Hawkins's picture of Quebec; with historical recollections

Contents

Page.

DEDICATION vii.

Preface, i

Chapter II

Historical sketch of discovery, previous to the time of Jacques Cartier. — Madoc, Prince of Wales — Claim of the Norwegians— Period of Modem Discovery— Columbus— John and Sebastian Cabot — Voyage of Cortcreal — Discovery by the French — Giovanni Yerazzano - -Canon de bronze.. £L

CHAPTER IIL

Historical sketch continued. — First and second voyages of Jacques Cartier.— Discovery of Canada—and of Quebec—Description of Stadacona, and the harbor of St. Croix — Discovery of Hochclaga, or Montreal— Return to St. Croix — Disastrous winter of 1.5.36 — Return to France 34

CHAPTER TV- Historical sketch continued. — Third voyage of Jacques Cartier. — He winters at Cap Rouge — Voyage of Roberyal— Return of Jacques Cartier to France — Fate of Roberval 55 iv

CHAPTER V.

Historical sketch continued.— -Grand project of Coligny — Settlement in French Florida — Romantic story of the Chevalier De Gourgues — His speech in Champlaiu — Abortive voyage of La Roche — Other voyages — Pontgrave — C h a u v i u 71

CHAPTER VL Historical sketch concluded. — First voyage of Champlaiu — Enterprises of De Monts — Foundation of Quebec... 89

CHAPTER VII.

Etymology of the words Canada and Quebec — The Suffolk Seal — Account of the Duke of Suffolk 107

CHAPTER VIH.

The Castle of St. Lewis. — Foundation — Capture by Kertk — Remarkable scene therein — Described by La Potberie and by Charlevoix — Destruction by fire—Stanzas 128

CHAPTER IX.

Ancient appearance of the City. — General description — The Citadel— The fortifications 14!)

CHAPTER X.

Religious establishments — Ancient and Modern. — Recollet Church and Convent — Jesuit's College — Hotel Dieu — Ursuline Convent — Seminary of Quebec — General Hospital . .~ 175

CHAPTER XL Religious establishments concluded. — French Cathedral Church of the Congregation — St ftorh— Notre Dame — des Victoires — Prophecy — English Cathedral — Monuments—Other places of worship— St. Andrew's Church —St. John's— St. Patrick's— Wesleyan Chapel 222

CHAPTER Xlf.

Intendant's Palace. — Bishop's Palace — Parliament House — Court House— Government ohVea — Jail — Freemasons' Hall — Chien d'Or — Montnalm House — Marine Hospital — Chasseur's Museum — Places of Education... 244 oogle

V.

CHAPTER XH1.

Monument to Wolfe and Montcalm. — Ceremony on laying the first stone — Inscriptions — Stanzas — Captain Alexander . 265

CHAPTER XIV.

The Lower Town — Earliest notice — Trade — Manners — Climate in 1700 — Description in 1720 — Present state and public buildings — Exchange — Trinity House — Banks — Other buildings — Corporation Seal. ^ 282

CHAPTER XV.

Sieges of Quebec— Capture in 1629 — Repulse of Phipps, in 1690 — Abortive attempt in 171 l--Kxpedition in 17,59— Preliminary sketch — Convention at Albany — Governor Pownall— General Townshend's Despatches — Battle of the Plains — Death of Wolfe— Intended

•

CHAPTER XVL Sieges continued. — Memorabilia of 1759 — Fraser's High-

CHAPTER XVII.

Sieges continued. — Reception of the news in England —

Chronological series of occurrences there — Promotions,

* -

CHAPTER XVIII.

Sieges continued. — General Murray's defeat — His des-

CHAPTER XIX.

Sieges concluded — Arnold's expedition in 1775 — Siege

and storminjjon the 31st December — Death ofMontgo-

CHAPTER XX.

Geology of Quebec and the vicinity--GeDeral character of the envirous— Extract from Bouchette — Conclusion... 442

TO

THE RIGHT HONORABLE GENERAL

THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE,

knight grand cross of the most honorable military order of the bath, &c. &c. &c.

My Lord,

When His late Majesty King George the Fourth was graciously pleased to confer the honor of Commander-in-Chief of his Armies in India, on your Lordship, the capital of the British dominions in North America hailed it, amidst regret for your departure, as a proud mark of the Sovereign's favor, and approbation of your Lordship's long and arduous administration of the Government of this part of the King's dominions.

VUI.

Convinced, my Lord, that whatever relates to the renown of this important and interesting city will not be unacceptable to you, I beg leave to dedicate the following pages to your Lordship : they may serve to recall to your mind the portion of your valuable public life, passed in this quarter of the world, in which the honor of the King and the best interests of the Province were so conspicuously upheld by your Lordship.

I have the honor to be, My Lord, Your Lordship's,

Faithful and devoted Servant,

ALFRED HAWKINS.

47, St. Lewis Street, Quebec, November 10th, 1834.

Preface

Some delay has unavoidably taken place in the publication of this work, but the subject is so full of interest that it was found impossible to confine it within the bounds originally intended, namely, a volume of two hundred and forty pages.

With a desire, therefore, of embracing the most important historical facts connected with this city, I have availed myself of the valuable information which has been kindly afforded by several gentlemen conversant with the early history of this country ; and I beg to express my acknowledgments to those gentlemen, and to the many friends who have taken an active interest in the progress of this work. I should be wanting, indeed, in justice, if I did not here express how deeply sensible I am of the obligations which I owe to A. Thom, Esquire, M. A. for the original Prospectus of this work, which has been duly estimated wherever it has been read ; and I esteem myself particularly fortunate in having obtained the assistance of J. C. Fisher, Esquire, L. L. D., who arranged and classified the various materials submitted to him, and from whose classical pen the greatest portion of the following pages proceeds.

A. H.

PLATES.

DIRECTION TO THE BINDER.

1. View of Quebec from Beauport to face title page.

2. Title page, Engraved Plate and Great Seal.

3. Suffolk Seal to face Page 118

4. Castle St. Lewis do 128

5. Hope-Gate do 152

6. Daluousie-Gate do 156

7. Officers Barracks do 158

8. St. Johns-Gate do 165

D. Prescott-Gate do 170

10, St Lewis-Gate do 172

J I. Palace-Gate do 247

1 2. Parliament House do 253

13. Marine Hospital do 261

14. Quebec Haibor do 291

NEW

PICTURE OF QUEBEC ;

WITH

HISTORICAL RECOLLECTIONS.

Chapter The First

The year 1759, so remarkable for the successes of the British arms, and which reflected such lustre upon the expiring reign of George the Second, found the frontiers of Canada the chief seat of war between Great Britain and France. The successful result of a campaign, planned with singular skill, and executed with equal valour and conduct, placed the whole of the French possessions in America under the standard of Great Britain. The capture of the city and Fortress of Quebec, remarkably strong both by nature and art, was an achievement of so romantic a character, so distinguished by chivalrous enterprise, and so fraught with singular adventure, that the interest attending it still remains undiminished, and its glorious recollections unfaded. By the subsequent capitulation, a most important Province was wrested from the French, and reduced under the British sceptre — the population of which, fostered by the strength and generosity of British protection,

A

*

has grown from seventy thousand to half a million of souls, enjoying a degree of rational liberty and happiness unequalled on the surface of the globe. Not less in an historical than in a national point of view, the battle of the Plains of Abraham calls up the proudest feelings of patriotic exultation* The various advantages derived by the empire from the accession of so large a territory, are not more obvious to the statesman, than the virtue and heroism of the youthful leader of the expedition, and the bravery of his troops, are themes of just pride to the lover of his country. Young in years, but mature in experience, Wolfe possessed all the liberal virtues, in addition to a perfect, an enthusiastic knowledge of the military art ; with a sublimity of genius always the distinguishing mark of minds above the ordinary level of mankind. His glorious and lamented death in the arms of victory — together with that of his gallant antagonist, Montcalm, by whom nothing was omitted in the power of an able and zealous officer to perform, — have thrown a classic celebrity around the subject of the present volume, and render Quebec an object of attention and curiosity to the intelligent of every country.

Whatever may be the future destiny of this re - markable city, whether as the Metropolis of the flourishing Colonies of British North America, * the Royal Standard of Great Britain shall continue to wave for ages over the battlements of its Citadel —quod sit Diis visum ! — or whether in the course of time a new and independent empire shall spring up on this Continent, allied to and connected with Great Britain by the remembrance of past benefits, tlie enjoyment of free institutions and of reciprocal mercantile advantages, Quebec, either on the ground of its ancient historic fame, its natural sublimity, or its political and commercial importance, must ever maintain a superior rank among the cities of the western world. Whatever may be thy future destiny, no generous stranger shall hereafter visit thee, Quebec, or wander along the classic shores of thy Saint Lawrence, and not gaze on the prospect before him with unrepressed delight — no liberal mind shall be insensible to the beauties of thy locality — none shall leave thee without acknowledging the moral and physical grandeur of thy associations, and without feeling the soul elevated by the recollection of thy bygone glories, both of religion and of arms ! While history blushes for the cruelties which tarnished the Spanish occupation of Hispaniola — and while, in Mexico and Peru, Cortes and Pizarro sullied their glory, and moved the horror of Las Casas, by a war of extermination against the heathen tenants of the soil — here in Quebec was established from the earliest period at which the Colony acquired strength, an organized system for the conversion and civilisation of the Aborigines, by means of the Cross, not of the sword.

Here peaceful pursuits were chiefly followed, and a friendly intercourse maintained with the savages by means of zealous Priest?, who plunged fearlessly into the trackless forest, imparting to the wild hunter the practical results of the arts of civilisation, and the holy inspirations of revealed religion. The attachment of the French to the Indian tribes among whom they were thrown, may be justly supposed to have sprung from the hospitable reception which the early settlers met with from the natives on their first coming to the land. The vcrfy earliest record, indeed, places them in the Ariast amiable light ; and leads to the mortifying conclusion, that Europeans, generally speaking, either never discovered the true methods of conciliation, or that they seldom remembered them in practice. The incident alluded to occurred in the second voyage of Verazzano, in 1525, and is to be found originally in Ramusio, Vol. III. p. 421. At the desire of Verazzano, a young sailor had undertaken to swim to land and accost the natives ; but when he saw the crowds which thronged the beach, he repented of his purpose, and although within a few yards of the landing place, his courage failed, and he attempted to turn back. At this moment the water only reached his waist ; but overcome with terror and exhaustion, he had scarcely strength to cast his presents and trinkets upon the beach, when a high wave threw him senseless on the shore. The savages ran immediately to his assistance, took him up in their arms, and carried him a short distance from the sea.

Great was his terror when, upon recovering" his recollection, he found himself entirely in their power. Stretching his hands towards the ship, he uttered piercing cries, to which the natives replied by loud yells intended, as he afterwards found, to reassure him. They then carried him to the foot of a hill, stripped him naked, turned his face to the sun, and kindled a large fire near him. He was fully impressed with the horrible thought that they were about to sacrifice him to the sun : his companions on board, unable to render him any assistance, were of the same opinion. They thought, to use Verazzano's own words, " that the natives were going to roast and eat him." Their fears, however, were soon turned to gratitude and astonishment : the savages dried his clothes, warmed him, and showed him every mark of kindness, caressing and patting his white skin with apparent surprise. They then dressed him, conducted him to the beach, tenderly embraced him, and pointing to the vessel, removed to a little distance to show that he was at liberty to return to his friends. Thus did the untutored Indians treat the first European they had seen with true Christian charity — the philanthropist laments to add, that it is doubtful whether violence was not offered to the first of our red brethren who fell into the power of the white dispensers of civilisation. The efforts of the Jesuits for the conversion and instruction of the savages — the universal kindness and benevolence of the Missionaries wherever they succeeded in establishing themselves, perpetuated this friendly spirit towards the French among the neighboring Indians, so often exemplified in the annals of the country, and which remained after the cession of the Province in 1763.

A proof of this feeling may yet be found in the Huron Village and establishment of Lorette, where the remnant of those Aborigines were protected by the French ; and where they survive at this day, shorn, it is true, of their ancient power and dominion over the forest, but still entertaining friendship and respect for, and receiving protection from those who now rule the land of their forefathers. It may be well questioned, whether an Indian settlement so situated, under the very walls, as it were, of the capital, can now be found in any province or part of the western hemisphere. These are some of the peaceful and moral glories which throw such interest around the history and locality of Quebec. As to her claims to military renown, it need only be remembered, that it has been the peculiar fortune of Quebec to be the arena of a conflict which affected the strength and influence of two of the most powerful and highly civilised nations of the old world, Great Britain and France. Quebec is the only city on the North American Continent which has been regularly fortified, and which has resisted the sieges and assaults of disciplined troops. When it last fell, the whole French system of colonial empire fell with it — a system which, had it been followed with vigor equal to the conception, might have proved fatal to the interests of the English colonists — and a colonial empire which extended from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mississippi. The result of this conflict, and the circumstances which achieved that result, render Quebec peculiarly interesting to every true Briton ; while the consequences, so favorable to the liberty of the subject, and the full development of the resources of the colony, have converted the field of military defeat into a scene of civil triumph in the estimation of every loyal Canadian. To either race the ground is sacred. To the one, the Plains of Abraham are at once the Hastings and the Runnimede of the other. By our brethren of the Union, the site of Quebec cannot be visited without peculiar interest. The great event which consecrated the Heights of Abraham, while it for ever extinguished French dominion in America, established the security of the English colonists of that day, and eventually laid the foundation of the present gigantic republic.

The scenic beauty of Quebec has been the theme of general eulogy. The majestic appearance of Cape Diamond and the fortifications — the cupolas and minarets, like those of an eastern city, blazing and sparkling in the sun — .the loveliness of the panorama— the noble basin, like a sheet of purest silver, in which might ride with safety an hundred sail of the line — the graceful meandering of the River St. Charles — the numerous village spires on either side of the St. Lawrence — the fertile fields dotted with innumerable cottages, the abodes of a rich and moral peasantry — the distant Falls of Montmorency — the park-like scenery of Pointe Levi — the beauteous Isle of Orleans — and more distant still, the frowning Cap Tourment, and the lofty range of purple mountains of the most picturesque forms which bound the prospect, unite to make a coup (Fceil, which, without exaggeration, is scarcely to be surpassed in any part of the world. If the scientific traveller, amid the sensations experienced on scanning the various beauties of the scene, should recall to mind, in ascending the highest elevation of the promontory, that he is standing upon the margin of the primeval and interminable forest, extending from a narrow selvage of civilisation to the Arctic regions, he will admit that the position of Quebec is unique in itself, and that in natural sublimity it stands, as to the cities of the continent, unrivalled, and alone.

Chapter The Second. Historical Sketch Op Discovery Previous To The

TIME OF JACQUES CARTIER.

Before we proceed to the descriptive portion of our volume, it has been thought necessary to give a sketch of the progress of maritime discovery in this part of the continent, with historical notices and recollections connected with the capital of British North America. The original volumes in which the voyages of the discoverers, and the early annals of the country are to be found, are not always easy of access by general readers ; many being contained in scarce and costly works, or in the scattered fragments of more recondite authorities. The present essay has therefore been compiled to furnish a comprehensive manual of the progress of civilisation in the Province, as an appropriate introduction to the immediate object of this publication. Although this subject has been treated by various authors, whose books are familiar to the public, we trust that some new matter, or some facts placed in a novel point of view, will be found to repay the reader for the time bestowed in the perusal of this chapter.

If the existence of the New World, as it has frequently been called, from the late period of its discovery, was unknown to the Ancients, it would seem with some show of reason to have been not altogether unsuspected by them. From several passages it is certain that an idea was entertained, that it was easy to sail from the western coast of Spain to the eastern shores of India, They had, however, no idea of the magnitude of the globe, and imagined that a few days would be sufficient for such a voyage. The existence of an immense continent intervening between their point of departure and the extreme shores of India, was beyond their conception, as it was of the early European navigators. The object of the first adventurers of whom any thing certain has reached us, was a passage to India, and it may be said that they stumbled upon America in their route, Aristotle, Strabo, Pliny and Seneca entertained the crude opinion mentioned above. Strabo alone seems to have imagined the distance between the two continents, when he says, that the ocean encompasses all the earth ; that in the east it washes the coast of India, and in the west those of Africa and Spain, and that, if the vastness of the Atlantic did not hinder, they might soon sail from the one to the other upon the same parallel.

The following remarkable passage is from the Medea of Seneca, the Tragedian : —

Ultima Thule.

" There will come a time in after ages, when u the ocean will loose the bonds of matter, and " a vast country will be discovered, and a second * Tiphys will reveal new worlds, and Thule shall w no longer be the extremity of the earth." And in a book, ascribed to Aristotle, the Carthaginians are stated to have discovered, far beyond the pillars of Hercules, an Island in the Atlantic Ocean, of great extent and fertility, watered by large and magnificent rivers, but entirely uninhabited. This enterprising people are said to have planted a colony there, which was afterwards recalled, owing to some political objection, which forbad distant colonization. The Tyrians are also said to have evinced some intention of occupying this Island, and were proceeding to carry their purpose into execution, when they were prevented by the jealousy of the Carthaginians. It was pretended by some writers that this Island was Hispaniola, by others, one of the Azores. The boldness of the Carthaginian navigators is sufficiently authenticated ; and however we may be inclined to doubt the probability of their having ventured as far as the West Indies of modern days, it is by no means impossible that they had acquired some imperfect notion of Islands and lands in the western hemisphere. One fact, however, is clearly ascertained, that their belief in the existence of such Islands or continent did not induce any subsequent colony to go in search of them ; nor is there any reason to believe, that America received any portion of its early inhabitants from civilised Europe, prior to the close of the fifteenth century.

We may here mention a curious passage in the lost writings of Cornelius Nepos, quoted by PomponiusMela: " A king of the Boii made Quintus " Metellus Celer then Proconsul of Gaul, a pre- " sent of some Indians who had been thrown by a " tempest on the coast of Germany." The Romans concluded from this circumstance, that coming, as these savages did, from India, it was practicable to make the tour of Asia and Europe round the north, by traversing the imaginary ocean which, as they supposed, occupied the site of Siberia and of the north of Russia. This explanation cannot now be admitted ; but the fact still remains, that Indians, or dark complexion ed people of some nation or other, actually- reached the coast of Germany or Gaul, some time before the year of Rome, 694, the commencement of Caesar's conquests. In all probability, they were Esquimaux, either from Labrador or Greenland. The same circumstance again occurred in 1680 and 1684. In Wallace's Account of Orkney, it is mentioned that some Greenlanders arrived there in the kind of boats peculiar to them, which were preserved in the Church of Barra, and in the College Museum of Edinburgh.

MADOC, PRINCE OP WALES,

On the discovery of America by Columbus, several prior claims were attempted to be put in by different nations, founded on tradition ; and stories were revived which had been well nigh consigned to oblivion. The claim advanced by the Welch merits relation, as having been made by a people of kindred stock with ourselves. Their tradition respecting the discovery of America is, that about the year 1170, one of their Princes, Madoc, son of Owen Guyneth, Prince of North Wales, sailed to the New World, and there established a colony of his countrymen. The cause of his emigration is stated to be this : — the sons of Owen disputed the division of their father's dominions, and Madoc fearing the consequences of the disunion, like another Teucer, chose to seek a new habitation in a foreign land, rather than to hazard the dangers of civil convulsion.

He is said to have steered due west, leaving Ireland on the north ; and thus to have arrived at an unknown country, the continent of America, on which he landed. He afterwards returned to Wales, and took thence a second supply of people, but was no more heard of. The objections to this story are its improbability, and want of supporting evidence. The Welsh were at no period a naval people ; and in the age of Madoc, must have been ignorant of all navigation, but that of rivers and coasts. It should, however, be mentioned in justice to the claims of our Welsh fellow countrymen, that this tale was by no means invented after the real discovery of America, in order to establish a fabricated title. Meredith Ap Rees, who died in 1477, a famous Welsh poet, composed an ode in honor of this Madoc, wherein was handed down the tradition, with an account of his discoveries, several years anterior to the time of Columbus. Of the tradition itself there can be no doubt. Indeed, in an American publication a few years ago, we have seen it stated, in reference to this supposed voyage of Madoc, that a people quite distinct from the Aborigines, both as to language and physiognomy, had been lately discovered in Mexico, and were supposed to be descendants from the colony of Madoc. Their language was said to be somewhat similar to the ancient British, or Celtic ; and several Celtic words have also been traced in the Mexican tongue. The Celtic is undoubtedly one of the most ancient languages, and its roots may still be found in most of those of the civilised world, from the Persian to the Scottish, Irish and Welsh! A few words may have been adopted into the Mexican : it is indeed mentioned, by Vater, that he hac found eighteen Celtic words in ten American Ianguages. The traditions of the Celtic nations, and those derived from them, have always been of the most marvellous quality — witness the fanciful Trojan origin of the first settler in Britain, Brutus, who kindly bestowed his name on the sea-girt Island ; and the derivation of the Irish Celts from positive and direct emigration of Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek and Milesian origin, under various imaginary leaders, all and several of whom, as well as an interminable list of kings, are gravely set down in the veracious Chronicles of ErL

CLAIM OF THE NORWEGIANS.

America must have been known to the barbarous tribes of Asia for thousands of years ; but it is singular that it should have been visited by one of the most enterprising nations of Europe, nearly five centuries before the time of Columbus, without awakening the attention of either statesmen or philosophers. The Norwegians, with far higher pretensions than the Welsh, founded their claim to the early discovery of America on their well known voyages to Iceland and Greenland in the tenth and eleventh centuries ; and having undoubtedly penetrated within so short a distance from the New World, they may fairly be supposed to have touched on some part of that continent in their annual voyages for nearly three centuries, distinguished as the old Northmen were by their enterprise, hardihood and love of adventure In the year 1001, Biorn is said, in Icelandic manuscripts of good reputation, to have landed on the coast of Labrador, where he met with the Esquimaux, whom he called Skraelingues, from their very diminutive stature. In the following year it has been maintained, on reasonable evidence, that they had a settlement in Newfoundland, which they called Vinland, from the vines growing there. We shall find that the same fondness for the vine, and a similar abundance of that tree, induced Jacques Cartier to give the name of " Isle of Bacchus," to what is now termed the Isle of Orleans. They passed the winter there, and found that on the shortest day the sun rose at eight o'clock, which fixes the place of their visit to the 49th degree, the latitude of Newfoundland, or of the River St. Lawrence. The following story is amusing : — One day a German sailor of the name of Tuckil was missing, but soon returned shouting and leaping for joy ; having, as he said, discovered the intoxicating grape of his own country, the expressed juice of which, according to the story, had had its usual effect upon his brain. To prove the truth of his assertion, he led some of his comrades to the fortunate spot, and they gathered several bunches of grapes, which they presented in triumph to their commander, who called the country, in consequence, Vinland. This ancient settlement, however, after some years, seems to have been relinquished, although it is believed that some traces of it have lately been discovered.

We find it mentioned in Haliburton's History of Nova-Scotia, that the wild vine is well known there ; and all New England abounds with the wild purple grape, some vines of which are very prolific. There id the best evidence that it may be turned to account in the manufacture of wine. An American writer observes, that there is not the slightest doubt that this vine may be cultivated so as to yield a thousand fold more than now, of large and finer fruit ; and the product will be abundant of almost any flavored wine the manufacturer may choose. The pure juice, lightly expressed, and somewhat sweetened with sugar, will furnish a wine of most delicate flavor, similar in color and taste to a Frontignac and Muscat ; and the quality may be changed by a stronger expression of the astringent qualities of the skins, until the wine will, in that respect, run through all the varieties of claret and port, still retaining, however, much of the original Muscat flavor.

A Danish gentleman, of the name of Rafn, who has been engaged in researches respecting these early voyages, has ascertained from original documents, various facts previously unknown ; among others, that America, first discovered in 985, was repeatedly visited by the Norwegians in the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries — that the embouchure of the St. Lawrence, and in particular the Bay of Gaspe, was their principal station — that they had penetrated along the coast, as far south as Carolina, and that they introduced a knowledge of Christianity among the natives. We understand that he is preparing a work on this subject. And the accounts of the voyages of the old Scandinavians to America, have lately gained a new confirmation, by the discovery of a Runic stone : which, in the year 1824, was found under 73° N. latitude, on the coast of Greenland. The inscription translated is as follows : — " Erling Sigvalson, and Biorn Hor- " deson, and Endride Addson, Saturday before u Gagnday (Rogation Day) the 25th April, erected " these heaps of stone, and cleared the place in the " year 1135."