A popular history of the Dominion of Canada from the discovery of America to the present time

Front matter

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Class £j_0,a^_

Book j l\^''^-

Preface

The essential pre-requisite of a rational patriotism, is an intelligent acquaintance with the history of one's country. To supply the means of making that acquaintance has been for years the cherished purpose of the writer. After long-continued and careful labour, in which no pains have been spared, this volume is submitted to the public.

The author has endeavoured to describe, in as full detail as his prescribed limits of space would permit, the picturesque incidents of the early history of Canada; the stirring episodes of its military conflicts; and the important events leading to and following the confederation of the British l!^orth American Provinces. The growth of the principles of civil liberty and the development of the Canadian Constitution will, it is hoped, be found impartially traced in these pages.

The history of the maritime provinces, ^ova Scotia, INTew Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, together with that of the newer provinces of the ]N'orthwest and the Pacific coast, as well as that of Old Canada, has been given as fully as possible. The contemporary history of the Empire, and of foreign countries, where it

6 PREFACE.

is intimately connected with that of Canada, has been interwoven with the text.

The writer has made copious use of the best existing sources of information, embracing original documents in French and English, parliamentary reports, newspaper files representing the views of all political parties, and many printed volumes. He has endeavoured to observe strict impartiality, and trusts that he has succeeded in doing so, even in treading upon the delicate ground of recent political events.

The particular attention of the reader is directed to the carefully prepared map which accompanies this volume, without the use of which, the important geographical relations of places and events cannot be understood. A copious index has been considered essential to the completeness of the work.

W. H. w.

Toronto, May 10, 1878.

Chapter I. The Discovery Of America

Ancient Traditions — The Norsemen in America — Diaz — Columbus Discovers San Salvador, 1492 — His further Discoveries, Misfortunes, and Death — Vespucci — Da'Gama, 17

Chapter II. Early Exploration

The Cabots — Corter6al — De Lfery — Verrazzani — Jacques Cartier Discovers the St. Lawrence, 1534 — Eoberval, Viceroy, 1541 — Cartier his Lieutenant

— Founds Charlesbourg — The Eobervals Founder at Sea, 1549, . . 25

Chapter III. The Indian Tribes

The Mound-Builders — Their probable Origin and Fate — Modern Tribes — Their Arts, Wars, Superstitions — Alliances — The Fur-Trade — Tribal Divisions — Present Conation, 34

Chapter IV. Early Colonization — Founding Op Port Royal

Spanish and English Colonization — Frobisher — Magellan — Drake — Sir Humphrey Gilbert — Raleigh — Gosnold — Hudson — Convicts at Sable Island — Chauvin at Tadousac — Champlain's first Voyage to Canada, 1603

— The Tragedy of St. Croix — Poutrincourt Founds Port Royal, 1605 — Lescharbot — The " Order of the Good Time " — Discord at Port Royal — Mount Desert — Captain Argall. 44

Chapter V

champlain's administration.

Champlain Founds Quebec, 1608 — Explores Country — Iroquois War — The De Caens — The Hundred Associates, 1627 — Acadia — Kirk's Conquest of Quebec, 1629 — Restored to the French, 1632 — The La Tours in Acadia — Death of Champlain, 1635 — His Character, 57

Chapter VI. English Colonization — Canada Under The Hundred Associates

English Colonies — Montmagny — Madame de la Peltrie — Marie de I'lncarnation — Founding of Ville Marie (Montreal), 1642 — Indian Wars and Treaties — The Jesuit Missionaries — Isaac Jogues — Bressani, . . 70

3 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER yil.

THE WILDERNESS MISSIONS.

The Huron Mission — Br^euf, Lalemant, Daniel, DaTosfc — Trials and Triumphs of the Missionaries — Destruction of the Huron Mission, 1648-1649 — Iroquois Ravages — The Onondaga Mission planted, 1656 — Abandoned, 1658 — Dulac des Ormeaux — Thermopylss of Canada — Laval — Earthquakes, . . 84

Chapter VIII. Acadia

La Tour and D'Aulnay — Their Feuds — Madame La Tour's Heroic Defence of St. John — Its Capture, 1667— Perfidy of D'Aulnay — His Death — La Tour Marries his Widow — Le Borgne — Re-conquest of Acadia by the English, 1654 — It is Restored to the French, 1667, 105

Chapter IX. Royal Government

The Supreme Council — De Mezy — Great Company of the West — De Tracy

— Talon — De Courcelles — Mohawk Wars — Seigneurial Tenure — The Fur Trade — Jesuit Explorations — The French on Hudson's Bay — In Newfoundland, . Ill

Chapter X. Discovery Of The Great West

Frontenac — Joliet and Marquette Discover the Mississippi, 1673 — La Salle

— Fort Frontenac — Launch of the " Griffin," 1679 — Cr^ve Cceur — Mutiny

— Tonti — Hennepin — La Salle in Louisiana — Disasters at Fort St. Louis

— Assassination of La Salle, 1687 — Tragic Fate of Texan Colony, . 129

CHAPTER XI. "the AGONY OF CANADA."

Civil Disputes — La Barre, Viceroy — Iroquois Wars — Famine Cove — Denonville. Viceroy — Iroquois Ravage Frontier — Treachery of Le Rat (Kondiaronk) -^ Massacre of Lachine, 1689, 147

CHAPTER XIL frontenac's second administration.

Abenaquis Ravages — Massacres of Corlaer, Salmon Falls, and Casco Bay, 1690

— Sir Wm. Phips Captures Port Royal — Repulsed at Quebec — St. Castine

— Fall of Fort Pemaquid — Villebon on the St. John — D'Iberville in Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay — Treaty of Ryswick, 1697 — Death of Frontenac, 1698, 155

Chapter XIII. " Queen Anne's War."

De Calliferes — Detroit Founded, 1702 — Vandreuil — Massacres of Deerfield and Haverhill — Port Royal Captured, 1710 — Sir Hovenden Walker's Disastrous Attempt against Quebec, 1711 — The Treaty of Utrecht, 1713 — Charlevoix

— Rasles — Death of Vaudreuil — The V^rendryes, .... 170

COXTEJSFTS. 9

Chapter XIV. Louisburg — J)v Quesne

Pepperell's Conquest of Louisburg, 1745 — Death of D'Anville and D'Estonmelle

— Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle Restores Louisburg, 1748 — Halifax Founded, 1749 — The Acadian "Neutrals" — Beau S€jour — Bigot — Fort Du Quesne

— CoUision in the Ohio VaUey, 1754, 187

Chapter XV

Convention of Britisb Colonists at Albany — William Johnson — British Naval Victories — Braddock's Defeat — The Expedition against Fort Niagara a Failure — Johnson Defeats Dieskau at Lake George — Capture of Beau S6jour

— The Tragedy of Grand Pr6 — Expulsion of the Acadians, . . . 198

Chapter XVI. The Campaigns Of 1756 And 1757

The Seven Years' War begun, 1756 — Bradstreet's Gallant Exploit — Montcalm Captures Fort Oswego — Immense Booty — Loudon at Louisburg — Montcalm Reduces Fort William Henry — Massacre of Prisoners — Exhaustion of Canada — Famine — Extortion of Bigot, 210

Chapter XVII. The Campaigns Op 1758 And 1759

William Pitt — Fall of Louisburg — Abercrombie's Defeat at Ticonderoga — Bradstreet Captures Fort Frontenac — Fort Du Quesne Reduced — The Hero of Louisburg — Fall of Fort Niagara — Amherst Reduces Ticonderoga — Exploit and Sufferings of Major Rogers, 219

Chapter XVIII. The Conquest Of Canada, 1759-1760

Wolfe at Quebec — The Fire-rafts — The Siege opened — Straits of the Inbabitants — Attack at Montmorenci — Wolfe's Illness — An Audacious Design — The Battle of the Plains of Abraham — The Death of Wolfe and Montcalm — British Occupation of Quebec — Battle of Ste. Foye — French Siege of Quebec — English Fleet arrives — Siege raised — Amherst's Advance — Surrender of Montreal and Capitulation of Canada, .... 237

Chapter XIX. British Rule — The Conspiracy Of Pontiac

Beneficial Effects of the Conquest — Military Government — Punishment of Bigot — The Peace of Paris, 1763 — Conspiracy of Pontiac — Siege of Detroit

— Massacres in the West — Bouquet's Victory at Bushy Run — Sir Guy Carleton, Governor — Law Reforms — The Quebec Act, 1764, . . 257

Chapter XX. The Revolutionary War

Causes of the American Revolution — Concord, Lexington, Ticonderoga, and Bunker Hill, 1775 — American Invasion of Canada — Capture of Forts Chambly and St. John — Montgomery Occupies Montreal — Arnold's Wilderness Raid

— Ineffective Siege of Quebec — Death of Montgomery — Defeat of Arnold

— American Invasion Repulsed — Burgoyne's Surrender, 1777 — General Haldimand. Governor, 1779 — The Peace of VersaiUes, 1783 — The U. E. Loyalists, 273

10 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXI. THE FOUNDING OF tfPPER CANADA

Lord Doreliester (Sir Guy Carleton), Governor-General, 1780 — The Constitutional Act, 1792 — Government of Upper Canada Organized — York (Toronto) Founded, 1795 — Major-General Hunter, Lieut.-Govemor, 1799 — Growth of Parties — Francis Gore, Lieut. Governor, 1806 — Judge Thorpe — Social Organization — Education — Eeligiou, etc., . . . . i . . 288

CHAPTEE XXII.

LOWER CANADA — OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812-15.

The New Constitution, 1792 — McLean's Treason — Sir James Craig, 1808-11 — Constitutional Crisis — Sir George Prevost — Causes of the War of 1812-15

— The " Chesapeake " and " Shannon " — " Secret Correspondence " — War Declared, June 18, 1812 — Canadian Loyalty — Hull's Invasion and Eepulse

— He Surrenders to Brock, Aug. 15, 1812 — Battle of Queenston Heights — Death of Brock, Oct. 13, 1812 — Dearborn's Invasion — Naval Engagements, 299

CHAPTEE XXIII.

Proctor at French Town — Capture of York and Niagara — Victories of Stony Creek, Beaver Dams, and Fort Meigs — Defeats of Sackett's Harbour, Sandusky, Lake Erie, and Moravian Town — Death of Tecumseh — ■ Victories of Chrysler's Farm, and Chateauguay — Burning of Niagara — Retaliation at Lewiston, Black Eock, and Buffalo — Sea Fights, the " Chesapeake " " Shannon," etc. 312

CHAPTEE XXIV.

Victories of LacoUe and Oswego — Battles of Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, and Fort Erie — Surrender of Maine — Prevost's Ee treat from Plattsburg — Capture of Washington — Burning of Capitol — Menace of Baltimore — Treaty of Ghent, December 24th — Battle of New Orleans — Valour and Patriotism of the Canadians, . . 328

CHAPTEE XXV.

AFTER THE WAR — LOWER CANADA.

Effects of the War — Internal Development — Political Strive — Administrations of Sir John Sherbrooke, the Duke of Eichmond, and Earl of Dalhousie

— Union of the Provinces Proposed, .341

CHAPTEE XXVI.

AFTER THE WAR — UPPER CANADA.

Clergy Eeserves — The '' Family Compact " — Eobert Gourlay — The " Canada Trade Act" — Eev. Dr. Strahan — William Lyon Mackenzie — Eobert Baldwin — Sir Francis Bond Head, 349

CHAPTEE XXVII.

THE REBELLION — LOWER CANADA.

Political Disaffection — Election Eiot — Papineau's Grievance Eesolutions — The Gosford Commission — Seditious Gatherings — Collision at Montreal — Rebels Eendezvous at the Eichelieu — Eouted by Wetherall and Sir John Colbome — Lord Durham — His Clement Policy and able Eeport, . 363

CONTENTS. 11

CHAPTEK XXVIII.

THE RKBELLION — UPPER CANADA.

Struggle for Responsible GoTemment — Speaker Bidwell — Mackenzie Defeated — Rebellious Projects — Apatliy of the Government — The Rendezvous at Gallows* Hill — Death of Colonel Moodie — Dr. Rolph — Van Egmont — Attack on Toronto — Rout of the Rebels — Colonel McNab, . . ' . . 373

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE "patriot" war.

Hunters' Lodges — Mackenzie at Navy Island — " The Republic of Upper Canada " — Colonel McNab on Niagara Frontier — Destruction of the " Caroline " — " Patriot " Raids — Battle of Wtadmill Point — RebeUion Suppressed, 382

CHAPTER XXX.

THE TJiaON OF THE CANADAS.

Beneficial Effect of Lord Durham's Report — Hon. Charles Poulett Thompson, Governor-General — He Urges the Union Policy of Home Government — The Union Act Passed — Responsible Government Granted — Mr. Draper's Clergy Reserve Bill, 390

CHAPTER XXXI.

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT.

The New Constitution — " Double Majority " — Municipal System — Sir Charles Bagot — Baldwin-Hincks Ministry — Sir Charles Metcalfe — Constitutional Struggle — Draper Ministry — Upper Canada — Rebellion Losses Bill, . 396

CHAPTER XXXII.

REBELLION LOSSES AGITATION.

Lord Elgin — Fiscal Emancipation — Large Emigration — Baldwin-Lafontaine Ministry — Lower Canada — Rebellion Losses Bill — Mob Violence at Montreal — Burning of Parliament Buildings — Lord Elgin Mobbed, . . 406

CHAPTER XXXIIL

THE RAILWAY ERA.

Political and Commercial Emancipation — Internal Development — Clergy Reserve Question — Francis Hincks — Railway Legislation — Municipal Loan Fund, 413

CHAPTER XXXIV.

IMPORTANT LEGISLATION.

Gavazzi Riots — Reciprocity Treaty — McNab-Morin Ministry — Secularization of Clergy Reserves — Abolition of Seigneurial Tenure — Canada Steamship Company — Resignation of Lord Elgin — His Death — Crimean "War, . 421

CHAPTER XXXV.

COALITION MINISTRY.

Sir Edmund Walker Head — Militia Organization — The Corrigan Trial — Mr. John A. Macdonald — Legislative Council made Elective — Commercial Crisis— Representation by Population Demanded — Mr. George Brown, 430

12 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

" REPKESENTATION BY POPULATIOX."

T. D'Arcy McGee — Ottawa selected as Capital— The Two Days' Ministry— The Cartier-Macdonald Ministry — The " Double-Shufae "—" Joint Authority" Eesolutions — The Prince of Wales in Canada — Outbreak of American War, 439

CHAPTER XXXVII.

POLITICAL CRISIS.

Lord Monck — The "Trent" Affair — Militia Bill — Macdonald-Sicotte Ministry

— Commercial Prosperity — Macdonald-Dorion Ministry — Alabama Piracies, 451

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE CONFEDERATION MOVEMENT.

The Tach^-Macdonald Ministry — Political Dead-lock — Coalition Ministry — Confederate Raids — Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences — Canadian .Parliament Adopts Quebec Scheme — Close of American War — Ottawa the Seat of Government, 458

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE FENIAN INVASION.

Abrogation of Reciprocity Treaty — The Fenian Brotherhood — Its Plans — Invasion of Canada — Fight at Ridgeway — Fenians Escape — Prescott and Cornwall Menaced — Eastern Frontiers Crossed — The Raids Suppressed

— Last Parliament of Old Canada — Monroe Doctrine — Fenian Trials, 469

CHAPTER XL.

Organization of Government, 1758 — The Revolutionary War — United Empire Loyalists — The War of 1812 - 15 — Cape Breton — Quit-rent Claims, . 482

CHAPTER XLI.

The " Family Compact " — Joseph Howe — Constitutional Struggle — Responsible Government Granted, 1848 — Railway Agitation — Confederation Conferences — Anti-Confederate Re-action, 490

CHAPTER XLII.

Organisation of Government — Col. Thomas Carleton — Political Strife — Timber Trade — Miramichi Fire — Disputed Territories — Baltic Timber Dues, . 499

CHAPTER XLIII.

Sir Alexander Campbell — Crown-land Grievance — Lemuel Allan Wilmot — Struggle for Responsible Government — The Boundary Dispute — The Ashburton Treaty — Confederation Negotiations, 505

COXTEXTS. 13

CHAPTER XLIV.

PRmCE EDWARD ISLAND.

Early History — Divided by Lottery — Organization of Government — Quit-rent Claims — Evils of Absenteeism — Arbitration Scheme — Confederation Rejected — Railway Question — Enters Dominion — Land Question Settled, ... 513

CHAPTER XLV.

CONTEDEKATION ACCOMPX.ISHED.

British North America Act — Its Provisions — Inauguration of New Constitution — Titles of Honour — First Cabinet — Sir John Young — Anti-Confederation Agitation — " Better Terms " Granted Nova Scotia, . . . 520

CHAPTER XLVI.

RIVAL FUR COMPANIES — RED RIVER SETTLEMENT.

Hudson's Bay Company — French Fur Conipany — North-west Company —

— Fort William — Red River Settlement Planted — Fierce Rivalries,* and' Conflicts — Privations and Disasters — Prosperity and Development — Council of Assiniboia, 528

CHAPTER XLYII.

THE RED RIVER REBELLION.

Cession of North-west Territory — Hon. William Macdougall, Lieut-Governor — Riel's Insurrection — Insurgants Seize Fort Garry — Imprisonment of Canadian Loyalists — Execution of Thomas Scott — Manitoba Act — The Wolseley Expedition — Collapse of the Rebellion — Last Fenian Raid — British Columbia Enters Dominion — Its Previous History, . . . 537

CHAPTER XL VIII.

CLOSE OF THE MACDONALD ADMINISTRATION.

The Washington Treaty — Ontario Legislation — Lord Dufferin, Governor- General — Geneva Award — Canada Pacific Railway — Mr. Huntington's Charges — Investigation Committee — Royal Commission — Debate on the Report — Resignation of the Ministry, 547

CHAPTER XLIX.

THE MACKENZIE ADMINISTRATION.

Constitution of New Government — Dissolution of Parliament — Simultaneous Elections — New Pacific Railway Act — Qu 'Appelle Treaty — Religious Riots — New Brunswick Schoot Law Troubles — Canada at Centennial Exhibition — St. John Fire — Fishery Award — Dismissal of De Boucherville Ministry — The Joly Ministry — Party Riots in Montreal — Boundary Award

— The Marquis of Lome — General Elections, 558

CHAPTER L.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS OP CANADA.

Primary, and Higher Education in Quebec — Ontario — • Nova Scotia — New Brunswick — Prince Edward Island — Manitoba — British Columbia - 592

14 ILLUSTRATIONS.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

STEEL P0BTBAIT8.

"^Her Majesty the Queen. (Frontispiece.)

The Hon. S. L. Tilley, C. B. ; C. Z. Eakle, Esq.; John Boyd, Esq.; Alexander Gibson, Esq.

1 Map of Canada.

WOOD ENGRAVINGS.

Page

DigMon Rock Inscription 19

Old Tower at Newport 19

Christopher Columbus, ' 21

Fleet of Columbus, 22

Amerigo Vespucci, 24

Sebastian Cabot, 25

Jacques Cartier 23

La Grande Hermine, 29

Running a Rapid, 4 ... 39

Making a Portage 39

Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 45

Sir "Walter Raleigh 47

Henry Hudson 48

Samuel Champlain, .."... 50

Sieur de Monts, 51

View near Orillia 61

View on Lake Simcoe 62

Captain John Smith, 70

Smith and his Captors, 71

Frontier Block-house, 97

Oliver Cromwell, 109

Colbert, HI

Sault Ste. Marie Rapids, 126

Old Stone Towers, Montreal I53

Ancient Halbert, Montreal I54

Old Frontier Block-house 156

Frontier Village Palisade, I73

Old City "Wall, Montreal, I79

Pfere Charlevoix, 181

Rasles' Monument at Norridgewock I84

Sir "William Pepperell, 188

Siege of Louisburg, 1745 189

Benjamin Franklin, 198

ILLUSTRATIONS. 15

Page

Sir William JoliDson, _ . • ' 199

General Braddock, 199

Fort Du Quesne, 200

Lake George, 203

■William Pitt, 219

General Abercromble 223

General Wolfe, 229

Fort Niagara, 230

Lord Amherst 232

Buins of Ticonderoga, 235

City of Quebec 238

Siege of Quebec, 1759 241

Old St. John's Gate, Quebec, . 24T

St. Louis Gate, Quebec, 249

Wolfe's Old Monument . 249

Wolfe's New Monument 250

Marquis de Montcalm, 251

Wolfe's and Montcalm's Monument 252

Ste. Foye Monument, 254

Kichard Montgomery • • ■ • • • • • 276

Benedict Arnold, 277

Walls of Quebec 278

Face of Citadel Cliff, Quebec, 279

Marc[uis de La Fayette, 283

Washington's Cabinet, 285

Hope Gate, Quebec, 288

Joseph Brant, 298

Prescott Gate, Quebec, 300

Niagara Frontier, 306

Colonel De Salaberry, 324

Battle of New Orleans 337

Hon. Louis J. Papineau, 344

Sir John Beverly Robinson 350

Palace Gate, Quebec, . ■ 364

City of Kingston 397

Sir L. H. Lafontaine, 400

Sir Francis Hincks, 401

SirE. P. Tache 432

Sir John A. Macdonald, 433

Hon, George Brown, 435

SirA. T. Gait 441

Sir George E.<3artier 442

Montreal from the Mountain, ■ 446

Sir William Fenwick Williams , . . . . 447

Hon. Antoine A. Dorion, ....'. 456

Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, 468

The* Great Eastern " Steamship 480

Hon. Joseph Howe 490

Sir R. Graves MacDonnell, 496

Hon. Dr. Tupper, ■ . . 497

Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton, N. B 510

Sir N. F. Belleau, 624

LordLisgar 526

McKay's Mountain, Fort William, 530

Kakabekah Falls 541

Hon. A, G, Archibald, 542

Sir Hugh Allan 552

Hon. Alex. Mackenzie 553

16 ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

Thunder Cape, Lake Superior, 661

Post-Offlce and Bank, Montreal, 573

New Custom-House, Toronto 674

PoBt-Office, Toronto 674

Young Men's Christian Association Building, Montreal 575

Union Station, Toronto, , 676

St. James' Cathedral, Toronto, 676

Metropolitan Church, Toronto 677

Jarvis Street Baptist Church, Toronto 677

Market Block, St. John, N. B., 682

The Marquis of Lome 590

Toronto University 692

Normal School, Toronto 698

College Avenue, Toronto 698

Knox College, Toronto 699

Seminary, Yarmouth, N. S 602

University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, , . 604

-No: S i'

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HISTORY OF CANADA.

Chapter I. The Discovery Of Mieeica

Ancient Traditions — Irish and Welsli Claims — The Norsemen Colonize Greenland and Discover America in the Tenth Century — Trade with India — Diaz Discovers the Cape of Good Hope, 1486 — Columhus Discovers San Salvador, 1492 — His further Discoveries, Misfortunes, and Death — Vespucci — Da Gama.

FEOM very ancient times there were traditions of the existence of a Western World. Hesiod sang of the fabled gardens of the Hesperides, and Plato wrote of the vast island of Atlantis, far beyond the Pillars of Hercules, or Straits of Gibraltar. Phoenician and Carthaginian explorers reported the discovery of a fair and fertile country beyond the Western wave. These strange lands, however, were probably the Canary, Cape Verde, or Azores islands, or possibly even the famed Tin Islands of Great Britain. The Thule mentioned by Pytheas, a Greek mariner of about the time of Alexander the Great, was probably the island of Iceland, which, there is reason to believe, was known at a very early period.

The Irish and the Welsh have also laid claim to the discovery of the continent of America. Madoc, a legendary Welsh prince of the twelfth century, is recorded by the bards to have returned from a voyage of exploration with marvellous accounts of strange lands beyond the sunset. Many vessels, it is said, were fitted out to accompany him upon a second voyage, but they were never heard of again. The non-maritime character of the Welsh of that period, however, invalidates the veracity of this story.

3 . [17]

TTpon much hotter grounds rest the claims of the Norsemen, of having, first of the European race, visited this Western World. Tli(;se brave ohl sc^i-kings, swarming out of the Blorniy Nortli, early sul)ducd a large part of England, Belgium, and Noi-niandy ; and, under Robert Guiscard, in the eleventh contury, made tlicmsolves masters of Sicily and Southern Italy. Tn the y(>ar 874, a strong colony of these adventurous spirits cmigr.'ili'd from Norway to Iceland, six hundred miles distant in the wild northern sea ; and in the year 1874 was celebrated the niill(MiiiiMl anuivcrsnry of the colony then planted.

it is only one hundred and sixty miles from the west coast of Iceland to the east coast of Greenland, and this distance was soon traversed .by the adventurous barks * of the Norsemen. Icelandic sagas record, that in the year 985, Erik the Red, with twenly-live vessels, set sail for Greenland. With only fourteen of tliese ho doubled Cape Farewell, and planted a settlement at Eriksliord, on the west coast. For four hundred years Greenland continued to be a See of Rome, with a succession of seventeen Christian bishops. At one time there were more than ihree hundred farms and villages in this now inhospitable region.

The sagas further record, that in the year 996, Biarne Herjulfson, a Norse navigator, sailing from Iceland to Greenland, was driven by a storm as far west as Newfoundland or Labrador. No landing was eUoctod upon the low-lying, forest-clad shores ; but the news of their discovery created a deep interest among the adventurous Icelanders. In the year 1000, therefore, Ijoif Erikson, with a company of live and thirty^men, set sail from Greenland to follow up the discovery of Ilerjulfson. They first reached an island, supposed to be Newfoundland, to which they gave the name of Ilolluland, and next, a wooded coast, i)r()l)ably Nova Scotia, which they called ]Markhmd. Sailing southward for two days, they again sighted land about the

* Soino of tlioso Norso vessels were not. inadequate to standing a rongli sea. Tlie koel of King Olaf s '* Long Serpent '' was one liundrod and forty feet iu length. IIo had two vessels, capable of carrying two hundred men eaoli.

DISCOVERT OF AMERICA.

latitude of Massachusetts. To this pleasant country, mild as compared with their snowy Greenland, they gave the name, on account of the abundance of wild-grape vines, of Vniland. Here they wintered, and, in the spring, bore back to Greenland the tidings of their discovery.

The following year, 1002, Thorwald, the brother of Leif Erikson, with a crew of thirty men, came to Vinland, and after three years, was killed in a skirmish with the natives, the first victim of the long and bloody contest between the red race and the white for the possession of the continent.*

In the year 1007, the sagas record, Thorfinn Karlsefne, a rich Icelander, with his wife, Gudrid, and a company of one hundred and fifty-one men and seven women, planted a colony in Vinland. A num- bighton rock inscription.

ber of cattle and sheep were brought from Greenland, and efforts were made to establish a permanent settlement. Hostilities with the natives, however, compelled the abandonment

* In 1831, there was found, near Fall Eiver, Massachusetts, a skeleton, encased in rust-corroded armour. This skeleton, sanguine antiquarians have thought to be possibly a relic of Thorwald Erikson. Associating it with the old round tower at Newport, shown in the engraving, for which a Norse origin is claimed, the poet Longfellow has made it the subject of one of his most delightful ballads : —

" Three weeks we westward bore, And when the storm was o'er, Cloud-like we saw the shore

Stretching to leeward ; There for my lady's bower Built I the lofty tower, Which to this very hour,

Stands looking seaward." old tower at Newport.

of the effort at the end of three years.* From a son of Thorfinn, born in Vinland, Danish genealogists trace the lineal descent of the celebrated sculptor, Bertel* Thorwaldsen. The planting of subsequent colonies is recorded by the sagas, but they were all eventually expelled by the natives, or wasted by famine or disease. The credibility of these documents is admitted by competent critics, and is confirmed by the contemporary authority of Adam of Bremen, who records, from the testimony of the Danes, the discovery and settlement of Vinland, beyond the Atlantic Ocean. f

Several causes conspired to obliterate the memory of those Norse colonies in Yinland and Greenland. Conflicts with the natives, and the attacks of pirate fleets, destroyed the organization of the colonies, and caused the abandonment of the see of Greenland in 1409. The awful pestilence, known as the Black Death, which, in the fourteenth century, desolated Europe, so greatly reduced the population of the Scandinavian countries, and interrupted commercial intercourse, that those remote colonies could no longer be recruited, and eventually passed out of mind.

But the forgotten discoveries of the Norsemen do not lessen the glory of Columbus for his re-discovery of the Western Continent. His was no less the commanding genius that wrested its secret from the bosom of the sea, and revealed to the astonished eyes of Europe a new world. He was not the first to believe that the earth was round. Ptolemy had long before

* The remarkable Dighton Eock Inscription in Massachusetts, shown in the engraving, is considered by some archiBologists to be the record, in runic characters, of the colony of Thorfinn Karlsefne. The rock is eleven feet in length by four feet and a half high, and consists of a mass of gray granite lying on the sands of the Taunton River, "which partly covers it at every tide. The figures are rudely carved, and partially obliterated near the base by the action of the water. Professor Eafn, of- Copenhagen, interprets these thus : " Thorfinn, with one hundred and fifty-one Norse seafaring men, took possession of this land."

t There is also evidence extant which indicates, that about the year 1390, Nicolo Zeno, a Venetian navigator, visited Greenland, and there learned the existence of lands to the southwest, supposed to be Newfoundland and the main-land of America.

DISCOVERT OF AMERICA. 21

demonstrated this and liad measured the length of a degree on its surface ; and in the first English book ever written, Sir John Mandeville repeats the demonstration, and approximately calculates the circumference of the earth*. These truths, however, led to no important discovery till a great mind arose to put them to a practical test. Columbus lived in a period of remarkable maritime adventure. The rich commerce with the East in gold and silver and precious stones, in ivory, silks, and costly spices, had stimulated the desire to find a shorter way of access to India— the land of those coveted treasures— than the tedious caravan r6ute through the Syrian deserts. The invention of the mariner's compass, and the increased knowledge of astronomy and navigation encouraged the efforts to seek this distant land by sea. With this design the Portuguese had extended their voyages along the African coast, till at length, in 1486, Bartolomeo Diaz reached the southern point of that continent, which was named, as an augury of the long-sought discovery, the Cape of Good Hope.

Christopher Columbus now endeavoured to solve, by a new method, the great maritime problem of the ase. He was mistaken, however, concerning the size of the earth, but not with regard to its shape. He believed it to be not more than ten or twelve thousand miles in circumference. He therefore concluded that by sailing westward about three thousand miles he would reach the codimeus.

golden strand of India. To accomplish this became the absorbing purpose of his life.

Columbus was born in that 'cradle of maritime adventure, the port of Genoa. His own inclination led him early to follow the sea. For twenty years he traversed the Mediterranean and and Atlantic seaboard, and even made a voyage as far as dis-

* The Voiage and Travaile of Sir Jolin Maundeville, Kt., A. D. 1356.

HISTORY OF CANADA.

tant Iceland. Here he probably heard traditions of the former discovery of a land beyond the Western Sea. He was confirmed in his convictions by the writings of learned geographers and travellers, and by the strange products of unknown countries cast by western gales upon the shores of Europe. For twenty years he cherished his grand design, and for ten years he went from court to court — to Genoa, Portugal, and Spain — seeking to inspire confidence like his own, and to obtain an outfit for his cherished enterprise. After many disheartening rebuffs, delays, and disappointments from bigot monks and faithless monarchs, when impoverished and almost despairing, the generous Isabella of Castile became his patroness, pledging even her crown jewels for the supjport of his project. But the means

thus furnished were strangely inadequate to the magnitude of the task undertaken — only three small vessels and one hundred and twenty men. With an unfaltering faith in what he believed to be his providential mission Columbus claimed, and was promised by the Sovereigns of Spain, the office of Admiral of all the lands to be discovered, and one-tenth of the profit of all their merchandise.