QUEBEC

QUEBEC, the capital of Lower Canada, is situated upon the north-eastern extremity of a promontory called Cape Diamond, three hundred and fifty feet above the water level, on the left bank of the river St Lawrence. The rocky ridge upon which the city stands is formed by the St Lawrence and the St Charles, the former river flowing to the southward of Quebec, and the latter to the northward, and the junction taking place in front of the town, where they expand into a considerable basin forming the harbour of Quebec. The distance from the one river to the other, across the ridge, is rather more than a mile. It is divided into two parts, Upper and Lower Quebec. The latter is built at the base of the promontory, nearly on a level with high-water mark. The communication from this to the upper town is by a long, narrow, winding, and extremely steep street, which terminates close to the city walls, at an elevation of two hundred feet above the river. Here Upper Quebec commences, extending its limits considerably to

the westward along the slope of the ridge, and up the promontory towards the cape, within fifty or sixty yards of its summit, which is crowned by the citadel. This part of the town contains the government buildings, the residence of the governor, the military, and the most opulent of the inhabitants, with the best and handsomest streets, and the most agreeable mansions. The lower town is much more crowded and mean in appearance, and is very filthy and inconvenient. The streets are narrow, the foot-pavement being barely sufficient for a single passenger; the houses have a gloomy and monotonous aspect, and many of them are said to be built of wood, although there exists a statute forbidding the use of this material in the construction of the main part of buildings, as a security against the dreadful conflagrations which have so often desolated the cities of the west. The warehouses are built of stone; and this ill-favoured portion of Quebec is the chief seat of the commerce and traffic by which the city is enriched. Amongst the public buildings may be mentioned the castle of St Louis, a huge vice-regal chateau, supported by piers, and overhanging the precipice; the Hotel Dieu, the Protestant and Catholic cathedrals, and a number of other religious edifices; the exchange, bank, court-house, hospitals, barracks, gaol, and others. There is a French seminary or college, containing usually about two hundred pupils, and other establishments connected with education. In the district of Quebec there are five public or free schools, in the district of Montreal twenty-four, and in the district of Three Rivers six public schools, under the superintendence of the Board of Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning, incorporated by the provincial act 41st Geo. III. cap. 17. To this board the legislature makes an annual grant. Each teacher is bound to instruct one third of the number of pupils gratuitously, and in no case to charge more than three shillings and fourpence per month. The visitors may vary the rate according to the number of children in each family who attend school, and the circumstances of the parents. There are also two grammar-schools, one at Quebec and another at Montreal, supported by an annual grant of £200 each from the Jesuit Estates Fund, with £90 and £50 respectively for house-rent. These are also under the superintendence of the Royal Institution. The system of instruction is that of the public grammar schools of England. Twenty-six free scholars are admitted into each of them. The rate of tuition for others is £12 per annum. There are also upwards of a thousand schools established under the provincial act 9 Geo. IV. cap. 46, attended by about 45,600 scholars of both sexes. £20 are allowed to each teacher having at least twenty children under his care. These schools are under the direction of trustees annually elected by the inhabitants. No particular system of tuition is followed, but the Lancasterian is pursued in a few of them. There are also several Roman Catholic colleges in the province, and a number of private seminaries for the higher branches of education. Besides these, there were in Lower Canada, in 1835, 1170 elementary schools, attended by 21,014 boys and 16,654 girls, of whom 12,495 were taught gratis, and 25,173 were paid for. The houses were mostly roofed with shingles, but many of those of a better sort, and the public buildings and great warehouses, are covered with tin or iron plates. There are several distilleries, breweries, tobacco, soap, candle, and other manufactories. Excellent ships are built here, and every variety of tradesmen may be found in the upper or lower town. Many of the shops, or stores as they are called in America, are elegantly fitted up, and well supplied with every commodity in demand. There are suburbs attached to each town.

One of the leading features of Quebec is its fortifications, it being the strongest place in America. "As a fortress," says Mr Montgomery Martin, "Quebec may now be ranked in the first class, the citadel, on the highest point of

Quebec. Cape Diamond, together with a formidable combination of strongly constructed works, extending over an area of forty acres. Small batteries, connected by ramparts, are continued from the edge of the precipice to the gateway leading to the lower town, which is defended by cannon of a large calibre, and the approach to it up Mountain Street (which connects the upper and lower town) enfiladed and flanked by many large guns. A line of defence connects with the grand battery a redoubt of great strength, armed with twenty-four pounders, entirely commanding the basin and passage of the river. Other lines add to the impregnability of Quebec if properly defended, the possession of which may be said to give the mastery of Upper as well as of Lower Canada. To the west, and in front of the citadel, are the celebrated plains of Abraham, where was achieved the victory which wrested Canada from France, and annexed it to the British empire. An obelisk marks the field where Wolf and Montcalm fought and perished. The basin or harbour of Quebec is very beautiful, safe, and spacious, being sufficient to contain a hundred sail of the line. The river St. Lawrence is twelve miles broad above the city, but is here contracted to one mile in breadth. The commerce of Quebec is considerable, indeed nine tenths of the trade of Canada is carried on from this city. The imports consist of British manufactures, wine, rum, and other spirits, sugar, coffee, tea, salt, and tobacco. The exports, the produce of the Canadas, are ships' masts, spars, timber, various kinds of prepared wood, pot and pearl ash, fish, oil, seal-skins, pork, beef, butter, lard, live-stock, hides, castoreum, capillaire, natural curiosities, wheat, Indian corn, and the like, as also furs; and there is likewise a re-exportation of British fabrics, West India produce, and teas. The imports into Lower Canada, during the year 1835, amounted to L.1,496,376, and the exports to L.896,847, of which L.7750 was for fish, L.30,590 for corn, and L.620,182 for wood. The amount of the paper currency in 1835 was L.268,881, of which L.52,535 was in notes of the Quebec bank, and L.216,346 in notes of the Montreal bank. The following table shows the amount of shipping in 1835.

Emigration to Quebec was for many years carried on to a great extent; the number of arrivals in the year 1832 being 51,746. The recent disturbances in Canada, and the opening up of a new field for emigration in Australasia, have combined to check the influx of Europeans, so that in the year 1836 they had diminished to 27,728, in 1837 to 22,500, and in 1838 to only 4992. The seasons of Quebec may be briefly noticed. Winter sets in towards the close of November, and for several weeks heavy falls of

snow, hail, and sleet, follow each other in rapid succession. The snow falls very deep, and it is often a difficult matter to keep even a narrow pathway open. Towards the end of December the weather clears, and the solid sheet of snow which covers the surrounding country becomes enlivened by multitudes of citizens, who now sally forth with horse, sledge, and carriage, and drive along the smooth and shining plain. In March the weather gets mild, and even hot, and in April the ice of the St. Lawrence breaks with a mighty crash. May and June are generally wet; but July and August are marked by intense heat and the plague of insects. September is the most agreeable month; but, in October, winter returns "to rule the inverted year." Quebec was settled by the French in the year 1608; taken by the English, first in 1629, and afterwards in 1759; and finally ceded to us by the treaty of Paris in 1763. In 1776 an unsuccessful attack was made upon it by the Americans under General Montgomery, who fell, together with about 7000 men. The population of Quebec in 1825 amounted to 20,396, and in 1831 to 25,916. Long. 70. 72. W. from Greenwich, Lat. 46. 48. N.

Since the article CANADA in this work made its appearance, a revolution has broken out in that part of the British empire, and proved of so serious a nature as to cause a considerable loss of life both in the field and upon the scaffold. It is not our purpose to enter into minute details regarding either the origin of the revolt or the course of events. A brief statement of the leading facts is all that can be given here. Since this colony was annexed to the British crown, two parties have existed in it, the French, the original settlers, or their descendants; and the British, or their descendants, who were the subjugators of the province. The two races have never amalgamated, but, on the contrary, their animosity to each other has been aggravated by recent circumstances to such a degree, that it is constantly in danger of breaking out in acts of open hostility. Although the British race are possessed of the greatest wealth, intelligence, and enterprise, the French Canadians have always been by far the most numerous class, and, on the ground of their numerical superiority, they aspire to have the leading sway in the affairs of the province. But, as the government of Canada is constituted, this has been found impossible; for although they may preponderate in the lower house or house of assembly, they are checked by the legislative council, the members of which are not popularly elected, but chosen by the governor in the name of the sovereign of Great Britain. It is alleged by the house of assembly that abuse of power has resulted from this mode of election; that extreme partiality to the British, and neglect of the French, has been shown, not only in the formation of the legislative council itself, but in the distribution of government appointments. Amongst the grievances of which they complained were, the tenures act, the want of control over the public revenue of the province, and others, which were embodied in a document transmitted to the imperial government in 1832-33. This memorial consisted of ninety-two resolutions, and was drawn up by the leading men of the house of assembly. The substance of them was as follows: 1st, That the legislative council should be elective; 2dly, that the executive council should be converted into a ministry, responsible to the assembly; 3dly, that the tenures act and land company's act should be repealed; 4thly, that the crown revenues should be surrendered unconditionally; 5thly, that the management of the waste lands should be given up to them. And they further declared, that they would pay no arrears, nor vote any civil list, until these demands should be complied with. The arrears spoken of were the salaries of public functionaries, which for several years had remained unpaid, being stopped by the members of assembly. The delegates from Canada met with a patient hearing from the committee appointed

Quebec. to investigate the subject; but the British government refused to accede to the propositions, and a series of resolutions were carried in parliament, the substance of which is as follows: 1st, That whilst no change could be made in the mode of electing the legislative council, it was expedient to adopt measures for securing to it a higher degree of public confidence; 2dly, that whilst it was expedient to improve the composition of the executive council, it was unadvisable to render it responsible to the assembly; 3dly, that the title of the land company was to remain inviolate; 4thly, "that as soon as the legislature shall make provisions by law for discharging lands from feudal dues and services, and for removing any doubts as to the incidents of the tenure of land, in free and common soccage, it is expedient to repeal the Canada tenures act, and the Canada trade act, so far as the latter relates to the tenures of land in this province, saving, nevertheless, to all persons the rights vested in them under or in virtue of those acts;" 5thly, that provision should be made for paying arrears due; and, lastly, "that it is expedient that the legislatures of Lower and Upper Canada respectively be authorized to make provision for the joint regulation and adjustment of questions respecting their trade and commerce, and of other questions wherein they have a common interest."

On the 18th of August 1837, an extraordinary session of the parliament of Lower Canada was called together by Lord Gosford, the governor-in-chief; but the assembly again refused all supplies, and continued to decline exercising any legislative functions. Confusion and disorganization now began to spread throughout the whole social as well as political system of Canada. On the 23d of October,

a meeting of delegates, named by the different parishes in five counties, was held at St Charles, in Lower Canada. The persons assembled were addressed by Papineau, speaker of the house of assembly, and other individuals, and a series of resolutions were passed expressing dissatisfaction with the manner in which Canada was governed. That same day a meeting of the friends of the constitution was held at Montreal, and resolutions were passed in favour of supporting the government, and condemnatory of the revolutionary movements. Disaffection now assumed the shape of insurrection, and anarchy was immediately followed by bloodshed. The insurrection was suppressed without much difficulty; but the country still remains in a very unsettled condition. (R. B. R.)