The rise of ecclesiastical control in Quebec

Front matter

(lass Book

THE RISE OF ECCLESIASTICAL CONTROL IN QUEBEC

WALTER ALEXANDER RIDDELL, A.M., B. D.

Preface

This dissertation is the outgrowth of a deep interest in those national problems in Canada which have arisen out of the historical relations between the ecclesiastical and governmental authorities in Quebec. The study was begun as a brief essay on Canadian ecclesiology, under Dr. Bayles, formerly of Columbia University. It was gradually broadened under the inspiration and suggestion of Professor Franklin H. Giddings, into the present monograph on the sociological and historical factors which led up to and made possible the control of the Roman Catholic church in Quebec.

The aim of the dissertation throughout has been to present sufficient source material to afford the general reader a basis upon which to form an adequate judgment of the sociological and historical origins in Quebec, which have been responsible in a large part for the present racial and religious situation in Canada as a whole. With this in view, the author has quoted liberally from manuscript and other source material, most of which is the result of researches in the archives of London, Paris and Ottawa. As far as possible the text has been reproduced without emendations and a literal rendering of the original French and Latin has been given.

I wish to express my thanks to those who have helped me. Especially am I grateful to Professor Franklin H. Giddings, and Professor Alvan A. Tenney, for continued interest and guidance ; and to Professor Herbert L. Osgood, for criticism as to material and arrangement. I am also deeply indebted to Professor John Home Cameron, of the University of 5l 5

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6 PREFACE [6

Toronto, for invaluable help with many of the French translations and in revision and preparation of the manuscript for publication, and to David Duff, M. A., of the same institution, for assistance with the Latin translations. Among many courtesies received from librarians and archivists, my thanks are especially due to H. P. Biggar, B. Litt, English and French representative of the Canadian Archives, and to Dr. Arthur G. Doughty, and staff, for assistance in gaining personal access of the author to valuable manuscript sources in London, Paris and Ottawa; and to Miss Georgiana C. Nelles, for assistance in the preparation of the bibliography and in proof-reading.

Chapter II

Demographic Factors Affecting the Homogeneity of the Population of Quebec

(a) The situation— conducive to homogeneity . 16

1. Natural features, waterways, accessibility 16

2. Artificial features, river roads, farm homes, seigniorial tenure,

parish church, social intercourse 17

3. Sources of subsistence, fur trade, agriculture, standard of

living, increased prosperity under British rule, homogeneity. . 23

(b) Aggregation — relatively simple 29

1. Attempt to assimilate Indians; Algonquins, Hurons, Iro-

quois. Christian Missions. Heterogeneity of population produced by the presence of the Indians not of great importance in relation to ecclesiastical control 29

2. The white population ; French only -34

3. The growth of population, cessation of immigration . 35

4. Genetic aggregation, rapid became of abundant natural re-

sources, produced a single type 36

(c) Demotic composition — relatively uniform 36

1. French and Canadian-born French, immigration from all

parts of France .... 36

and Baltic 39

(d) Demotic unity — expedited by amalgamation ... -39 1. Amalgamation among white stocks, distribution of immigrants, assisted immigration of female:-, absence of any impediment to marriage from religious differences, early marriages, fecundity encouraged, decline of the A'oblesse and the leveling of classes. 40

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER III Social and Moral Solidarity (a) Occupations— not greatly diversified - . 54

i. Fur trade, agriculture 54

2. The rural mind as influenced by occupation 56

(b) Language — uniform- English subordinated 56

1. Differences of language among French immigrants . ... 56

2. The French language prevails 56

3. British desire to introduce the English language— organized

opposition • • . 57

4. Bi-lingualism in official matters 57

5. Failure of plan for teaching English in parish schools . . 58

6. The French language an important factor in the develop-

ment of mental unity and an effective weapon in the hands

of the Roman Catholic church. ... 58

(c) The church — early control of local social life 50

1. Initiative discouraged under French regime. Coureurs de

dots ; withdrawal of the restless spirits from the rigorous discipline of the church 50

2. The pressure of pioneer life prevented the establishment of

organizations capable of competing with the church ... 61

3. The school the handmaid of the church 62

4. The church the social center 63

(d) Characteristics of the French-Canadians — readily subject to

ecclesiastical control 63

1. Forceful and convivial, fond of display and attentions, religious, hospitable, honest, conservative and traditional ... 64

(e) Religious solidarity— fostered by the policies of the church . . 69

1. Exclusion of the Protestants 70

2. Uniformity in worship, undivided religious leadership ... 76

3. Adequate religious leadership, strong churchmen appointed,

the missionaries, the first bishop. . . yy

4. Strong religious organization, unified by the erection of

Archbishopric of Quebec, liberal financial support .... 79

5. The Roman Catholic church in control of education .... 82

(a) The French period, the school of mathematics and hydrography, other schools religious in character. . .

(b) The British period, Roman Catholic church retains control of education, the teaching orders, Jesuit estates, the report of the committee on education rejected by the Roman Catholic hierarchy, the government accedes to the Roman Catholic policy of statesupported and church-controlled schools 85

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PACE

CHAPTER IV The Chukch and State in the French Period (a) The evolution of ecclesiastical control eg

1. Conditions favorable to ecclesiastical control ieo

(a) The religious motive in exploration and colonization prepared a ripe field for the domination of the church, ioo

(b) The Ricollets, the first missionaries 10^

(c) The coming of the Jesuits, the beginning of ecclesiastical control 102

(d) Government officials chosen largely for their religious zeal and their acceptability to the hierarchy 103

2. The development of ecclesiastical control 104

(a) The success of missionaries as the agents of the state among the Indians increased the authority of the church I04

(b) The efficient leadership of Laval resulted in the triumph

of the Papal over the Gallican party 106

(c) The erection of the Archbishopric of Quebec strengthened the control of Rome IO q

3. Decline and temporary revival of ecclesiastical control. . . 112

(a) The temporal authority of the church successfully challenged under the administration of Colbert. . . . 112

(b) Revival of the temporal authority of the church under Denonville .... . . 113

(c) Gradual decline of the temporal authority of the church after the return of Frontenac, to the close of the French, period „ 4

(b) Limitations of the State upon ecclesiastical control . . . . 114

1. Resistance to the domination of the Roman Catholic hier-

archy in the Sovereign Council 115

2. In the matter ot tithes . . 116

3. In regard to religious houses 120

4. In regard to the public ministry of the church, respecting

agitation vs. brandy trade, respecting education for the church, respecting public announcements by the clergy . . 122

5. In questions cf church polity, respecting the rights of pa-

rishioners, cure vs. bishop, civil power vs. clerical encroachments

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PAGE

CHAPTER V Church and State Under British Rule

(a) Early relations of the British Government and the French

Canadians. ... 131

1. Attitude of the British rulers, new subjects. ... ... 133

2. Religious settlement at the conquest 135

3. Introduction of English law caused dissatisfaction, the people

turned to the clergy, expulsion of foreign ecclesiastics • . 139

(b) The British government conciliatory to the Roman Catholics;

the Quebec Act increased the power of the Roman Catholic church . ... . . 154

1. Recognition of Roman Catholic religion .... 155

2. Recognition of the right of the Roman Catholic clergy to

tithes. . . 157

(c) Loyalty of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to the British

strengthened ecclesiastical control . . 158

1. Roman Catholic hierarchy saw that religion might profit by

" a change of masters ". . . 158

2. Hatred and fear of the religion of the " Bostonians " 159

(d) The attempt to establish the Church of England as the National

1. Early difficulties, small Protestant population, some of the

early clergy unsuited to their tasks, lack of church buildings and adequate revenues . . 164

2. Attempts to improve the status of the Church of England

necessarily advanced the interests of the Roman Catholic church .... 175

(e) Separation of Upper and Lower Canada 178

1. Separation of English and French population .... 178

2. Roman Catholics remained dominant in ecclesiastical affairs

in Quebec. ... .178

(f) The Constitutional Act of 179L ... ... 179

1. The act the culmination of the development of the system of

ecclesiastical control. ... . 179

2. The extension of self-governmeni opened to the church

another avenue to power through influence at the polls. . 179

3. Few changes of fundamental importance since its passage . 179

CHAPTER VI Summary and Conclusion . 180

Appendix: Bibliography 1S9

PART I DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

CHAPTER I Introduction

The history of religious organization in Canada has as jet received little attention. Numerous contributions to the field, it is true, have appeared from time to time in the form of biographies of churchmen or denominational histories but a comprehensive history of the church in Canada has still to be written. Few, if any, countries offer a richer field for a study of certain important developments in the history of the Christian Church. Much valuable material awaits the historian and sociologist for a study of such topics as : the Jesuit and other missions among the Indians ; the various struggles between the different religious orders ; and between the Gallican and Papal parties within the Roman Catholic church; as well as the struggle of the church for temporal supremacy; the toleration of Roman Catholicism and the provision for separate schools under British rule ; the establishment of the Church of England and state support of religious institutions ; denominational unions ; home and foreign missions; social service; the church and the community life; and the movement for organic church union.

Among all the problems of the church in Canada, however, there are none more interesting than that of the relation of church to state, because nearly all the others are more or less intimately related to this, probably the most fascinating of them all. There are, of course, many phases of this general problem. Naturally at different periods and in different provinces different traditions arose and the 13] 13 r4 ECCLESIASTICAL CONTROL IN QUEBEC [^

relation of church and state varied greatly. The history of church and state in Quebec is undoubtedly the most interesting of all. This interest arises, not only from the fact that in this province the British government has had to deal with a population essentially French in descent and language and Roman Catholic in religion, but also from the fact that, in the face of the decline of ecclesiastical authority among the Latin peoples of Europe, the legal status granted by the British government has resulted in giving to the hierarchy such power and control over the social, political and religious life of the people, as to make the Roman Catholic Church of Quebec without a peer among the Roman Catholic churches of the world.

Many important events occurred during the long period of struggle and adjustment between the church authorities and the representatives of the British government. The chief interest in the problem, however, lies not in these features considered as striking events but in their relation to the great social forces which conditioned the adjustment that was finally made. It is the purpose of this essay to deal with these social forces and to show their relation to the growth of the control of the church itself in Quebec.

The period covered is from the settlement of the country down to " The Constitutional Act " of 1791. This in many respects is the most important period, because by the the time the Constitutional Act was passed the basis in law had been laid for all subsequent ecclesiastical history of the Roman Catholic church in Quebec ; and in consequence the interplay of the social forces which introduced the period of which that act was the climax formed a:i essential part of the conditions which determined the entire subsequent development of religious organization in Quebec. This study, therefore, has been entitled " The Rise of Ecclesiastical Control in Quebec." Its aim is to indi-

I 5 ] INTRODUCTION I5

cate, from a sociological point of view, how closely related was the rise of that control and the social solidarity upon which it was based to the great demographic and social facts of this province. The study reviews the facts which show how inevitably the population became homogeneous, and how, for this reason there developed a social solidarity which was highly favorable for the development of a centralized and paternalistic ecclesiastical control. The character of the subjects treated is indicated by the chapter headings. In Chapter II entitled, " Demographic Factors Affecting the Homogeneity of the Population of the Province of Quebec," the attempt has been made to show how the situation of Quebec and the facts of the aggregation and composition of the population were all remarkably conducive to the production of that social and moral solidarity which the Roman Catholic church in Quebec has found so well adapted to its purposes. In Chapter III entitled, " Social and Moral Solidarity," the facts of occupation, language and other social characteristics of the population are so treated as to indicate their influence upon the same fundamental social process, namely, the production of mental and moral solidarity.

In the later chapters, the relations of the state and church are considered from a more historical standpoint but in such a way that the emphasis is still strongly upon the underlying sociological causes.

Chapter II

Demographic Factors Affecting the Homogeneity of the Population of the Province of Quebec

Any study of the rise of ecclesiastical control in the region now included in the Province of Quebec would be incomplete that did not recognize the strong influence of demographic and social conditions. It is these conditions which were largely responsible for the production of that homogeneous population which offered such a rich soil for the growth of ecclesiastical control.

It is the purpose of this and the following chapter to deal, as adequately as possible, with these underlying forces both demographic and social. The present chapter will deal with the first of these topics, namely, the demographic factors which affected the homogeneity of the population of Quebec, while the following chapter will deal with the social aspects of that homogeneity. The demographic facts can be treated logically, under the headings, situation, aggregation, demotic composition and demotic unity.

The situation, including the natural features, artificial features and the possible sources of subsistence of the area under consideration, was remarkably conducive to that homogeneity of population to which reference has already been made.

Among the natural features of situation the chief factor which made for homogeneity was the magnificent system of waterways. In Quebec alone the 187 principal rivers had a combined length of 13,883 miles. 1 A large part of

1 Quebec Statistical Year Book 1914, pp. 46-53.

lj] DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS T y

this distance was navigable by canoe and a very considerable proportion of it by larger boats. Thus the rivers provided an easy means of access to the new settlements and of escape in the event of an Indian attack. The accessibility of the territory, however, reacted most peculiarly upon its settlement and character. The rivers produced both a scattering and a concentration of population. The population became scattered because very many small settlements were formed. It was concentrated in that for the most part it did not extend back far from the banks of the rivers.

The habitat of the French Canadian, during the period from 1625-179 1, was roughly coterminous with the territory later known as Lower Canada. 1 The actual settlements, however, covered only those districts in the immediate vicinity of the St. Lawrence river and its tributaries." Settle-

1 The territory comprising the province of Lower Canada by Imperial Act of 1791 was intended to include practically all the settlements of the French Canadians, and therefore may be taken as the populationarea under consideration. The boundaries of the province were formed by the territory of the Hudson's Bay or East Maine on the north ; the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the St. John River and the narrow strip of the Labrador coast on the east; the province of New Brunswick, the district of Maine, the province of New Hampshire, and the states of Vermont and New York on the south : and, on the west, the province of Upper Canada, the Ottawa River, Lake Temiscaming, and a line drawn due north from the head of this lake to Hudson's Bay. (Bouchette, A Topographical Description of the Province of Lower Canada, 1815, pp. 1-3.)

1 " The shores are closely inhabited for about three-quarters of an hnglish mile up the country; but beyond that the woods and the wilderness increase. All the rivulets falling into the river St. Lawrence are likewise well inhabited on both sides. I observed throughout Canada that the cultivated lands lie only along the river St. Lawrence and the other rivers in the country, the environs of towns excepted, round which the country is all cultivated and inhabited within the distance of twelve or eighteen English miles. The great islands in the river are likewise inhabited." (Kalm, Travels into North America, vol. iii, pp. oo-qi.)

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ment, almost from the first, had been widely dispersed. As early as 1667 there were enumerated in the census returns, as reaching from the city of Quebec on the east to Montreal on the west, no fewer than nineteen small communities, the largest of which had a population of only 667. By 1739 the number of settlements had increased to 137, and extended from St. Barnabe ou Rimouski on the east, to Soulanges on the west, a distance of more than 350 miles.

The seigniorial system of land tenure, also, was largely responsible for both this scattering and concentration. The desire of seigniors to obtain large tracts of land with a river frontage, induced them to push the frontier further and further away from the leading settlements. Three seigniories had been granted before 1627, namely, those of Louis Hebert in 1623, of Guillaume de Caen in 1624, and of the " Reverend Fathers of the Society and Company of Jesus " in 1626. 1 The Company of One Hundred Associates were given the right in 1627, " to improve and to settle the said lands, as they may consider to be necessary, and to distribute the same to those who will live in the said country, and to others, in such quantities and in such a manner as they shall judge proper." 2 During the Company's rule probably not more than a score of the sixty seigniories granted were given to actual settlers 3 (such as Robert Giffard), who were prepared to develop their holdings. 4

In 1685 the number of seigniories had increased to sixtyfour, 5 and in 1712 to at least ninety. 6 For a time after the

1 Munro, William Bennett, The Seigniorial System in Canada, p. 21.

2 Edits et Ordonnances Royanx (1803), vol. i, p. 4.

3 Munro, op. cit., p. 25.

4 The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, 1636, vol. ix, p. 155. * Census of Canada, 1870-1871, vol. iv, re Census 1685.

' Catalogue's Report, in Munro, Documents Relating to the Seigniorial Tenure in Canada, The Publications of the Champlain Society, pp. 94- I5i.

1Q J DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS ig

arrets of Marly, fewer grants were made, and in 17 19 they were refused altogether; 1 but from 1731 to the end of the French period, grants again became quite numerous.

In many cases little care was taken to secure suitable seigniors. So unsuccessful and indifferent had been many of the early seigniors, that in 1663 a decree was passed revoking all concessions remaining uncleared after a period of six months, on the ground, that

large tracts of land have been granted to all the inhabitants of the colony, who have never been in a position to clear them, and who have placed their homes in the middle of the said lands. The result has been that they are scattered about at considerable distances from one another, and are neither able to render help or assistance, nor to be assisted by the officers and soldiers of the garrisons at Quebec, and other strongholds of the said country ; and moreover, it appears that in a large part of the country, only small fields lying around the dwellings of grantees have been cleared, the rest is beyond their power to clear. 2

The lands reverting to the crown were then to be opened for settlement, by habitants and by new settlers in the colony. 3

So unsatisfactory had been the company's policy in grant-

1 Canadian Archives, series B. 40, (transcript from Archives Des Colonies), pp. 245-248; cf. Munro, op. cit., pp. 160-162.

2 Edits et Ord. (1803), vol. i, p. 24. Cf. "It is necessary, then, to attend to the interior of the Colony, which is in such a terrible state of disorder that no good is to be expected from it, unless it be reconstructed. This cannot be effected without causing most of the settlements to be abandoned, each seigniory being two or three leagues front, and the most populous of them having only thirty or forty settlers; the majority of them twelve to fifteen, and even five or six." (Denonville to Seignelay, 12 June, 1686, Colonial Documents, New York, vol. ix, p. 204; cf. ibid., p. 307.)

* Edits et Ord. (1803), vol. i, p. 25.

20 ECCLESIASTICAL CONTROL IN QUEBEC [ 2 Q

ing seigniories, that the right was withdrawn in 1665, and placed in the hands of the officers of the crown. 1 The new policy provided that the inteiidant should furnish seigniorial holdings to all who were willing to settle on their lands, and who were in a position to meet the expense of developing them. 2

Still the condition of settlement in the colony seems to have been looked upon by the king as unsatisfactory. For in the two arrets of July 6, 171 1, he sought to overcome the evil of sparsely settled seigniories by making the holding of land dependent upon its cultivation. The seigniors, on the one hand, were brought more under the control of the crown, and compelled after a year to throw open uncleared lands for settlement, 3 on the sole condition of a ground rental (settlement de conceder les terres a titre de redcvance) . 4 Also the seigniorial dues from the new colonists were made payable directly into the hands of the receiver of the royal domain at Quebec. 5 The habitants, on the other hand, who did not live on their lands and cultivate them, forfeited them to the seigniorial domain. 6 This eventually facilitated settlement, as the seignior could not withhold his land for better terms from the habitants, nor could the habitant retain land for speculative purposes. 7

Although the population in the colony was sparse, and the settlement for a long time widely scattered, many of the local communities were quite thickly settled. The long

1 Munro, Seigniorial System, p. 34.

* Jen de Hef was peculiar to the Canadian seigniorial system, for it imposed upon the seigniors the obligation of sub-granting the lands within their seigniories.

* Customary dues in the neighborhood. Munro, op. cit., p. 89.

6 Ibid., p. 323. T Munro, Seigniorial System, p, 43.

2I ] DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS 21

and narrow shape of the original holdings, and the law of inheritance were responsible in a large measure for this condition. Unlike the village type of agriculturist in France, the habitant preferred to live on his own land- 1 The system of land survey in New France, while allowing for this preference, at the same time permitted most of the advantages of social intercourse to be found in the village of the mother country. This system, which was first adopted in 1632, divided the land along the river into narrow farms of about four arpcnts in width by forty arpcnts in depth. The advantage of such an arrangement, as Suite points out, " is to bring the house a few steps from the river; to permit easy access to the public road situated between the house and the river; to keep social intercourse as close as possible by the vicinity of neighbors engaged in the same occupation." 2 Later, this plan of building the houses along the common road, as the Earl of Durham remarked, " established a series of continuous villages which give the country of the seigniories the appearance of a never ending street," 3 lent itself to inter-communication, and in a large measure overcame rural isolation. 4

1 " All the farms in Canada stand separate from each other, so that each farmer has his possessions entirely distinct from those of his neighbour. Each church, it is true, has a little village near it; but that consists chiefly of the parsonage, a school for the boys and girls of the place, and of the houses of tradesmen, but rarely of farm-houses; and if that was the case, yet their fields were separated. The farm-houses hereabouts are generally built all along the rising banks of the river either close to the water or at some distance from it, and about three or four arpcnts [a linear measure of about 12 rods in length, Webster's International Dictionary, 1909] from each other." (Kalm, vol. iii, p. 79.)

7 Suite, Royal Society of Canada, Proceedings and Transactions, 1905, sec. ii. p. in ; cf. Bouchette, British Dominions in North America, vol. i, P- 363.

' The Report of the Earl of Durham, p. 16.

4 " The farmers or censitaircs usually build their houses at 100 or 200

According to the Custom of Paris, the law of inheritance did not allow more than one-fifth of a seignior's or habitant's holding to be disposed of (except by actual deed of sale), to the prejudice of direct or collateral heirs. When lands were held en seigneurie, the oldest son had special rights of inheritance, but in the case of lands en censwe all heirs shared equally.

The desire for each heir to share in the river frontage, soon resulted in the holdings in many settlements becoming of the narrowest dimensions, sometimes having a frontage of less than 200 feet. 1

As has been stated above, since the houses and barns were usually situated close to the road or river, it is readily seen that what the government considered very detrimental to the economic prosperity of the colony, 2 afforded unusual opportunity for inter-communication within the local settlements.

The road and the river also brought the parish church within reach of most of the settlers. These centres of social

yards distant from the road, or sometimes nearer . . . and [the homes] in most parts have the appearance of a continued village. The origin of this injudicious distribution of land is no doubt to be traced to the social character of the Canadian peasant, who is singularly fond of neighborhood, though it is also referable to the expediency which formerly existed of concentrating as much as possible the moral and physical energies of the colony, not only with a view of mutual aid in the formation of settlements, but in order the better to be able to repel the attacks of the aborigines." (Bouchette, op. cit., vol. i, p. 363.)

1 Munro, Seigniorial System, p. 83.

J In 1744 the governor and intendant complained to the French minister that the two previous bad harvests were partly due to the attempt of a large part of the habitants to eke out a living on the subdivided lands of their fathers. The following year the king passed an ordinance forbidding anyone to erect a house on any farm " which shall be less than an arpent and a half in frontage and thirty or forty arpents in depth." Bdits et Ord. (1803), vol. i, pp. 551-552; cf. also C. A., M. 384. P. 74- v as well as religious life increased rapidly. In 1685 there were forty rural parishes, each with a resident cure, and each having on the average a population of 220.

Thus, because the territory was settled almost entirely by a single population type, namely that of the Roman Catholic French, each small community soon became comprised of persons relatively alike in descent, language and religion. There was great homogeneity of population in each local group. Inasmuch, however, as the river and seigniorial systems had led to the founding of many such local groups, at about the same period, and by the same population type, there was a remarkable similarity among the local groups. In this way it came about that although there was little inter-communication, in the early days of the colony, 1 the foundation was laid for homogeneity, and subsequent social solidarity on the scale of an entire province. When later a developed system of communication by roads was added to the increasing use of the rivers, the inter-relationships established, readily produced mental and moral solidarity throughout the whole region.

The privations and hardships incident to pioneer life in the New World also operated to create a single homogeneous type of population in New France. Natural resources were abundant but not such as to create great differences in wealth between the successful and unsuccessful. Moreover, toil of a severe sort was required to exploit the resources that existed. In consequence only the vigorous could remain