despotic. Well might Sir Robert Peel in the de-
bates on the Canada question, charge the ministry
with want of foresight in not sending out an army
to Canada with the resolutions, for they must have
anticipated that no set of freemen boasting of the
title of British subjects could tamely submit to the
political degradation they comported. Lord John
Russell's measure provoked universal indignation.
Meetings were held in all the most popular counties
of the province, and the people boldly declared those
resolutions to be a flagrant violation of their consti-
tutional rights. Their language was strong — excite-
ment ran high — and that excitement was greatly

151

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

enhanced by the virulence of the opposite party,
who called themselves the Constitutionals, or con-
servative party, i.e., the conservators of existing
abuses.

"The meetings alluded to were held through the
summer. In October last the famous meeting of the
five (strictly, six) counties was held at St. Charles.
The proceedings of this meeting, though by no
means more demonstrative of the state of public
feeling than the resolutions adopted at previous
public meetings, were nevertheless made, sometime
subsequently, the groundwork of a series of arrests
comprising all the leading public men of the colony,
to the number of forty or fifty. It was this violent
and ill-advised measure of the executive govern-
ment that forced the people into resistance; and this
brings me to the consideration of an expression of
yours which I am sure you will think unmerited
when the circumstances are made known — I mean
the words * gratuitous revolt.'

"Indeed, I trust I have already said enough
to convince you that if there was a revolt at all, it
was anything but gratuitous. I don't think that you,
the people of the British Isles, would calmly stand
by and see your warmest and ablest friends and
supporters arrested, and the liberties of the people
thus jeopardized ! Bolingbroke would have blushed
for the country which in such a conjuncture had
not boldly stood forward in defence of Liberty.
This was absolutely the position of Lower Canada
152

BOUCHETTE'S LETTER CONTINUED

after the adoption of the debasing resolutions of
Lord John Russell.

"The Canadians rallied around their assembly and
asserted its constitutional rights, and for thus doing
they were deemed traitorous and seditious. As well
might one deem the popular meetings of London
or Birmingham subversive of the king and consti-
tution. But in truth, in the strict acceptation of
the term, there was no definitely planned revolt,
but the people spontaneously, and without concert,
determined upon protecting their leaders. This put
numbers in arms and gave to the country an ap-
pearance of pre-concerted rebellion, but there was
no such thing, and if proof were requisite it could
be found in the unprepared state of the people
in point of armament, there being generally two or
three pitch-forks and as many scythes and flails to
one fowling piece, and this not always of the best.

" Had a decided revolt been meditated it must
have been easy to procure from the adjacent States
such munitions of war as would have efficiently
armed the whole Canadian population. But the
immediate aim of the country was not the over-
throw of British dominion, it was a movement
of self-protection against an arbitrary exercise of
ministerial and judicial power, and the resistance
was in some instances the more desperate from the
apprehension entertained that the government had
designated several victims."

The events of 1837 were the inevitable outcome

153

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

of various causes imputable primarily to the suc-
cessive ministers of the colonies, who were quite
indifferent about Canadian affairs and ill-informed
as to the real intentions of our people and as to the
plans of their opponents. In 1791, the province was
given a constitution, liberal in its letter but too
susceptible of being diverted from its object. From
the first day it went into operation, the Canadians
saw that the government was striving to restrict its
advantages. And when they made complaint the
answer was, to bear in mind that they were the
descendants of Frenchmen who had been deprived
of all participation in public affairs, and should,
therefore, not be so anxious to obtain from the
British government what they did not enjoy under
the French regime. With a constitution which
allowed the executive to govern as it pleased, were
we not still under the arbitrary regime so justly
condemned? "See the splendid constitution the
king has given you," our adversaries seemed to say,
"it is a noble instrument; but you are not to use
it." Under the law, our ancestors were British
subjects, but that noble quality of citizenship, good
though it might be in theory, practically meant
nothing for them ; they could claim nothing on that
score, except of course in times of danger to the
state, when they might shed their blood in defence
of the country like ordinary British subjects.

Such was the initial error of the colonial office.
Had the Canadians been given forthwith the full
154

ARBITRARY POWER

privileges of citizenship, how much trouble would
have been avoided ! It is useless to object that
to have admitted them to the executive and to the
legislative council would have been to subordinate
the English element to the French, and that the
latter would have abused their ascendency. That
evil forecast has not stood the impartial test of
history as it evolves itself from day to day in the
province. At any rate, it would have been only fair
to make the experiment, particularly in view of the
fact that the home government and the governor
were in a position to see that no injustice should be
inflicted on the English speaking element.

The chief fault of the Act of 1791, which, in the
hands of right-minded men, would have met all the
needs of the country, was that it left too much
scope for the exercise of arbitrary power. So great
is man's infirmity that he is ever prone to commit
abuses, and any and all power placed in his hands
should be coupled with a counterpoise. This the
wisdom of the fathers of the American constitution
enabled them thoroughly to understand and apply
in their great work, in which the liberty of the
individual stands surrounded with safeguards. There
is nothing of the kind in the constitution of 1791,
which places no restraint whatever on the action
of the executive, save its responsibility to the
colonial office. Finding that this system of govern-
ment put no check whatever on the encroachments
of the governor and his friends, the legislative

155

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

assembly, led by Papineau, undertook to erect
barricades around the government. For six years
the Crown was without supplies, an abnormal state
of things, which the government met by drawing
from the military chest; it was a condition of
permanent anarchy and illegality.

What was to be done to put an end to this
deadlock ? Papineau felt that he could not sur-
render without the sacrifice of hopes which he held
sacred, and submission to conditions which per-
manency would render intolerable. But the wiser
course would surely have been to refrain from
adopting the extreme course of perpetually re-
fusing the supplies, and to persist in claiming
redress of grievances from the home government.
This mode of proceeding would have taken more
time, but in the end it would have brought about
the triumph of right.

As the lessons of history are generally lost on
the people, and men in power acquire wisdom only
under the pressure of calamity, the government
forgot the lesson of the American revolution, then
so recent and so striking. Not only in Quebec, but
in each and all of the colonies, the men of Downing
street held on to the reins until the people threat-
ened to take them from their hands. Let us see, for
instance, what occurred in Australia. It was not
until 1824 that the colony was granted a semblance
of a government, which was somewhat improved in
1842. This colony was not definitely endowed with
156

LORD DURHAM'S VIEW

the privilege of dealing with its own affairs until
1856, after thirty years of persistent claiming of its
rights. Up to that date all the officials in the
country were appointed in London. It is not diffi-
cult to imagine the result of such a system, especi-
ally in a province such as ours, where a racial
question presented itself, over and above the abuses
common to all the colonies, and rendered the
problem more complicated. "When we examine
into the system of government in these colonies,"
remarks Lord Durham in his report, "it would
almost seem as if the object of those by whom it
was established had been the combining of appar-
ently popular institutions with an utter absence
of all efficient control of the people over their
rulers."

As above stated, the government refused to
recognize the Canadians as British subjects on the
same footing with the other inhabitants of Canada.
The governor and his entourage looked upon them
as a conquered people of inferior race, who were to
be kept under, as it were, by the fear of the sword
of Brennus. That feeling had taken possession of
what constituted "society," in those days, in Mont-
real and Quebec. In this pseudo aristocratic circle
reigned a spirit of hostility towards the French
Canadians, who were carefully excluded from its
ranks. No opportunity was lost of slighting and
insulting them. This select circle included the
official class, the bureaucracy, the whole of the

157

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

governor's party — the Chateau clique — so called,
and the officers of the regiments then in Canada.
All these people really believed that they were
made of different clay from the descendants of the
old colonists, and looked down upon them from the
height of their own insolent snobbishness. They con-
sidered that the country belonged to them by right
of conquest and that they were entitled to use it
and exploit it for their own exclusive advantage,
and they had no scruple in doing so. There were
amongst them what might be called official dynas-
ties, which had come to consider their positions as
hereditary for their special benefit. Writing to
Dominick Daly, provincial secretary, in 1847, Lord
Gosford, than whom no one had had better oppor-
tunities to know them, called the clique " a domin-
eering faction, which could be satisfied with nothing
short of absolute power, and this ought to have
been resisted and suppressed by a steady, uniform,
and undeviating regard for the interest of the
majority of the people."

"They hold the chief offices of the state," said a
contemporary writer, "possess what were then con-
sidered large incomes, make constantly a great dis-
play and set the fashion. When the military first
come amongst us they find certain persons high in
office to whom they deem it wise to pay their court.
.... The whole Canadian population constitutes
the object of the hatred of this ruling class, and
that portion living in the country, which chance
158

HUMILIATION

brings into town, are subjected to their special
contempt and ill-treatment."1

These contemptible insults cannot justify a re-
bellion, but it is, nevertheless, manifest that this
unceasing assumption of disdain was not of a nature /
to permit a mingling of the two elements whose
true interest it was to come to a mutual under-
standing. In social life, under any circumstances,
a wound to self-love creates eternal ill-will ; but
national self-love is still more susceptible, and any
slight to that sentiment involves a degree of humili-
ation which can hardly be overlooked. Behind these
wretched annoyances, which may seem insignificant
to one who is not himself subjected to them, loomed
up the conviction, only too strikingly confirmed by
the conduct of successive incumbents of the colonial
office, that the object of the English government •
was to crush the French Canadians.

As far back as 1808, had not Craig entertained
the idea of uniting Lower Canada with the neigh-
bouring province, for the purpose of denational-
izing our people ? Was not the entrusting of the
public instruction in the province to the Royal
Institution (an English Protestant institution) an
attempt to lay hands on our Canadian youth ? The
union scheme of 1822 was, it is true, put aside, but
with the secret determination to revive it sooner or
later. Being fully cognizant of the views current in

1 "A Political and Historical Account of Lower Canada," by a Cana-
dian, London, 1830.

159

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

England in our regard, what possible reliance could
Papineau place on promises of reform which were
constantly broken ? Distrust in the long run became
his habitual mood, until it culminated in utter
exasperation, often the source of reckless deeds.

In " The Life of Cartier " it is pointed out that
the whole movement prior to 1837, was not of a
popular character. Papineau had not embodied in his
statement of grievances any of those burning ques-
tions which go to the hearts of a people, such as
religious persecution, or direct attempts to destroy
their language. The privileges of the House of
J Assembly, the voting of the supplies by the repre-
y sentatives of the people, the encroachment on the
rights of the other chamber, were all, so far as the
good habitants of Lower Canada knew, so many
abstract questions, about which they understood
y nothing whatever. Owing to atavistic influence the
governor's arbitrary rule was not for them an un-
bearable yoke. Happy in the peaceful possession of
their farms, in the free practice of their religion,
and the use of the French language, they led a
quasi patriarchal existence. What more was needed
to satisfy their simple, frugal tastes ? Finding in the
farm the wherewithal to feed and clothe themselves,
and having, therefore, but a trifle to pay in the shape
of indirect taxes — and the customs duties were in
fact very low — they were self-supporting and in an
enviable state of independence. The Canadian set-
tler was therefore inclined to remain indifferent as
160

PAPINEAU'S INFLUENCE

regards political agitation, and nothing short of the
trumpet tones of Papineau could have roused him
from his lethargy and brought him into line. He
felt that he had grievances to complain of, because
Papineau told him so ; he believed, though he could
not see.

But does not the admission that such was the
state of mind of so large a section of the Canadian
people force us to admit that Papineau's complaints
were groundless ? Not at all ! Quite a large propor-
tion of the Canadian population had a full sense of
their position, and were well aware that the abuses
they then complained of and combated, were
fraught with evil results for the future. Besides, is
it not manifest that the commission of an act of
injustice towards a single individual constitutes a
menace to the whole? That is a truth of experience
demonstrated by the political history of England.

161

CHAPTER XIV

EXILE AND RETURN TO CANADA

BANISHMENT from one's country is one of
those great afflictions for which nothing can
afford consolation, and the more it is prolonged the
more its bitterness increases. It was peculiarly
painful for Papineau, who saw his country plunged
in mourning and misfortune, instead of enjoying
all the advantages he had striven to secure for it.
Proscription wounded him to the heart, for through-
out all his past struggles he had found no rest or
happiness but in the bosom of his family and in the
midst of his friends, for whom he was ever full
of affection and tenderness. After his flight from
St. Hyacinthe he proceeded to Albany, where he
was joined by his wife and children. But the latter
were soon compelled to return to Canada, with the
exception of his eldest son, who accompanied him
to France in order to study for the medical profes-
sion. This separation was most painful for Papineau,
and it was rendered more poignant still by the
anguish he endured from the spectacle, ever present
in his mind, of his country groaning under the
weight of calamities for which he himself was in
some quarters held to be responsible.

"You well know, my dear Benjamin," he writes

163

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

to his brother (Paris, November 23rd, 1843) "that
my separation from my wife and my children, my
brothers and my sisters, and their families, and
from so many other relatives, friends and fellow-
countrymen who are dear to me, and to whom the
best and longest part of my life has been devoted,
is a daily and hourly source of grief and sorrow to
me. I would cheerfully bear all this, however, to
the very last hour of my existence, rather than
humble myself in the least before our persecutors."
He could have returned to Canada as early as
1842, under the amnesty which LaFontaine had
obtained specially for Papineau from Sir Charles
Bagot. But reasons of a political and personal
character prevented his return, and he prolonged
his stay in France up to 1845. In the isolation of
exile, he needed an occupation sufficiently absorbing
to divert him from his gloomy ponderings; he
found it in his love of study, and he was naturally
led to take up historical research, to which, while
in Paris, he devoted the best part of his time. In
that atmosphere which the great libraries have
impregnated, so to speak, with science and learn-
ing, his mind soon imbibed comfort and nourish-
ment from the restful influence of books, and his
letters of that period show that he was to some
extent consoled by the delight he found in his new
occupation. It seemed for a time to imbue him
with a loathing for politics. "In your letters," he
says in writing to his brother, "you speak of nothing
164

LIFE IN PARIS

but politics. Why do you not tell about something
else?" Then returning to his literary work, he con-
tinues : " I have been given free access to the archives.
I find them far richer in historical and legal matter
than I expected, in relation to the history of Canada.
Access to these archives had previously been denied
to Lord Durham. ... If I could afford it I would
secure help to copy documents which will sooner
or later be popular in our country, that is to say,
when the taste for mental culture becomes stronger
and more widely diffused than up to the present
time."

But it was not so easy for him as he fancied to
give up politics — the old fascination seized him
once more and swayed him beyond all reason. It
was political animus that wrenched from him in
1839 the first part of his history of the insurrection,
in which virulent recrimination takes up more space
than the narration of events, and which he did well
not to complete. There are, nevertheless, scattered
throughout the fiery pages of this pamphlet im-
portant statements to be noted, such as that in
which he asserts that he never intended to extort
by violent means the reforms he wanted: "I defy
the government to contradict me when I assert
that none of us had ever organized, desired, or even
anticipated armed resistance .... not that an
insurrection would not have been legitimate, but
we had resolved not to resort to it as yet."

In 1845, Papineau returned to Canada. His

165

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

fellow-countrymen welcomed him heartily, feeling
that his services had more than expiated his faults,
and forgot everything but the memory of his
splendid past. The exile of 1837 came back stronger
than ever before, and crowned with a halo of glory,
the whole population manifesting their sympathy
for the returned exile. Public curiosity was mani-
fested as to his intentions for the future, but,
assuming the mantle of reticence and discretion, he
kept silent on the subject, and retired to his estate
of La Petite Nation, where he shut himself up in
the dignity of retirement until 1847. Would that,
for the glory of his own name, he had never left
his quiet retreat to tread once more the political
arena, wherein having in former times taken the
lead for thirty years, he could not play a subordin-
ate part without lowering himself and bringing
trouble on his friends !

Eager to wield once more the influence he exer-
cised in former days, or it may be, hoping for
an opportunity to take revenge on England, he
again entered parliament ; and we must certainly
acknowledge that this second stage in his career,
which terminated in 1854, added nothing to his
fame as a statesman. Eight years of absence from
the country had put him out of touch with the
political ideas of his countrymen. A new mode
of looking at events and dealing with things politi-
cal had supplanted the views held by Papineau,
who was still firmly grappled to the opinions of
166 •

HIS NEW IDEALS

the stormy days of the period from 1820 to 1837.
Coming in contact during his life in Paris with the
advanced spirits of the period, such as Lamennais,
Louis Blanc and Be'ranger, his liberalism had be-
come deeply tinged with radicalism, and this pro-
duced a fresh element of severance between him
and his former friends. The bitterness of defeat
drove him to fits of anger which he vainly strove to
control, and which often paralyzed his momentary
good resolutions. Thus when accepting the repre-
sentation of the county of St. Maurice, in 1847, he
promised to support LaFontaine. "It is only," he
declared in his address, " to give the Liberal govern-
ment an opportunity of showing that they are able,
as they are undoubtedly willing, to render good
service." Reason then had the upper hand with him,
but it was soon to lose all semblance of control over
his mind.

It was evidently impossible for Papineau to
cooperate with LaFontaine, who had, it was well
known, become convinced that the union could
be made to work so as to render full justice
to the French Canadians. The former refused
to put the smallest faith in responsible govern-
ment, and demanded: "The repeal of the Act
of 1840, and the independence of Canada ; for the
Canadians need never expect justice from England.
To submit to her would be an eternal disgrace and
a signing of their own death warrant; independence,
on the contrary, would be a principle of resurrection

167

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

and national life." On his return to Canada, his
hatred for England was coupled in his mind with
/ a real horror of monarchical institutions. Aristoc-
racy in all its forms was, he considered, the real
enemy of good government and the foundation of
despotism; as if the representative assembly of a
democracy could not become despotic ! As if a
collective body, even when the offspring of universal
suffrage, did not sometimes become oppressive I

Was it possible for a man entertaining such
ideas to remain a supporter of the Liberal ad-
ministration under LaFontaine and Baldwin, which
had just taken the place of the Draper govern-
ment? The violence of his sentiments was certain
to separate him completely from the ranks of those
with whom he had associated in the past, and from
whom he, at first, did not dare to part. His attitude
in the House very soon assumed the character of a
mild opposition, and culminated ere long in avowed
hostility. There is no standing still on a slope, in
politics as in other matters, and under the stimu-
lating influence of the human passions of hatred
and disappointed ambition, Papineau soon became
an unflinching enemy. He quickly confessed that
the Tories were not so black as he had thought
them to be, nor the Liberals so white as he had
deemed them. He depreciated the claims of the
latter, and lauded the former, in order to justify his
own hostility towards LaFontaine. The fact is that
the great agitator was now utterly blinded by his
168

STANDING ALONE

hatred of British institutions, and denounced in
unmeasured terms all those who upheld them.
Moreover, he was never over-generous to those of
his associates who ceased to share his views. One
after another, Vallieres, Neilson and Debartzch, when
they had differed with him, became the objects of his
scathing sarcasms. In 1849, LaFontaine is "a mere
simpleton, kicked and cuffed and deceived by his
confederates; a bloated corruptionist." Blake and
Drummond are two " shameless Irishmen who in-
sult the memory of O'Connell and the sufferings of
Ireland." He was carried beyond all bounds of
reason by political passion.

Papineau's temperament was evidently wholly
cast for opposition, and a ceaseless and unflinching
criticism of the acts of his adversaries. Habit had
imparted to his mind, during the long years of his
struggle with Dalhousie, a decided bent impossible
to remove. To find fault seemed a part of his
nature, and in 1849, when he could see no enemies
to attack, he vented his wrath on his friends, the
Liberals. Indeed he probably depicted in a pleasant
way the natural bent of his own mind when, in an-
swer to his brother who, on his arrival from France,
blamed him for having delayed one day in his
coming from Montreal to Quebec, he said, " I
waited to take an Opposition boat."

The sentiments ruling his mind were such as to in-
volve him inevitably in a hand-to-hand encounter
with LaFontaine. Hence, in the session of 1849, we

169

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

find him engaged in a merciless attack on his former
lieutenant. This was a struggle between two adver-
saries richly endowed with mental powers of a high
order, but of diametrically opposite character; the
one with the prestige of a brilliant past career and
the halo surrounding his reputation as the most elo-
quent speaker in the country, a splendid voice
which age had in no way affected, and a bad cause;
the other, a cool-blooded advocate, with perfect
self-control in argument, a master of trenchant
logic, appealing to reason alone in defence of his
impregnable position, and a good cause.

Papineau rushed to the assault with his old-time
fervour and energy, and for ten hours held forth
against his former friend, who had now become his
enemy, because he had not broken with England,
and had finally accepted the union of 1840, against
which he had at first protested. Such was the scope
of his lengthy indictment which, sad to say, was
not free from malicious insinuations calculated to
impugn the honour of the prime minister.

At the period of the union the whole Cana-
dian people had protested against Lord Durham's
scheme, which had been prepared as a means of
disposing once for all of the French question in
Canada. Papineau, recurring to this popular pro-
nouncement, taunted LaFontaine with having ac-
cepted the new regime, which had at first seemed
to him an abomination. As to himself, he said,
he had not changed, and the union of the two
170

ATTACK ON LAFONTAINE

Canadas was in his eyes a vassalage, a servitude,
which must be forthwith put an end to. "LaFon-
taine's attitude is simply cowardice, for the union
has produced for us nothing but deplorable results,
and can only lead to our enslavement." "For my
part," he continued, "I see nothing in it but
treachery and iniquity, a law of proscription and of
tyranny against our people. That Liberals such as
LaFontaine should accept this regime is something
I cannot understand. Hence it is that I am opposed
to a government which is putting the finishing touch
on Lord Sydenham's work. This ministry has no
capacity for good, but much for evil, much for the
enslaving of those over whom it holds sway." In the
stormy rush of his feelings he had come to hate the
Liberals more than the Tories, his former foes. He
does not express this sentiment in plain words, but
it is quite clear that such was the fact. "I must
say, nevertheless, that this Draper Tory govern-
ment, of which I had so poor an opinion, and the
present ministry, from which I expected such great
things, have both alike disappointed my hopes and
my fears. The moment I began to know our Liberal
ministry, I began to see that nothing good was to
be expected from it." Then reviewing LaFontaine's
programme, he found it "teeming throughout with
subject matter deserving of condemnation and re-
proach." In matters of finance and political econ-
omy, everything must, he declared, be recast. A great
deal of attention was even then devoted to the ques-

171

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

tion of means of communication and transportation,
and he pronounced the plans of the government in
relation thereto to be hazardous and extravagant. The
scheme of enabling sea-going vessels to reach the
great lakes by means of canals he considered ridicul-
ous. But Papineau lived long enough to see how
mistaken he had been in underestimating the re-
sources of the country, and how little foundation
there was for the following forecasts : "It was a
mistake to build these canals of such dimensions as
to serve for ostentation rather than for utility. It is
folly to think that European vessels will ever,
through our canals, penetrate so far into the coun-
try. The currents and the winds will prove an
obstacle, and render the voyage too long and too
costly, and the idea of undertaking the construc-
tion of canals of such vast dimensions in order to
enable European vessels to reach the lakes is noth-
ing but a dream. No, that will never take place ; I
assert it without hesitation, for everything shows
me that it is impossible. The extension of our
navigation to Kingston can never thus be profitably
realized, and all the expenditure incurred to that
end has been incurred to no purpose. But England
has been no wiser than our government; she ap-
plauded our folly, and urged us on to it by promis-
ing us a protection which she is now withdrawing."
LaFontaine had no difficulty in proving the
injustice of his opponent's attack, and in demolish-
ing his whole argument. In his opening remarks,
172

LAFONTAINE'S REPLY

after reminding Papineau that he had obtained an
amnesty in his hehalf, he said: "If I committed a
fault in entering the government, he is the one who
has reaped the benefit, for were it not for that error
of mine, he himself would not be in this House
to-day, pouring phials of wrath and contumely on
the heads of his old-time political comrades and
friends. He would still be pining in exile."

Casting a retrospective glance at the working of
the new constitution from 1841 to 1849, LaFontaine
undertook to show that it had been possible for
him, without logical inconsistency, to accept it, and
join in the task of bringing it into operation, much
to the advantage of his French Canadian fellow-
citizens. It was not he who had changed, but the
Union Act itself. The clause proscribing the French
language had been struck out, and the Act had been
the means of giving them responsible government,
which embodies all the privileges claimed by the
Canadian people prior to 1837. "I felt constrained,**
he continued, "to yield to the solicitations of my
colleagues, with a deep sense of the responsibility
then resting upon me. And when I consider the
immense advantages my fellow-countrymen have
derived from this measure, I see no reason to regret
the course I took. My country has approved of it,
and the honourable member himself, on the eve of
the general election, in the county of St. Maurice,
said that he approved of it! With what degree of
sincerity and for what purpose he made that declar-

173

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

ation in his too celebrated manifesto, I leave it to
this House and to his electors to say. In flat con-
tradiction with that statement, which his electors
at the time must have taken to be sincere, the
honourable member tells us, to-day, that it was a
fault and a crime for a French Canadian to take
office in 1842. He has told us what, according to
his view, was the line of conduct, the system of
opposition, we should have adopted at that period
and followed steadily ever since. He draws a con-
trast between that system and ours. From that
point of view I accept the challenge with pleasure,
and have no anxiety as to the result. The question
being so put, let us see what have been the conse-
quences of our system for the French Canadian
people, and what would have resulted from that of
the honourable member.

"It will not, I think, be unjust to the honourable
member to qualify his system as a system of op-
position to the bitter end; he himself so qualified it on
several occasions. I leave to the honourable member
the full benefit of a declaration which I have often
made and which I now repeat: The idea of the
governor who suggested, the idea of the man who
had drafted the Act, was that the union of the two
provinces would crush the French Canadians. Has
that object been attained? Has Lord Sydenham's idea
been realized? All my fellow-countrymen, except
the honourable member, will answer with one unani-
mous voice : No 1 But they will also admit, as every
174

LAFONTAINE'S REPLY CONTINUED

honest man will admit, that had the system of
opposition to the bitter end, upheld by the honour-
able member, been adopted, it would have brought
about, ere now, the aim of Lord Sydenham : the
French Canadians would have been crushed 1 That
is what the honourable member's system would
have brought us to, and what it would bring us to
to-morrow, if the representatives of the people were
so ill-advised as to adopt it.

"The protest of 1841 has a scope and bearing
which it behooves us to bear well in mind to-day;
but, to my mind, the refusal of the government and
the majority of the legislature of Upper Canada to
accede to that protest had a far greater significance.
That refusal demonstrates absolutely that the Act of
Union had not made of the two Canadas one single
province, but that it simply united under the action
of one single legislature two provinces theretofore
distinct and separate, and which were to continue to
be so, for all other purposes whatsoever; in short,
there had been effected, as in the case of our neigh-
bours, a confederation of two provinces, of two
states. It was in accordance with this view of the
facts, based on the operation of the Act of Union,
as it was interpreted by Upper Canada itself, when
the province was invited to do so by the Lower
Canada Liberals, in their protest of 1841, that I
regulated my political course in 1842. And relying
upon the principle that the Act of Union is only a
confederation of the two provinces, as Upper Canada

175

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

itself declared it to be in 1841, I now solemnly
declare that I will never consent that one of the
sections of the province shall have in this House
a larger number of members than the other, what-
ever may be the figure of its population."1

In this great debate Papineau's eloquence car-
ried all before it as a piece of art, but cool reason
gave the victory to LaFontaine. The tribune had
fought with great courage, and he needed a good
stock of energy to carry on the fight alone, and
with the memory in his mind of the days in the
old assembly when he spoke as a master, when
all things yielded to the charm and authority of
his voice. His position now was a false one, and
he fell into the grave error of not perceiving it. All
was changed since 1837; the political world had
marched forward in the light of new ideas, effecting
its evolutions in virtue of principles contrary to
those of the past. Papineau stood alone, entrenched
in his old position, and hurled defiance at his new
enemies as though he had still to cross swords with
Dalhousie, Aylmer or Gosford.

Prior to 1837, the French Canadians carried on
the struggle for power against the English anent
racial questions, ever a most exciting and enervat-
ing subject of debate. An essential characteristic of
such struggles is that they become aggravated with
the lapse of time, and develop passions which so

1 Papineau had, in the debate referred to, expressed himself as
favourable to representation based on population.

176

HIS UNCOMPROMISING ATTITUDE

obliterate all sense of justice and injustice as to
close the door to the possibility of mutual conces-
sion and compromise. After the union, the alli-
ance of the LaFontaine Liberals with the Baldwin
Reformers operated as a salutary diversion, by af-
fording fresh channels for forces which up to that
time were constantly rushing into conflicts fraught
with danger. It then became possible to deal with
the material interests of the country which had
so long suffered from neglect. The solution pre-
sented by LaFontaine of the political problem com-
mended itself to the people generally; for, bearing
in mind the sad experience of 1837, they dreaded
the idea of straying after perilous illusions by
following in the wake of Papineau. To renew the
former agitation would be, they considered, to open
afresh the wounds by which their country had so
long been exhausted. Many reforms were of course
still required, but it was hoped that the ministry
when once in full possession of the means of action
provided by the constitution, would promptly find
suitable remedies. Inflexible in his principles, Pap-
ineau held in abhorrence the idea of mutual con-
cessions, or compromise of any kind, which are of
the essence of a constitutional system. Disdainful
in his isolation, and boldly facing his enemies, his
bearing and attitude seemed to express undying
hostility, and his lips might well have phrased the
unbending words : Etiam si vos omnes, ego nonf His
attitude was a proud one, but was it more reason-

177

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

able than that of his opponents ? However that may
be, one feels inclined even while giving a verdict
against him, to bow before the strength and power
of conviction with which he urged his views. If
Papineau felt himself isolated on the floor of the
House, he found without, a certain number of
friends and adherents, irreconcilables like himself,
who refused to believe that England, victorious on
the battle-field of the insurrection, had given up,
after her defeat in the political arena, the idea of
putting an end to French influence in Canada.
From this group of refractory patriots, whose ranks
had been augmented by the accession of a number
of young men (who had been attracted by their
admiration for Papineau, and afterwards became
his disciples) issued, in 1849, Le parti democratique
— a party deeply influenced by the revolution of
1848 in France.

The leading men of the new organization were
V the two Dorions, Rodolphe Laflamme, Dessaules,
(a nephew of Papineau), Labreche-Viger, and J.
Daoust, with VAvenir, and Le Canadien, for a
short time, as their representative newspapers. They
all took their cue from Papineau, sought their
inspiration in his speeches and joined in a pro-
gramme reflecting his ideas. The articles forming
the creed of the democratic party included the
repeal of the Act of Union, the annexation of
Canada to the United States, and, pending the
absolute severance of the colonial link, the intro-
178

LAFONTAINE'S RETIREMENT

duction of the elective principle into every branch
of the administration, and the selection, through
that mode, of public officials, magistrates and mem-
bers of the legislative council.

The French Canadian Liberal party — up to that
time solidly united — split up into two factions ; and
this break up of the national forces affected La-
Fontaine so deeply, that he resolved to retire from
public life after the session of 1851. Speaking at a
banquet tendered to him by his friends on the
occasion of his retirement, LaFontaine, who was
then but forty-three, having referred with some
feeling to the rapidity with which the struggles of
political life wear out its votaries, continued as
follows : "And I beg to assure you that, in retiring
from public life, I cannot but regret to witness the
efforts being made to create division in the ranks of
the French population of this country. But I have
had sufficient experience to enable me to tell you
with perfect confidence that these efforts cannot
succeed. Our people are gifted with sufficient strong
common sense to see clearly that, if they divide
their forces, they will be powerless, and their fate
will be that predicted by a member of the Tory
party some years ago in these words : * The Cana-
dians are fated to be led always by men of another
race.' For my part, I despise the efforts now being
made to divide the Canadians, and they will not
succeed."

LaFontaine's predictions were ill-founded, as was

179

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

shown by the result of the elections in 1854, when
quite a number of Papineau's adherents were elected
to parliament. Moreover, the disunion had already
taken effect in 1849, on the foundation of Le club
democratique. LaFontaine feigned — we do not
know for what purpose — to be unaware of the
existence of this division, which was, as his friends
tell us, the chief cause of his retirement, and to
which he makes allusion when in his speech he
speaks of the disgust inspired by politics.

Papineau retired into private life three years after
his rival, wearied and disappointed, but full of hope
in the future of democracy and its final triumph in
Canada. Living in retirement at La Petite Nation,
he never wholly ceased to take an interest in public
affairs. In spite of himself his ardent and active
spirit continually haunted the arena which he had
so long filled with his presence.

A keen observer of men and things, he studied
our institutions in contrast with those of the United
States, which on every occasion he used as a subject
of comparison and as a criterion in support of his
opinions. An examination of the Constitutional Act
of 1840, in contrast with Washington's great work,
led to his inditing in a letter to Christie1 some
singular comments on that charter. Strange to say,"

1PThig letter bears the date of November, 1854. At that time
Papineau had become reconciled with Christie, his old opponent, whom
he had caused to be expelled four times from the House, on the charge
of having advised Dalhousie to dissolve parliament.

180

HIS OPINION OF THE UNION ACT

he finds it too liberal, and one asks himself whether
it was really Papineau who wrote this: " The coun-
try has entered upon a new phase. The democratic
element has suddenly become dominant in a danger-
ous degree, and there is no counterpoise. In the
United States the peculiar position given to the
Senate, is in itself a counterpoise to the tendency to
over-acceleration in the action of the representative
body; but the most effectual of all is the Supreme
Court, whose decisions suspend the execution of
laws contrary to the rules of justice established
by the constitution of each State. Here the legis-
lative assembly alone makes the law, because it can,
through the selections it has made of the ministers,
judges and councillors, convert into a statute any
ephemeral whim of the hour. The powerful aris-
tocracy of England is so essentially conservative
that there is no danger in admitting, as a consti-
tutional principle, that parliament is omnipotent as
to legislation. New men will succeed one another so
quickly at each general election in Canada, that the
result will certainly be legislation of a precipitate
and violent character. Reforms suddenly carried to
extremity, after an obstinate resistance extending
through many long years — in place of a moderate
and gradual concession of wise measures — will do as
much harm as England did in the past by wrong-
fully maintaining the excessive preponderance con-
ferred on the executive. England has now no clearer
apprehension of the social needs of the country

181

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

than she had in the past, because she cannot con-
ceive of the existence of a state of society other
than her own. We are, I fear, falling into a state of
legislative anarchy, because each parliament, in turn,
will destroy the reputation of the ministers by
whom it is led. Beginning with a majority, they
will end with a minority, and each new parlia-
ment will have to destroy the work of its pre-
decessor."

While this criticism is a surprise to us as coming
from Papineau, it is, nevertheless, a tolerably accur-
ate view, in part, of the constitution. Undoubtedly,
if the Constitutional Act of 1840 had a blemish,
Papineau had shrewdly hit upon it. We have little
to say against his opinion, but what astounds us is
to hear, from the lips of an old Liberal, language
which Tories like MacNab and Draper would hardly
have uttered. Was Papineau at this time acting
in obedience to the all but general law which makes
us with advancing age see things in a different light
or from another standpoint, and leads us to modify
our former opinions ? Mature age shows us the fallacy
of many doctrines, for experience has by that time
enabled us to witness the failure in practice of
many a brilliant theory. As we advance in years the
difficulty of subduing human nature, with all its
defects, to the exigencies of some great system,
admirable on paper, becomes more and more mani-
fest. In most cases, institutions are better than men,
and our own shortcomings render them imprac-
182

LAST APPEARANCE IN PUBLIC

ticable. In this matter Papineau, it may be, was
simply a critic a outrance, as of old.

If Papineau still pined for political life after
entering upon his retirement, the feeling did not so
overpower him as to make him seek publicity. He
unbosomed himself on this cherished object of his
thoughts only to his close friends, in those pen-
chats which he had always loved and to which
he imparted so great a charm. Once only, and for
the last time, he appeared in public. At the Cana-
dian Institute in Montreal he gave a lengthy
lecture on December 17th, 1867. On that occa-
sion, in the very closing hours of his career, and
under the depressing burden of advanced age,
he showed all the ardour of youthful energy in
the expression of his sentiments and especially of
his old antipathies ; it was the last roar of the lion in
the face of his foe. His lecture was a lucid summary
of the history of English rule in Canada, a subject
which offered full opportunity for the last confession
of the hardened and unrepentant patriot, proud
to stand on the brink of the grave without regret
for the past, and still hopeful for the future of
democracy. Although Papineau had ceased to be in
communion with the political and religious ideas of
the majority of his fellow-countrymen, he remained,
nevertheless, in their eyes the most attractive politi-
cal figure in the land.

183

CHAPTER XV

CONCLUSION

THE portrait at the head of these pages tallies
well with our mental conception of Papineau.
What energy in the lines of the expressive face!
What manly beauty in the contour of the head!
And do not the eyes seem to bid defiance to all
comers? Everything in his attitude reveals the
obstinate fighter he showed himself to be through-
out the whole of his long career.1

To the psychologist, Papineau's character pre-
sents but little complexity; his mental attitude in-
clined to a singleness of purpose which well suited
the unity of his life, devoted, as it was, wholly to
one great cause, towards which the efforts of his
intellectual faculties unceasingly tended.

A man such as Papineau is not to be judged
merely by the events with which he was connected,
notwithstanding that they may have very greatly
influenced his career. His ideas were the outcome
of certain antecedents and early associations and
influences. The son of an important political per-
sonage who had seen the early days of English
rule, he of necessity inherited his father's hardened

1 This portrait was lithographed by Chardin, whilst Papineau was in
Paris, and has been considered excellent by artists and connoisseurs.

185

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

feelings and prejudices resulting from the arbitrary
spirit which characterized the new regime in its
early days. No man was more conversant with its
gloomy annals than Papineau. His antipathy for
the authors of the real or fancied wrongs of his
country was augmented by the reversion of the
accumulated antipathy cherished by his father and
his close friends. His childhood was spent in an
atmosphere impregnated with the most violent
passions, and thus it was that he became such a
lover of strife. His life-long struggle with the gov-
ernment was anything but calculated to subdue his
leaning towards harsh criticism ; and when brighter
days dawned for the country, the sunlight did not
fall soothingly for him as it did for LaFontaine and
his friends. Were we not aware that his course of
action on his return to Canada was inspired by
motives deserving of respect, though manifestly
erroneous, we should feel constrained to say that
the habit of opposition had so warped his mind that
nothing could remove the bias.

His career is divisible into two parts very differ-
ently filled, and the errors of the one should not be
allowed to efface the merits of the other. What a
man was the Papineau of 1822 1 He embodied
in himself and voiced, at that moment, all the
aspirations and demands of the Canadian people, at
a time when their national existence was in immi-
nent peril. It was in truth the voice of his country
that burst forth in his fierce denunciations of con-
186

DIMINISHED POWER

spiracies hatched against the liberties of his people.
From 1820 to 1837, he stood forth the grandest
figure in our history. His was a life of glory during
that period, a glory purchased by endless sacrifices,
— a life immolated to a great cause which he up-
held unflinchingly with small hope of final victory.

His public career should have closed with the
catastrophe of 1837. What a pity that he did not
grasp the position of the province and his own, in
1845! It was a great mistake on his part not to
have given himself up to a life of study and reflec-
tion, and a greater still to have encouraged division
in the ranks of the little Canadian army. He has
been held responsible for the establishment of the
Radical party and of Le club democratique ; but
we nowhere find evidence of his connection with
the latter organization, though many of his ideas
are included in the celebrated programme of the
club, drafted, if we are not mistaken, by one Blan-
chet (surnamed Le citoyen Blanchet), and some other
advanced spirits of the period. But was the connec-
tion between Papineau and the Democratic Club
such as would justify the statement that he was its
founder? Let us bear in mind that anti-religious
ideas were for a time the fashion, especially among
the educated class, prior to 1837 and under the
union. Disciples of Voltaire, encyclopaedists, deists
like Papineau, and partisans of free morals, were to
be found here and there.

It is well to point out that his opposition to

187

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

LaFontaine was but an incident in his struggle
with the English government, which he carried on
over the heads of his adversaries in Canada. His
laudations of democracy, his sarcasms and his as-
saults on aristocracy, as found in the ninety-two
resolutions, show the drift of his mind in 1834.
His stay in Paris, where he consorted with La-
mennais, Beranger, and Louis Blanc, left its im-
print on his mind and thrust him into the very
focus of radicalism, which was concentrated to a
white flame by the revolution of 1848. His fixed
idea on return to Canada was this: "We must get
rid of aristocracy in every shape and form, for it
keeps us under a shameful vassalage." This was his
view of the colonial condition and status. His anti-
pathy makes him see the dark side of everything.
"But let us be patient," he writes to Aubin, the
editor of Le Canadien, in 1848, "emancipation [for
which he constantly prayed] will come, and mean-
time we shall be rendering good service by making
our people revert to the policy followed from 1791
to 1835. We must love democracy now, during our
period of servitude, so as to put it in practice after
our emancipation."

Was Papineau merely an irrepressible agitator, a
democrat dreaming of nothing but the triumph of
his own ideas, and without any plan or system de-
noting grasp of mind? Of course circumstances often
determine the scope of man's conceptions, and it is
evident that Papineau, acting on the limited field of
188

HIS POLICY

provincial politics, had no opportunity to evolve
schemes such as Richelieu conceived. Still there
was nothing of the particularist in the plan he con-
ceived, prior to 1837, of forming alliances with our
neighbours of the east and of the west. He main-
tained a lengthy correspondence with William Lyon
Mackenzie of Toronto and with certain Liberals in
the maritime provinces, with the manifest inten-
tion of uniting with them with a view to bringing
about a combined effort against England. He was
at one time confident of the success of his scheme.
In the broad outlines of his plan, which never
went beyond the incipient stage, one can per-
ceive the leading idea: a confederation of colon-
ies independent of England, the reverse of that
which was subsequently carried out. Pushing even
beyond the frontiers his efforts to secure allies, he
managed to find ardent helpers in the United
States. These were the American sympathizers who
came to the assistance of Mackenzie in 1837, and
of Robert Nelson in the days of the second uprising
in 1838.

The influence of the authorities successfully
checked Papineau's manoeuvres. But the results
would appear to show that tHis early blending of
the Liberals of Lower Canada with those of the
western province, initiated by Papineau, was the
first step towards the subsequent momentous alli-
ance between Baldwin and LaFontaine.

After having said farewell to politics in 1854,

189

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

Papineau retired to his manor house of La Riviere
de la Petite Nation, and there remained until death
closed his career in 1871. Here it is that, during
the period of his life subsequent to his return to
Canada, we find his character most attractive. In
the midst of his books, in communion with his
favourite authors, he shows himself with the capti-
vating countenance which was natural to him, but
which the struggles incident to his active political
life in the earlier years of his home-coming, had
many a time shrouded in gloom. In friendly inter-
course, he was, in his day, one of the most amiable
of men. An accomplished man of the world, he
exhibited in social life all the grace and ease of
manner of a grand seigneur. His condescension
towards his inferiors, his respectful affability and
courtesy in conversing with women, and his many
other social qualities made him a most fascinating
companion. He cultivated successfully that ex-
quisite grace of perfect courtesy, so rare in our day,
and which can hardly be expected to flourish at its
best in our democratic atmosphere. He was like a
survival of a former age. From his father, who
had associated with the Canadians of the old regime,
and was reared amidst the traditions of Versailles,
he had imbibed the grace of manner and refinement
which lent such a charm to social intercourse in the
days of old. All Papineau's letters, except, of course
those treating on politics, breathe this fragrance of
good society and are, moreover, imbued with a cor-
190

A FRIENDLY LETTER

dial spirit of warm friendship. Our readers will not be
sorry to behold side by side with the tribune armed
for the fray, a Papineau clad in the peaceful garb
of home-life in the midst of his family and friends,
revelling in the thousand details of domestic and
social intercourse. On returning from a trip to
Quebec where he had been the guest of Christie — a
former adversary, who had since become his friend —
he wrote as follows from Montebello, on July 13th,
1856:

"My Dear Christie : — Ever since our return from
Quebec we have talked of nothing but the many
friendly attentions paid to us, all the festal gather-
ings held expressly for us, and the many other dem-
onstrations of kindness showered upon us, at your
hospitable home, in the first place, and, as a con-
sequence of your kindly initiative, at the hands also
of many other obliging and courteous friends. For
my wife, my children and myself, those delightful
holidays will ever be remembered, as days of per-
fect happiness, which we shall recall in our gayest
hours in order to enhance their brightness, and in
times of depression and sorrow in order to sustain
our drooping spirits. . . . Our young girls had their
first taste of the delights of your charming social
life and enjoyed to the full those many enchanting
gatherings, which Quebec has the wonderful knack
of organizing at a few hours' notice. In Montreal
the mixture of various races has introduced a little
too much etiquette and restraint. Social gatherings

191

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

are rarer and more formal, and consequently less
enjoyable and pleasant. I ought to have told you
all this as soon as we got home, but the fact is my
absence had retarded much of the work on my
improvements which had been begun, and for the
last few days, I have spent a great part of my time
with the workmen, and devoted the remainder to
the company of our fellow-travellers, whom I
cannot sufficiently thank for having accompanied
us home. If, on our return, we had found ourselves
alone in our rustic solitude, the transition would
have been too sudden ; but with Miss Doucet to
chat with anent the days of our youth, and Miss
Trudeau to speak of her early days and those of
her charming friends of her own age, time glides
pleasantly along. Kindly say to Monsieur and Ma-
dame Trudeau that I thank them every hour of the
day for entrusting to me such gentle and charming
companions for my daughters as well as for their
old parents. There is not very much variety in our
store of amusements, but the young ladies are good
enough to say that they are happy with us. Never-
theless, they will be still better pleased when you
yourself and Madame Christie come to us; for
the joy of having you with us will brighten our
lives and make us more pleasant companions than
when we miss you and are longing for your pre-
sence amongst us. Ezilda is never tired telling of
the wonderful party Madame Christie improvised
at such short notice, for so large a gathering. She
192

A TRIP TO THE SAGUENAY

quite admits that she met more than her match ;
*but,' she said, when offering this as a model to me,
'I shall improve now, for I have made a beginning.'

"It would be useless to attempt to parcel out
compliments and praise when we owe them to so
large a circle of friends. Nevertheless, I feel that
for a good part of the most friendly disposition
manifested by them all, we are indebted to the
fervour of our old mutual friendship, which induced
you to speak of us in terms of praise far beyond
our deserts. I beg to offer my heartfelt thanks to
each and all, but more especially to those who
organized our delightful trip to the Saguenay;
to M. Buteau, who took so much trouble in
the matter, and to all the ladies and gentlemen
who took part in it with us. Three young ladies
absolutely perfect and accomplished in all respects,
and three men well above the average of our sex,
then two little girls and myself made up a party of
nine, always a lucky number and which proved to
be so at least during our three days' trip. Shall that
happy trip ever be repeated ? Who knows ? Should
it not be so in very truth and reality, it will at least
be many a time renewed in the vivid pictures of
living memory. To behold the grandest scenery in
the world, in the best possible company, is some-
thing to be long remembered ; something never to
be forgotten."

We have just seen Papineau enjoying peace and
happiness in the bosom of friendship — the joy of

193

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

living; but such is not the normal condition of
human life, which is only too often clouded by
sorrow and misfortune. The early death of his
grandson plunged him into deepest grief, and in
a letter to Christie, dated March 15th, 1855, he
opened in the following terms the floodgates of his
heartfelt sorrow :

" When your letter reached me, I was in deep
affliction, owing to the death of my dear and only
grandson, a splendid child of about eleven months,
carried off by his first sickness. Knowing the ex-
treme sensibility of my son and daughter-in-law,
and their delicate health, which nothing but the
greatest and unceasing care and medical skill had
hitherto preserved, I have so wept and been so torn
by anxiety and trouble on this account, and from our
great loss, that the burden has overtaxed my strength.
Amede'e [his son, the recently deceased Seigneur of
Montebello] had written saying that he himself
would come and bring the remains of the dear child
with him. I attempted through the medium of a
friend, to divert him from undertaking a task which
would be dangerous for him, and suggested to a
good friend and relative to come in his place.
But the dear mother fancied that it would be an act
of culpable indifference to entrust the sacred and
precious remains to any other hands but those of
the father himself. My dear son discharged his sad
task with real courage, and together we laid the
relics of the sweet little angel in the family chapel,
194,

DOMESTIC AFFLICTION

erected in a grove a couple of acres distant from the
house. On the death of my Gustave, whom I caused
to be buried in the parish church, my son Amede'e
was the first to suggest the building of this family
chapel, a matter which I myself had under consider-
ation, though I had not mentioned it, with a view
to depositing therein the remains of my father and
Gustave, to be followed some day by my own,
should I be spared to finish it. And now it was in
order to receive the mortal remains of AmedeVs
own child that the first grave was to be opened
therein ! Such is life with its disappointments and its
forecasts. One must, nevertheless, do his duty while
he is able to stand, and then lie down without
regret."

This, it must be said, is an admirably written and
most touching letter. The group formed by the old
man depositing the remains of the little grandson in
the grave opened for himself, stands out before us
in bold relief, and it is impossible to behold it un-
moved. We share the anguish of this venerable
parent struggling in the grasp of a two-fold sorrow;
grief for the loss of the child and for the affliction
which has befallen his son.

It would be an injustice to his memory to con-
clude from Papineau's attitude as depicted in ac-
cordance with the facts herein stated, that he was
a man imbued with race prejudice. His hostility
had never been directed against the English peo-
ple, but solely against the ministers who refused to

195

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

grant us in their full integrity the rights as British
subjects which we were entitled to claim. It would
be impossible to point out in any of his speeches a
single aggressive expression applied to the English
people. The natural drift of his mind was rather
towards a cosmopolitanism in conformity with the
aspirations of the democracy. In that respect he
was in advance of many of his contemporaries
whose national and religious prejudices too often,
even in our own day, remind one of the unlightened
and backward races of former ages. On one occasion
when Colonel Gugy, a Swiss by origin, and a tool
of the English party, declared in the House at
Quebec, that he preferred to see in office a ministry
composed of citizens born in the country, Papineau
answered him thus : " For my part, what I desire is
a government consisting of friends of the law of
liberty and of justice, men who will protect all
citizens without distinction, and give to each and
all the same privileges. I hold such men as these in
high esteem, whatsoever their origin may be; but I
detest those haughty descendants of conquerors
who come to our country to deny us our political
rights. . . . You say to us : * Let us be brothers ! *
I answer, yes, let us be brothers ; but you want to
grasp everything — power, place and money 1 This is
the injustice we cannot endure."

Note further that, on several occasions, Papineau
was supported in the House by a majority of the
English speaking members, and that he numbered
196

THE HOME AT MONTEBELLO

amongst his followers such important men as Neil-
son, Leslie, Chapman and Andrew Stuart. But
we shall be asked : What say you of his angry
outbursts of 1837 ? Our answer is that they in
no way contradict our assertion. All that occurred
at that period was an outbreak provoked by the
resolutions of Lord John Russell depriving us of
the control of the finances, which was equivalent to
a suspension of the constitution of the country, an
act of high treason against the nation. Is it sur-
prising to find that excess in the exercise of arbitrary
power on the one hand, should cause an out-pouring
of extravagant language from indignant hearts
on the other? So great was this provocation on the
part of Lord John Russell, that Roebuck declared
that "in order to make the province accept the
resolutions, it would be well to send out at the
same time a few regiments of soldiers."

Papineau, like many of his contemporaries, wrote
much and at great length. His letters, written in a
large and most legible hand, generally covered from
four to eight pages. His style is not always very
clear, and his phrases, like the periods of his speeches,
are often laboured. Correspondence took up a great
part of his leisure time at La Petite Nation, where
boundless hospitality ever awaited his friends. One
felt at home at once under the roof of the charm-
ing Manor House of Montebello, with its vast
apartments, affording through noble bay-windows,
widely extended views of the beautiful waters of the

197

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

Ottawa. There was nothing surely here to suggest
the ruder elements of democracy! Papineau was
evidently a Pierre Leroux in theory only, his tastes
and manners were rather those of an aristocrat.

His splendid constitution and robust health en-
abled him to live an active life up to 1870, when he
seemed to collapse all of a sudden beneath the weight
of his years, while still retaining the full strength
of his intellect, and died on September 23rd, when
just about to enter on his eighty-fifth year. His
fellow-countrymen, nearly all of them men of faith
and deeply imbued with the principles and practices
of religion, regretted to notice the absence from his
bedside, at the supreme moment, of the minister of
divine mercy. But in these delicate and sacred mat-
ters of conscience man is accountable only to his
God, whose supreme judgment may greatly differ
from ours. Papineau was, it is true, a philosophe,
a spiritualist, and a deist, but while opposed
to the intervention of the priest in politics, he
was never an anti-clerical. On several occasions,
in fact throughout his career, he was to be found
claiming religious liberty for the church in Canada
with the same zeal and ardour with which he fought
for political freedom for all. When, in 1837, the
ecclesiastical authorities rightly deemed it necessary
to warn the Canadian people against Papineau's
revolutionary course, he conceived a bitterness to-
wards the clergy which the lapse of time only served
to exasperate.
198

LAST ADDRESS

He was rarely seen to leave Montebello after his
retirement from public life. On one occasion, how-
ever, as we have already stated, he consented to
gratify the wishes of his admirers in Montreal, who
desired to meet him. He attended for that purpose
a meeting of the Institut Canadien, and delivered
an address. He showed himself throughout this
lecture an impenitent radical, with all the ideas of
his long life crystallized in his intellect. And this
consistency and unity of his career was the result
of so many sacrifices' on his part that some allow-
ance must surely be made for it. Had Papineau
fallen into line under the new order of things, why
might he not also have aspired to high position in
the land? But to return to the lecture — after a rapid
glance at the history of Canada from the Treaty
of Paris (1763), he depicted in broad outline the
phases of our colonial system up to 1867— "Con-
federation, the most culpable of all, now for three
months in operation." In this lecture his old antipa-
thies reappear in full vigour, hi spite of his advanced
age, which usually softens them. His arch enemy, the
English aristocracy, could hardly escape without a
blow, and in truth he hits it unmercifully. Nor does
he spare the authors of confederation, "those ill-
famed, self-interested men." His wrath had not
aged. But let us not scrutinize this indictment; it
was not the death song of the gentle swan, but the
last defiance of the Indian warrior, shouted out
with his death rattle. Let us cull from this lecture,

199

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

ere we close, but this pathetic profession of love
for his country: "You will believe me, I trust,
when I say to you, I love my country. 1 have
loved her wisely, I have loved her madly! ....
Opinions outside may differ. But looking into my
heart and my mind in all sincerity, I feel I can say
that I have loved her as she should be loved. The
sentiment of love of my country I imbibed from the
breasts of my nurse — my saintly mother. The brief
expression in which it is best enunciated: *My coun-
try firstl' I learned to lisp at my father's knee."

With these burning words of love for his country,
words which atone for many an excess of language,
we deem it well to close these pages devoted to the
memory of one who gave the best part of his life
to defending his people against the assaults of their
enemies, and raised the French Canadian race in its
own estimation, in the face of the powerful men
who sought to humiliate and annihilate it. Obstacles
of many kinds prevented his work from reaching the
perfection he had pictured to himself, but it is mani-
fest to all that the struggles during which his high-
spirited eloquence was heard above the fray for a
quarter of a century, scattered broadcast those life-
giving principles which have borne fruit and flower
in our free political institutions. On this ground, as
well as for his great fame as an orator, of which we
are all justly proud, he is entitled to the homage
of posterity, in common with all who unselfishly
devote their lives to the triumph of a great cause.
200

INDEX

ABUSES, official, 43, 59, 94

Aylmer, Lord, asks the House to
give him full list of its griev-
ances, 75, 76 ; attacked on ac-
count of election riot at Montreal,
87 ; held responsible for intro-
duction of Asiatic cholera in the
province, 88 ; his impeachment
asked for in the ninety-two reso-
lutions, 95 ; blames conduct of
House, session of 1834, 106

B

BEDARD, PIERRE, prominent in poli-
tics, 27

Bouchette, Robert S. M., letter on
causes of rebellion of 1837, 150-
153

Brown, John Storrow, in command
of some rebels, 128 ; at St.
Charles, 133

C

CALDWELL, RECEIVER-GENERAL, fails
to account for £96,000 of public
monies, 56

Cartier, Sir Georges E\, compared
to Papineau, 1, 2

Constitution of 1791, its main fea-
tures, 21

Colborne, Sir John, orders Gore to
St. Denis, 134 ; in command at
St. Eustache, 135

Council, legislative, at war with
assembly, 42 ; asks that its mem-
bers be elected by the people, 79 ;
denounced by Papineau, 80, 95;
its proposed reform, 95

Craig, Sir James, his administra-
tion known as the reign of terror,
27 ; members of parliament sent
to prison by his order, 29 ; sup-
presses Le Canadien, 29

D

DALHOUSIE, LORD, his arrival in
Quebec, 41 ; establishes the Que-
bec Literary and Historical Soci-
ety, 41 ; his administration in
Nova Scotia, 58 ; refuses to rec-
ognize Papineau as speaker, 61 ;
is recalled at request of popular
party, 64

Demaray and Daviguon arrested at
St. Johns, and afterwards res-
cued by Papineau's friends, 128

Durham, Lord, on control of pro-
vincial finance, 77

E

ELIICE, Seigneur of Beauharnois,
suggests union of Canadas in
1822, 49

FRENCH CANADIANS, origin of their
rights, 9, et seq. ; reasons of

201

LOUIS-JOSEPH PAPINEAU

French Canadians — Continued
their opposition to constitutional
government, 20

G

GODERICH'S (LORD) despatch offer-
ing control of supplies for civil
list, 76-78

Gugy, Conrad Augustus, joins issue
with Papineau, 101

K

KEMPT, SIR JAMKS, recommends
changes in Canadian government,

71

L

LAFONTAINE, LOUIS HlPPOIJTE, T6-

f uses seat in cabinet, 72 ; assailed
by Papineau, 169-171 ; his de-
fence, 173 ; retires from politics,
179

Le club democratique, 180, 187

Le parti democratique, 178

Lysons, Lieutenant, his account of
the battles of St. Denis and St.
Eustache, 129 ; 135

M

MORIN, A., a follower of Papineau,
opens discussion at session of
1835 on state of the province, 101

N

NEILSON, JOHN, sent to England to
protest against union scheme in
1822, 48; goes to England a
second time with Cuvillier and
Viger to expose grievances of
Canadians, 63 ; votes against the
ninety-two resolutions and falls
out with Papineau, 102
202

Nelson, Robert, leader in uprising

of 1838, 139
Nelson, Wolfred, at St. Charles

meeting, favours armed resistance,

126 ; in command at battle of St.

Denis, 128 ; exiled to Bermuda,

138

O

O'CALLAGHAN, his views as to causes
of rebellion of 1837, 143

O'Connell, Daniel, expresses opin-
ion on Canadian politics, 114

PAPINEAU, JOSEPH, called to first
Canadian parliament, 4 ; de-
picted by Garneau, 4 ; he plants
first settlement at Montebello, 6

Papineau, Louis-Joseph, educated at
the Quebec seminary, 6 ; elected
to House of Assembly, 32;
speaker, 33 ; refuses seat in ex-
ecutive council, 72 ; remarkable
speech on constitution of 1791,
35-38 ; opposes union scheme,
43-47 ; sent to England in 1822
to protest against it, 48 ; at
war with Dalhousie, 55 ; trou-
ble with his friends, 65 ; let-
ter on this subject to Neilson,
67 ; demand for a legislative
council elected by the people,
79 ; bitter attacks on Aylmer,
95 ; he becomes an annexationist,
97 ; calls meetings to condemn
the Russell resolutions, 119 ;
revolutionary speeches at St.
Ours and St Laurent, 119-121 ;
to arms, 127 ; accused of high

INDEX

Papineau, Louis-Joseph — Continued
treason, 128 ; Papineau at St.
Denis, a painful incident, 132 ;
his banishment, 163 ; his life in
Paris, 164 ; returns to Canada,
165 ; re-enters politics, 166 ; falls
out with LaFontaine, 169-171 ;
retires into private life, 180
compares Canadian constitution
of 1840 to American constitution,
181 ; his last appearance in public
life, 183 ; in retirement at Monte-
hello, 190 ; in private life, 190 ;
his religious ideas and death,
198

Parent, Etienne, secedes from Pa-
pineau's party, 117

R

REBELLION of 1837, its causes, 143
Resolutions, the ninety-two, 85, et

seq. ; John Russell's resolutions,

117, 118

S
STUART, ANDREW, his opinion of

French Canadians, 49
Supplies, question of in House of

Assembly, 30

St. Charles, rebels defeated at, 133
St. Denis, engagement at, Novem-
ber 22nd, 1837, 130
St. Eustache, battle of, 135

THURLOW, ATTORNEY-GENERAL, his
opinion as to the rights of French
Canadians, 11-13

U

UNION scheme of 1822, 43; Pa-
pineau and Neilson oppose it in
London, 48, et seq.

VALLIERES falls out with Papineau,
67

W

WEDDERBURNE, SOLICITOR-GENERAL,
his opinion on the rights of the
French Canadians, 14

Weir, Lieutenant, killed at St.
Denis, 134; " Remember Jack
Weir," 137

Wetherall, Colonel, ordered to at-
tack rebels at St. Charles, 129;
the attack, 133

203

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

CONTENTS

CHA PTER I Page

YOUTH AND REVOLT .... 1

CHAPTER II
CANADA AFTER THE REBELLION . . 11

CHAPTER III
IN PUBLIC LIFE . . . . .21

CHAPTER IV
IN POWER ..... 31

CHAPTER V
TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION . . .43

CHAPTER VI
CONFEDERATION OF THE BRITISH PROVINCES . 55

CHAPTER VII
CONFLICT AND VICTORIES . 67

CONTENTS

79

CHAPTER IX
CARTIER AND THE MILITIA ... 87

CHAPTER X
CARTIER AND LA FONTAINE . . . 95

CHAPTER XI
CHARACTER AND POL7CY 105

INDEX . . . . . .135

CHAPTER I

YOUTH AND REVOLT

WHEN Georges Etienne C artier, the subject of
this biography, entered the political arena,
his native province of Lower Canada was on the
verge of sedition. Carried away, like all the young
men of his day, by the eloquence of that powerful
tribune, Papineau, he one day found himself in open
rebellion against the British crown, of which he
was, in a few years, to be one of the most stalwart
supporters. The contradiction, however, between
Cartier's two antagonistic attitudes is more apparent
than real His opposition, which drifted into revolt,
was not directed against the British sovereign, but
against the party, an insignificant minority, who,
having laid their hands on the government, used it
for their special ends and profit, and denied to
French Canadians all the privileges and rights of
the British subject. But as soon as self-government
was granted to Lower Canada, no more loyal
upholder of the British constitution than Cartier
was to be met in North America.

It is not our purpose to attempt a justification
of the furious agitation which culminated in open
battle at St. Denis and St. Charles. But is it not
fair to ask whether the administrators of the day

1

SIR GEORGES ^TIENNE CARTIER

had not abused the patience of the people beyond
the limits of endurance, when year after year they
resisted the legitimate requests of the Canadians for
constitutional government in fact as well as in name?
Since 1800 the discontented Canadians had been
asked: "But have you not a most liberal constitu-
tion: why do you complain?" The fact of the
matter is that the governor and the legislative
council had concentrated all authority in their hands
and constantly frustrated the will of the lower house.
The representatives of the people were in the posi-
tions of persons craving water: they were offered
an excellent glass, but it was empty. They had
been since 1820 asking for the complete control of
the provincial finances, and in 1837 Lord John
Russell's resolutions placed it practically in the
hands of the executive.

In no other section of the country did the feeling
against the hated bureaucrats — the family compact
of Lower Canada — run so high as along the Riche-
lieu. The pretty villages, extending on both sides
of the river from Sorel to Chambly, with fine
churches raising their tall spires, and neat looking
farm-houses, give one the impression of a rich and
happy land, too happy to be a scene of bloody
encounters. In those days, St. Ours, St. Charles,
St. Marc, St. Antoine and Chambly were the seats
of aristocratic French families, from whom the people
took their direction in politics. With the advent of
democracy and the progress of education among
2

BIRTH AND PARENTAGE

the people, this has all been changed, and many
of those influential families have also disappeared.
But when Papineau, at the full height of his furi-
ous attacks against the government, determined
to strike a great blow to show his power, it was at
St. Charles that he convened the delegates of the
six counties.

At St. Antoine, one of those hotbeds of rebellion,
Cartier was born of parents who traced their gene-
alogy to the family of Jacques Cartier, the dis-
coverer of Canada. His ancestors had come to this
country in 1759 and settled at Quebec, which
they left in 1760 to build up a new home at
St. Antoine. His grandfather and father were
merchants. Cartier once stated that he should
have followed their calling instead of studying law.
To atavism he owed his taste and aptitude for
business and his strong grasp of matters pertaining
to trade and commerce.

When old enough to attend school he was sent
to the Montreal College, then as now under the
management of the Sulpicians, or les Messieurs de
St. Sulpice as they were called in the old style. The
process of his intellectual formation was not dif-
ferent from that of any French lad in the hands of
the priests. This process is peculiar enough in itself
and in its surprising results to be worth describing
to persons not familiar with the customs prevailing
in Quebec.

It must indeed seem strange and abnormal to our

3

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

English-speaking citizens to see British subjects of
the twentieth century brought up and educated
under rules laid down when Louis XIV reigned, and
modified only in minor details later on to suit the
times. The substantial education dispensed to the
youth of Quebec is still almost wholly permeated
with French notions of the seventeenth century. The
craving for hero worship is gratified in the history of
France, whose traditions of glory and honour form
part of our national inheritance. In literature, Bos-
suet, Racine, Fe'nelon, and all the writers of the
grand siecle are the models offered to the imitation
and admiration of young French Canadians, who
seldom come in contact with Shakespeare and
Milton except in translated excerpts. Moreover,
English is indifferently taught in the Quebec
schools. For years it was viewed by many as the
language of heresy and of the conqueror. Fortu-
nately, as a counterpoise to this apparently anti-
English education, there exists the all-powerful
teaching of the Church, who claims for herself and
for all powers submission and obedience. The first
duty of the subject in civil and political order is
subordination to the government which holds its
rule from God : Omnis potestas a Deo. Under the
beneficent ecclesiastical influence, social and reli-
gious asperities are worn out and smoothed down;
and it is with a strong sense of sacred obligation
that Catholics offer in their Church prayers for their
separate brethren.
4

EDUCATION IN QUEBEC

No more moral and severe tuition could be given,
nor under closer watchfulness. The pupils of the
Quebec colleges are daily reminded of their duties to
God, their neighbours, and the state. Thanks to the
clerical teaching with its strong conservative ten-
dencies, the mind of the young French Canadian
is shaped on the mould of monarchical ideas; with
the effect of binding it to English institutions in
preference to democratic systems of government.
The natural consequence of this education did not
escape Lord Elgin's penetrating observation. He
attributed to it the loyalty of the French Canadian
to Britain, and he has this in his mind when writing
to Lord Grey in 1848: "Let them feel that their
religion, their habits, are more considered here than
in other portions of this vast continent; who will
venture to say that the last hand which waves the
British flag on American ground may not be that of
a French Canadian?"

A century and a half of loyal devotion to the
British crown, strongly exemplified during the
American wars of 1775 and 1812, stands to prove
the striking truth of Guizot's opinion, himself a
Protestant, that the Catholic Church is a school of
respect. Out of respect for the government springs
submission to its command and control.

The influence of Papineau must have been over-
powering, and the petty persecutions of the oligar-
chy of the Chateau St. Louis very exasperating, to
have overcome temporarily in Cartier's soul the loyal

5

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

sentiments which he had imbibed at St. Sulpice.
The fact of the matter is that the rulers at Quebec
seemed to have concentrated their efforts to hurt
the feelings and pride of the French subjects. At
every turn of their civil and political life they were
made to feel that the governors and their friends con-
sidered them an inferior race, unfit to take a share
in the government of the country. The work of the
lower house at Quebec was rendered barren, the
legislative council constantly nullifying its efforts.
Even the military authorities in those days took
sides with the oligarchy, and never failed to look
down with scorn on the habitants. But, we may
ask, was not the Canada Act of 1791 a great ad-
vance on previous imperial legislation? It undeni-
ably was, but is it not also a fact that the best
constitution may become an instrument of persecu-
tion and injustice in the hands of obtuse or wily
men deprived of the sense of justice? Even Upper
Canada had grievances under the Act of 1791, but
the problem to be solved there was not so complex ;
it was free from questions of race and almost free
from those of religion.

Is it to be wondered that the intelligent youth of
the day rallied around Papineau, who then stood
as the living symbol of the demand for justice
of a down-trodden population? The oppression of
the rulers must have been galling, for it arrayed
against them level-headed and moderate men like
La Fontaine, and even sweet-tempered, easy-going
6

A TOUCH OF REBELLION

men like Morin. Cartier was drawn towards the
patriots by his fiery temper and the strong convic-
tion that he and his friends were under a ban in
their own country. Moreover, was he not breathing
the spirit of insubordination in the law firm of Maitre
Edouard Rodier, the great tribune of the Montreal
suburbs, and second only to Papineau as a con-
vincing, blood-stirring orator? Under these strong
influences he was only too well prepared to join Les
Fils de la Libert^ when that society was organized
in imitation of the American Sons of Liberty. He
became their poet in spite of the muses, for he
lacked the sacred fire. Still his lines, patriotism
helping, were soul-inspiring, and the Fils de la
Liberte sang them to the top of their voices when
parading the streets of Montreal in search of their
enemies of the Doric Club.

Our poet and law student was carried away with
his friends; his fervour soon capped the climax,
and when Colonel Gore marched on St. Denis to
crush the incipient rebellion, Cartier shouldered a
musket with the other raw recruits armed with
shot-guns and scythes. It was a miracle that
they repulsed the Waterloo veterans. A few days
later his ardour and enthusiasm urged him on to
the neighbouring parish of St. Charles, where Nel-
son met a terrible defeat at the hands of Colonel
Wetherall. When more tranquil days brought
Cartier to power, he was often taken to task
for the part he had taken in the rebellion. His

7

SIR GEORGES ^TIENNE CARTIER

opponents were wont to represent him fighting in
habitant garb with the blue bonnet — la cuque bleue
— then worn by his countrymen. Cowardice was
also hinted at, but it has been established beyond
controversy that he behaved bravely under fire. At
St. Charles he was entrusted by Nelson with a
mission which required both pluck and nerve:
namely, to cross the Richelieu under the enemy's
fusillade to get supplies from St. Marc on the
opposite shore.

Under the scathing fire of Wetherall, the peas-
antry scattered in every direction, and Cartier at-
tempted to seek a refuge in the United States. It
was late in the autumn ; the cold, rainy weather of
November and the bad roads rendered the young
patriot's flight painful. He wandered through the
forests, suffering from want of food and the in-
clemency of the season, and finally lost his way.
Then the safest course seemed to him to retrace his
steps and find some hiding place near home. He
succeeded in reaching Varennes, where a farmer
harboured him during the winter. It was reported
at the time that he had perished in the woods, and
Le Canadien, of Quebec, lamented the death of
this young man full of genial qualities, to whom
the future promised a brilliant career.

When spring returned it was considered safer for
Cartier to abandon his retreat, and place the Ameri-
can frontier between himself and the police, who
were scouring the country about Montreal in search
8

EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES

of rebels. He reached Burlington, where he re-
mained until Gosford's amnesty proclamation al-
lowed him to return to Montreal, which he entered
wholly free of the illusions under which he had
lately lived, but not regretting the sacrifice he had
made to the cause of freedom. He knew that
liberty is often dearly bought, and that frequently it
rises out of streams of blood.

If it were my purpose to attempt a justification of
the insurrection of 1837, might not that outburst
find extenuating circumstances in the fact that it
was not committed through malice aforethought,
but was the spontaneous movement of a people
labouring under great provocation? The opening of
the hostilities occurred as follows: on a certain day
the habitants of St. Charles and St. Denis were
told that warrants had been issued against their
leaders, men whose life-long devotion to the popu-
lar cause had won the trust and gratitude of every
Lower Canadian. These men were known to them as
ardent patriots, animated by a boundless love for
their country. It is not surprising then that, swayed
by a natural indignation, they should have promptly
resolved to protect Papineau and Nelson who were
in their midst.

There was in this insurrection one of those chiv-
alrous impulses impossible to suppress, which one is
compelled to admire, although it is condemned and
reproved by calm judgment. Therefore the French
Canadians will ever piously treasure up the memory

9

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

of those peasants, brave men though deluded, who,
with a few muskets, scythes, and sticks, dared to
engage in a fight with soldiers ranking with the
best the world had seen. To the gratitude of pos-
terity towards the men of 1837 has been added a
large measure of admiration, and now it is widely
admitted that this spontaneous rebellion hastened
the advent of constitutional liberty, and secured
for the whole race the coveted rights of British
subjects so long witheld from them. A heavy
cloud shrouded the horizon in those troublous
times, but it was blown away with the smoke of
battle, and there appeared the dawn of the better
days which all Canada now enjoys.

10

CHAPTER II

CANADA AFTER THE REBELLION

WHEN Cartier returned to Canada, after his
unfortunate experience in the ill-advised re-
bellion, the country was living its darkest days, and
for several years it seemed as though the French
Canadian race was doomed to political servitude.
If a storm bursts on the ocean the billows keep up
their motions a long time after its fury has abated.
Likewise in the political order, when a country has
been convulsed by a rebellion, the consequences of
the outbreak are felt after its suppression. In Lower
Canada it was not until 1846 that the province
finally regained its equilibrium, after ministerial re-
sponsibility had duly been accepted by all concerned.
The first outcome of the political trouble of 1837
was the suspension by the British parliament of the
constitution of 1791, under which Lower Canada
had been ruled for forty-six years. It was replaced
by the Special Council, a body composed of crown
nominees entrusted with the pro tempore govern-
ment of the country. In 1 838, Lord Durham made
an inquiry into the state of the province, and re-
ported to the home government the causes, from
his standpoint, of the past troubles, and proposed
as a prevention of their recurrence the union of

11

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

Lower with Upper Canada, so as to place in power
an overwhelming English majority, which would
annihilate French influence altogether, and bring
about in time the complete anglification of the
population. Mr. Poulett Thomson was sent out
to Canada to carry out in part Lord Durham's
suggestion, and set the new political machine in
motion.

The new governor-general, a self-made man of
very high attainments, had made his mark in the
House of Commons, where he was looked upon as
a most clever parliamentarian. His published cor-
respondence bears evidence to the brilliancy of his
mind, which was tinged by gleams of sceptical
humour. He would have been well fitted for his high
office, had he not allowed himself to be influenced
on his arrival here against the population of Lower
Canada, and it might be said, against Canadians in
general, if we may judge from the off-hand manner
in which he spoke privately of his ministers. The
task of obtaining the Special Council's approval
of the union scheme was an easy one. It was voted
almost unanimously, although the French popula-
tion of Lower Canada registered their protest against
it. How could they assume another attitude? Their
death-warrant was asked for in Lord Durham's
report, wherein he pointed out that it was in
the interest of the British Empire that they should
be merged into the Anglo-Saxon race. Lord Dur-
ham had exposed the faults of the constitution
12

PROPOSED TERMS

of 1791, which had fostered the grievances long
complained of, and which were the cause of the
recent outbreak. Was it reasonable that the faults
of that instrument should be visited upon them ?

After his success with the Special Council,
Thomson directed his efforts towards Upper Can-
ada, where the population was not averse to the
union. At its session of 1839, the Upper Canada
legislative assembly accepted the proposal on the
following terms :

1. That the seat of government of the united
provinces should be in Upper Canada.

2. That the members returned to the assembly
from each province should be, from Lower Canada
fifty, from Upper Canada sixty-two, with a faculty
of increase with increase of population.

3. That after a time, not later than 1845, the
elective franchise in counties should be restricted
to those holding their lands in free and common
socage.

4. That the English language alone should be
spoken and used in the legislature and in courts
of justice, and in all other public proceedings.

These resolutions, had they been put in force,
would have stripped the French Canadians of all
political power, disfranchised them, and finally made
them strangers not only in parliament but also in
their courts of justice. The corporation of Toronto
was in perfect harmony with the House, for it
had sent an address to Thomson embodying senti-

13

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

ments very hostile to Lower Canada. Thomson
lectured the Upper Canadians mildly, and made
them understand that their demands could not be
entertained. He disliked, it is true, the eastern
province, where, according to his notion, "the clim-
ate, the soil, and the population are below par," but
he felt that such an act of proscription as was asked
for would be worthy only of an eastern despot,
although the ultimatum of the Upper Canadians
seemed in harmony with Lord Durham's recom-
mendations. His plan was, therefore, to place the
union scheme on a more acceptable basis, and to
substitute as a motive power self-interest for national
prejudice. This was not brought about without
a prodigious deal of management, in which, as
he said, "My House of Commons tactics stood
me in good stead." He drew the legislative council's
and assembly's attention to the straits in which the
province was then placed for want of money. The
fact of the matter is that it was on the verge
of bankruptcy. With an annual revenue of not
more than £78,000, the charge for interest on its
debt was £65,000, and the permanent expenses of
government £55,000, leaving an annual deficiency
of £42,000. On the other hand Lower Canada had
no debt, but had a surplus of £300,000. Thomson's
appeal succeeded, and the legislature, foregoing
its first conditions, accepted rescue from bank-
ruptcy by the compelled help of Lower Canada.
Lord Metcalfe was justified when he said a few
14

SYDENHAM'S TRIUMPH

years later: "The union was effected without
the consent of Lower Canada, and with the hesi-
tating but purchased assent of Upper Canada."
The writer does not recall the above facts to in-
dulge in retrospective recrimination, but to depict
the situation in which C artier stood in his early
days, and also to indicate how greatly public opinion
has been elevated since 1840; then the proscription
of a whole race was asked for, and now Canadians
from all parts do not look upon the presence of
a French Canadian at the head of the state as an
abnormal fact.

The machinery of union was put in motion by
Thomson (now Lord Sydenham). With the utmost
boldness he threw himself into the electoral battle in
Lower Canada, using all the government influence
against French candidates, and finally won the day.
His majority in the new House was enormous, and
from his own point of view he could well boast of
having the French Canadians at his feet. There
seemed but little hope for the latter to get even a
small share in the government of the country.
Through their representative men, the clergy and the
best citizens of Quebec and Montreal, they had pro-
tested against the union without avail. What was
next to be done ? A certain number of them, giving
up all hopes of getting justice, proposed to continue
the battle of former days, and to become irrecon-
cilable opponents of British rule; the larger num-
ber were disposed to wait and take advantage of

15

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

circumstances. It occurred to them that the English
majority would not long remain compact under the
pressure of divergent interests, and that an alliance
might be formed with one faction or the other.
Such was the view that La Fontaine and Cartier
took of the situation. Cartier was not to sulk under
his tent and remain in constant opposition. But
his buoyant courage led him to expect a day of
reckoning for his enemies. His foresight did not fail
him on this occasion, and he hoped to turn the
compulsory marriage into un mariage de raison.

Although the Union Act conceded responsible
government to Canada, it was not the governor's
intention to allow his ministers full scope in the
matter of ruling the country. The elections had
returned to parliament a body of men bound to
execute the absolute will of the governor. This
would not meet the views of Robert Baldwin, who
seeing that the governor was determined to give
his cabinet the appearance of power but to keep
the reality in his hands, resigned his portfolio to
form an alliance with Mr. La Fontaine, the head
of the French Canadian party. It is through the
exertions and courage of these two men, great and
noble characters, that Canada finally secured minis-
terial responsibility. After Lord Sydenham's death,
Sir Charles Bagot called the Liberal leaders to his
council, giving them full power to put the Union
Act into operation according to its spirit and to
English precedents. Unfortunately, Bagot's term of
16

VIGER'S APOSTASY

office was cut short by his demise, and Sir Charles
Metcalfe, who had played the part of a pro-consul
in India, and who thought that colonials were not
mentally equipped for self-government, attempted
to rule according to his own ideas, which were
those of Sydenham. This brought on a crisis, re-
sulting in the resignation of La Fontaine and Bald-
win, who were superseded by the Draper ministry,
composed of English Canadians, with the exception
of D. B. Viger. The latter was an old-time Liberal,
one of Papineau's lieutenants during the late trouble,
and his acceptance of office was a surprise to
his countrymen, and considered almost as a betrayal
of the national cause. He sought re-election in
St. Hyacinthe, where he met a determined opposi-
tion. Cartier took the field against him, a circum-
stance to be noted, for it was then (1844) that
he made the first political speech of which we
have a record. The future minister took occasion to
condemn his past career, and to criticize the methods
used to bring about a desirable end. He laid the
blame on the older men, whom he thought respon-
sible for the outbreak of 1837, and was very out-
spoken in his denunciation of Viger. "The re-
sponsibility of the unfortunate events of 1837," said
he, "rests on the leaders of the public opinion
of that time. Mr. Viger was one of them. He
should have used the influence which he then
wielded to give better advice to his countrymen.
He and his friends, as politicians, should have had

17

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

more foresight and more wisdom. Now Mr. Viger
is striving to divide Lower Canadians by giving a
helping hand to the schemes of Sir Charles Met-
calfe; hut Lower Canada will let them know in
a few days by an almost unanimous voice, that it
remains attached to ministerial responsibility, on
which depends, in the present and in the future,
the salvation of Lower Canada." Viger was de-
feated, chiefly through Cartier's vigorous effort in
favour of constitutional government, and the vic-
tory was but the forerunner of the triumph of
Baldwin and La Fontaine, who were returned to
power in 1846. With them finally triumphed re-
sponsible government in its entirety.

As far as Cartier is concerned, this election
is interesting because it gave him an opportunity
to express his opinion on the troubles which had
supplied him with experience dearly bought —
a narrow escape from the gallows, proscription, and
exile with its accompanying hardships. The past
methods of dealing with political grievances then
appeared to the sobered enthusiast as dangerous. In
after life he never forgave Papineau for taking advan-
tage of his want of experience to enroll him under
the flag of rebellion, and has seldom a kind word
to say for the famous tribune. Although Car-
tier, in the speech just quoted, was very severe
on his past conduct, he cuts the figure of a half-
repentant rebel, when, in addressing his former com-
panions in arms, he extols their bravery: "Electors
18

CARRIER'S APPEAL

of St. Denis, you showed your pluck and daring
bravery, when, on November 22nd, 1837, with a
few muskets, hay-forks, and sticks as weapons, you
conquered Gore's troops. I was with you, and I
have not been found, I think, wanting in courage.
To-day I call upon you to give a greater and more
sensible proof of patriotic intelligence; I entreat
you to fight with your votes — a more formidable
weapon — those men bent upon keeping up the
oppression of the past by robbing the country of
the advantages of responsible government. Yes,
voters of this noble parish, do your duty, set a salu-
tary example, and all Lower Canada will be proud
of you." As he appeared in this, his first important
political campaign, outspoken, fearless of the po-
litical consequences of his speech, so we shall find
him throughout his career. His great success in life
was in part due to his sincerity and uprightness,
which stamped him as one to be trusted under all
circumstances. In his declining years, he prided
himself upon never having broken his promise; his
word in all things was a word of honour. When the
Queen conferred a baronetcy upon him he chose as
his motto Franc et sans dol (Honest and without
deceit). This motto seems a natural outgrowth of
his qualities, the true expression of his life, charac-
terized as it was by his loyalty to Canada and
devotion to his friends.

19

CHAPTER III
IN PUBLIC LIFE

/CANADIANS who have made their mark in
V_y public life have, as a rule, entered parliament
when comparatively young. It was in 1849, at the
age of thirty-four, that Cartier took his seat in the
House of Assembly to represent Vercheres. Late as
his debut was, it did not prevent him from ad-
vancing with rapid strides towards the treasury
benches. His success is easily accounted for when
one considers his talents and long preparation for
public life. It had never occurred to him, as it does
to so many, that it is possible to engage in politics
without preliminary studies. He had a high con-
ception of public life, with the many and heavy
responsibilities which it throws on the man who is
actuated by a nobler aim than mere personal
advancement.

He was a born ruler of men. Nature, it seems,
endows certain individuals with the gift of com-
mand as she adorns others with the genius of
poetry. Such men as Cartier are seldom met with
in our midst. It is surprising to note how numerous
are the ready and fluent speakers among the French
population, and how few are fit to lead. To grasp a
situation, to foresee the evolution of public opinion,

21

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

with its bearing on events, are parts of the art
of government. Cartier had the mastery of that
art to a high degree. It was his good fortune soon
to acquire that great authority which eminence
in knowledge and talent gives. He was a man
of quick resolve, a faculty also seldom found in
politicians. Thanks to his aptitudes, the actual
leadership of his party fell into his hands before he
was officially called to assume it. His influence was
so great at the outset that in 1851 he was offered a
portfolio in the Hincks-Morin administration. Two
years later Lord Elgin and Mr. Hincks pressed him
to become a member of the cabinet. It was only in
1855, when Morin was called to the bench, that he
was finally persuaded to accept the responsibilities
which he could no longer refuse. But before he
entered the cabinet he had played the part of a
minister in the House. In fact he led the govern-
ment forces, supporting their measures, fighting
their battles, and extending a sort of protection
over them.

When Cartier consented to take a portfolio he
was at the head of an important law firm in
Montreal, and briefs came into his hands in great
number from the best mercantile establishments;
the Grand Trunk Railway Company, then in its in-
fancy, also entrusted him with its business. From
1855 to the day of his death, in 1873, his name
remained with the firm of Cartier, Pominville & Be'-
tournay; but, as it will presently be shown, public
22

RIVALS AND ASSOCIATES

duties kept him away from the Montreal court-house
and a profitable business. He was admitted to the
bar in 1835, and his legal training of almost twenty
years was an excellent preparation for parliament.
His mind had become permeated with those sound
principles of law which gave him such power in de-
bate on the floor of the House. His legal knowledge
was also of use in another and a more important
field: it helped him to follow closely the tradition of
the "coutume de Paris" in framing the legislation of
his native province. To this day the large number
of statutes which his activity put through parlia-
ment bear the imprint of his strong mind. For
twenty-five years Cartier was in power, with but
short intervals of opposition. It will not be out of
place to show how he succeeded in maintaining
himself in office for such a long term, at the
head of a party full of conflicting ideas, and in
a democratic community antagonistic, by natural
instinct, to long-standing cabinets. This success was
not due to his sterling merit alone, but to causes
which it will be interesting to note, so that his
career may be clearly understood.

Cartier's long tenure in office was not due to a
lack of talented men, for at no time in the political
history of Canada were there in the field more dis-
tinguished men than in his day. Not to mention Pa-
pineau, La Fontaine, and Morin, who belong to the
previous generation, it is possible to rank very near
him several able lawyers and clever writers. In the

23

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

first place stood Cauchon, a fine speaker and a vigor-
ous journalist. He had very few equals as a polemist,
and with his constitutional knowledge he would have
made his mark even in England. He wielded in Le
Journal de Quebec a powerful pen against those
whom he was pleased to call the enemies of his race
and religion, George Brown and his followers. His
ambition was to become the leader of the Conserv-
atives, but Cartier barred the way, and the latter
received from this rival but an indifferent support.
Cauchon was the leader of the Conservatives in the
district of Quebec, where, with the young men of
the day, he kept the Liberals at bay — led though
they were by such men as Fournier, Plamondon,
and Huot. Cauchon wrote the best commentaries
on the Quebec Conference resolution, which became
the British North America Act. It was this able
contribution to the discussion of the confederation
scheme that was largely instrumental in gaining the
approval of the clergy, who at first were loath to
accept the proposed new order of things. With less
talent Sicotte also played an important part in
parliament among the followers of Cartier, until he
left him to form the Liberal Macdonald-Sicotte
administration. Chauveau was another prominent
Conservative, but his literary attainments finally in-
clined him towards more congenial labours than
those of a member of parliament, and he assumed
the honourable and important duties of superinten-
dent of public education. Near these politicians was
24

LIBERAL LEADERS

also to be found the bright and fascinating Lo-
ranger, a ready speaker, bristling with irony and
sarcasm, who seemed called to advancement in
public life, and deservedly so. The men just referred
to were Conservatives of a more or less pronounced
type.

Arrayed against Cartier, the Liberals had at
their head men of whom they were justly proud:
Aime' Dorion, Papineau's disciple, with his brother
Eric, surnamed "V Enfant terrible;" and next to
them Laflamme, Dessaules, Founder, Doutre,
Daoust, Laberge, Papin — rail popular speakers, all
with generous, but none the less with misconceived,
aspirations. Most of them attained a high position
after Cartier had disappeared from the arena. They
would probably have conquered him long before he
died had they not been handicapped by their radical
ideas and compromised by their "clear Grit"
allies of Upper Canada, who were then clamouring
against the institutions of the Eastern Province.
Great admirers of Papineau, holding the liberal
ideas which the oppression of former days had
fostered, they were ready to fill their sails with the
wind of radicalism which during the Revolution of
1848 in France swept all over the world.

The downfall of Louis Philippe and the procla-
mation of the Republic had produced an immense
impression in Canada. As a consequence a demo-
cratic party was organized, and the French Cana-
dian Liberal party, led by La Fontaine, was split

25

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

into two sections. At that time there was no
organization bearing the name Conservative in
the Province of Quebec. The new faction followed
Papineau and Aim£ Dorion. Their platform smacked
of the French revolutionary notions of 1848; it
was akin to Louis Blanc's red-hot tirades against
monarchy and its real or pretended abuses.

One cannot read to-day the democratic pro-
gramme of 1849 without smiling. It was evidently
the production of very inexperienced young men,
brimful of an enthusiasm which made them accept
the Utopian dreams of their French prototypes on
social questions. They, however, stopped short of
socialism. The reforms which they advocated to
bring about the millenium in Canada, comprised
annual parliaments, an elective judiciary, even an-
nexation to the United States 1

A paper, L'Avenir, was started in the interest of
the would-be reformers, whose trend of ideas may
be gathered from the following extract of their
appeal to the public, evolved at a meeting of the
Club democratique of Montreal, the head of the party
faction: "Democrats by conviction," said the pro-
gramme, "and of French Canadian origin, it grieves
us to think that the electric fluid of democracy, which
flashes over the civilized world, would run through
Canada uselessly for want of a conducting wire on
the soil of this New World. Without universal
suffrage, where is the legitimate and rational conse-
cration of authority ? Will it be the drop of oil from
26

INFLUENCE OF FRENCH DEMOCRACY

La Sainte Ampoule (the vial used at the coronation
of French kings) dripping on his forehead that will
transform a man into a monarch and legislator for
a whole nation ? It is our misfortune not to look
upon sovereignty in that light. We then shall take
the liberty of discarding the oily performance of
Rheims, and give our preference to the strong and
pure consecration which in 1848 burst forth from
the soul of a noble people. In former ages, Christi-
anity, sciences, arts and printing were given to the
nations to civilize them; now popular education,
commerce and universal suffrage will make them
free."

It would be unfair to saddle the whole Liberal
party with the responsibility of the ultra-radicalism
of 1849; many disapproved of it and dreaded its
exaggerations. But they had thrown in their lot
with these men of anti-British and anti-Catholic
sentiment, and in consequence they found them-
selves out of harmony with the clergy and the
great bulk of their countrymen. Referring to these
misguided politicians of fifty years ago, Sir Wil-
frid Laurier once said,1 "The only excuse of
these Liberals was their youth, the oldest of them
was not twenty-two. . . . However, they had
hardly advanced a few steps in life when they
perceived their great error. As early as 1852 they
published another newspaper, leaving L'Avenir to

1 Discours sur le libe'ralisme politique par W. Laurier, Quebec, 26
juin, 1877.

27

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

the hot-headed, and they tried to find, but not always
with success, it is true, the new path which the
friends of liberty should follow under the new
constitution. . . . The clergy, alarmed at their
conduct, which recalled too much the attitude of
European revolutionists, declared an unmerciful
war on the new party. The English population,
friendly to liberty, but also loving order, turned
against the new party, which for twenty-five years
has remained in opposition."

These were not the only compromising con-
nections of the Liberals. They were unmistakably
associated with George Brown, the avowed enemy
of Lower Canada, who was at that time fighting for
Protestant and English supremacy. Brown's policy
of representation by population was a principle just
in itself, perhaps, but contrary to the Union Act
of 1840, which gave equal representation to both
provinces. Dorion accepted population as the basis
of representation, and it was this concession to his
Grit ally, which drew from Cartier this bitter
remark to Dorion: "Your friend Laberge has stated
that when you accepted representation by popu-
lation, you cast the cannon ball that killed the
Liberal party."

It has been charged against Cartier that he
courted clerical influence, and against the Lower
Canadian priests that they threw into the struggle
the weight of their spiritual power in favour of the
Conservatives. All this was greatly exaggerated for
28

political purposes, but even if the clergy had stepped
into the arena, who would blame them to-day?
Was it not simply for them a question of self-
defence ? Could they remain absolutely neutral when
both their national and religious existence were at
stake? Could they close their ears when powerful
men, riding the "Protestant horse," clamoured vo-
ciferously: "No popery and down with French
domination" ?

It was their dangerous allies and their radical
programme that kept Dorion and his friends in
opposition so long, and gave Cartier such powerful
hold over his countrymen. Had political issues been
confined to economic questions, to tariff, trade and
commerce, he could not have withstood for so long
the assaults of such able men as Dorion, Fournier,
Laflamme, Laberge, and a host of others equally
brilliant and full of generous aspirations for the wel-
fare of the people, but with ill-conceived notions for
reaching the desired goal. It was their misfortune
to maintain their opponents in power. In 1863,
Cartier boasted at Toronto that out of forty-two
constituencies the Liberals had only carried thirteen.

Time and experience taught a severe lesson
to Dorion and his friends, who finally eschewed
radicalism. Yet suspicion clung to them for many
years, even after confederation, although the con-
test between the Conservatives and Liberals was
then waged on immediate political issues. In 1872,
at the suggestion of Messrs. Jette', F. Langelier,

29

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

Laurier, Pelletier, Mercier, David, and several
younger men of the party, an effort was made
to place Liberalism under other colours. A meeting
was held at Quebec on March 8th, and resolutions
embodying the views? of the leaders on strictly
political issues, were adopted. A letter was read
from Mercier in which he eulogized the clergy and
requested them, in the meantime, to consider him
and his co-religionists as friends. It was an attempt
to dispel all past misunderstandings. The new or-
ganization then appeared in the field as Le Parti
National, with an organ called Le National, pub-
lished in Montreal.

Thus the Liberals broke away from all notions
repugnant to the great mass of French Canadians.
The doubts which still overhung their fortune
melted away by degrees, and the day dawned when
they appeared just as orthodox as their opponents.
By a curious coincidence, the first important victim
of the reorganized party was Cartier himself, who
was defeated at the general election of 1872.

30

CHAPTER IV

IN POWER

i

IT was in the month of January, 1855, that
Cartier was for the first time sworn in as a
member of the executive council. He had been for
a long time the power behind the throne ; it was
only fair to the public and to his opponents that he
should assume the responsibility of a policy which
was distinctly his own.

For the first time also his name then came before
the country connected with that of John A. Mac-
donald, an alliance which lasted until the death of
one of the partners. Their respective beginnings
in life did not indicate that they would, one day,
work together hand in hand ; for their political
creed had placed them face to face as opponents
in the House. A man is hardly responsible for
peculiar views in the early part of his life; he
inherits the ideas which permeate the ambient air
in which his first years are spent; when he prides
himself upon his strong convictions, he is only an
unconscious slave of persons who have taught him
to think as they themselves thought.

Macdonald first appeared in parliament as an un-
compromising -Tory of the old MacNab type. He
was not far from the Upper Canada Assembly's

31

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

narrow-minded notions in reference to Lower
Canada. It was his wont to be then found in
the ranks of those most opposed to La Fontaine.
He voted against the proposed settlement of the
seigniorial tenure when Cartier earnestly voiced the
wishes of his people in that matter, and during the
debate on the Indemnity Bill, which provided that
the government should indemnify the loyal Lower
Canadians who had suffered losses through the re-
bellion, he qualified that simple measure of justice as
a reward to treason. When Lord Elgin gave the
royal assent to the Indemnity Bill, he was not with
the mob that pelted the governor with stones and
rotten eggs, sacked La Fontaine's residence, and
burned the house of parliament, but he was politi-
cally associated with these firebrands, with such
men as Moir Ferris, whom afterwards he appointed
to important offices. His prejudices were bound
to disappear with time as he escaped from early
influences, and came in contact with Lower Cana-
dian representative men. His experience was similar
to that of so many other of his friends whose inter-
course with French Canadians showed them that
they were not as black as they had been painted.

Cartier could not afford to renounce any of his
ideals. He was on the defensive and directing his
effort to gain political equality for his countrymen
of Lower Canada. At the time to which we refer,
the principles which were to be his guiding star
through life had taken a strong hold on his mind,
32

THE NEW ALLIANCE

and he had no intention of forsaking any of them.
How could he ? Was he not simply claiming equal
justice and equal rights for all in the face of men
who were advocating privileges for a class of British
subjects, superior in their mind to their neighbours?
When, therefore, it was mooted in the House and
in political circles that the Upper Canada Tories
desired to form an alliance with the Lower Canada
Liberals, he boldly told MacNab and Macdonald that
if they courted his fellowship they must first alter
their views. " If the Upper Canada Conservatives
desire to form a coalition with us Liberals, they
must give up many of their principles." It was
in this firm language that Cartier laid down (June
26th, 1854), in the House, the fundamental con-
dition of an understanding between his friends and
the Tories of Upper Canada, and when this alliance
materialised with the MacNab-Morin administra-
tion (the latter soon to be replaced by Tache')
Cartier was in a position to state (Feb. 14th, 1855)
at Vercheres, in answer to the charge that he was
a Tory, because he had formed an alliance with
MacNab : " There are no more Tories in the sense
formerly attached to this qualification. The old
Tories have weakened their principles (mis de
lean dans leur vin) and have given up antiquated
ideas which were their own. In the alliance which
we have made, it is Sir Allan who has come to the
Lower Canada minority. We have not abandoned
any of our positions ; can a statesman refuse

33

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

support offered to his cause ?" It was in those words
that he explained the nature of the compromise
which formed the conditions of the Liberal-Con-
servative alliance, when he came forward in
Vercheres seeking re-election as a cabinet minister.
Cartier was in such a position that he could not
remove one plank from his platform, built as it
was upon equal rights for all classes, both in the
political and religious spheres; minor matters only
were open to compromise and concessions. His
general policy was, nevertheless, bitterly attacked
in Vercheres although it was unimpeachable from
the national point of view. It seems as though his
opponents foresaw in the young minister the man
who for nearly twenty years would stand between
them and power. In the eyes of Le Moniteur, a
Liberal paper of the day, he was the Grand Trunk
Railway solicitor. This was a crime, for the famous
company was then subjected to all sorts of slander-
ous imputations. The same paper denounced him
also as the supporter of monopolies, of the seigneurs,
the upholder of well-paid government situations, a
breeder of corruption, the enemy of justice, the
champion of illegal measures, the apostle of servitude,
the partisan of passive obedience, a human conscience
vendor, a Tory minister, a jobber. Such were the
epithets too often used in those days against politi-
cal opponents. If a man's merit is to be measured
by the attacks he is subjected to, Cartier indeed
was a great man, for he has been assailed as very
34

THE ANCIENT LAND TENURE

few politicians have been in Canada. But all this
vituperation appears to be the unavoidable stock in
trade of politics. A French statistician and biblio-
philist has jotted down the titles of eight thousand
pamphlets written against Cardinal Mazarin, when
he was first minister of France, and this with the
total absence of newspapers and with slow press
work. But the cardinal outlived that storm of ink
and paper, like many another eminent statesman.

From the day he entered the cabinet to the day
of his death, Carder's career was a useful and fruitful
one for his country. His activity spread itself over
every part of national life, imparting to each new
blood and strength. The field of his labour might
be divided into two parts, one being his native
province and the other Canada at large. Public
education, the seigniorial tenure, the judiciary, the
codification of the laws of Lower Canada were
among the subjects which occupied his attention in
Quebec. It cannot be claimed that he alone settled
the land tenure of the country. It had been before
the public and parliament for many years. But the
questions of acquired rights, the rival claims of the
seigniors and their censitaires raised a mountain of
obstacles which no one dared touch until Cartier and
his friends resolved to grapple with its huge bulk.

It will not be out of place here to outline
the main features of the ancient land tenure,
which, to many outsiders, is still looked upon as
part and parcel of the feudal system planted in

35

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

New France by Louis XIV. During this king's
reign, tracts of land were granted to seigneurs
under certain conditions. The principal conditions
were that the seigneur should, in his turn, make
grants of land to settlers, who became proprietors
of the concession and could dispose of the same.
The price of sale was an annual rent of a sou or a
sou and a half per arpent. This was called the cens
et rente. This system exists to this day in many
places, but the owner of any farm can rid himself
of it by paying the capital of such rent. The great
difference between our land system and the tenure
of most European countries lay in this: that the
Canadian settler was the proprietor of his farm, and
could dispose of it by lease or sale. The feature of
the tenure to which people objected was the droit
de lods et ventes, a tax which the owner of a farm
had to pay to the landlord if he sold it, that duty
amounting to 9 per cent, of the sale price. The
lods et ventes interfered with land transfers and led
to many abuses ; the vendor would sometimes os-
tensibly undersell his property, which the seigneur
could then buy himself if he considered the sale
price below the real value of the property. There
was also the banalite, under which the seigneur was
obliged to keep up a grist mill to which the censitaire
was compelled to bring his grain. Under an act of
parliament passed in 1854, a commission was en-
trusted with the task of amending this old tenure.
As a matter of course the seigneurs were indem-
36

PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

nified for their losses. All that remains now of
the tenure is the rent of a sou per arpent\ the
censitaire can liberate himself by paying the capi-
tal of this rent, computed at 6 per cent.

A man of broad mind like Cartier could not
overlook the important interests of education. He
gave the subject his attention for several years and
had the education act amended so as to insure the
success of popular as well as of superior education.
It was he that placed at the head of the system
Mr. Chauveau, a man whose bright intelligence
and whose literary attainments fitted him to carry
out Cartier's views with success. In this reor-
ganization of public instruction, he gave the Pro-
testants of Lower Canada full control of their
schools. At the time of confederation, the English
population of Lower Canada had conceived a
certain anxiety lest changes should be made in
the law affecting their educational establishment
when they should come under the parliament at
Quebec, where a majority of Catholics would be
entrusted with the making of the laws. Of course
the British North America Act provided that they
should have the same rights as the Catholics of
Ontario had under the school system which ob-
tained in that province ; but a law had to be made
in Quebec to carry out the special clauses of the con-
stitution referring to schools. Cartier pledged himself
that this would be done, and relying on his word the
Protestants were reassured. After confederation the

37

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

Quebec government, through some misunderstand-
ing with the corporation of Montreal, did not at
once carry out the engagement made by Cartier,
and loud complaints were heard among Protestants
on all sides, both in the press and in parliament.
Cartier then pressed the Quebec government to
enact the desired law, with a prompt and gratifying
result. When he returned from England in 1871,
he was presented with addresses by the Protestants
of Lower Canada, the object of which was to thank
him for having carried out his promises with so
much zeal. It is to be remarked here that but few
French Canadian ministers have ever enjoyed to
the same extent as Cartier the confidence of the
English-speaking population of Canada.

In the administration of justice he made a reform
which has lost, with time, some of its merit. Up to
1857 legal business was concentrated in the cities,
to the great inconvenience of people living in the
country, who had to travel great distances to
attend the courts. Cartier established fifteen new
judicial districts, so as to place law courts within
easy reach of the people. It was his intention also
to have the judges reside in their districts, so that
they might form in different parts of Canada en-
lightened centres, which would improve the social
condition of the inhabitants. Unfortunately most of
the judges have not shared his views in the matter,
and have made their residence in the cities. To
complete this reorganization, he decided that all
38

ECCLESIASTICAL LEGISLATION

the French laws, scattered in many antiquated
books, should be codified after the style of the
Code Napoleon. In this action he had another
object in view beyond mere convenience. He de-
sired to facilitate the study of French laws for the
population of the Eastern Townships and those
parts of the country to which the French laws had
been extended. This reform he carried, as he stated
in Sherbrooke, against the opposition of very many
lawyers and even judges. It was, indeed, a beneficial
reform, and any one conversant with our civil courts
cannot to-day understand why any opposition
should have been made to Cartier's codification
scheme.

Another measure which his skill and energy
carried through parliament is the act giving civil
status to parishes established by the bishops. Ac-
cording to this act, whenever the Church thinks fit
to establish a new parish in any diocese, it receives
civil life without having to go before parliament to
obtain an act of incorporation. This piece of legis-
lation was of great benefit to the Catholics. It
substituted a simple petition to the courts for the
former act of parliament. It is strange that no
one has ever given Cartier credit for this law
which completes the liberties of the Catholic Church
in Lower Canada and its independence of the state.
Cartier was very proud of the measure, and con-
sidered that in having placed it on the statute
book he had rendered invaluable service to the

39

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

Church; but he took no trouble to claim credit for
it at the time, as such a law might have awakened
prejudices. His object was always to do good rather
than gain popularity.

Huxley once said of Gladstone: "Here is a man
with the greatest intellect in Europe, and yet he
debases it by simply following majorities of the
crowd." Without stopping to inquire whether this
judgment is exaggerated or not, it can be said that
such a charge could not be laid against Cartier. Of
all Canadians he was the most independent of public
opinion. When a plan or a scheme, however risky,
politically speaking, it might be, had been fully ma-
tured in his mind, he carried it out inflexibly. The
judiciary act and the consolidation of French laws
were carried against very powerful opposition, as we
have just stated. It was his wont not to consult his
friends on measures of great importance before they
were brought forward for public discussion. Even
confederation was resolved upon without the advice
of his followers. Being asked one day if he had sought
their opinion before forming an alliance with Brown,
the arch-enemy of Lower Canada, he made the fol-
lowing astounding confession: "With regard to this
matter, I have not sought the advice of my country-
men nor of my political friends. I here confess that
in all important acts of my life, of my political
career, I have not consulted anyone."

Strange as this conduct may appear, is it not the
correct method for responsible ministers to adopt ?
40

HIS INDEPENDENT CHARACTER

Members of parliament, men of conflicting views,
many living only with the idea of preparing for the
next election, and on that account dreading ques-
tions involving great issues easily misunderstood
by the people, can only be made to accept average
opinions if consulted. It behooves leaders of men to
bring them, all at once, face to face with a proposal
of high import, and compel them to support it
whether it corresponds with their ideas or not. It is
not unlikely that Cartier felt the pulse of the
country, made inquiries as to its requirements,
and after full study made up his mind, well per-
suaded that he knew better than the rest of the
world what reform was needed.

With his self-confidence he thought very little of
the party rank and file. When told that he seemed
to have a certain fondness for inferior men as
his followers in the House: "What does it matter,"
he replied, "as long as the head is good?" This
would indicate that his opinion of his supporters
bordered almost on contempt. Cartier lived in an
age of restricted suffrage ; he derived his strength
from the better class of the population that trusted
him entirely, but his methods would not suit a
democracy and its representatives. Be that as it
may, it cannot be gainsaid that the work he per-
formed was great and far-reaching. It bears evidence
that he was a man of great powers, and that with
constant and hard labour, his achievements were
considerable.

41

CHAPTER V

TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION

POLITICAL troubles such as Canada went
through about 1837 and after the union,
when the battle for responsible government had to
be fought, stand, as a rule, in the way of material
progress. Our country was slow to recover from
their consequences, and from 1840 to 1854, trade
was depressed to a discouraging extent. We were
at a standstill while our neighbours, whose con-
dition always affects ours, were rushing forward at
rapid strides in all the avenues leading to pros-
perity. In 1843 trade began to revive under the
beneficial legislation of Stanley, whose Canada
Corn Act (1843) admitted into England at a
nominal duty, not only the wheat grown north of
the line 45°, but also flour made out of American
wheat. The premium thus offered to our industry
caused a large amount of capital to be invested in
flour mills, but scarcely had they been completed
when Peel's great free trade measure (1846) swept
away all the privilege the colony was preparing to
enjoy under the previous act, and this brought
upon Canada, especially the western section, a
crushing blow to rising prosperity. Discontent
naturally followed and obtained to such an extent

43

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

that it alarmed Lord Elgin. He wrote to Lord
Grey : "I believe that the conviction that they
would be better off if they were annexed is almost
universal among the commercial classes at present."1
Another most objectionable piece of legislation,
were the English navigation laws which cramped
the commerce of Canada by restricting it to British
vessels, whilst high duties transferred trade to the
United States.

It was this stagnation in every branch of activity
on the one side, compared with progress on the
other, that fostered the annexationist sentiment
which prevailed for a while about 1849, and which
such eminent men as J. J. C. Abbott and L. H.

1 It will be interesting in this connection to read what Lord Elgin
wrote to Lord Grey on the state of the country in 1849.

" Peel's bill of 1846 drives the whole of the produce down the New
York channels of communication, destroying the revenue which
Canada expected to derive from canal duties, and ruining at once

mill owners, forwarders, and merchants We are actually

reduced to the disagreeable necessity of paying all public officers, from
the governor-general downwards, in debentures, which are not ex-
changeable at par. What makes it more serious is that all the pros-
perity of which Canada is thus robbed is transplanted to the other side
of the lines, as if to make Canadians feel more bitterly how much
kinder England is to the children who desert her, than to those who

remain faithful If England will not make the sacrifices

which are absolutely necessary to put the colonists here in as good a
position commercially as the citizens of the States — in order to
which free navigation and reciprocal trade with the States are indis-
pensable— if not only the organs of the league but those of the
government and of the Peel party are always writing as if it were an
admitted fact that colonies, and more especially Canada, are a burden,
to be endured only because they cannot be got rid of; the end may be
nearer at hand than we wot of."

44

THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM

Holton countenanced. They had lost faith in the
resources of Canada and its institutions. It seemed
to them that the only way to lift the country out
of this slough of despond was to join its fortunes
with the United States. Not such were Cartier's
sentiments ; with his buoyancy of spirit and his
great foresight, he and his friends perceived the
cause of the depression and its remedy ; the obstacle
to the growth of public wealth and the lever to
remove it from the way. Stagnation reigned
supreme then for the reasons just mentioned and
also for want of rapid means of communication
between the back country and the cities and
between these and the markets of the world. How
could Canada have access to them when shut off
altogether from Europe and partly from the United
States for eight months of the year ? It was only in
1849 that the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway
(now a section of the Grand Trunk system) gave
Montreal an access to the sea through Portland. As
far back as 1846, Cartier was in the field advocating
the construction of railways, and the deepening of
the St. Lawrence channel in connection with a
general improvement of our waterways. He worked
in advance of his programme of later years which he
condensed in these words : Our policy is a policy of
railways. Henceforward, we shall find him taking
a prominent, when not the first part, in all questions
of transportation. He was not the man to take a
despondent view of the situation. The possibilities

45

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

of Canada in the line of material progress, appeared
tojhis practical mind as they actually were and are
— boundless. It was only necessary to create great
veins and arteries, to put in motion the rich blood
that the country contained and to create prosperity
under new conditions of progress. That was the part
that railways and improved navigation were called
upon to play.

On August 10th, 1846, the citizens of Montreal
were assembled to take into consideration the ad-
visability of subsidizing the Montreal and Portland
Railroad. Among the speakers of the day was
Cartier, whose terse reasoning, and whose mastery of
the question won the day in spite of a strong op-
position led on by such important men as Messrs.
Nelson and Gibb. It is interesting to note to-day
the line of arguments used on that occasion. They
show how deeply versed he was in political economy,
how familiar were the requirements of the country
to him. His speech would not have looked anti-
quated during the great debates of recent years
in the Commons on the transportation problem.

In this age of democracy the people have as
many courtiers and flatterers as kings of old. It is
an out-of-date notion to teach the masses their
duties at the same time as their rights. Cartier,
despising the art of the comedian, relying alone on
the good sense of the public, would not stoop to
modern methods to gain acquiescence in any of his
plans. It was, therefore, not surprising to find him
46

THE SITUATION OF MONTREAL

at this Montreal meeting handling the good but
slow population of the city without gloves, railing
at their inertia, reproving them for their want of
ambition, which, to make it more apparent, he
contrasted with the "feverish activity, the energy
and spirit of enterprise of our neighbours." Some
of the arguments used on that occasion might
appear childish to-day, but we must not be un-
mindful of the fact that at the time he spoke
some of his hearers were prejudiced as to the great
usefulness of railways. He must, therefore, be ex-
cused if he told the Montreal audience "that every
city that has had the advantage to become a
railway terminus has seen the value of property
doubled in a very short time, such as Buffalo,
Newport and Boston." His arguments are more in
harmony with modern notions when he gives Mont-
real this warning, "that her progress is dependent
on her position as the head of navigation for the
western trade; that the changes made in the corn
laws are placing this trade in jeopardy, and that
Montreal will not be able to hold it if she does not
secure for herself the best means of transportation
from the waters of the west to the ocean through
our canals and railways." And on another occasion
he added: "Montreal would be blind to her interests
and would be the most backward city if she failed
to accept the only means to bring back to herself
that prosperity which is running away from her. It
is her destiny to become the great shipping port of

47

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

the west. Without railways and canals she will let
pass this golden opportunity."

In this question of material progress, Canada
then offered an immense field to his energy and
to the business ability, remarkable in a lawyer,
which came to him by atavism, as he once said
in Quebec, his ancestors having spent their lives in
trade pursuits. The first railway enterprise he be-
came connected with was the Grand Trunk. As
long as any part of that great line, with its many
ramifications, remained incomplete, his efforts to
achieve its success were untiring. His zeal for
this national enterprise was so great that it led
many to believe that it was not disinterested ; hence
the numberless charges hurled against him in that
connection. But they could not in any way diminish
his activity, and when the Grand Trunk extended
only over a few hundred miles, he prided himself in
the House of Assembly in 1854, with having pre-
pared the charter of that great highway: "I have
been entrusted with the bill which has given life to
the Grand Trunk, and I take more pride in that
fact than in any other act of my life. Even to-day
this railroad is the main cause of our prosperity. The
Grand Trunk Railway company is giving work to
1,600 men, and has spent since 1852, £2,500,000."

The building of that road from the Atlantic
shores to Chicago was in the general interests
of Canada, but Cartier did not overlook the inter-
ests of his province, and, using his large influence
48

HIS RAILWAY POLICY

with the company, he prevailed upon them to push
their line along the St. Lawrence from Quebec to
Riviere du Loup. His success in the matter reached
the importance of a great feat, as the company were
averse to the extension of their route in that
direction, as no prospect of getting a compensation
for the outlay could be held out to them. But
Cartier had laid down this principle, that if the gov-
ernment's policy was to subsidize railways with a
view of promoting the general interests of Canada, it
was only fair that regions contributing their share
of such subsidies should also receive rail communi-
cation. With the help of Sir E. P. Tache*, he carried
his point. His useful work in connection with rail-
way enterprises in the St. Lawrence region did not
end here. When the question of locating the Inter-
colonial Railway arose in the Privy Council, the
majority of the ministers were inclined to run the
line from Riviere du Loup directly to St. John, by
the shortest route, whilst Cartier favoured the
longer one, following the river shore through
Rimouski, Bonaventure and Gaspd He defended
his plan with arguments derived from Major Robin-
son's report, the imperial engineer, who had made a
survey of the country with the object of finding the
most favourable route for the interprovincial high-
way. He had come to the conclusion that for
military reasons, the line should run as far as
possible from the American frontier. As minister
of militia, Cartier took the same view, with the

49

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

double desire of favouring three large constituencies
of his province and securing the line of communi-
cation most useful for the defence of Canada. It
was on this occasion that after a prolonged dis-
cussion, ending in a decided opposition to his plan,
he left the council with the intimation that he
would not return until his ultimatum had been
accepted. Achilles-like, he remained eight days
under his tent. Major Robinson's route was finally
selected. Cartier well knew that in a crisis such
as he had provoked there are men disposed to
say everything rather than cause the downfall of
the administration. It is then to Cartier's firm stand
that the population of Rimouski, Bonaventure and
Gasp£ owe the 300 miles of railway which place
them in communication with the civilized world all
the year round.

The desire to create a military route after the
Robinson plan did not alone actuate Cartier. There
was also another powerful incentive to his conduct.
The interests of this forlorn country, cut off from
all markets during eight months of the year, ap-
pealed to his feeling, and he was bound to bring the
worthy population of the lower St. Lawrence in
contact with Quebec and Montreal. Had not the
railway then been built on the route laid down
by Major Robinson, there is no telling when their
isolation would have come to an end, as that
country seemed to offer limited inducement to
investments. Cartier's name is therefore entitled to
50

THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

the grateful remembrance of this region, to which
he has been a public benefactor.

During the session of 1872, it was Cartier's
glorious duty to engineer through the Commons
the first charter of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
The construction of this route was one of the
terms of the union of British Columbia with
Canada under the act of the previous session,
which had also been presented by Cartier. After
a spirited debate of several days, the Canadian
Pacific Railway bill went through its different
stages, and when the speaker proclaimed that it
was finally passed, Cartier sprang to his feet, shout-
ing amidst the cheers of the House: "All aboard
for the west!" His enthusiasm was quite natural.
The Canadian Pacific Railway charter securing the
building of the western route was the crowning
work of confederation; without it the union of the
British provinces from ocean to ocean would not
be a real and accomplished fact. The great terri-
tories and British Columbia were too distant from
the heart of the country to receive any impulse
from it. The Canadian Pacific Railway was neces-
sary to bring about both the moral and material
union so desirable. It was not Cartier's lot to go
west, for his days were then numbered. All that
now lay in store for him in connection with this
great enterprise was endless troubles, ending in a
terrible political catastrophe, whose final act he was
not to behold.

51

SIR GEORGES fiTIENNE CARTIER

Under the terms of the charter of 1871, the
terminus of the transcontinental line was fixed
at the south end of Lake Nipissing. It might be
asked now why such a strange selection had been
made. Election tactics sometimes compel public men
to curious performances. The terminus was fixed at
that out-of-the-way point because both Montreal
and Toronto claimed it. Cartier explained to his
friends, who urged upon him, in 1871, during the
debate on the Canadian Pacific Railway bill, in
view of his coming electoral contest of 1872, to
declare that Montreal would receive the western
trade over the proposed line: "We have been
obliged to place the terminus far from your city
and also from Toronto for political reasons, on
account of the ambition of Toronto and Montreal.
Now let both rivals build roads to Nipissing to try
and get their share of the traffic. Of course you are
bound to win in the race; traffic must come to the
port nearest the European markets. It is of no use
to attempt to place obstacles in the way of the
natural flow of trade. But if I were to make the
promise you consider necessary to ensure my re-
election, I would injure Sir John's prospects in
Ontario." The refusal of this pledge was used
to full advantage in Montreal, and did consider-
able harm to Cartier in 1872. To place such facts
before the public to-day is not to command esteem
for the degree of enlightenment possessed by the
public opinion of those earlier days.
52

THE PACIFIC SCANDAL

Two competing companies had made bids to con-
struct the road, the Allan company of Montreal and
the Macpherson syndicate of Toronto, and they
caused considerable worry to the government of the
day. Efforts were made to merge the two organi-
zations, but without success. FinaUy the gov-
ernment pronounced in favour of the Allan com-
pany. Then followed the darkest page in the history
of Cartier, and one which must have saddened his last
days. Sir Hugh Allan had been called upon by the
government to subscribe large sums of money for
the election of 1872. This leaked out through the
indiscreet communications of Sir Hugh Allan to
certain Americans, who gave the information to
a member of the opposition. At the session of
1873, Lucius Seth Huntington rose in his place
in the House, and on the responsibility of his
seat in parliament undertook to prove that the
Canadian Pacific Railway charter had been sold
to Sir Hugh Allan, the consideration being a large
electoral subscription. The charge was first referred
to a committee of the House, then to a royal
commission, who reported the evidence taken before
them at a special session of parliament in October,
1873. Sir John Macdonald,who had been sustained at
the winter session of 1872 by a majority of thirty-
five votes, felt that during recess he had lost his
control of the majority by reason of the damaging
nature of the evidence produced, and resigned in
anticipation of an adverse verdict of the House.

53

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

To condone such an offence against political
morality as the acceptance of an electoral subscrip-
tion to be used to carry a majority of constituencies
was out of the question, and the House of Com-
mons had no other honourable course open but to
withdraw its confidence from the government. It is
generally accepted that in all countries where gov-
ernment by party obtains, it is hard to avoid politi-
cal methods which appeal to the selfish interests
of men. As Earl Grey says: "A tendency to corrup-
tion, in that sense of the word, is the common evil
of all free government." It is an offence difficult to
bring to light, but when discovered it must be
dealt with severely. As a rule, public opinion in
Canada has shown itself disposed to take an indul-
gent view of contributions to election funds. And
as an instance, five years after the Allan subscrip-
tion, the Canadian electorate returned to power
the men answerable for what was called the Pacific
scandal.

54

CHAPTER VI

CONFEDERATION OF THE BRITISH PROVINCES

CONSIDERABLE as they had been, the other
\-J labours with which Cartier had been con-
nected could not be compared in importance with
the part he played in the building up of confedera-
tion. We find him here in an altogether new field,
where the whole future of his country is at stake.
To dispose of or to change the political status of a
country is no mean enterprise, involving as it does
such grave responsibilities. In breaking up the old
union of 1841, to form a new compact, was not the
French Canadian leader placing in jeopardy the
privileges and rights conquered by his people during
the preceding fifty years ? Was he not giving up well-
known and well-defended positions for unknown
and uncertain ones? Such were the questions asked
on all sides, when Lower Canada was made aware
that for the fourth time since 1760, its constitution
was to undergo a change. If the greater number of
Canadian delegates who had been entrusted with
the task of framing a new charter under which
all the British provinces of North America would
hereafter live, went into the Quebec conference
with a light heart, it would not be so with Cartier.
To the former, confederation involved no new

55

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

risks ; it was only similar institutions in a wider
sphere, whilst with Cartier, the question arose how
the peculiar institutions of his compatriots should
be secured in the proposed union. What would
become of their laws and their system of education?
It was proposed, it is true, to hedge their liberties
with all possible guarantees, but had not experience
demonstrated that constitutions borrow a great part
of their value from the men entrusted with their
operation ?

In spite of the great responsibilities which were
looming on the track of the proposed union, it was
Cartier who first of all made it a live issue. It is
true that as far back as 1836 such a scheme had
been mooted by a few public men, but it had
never, until 1858, been brought before the people
of the country as a question upon which action
could be taken. In that year, when premier of
Canada, Cartier had placed the following announce-
ment in the speech from the throne :

"I propose in the course of the recess to com-
municate with Her Majesty's government and with
the governments of the sister colonies on another
matter of very great importance. I am desirous of
inviting them to discuss with us the principles upon
which a bond of a federal character, uniting the
provinces of North America, may perhaps hereafter
be practicable."

In the summer following this session, Cartier,
Gait and Rose went to England with a view
56

LEGISLATIVE OR FEDERAL UNION?

of obtaining the concurrence of the British govern-
ment in the union scheme and their authority to
consult the maritime provinces. The scheme, how-
ever, fell through because the public men of Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick thought that the people
of those provinces had not had time to consider the
question.

In 1862, things in Canada were going from bad
to worse and a dead-lock was a possibility of the
near future. It was then that the scheme of con-
federation was revived. At the very outset of the
negotiations, Cartier, bearing in mind his task with
its full responsibilities, laid down this as the sine
qua non of his acquiescence, that confederation
should be established on the federal principle. His
colleagues would have preferred a legislative union
as a more simple and less expensive form of
government.

" I have again and again stated in the House,"
said John A. Macdonald, on introducing the reso-
lutions adopted at the Quebec conference, " that if
practicable, I thought a legislative union would be
preferable .... but on looking at the subject
in the conference and discussing the matter as
we did .... we found that such a system was
impracticable. In the first place, it would not meet
with the assent of the people of Lower Canada . . .
there was as great a disinclination on the part of
the Maritime Provinces to lose their individuality
as separate political organizations." But there is no

57

SIR GEORGES ^TIENNE CARTIER

doubt that in the case of New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia, the objections were not insuperable, being
matters of sentiment, while in Quebec conscience
and national feeling were concerned. Speaking on
this point, Cartier corroborated Macdonald's state-
ment: "I know that many members in this House
and a large number of persons in Upper Canada and
in the Maritime Provinces, think that a legislative
union would have suited the country better. My
opinion is that one government only could not take
charge in a useful manner of private and local in-
terests of the different parts of the country." This
view is certainly correct, although the federal form
of government is the most difficult to work out,
its success depending chiefly upon the moderation,
common sense and intelligence of the people.
When these requirements were put to the test
in after years, they were sometimes found wanting.
It can thus be said, in view of the above state-
ments, that to Cartier we owe the form of our
present government. In forcing his conviction in
this matter on his colleagues he was impelled
by a strong sense that the federal system alone
could secure to Lower Canada its peculiar in-
stitutions, and also by the stern fact that his
influence could not bring his countrymen to accept
legislative union, which had proved a failure in the
case of Lower and Upper Canada.

But was not the federal system a close imitation
of the constitution of the United States which
58

A CONTRAST

Cartier had been wont to depict as so far inferior to
the British charter? Cartier and Macdonald did their
very best to wipe out that impression which was
spreading during the progress of the discussion of
the proposed British North America Bill, but they
made artful explanations without giving satisfactory
proof of their contention. Cartier held that the two
instruments were different in this : that under the
constitution of the United States the authority
came from the people, after the formula e pluri-
bus unum, and the different states gave power
to the central government, but with us, life was
derived from the crown which lent activity to the
central government and also delegated it to the
provincial administrations, the authority in this case
being derived from one common spring of honour
and force — ab uno plures. Here we are in the midst
of fictions and the argument does not stand the
test of a very close examination. It is a distinction
with no real difference. Thrusting sophistries aside,
we have in Canada and in the United States
authority derived from the people. It is they who
framed the constitution and who gave it life; in
Canada it remained for the crown to set the ma-
chine in motion. But even this power has hardly a
real existence, so democratic have our institutions
become.

According to Macdonald, it was the aim of the
fathers of the constitution, to form a strong central
government. "In framing the constitution, care had

59

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

been taken to avoid the mistake and weakness of
the United States system, the primary error of
which was the reservation to the different states of
all the powers not delegated to the general govern-
ment. We must reverse the process by establishing
a strong central government, to which shall belong
all powers not specially conferred on the provinces."
Time and events have made clear that the authors
of the constitution have failed to carry out their
intention. No one will gainsay the assertion that
the American federal power emerged from the
war of secession, having crushed state pretentions,
much stronger than the Canadian federal govern-
ment could ever expect to be, especially after
having failed in a contest with the weakest province
of the Dominion, over the Manitoba school diffi-
culty.

It is curious to note here how the two foremost
authors of confederation unconsciously followed the
natural tendency of their minds, perhaps under
the pressure of diverging or conflicting interests.
Cartier, never unmindful of the great responsi-
bilities which the peculiar situation of his country-
men made him assume, exalted the rights of the
provincial administrations as being of paramount
importance. The autonomy of local government
involved within its precincts all that was held dear
by his countrymen.

When the different states which had separated
from England were called upon to give up a certain
60

FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL RIGHTS

share of their autonomy to invest a central govern-
ment with great powers, a conflict of views arose
amongst their public men on that point. Some
favoured a large concentration of authority whilst
others desired to retain as much independence as
possible in the state organizations. The former
were misnamed federalists and their opponents
anti-federalists, or republicans. Macdonald's notions
were not unlike those of Hamilton, Jay and Madi-
son, the friends of centralization, whilst Cartier
was of President Jefferson's cast of mind, who,
on assuming office, announced as his policy "the
support of the states' governments in all their rights
as the most competent administrations for our
domestic concerns."

Has not the operation of our institutions during
the last thirty years shown that whenever a diffi-
culty about federal and provincial rights occurred
between the Dominion and the local governments,
the latter has carried the day in spite of the
central power, and almost in defiance of its order?
Take for instance the Ontario Rivers and Streams
Act, which the Dominion disallowed and which
the Ontario legislature re-enacted. The small pro-
vince of Manitoba took the same stand in the
matter of her railway legislation. It is within the
recollection of everyone that the Dominion cabinet,
although persuaded that the Manitoba School Act
of 1871 was ultra vires, did not dare to veto that
measure for the obvious reason that Dominion

61

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

interference would not have been accepted, and
that if the act had been disallowed it would have
been placed again by the Manitoba legislature upon
the statute book. Another cause of recalcitrant
provincialism occurred when the Dominion govern-
ment issued their remedial order to Manitoba,
which was so ostentatiously disobeyed. All this goes
to prove that the strong central government which
Macdonald intended to establish at Ottawa very
often stands powerless in the face of even the
smallest province, and it also shows one of the weak
points of all federation: the want of coercive power.
Confederation did not give all that was expected
and that was promised for it. It is not the privilege
of great men to foresee all the consequences of
their best laid plans; even genius is often found
deficient in foresight. But, taken altogether, it has
been a great success, and, as far as the province of
Quebec is concerned, a decided improvement on
the regime which it superseded. This latter was
a legislative union under which the religious and
the racial interests were secured only by equal-
ity of representation between the two provinces,
and that safeguard would have been removed if
party lines had given way to national antagonism.
As population increased more rapidly in the western
province than in the eastern, equality of representa-
tion was doomed to disappear in time, for re-
presentation by population, just in itself, was
bound to prevail, carrying with it the domina-
62

THE SUCCESS OF CONFEDERATION

tion of Upper Canada over Lower Canada, which
would have placed the French Canadians at the
tender mercies of a hostile majority. The great
benefit of the federal union resided in this, that
it constituted the province of Quebec like an im-
pregnable fortress in the midst of the other pro-
vinces. There were safely ensconced all that the
French Canadians held dear. To the federal govern-
ment were abandoned the material interests of the
country which could not be disassociated and over
which Quebec could still exert its share of control
through representatives at Ottawa. It cannot be
denied that under confederation the advance of
Canada in all branches of trade and in public
wealth has gone beyond all expectations. It can
stand comparison with the most prosperous country
of the world, the United States. It is sufficient to
prove this that the volume of our trade had in-
creased from seventy-three millions in 1868 to
nearly three hundred millions in 1891. It would
be fortunate indeed were there reason to believe
that similar progress, or some approach to it,
had taken place in the intellectual condition of our
people.

The battle over the confederation scheme hi
Lower Canada was fierce and long. Cartier had to
deal with clever and strong opponents, who, how-
ever, in condemning confederation, did not show
how otherwise the country could have been res-
cued from its long-standing troubles and the dead-

63

SIR GEORGES ^TIENNE CARTIER

lock which was near at hand between Lower and
Upper Canada, with antagonism always on the
increase. A sort of zollverein was suggested, but in
such a vague and unprecise form that nobody could
see what remedy it would have brought to cure
existing evils. Some critics hinted that it was Car-
tier's duty to revert to the state of things which
existed before the union of 1840, forgetting that
the English of Lower Canada could never have
accepted a French parliament and isolation from
the other provinces. He was also blamed for taking
a part at all in the federal scheme. This would have
been a suicidal policy, for any changes evolved
at the time without the concurrence of the French
element would have been more or less against
their interests. Lower Canada was placed between
confederation and annexation to the United States.
The French Canadians were, however, strongly
opposed to the alternative, as any union with the
Americans portended their absorption through the
irresistible power of fusion dominant in the United
States. It must be remembered that Cartier and
his friends had not a free hand in this matter, that
the opinions of English-speaking Canadians had to
be taken into account, and that any schemes, to be
accepted, must partake of the character of a compro-
mise between the different sections of the country.
After confederation, when the question had been
finally decided by the people, the opponents of
Cartier loyally laid down their arms and did their
64

THE NEW OPPOSITION

best to make the new constitution a success. As it
was their privilege and duty, they formed them-
selves into an opposition party in order to criticize
the measures and policy of the government, with
the lawful ambition to take their place at the helm.
It is a happy country where public men confine
their criticism to the administration of affairs, with-
out assailing the constitution.

65

CHAPTER VII

CONFLICT AND VICTORIES

THE year 1867 saw Cartier at the climax of his
glory and power. He was one of the dele-
gation sent to London to watch the progress of the
British North America Act through parliament.
During his sojourn in the metropolis he was lion-
ized, and had the honour of being the Queen's
guest. People fond of contrasts could not help
noticing the presence at Windsor Castle of the
ex-rebel of 1837, now a stalwart supporter of British
institutions. The contrast was not as glaring as
some people would have it ; the insurgent youth had
been transformed into a loyal subject by the liberal
policy of the government. When he returned to
Canada in the summer to take his part in setting
the new constitution in motion, he had practically
no opposition in the electoral contest which followed
the union proclamation. Both the local and federal
elections returned large ministerial majorities. John
A. Macdonald was called to form the first adminis-
tration under the new regime as having the largest
number of supporters. It was a reversal of the
former state of things ; from 1858 to 1862 Cartier
was the premier of Canada. After the defeat of the
Macdonald-Dorion administration in 1864, Cartier

67

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

was sent for, but he advised Lord Monck to
entrust Sir E. P. Tachd with the duty of forming a
cabinet. He feared that his presence at the head of
the government would injure the prospects of his
friends in Upper Canada, as he had taken such an
uncompromising stand against George Brown's
aggressiveness. In spite of the change he was the
real premier of the short-lived administration of
1864. In the Province of Quebec Mr. Chauveau
was selected as premier; no better choice could
have been made. Of sterling honour, and of very
moderate views in politics, to which he had been
a stranger since 1859, he was well fitted to open the
new era which was to be at first one of peace
and harmony.

Lower Canada acclaimed Cartier as a conqueror,
and public demonstrations were organized in his
honour in all leading cities and towns. In 1869 the
government entrusted him and Hon. William Mc-
Dougall with the mission of negotiating the purchase
from the Hudson's Bay Company of their land in
the North- West Territories. The negotiations were
protracted on account of the exorbitant price
placed on their rights by the possessors of those
vast regions, who asked for them as much as $5,-
000,000. Finally, under great pressure at the hands
of the colonial secretary, Lord Grey, they accepted
£300,000. At a dinner given to our delegates,
Mr. Gladstone, then prime minister, eulogized the
Canadian statesmen. It was on this occasion that
68

THE FIRST KIEL REBELLION

Cartier used the expression for which he was so
often taken to task by some of his opponents: "We
French Canadians are British subjects like the
others, but British subjects speaking French." These
words, it seems, represent correctly the position of
the French Canadians, and when other public men
of the same nationality have pledged their loyalty
to the British crown, have they not proclaimed
themselves British subjects ? Cartier's sentence is
apt and to the point.

In the midst of these successes a terrible storm
burst upon Canada. While the government was
preparing to establish authority in the North-
West, and before the annexation of these regions
became a fait accompli, a party of engineers under
Colonel Dennis had been sent to Fort Garry, and
without a word of warning, and also without any
leave from the Hudson's Bay Company, began to
make surveys on the lands occupied by the half-
breeds. These naturally took offence at what seemed
to them high-handed proceedings. At first dis-
content remained inactive, then it flamed into open
rebellion when Hon. Wm. McDougall attempted
to enter the newly acquired territory as lieutenant-
governor of the North- West. It would be un-
necessary to dilate on what followed : Riel's revolt,
the establishment of a provisional government, the
murder of Scott, General Wolseley's expedition,
and Bishop Tache"s mission of peace to his people,
who, at his earnest request, laid down their arms,

69

SIR GEORGES !ETIENNE CARTIER

All these facts are well known but it will not
be out of place to recall here the timely warning
which was given by Bishop Tache' of the trouble
that was brewing, and which, if it had been heeded,
would have spared the country a vast expenditure
of money and the turmoil of a petty revolution. In
1869, the venerable prelate, a personal friend of
Cartier, had come to Ottawa to warn the govern-
ment that Colonel Dennis's action would cause
mischief, and that the half-breeds were in a great
state of agitation. The secretary of state refused
to hear him. Cartier received the warning with
indifference, and finally told him that he knew
all that was going on, and that the agitation was
not serious. The bishop insisted, and pointed to
the signs of a coming storm, but to no avail. He
then set out on his voyage to Rome, which he had
hardly reached when a cablegram from the Cana-
dian government begged him to return at once
to Canada to appease the trouble. It was Cartier's
boast that he was always better informed than
everyone else, but in this instance he and his
colleagues were singularly at fault.

Thanks to Bishop Tache"s interference, the in-
surgent half-breeds laid down their arms and many
of them went forward to welcome General Wolseley
at the Lake of the Woods. Upon his return to
England, the commander of the North- West expe-
dition, striking the attitude of a conqueror, related
his experience in Canada in Blackwood's Magazine,
70

SEPARATE SCHOOL, LEGISLATION

abusing the minister of militia, whom he likened
to Moliere's Bourgeois gentilhomme, and belittling
the Canadian volunteers and voyageurs, whose
services he was, a few years after, anxious to secure
for his Khartoum expedition.

During the session of 1871, the task of present-
ing the bill creating the Province of Manitoba
devolved upon Cartier. He conducted the debates
on this subject with his usual skill, and with
mastery of all the details of the measure, prefacing
his speech on the second reading of the bill with
this remark: "The name of the new province will
be Manitoba, a very euphonious word meaning:
The God that speaks. Well, let Canada's latest
addition always speak to the inhabitants of the
North- West the language of reason, truth and
justice." He did not live long enough to see how
his good wishes were realized. Cartier, with his
impulsive and generous nature and his extreme
liberal ideas, presumed too greatly on the large-
mindedness of others. Still in order to spare to
Manitoba the troubles which were then agitating
New Brunswick over a school difficulty, he went
the length of surrounding the rights of the Catholics
of Manitoba with all kinds of safeguards, to protect
them against all possible encroachments. In New
Brunswick, there was no law before confederation
conferring upon Roman Catholics any rights to the
separate schools which existed there only on suffer-
ance. Therefore, the British North America Act,

71

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

which guaranteed the educational rights which min-
orities enjoyed before the passage of that act, could
not be appealed to. In order to avoid any difficulty
in Manitoba, Cartier inserted a clause which, to
his mind would protect the cause of the minority
against all possible attacks. He caused it to be
enacted that all schools existing by law or prac-
tice previous to the union of Manitoba with
Canada, would have the right to exist conjointly
with other schools to be established hereafter, to
share equally for their support in the distribution of
public monies. We now know what a feeble ram-
part this was ; it was blown down at the first word
of a government opposed to separate schools, and
the decision of these adverse legislators was sup-
ported by all the Manitoba courts whose judg-
ment was, in turn, reversed by the unanimous
decision of the Supreme Court. The findings of
judges often look like the obiter dicta of laymen
when laws are so diversely interpreted. The fate of
this Manitoba law, so cleverly designed in Carrier's
mind to defeat any attempt to deprive the Catholics
of their schools, recalls O'Connell's opinion that he
could drive a coach and four through any act of
parliament. On the other hand, in view of this
particular clause of the Manitoba Act, one is
tempted to ponder this problem, whether it 'is
better to have a defective constitution worked by
liberal minded men or a perfect constitution applied
by men wanting that spirit.
72

NEW BRUNSWICK SCHOOLS

To sum up the whole matter it may be said that,
in general, laws have but little force when they are
met adversely by an overwhelming public opinion,
and in this special instance, Carder's measure,
loyally conceived and carried out in the interest of
contemporary Roman Catholics and their posterity
to the furthest generation, was called upon to
weather a storm of popular prejudice which it was
powerless to withstand. It foundered, but the wreck
remains to bear witness that Cartier and his col-
leagues were just in their day, and endeavoured to
perpetuate justice.

The matter, however, that gave most concern to
Cartier was the New Brunswick school embroglio.
When, in 1871, the news spread that the Catholics
of that province had been deprived of their system
of separate schools which had existed up to that
time, and previous to confederation, the press of
Quebec at once took sides with the Catholics of
New Brunswick. Without stopping to inquire what
was the true legal position, the editors cried out
that the minority was suffering persecution. Thus
influenced, public opinion very soon followed in the
same track and the government was at once impor-
tuned to interfere and protect the down-trodden
minority. When parliament met in the winter of
1872, Messrs. Costigan, Anglin, and Renaud,
brought up the grievance of their New Brunswick
friends and protested against the proposed change
which denied to the Catholics any share of the

73

SIR GEORGES ^TIENNE CARTIER

educational fund so long as their schools remained
sectional. They requested the disallowance of the
obnoxious law; but the government resisted that
request on the ground that educational legislation
was vested solely in the provincial legislature ; that
although sympathy went out towards the aggrieved
citizens of that province, it was out of the question
to advise the governor-general to veto the act.
It was set forth by Sir John A. Macdonald, to
make the situation clear, that when the confedera-
tion scheme was under discussion, an attempt had
been made to place education under federal control,
which attempt the delegates from Quebec had
entirely objected to, going so far as to declare that
they could not accept any scheme of union in which
education would pass from provincial control. It
was, however, decided that, in order to protect
existing rights in Ontario and Quebec, an appeal
should lie to the central government if these rights
were interfered with by their respective local legis-
latures. The government was sustained in this
position, and Cartier, feeling the great responsi-
bility attached to his conduct in this matter, made
a decided effort to convince his co-religionists how
wrong they were in pressing the government to
interfere. The members were of one mind with
him, but outside of parliament the debate was
waged between sentimental reasons and legal
arguments and, with the masses, the latter seldom
gain a victory. Cartier, with his usual vim and high
74

EDUCATIONAL AGITATION

spirit, when he was seeking Lower Canada's con-
currence, led the public to expect from confedera-
tion more than it could give as a protection to
minorities. Had he not stated in the House at
Quebec that any attempt upon the rights of
the minorities would be visited by the interference
of the federal power? "Is it possible to imagine
that the general government or that the local
administration would be guilty of arbitrary acts?
What would be the consequence, supposing the
latter should do any unjust action ? Measures of
this sort would certainly be repudiated by the
majority of the people. It is not probable, therefore,
that a minority will ever be deprived of its rights.
Under this system of federation which places in the
hands of the central government all matters of
general interest, and to whom question of races will
be indifferent, religious or national rights will not
be ignored."

When confronted with the stern fact of the New
Brunswick grievance, he took another stand, the
only one justifiable in law, but not expected by his
fellow-religionists of Quebec. After having demon-
strated in the clearest manner possible that dis-
allowance was not in this case within the province
of the central power, he appealed to the egotism
and self-interest of the French Canadians, who,
of all the peoples united in confederation, should
be the last to ask for federal interference in local
affairs. It was altogether contrary to the mainten-

75

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

ance of their autonomy to create a precedent which
might be used against them later on. It was simply
setting before the Protestant minority of Quebec
an example which they might imitate if any meas-
ure passed by the Quebec legislature caused dis-
content among them. Certainly all this was sound
advice, and went far to strengthen the provincial
rights, but at the time it did not convince very many.
Of course his sympathies, like those of Sir John
Macdonald, went openly with the aggrieved, but he
gave them to understand that they had in their own
hands the means of obtaining redress. They were an
important minority, and if, with united efforts, they
persisted in claiming their rights, these would, be-
fore long, be conceded to them. The government
was sustained in this course, and Cartier's suggestion
that the opinion of the law officers of the crown
in England be obtained on the contention of the
Catholics was accepted. With this ended Cartier's
parliamentary connection with the matter, but the
agitation waxed terribly strong against him in
Quebec. Scarcely anything else was discussed in
the electoral campaign of 1872; great questions
like the tariff, protection to native industries, the
Canadian Pacific Railway — questions of vast im-
port to the advancement of the country — were
scarcely mentioned. Matters of sentiment always
take the lead in the Province of Quebec, and be-
come the all-absorbing topics of the day.

Let us give the sequel of that unfortunate
76

THE COSTIGAN MOTION

incident, in order to draw from it a valuable moral
lesson. It was again brought up at the session of
1873, when Mr. Costigan, not being satisfied with
the decision adverse to his views given by the law
officers of the crown in England, again asked for
the disallowance of the obnoxious legislation. He
carried his point against the power of the govern-
ment. All the Catholic members of Quebec save
four, two of whom were ministers, voted for the
Costigan motion; many did so reluctantly, simply
obeying the dictates of public opinion and of the
clergy, but thinking probably in their own minds
that they were pursuing a dangerous course. When
the Liberals came into power another effort was
made to obtain redress of the long standing griev-
ance; but the new administration was averse to
anything which would look like high-handed pro-
ceedings. At the session of 1874, Mr. Costigan
forced it again upon the attention of the Commons,
with the help of the Quebec Conservatives, who,
having suffered so much at the hands of their oppon-
ents from the agitation raised by this controversy,
were bound now to use it against them to the fullest
extent. The object of the new Costigan motion was
to have the constitution amended so as to secure
to his co-religionists the privilege they claimed, and
a violent debate ensued. Judge of the astonishment
of the Quebec members, when the rumour became
current that the bishop of New Brunswick had
made a compromise with the local government by

77

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

which the Catholic children could receive, under
certain conditions, religious instruction in the pub-
lic schools. What offended the supporters of the
Costigan motion was that the bishop allowed them
to continue this long standing fight after he had
brought the difficulty to an end, without giving them
even a word of warning, and without consulting
them, after all the trouble they had taken to obtain
redress for his flock. The fact of the matter is that
for nearly five years, all the energies of Quebec had
gravitated around this New Brunswick local affair,
to the exclusion of all other interests. It was in-
ferred from this want of consideration that this
active and sympathetic support was little appreci-
ated when the need for it had passed. The Quebec
friends of the New Brunswick Catholics seemed
then to have played a rather Quixotic part in this
battle for redress of other people's grievances. They
received an unmerited lesson, but one which was
lost upon them. They were again found on several
occasions to be more Catholic than the Pope and
more aggrieved than the real sufferer of the wrong.

78

CHAPTER VIII
CARTIER AND THE CHURCH

WHILST Cartier was at the summit of his
very successful career, during the period
extending from 1867 to 1872, influences were at
work undermining his popularity and preparing his
downfall. It is a sad truth that most statesmen lose
their hold on the people when they have the helm
in hand ; the act of governing diminishes popularity
even when public affairs are properly conducted.
For some reason or other, during these years,
Cartier was not in touch with his friends as he used
to be. His presence in the local House at Quebec
during the first parliament of that province, and his
many absorbing public duties at Ottawa left him
very little time to devote to those attentions which
a leader of men must bestow on his followers in
order to keep his popularity. His party was very
strong, and the very strength of a political associ-
ation may become a danger; when there is no enemy
to fight outside the camp the army of the faithful
fight within the camp. In this case the danger
sprang from among the most advanced Conserva-
tives of his following, those whom Protestants called
Ultramontanes, and loyal Conservatives nicknamed
Castors.

79

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

The first cause of the split in the ranks of
Cartier's followers dates back to ante-confederation
days, and arose in this way. The then Bishop of
Montreal, Mgr. Bourget, a prelate renowned for his
great virtues, but absolute and obstinate, and not
unlike Cartier in temperament, decided one day to
divide into several parishes the only existing Mont-
real parish of Notre Dame, administered by les
Messieurs du Seminaire de St. Sulpice. The Semin-
ary refused to comply with the order, contending
that from the early days of the colony under French
regime, they had had charge of this parish, having
built all the churches of the city, and that, according
to the civil and religious law they could not be
disturbed. The bishop pointed out the great incon-
venience resulting from the concentration of all
religious affairs in the one church of Notre Dame,
such as christenings, marriages and services for the
dead. Endless wranglings took place between the
contending parties at Rome and before the civil
courts, and it was an unfortunate incident that
placed the Seminary's case in the hands of Cartier's
law partners. He took no part in the discussion
before the courts, but his name appeared with those
of the other members of his firm, to whom public
duties made him almost a stranger. It was supposed
that his leanings were towards the Sulpicians with
whom he had always been on terms of amity since
his school days. From this cause a certain coldness
arose between him and the head of the church in
80

LOSS OF POPULARITY

Montreal, so that when confederation was pro-
claimed, all the bishops of the province, save Mgr.
Bourget, wrote pastoral letters recommending to
their flocks the acceptance of the new order of
things.

After the Union, events occurred which sup-
plied those Conservatives who did not approve of
Carder's attitude towards the head of the church
in Montreal, with an opportunity of showing
their dissatisfaction. A newspaper, Le Nouveau
Monde, edited by Canon Lamarche, one of Mgr.
Bourget's friends, was started for that purpose,
and the government's actions in New Brunswick
and Manitoba were severely animadverted upon.

The Civil Code, one of Cartier's titles to glory,
was held up to severe criticism as containing legis-
lation restraining the liberty of the church in
matters of education, marriage and establishment
of parishes. This Code reeking, according to Le
Nouveau Monde, with what remained in Canada of
gallicanism, was at last referred to Home. The
judgment came, after strict examination, that it was
the most carefully prepared set of laws existing in
any country, and that a few slight amendments
would place it above reproach, and that the con-
demnation passed upon it in Quebec, in such un-
measured language, was unjustifiable.

Not satisfied with the damaging attacks directed
against Cartier by the Nouveau Monde, the ultras
organized a faction within the Conservative ranks

81

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

under the name of Le Parti CathoKque, the avowed
object of which was to place members of parliament
under the dictates of the church in all matters
political and religious. The leaders of Le Parti
CathoKque requested the Catholics to vote at the
coming elections of 1872, for those candidates only
who would subscribe "entire and full acceptance of
the Catholic and Roman doctrines in religion,
politics and social economy."

It is useless to point out the dangerous character
of such an organization in a mixed community like
ours, and also its lack of a raison d'etre, for never
had the Catholic members, both Liberal and Con-
servative, been more in harmony with the Church
than in those days. On the New Brunswick school
question, when the point arose whether the British
North America Act should not be amended so
as to remove the grievance complained of by the
Catholics, all the Conservative members, save two,
voted in the affirmative against their leader. The
hostility of the Nouveau Monde, disguised at first
and then open, did more to destroy Cartier's prestige
and influence than the opposition of the Liberal
party.

The Programme CathoKque, the work of some
journalists and of a few priests, launched without
the consent of the upper clergy, drew upon itself
the disapproval of the head of the church in Can-
ada. The archbishop of Quebec, Mgr. Taschereau,
ordered his priests to warn their flocks against
82

HOSTILE INFLUENCES

this ill-timed and ill-considered appeal to their
sentiments. The Parti Catholique, which had given
another illustration of the fact that some people
can be more Catholic than the Pope, could hardly
use its programme after this condemnation, but the
spirit that dictated it was more alive than ever and
kept up the warfare against Cartier with its accus-
tomed bitterness. On the other hand, the regular
and natural opponents of the government had
greatly altered their platform ; it was no more the
aggressive and radical organization of old. Respect-
ful of all the tenets of the church, they had
eschewed all principles that could give offence
to the clergy. Nay, in the New Brunswick affair,
their conduct in the House of Commons constituted
a series of pledges to the church ; it must be,
however, remarked that this submission harmonized
well with their general opposition tactics. In 1872,
the Parti National was organized to show that the
Liberal party had broken off entirely with radical-
ism. Their programme, as was shown above, told the
country that they intended in future to fight the
Conservatives on purely political grounds. With
great skill they were turning to their advantage
Cartier 's false position towards the head of the
church in Montreal.

The Due de Broglie was once conversing with
Louis Philippe on the topic of the relations between
the civil power and the church. "Trust to my
experience, sire," said the statesman, "never meddle

83

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

in religious affairs, never quarrel with the church.
In troubles of this kind, the civil power is sure
to get the applause of all the good-for-nothing
fellows in the country and to array against itself all
the good souls and all right-thinking men." "Yes,"
replied the king, "it is like placing one's finger
between the tree and the bark ; it is not only
pinched, but it remains there." The lesson conveyed
above cannot be wholly applied to C artier, for the
quarrel was not directly with him, but still he
should have avoided even the appearance of taking
sides with any of the contending parties. Finally
the bishop of Montreal gained his point to the
advantage of the public. It was a matter of surprise
to see Cartier, the autocrat, the upholder of au-
thority, standing with the opposition to the bishop's
order and giving it a sort of moral support.

At last, the consequence of this want of his usual
foresight, or as some would call it, his great moral
courage, recoiled on him with a terrible shock. He
was badly beaten in Montreal East to the general
surprise. His defeat was a crushing one, his oppon-
ent, Mr. Jette', heading the polls by a majority of
over 1,200 in a constituency of 7,000 voters. This
unexpected accident aroused general sympathy even
among Liberal papers who expressed the desire that
another seat should be found for him. Even Mgr.
Bourget and the Superior of the Seminary, called
on him to express their regret at the result of the
election. Similar marks of esteem were shown by
84

A CRUSHING DEFEAT

the bishops of Ottawa, St. Hyacinthe and Quebec.
The unfortunate leader faced his overthrow with
courage and seemed undaunted — at least in the
public utterances on his defeat. But at heart, he
must have been galled by it. To intimate friends
he expressed his disappointment and complained
bitterly of the attitude of some members of the
clergy, who, he said, had forgotten all he had done
for the liberty of the church in his province and
for his country.

Cartier was then a very sick man, suffering from
Bright's disease in an advanced stage. The writer,
who accompanied him on the platform on nomina-
tion day, in Montreal, saw him unable to stand on
his feet during the proceedings. When he rose to
speak, his voice had agonizing tones. His very poor
health, which must have had a depressing effect
even on a man of such high spirit, his defeat,
and the visible decline of his influence in Quebec,
must have cast a gloom on his mind. Nothing is so
entrancing and so fascinating as public life to the
young. To raise one's self to the first rank by the
sole force of talent ; to rule one's country and
achieve great things ! It is a dream worthy of the
highest. Ambition then spreads a thick veil, hiding
from sight the deceptions and disillusions with
which it often crushes its votaries. The worst
feature of politics appears, not when a statesman
has to face his natural enemies, but when he is
betrayed by his friends. It is a more difficult task

85

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

to overcome the disgust engendered by unfaithful-
ness than to brave danger, especially when the
all-conquering spirit of youth has vanished and
when age has appeared, age without buoyancy,
with but a backward vision upon past achievements
and no hopeful outlook for great deeds to be done
in the future.

86

CHAPTER IX
CARTIER AND THE MILITIA

DURING the American civil war, the inter-
course between Great Britain and the United
States was far from friendly, and at the time
of the imbroglio called the "Trent affair" the
situation became so ominous that it threatened
war. Canada was hardly in a position to cooperate
effectually with Great Britain if hostilities had
broken out. It was felt then that a reorganization
of the Canadian militia was an urgent necessity,
and the government, with the help of a British
officer, Colonel Lysons, prepared a Militia Bill
which was presented to parliament at the session of
1862 by John A. Macdonald. The measure was
defeated on its second reading, and Cartier, then
premier, tendered his resignation. On that vote he
had been left in a minority for the first time in his
province, whilst his colleague, also for the first
time, saw a majority of the western members
standing at his side.

After confederation it was again his duty, as
minister of militia, to prepare another reorganiza-
tion of the defence of the country. His long ex-
perience in that part of the service, together with
his strong sense of loyalty, fitted him well for the

87

SIR GEORGES ^TIENNE CARTIER

task, and when the measure came before the House
in 1868, it met with hardly any opposition. It is
still the law of the land. Cauchon, of the Journal
de Quebec, who was never well disposed towards
Cartier, praised him on his success. "The minister
of militia," said he, "has succeeded where many
expected to see him fall. He has nobly retrieved
his fortune, and had his revenge for his defeat of
1862." La Minerve added: "All those present at
the sitting of the House during which Mr. Cartier
expounded his militia scheme are unanimous in
saying that no other speech of his had ever carried
more weight and authority. Nothing less could
have been expected from the minister who is con-
sidered as master of the situation, thanks to the
influence derived from his popularity in Lower
Canada, and to the confidence which his integrity
and honesty as a statesman give him in the other
provinces."

The labour and careful study bestowed on the
Militia Bill were inspired by Cartier 's sense of duty
to the country and strong attachment to British
connection. This sentiment was the mainspring of
his action where it affected the relations of Great
Britain and Canada. It was in consequence of this
state of mind that in 1868 and 1869 his feelings
received a severe shock when a certain number
of public men in England expressed the opinion
that she should part with her colonies. The drift of
the home government policy seemed then to set in
88

ENGLAND'S ANTI-COLONIAL FEELING

that direction, when they decided upon withdraw-
ing the imperial troops from Canada. Even Sir
John Young, on his arrival in Canada, at a public
function in Quebec expressed sentiments on the
question which were interpreted as an invitation to
Canada to cut loose from colonial leading strings
and declare her independence. On that occasion,
July 15th, 1869, Sir John Young said: "At the
present moment Canada is in reality independent.
It has its own destinies in its own hands, and its
statesmen and people are recognized as competent
to judge of their interests as to what course to
pursue to conciliate those interests. England looks
to them for her guidance, and whatever their de-
cision may be, either to continue the present con-
nection or in due time and in the maturity of their
growth to exchange it for some other form of
alliance."

This warning of the governor-general was not
the only indication at the time of the state of
public opinion in England towards the colonies.
Taken in connection with the withdrawal of British
troops from Canada, was it not very significant?
Whilst in Canada a great uneasiness was felt with
regard to our imperial connection, which the great
majority of the people desired to preserve, the
London Times launched a terrible arraignment of
the colonial system. It came in this wise: some
Australian gentlemen, being in London, had com-
plained of the indifference and neglect shown by

89

SIR GEORGES !ETIENNE CARTIER

the government towards its dominions beyond the
seas. To this complaint "The Thunderer" thus ans-
wered: "There is no ground for surprise, still less
for indignation, if it be asked whether it would not
be better for both Englishmen and Australians
if the independence the latter have in fact should
receive a name. The Dominion of Canada is in all
respects independent. It is fitted to become — it has
the institutions of — a great power. It is surely a
fair subject for inquiry whether it might not assume
its appropriate position. Although we do not forget
our own warning against the use of metaphors, we
must still ask whether the emancipation of the
adult is not as desirable to complete the manhood
of the son as it is necessary from the inability of
the father to understand the peculiar circumstances
of his son's life." In their complaint, these Aus-
tralians, referred to in such snappish manner, spoke
of England as the "mother country." This expres-
sion, which should at least have gone to the heart
of the great organ, only drew ironical criticisms
almost insulting to colonists. "Now," said The
Times, "what is meant by speaking of England as
the mother country? What is to be understood by
the description of Australia, Canada, and the rest
of her colonies? If all that is intended is to remind
us of the historical fact that the citizens of Canada,
New South Wales, and Victoria are mainly of
English origin and descent, we shall not quarrel
with the accuracy of the statement, although we
90

THE TIMES AND THE COLONIES

may doubt the pertinence of the phrases. England
is in this sense the mother country of Australia,
and just in the same way some other land — with-
out committing ourselves to the quarrels of eth-
nologists, we may say Schleswig-Holstein — is the
mother country of England. Again, it may be
observed that if Australia be the child of England,
the United States are elder brethren of the same
family. It is evident that considerations like these,
though extremely interesting in their proper rela-
tions, have no necessary connection with the mutual
obligations of communities, that is to say, of socie-
ties of individuals banded together for purposes of
government in different parts of the world. Let us
then, in the interest of truth and right conclusions,
discard altogether the phrase * mother country' in
the discussions which are before us ; let us even use
with deliberation words apparently so innocent as
* England* and * colony,' and remember that what
we are called upon to weigh and determine is the
proper relations of Englishmen, Australians, and
Canadians." To make the meaning clearer still or
to leave no doubt on the mind of the dull colonial,
who only too well understood The Times' utter-
ances, this paper added: "Incidents like these (the
withdrawal of troops and the speeches of public
men), coming, too, in quick succession, showed
that the executive government of the United King-
dom, acting, as must be presumed, in harmony with
the imperial parliament, had resolved upon aban-

91

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

doning the old policy of tutelage, with its pretensions
and responsibilities, and urging the colonies by gentle
suasion to take up the freedom of their manhood."
Protests against such indications of the British
policy came in rapid succession from Canada. Many
public men took a despondent view of the situation,
but not Cartier, who could never be found in a
pessimistic frame of mind. Speaking at a banquet
given to Hon. John Rose in Montreal, he strongly
took The Times to task, and raised the hopes of his
hearers. With a keen conception of the future,
he predicted that this anti-colonial feeling in Eng-
land, based on erroneous views of the best interests
of the Empire would be of short duration, to
make room for larger imperial ideas. Similar ex-
pressions were used by Cartier at several other
public gatherings. To him, the interests of England
and of Canada were so closely intermingled and
dependent on each other that it would have been
suicidal folly to have separated them. It was this
feeling that actuated Cartier when in his despatch
to the home government he strongly protested
against the withdrawal of the British troops from
Canada. Besides his great concern for the imperial
prestige, there was another important motive to
justify the protest — an imminent Fenian invasion of
Canada. It was, he felt, a very abnormal act to order
the English regiments from this land, when for the
very hatred of England, the Fenians, indifferent to
our affairs, had invaded Canada.
92

CONTRASTED OPINIONS

The description of public opinion in England
thirty years ago placed in contrast with what it
is to-day, is a subject for reflection. It shows how
quickly men's minds travelled from one extreme to
the other, and how unfair it is to blame current
opinion, which is disagreeable to-day, but which
may be acceptable to-morrow. Sentiments freely
expressed in Great Britain when The Times advised
the colonies to look for their independence, would
sound like treasonable utterances now. Was it not
also a fact worthy of notice that a French Cana-
dian, once in arms against colonial misrule, ap-
peared more British than British-born statesmen,
imbued with loftier ideas of what was needed to
increase the power and influence of Great Britain?

93

CHAPTER X

CARTIER AND LA FONTAINE

TO the historian with a philosophical turn of
mind, to the ethnologist, the political history
of the Province of Quebec is a most interesting
study. He cannot help noticing a strong resem-
blance, proceeding from an affinity of origin, between
the Norman barons, who wrested Magna Charta
from King John, the men who fought for the
prerogatives of parliament against the privilege of
the crown under George III., and the Norman-
Canadian statesmen who conquered responsible
government. Their minds seem to have come out
of the same mould, so much alike are they in
sagacity, -moderation, and the instinct for liberty.
Their sense of what a colonial government should
be showed itself at a very early stage of our history
and with surprising clearness in men born from
parents brought up under the personal power of
Louis XV.

Under the despotic rule of Governor Craig, who
suppressed Le Canadien, the first French newspaper
of Quebec, Panet, Be^dard and Taschereau claim
the liberty of the press like Junius, and the inde-
pendence of parliament after the style of Wilkes,
and for their bold stand are sent to jail. When

95

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

Craig orders his minions to set Be'dard free, again
with English-like sense of honour and respect for
law, he refuses to take advantage of the governor's
order until he is told under what authority he
has been imprisoned, and until he has been regu-
larly tried.

About the same time the members of the assem-
bly, discerning that their control of the provincial
finances would surely check the absolute power of
the executive, claim from the imperial parliament
the burden of supporting the expenses of govern-
ment by levying taxes. This is granted in 1818.
Up to that year it rested with the colonial office
to supply the money necessary to defray the civil
list of Canada.

As far back as 1808, Be'dard had asked for
ministerial responsibility, which Lord Durham at a
later time declared in his celebrated report, would
put an end to the existing troubles. Then came
Papineau whose advocacy of reform was admirable
so long as he kept himself within the limits of
constitutional agitation, before he became a desper-
ate agitator under the exasperating sting of redress
of grievances oft promised but always deferred.
When the Union Act of 1840 was imposed on
Lower Canada, La Fontaine entered his protest
against it with ah1 his feUow-citizens, but instead of
sulking under his tent in permanent opposition, as
some less far-seeing Canadians desired to do, he at
once strove to bring forth good results from a well-
96

BALDWIN AND LA FONTAINE

designed scheme to accomplish evil ends. This
he achieved with the concurrence of that great
reformer and good man, Robert Baldwin.

In the constitutional battle that ensued between
Lord Sydenham and Lord Metcalfe on one side,
and La Fontaine on the other, as to the meaning
of ministerial responsibility, to an unprejudiced ob-
server La Fontaine had the best of the argument.
His opponent held views which would have been
laughed out of discussion in England. Although
the act of 1840 conceded ministerial responsibility
to Canada, it was not the intention of these
governors to grant it in its entirety. Even Lord
John Russell was opposed to this reform, fearing
that the advice which might be given to the repre-
sentative of the crown in Canada would clash with
the instructions from Downing street. Even as late
as 1842, the Montreal Gazette, then a Tory organ
of an antiquated type, denounced ministerial re-
sponsibility as a "pernicious and damnable heresy."

It was La Fontaine's and Baldwin's meritorious
task to put an end to disputes on constitutional
questions, and to that national antagonism which
had arrayed one section of the population against
the other. Party spirit has often been looked upon
as the bane and curse of a country, but in Canada
it has proved a blessing. When the Baldwin party
joined the Liberal forces of Lower Canada under
La Fontaine, to combat the Tory element, the
dangerous strife of English against French began

97

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

to abate. Efforts have occasionally been made to
revive old national feuds, but the sound sense of
our leading statesmen, backed by the conservative
instinct of the people at large, has prevented the
return of that undisguised evil.

After the constitutional battle had been won,
when Lord Elgin, the most enlightened and most
popular governor of Canada before confederation,
had gracefully helped to carry on responsible
government, as they understand it in England,
Cartier took the helm hi hand. Intelligence and
talent are the requisites for success in politics as
well as in the other ventures of life, but they must
be applied at the proper time, when their powers
are specially needed. No one in Canada did more
than Cartier to free the country from dangerous
influences by keeping the government on party
lines with French and English on both sides. In his
collected speeches, delivered on public occasions
either in Quebec, Ontario or the Maritime Prov-
inces, reference is always made to the importance
of maintaining harmonious intercourse between the
different nationalities, of cultivating sentiments of
mutual forbearance ; in his mind it was the states-
man's duty to avoid any cause of friction between
these antagonistic elements.

It was his constant aim to spread among certain
classes of the Upper Canadian population correct no-
tions concerning the French Canadians. He was the
first of his nationality to meet the western farmers
98

HIS CONCILIATORY EFFORTS

and make them feel that their unknown partners in
the Union were not as black as they had been
painted. The prejudices in Upper Canada, which he
contributed largely to dispel, were so great about
1839, that the Toronto city council and the House of
Assembly, as shown before, asked Governor Poulett
Thomson to disenfranchise the French population
of Lower Canada. Thanks to his liberal views Cartier
ingratiated himself with the English and Protestant
population of Lower Canada, whose confidence he
never lost during his twenty-five years of public
life. His conduct, which should be that of every
Canadian statesman, was not always well under-
stood among his countrymen and some of his
opponents were pleased to represent him as an
anglomaniac, with an excessive fondness for every-
thing British. This reproach is, however, one of
those stock-in-trade attacks made against almost
every minister bent on giving equal justice to all,
without regard to church or flag. For the good of
the country these two Norman-Canadians, La Fon-
taine and Cartier, almost ruled it from 1841 to
1867, during that regime which had been designed
for the very purpose of keeping them and their
friends out of power. La Fontaine with all Lower
Canada at his back, joined hands with the small
Liberal following of Baldwin. When he retired to
private life, at the advent of the Reformers in
Upper Canada, under George Brown, Morin, Tachd
and Cartier at the head of the Lower Canada

99

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

Liberals, formed a new alliance with their old
opponents, the Tories or Conservatives of the
MacNab and Macdonald type. To sum up the part
these two men played with their associates in our
history, it may be said that La Fontaine with
Baldwin fought and won the constitutional battle,
whilst Cartier, with the help of Macdonald, con-
trived to establish the political union of the country,
showing conclusively that in spite of the dissimili-
tudes of a mixed community, it can easily be
governed and made prosperous.

Under the Cartier-Macdonald alliance, the coun-
try was again ruled by a party composed largely of
Lower Canada members,, thus giving the French
leader a strong hold over the House. It was then
that George Brown denounced what he was pleased
to call the French domination, a war cry which
would have been reasonable if Macdonald and
Cartier could ever have been inspired by racial
or religious prejudice, an hypothesis out of the
question. The alliance of those two men was
certainly beneficial to the country. After he had
broken away — an early experience having shown
him his initial error — from his first associations,
John A. Macdonald aided his ally in removing
existing prejudices in Upper Canada against the
eastern province, and in establishing the principles
which must govern public men in a community
like ours composed of two separate and distinct
races. Both, though differently gifted, were born
100

TWO METHODS OF LEADERSHIP

leaders of men, Cartier with his imperative ways
and Macdonald with his power of persuasion and
cunning. The latter had a deep view of the human
heart, a greater contempt for its secret impulses,
and knew what spring must be touched to influence
it. Cartier claimed the leadership because from his
own conception it belonged to him on account of
his superior qualification. He was the necessary
man and the only one. A long use of power and
blind obedience from his followers had developed
within his mind peculiar ideas as to his position. He
exacted from his friends absolute submission and
when confronted with the remarks from members
of parliament that such and such votes were diffi-
cult to give, he would bluntly reply : " I want your
support during stormy times ; don't claim credit for
supporting me when it is all plain sailing."

Macdonald led his men with a wink and a smile;
he fascinated them with a tap on the shoulder and
they were pleased to take the password from such
a clever and skilled leader. Amiable as he was with
the rank and file, he was absolute in council. One
of his colleagues, a prominent politician, often
told me that his rule was personal power to its full
extent. This absoluteness of mind in Macdonald,
and equally strong conviction in Cartier, often
brought these two men into antagonism. They were
pleased, when addressing the masses, to eulogize
each other, to praise their friendship, to refer to
the popular saying that they were Siamese twins,

101

SIR GEORGES 3STIENNE CARTIER

but when looked at by the light of facts, this close
amity has the character, to a great extent, of those
numberless legends which makes Renan call history
" that conjectural science." The truth is that numer-
ous conflicts took place between them, and that the
alliance was maintained only by mutual interests
and a strong sense of public duty. The elements
which made up their forces were so conflicting, so
antagonistic, that they unavoidably fostered division
between the leaders. Just imagine, Cartier whip-
ping into line the most Catholic section of Lower
Canada, and Macdonald supported by the Orange
Order ! It must have required no ordinary general-
ship on the part of these two men to marshal
under one flag soldiers who rallied to symbols
representing such antagonistic ideas.

It is generally believed that their most serious
estrangement occurred in London, whilst the
British North America Act was before parliament.
John A. Macdonald desired, it is said, to have it
modified so that a legislative union should be
substituted for the proposed federation. To this,
Cartier objected strongly and made no mystery of
his intention to return to Canada, if his colleague
persisted in his determination to alter the constitu-
tion as it was adopted in Quebec. It is also reported
that he had warned the then Canadian premier,
Sir N. F. Belleau, to be prepared to resign at a
moment's notice, on receiving a cablegram to that
effect. This statement has been given out without
102

CARTIER AND MACDONALD

contradiction, in the Quebec press, by a distin-
guished French journalist, Oscar Dunn, and also
by a very intimate friend of Cartier, Louis Arch-
ambault, for several years a member of the Que-
bec government. A gentleman now on the staff
of an important paper in Montreal and once his
confidential adviser, confirmed this statement to
the writer. In spite of these very respectable
witnesses we would hesitate to credit it. How could
Macdonald have broken his pledged word of
honour, his solemn declaration in the House at
Quebec, with the hope of being sustained on his
return to Canada ? Was he sure that even Ontario
would have followed him, after having accepted
confederation? Is it conceivable that after the
labours and toils of three years, he would have
thrown all results to the winds and begun anew
to educate the people to another state of things ?
Still the evidence on the other side is very respect-
able and makes the solution difficult. Et adhuc
sub judice Us est.

103

CHAPTER XI
CHARACTER AND POLICY

fTlHE mental equipment of Cartier, combined
J- with his moral qualities, served to fit him
admirably for power. What men lack most in our
age is that sterling endowment called character.
Eloquent speakers and clever debaters are found in
large numbers in the ranks of our talented politi-
cians, but where is that firmness of mind, that un-
swerving integrity so necessary to those entrusted
with great public functions? These requisite quali-
ties had developed in Cartier to no ordinary degree,
and enabled him to see his way clear and to hold
the helm with no wavering hand. His earnestness
of purpose, resting on the best information derived
from conscientious examination of the matter to be
acted upon, made him sure that the direction he
gave to the ship was the best. Of this all his
supporters were persuaded as well as himself.

He was also a man of quick resolves — procrastina-
tion did not suit his temper. It was a general belief
at the time in Montreal that if it had been his task
to lead the Conservative party during the Canadian
Pacific Railway scandal, he would have forced a
decision during the session in which the charge had
been made when the government had a majority of

105

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

thirty-five votes. His friends put off the investiga-
tion for months, with the result that, under influ-
ences not counteracted by the presence of ministers,
that majority dwindled to naught. Tactics and
manoeuvring were within his aptitudes, as was
shown in 1862. Seeing that he had lost his hold on
a large number of his supporters, he chose to be
defeated on the Militia Bill, well knowing that his
opponents would have to come before parliament
with a plan for the reorganization of the militia,
and a plan probably more open to criticism than
the one they had condemned. His generalship and
foresight in that crisis were both remarkable, for
everything turned out as he had expected. As to
his leadership in Lower Canada, his ideas were
formulated to conserve the special interests of the
French Canadians. It was his conviction that they
would be endangered if his countrymen were about
evenly divided between the two political parties.
So it was his constant aim to concentrate their
forces in a compact body. Fearing at one time that
these would scatter, he tried the extreme, the
desperate means of re-uniting under his command
the Liberals and Conservatives. With this object in
view, he offered Dorion a seat in the cabinet when
he was called to form the administration of 1858.
His proposal was declined, as Dorion would not
forego his democratic principles. It is said that the
Liberal leader was inclined to form a coalition, but
that his lieutenants, Papin, Doutre, Dessaules,
106

SOME STRONG CHARACTERISTICS

and Laflamme, raised such a storm of protest that
Dorion did not dare to follow his own inclination.
It was also hinted at the time that Cartier's offer
lacked sincerity — that he made it simply because
he knew that it could not be accepted, for the
purpose of throwing on Dorion the responsibility
and odium of the French Canadian disunion. This
is, however, only an hypothesis and a surmise
wholly out of harmony with Cartier's mode of
dealing with political affairs. Seeing the impossi-
bility of uniting his countrymen through an alliance
with his opponents, he made up his mind to achieve
his end by destroying the Liberal party. In this
he succeeded to a great extent.

A leader's qualifications are not made up alone of
high intellectual powers. He must at times descend
to the level of the average mortal, and exhibit quali-
ties of a meaner order though of the utmost im-
portance in the management of a party. Within the
home circle, Cartier was genial and amiable. Brillat-
Savarin, the great philosopher of gastronomy, re-
marks that when a man entertains a guest, he must
never forget that he has the responsibility of making
him happy as long as he is under his roof. Cartier's
action was shaped after this doctrine. In his usual
vocations his temper would at times break out in a
storm of violent words, but the storm soon passed
away. He affected a certain brusqueness in receiv-
ing persons who he feared would trespass on his
time; he adopted these tactics to ward off bores

107

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

and to avoid the worries of solicitors. His frankness
would at first displease those unacquainted with his
peculiarities. For instance, if a young man requested
his influence for a civil service appointment, the
invariable answer would be this: "I have no situa-
tion to give. Besides, you should not ask for a
favour of this kind. Do as I have done — work hard
and you will succeed. Turn your attention towards
another field. If you enter the civil service, in a few
years dissatisfaction will be your lot." Still, if the
applicant was better fitted for a public office than a
law office or any other employment, he would send
for him when vacancies in his department came
under his disposal. It was not his policy to hold
out promises which he was not sure to keep. True
to his motto, he was always and everywhere franc
et sans dol.

He was no orator, in the academic sense of the
word, but a very effective debater, always con-
vincing, drawing and retaining the attention of his
hearers by the splendid array of his arguments. Of
middle size, but of a strong frame, with an intelli-
gent face and eyes full of fire, he gave the impres-
sion of a man of untiring energy and courage.
Always in motion, pivoting on himself, gazing at
his friends to infuse them with his burning enthus-
iasm, and then in turn at his opponents to challenge
them to contradiction, he never failed to make
a mark in debate. What gave his speeches an
extraordinary effect over his supporters was the
108

HIS SELF-CONFIDENCE AND OPTIMISM

overflowing optimism which he seemed to possess.
To soar above his audience was never one of his
characteristics. Facts and nothing but facts, well
bound together and cemented with overpowering
logic, constituted the bones, sinews, and flesh of
Carder's oratory. Figures of speech, all rhetorical
ornaments, he despised, but pointed repartees
formed part of his defense. He had little of what
the French called esprit, but he appeared, at times
brim full of humour. The over-confidence in himself
which he often displayed — his optimism — would at
times amaze his audience or draw a smile to the
lips of the sceptics in the House. Whilst he was
delivering his speech on the confederation scheme,
C. Dunkin, a member of the opposition, interrupted
him to express his doubts as to the possibility of
successfully carrying on the future government.
"The man," he said, "who under such a system
will succeed in leading the Commons for six dif-
ferent provinces, and also to keep up as many
legislative councils and Houses of Assembly, would
deserve to be sent to England to teach the political
alphabet to Palmerston and Derby." Upon this
remark the following dialogue ensued:

Cartier. — "This could easily be done."

Dunkin. — "The honourable minister never sees
any difficulty in all he undertakes to do."

Cartier. — "And I have seldom failed. I have
generally got the success I had desired."

Dunkin. — "Yes, under favourable circumstances,

109

SIR GEORGES iSTIENNE CARTIER

but the honourable gentleman has also met with
reverses. I believe in the omniscience of no one. It
will be no easy task to meet the exigencies of race
and religion with three provincial ministers."

Cartier. — " Hear ! hear 1 "

Dunkin. — "The attorney-general thinks he would
be able to overcome that difficulty."

Cartier. — " Certainly." (Laughter.)

Dunkin. — "Well, if the honourable gentleman
succeeds in meeting the requests of Lower Canada
with only three ministers of that province in the
cabinet, he will prove that he is the cleverest man
in the country."

On another occasion, after a very bold argument
from Cartier in a certain debate, Mr. Wright, of
the county of Ottawa, exclaimed: "Semper audax?
and Cartier answered: "Audaces fortuna juvat."

Speaking in 1872 in the House, on the Fenian
invasion of Canada, he referred to certain criticisms
that had been directed against the militia. Sir
R. Cartwright, thinking the allusion referred to
him, said that his remarks had only been pointed
against some chiefs. Cartier replied: "Let the
honourable gentleman attack me, and he will see
how I can defend myself."

Cartwright. — "The honourable gentleman is
plucky enough to undertake anything."

With this humour and these witty retorts was
coupled an immense amount of general information
on all matters pertaining to politics. His ambition
110

THE REASONS FOR HIS CONSERVATISM

urged him to be always the best posted man in
any discussion. Before confederation, when John A.
Macdonald was not so thorough nor laborious in his
methods as he became afterwards, it was Cartier's
task to supply the deficiencies of his friend and of his
other colleagues at all times. That knowledge he
had acquired through incessant labour at the rate of
fourteen hours a day during forty years of his life.
His mind never had the brilliancy of Sir John's, but
his industry and diligence, in the days referred to,
were greater.

As to the peculiar tendency of his ideas, it can be
said that they smacked "of old style conservatism in
principles, with great liberalism in action, when the
material interests of the country were concerned. A
man's ideas are more or less influenced or biased by
his surroundings, by events occurring under his eyes.
Cartier's conservatism was derived from his undis-
guised hatred of the French radicalism of 1848,
which some of his opponents tried to transplant to
Canada. His intense devotion to British connection,
in which he saw the only means of maintaining the
French nationality intact in North America, also
contributed to turn his mind against all new fangled
notions. At the noon-tide of his life he was also
very much impressed by the great conflict going on
in the sixties, south of Canada, which then threat-
ened the unity of the great Republic.

It was the fault of the American constitu-
tion, according to his views, that the war of

111

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

secession had taken place; and that struggle sup-
plied him with arguments demonstrating the superi-
ority of the English institutions over those of our
neighbours.

His speeches were replete with advice to his
countrymen, which he repeated until it became
tame and commonplace. They must, he told them,
concentrate all their energies to rise to the re-
quirements of the British constitution; they must
be satisfied to live under the Union Jack and
enjoy the great liberty it secures to their ambition
to constitute a distinct nationality.

Another condition to their separate existence he
was also fond of propounding: the importance of
acquiring property. Speaking on the grave of Du-
vernay, the patriot agitator of 1837, he said: "Let
us never forget that if we desire to maintain our
national existence, we must cling to the soil. One
and all of us must strive to hold our patrimonial
territory. Number alone does not constitute a
nation. Race, language, education and manners
form what I would call the personal national
element, which is doomed to perish if it is not sup-
ported by the territorial element. Experience shows
that in order to ensure permanency and a lasting
existence to any nation, the union of the individual
with the land is absolutely required. . . . If in the
future an attempt was made to destroy our nation-
ality, what strength would not the French Cana-
dians gather if they were firmly planted in the soil?
112

HIS VIEWS ON PROPERTY

The giant Antaeus of the fable used to draw a new
supply of vitality whenever he touched the earth;
the same result would happen with us." After referr-
ing to the peaceful rivalry which must exist between
the different races in Canada, he added, "If the
majestic maple tree is the king of our forest and is
always to be found on the best soil, the French
Canadians who place its emblematic leaf on their
breasts must, like that tree, plant themselves in
the best and most fertile land."

Property always inspired him with great respect.
In his eyes it should be like a column in the state
to prop up the constitution. It was his aim to place
it as the first requisite for the right of suffrage, and
as the basis of qualification for membership in the
Upper House. In 1853 the legislative council was
made an elective body. It had been up to that
year composed of crown nominees. Cartier made a
strong plea in favour of property qualifications for
the members of that House. "A man," he said,
"who acquires property by his labour and energy
will take better care of public moneys than one who
has spent his time dabbling in politics. Besides all
constitutions which draw the youth of a country
away from acquiring property and from industry
are dangerous. Rising generations must be taught
to earn money at home before taking part in
politics." These pleas in favour of the possession of
land were uttered when France was still trembling
under the violent diatribes of the famous and

113

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

powerful communist writer, Proudhon, who said
that "Property was robbery."

In politics, as in love and in war, for some people,
everything is fair against an opponent or a rival.
According to this convenient but immoral principle
of conduct, some of Cartier's foes were pleased
to represent him as afflicted with anglomania, to
the extent of aiming at the anglification of his
countrymen. Nothing could have been further from
the truth than this remark. He, for a certain time,
overlooked it, thinking it was beneath contempt,
but when one day it was hurled at him in the
House, he resented it bitterly, and turning to the
member who had dared to make this charge, he
said : " The honourable gentleman has even stated
that it was my object to anglicize my countrymen.
Well, if he ever occupies my present seat I hope he
will place upon the statute book measures as
favourable to them as those of which I am proud of
being the author. Does he not know what a long
struggle I had to bear in order to obtain the con-
struction through Lower Canada of the Grand
Trunk Railway, which now affords to my country-
men new facilities to increase their wealth, adds
value to their land and opens fresh fields to coloni-
zation? Have I not, in 1855, given normal schools
to Lower Canada, and opened 3,000 new common
schools ? Have I not restored the Jesuits' property
to its primitive destination — education? Have I not
introduced the French laws in the Eastern Town-
114

HIS ECONOMIC CREED

ships? Did anyone think before me of consolidat-
ing the Coutume de Paris into a civil code, which
places within easy reach both of the English and
French population, the laws of our province? Is not
the law dividing the province into a large number
of judiciary districts extremely beneficial both to
the lawyers and the people? Was not the Seigniorial
Act which suppressed the lods et ventes dues a
desirable measure ?"

To face such charges as those brought against
Cartier is the common lot of all public men in a
community like ours. They are in turn, and at the
same time, charged with being too French or
too English, too friendly to the Catholics or to the
Protestants. When a statesman has nothing but
these conflicting charges to combat, one may be
sure that he is governing according to the general
interests of the country. Methods of criticizing and
making opposition are numerous and varied, whilst
there is but one way to govern.

Carrier's ideas on political economy as bearing
on Canada were not fixed; he does not seem to
have inclined markedly to either free trade or pro-
tection, but stood midway between the extremes of
the two economic creeds. On this ground, and on
this only, he was an opportunist. "The manufac-
turers often ask," he said, one day, "to be pro-
tected to the utmost. This is an absurd demand, as
absurd as the claims of the free traders. If we were
to comply with the demands of the latter we would

115

SIR GEORGES ^TIENNE CARTIER

be compelled to pay to the government through di-
rect taxation the same amount that protection would
give m an indirect manner. With unlimited protec-
tion, you would strike a terrible blow at our foreign
trade. We shall not go in for such a suicidal policy.
The government has decided to impose duties
which will bring into the exchequer the revenue
required for public service and afford to our indus-
tries a reasonable protection."

Political economy, that uncertain science con-
taining so many high sounding doctrines at vari-
ance with their results in cold experience; political
economy which one hundred years after Adam
Smith has not yet formulated any accepted law for
the development of wealth, could not suit an ab-
solute mind like Cartier's. It is not, therefore, to be
wondered at that his ideas wavered between pro-
tection and free trade. In this only, did they show
a tendency to oscillate. In other matters, he was
absolute to an extreme ; the principles of the
British constitution, for example, as it has already
been shown, were to him like dogmas. He never
doubted for one moment that these institutions, in
their ensemble, were the masterpiece of human
ingenuity.

To quote Sir Wilfrid Laurier's opinion of
Cartier : " What strikes one most in this complex
nature, is that he takes hold of every question from
the highest point of view. He has never been seen
to shun any responsibility by appealing to popular
116

HIS RELIGIOUS VIEWS

prejudices which always offer an easy retreat. In
whatever situation he is placed he faces it boldly
and nobly. It is curious to note here that however
high and brave the conclusion he comes to, the
grandeur of the subject never draws any inspiration
from him. He always remains exclusively a man of
action and a business man, without any bright
thoughts or clever sentences. It is impossible to
read his speeches, with their dullness of expression,
without arriving at the conclusion that they come
from a person whose political intelligence is of the
highest order. Very few men have understood as
well as he did the situation of the French race.
Very few have had a clearer conception of the
duties connected with that situation."

This firmness of conviction which characterized
his views in politics followed him in the higher field
of religion. Here he rose above the average men of
his day and especially of his youth when rationalism
had taken hold of not a few of his contempo-
raries. Voltaire, d'Alembert and Diderot were then
much read and thought of in Lower Canada. Car-
tier never went out of his way to court the clergy,
never made a show of his religious belief, but from
boyhood, under family and afterwards school in-
fluence, he closely adhered to the tenets of that
faith which seeks to elevate and offers cheering
hopes beyond death.

Early influences often follow a man in after life,
and explain, in many cases, his temperament and

117

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

general demeanour. It is noticeable in Carrier's
career that the associations of his youth left their
mark in his mind. The surroundings in which he
was brought up were peculiar enough to impress
him strongly. In those days, prior to the uprising
of 1837, the country along the Richelieu river and
in the more progressive parts of Lower Canada
offered scenes of patriarchal life quite unknown
anywhere else. It is still usual in the province to
refer to that period as le bon vieuoe temps (the
good old times). Then Lower Canada was a land of
plenty, of cakes and honey, of constant merriment
and enjoyment of the good things of life. If the
/labitants worked hard in summer from dawn until
sunset, or, as one of them said to me in a poetical
sentence, if he toiled d'une dtoile CL Vautre> that is,
from the disappearance of the morning star to the
rising of the evening star, his labours were amply
rewarded at harvest time. He then saw his gra-
naries full to overflowing of heavy sheaves and of
all the products of the garden and farm. As soon
as his rich crops lay secure in the barn, the bell
would give the signal for feasts and amusement;
and winter, the thoughts of whose hardships send
a chill through foreigners, saw merry scenes. All
Lower Canada was alive with a long succession of
entertainments, dinners, parties and dances. The
dinners — -fricots as they were called — went the
round of a parish, every guest at the first one
given in the beginning of the whiter being in duty
118

THE GOOD OLD TIMES

bound to return the compliment. And in the pro-
fusion of eatables they recalled the Rabelaisian
feasts. The golden, roasted turkey kept company
with the huge roast of pork, or porc-frais CL Vail,
which the late chief justice of Quebec (Sir W. John-
ston) looked upon as the masterpiece of the Cana-
dian cuisine, and ragotits of all descriptions loaded
the table. It was the ambition of every house-
keeper, who had a true sense of hospitality, to hide
the table-cloth with all the delicacies which the
country and her skill could supply. To that end
every space between the plates and dishes was
crowded with smaller plates, saucers filled with
jellies, bon-bons, creme brdlee, and the like.

It was the writer's good luck to be present, in his
younger days, at one of these repasts, and not since
has he witnessed such joy, such open heartedness,
and also such appetites. As the evening passed
away in pleasure a demand for songs arose, and
the local artists sang those which every one in
the room knew to the last line. They were the
rhymes called chanson de ronde, which the soldiers
of the king of France sang through their cam-
paigns from the east to the west of Canada, from
the shores of Lake George to the banks of the
Ohio, at Fort Duquesne and Ticonderoga. They
are still familiar all over Quebec. The chorus of
one of them lingers yet in my memory just as
I heard it from the mouth of the singer, who after
each stanza would turn to mine host and shout:

119

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

Bonhomme, bonhomme,

Tu n'es pas maitre dans ta maison

Quand nous y sommes. 1

Such festivities were not confined to the limits of
the parish. These Canadians of old would exchange
amenities with all the villages along the Richelieu
river, from St. Ours to Chambly. Many and many
gay drives did this river see after having witnessed
in earlier days the plodding of Montcalm's soldiers
on their way to the glorious battlefield of Carillon.
The Richelieu was in olden times the highway
between New France and the English colonies;
and the route was also followed by the invaders of
1775 and 1812. Fortunately the Lenten season
came at last to put a stop to these agreeable but
rather expensive pastimes. It is true that in order
not to break off too suddenly from this pleasure-
making there was still the gathering in the woods'
around the cauldron of boiling maple sap, which
afforded another great source of amusement.

St. Antoine, Cartier's birthplace, enjoyed great
prosperity during the first half of the nineteenth
century. Cartier stated in a speech at Quebec that
his grandfather exported annually 500,000 bushels
of wheat bought in that section of the country. He
was a merchant, and the house in which he carried
on his trade is still extant. It is well known about the
country on account of its size, for it extends three

1 "Old fellow, old fellow, you are not the lord of this house when
we are here."

120

A CUSTOM OF LOWER CANADA

times the length of the other dwellings. It goes by
the name of the maison aux sept cheminees, the
house with seven chimneys. An explanation as to
the necessity for such a large establishment affords
details of some interest to persons not familiar with
all the peculiarities of Lower Canada. One section
of this long house was set apart for the family,
another contained the storehouse and the remainder
was intended to lodge rentiers. According to a
long-standing custom, farmers or tradespeople who
are growing old, enter into an agreement with a
neighbour of some means in the parish, under which
they give all their property to the latter in exchange
for a life annuity (hence the title of rentiers). I have
before me one of those contrats de donation, which
enumerates all that the rentier is entitled to, from
tobacco and snuff to an everlasting cow (une vache
qui ne meurt pas), and a merchantable hog (un
cochon marchand). These annuities cause trouble
whenever the rentier succeeds in lingering beyond
the day he is expected to die. The Cartiers seem to
have made it a part of their business to enter upon
these risks, to judge by the appointments of their
house.

After reading the above sketchy description of
the state of Lower Canada, the question naturally
occurs: How can you account for the uprising
of 1837, if the people were so happy in the "good
old time " ? The query is quite natural and must be
answered. The troubles had an aristocratic, not

121

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

a popular origin. It was the best people of the
country that rose in rebellion against the Chateau
St. Louis: Papineau, Panet, Be'dard, Bourdages and
their friends, men of high culture, the real aris-
tocracy, became exasperated in time at the con-
temptuous manner in which they were constantly
treated. As to the habitant, he enjoyed religious
liberty and exemption from taxation; he was satis-
fied with his lot and would not have moved if the
red hot tirades of Papineau had not persuaded him
that he had a grievance. Still this discontent was far
from being general and deep-rooted, as the uprising
confined to the region of Montreal has shown.

The surroundings in which Cartier's youth was
spent, as already observed, had their influence on
his mind, and contributed with the genial nature of
his race to keep alive in his soul that high spirit
which was so remarkable in his conduct all through
life. Never was he found despondent; no situation,
however dark, saw him without an outburst of
wit or humour.

In social functions at home he was most enter-
taining. No guest ever left his house but happy
and satisfied with his host. He was what the French
call a boute-en-train, a person who will get out of
every one the best that is in him. A lady musician
— the wife of a Liberal senator — once told me that
whenever she met Cartier at social functions, he
would insist upon having her give a specimen of
her talent, and if reluctant, he would end his
122

VOYAGEURS' SONGS

entreaties by saying: "Please play, not for my sake,
but to show these English folks that if the French
Canadians have not their talent for money-making,
they are more artistically gifted. Do that for pat-
riotism 1" In Ottawa, his receptions at that very
modest house at the corner of Maria and Metcalfe
streets are still remembered by many. There, on
Saturday evenings during the session, congregated
members of parliament, journalists, civil servants,
and not a few local artists, and, under the guidance
of his cheerful spirit, the evening wore on merrily.
One feature of these entertainments was unique, a
sort of active representation of choruses as sung by
the North- West voyageurs. Commandant Fortin,
of the famous schooner La Canadienne, and Simp-
son, of Algoma, would set a row of a dozen chairs
facing in the same direction. All those present, able
to sing, would be seated on these chairs, and, taking
the lead from Fortin, with his deep, full notes,
would sing a voyageur's song. To give gusto to
the performance, each improvised voyageur would
swing his arms as though he were paddling a canoe,
and this chorus would come again and again:

Via le bon vent,
Via le joli vent

Ma mie m'appelle,
Via le bon vent,
Via le joli vent

Ma mie m'attend !

How few now remain of the gay performers who
welcomed the breeze that was bringing them to their

123

SIR GEORGES ^TIENNE CARTIER

lady love (ma mie) \ These entertainments offered
a happy relaxation to Cartier, one of the most
active of men; one who thought nothing of spend-
ing throughout the year fourteen hours a day in a
field of labour much more exhausting than the one
where eight hours is considered the limit of human
strength. He valued time above all things, and any-
one trespassing uselessly on it would become his
enemy. In order to save it, he would assume with
some visitors an air of brusqucrie and bad humour
quite discouraging to bores and place hunters. It
was his habit to walk the streets of Montreal or
Ottawa at a rapid gait, so that as few people as
possible could waylay him to indulge in gossip or
town talk.

I have made frequent references to his courage
in the face of adverse circumstances, and in again
referring to that great quality, it seems only right
to refer to the characteristically bold stand which
he felt compelled to take when a personal matter
arose which, as is frequently the case, had a wider
than individual interest.

After confederation, the imperial government
distributed honours to reward those colonial states-
men who had taken a prominent part in the work
of uniting the British North American provinces.
The distinction of knighthood was conferred on
John A. Macdonald, whilst Cartier, who had in
1858, while premier of Canada, initiated the union
scheme, only received a C.B.
124

THE REFUSAL OF A DECORATION

He at once notified Lord Monck that he could
not accept the proffered honour, alleging as a mo-
tive for declining it, that, as the representative of
the French in Canada, he could not consent to see
them placed in a position inferior to that occupied
by the other element of our population. The stand
taken by Cartier, which was then generally ap-
proved, greatly embarrassed the colonial office, and
a rather unpleasant correspondence ensued.

Edward Watkin, then president of the Grand
Trunk Railway, a warm friend of Cartier and one
who had taken a great interest in the confederation
scheme, had also declined a C.B., because he
thought an injustice had been done to the minister
of militia. What complicated that delicate matter
was the fact that such a refusal is disrespectful
to the Crown, and therefore some way out of the
trouble had to be looked for that would save
appearances. The colonial secretary informed Lord
Monck of the tangle and Cartier in turn explained
it to Watkin in a letter dated, Ottawa, February
15th, 1868.

"With regard to my matter, would you imagine
that the Duke of Buckingham has written a confi-
dential note to Lord Monck, telling to this latter
that there being no precedent for a resignation
of the C.B., the only way to have my wishes carried
out would be by the Queen directing by order
in the Gazette my name to be struck out from the
Order, which proceeding, the Duke adds, would be

125

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

construed by outsiders and the uninitiated as the
outcome of misconduct. Lord Monck having com-
municated to me the substance of the Duke's com-
munication, I have asked Lord Monck to obtain from
the Duke leave to communicate to me the substance
of his note in no confidential manner, in order that I
may reply to it. I do not really think that the inten-
tion is to frighten me, in order to induce me to with-
draw my letter asking leave to resign the C.B. That
I will not do, and when the Duke's communication
is under my eyes in no confidential manner, I will
send such a reply that will make people understand
the injury done to me, and the slight so absurdly
offered to a million of good and loyal French Cana-
dians. As a matter of course all that I say to you
in this letter is strictly in confidence to you."

The matter was brought up in the Canadian
House of Commons and during the debate general
sympathy was expressed for Cartier, whose temper
was still more aroused when he read in the London
Gazette that the way out of the trouble which the
Duke of Buckingham deprecated, had just been
followed. So in great indignation he again wrote
to Watkin:

"You very likely must have seen or heard of the
notification published in the London Gazette at the
end of the month of December last about the
honours distributed in Canada in connection with
the confederation. In that notification you must
have seen that the names of myself and Gait
126

THE FRICTION ABOUT A TITLE

are omitted, and it was stated in that notification
that it must be substituted for the one published on
July 9th last, in which Gait's name and mine were
inserted as C.B. Now you must recollect that some
months ago I wrote you about a confidential com-
munication of the Duke of Buckingham to Lord
Monck, in order that it should be intimated to me
and Gait, that there was no precedent of a resignation
of the Order of the Bath, and that the only way left
for the carrying out of Gait's wishes and mine
would be by an order of Her Majesty ordering our
names to be struck off the roll. The communication
of the Duke having been made to me in a con-
fidential manner, I had no opportunity to answer it.
I had written to Lord Monck to ask the Duke's
leave for communicating to me in no confidential
manner the despatch of the Duke, in order to give
me .an opportunity to answer it. I never had any
answer from Lord Monck to that request. To
my great surprise, at the end of December last,
I received from Lord Monck a note, accompanied
by the copy of a despatch from the Duke, inform-
ing me that a mode had been found to meet my
wishes and those of Gait, which consisted in the
publication in the London Gazette of a notification
omitting our names, and such notification to be
substituted for the former one of July last.

"The reading of this last despatch more than
astonished me, and my astonishment was greater
when I saw by the London Gazette that it was

127

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

carried into effect by the notification above alluded
to. I have had no more opportunity to answer the
second despatch of the Duke than the first one,
which was marked confidential. Allow me to add
that the Duke expressed in his first communication
that he did not like to suggest that my name should
be struck off the roll, because an ungenerous con-
struction now and hereafter might be made against
me by those not acquainted with the fact. Now, by
the course followed, as explained in his second
despatch, I feel as badly treated as if the first
course had been adopted. In one case my name
would have been ordered to be struck off the
roll, and by the second course followed, my name
was ordered to be omitted in the second notifi-
cation. There is not much difference between these
two courses. I have written a letter to Lord Monck
to complain of the second course followed, inasmuch
as there being no reason assigned for the omission
of my name in the second notification, a construc-
tion ungenerous to myself and my children after
me could now and hereafter be made."

This matter might have been left where the
London Gazette notice had placed it, but Sir
Charles Tupper, who was then in London, inter-
fered, and with great tact had it settled. It was
owing to his timely intervention that justice was
done and Cartier became a baronet of the United
Kingdom. This squabble over a title would look
very small were it not that it involved a question of
128

A HAPPY CONCLUSION

national feeling which raised it to more importance
than it really deserved.1

1 1 insert here Sir Charles Tapper's letter, which has not hefore
been published :

WESTMINSTER PALACE HOTEL, March Slst, 1868.
MY LORD DUKE :

Deeply impressed with the importance which attaches to everything
calculated to strengthen the loyal devotion to the Crown which I am
proud to know pervades every portion of the Dominion of Canada, and
well knowing the warm interest which your Grace feels toward that
portion of the empire, I venture to solicit an official interview for the
purpose of communicating my views upon the desirability of submitting
to Her Majesty the propriety of conferring upon the Hon. Mr.
Cartier, the Minister of Militia, as high a mark of the royal favour as
that bestowed upon Sir John A. Macdonald. Although I had the
honour of proposing the latter gentleman as Chairman of the Confer-
ence of British North America delegates, held here in 1866, I think it
but right to inform your Grace that but for the patriotic devotion
of Mr. Cartier to the great project of confederation, and the courage
with which, in the face of great difficulties and dangers he pursued
that policy to the end, the union could not have been accomplished.
I rejoice that it was the royal pleasure to confer deservedly a distinc-
tion so high upon Mr. Macdonald, but I regard it as a great misfortune
that a million of Catholic Frenchmen, than whom Her Majesty has no
subjects more loyally devoted to Her throne and person in any portion
of Her empire, should feel that one of their own race and religion,
whose standing was equally high in Canada, and whose claim to royal
favour was as great, should not have been deemed worthy of the same
gracious consideration. It is also right that I should say to your Grace
that Mr. Cartier's acceptance of an inferior distinction would un-
doubtedly have destroyed the great influence which he wields among
his countrymen, and impaired the power he is now able to exert so
beneficially in the service of his Sovereign. I may also add that the
liberty I have taken in bringing this matter under the notice of your
Grace is inspired by no personal consideration, and is entirely without
the knowledge of Mr. Cartier.

I have the honour to remain,

To His GRACE Your Grace's most obedient servant,

THE DUKE -OP BUCKINGHAM. (Signed) CHARLES TUPPER.

129

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

In social intercourse Cartier always gave evidence
of that sincerity and frankness which was one of the
chief traits of his character. This he would show
even at the risk of incurring personal displeasure. It
was his frankness that once drew upon him the
wrath of General Wolseley. Meeting Sir John A.
Macdonald at dinner, I asked him if he could tell
me why this officer had gone out of his way to sig-
nal out Cartier for adverse criticism from among all
his colleagues. "For speaking his mind too openly,"
answered Sir John. "While I was at Washington,
General Wolseley called upon Cartier to solicit the
position of first lieutenant governor of Manitoba.
My friend told him that this could not be done.
By the way, the government had then decided
to appoint Archibald to that important position.
General Wolseley assumed from Cartier's answer
that he disliked him, and hence his uncalled-for
attack on the then minister of militia. But," added
Sir John, " the general must have found out after-
wards that, had Cartier and the government granted
his request, they would have cut short his career.
Returning to England after five years' absence he
would have found himself a forgotten man, no
more in touch with court influence, and would pro-
bably have been sent to some inferior command."

Cartier gave every one who saw him in parlia-
ment or in society the impression of being a quick
and daring man, without any timidity. I was aston-
ished when his nearest relative, now alive, and
130

HIS FAILING HEALTH

another member of his family assured me last
summer in Paris that he was the victim of a sort
of uneasiness whenever he had to perform public
duties. " He must have conquered that feeling
afterwards," said I, " for he always looked to me as
one full of assurance." "No," was the reply, "he
fought against a native timidity all his life." If this
be true the fact of the matter is that his very
existence was but one long struggle, first against
timidity, then against his natural defect, a rather
disagreeable voice — a very bad English accent, and
against the last but not the least, strong political
opponents. No wonder that he broke down so early
in life — no wonder that the blade wore out the
scabbard so soon! He was not fifty-nine at his de-
mise, and had spent twenty-five years in public life.
The session of 1872 marked Cartier's last appear-
ance in parliament. It was a laborious session, and
he had, as was his wont, taken a prominent part in
its labours, conducting the debate on the Canadian
Pacific Railway bill and the New Brunswick school
question. Shortly after prorogation, his health,
which had never given him anxiety, seemed sud-
denly to break down, and when he arrived in
Montreal to seek re-election, he was a very sick,
nay, more than that, a dying man. His great
energy would keep him up on his feet a few hours
a day. It is a fact that on July 21st he left
his bed to be present at the nomination of candi-
dates for Montreal East, and that all through the

131

SIR GEORGES ETIENNE CARTIER

campaign the fatal disease told on him more and
more. Would to heaven that he had not faced the
howling mob who at several meetings, forgetting
that he had turned the tide of prosperity towards
the commercial metropolis of Canada, hooted their
old idol, and pelted him with stones and missiles!
He would have been spared an ugly sight which
added humiliation to his defeat.

It has often been the lot of successful politicians
during the greater part of their career, to witness
the tide of popular favour receding from them
at its close. Cartier experienced the bitterness of
such a situation with a pang which his illness, in
its depressing effect, prevented him from conceal-
ing, although he did his best to put on a brave face.
But when received at Ottawa with almost royal hon-
ours, he recalled the circumstances which induced
Baldwin and La Fontaine to retire from politics, on
account of the ingratitude of persons whom they
had so long served, it was his own case he had
in mind. He left Canada in September, 1872, never
to return alive. Science did nothing for the man who
had not known rest and was to know it only in
death. He died in London on May 23rd, having
had time to prepare for the great voyage and to
ponder over the want of satisfaction which a life
of agitation affords. Well might he have said like
the great man of ancient times: "I have had
everything that my country could give and it is
worth nothing 1 "
132

HIS HONOURED MEMORY

After his death his fellow-countrymen duly
appreciated his labours and recognized his sterling
merit. Still not a square, not a street of Montreal
bears his name. It might have been expected
that before thirty years had elapsed, his friends
would have gathered up the stones which were
hurled at him one day, to form the pedestal .of
a monument recalling his public services and his
devotion to his country. Perhaps, after all, they
have thought that the best way in which to honour
the memory of a man whose soul had the ring of
pure metal, whose valuable actions appear in the
lasting pages of history, is to follow in his footsteps
and emulate his example.

133

INDEX

ANNEXATION movement (1849), 45

Avenir, L' , organ of the Democratic
party, 26

B

BALDWIN, ROBERT, forms govern-
ment with LaFontaine, 16

Brown (George), his enmity towards
Lower Canadian institutions, 28

C

CARTIEH, his ancestors, 3 ; the re-
bellion of 1837, 1, 2, 7, 9 ; edu-
cated at St. Sulpice, 3 ; opposes
D. B. Viger's election in St.
Hyacinthe, 17 ; first appearance
in politics after rebellion, 18 ; in
public life, 21 ; elected in Ver-
cheres, 21 ; offered portfolio by
Hincks, 22 ; hia connection with
the Grand Trunk Railway, 22;
clerical influences, 28 ; his al-
liance with the Upper Canada
Conservatives, 33 ; violent at-
tacks against by Le Moniteur, 24 ;
his public services, 35 ; advocates
construction of Montreal & Port-
land Railway, 46; prepares charter
of Grand Trunk Railway, 48 ; his
connection with Intercolonial
and Canadian Pacific Railways,
60, 51 ; Pacific scandal, 53 ; con-
federation of British provinces —
his ideas opposed to those of
J. A. Macdonald as to basis of,

55-60 ; mission to England with
W. McDougall for purchase of
Hudson Bay rights, 68 ; French
Canadians as British subjects
speaking French, 69 ; introduces
the Manitoba Bill, 1871, 71 ; his re-
lation to the Catholic Church, 79 ;
character, policy, and ideas, 106

Canada, Lower, state of, in 1848,
according to Lord Elgin, 43 ; cus-
toms and manners, 117, 118

Cauchon, Joseph, his stand towards
Cartier, 24

Chauveau, Pierre J. O., first prime
minister of Quebec after confed-
eration, 68

Civil code of Lower Canada, estab-
lished by Cartier, 39 ; criticism
and defence of, 81

Confederation of British provinces,
55

Constitution of 1791 suspended, 11

D

DEMOCRATIC party organized in

Lower Canada, 25
Dorion, Antoine Aime, succeeds

Papineau as head of the Liberal

party, 25, 28
Durham, Lord, inquiry into the

state of Lower Canada, 11

E

EDUCATION of French Canadians
quite special, 4

135

SIR GEORGES ETIEXNE CARTIER

Elgin, Lord, and the French Cana-
dians, 5 ; urges Cartier to accept
portfolio in MacNab administra-
tion, 22 ; mobbed in Montreal,
32 ; letter to Lord Grey on causes
of financial crisis in Canada, 44

FILS DE LA LiBERTt, Cartier in their
ranks, 7

J

JETTE, SIB Louis, one of the foun-
ders of Le Parti National, 30;
defeats Cartier, 84

LA FONTAINB and the onion of the
Canadas, 16 ; La Fontaine and
Cartier, 95

Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, his lecture on
political liberalism, 27 ', his opin-
ion of Cartier, 116

M

MANITOBA School Law, 62 ; Bill in-
troduced by Cartier, 71
Militia, reorganized by Cartier, 87
Macdonald, Sir J. A., at first a
political opponent of Cartier, 32 ;
the Macdonald-Cartier alliance,
33 ; favours legislative in prefer-
ence to federal union of the
provinces, 57 ; compared with
Ortier, 100, f. ; difference with
Cartier on subject of legislative
union, 102

N
NEW BRUNSWICK school law, 69, 73 ;

school law trouble, 73-77
North- West Rebellion, 69

136

PAPINEAC and the rebellion, 1, 2, 6;

his influence, 5, 6
Parti Catholique, Le, 82
Parti National, its organization, 30
Protestants of Lower Canada and

Cartier, 38

R

RAILWAYS, Cartier introduces Grand
Trunk Railway Bill, 22; advo-
cates construction of Portland
and Montreal Railway, 48 ; was
in favour of Major Robinson's
route re the Intercolonial Rail-
way, 50, 51 ; presents Canadian
P a c i fi c Railway Incorporation
Bill, 51

S
SEIGNIORIAL tenure, what it was, 36

THOMSON, POULETT (Lord Syden-
ham), his character, 12 ; carries
out plan of union of provinces, 12

Tupper,Sir Charles, requests knight-
hood for Cartier, in letter to Duke
of Buckingham and Chandos, says
without Cartier "the union could
not have been accomplished," 129

U

UNION of Lower Canada, 12 ; French
Canadians protest against it, 13

V

VIGER, I>ENIS BENJAMIN, joins the
Draper administration in 1844
and meets with Car-tier's opposi-
tion, 17

MAKERS OF CANADA
Papineau, Cartier

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