[Illustration: COLONEL JOHN NAIRNE]

A CANADIAN MANORAND ITS SEIGNEURS

THE STORY OF A HUNDRED YEARS1761-1861

BY

GEORGE M. WRONG, M. A. PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

TORONTOTHE BRYANT PRESS, LIMITED1908

COPYRIGHT, CANADA, 1908BY GEORGE M. WRONG

PREFACE

In spite of many pleasant summers spent at Murray Bay one had neverthought of it as having a history. The place and its people seemedsimple, untutored, new. Some of the other summer residents talkedcomplacently even of having discovered it. They had heard of Murray Bayas beautiful and had gone to explore this unknown country. When thisbold feat was performed there was abundant recompense. Valley, mountain, river and stream united to make Murray Bay delightful. The little summercommunity grew. At first visitors lived in the few primitive hotels orin cottages at Pointe au Pic, vacated for the time being by theirowners, who found temporary lodgings somewhere, --not infrequently intheir own out-buildings. The cottages left something to be desired, and, gradually, the visitors bought land and built houses for themselves:to-day dozens of them dot the western shore of Murray Bay. In due timeappeared tennis courts; then a golf links. Murray Bay had become, alas, almost fashionable. 

It still seemed to have no past. True, near the village church, afair-sized house stood, embowered in trees, with a fine view out overthe bay and the wide St. Lawrence. A high fence shut in a beautiful oldgarden, with a few great trees: as one drove past one got a glimpse ofshady walks and old-fashioned flowers. The extensive out-buildings nearthis manor house, stables, carriage-house, dairy, showed that theestablishment was fairly large. There were sleek cattle in the farmyard. On one of the out-buildings was a small belfry, with a bell tosummon the work-people from afar to meals, and this seemed like theolden times when the seigneur fed his labourers under his own roof. Onmaking a formal call at the manor house one noted that some of the roomswere of fine proportions and that a good many old portraits andminiatures hung on the walls. This all spoke of a past; and yet of itone asked little and knew nothing. 

Just across the bay stood another manor house; of stone, too, in thiscase not concealed by a covering of wood. Thick walls crowned by amansard roof spoke of a respectable age. This manor house, also lookedout on the bay and across the St. Lawrence. One knew that it was namedMount Murray Manor, while that on the right bank of the river Murray wascalled Murray Bay Manor. It was said vaguely that a Colonel Fraser haddwelt at Mount Murray and a Colonel Nairne at Murray Bay; but all thatone heard was loose tradition and there were no Nairnes or Frasers ofwhom one might ask questions. One could see that, in both places, something like an old world dignity of life had in the past been keptup. 

Making a call at the Murray Bay Manor House, I was told one day of amanuscript volume in which the first seigneur had copied some of hisletters. I begged to be allowed to spend an afternoon or two in lookingthrough it. I went and went again. To me the book was absorbing. It toldthe story of the first people of British origin who went to settle atMalbaie, which they named Murray Bay, just after the British conquest;of the career of a soldier brother of Colonel Nairne who died in Indianot long after Plassey; of campaigns fought by Colonel Nairne during theperiod of the American Revolution; of his plans and hopes as the rulerof the little community where he settled. When I had read the bookthrough, I asked if there was not something more. Yes, there were someold letters, preserved in a lumber room at the top of the house. TheseI was allowed to see. This task, too, was of great interest and I spentthe better part of a summer holiday reading, analyzing, and copyingletters. Some of them told of the schoolboy days, in Edinburgh, of theold Colonel's son and heir, the second seigneur, of this son's life atGibraltar at the time when Trafalgar was fought, of his return toCanada, of campaigns in the war of 1812. Then there were touchingletters from others to tell how he fell at the battle of Crysler's Farm. So intimate were the letters that one experienced again the hopes andfears of more than a century ago. In time, out of the dimness in whichall had been shrouded, Murray Bay's history became clear. Of course onehad to seek some information elsewhere, especially in attempting ananalysis of French Canadian village life. But the story told in thisvolume is based chiefly on the papers read during that holiday. Not onlydid they enable one to reconstruct the story of a spot made almostsacred by the joys of many a delightful summer; they furnished, besides, an outline of the tragic history of a Canadian family. Here at MurrayBay, a century and a half ago, a brave and distinguished British officersecured a great estate and made his home. In his letters we read almostfrom day to day of his plans. He had a strong heart and a deep faith. Hereared a large family and built not merely for himself but for hisposterity. And yet, just one hundred years after he began his work atMurray Bay, the last of his descendants was laid in the grave and thefamily became extinct. It is the fashion of our modern fiction to endthe tale in sorrow not in joy. Perhaps the fashion has a more real basisin fact than we like to think. At any rate this true story of theseigneur of Murray Bay ends with the closed record of his family historyon a granite monument in Quebec. There is no one living for whom thetale has the special interest that attaches to one's ancestors. 

I have received help from many but my deepest obligation is to Mr. E. J. Duggan, the present seigneur of Murray Bay, for his great kindness inpermitting me to use the letters and papers in the Manor House. I owemuch to the Right Honourable Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, who has taught me, in many holiday outings, most of what appreciation I have learned forFrench Canadian village life, and has corrected errors into which Ishould otherwise have fallen. So also have Mr. W. H. Blake, K. C. , ofToronto, a good authority on all that concerns life at Murray Bay, andM. J. -Edmond Roy, Assistant Archivist at Ottawa, whose "Histoire de laSeigneurie de Lauzon" and many other works relating to the Province ofQuebec entitle him to the rank of its foremost historical scholar. Toanother authority on the seigniorial system in Canada, Professor W. Bennett Munro, of Harvard University, I am much indebted for informationreadily given. My colleagues Professor W. J. Alexander, Ph. D. , ofUniversity College, and Professor Pelham Edgar, Ph. D. , of VictoriaCollege, Toronto, have given me the benefit of their discriminatingcriticism. Dr. A. G. Doughty, C. M. G. , Dominion Archivist, and the Rev. Abbé A. E. Gosselin of Laval University, have responded with unfailingcourtesy to my numerous calls upon them, and Mr. John Fraser Reeve, thegreat-grandson of Colonel Malcolm Fraser, who figures so prominently inthe story, has given me invaluable information about the Fraser family. Dr. J. M. Harper and M. P. -B. Casgrain, of Quebec, and Mr. A. C. Casselman, of Toronto, have also aided me on some difficult points. Tothe Honourable Edward Blake, K. C. , of Toronto, I am indebted forreproductions of some of his paintings of scenes at Murray Bay, and tothe Honourable Dudley Murray, of London, England, for a photograph ofthe portrait of General Murray preserved in the General's family. 

Toronto, _July, 1908_. 

CONTENTS

 PAGE

CHAPTER I

THE FOUNDING OF MALBAIE

The situation of Malbaie. --The physical features ofMalbaie. --Jacques Cartier at Malbaie. --Champlain atMalbaie. --The first seigneur of Malbaie. --A new policy forsettling Canada. --The Sieur de Comporté, seigneur ofMalbaie, sentenced to death in France. --His career inCanada. --His plans for Malbaie. --Hazeur, Seigneur ofMalbaie. --Malbaie becomes a King's Post. --A Jesuit'sdescription of Malbaie in 1750. --The burning of Malbaie bythe British in 1759. 1

CHAPTER II

THE TWO HIGHLAND SEIGNEURS AT MALBAIE

Pitt's use of Highlanders in the Seven Years' War. --Theorigin of Fraser's Highlanders. --The career of LordLovat. --Lovat's son Simon Fraser and other Frasers atQuebec. --Malcolm Fraser and John Nairne future seigneurs ofMalbaie. --The Highlanders and Wolfe's victory. --TheHighlanders in the winter of 1759-60. --Malcolm Fraser onMurray's defeat in April, 1760. --The return of Canadianseigneurs to France. --General Murray buys Canadianseigniories. --Nairne and Fraser at Malbaie. --Their grantsfrom Murray. 22

CHAPTER III

JOHN NAIRNE, SEIGNEUR OF MURRAY BAY

Colonel Nairne's portrait. --His letters. --The first Scottishsettlers at Malbaie. --Nairne's finance. --His tasks. --Thecuré's work. --The Scottish settlers and their Frenchwives. --The Church and Education. --Nairne's efforts to makeMalbaie Protestant. --His war on idleness. --The character ofthe habitant. --Fishing at Malbaie. --Trade atMalbaie. --Farming at Malbaie. --Nairne's marriage, --Careerand death in India of Robert Nairne. --The Quebec Act and itsconsequences for the habitant. 40

CHAPTER IV

JOHN NAIRNE IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Nairne's work among the French Canadians. --He becomes Majorof the Royal Highland Emigrants. --Arnold's march through thewilderness to Quebec. --Quebec during the Siege, 1775-76. --The habitants and the Americans. --Montgomery'splans. --The assault on December 31st, 1775. --Malcolm Frasergives the alarm in Quebec. --Montgomery's death. --Arnold'sattack. --Nairne's heroism. --Arnold's failure. --The Americanfire-ship. --The arrival of a British fleet. --The retreat ofthe Americans. --Nairne's later service in the War. --Isle auxNoix and Carleton Island. --Sir John Johnson and thedesolation of New York. --Nairne and the American prisonersat Murray Bay. --Their escape and capture. --Nairne and theLoyalists. --The end of the War. --Nairne's retirement toMurray Bay. 62

CHAPTER V

THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN NAIRNE

Nairne's careful education of his children. --His son Johnenters the army. --Nairne's counsels to his son. --John Nairnegoes to India. --His death. --Nairne's declining years. --Hisactivities at Murray Bay. --His income. --His daughterChristine and Quebec society. --The isolation of Murray Bayin Winter. --Signals across the river. --Nairne'sreading. --His notes about current events. --The fear of aFrench invasion of England. --Thoughts of flight fromScotland to Murray Bay. --Nairne's last letter, April 20th, 1802. --His death and burial at Quebec. 93

CHAPTER VI

THOMAS NAIRNE, SEIGNEUR OF MURRAY BAY

His education in Scotland. --His winning character. --Heenters the army. --Malcolm Fraser's counsels to a youngsoldier. --Thomas Nairne's life at Gibraltar. --His desire toretire from the army. --His return to Canada in 1810-11. --Hislife at Quebec. --His summer at Murray Bay, 1811. --Hisresolve to remain in the Army. --Beginning of the War of1812. --Captain Nairne on Lake Ontario. --Quebec Society andthe proposed flight from danger to Murray Bay. --Anxiety atMurray Bay. --The progress of the War. --An American attack onKingston. --Captain Nairne on the Niagara frontier. --NavalWar on Lake Ontario. --Nairne's description of a navalengagement. --Sense of impending disaster at Murray Bay. --TheAmerican advance on Montreal by the St. Lawrence. --Nairne'sregiment a part of the opposing British force. --The Battleof Crysler's Farm. --Nairne's death. --His body taken toQuebec. --The grief of the family at Murray Bay. --Thefuneral. 124

CHAPTER VII

A FRENCH CANADIAN VILLAGE

Life at Murray Bay after Captain Nairne's death. --Lettersfrom Europe. --Death of Malcolm Fraser. --Death of ColonelNairne's widow and children. --His grandson John Nairne, seigneur. --Village Life. --The Church's Influence. --TheHabitant's tenacity. --His cottage. --His labours. --Hisamusements. --The Church's missionary work in theVillage. --The powers of the bishop. --His visitations. --Theorganization of the Parish. --The powers of the_fabrique_. --Lay control of Church finance. --The curés'tithe. --The best intellects enter the Church. --A nativeCanadian clergy. --The curé's social life. --The Church andTemperance Reform. --The diligence of the curés. --Thehabitant's taste for the supernatural. --The belief ingoblins. --Prayer in the family. --The habitant as voter. --Theoffice of Churchwarden. --The Church's influence inelections. --The seigneur's position. --The habitant'sobligations to him. --Rent day and New Year's Day. --Theseigneur's social rank. --The growth of discontent in thevillages. --The evils of Seigniorial Tenure. --Agitationagainst the system. --Its abolition in 1854. --The last of theNairnes. --The Nairne tomb in Quebec. 168

CHAPTER VIII

THE COMING OF THE PLEASURE SEEKERS

Pleasure seeking at Murray Bay. --A fisherman's experience in1830. --New visitors. --Fishing in a mountain lake. --Camplife. --The Upper Murray. --Canoeing. --Running therapids. --Walks and drives. --Golf. --A rainy day. --Thehabitant and his visitors. 222

AUTHORITIES 243

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A (p. 31) The Journal of Malcolm Fraser, First Seigneur of Mount Murray, Malbaie. 249

APPENDIX B (p. 38) Title Deed of the Seigniory of Murray Bay, granted to Captain John Nairne. 271

APPENDIX C (p. 78) The Siege of Quebec in 1775-76. Colonel Nairne's Narrative. 273

APPENDIX D (p. 98) Memorandum of Colonel Nairne, 5th April, 1795, for his son John Nairne in regard to military duty. 277

APPENDIX E (p. 104) The "Porpoise" (Beluga or White Whale) Fishery on the St. Lawrence. 279

APPENDIX F (p. 122) The Prayer of Colonel Nairne. 286

APPENDIX G (p. 144) The Curés of Malbaie. 287

INDEX 291

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

COLONEL JOHN NAIRNE Frontispiece(From the Oil Painting in the Manor House at Murray Bay. ) PAGE

CAP À L'AIGLE FROM THE WEST SHORE OF MURRAY BAY 6(From the Water Colour by the late L. R. O'Brien, in thepossession of the Hon. Edward Blake, K. C. )

VIEW ACROSS MURRAY BAY FROM THE CAP À L'AIGLE SHORE 21(From an Oil Painting by E. Wyly Grier, in the possession ofthe Hon. Edward Blake. )

GENERAL JAMES MURRAY 35(From an Oil Painting preserved in the General's Family. )

THE MANOR HOUSE AT MURRAY BAY 74(From amateur photographs. )

VIEW FROM POINTE AU PIC UP MURRAY BAY 102(From a Water Colour by the late L. R. O'Brien in thepossession of the Hon. Edward Blake. )

THE GOLF LINKS AT MURRAY BAY 237(From a Photograph by W. Notman and Son, Montreal. )

MAPS

THE ST. LAWRENCE FROM QUEBEC TO MURRAY BAY 1

SKETCH MAP OF LAKE ONTARIO AND THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE TOILLUSTRATE THE WAR OF 1812-14 148

[Illustration: THE ST. LAWRENCE FROM QUEBEC TO MURRAY BAY]

A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs

CHAPTER I

THE FOUNDING OF MALBAIE

 The situation of Malbaie. --The physical features of Malbaie. --Jacques Cartier at Malbaie. --Champlain at Malbaie. --The first seigneur of Malbaie. --A new policy for settling Canada. --The Sieur de Comporté, seigneur of Malbaie, sentenced to death in France. --His career in Canada. --His plans for Malbaie. --Hazeur, Seigneur of Malbaie. --Malbaie becomes a King's Post. --A Jesuit's description of Malbaie in 1750. --The burning of Malbaie by the British in 1759. 

If one is not in too great a hurry it is wise to take the steamer--notthe train--at Quebec and travel by it the eighty miles down the St. Lawrence to Malbaie, or Murray Bay, as the English call it, somewhatarrogantly rejecting the old French name used since the pioneer days ofChamplain. This means an early morning start and six or seven hours--thesteamers are not swift--on that great river. Only less than a mile apartare its rugged banks at Quebec but, even then, they seem to contract themighty torrent of water flowing between them. Once past Quebec the riverbroadens into a great basin, across which we see the head of thebeautiful Island of Orleans. We skirt, on the south side, the twentymiles of the island's well wooded shore, dotted with the cottages ofthe habitants, stretched irregularly along the winding road. Churchspires rise at intervals; the people are Catholic to a man. Once pastthis island we begin to note changes. Hardly any longer is the St. Lawrence a river; rather is it now an inlet of the sea; the water hasbecome salt; the air is fresher. So wide apart are the river's shoresthat the cottages far away to the south seem only white specks. 

Hugging the north shore closely we draw in under towering Cap Tourmente, fir-clad, rising nearly two thousand feet above us; a mighty obstacle ithas always been to communication by land on this side of the river. Sooncomes a great cleft in the mountains, and before us is Baie St. Paul, opening up a wide vista to the interior. We are getting into the Malbaiecountry for Isle aux Coudres, an island some six miles long, oppositeBaie St. Paul, was formerly linked with Malbaie under one missionarypriest. The north shore continues high and rugged. After passing LesEboulements, a picturesque village, far above us on the mountain side, we round Cap aux Oies, in English, unromantically, Goose Cape, and, farin front, lies a great headland, sloping down to the river in boldcurves. On this side of the headland we can see nestling in under thecliff what, in the distance, seems only a tiny quay. It is the wharf ofMalbaie. The open water beyond it, stretching across to Cap à l'Aigle, marks the mouth of the bay. The great river, now twelve miles broad, with a surging tide, rising sometimes eighteen or twenty feet, has thestrength and majesty almost of Old Ocean himself. 

As we land we see nothing striking. There is just a long wharf with somecottages clustered at the foot of the cliff. But when we have ascendedthe short stretch of winding road that leads over the barrier of cliffwe discover the real beauties of Malbaie. Before us lies the bay'ssemi-circle--perhaps five miles in extent; stretching far inland is abroad valley, with sides sloping up to rounded fir-clad mountain tops. It is the break in the mountains and the views up the valley that givethe place its peculiar beauty. When the tide is out the bay itself isonly a great stretch of brown sand, with many scattered boulders, andgleaming silver pools of water. Looking down upon it, one sees a smallriver winding across the waste of sand and rocks. It has risen in thefar upland three thousand feet above this level and has made an arduousdownward way, now by narrow gorges, more rarely across open spaces, where it crawls lazily in the summer sunlight:--_les eaux mortes_, theFrench Canadians call such stretches. It bursts at length through thelast barrier of mountains, a stream forty or fifty yards wide, and flowsnoisily, for some ten miles, in successive rapids, down this valley, here at last to mingle its brown waters with the ice-cold, steel-tinted, St. Lawrence. 

When the tide is in, the bay becomes a shallow arm of the greatriver, --the sea, we call it. The French are better off than we; theyhave the word "_fleuve_" for the St. Lawrence;--other streams are"_rivières_. " Almost daily, at high water, one may watch small schoonerswhich carry on the St. Lawrence trade head up the bay. They work inclose to shore, drop their anchors and wait for the tide to go out. Itleaves them high and dry, and tilted sometimes at an angle whichsuggests that everything within must be topsy-turvy, until the vessel isafloat again. With a strong wind blowing from the north-east the bay islikely to be, at high tide, an extremely lively place for the mariner; afact which helps perhaps to explain the sinister French name of Malbaie. The huge waves, coming with a sweep of many miles up the broad St. Lawrence, hurl themselves on the west shore with surprising vehemence, and work destruction to anything not well afloat in deep water, orbeyond the highest of high water marks. At such a time how many ahapless small craft, left incautiously too near the shore, has beenhammered to pieces between waves and rocks!

Tired wayfarers surveying this remote and lovely scene have fanciedthemselves pioneers in something like a new world. In reality, here isthe oldest of old worlds, in which pigmy man is not even of yesterday, but only of to-day. This majestic river, the mountains clothed inperennial green, the blue and purple tints so delicate and transient asthe light changes, have occupied this scene for thousands of centuries. No other part of our mother earth is more ancient. The LaurentianMountains reared their heads, it may be, long before life appearedanywhere on this peopled earth; no fossil is found in all their hugemass. In some mighty eruption of fire their strata have been strangelytwisted. Since then sea and river, frost and ice, have held highcarnival. Huge boulders, alien in formation to the rocks about them, have been dropped high up on the mountain sides by mighty glaciers, andlie to-day, a source of unfailing wonder to the unlearned as to how theycame to be there. 

Man appeared at last upon the scene; the Indian, and then, long after, the European. In 1535, Jacques Cartier, the first European, as far as weknow, to ascend the St. Lawrence, creeping slowly from the Saguenay uptowards the Indian village of Stadacona, on the spot where now isQuebec, must have noted the wide gap in the mountains which makes theMalbaie valley. Not far from Malbaie, he saw the so-called "porpoises, "or white whales, (beluga, French, _marsouin_) that still disportthemselves in great numbers in these waters, come puffing to the surfaceand writhe their whole length into view like miniature sea-serpents. They have heads, Cartier says, with no very great accuracy, "of thestyle of a greyhound, " they are of spotless white and are found, he wastold (incorrectly) only here in all the world. He anchored at Isle auxCoudres where he saw "an incalculable number of huge turtles. " Headmired its great and fair trees, now gone, alas, and gave the islandits name--"the Isle of Hazel Nuts"--which we still use. For long yearsafter Cartier, Malbaie remained a resort of its native savages only. Perhaps an occasional trader came to give these primitive people, inexchange for their valuable furs, European commodities, generally oflittle worth. In time the Europeans learned the great value of thistrade and of the land which offered it. So France determined to colonizeCanada and in 1608, when Champlain founded a tiny colony at Quebec, themost Christian King had announced a resolution to hold the country. Erelong Malbaie was to have a European owner. 

[Illustration: CAP À L'AIGLE FROM THE WEST SHORE OF MURRAY BAY

"A great headland sloping down to the river in bold curves. "]

As Champlain went up from Tadousac to make his settlement of Quebec henoted Malbaie as sufficiently spacious. But its many rocks, he thought, made it unnavigable, except for the canoes of the Indians, whose lightcraft of bark can surmount all kinds of difficulties. Perhaps Champlainis a little severe on Malbaie which, when one knows how, is navigableenough for coasting schooners, but his observations are natural for apassing traveller. In the years after Quebec was founded no more can besaid of Malbaie than that it was on the route from Tadousac to Quebecand must have been visited by many a vessel passing up to New France'ssmall capital on the edge of the wilderness. In the summer of 1629 theoccasional savages who haunted Malbaie might have seen an unwontedspectacle. Three English ships, under Lewis Kirke, had passed up theriver and to him, Champlain, with a half-starved force of only sixteenmen, had been obliged to surrender Quebec. Kirke was taking his captivesdown to Tadousac when, opposite Malbaie, he met a French ship coming tothe rescue. A tremendous cannonade followed, the first those ancienthills had heard. It ended in disaster to France, and Kirke sailed on toTadousac with the French ship as a prize. 

When peace came France began more seriously the task of settling Canada. Though inevitably Malbaie would soon be colonized, it was still verydifficult of access. A wide stretch of mountain and forest separated itfrom Quebec; not for nearly two hundred years after Champlain's time wasa road built across this barrier. Moreover France's first years of rulein Canada are marked by conspicuous failure in colonizing work. Thetrading Company--the Company of New France or of "One HundredAssociates"--to which the country was handed over in 1633, thought ofthe fur trade, of fisheries, of profits--of anything rather thansettlement, and never lived up to its promises to bring in colonists. It made huge grants of land with a very light heart. In 1653 a grant wasmade of the seigniory of Malbaie to Jean Bourdon, Surveyor-General ofthe Colony. But Bourdon seems not to have thought it worth while to makeany attempt to settle his seigniory and, apparently for lack ofsettlement, the grant lapsed. Even the Company of New France treasuredsome idea that would-be land owners in a colony had duties to perform. 

After thirty years France at length grew tired of the incompetence ofthe Company and in 1663 made a radical change. The great Colbert wasalready the guiding spirit in France and colonial plans he made hisspecial care. Louis XIV too was already dreaming of a great over-seaEmpire. The first step was to take over from the trading Company thedirect government of the colony. The next was to get the right men to dothe work in New France. An excellent start was made when, in 1665, JeanTalon was sent out to Canada as Intendant. He had a genius fororganization. Though in rank below the Governor he, with the title ofIntendant, did the real work of ruling; the Governor discharged itsceremonial functions. Talon had a policy. He wished to colonize, todevelop industry, to promote agriculture. In his capacious brain new andprogressive ideas were working. He brought in soldiers who becamesettlers, among them the first real seigneur of Malbaie. An adequatemilitary force, the Carignan regiment, came out from France to awe intosubmission the aggressive Iroquois, who long had made Montreal, and evenQuebec itself, unsafe by their sudden and blood-thirsty attacks. Travelling by canoe and batteau the regiment went from Quebec up thewhole length of the St. Lawrence, landed on the south shore of LakeOntario, and marched into the Iroquois country. With amazement andterror, those arrogant savages saw winding along their forest paths theglittering array of France. Some of their villages were laid low byfire. The French regiment had accomplished its task; with no spirit leftthe Iroquois made peace. 

A good many officers of the Carignan regiment, with but slenderprospects in France, decided to stay in Canada and to this day theirnames--Chambly, Verchères, Longueuil, Sorel, Berthier and others areconspicuous in the geography of the Province of Quebec. Malbaie wasgranted to a soldier of fortune, the Sieur de Comporté, who came toCanada at this time, but apparently was not an officer of the CarignanRegiment. His outlook at Malbaie cannot have been considered promising, for Pierre Boucher, who in 1664 published an interesting account of NewFrance, declared the whole region between Baie St. Paul and the Saguenayto be so rugged and mountainous as to make it unfit for civilizedhabitation. But Philippe Gaultier, Sieur de Comporté, was of the rightmaterial to be a good colonist. Born in 1641 he was twenty-four years ofage when he came to Canada. Already he had had some stirring adventures, one of which might well have proved grimly fatal had he not found arefuge across the sea. Comporté, then serving as a volunteer in aCompany of Infantry led by his uncle, La Fouille, was involved in one ofthe bloody brawls of the time that Richelieu had made such stern effortsto suppress. The Company was in garrison at La Motte-Saint-Heray inPoitou. On July 9th, 1665, one of its members, Lanoraye, came in withthe tale of an insult offered to the company by a civilian in the town. Lanoraye had been marching through the streets with a drum beating, inorder to secure recruits, when one Bonneau, the local judge, attackedhim, and took away the drum. Lanoraye rushed to arouse his fellowsoldiers. When Comporté and half a dozen other hot-heads had listened tohis tale, they cried with one voice, "Let us go and demand the drum. Hemust give it up. " So at eight or nine o'clock at night they set out tolook for Bonneau. They came upon him unexpectedly in the streets of thetown. He was accompanied by seven or eight persons with whom he hadsupped and all were armed with swords, pistols or other weapons. WhenLanoraye demanded the drum, Bonneau was defiant and told him to go awayor he should chastise him. The inevitable fight followed. Comporté, whose own account we have, says that it lasted some time and the resultswere fatal. Comporté declares that he himself struck no blows but thefact remains that two of Bonneau's party were so severely wounded thatthey died. Comporté and the rest of the Company soon went to Canada. Intheir absence he and others were sentenced to death. 

In Canada he appears to have behaved himself. In France a simplevolunteer, in New France he became an important citizen. Talon trustedhim and made him Quarter-Master-General. In 1672 Comporté received anenormous grant of land stretching along the St. Lawrence from Cap auxOies to Cap à l'Aigle, a distance of some eighteen miles, includingMalbaie and a good deal more. About the same time he married MarieBazire, daughter of one of the chief merchants in the colony, by whom hehad a numerous family. So eminently respectable was he that we find himchurchwarden at Quebec. In time he retired from trade, in which he hadengaged, and became a judge of the newly established Court of thePrévôté at Quebec. This was not doing badly for a man under sentence ofdeath. But over him still hung this affair in France and, in 1680, hepetitioned the King to have the sentence annulled. For this petition hesecured the support of the families of the men killed in the quarrelfifteen years earlier. In 1681 Louis XIV's pardon was registered withsolemn ceremonial at Quebec, and at last Comporté was no longer anoutlaw. 

He had plans to settle his great fief. Working in his brain no doubtwere dreams of a feudal domain, of a seigniorial chateau looking outacross the great river, of respectful tenants paying annual dues totheir lord in labour, kind, and money, of a parish church in which overthe seigniorial pew should be displayed his coat of arms. But if thesepictures inspired his fancy and cheered his spirit, they were never tobecome realities. In 1687 he was, apparently, in need of money, and heresolved to sell two-thirds of his interest in the seigniory of Malbaie. The price was a pitiful 1000 livres, or some $200, and the purchaserswere François Hazeur, Pierre Soumande and Louis Marchand of Quebec, whowere henceforth to get two-thirds of the profits of the seigniory. Then, in 1687, still young--he was only forty-six--Comporté died, as did alsohis wife, leaving a young family apparently but ill provided for. Hisname still survives at Malbaie. The portion of the village on the leftbank of the river above the bridge is called Comporté, and a lovelylittle lake, nestling on the top of a mountain beyond the Grand Fond, and unsurpassed for the excellence of its trout fishing, is called Lac àComporté; it may be that well-nigh two and a half centuries ago thefirst seigneur of Malbaie followed an Indian trail to this lake and weta line in its brown and rippling waters. 

Comporté and his partners in the seigniory had planned great things. They had begun the erection of a mill, an enterprise which Comporté'sheirs could not continue. So the guardian of the children determined tosell at auction their third of the seigniory. The sale apparently tookplace in Quebec in October, 1688. We have the record of the bids made. Hazeur began with 410 livres; one Riverin offered 430 livres; after afew other bids Hazeur raised his to 480 livres; then Riverin offered 490and finally the property was sold to Hazeur for 500 livres. Malbaie wascheap enough; one third of a property more than one hundred and fiftysquare miles in extent sold for about $100! In 1700 for a sum of 10, 000livres ($2, 000) Hazeur bought out all other interests in the seignioryand became its sole owner. Its value had greatly improved in 22 years. 

Of Hazeur we know but little. He was a leading merchant at Quebec andwas interested in the fishing for "porpoises" or white whales. When hedied in 1708 he left money to the Seminary at Quebec on condition thatfrom this endowment, forever, two boys should be educated; for theintervening two centuries the condition has been faithfully observed;one knows not how many youths owe their start in life to the gift ofthe former seigneur of Malbaie. There, however, no memory or traditionof him survives. In his time some land was cleared. The saw mill and agrist mill, begun by Comporté, were completed and stood, it seems, nearthe mouth of the little river now known as the Fraser but then as theRuisseau à la Chute. Civilization had made at Malbaie an inroad on theforest and was struggling to advance. 

On Hazeur's death in 1708 his two sons, both of them priests, inheritedMalbaie. Meanwhile the government developed a policy for the region. Itresolved to set aside, as a reserve, a vast domain stretching from theMingan seigniory below Tadousac westward to Les Eboulements, andextending northward to Hudson Bay. The wealth of forest, lake, andriver, in this tract furnished abundant promise for the fur and othertrade of which the government was to have here a complete monopoly. Malbaie was necessary to round out the territory and so the heirs ofHazeur were invited to sell back the seigniory to the government. Thesale was completed in October, 1724, when the government of New France, acting through M. Begon, the Intendant, for a sum of 20, 000 livres(about $4, 000) found itself possessed of Malbaie "as if it had neverbeen granted, " of a saw mill and a grist mill, of houses, stables andbarns, gardens and farm implements, grain, furniture, live stock, cleared land, cut wood and all other products of human industry therein evidence. [1]

Within the reserve, in addition to Malbaie, were a number of tradingposts--Tadousac, Chicoutimi, Lake St. John, Mistassini, &c. In thisgreat tract the government expected to reap large profits from itsmonopoly of trade with the Indians. Some of the fertile land was to beused for farms which should produce food supplies for the posts. TheIntendant had sanguine hopes that the profit from trade and agriculturewould aid appreciably in meeting the expense of government. It was, wemay be well assured, an expectation never realized. 

We get a glimpse of Malbaie in 1750 as a King's post. There were twofarms, one called La Malbaie, the other La Comporté. The two farmerswere both in the King's service and, in the absence of other diversions, quarrelled ceaselessly. The region, wrote the Jesuit Father ClaudeGodefroi Coquart, who was sent, in 1750, to inspect the posts, is thefinest in the world. He reported, in particular, that the farm ofMalbaie had good soil, excellent facilities for raising cattle, andother advantages. Only a very little land had been cleared, just enoughwheat being raised to supply the needs of the farmer and his assistants. The place should be made more productive, M. Coquart goes on to say, andthe present farmer, Joseph Dufour, is just the man to do it. He is ableand intelligent and if only--and here we come to the inherent defect intrying to do such pioneer work by paid officials who had no finalresponsibility--he were offered better pay the farm could be made toproduce good results. The old quarrel with the farmer at La Comporté hadbeen settled; now the farmer of Malbaie was the superior officer, rivalry had ceased, and all was peace. 

Coquart gives an estimate of the farming operations at Malbaie which isof special interest as showing that, if the old régime in Canada did notproduce good results, it was not for lack of criticism. Better cattleshould be raised, he says; at Malbaie one does not see oxen as fine asthose at Beaupré, near Quebec, or on the south shore. The pigs too areextremely small, the very fattest hardly weighing 180 pounds; incontrast, at La Petite Rivière, above Baie St. Paul, the pigs are huge;one could have good breeds without great expense; it costs no more tofeed them and [a truism] there would be more pork! Of sheep too hardlyfifty are kept at Malbaie through the winter; there should be two orthree hundred. From the two farms come yearly only thirty or forty pairsof chickens. 

Father Coquart's census is as rigorous and unsparing of detail as theDoomsday Book of William the Conqueror. He tells exactly what theMalbaie farm can produce in a year; the record for the year of grace1750 is "4 or 6 oxen; 25 sheep, 2 or 3 cows, 1200 pounds of pork, 1400to 1500 pounds of butter, one barrel of lard, "--certainly not much tohelp a paternal government. The salmon fishery should be developed, saysCoquart. Now the farmers get their own supply and nothing more. Netsshould be used and great quantities of salmon might be salted down ingood seasons. Happily, conditions are mending. The previous farmer hadlet things go to rack and ruin but now one sees neither thistles norblack wheat; all the fences are in place. Joseph Dufour has a specialtalent for making things profitable. If he can be induced to continuehis services, it will be a benefit to his employer. But he is notcontented. Last year he could not make it pay and wished to leave. Nearly all his wages are used in the support of his family. He has threegrown-up daughters who help in carrying on the establishment, and a boyfor the stables. The best paid of these gets only 50 livres (about $10)a year; she should get at least 80 livres, M. Coquart thinks. Dufour hason the farm eight sheep of his own but even of these the King takes thewool, and actually the farmer has had to pay for what wool his familyused. Surely he should be allowed to keep at least half the wool of hisown sheep! If it was the policy of the Crown to grant lands along theriver of Malbaie there are many people who would like those fertileareas, but there is danger that they would trade with the Indians whichshould be strictly forbidden. So runs M. Coquart's report. It wasrendered to one of the greatest rascals in New France, the IntendantBigot, but he was a rascal who did his official tasks with someconsiderable degree of thoroughness and insight. He knew what were theconditions at Malbaie even if he did not mend them. 

After 1750 the curtain falls again upon Malbaie and we see nothinguntil, a few years later, the desolation of war has come, war that wasto bring to Canada, and, with it, to Malbaie, new masters of Britishblood. After long mutterings the war broke out openly in 1756. In thosedays the farmer at Malbaie who looked out, as we look out, upon themighty river would see great ships passing up and down. Some of themdiffered from the merchant ships to which his eye was accustomed. Theystood high in the water. Ships came near the north shore in those daysand he could see grim black openings in their sides which meant cannon. Already Britain had almost driven France from the sea and these Frenchships, which ascended the St. Lawrence, were few. Then, in 1759, happened what had been long-expected and talked about. Signal firesblazed at night on both sides of the St. Lawrence to give the alarm, when not French, but British ships, sailed up the river, a huge fleet. They stopped at Tadousac and then slowly and cautiously filed pastMalbaie. On a summer day the crowd of white sails scattered on thesurface of the river made an animated scene. In wonder our farmer andhis helpers watched the ships silently advance to their goal. There were39 men-of-war, 10 auxiliaries, 70 transports and a multitude of smallercraft carrying some 27, 000 men; it was the mightiest array Britain hadever sent across the ocean. New France was doomed. 

The French fought bravely a campaign really hopeless. Montcalm massedhis chief force at Quebec and there awaited attack. In vain had heappealed to France for further help; he was left unaided to strugglewith a foe who had command of the sea, whose fleet could pass up anddown before Quebec with the tide and keep the French guards for twentymiles in constant nervous tension as to where a landing might be made. Wolfe carried on his work relentlessly. He warned the Canadians that hewould ravage their villages if they did not remain neutral. Neutral itwas almost impossible for them to be for the French urged them in theother direction. With stern rigour, Wolfe meted out to them hispunishment. He sent parties to burn houses and destroy crops and Malbaiewas not spared. On August 15th, 1759, Captain Gorham reported to Wolfethat with 300 men, one half of them Rangers from the English colonies, the other half Highlanders, he had devastated the north shore of the St. Lawrence. The soldiers did their work thoroughly. From Baie St. Paul, the last considerable village east of Quebec, they went on thirty milesto Malbaie where they destroyed almost all of the houses. We do not knowwhether the competent Dufour was still the farmer at Malbaie. But allthe fine pictures of better cattle, better pigs and sheep, betterfarming, better fishing, ended with the applying of the Britishsoldiers' torch to the wooden buildings: much of the settlement went upin smoke. Some of the cattle, pigs and sheep found their way perhaps toWolfe's commissariat. But a good many were left and no doubt they arethe ancestors of many of the cattle, sheep and pigs we see at Malbaiestill. This first visit of Americans and Highlanders to Malbaie has itsspecial interest. A few years later Highlanders came again, not todestroy but to settle, and to become the ancestors of families that tothis day show their Highland origin in their names and in theirfaces, but never a trace of it in their speech or in their customs. [2]The Americans were longer in coming back. But, after more than a hundredyears they, too, were to come again, not to destroy but in a veryliteral sense to build; their many charming cottages now stretch alongthe shore of the Bay that looks across to Cap à l'Aigle. 

[Illustration: VIEW ACROSS MURRAY BAY FROM THE CAP À L'AIGLE SHORE

(The farther point: Cap aux Oies, the nearer Pointe au Pic)]

[Footnote 1: Exact information in regard to the brothers Hazeur, whohave a place in this story merely because they held the seigniory ofMalbaie, may be found in articles by Mgr. H. Têtu, in the _Bulletin desRecherches Historiques_ (Lévis, Quebec) for August, 1907, and thefollowing numbers. They were the Canon Joseph Thierry Hazeur, born in1680, and Pierre Hazeur de L'Orme, born in 1682, both apparently atQuebec. The younger brother took the name de L'Orme from his mother'sfamily. He was for many years the representative in France of theChapter of the Cathedral at Quebec, which held, from the Pope and theKing, four or five abbeys in France. His copious letters published byMgr. Têtu illustrate with some vividness details of the ecclesiasticallife of the time. For several years after the British conquest of Canadathe Quebec Chapter continued to receive the revenues of the Abbey ofMeaubec. The elder Hazeur, less able than his brother, was Curé at Pointaux Trembles. An invalid, he spent his later years chiefly in Quebec. ]

[Footnote 2: Malcolm Fraser, an officer in the 78th Highlanders andafterwards first seigneur of Mount Murray, one of the two seignioriesinto which Malbaie was divided, was sent out on these ravagingexpeditions. Years after, some of Fraser's neighbours of French originrallied him on his capacity for devastation as shown at this time. SeeFraser's _Journal_, Appendix A, p. 253, and the _Mémoires_ of PhilippeAubert de Gaspé, 1866, Ch. II. ]

CHAPTER II

THE TWO HIGHLAND SEIGNEURS AT MALBAIE

 Pitt's use of the Highlanders in the Seven Years' War. --The origin of Fraser's Highlanders. --The career of Lord Lovat. --Lovat's son Simon Fraser and other Frasers at Quebec. --Malcolm Fraser and John Nairne, future seigneurs at Malbaie. --The Highlanders and Wolfe's victory. --The Highlanders in the winter of 1759-60. --Malcolm Fraser on Murray's defeat in April, 1760. --The return of Canadian seigneurs to France. --General Murray buys Canadian seigniories. --Nairne and Fraser at Malbaie. --Their grants from Murray. 

The great British fleet which has passed up beyond Malbaie to Quebec isimportant for our tale. It carried men who have since become worldfamous; not only Wolfe but Jervis, afterward Lord St. Vincent, Cook, thegreat navigator, Guy Carleton, who saved Canada for Britain during theAmerican Revolution, and many others of lesser though still considerablefame. But for Malbaie the most interesting men in that great array werethose connected with the 78th, or Fraser's, Highlanders. On the decks ofthe British ships were hundreds of these brawny, bare-legged and kiltedsons of the north, speaking their native Gaelic, and on occasionharangued by their officers in that tongue. A few years earlier many ofthem had served under Prince Charles Stuart to overthrow, if possible, King George II, and the house of Hanover; now they were fighting forthat King against their old allies the French. Unreal in truth had beenthe rising in behalf of the Stuarts. Scotland had no grievances: she didnot wish to dissolve the union with England, and if the tyranny of anyroyal house troubled her it was that of the Stuarts, alien from mostScots in both religious and political thought. But when, in 1745, someof the chieftains called out their clansmen, loyalty made these heed thesummons, though half-heartedly. The same devotion was now given to thehouse of Hanover. Years earlier Duncan Forbes of Culloden, one of thenoblest and wisest Scots of his age, had urged Walpole to call theHighlanders to fight Britain's battles. The hint was not then taken butlater, Pitt, the greatest war minister Britain has ever had, revivedForbes's plan. Some Highland regiments were formed. The Highland dressthat had been proscribed after Culloden as the brand of treason was nowgiven its place in Britain's battle array: ever since it has playedthere its creditable part. Wolfe called his Highland companions in armsthe most manly lot of officers he had ever seen. 

The Highland regiment that came with Wolfe to Quebec was known asFraser's Highlanders because recruited chiefly from that ancient andpowerful Scottish clan. In the rising of 1745 the Frasers had supportedthe Stuart cause and they suffered when that cause was lost. In 1747the head of the clan, Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, an old man of 80, perished on the scaffold for his treason. The details of Lovat's careerare amazing. In one aspect he was a wild, half barbarous Highlandchieftain, in another one of the polished gentlemen and courtiers of histime. He was devoured by the ambition to be the most powerful man inScotland. In that age others, more reputable than Fraser, found it wiseto stand well with both royal houses, but he surpassed them all intortuous treachery. In the rising of 1715 he was on the Whig side; in1745 he was forced at last to come out openly for the Stuarts. Forneither side did he really care: he was merely serving his own ends. Considering his deeds it is a wonder that he so long escaped thescaffold. When he was a young man a certain Baroness Lovat stood in theway of his own claims to be the heir to the title of Lovat; so heoffered to marry this lady's daughter and thus end the dispute. When hisadvances were refused he determined to use force and seized Lady Lovat'sresidence, Castle Dounie, only to find that the young lady had beenspirited away. He resolved on the spot to marry her mother who was inthe castle. She was a widow of thirty-four, he a man of thirty, so thedisparity of age was not great. Stories of what happened vary, but it issaid that in the dead of night a clergyman was brought to Lady Lovat'schamber and she was forced to go through the form of marriage, thebag-pipes playing in the next room to drown her cries. The lady wasconnected with the great house of Atholl who warred on Fraser with fireand sword. Outlawed, he escaped to the Continent to survive for half acentury of intrigue and treason. 

Though profligate, cruel, treacherous and avaricious, so smooth wasLovat's address, so profound his knowledge of Scotland, and so stronghis hold upon his own clansmen, that he always remained a man to bereckoned with. Since he served on the Hanoverian side in 1715 George Igranted a pardon for his many offences; for his treason in 1745 GeorgeII let him go to the block. His last days in London were like those of adying saint. He wrote to his son Simon Fraser, who led Fraser'sHighlanders at Quebec in 1759, a beautiful spiritual letter. To theMajor of the Tower he said he was going to Heaven where, he added, "veryfew Majors go. " He was gay on his last morning:--"I hope to be in heavenby one o'clock or I should not be so merry now, "--and expressed his pityfor those who "must continue to crawl a little longer in this evilworld. " He took what he called an eternal farewell from some of thoseabout him: "we shall not meet again in the same place; I am sure ofthat. " He practised kneeling at the block so that he might do it withdignity on the scaffold. A great crowd assembled to witness hisexecution and a platform fell killing several people. "The moremischief, the better sport, " said Lord Lovat grimly, but he wonderedthat so many should come to see the taking off of his "old grey head. "He carefully felt the edge of the executioner's axe to make sure that itwas sharp. 

No doubt there was a touch of madness in Lord Lovat but the Fraser clanwas devoted to him. By his treason all his honours and estates wereforfeited. At the time his heir, Simon Fraser, only twenty-one yearsold, was a prisoner in the Castle of Edinburgh, attainted for hightreason. But so good was his conduct that in 1750 he received a pardon. Then, a penniless man, he was called to the Scottish Bar. But anothercareer was in store for him. Some years later when Pitt formed hisdesign to use the Highlanders in the Seven Years' War he made SimonFraser Colonel of a battalion, to be raised on the forfeited estates ofhis family and from the clan of which he was head. Success wasinstantaneous. Within a few weeks Fraser was at the head of some 1500men. They wore the Highland dress, with a sporran of badger's or otter'sskin and carried musket and broadsword; some of them wore a dirk attheir own cost. Among the officers were no less than five SimonFrasers, [3] three or four each of Alexander Frasers and John Frasers, and a good many other Frasers, among them a young Ensign, MalcolmFraser, destined to rule one of the seigniories at Malbaie for more thanhalf a century. Other Scottish names also appear, Macnabs, Chisholms, Macleans, and among them John Nairne who, like Malcolm Fraser, spent thebest part of his life at Malbaie. 

The head of the Nairne clan, a John Nairne, third Baron Nairne, hadfought for the Stuarts in 1745. He died an exile in France. Of how closekin to him was the young Highland Officer, John Nairne, who settledlater at Malbaie, we do not know. His family was of course Jacobite. In"Waverley" Sir Walter Scott mentions a Miss Nairne with whom he says hewas acquainted, and this lady appears to have been one of the sisters ofCaptain John Nairne. In 1745, as the Highland army rushed intoEdinburgh, Miss Nairne was standing with some ladies on a balcony, whena shot, discharged by accident from a Highlander's musket, grazed herforehead. "Thank God, " she said, "that the accident happened to me whoseprinciples are known; had it befallen a Whig [the name then identifiedwith the anti-Jacobite party] they would have said it was done onpurpose. "[4] At Murray Bay there is still a miniature portrait of PrinceCharlie given it is said by himself to Miss Nairne. 

Before fighting under Wolfe John Nairne had followed the Dutch flag. Just before the rising of 1745, when a youth of only 17, he, like agreat many others of his countrymen, is found serving in the well known"Scots Brigade"; many years later at Malbaie, he tells in his letters, of old companions in this service with well known Scottish names--Bruce, Maclean, Seton, Hepburn, Campbell, Dunbar, Dundass, Graham, and so on. In the pay of Holland Nairne remained for some nine years. He made, hesays, "long voyages" possibly to the Dutch possessions in the far East. But he was glad of the chance to serve his own land which came whenBritain, embarked upon the Seven Years' War, was anxious to recall herbanished sons and to find soldiers, Scots or of any other nationality, who would fight her battles. So John Nairne left the Dutch service tojoin the 78th Highlanders and henceforth his loyalty to the house ofHanover was never questioned. From the first, since Scotland offeredonly a poor prospect of a career, Nairne may have thought of remainingin the new world when the war should end. The Highlander of that day, like the Irishman, found better chances abroad than at home. UnlikeNairne, Malcolm Fraser, a younger man, had not seen foreign service. Thetwo met for the first time when, in 1757, they both joined the 78thHighlanders. Soon they became fast friends and for nearly half a centurythey were to live in the closest relations. 

Fraser's Highlanders had landed at Halifax in Nova Scotia in June, 1757. Their dress seemed unsuited to both the severe winters and the hotsummers of North America and a change of costume was proposed; butofficers and men protested vehemently and no change was made. During thecampaigns in America the Highlanders boasted, not with entire truth aswe shall see, that they with their bare legs enjoyed better health thanthose who wore breeches and warm clothing. At Louisbourg they did well. At Quebec a Highland officer's knowledge of French proved a great boon. When, in the darkness of the momentous morning of September 13th, 1759, Wolfe's boats were drifting down with the tide close to the north shorenear Quebec, intending to land and scale the heights at what is nowWolfe's Cove, a French sentry called out sharply from the bank, "_Quivive?_" A Highland officer, who had served in Holland, was able to reply"_France!_" without betraying his nationality. 

"_A quel régiment?_" demanded the sentry. 

"_De la reine_, " answered the Highlander, giving the name of awell-known French regiment commanded by Bougainville; and then he addedin a low voice, "_Ne faites pas de bruit; ce sont les vivres_"--for aconvoy with provisions was expected by the French. The Highlanders wereat the forefront in the stiff climb up the heights which proved to beWolfe's master stroke. Malcolm Fraser has left his own account of thatmorning's work. The troops, he says, had been in the boats since nineo'clock on the previous night. At about twelve they had set out with afalling tide and they landed just as day was breaking. The lightinfantry struggled up the hill first, the French meanwhile firing on theboats, killing and wounding some of the occupants; but "the main body ofour army soon got to the upper ground, after climbing a hill or rather aprecipice, of about three hundred yards, very steep and covered withwood and brush. " By ten the army was drawn up in order of battle, --"in amasterly manner, " John Nairne said later, --on the Plains of Abraham, thebag-pipes of the Highlanders screaming a wild defiance to the foe. Thenfollowed that brief death grapple, fatal to the leader on each side. Fraser and his Highlanders, we are told, rushed at the enemy with theirbroadswords in such irresistible fury that they were driven with aprodigious slaughter into the town. The Highlanders suffered as muchafter the battle as in it, for General Murray led them to reconnoitre inthe direction of the General Hospital and a good many were shot by theFrench from bushes and from houses in the suburbs of St. Louis and St. John. To the French the Highlanders seemed especially ferocious, possibly owing to the wild music of their pipes, their waving tartans, their terrible broadswords, and perhaps, also, their partially nakedbodies. They were indeed christened "the savages of Europe. "

Not many days after Wolfe's victory the Highlanders marched into Quebecwith the victorious army. The French garrison was sent away to Europe, the British fleet itself soon followed, and the conquerors, with GeneralMurray in command, settled down to face for the first time the rigoursof a winter at Quebec. The Highlanders suffered terribly. One suspectsthat, in spite of their protests, the Highland costume was ill-suited tomeet the severity of the climate; and, in any case, the army wasill-fed, ill-housed, and overworked. Malcolm Fraser kept a journal, [5]but Nairne, the other future seigneur at Malbaie, the most methodical ofmen, was less ready with the pen and appears to have made no chronicleof those slow but momentous days. The bitter weather was the dreadenemy. Fraser tells how men on duty lost fingers and toes and some wereeven deprived of speech and sensation in a few minutes through "theincredible severity of the frost.... Our regiment in particular is in apitiful situation having no breeches. Nothing but the last necessityobliged any man to go out of doors. " Colonel Simon Fraser is, he adds, doing his best to provide trousers. Pitying nuns observed the need andsoon busied themselves knitting long hose for the poor strangers. Thescurvy carried off a good many. In April, 1760, of 894 men in Fraser'sHighlanders not fewer than 580 were on the sick list and it was a wanand woe-begone host that set itself grimly to the task of meeting theassault on Quebec for which the French under Lévis had been preparingthroughout the winter. 

When it came on April 28th, 1760, the Highlanders were not wanting. Instead of fighting behind Quebec's crazy walls Murray marched his menout to the Plains of Abraham to meet the enemy in the open. On groundhalf covered by snow, with here and there deep pools of water from theheavy rain of the previous day, the two armies grappled in what wassometimes a hand to hand conflict. Of the British one-third had comefrom the hospital to take their places in the ranks. The proportion ofthe Highlanders who did this was even greater; half of them rose on thatday from sick beds. It proved a dark day for Britain. Murray wasdefeated, losing about one-third of his army on the field. Four of theHighland officers were killed, twenty-three were wounded, among themColonel Simon Fraser himself. Malcolm Fraser was dangerously wounded;but he tells us gleefully that within twenty days he was entirely cured. Nairne seems to have gone through the fight without a hurt. It wassurely by a strange turn of fortune that men, some of whom foughtagainst George II in '45 and had been condemned as traitors, shouldfifteen years later shed their blood like water for the same sovereign. Malcolm Fraser was disposed to be critical of Murray's tactics. He oughtto have stood like a wall on the rising ground near Quebec, says Fraser;but "his passion for glory getting the better of his reason he orderedthe army to march out and attack the enemy ... In a situation the mostdesired by them and [that] ought to be avoided by us as the Canadiansand Savages could be used against us to the greatest advantage in theirbeloved ... Element, woods. " Nearly half a century later when MalcolmFraser was giving advice to a young officer, Nairne's son, he advisedhim not to be too critical of the actions of his superiors. Theconfident young diarist of 1760 had meanwhile learned reserve. But hewas not alone among the Highlanders in his criticism of Murray. A Murrayled at Culloden in April, 1746, as at Quebec in April, 1760. LieutenantCharles Stewart was wounded in both battles; as he lay in Quebecsurrounded by brother officers he said, "From April battles and Murraygenerals, Good Lord deliver me. " It is to General Murray's credit that, when the remark was repeated to him, he called on his subordinate toexpress the hope for better luck next time. 

A little later Quebec was saved by the arrival of a British fleet andthe French fell back on Montreal. Murray followed them but theHighlanders remained in garrison at Quebec, apparently because, withhalf the officers and men invalided, they could make but a poor musterfor active campaigning. It thus happened that Nairne and Fraser did notshare the glory of being present at the fall of Montreal. There, on aSeptember day in 1760, the Governor of Canada, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, handed over to General Amherst, the Commander-in-Chief in America of thearmies of Great Britain, the vast territory which he had ruled. It wasnot certain, albeit the great Pitt was resolved what to do, that, whenthe war ended, the country would not be handed back to France. TheFrench officers professed, indeed, to believe that a peace was imminentby which France should save what she held in America. Meanwhile, however, they and their regiments were to be sent to France. The fewresidents at Malbaie whom Captain Gorham had spared, looking out acrossthe river in October, 1760, saw it dotted with the white sails of manyships outward bound. Though they floated the British flag, their deckswere crowded with the soldiers of France now carried home by thetriumphant conqueror. 

But more than the soldiers went back to France. Rather than live underthe sway of the British, many civilians also left Canada, among themsome of the seigneurs of Canadian manors. Land was cheap in Canada andit is not to be wondered at that young British officers, seeking theirfortune, should have thought of settling in the country. A hundredyears earlier French officers of the Carignan Regiment had abandonedtheir military careers to become Canadian seigneurs. In the end JohnNairne and Malcolm Fraser took up this project most warmly and in theirplan to get land they had the support of their commanding officer, General Murray. Murrays, Nairnes and Frasers had all fought on theJacobite side in 1745; and we know how the Scots hold together. 

[Illustration: GENERAL JAMES MURRAY]

James Murray, son of a Scottish peer, Lord Elibank, was himself still ayoung man of only a little more than thirty, --a high-spirited, brave, generous and impulsive officer. His family played some considerable partin the life of the time and they were always suspected of Jacobiteleanings. Murray's brother, Lord Elibank, was a leader among theScottish wits of his day. Dr. Johnson's famous quip against the Scotswhen he defined oatmeal as a food in England for horses and in Scotlandfor men was met by Elibank's neat retort: "And where will you find suchhorses and such men?" Another brother, Alexander, was a forerunner ofJohn Wilkes the radical; the cry of "Murray and Liberty" was heard inLondon long before that of "Wilkes and Liberty. " A third brother, Georgebecame an admiral. General James Murray sometimes described himself as asoldier of fortune. He was certainly not rich. Yet now when many of theCanadian seigneurs sold their manors, in some way Murray was able topurchase half a dozen of these vast estates. He bought that of Lauzonopposite Quebec on which now stands the town of Levis and half a dozenvillages. He bought St. Jean and Sans-Bruit (now Belmont), near Quebec, Rivière du Loup and Madawaska, on the lower St. Lawrence, and Foucaulton Lake Champlain. 

To Nairne and Fraser, brave young Scots, who had done good service, Murray was specially attracted. Nairne, though only a lieutenant, till1761, when he purchased a captaincy, was his junior by but a few years;Lieutenant Malcolm Fraser was three years younger than Nairne. The youngmen were seeking their fortunes but since they had very little money tobuy estates, as Murray did, they could not expect to get land in themore settled parts of the country. For them Malbaie was a promisingfield and in September, 1761, they went down to have a look at it. Theproperty was vested in the government, for which Murray could act. Itwas not wholly untrodden wilderness, for some land was cleared and agood deal of live stock still remained. The houses too had not beenentirely destroyed by Gorham's men. The war had not yet ended. It wasstill uncertain whether Britain would hold Canada. But, for the moment, there was little to do. It was possible that in Canada furtheropportunities of military service would not be wanting. As seigneurs inCanada the young officers would retain rank as gentlemen and would notsink to the social level of mere cultivators of the soil. The experiencetoo of founding settlements in the Canadian wilderness hadcompensations. Good sport was always to be had. They could pay at leastannual visits to Quebec for a few weeks, and were, perhaps, hardly moreremote from the cultivated world than some of the chieftains in theirown Scottish Highlands. 

The survey of Malbaie must have proved satisfactory. It is true, as theyoung officers said, that there was an over-abundance of "mountains andmorasses, " with good land scattered only here and there. But in theirformal proposals to Murray they made this fact the plea for the grant ofa larger area. Nairne apparently had greater resources than Fraser and, being now a captain, was his senior in rank. He asked for the moreimportant tract lying west of the little river at Malbaie and stretchingto the seigniory of Les Eboulements, Fraser for that lying east of theriver and stretching some eighteen miles along the St. Lawrence to theRivière Noire. The grants were to extend for three leagues into theinterior. They were to be held under seigniorial tenure but Nairne askedfor 3000 acres of freehold and Fraser for 2000. They thus close theirpetition to Murray: "This [request], if his Excellency is pleased togrant, will make the proposers extremely happy, and they shall foreverretain the most grateful remembrance of his bounty; and [they] hope hisExcellency will be pleased in the grant to allow them to give the landsto be granted such a name as may perpetuate their sense of his greatkindness to them. " They got what they asked for. It may indeed bedoubted whether Murray had any right to allot huge areas of land in acountry which had not yet been ceded finally to Great Britain, but anydefects of title in this respect were corrected long after by new grantsunder the great seal. As it was, Murray wrote on a sheet of ordinaryfoolscap, still preserved at Murray Bay, a brief deed of the land[6]and, behold, the two young officers have become landed proprietors! Totheir request for permission to use Murray's name, in gratefulremembrance of his kindness, he also assented. Nairne's seigniory was tobe called Murray's Bay and Fraser's Mount Murray. The grants were madebecause "it is a national advantage and tends to promote the cultivationof lands within the province to encourage His Majesty's natural-bornsubjects settling within the same"; and the consideration was "thefaithful services" rendered by the two officers. 

A good deal of stock and farm implements remained at Malbaie and thisthe new proprietors arranged to buy, giving in payment their promissorynotes, Nairne's for £85, 6s. 8d. , currency and Fraser, who got onlyone-third, his for £42, 13s. 4d. They seem to have had a good deal fortheir money. There were a score and a half or so of cattle, four or fivehorses, (one of them twenty-two years old), twenty sheep, fourteen pigs, besides chickens and other living creatures. In addition there werewaggons and other farm appliances, most of them probably old and oflittle use, though they must have helped to tide over the firstdifficult days when everything would have to be provided. 

On getting his grant Nairne retired from the army on half pay, butFraser remained on active service for many years still. Thus Nairne wasthe more continuously resident at Murray Bay and in its development heplayed the greater part. Fraser's interests were divided, not onlybetween Murray Bay and the army, but also between Murray Bay and anotherseigniory which he secured on the south side of the river at Rivière duLoup and known as Fraserville. For us therefore the interest at MurrayBay now centres chiefly in Nairne and his family. 

[Footnote 3: The name Simon Fraser appears with credit more than once inCanadian history. It was a Simon Fraser who crossed the Rocky Mountainsand first followed for its whole course the Fraser River named afterhim. ]

[Footnote 4: Waverley, Chapter II. ]

[Footnote 5: See Appendix A. , p. 249. "Journal of Malcolm Fraser, FirstSeigneur of Mount Murray, Malbaie. "]

[Footnote 6: See copy of the grant in Appendix B. , p. 271. ]

CHAPTER III

JOHN NAIRNE, SEIGNEUR OF MURRAY BAY

 Colonel Nairne's portrait. --His letters. --The first Scottish settlers at Malbaie. --Nairne's finance. --His tasks. --The curé's work. --The Scottish settlers and their French wives. --The Church and Education. --Nairne's efforts to make Malbaie Protestant. --His war on idleness. --The character of the habitant. --Fishing at Malbaie. --Trade at Malbaie. --Farming at Malbaie. --Nairne's marriage. --Career and death in India of Robert Nairne. --The Quebec Act and its consequences for the habitant. 

In the dining room of the Manor House at Murray Bay Nairne's portraitstill hangs. It was painted, probably in Scotland, when he was an oldman, by an artist, to me unknown. The face is refined, showingkindliness and gentleness in the lines of the mouth, and revealing the"friendly honest man" that he aspired to be. His nose is big and inspite of the prevailing gentleness of demeanour the thin lips, pressedtogether, indicate some vigour of character. He has the watery eye ofold age and this takes away somewhat from the impression of energy. Itis not a clever face but honest, rather sad, and unmistakeably Scottishin type. Nairne wears the red coat of the British officer and a wig inthe fashion of the time. The portrait might be one of a frequenter ofcourt functions in London rather than that of a hardy pioneer at MurrayBay, who had carried on a stern battle with the wilderness. 

Nairne was a good letter writer. To his kin in Scotland he sent from thebeginning voluminous annual epistles. They are not such as we now write, hurriedly scratched off in a few minutes. With abundant time at hisdisposal Nairne could write what must have occupied many days. Whenwritten, the letters were sometimes copied in a book almost as large asan office ledger. It is well that this was done, for in this book ispreserved almost the sole record of the life at Murray Bay of a centuryand a half ago. The pages are still fresh and the handwriting, while notthat of one much accustomed to use the pen, is clear and vigorous. Thezeal for copying letters was intermittent. There are gaps, covering manyyears. Then, for a time, not only the letters sent, but those received, are copied into the book. In the long winter evenings there was not muchto do. Malcolm Fraser, it is true, lived just across the river at theneighbouring manor house. But Malcolm was more usually away than not. Besides, as one grows older, there is no place like one's own firesideof a winter evening. So our good seigneur read and dozed and wrote andwe are grateful that he has told us so much about past days. 

Nairne's first visit to Malbaie was, as we have seen, in the autumn of1761, when he took possession of his seigniory. Not until the followingyear was the formal grant made by Murray. Long afterwards, in 1798, writing to a friend, Hepburn, in Scotland, Nairne recalled his arrivalat his future home. "I came here first in 1761 with five soldiers [alas, we do not know their names!] and procured some Canadian servants. Onesmall house contained us all for several years and [we] were separatedfrom every other people for about eighteen miles without any road. " Hecontrasts this with what he sees about him at the time of writing--aparish with more than five hundred inhabitants, with one hundred mencapable of bearing arms, grist mills, fisheries, good houses and barns, fertile fields, a priest, a chapel, and so on. The five soldiers of whomNairne speaks were no doubt men of the 78th Highlanders and ancestors ofa goodly portion of the population of Malbaie at the present time. Perhaps some of them had fought at Culloden; certainly all fought atLouisbourg and Quebec. 

In the first days at Murray Bay Nairne was in debt. In 1761, probably topurchase his captaincy, he had incurred a considerable obligation to hisfriend General Murray; where Murray got £400 to lend him is a mystery, for he was himself always pressed for funds. With everything to do atMurray Bay, mills to be built, roads to be opened, a manor house to beconstructed, it was not easy to get together any money; for years thedebt hung like a mill-stone round Nairne's neck. But he had always acertain, if small, revenue in his half pay and, in time, he acquired, chiefly by inheritance, what was, for that period in Canada, aconsiderable fortune. In 1766, when Nairne was in Scotland, GeneralMurray, who had himself just arrived from Canada, wrote urgently to askfor payment. Murray owed to a Mr. Ross £8, 000 and could not borrow oneshilling in England on his estates in Canada; so he said "delay will bea very terrible disappointment to me. " But this disappointment he had tobear. In 1770 the debt was still unpaid and may have remained so forsome years longer. Happily the friendship between the former comradeswas not impaired by their financial relations. Murray promised to putNairne in the way of being "very comfortable and easy" in Canada, if hewould follow his advice, but nothing came of his offer. For some yearsafter 1761 Nairne thought of returning to Scotland, whither ties of kindrew him strongly. But his father's death in 1766 or 1767 helped toweaken these ties. In any case Scotland offered no career and he must dosomething to pay the debt to Murray and to provide for himself. 

Nairne's chief task as seigneur was to put settlers on his huge tract. The seigneur, indeed, discharged functions similar to those of a moderncolonization company, but with differences that in some respects favourthe older system. Now-a-days the occupier buys the land and thecolonization company gets the best possible price for what it has tosell; it can hold for a rise in value and, if it likes, can refuse tosell at all. Nairne had no such powers. Under the law, if a reputableperson applied for land, he must let him have it. Settlers required nocapital to buy their land, and, as long as they paid their merelynominal rent, they could not be disturbed in their holdings. The rentamounted to about one cent an acre, and some twenty cents or a livecapon for each of the two or three arpents of frontage which a farmwould have. The rent charge was uniform and depended not upon thequality of the land or upon the individual seigneur but upon what wasusual in the district; moreover, under the French law, no matter howvaluable the land became, the rent could not be increased and, though sotrifling, it was rarely required until the settler's farm had begun tobe productive. Sometimes in a single year Nairne would put as many astwenty brawny young fellows on his land to hew out homes for themselves. Each of them got a tract of about one hundred acres and, as the annualrental received for a dozen farms would be hardly more than twentydollars, the seigneur reaped no great profit from his tenants. It wasonly when a tenant sold a holding, that the seigneur secured anyconsiderable sum. To him then went one-twelfth of the price. The otherchief source of profit, as settlement increased, was from theseigneur's mill. To it all the occupiers of his land must bring theirgrain and pay a fixed charge for its grinding. In scattered settlementsthe mill brought little profit and was a source of expense rather thanof income. But, as population increased, this "_droit de banalité_"became valuable. The mill at Malbaie was, in time, very prosperous. 

In Canada the seigneur was not the oppressor of his people but rathertheir watchful guardian. He planned roads and other improvements, checked abuses, and enforced justice. At his side stood, usually, thepriest. The moment a parish was established a curé was entitled to thetithe; near every manor house, the village church was sure to spring up. Even when, as at Malbaie, the priest and the seigneur were not of thesame faith they were often fast friends. Nairne's relations were goodwith the neighbouring curé, when, at length, Malbaie had a residentpriest. Each village would thus usually have at least two men of someculture working together for its spiritual and temporal interests. Bothremained in touch with the outside world; the priest with his bishop atQuebec, the seigneur with the representative there of the sovereign. Upon each change of governor Nairne was required to appear at Quebec torender fealty and homage. With head uncovered and wearing neither swordnor spur he must kneel before the governor, and take oath on theGospels to be faithful to the king, to be party to nothing against hisinterests, to perform all the duties required by the terms of hisholding, and, especially, to appear in arms to defend the province ifattacked. We find Nairne excused by General Haldimand in 1781 fromdischarging this ceremony, but only because he was away on activeservice. 

When Nairne settled at Murray Bay he was unmarried and so, no doubt, were the soldiers he brought with him. Only after five or six years didhe himself find a wife but we may be sure that his men did not wait solong. What more natural than that they should marry the French Canadianservants of whom Nairne speaks? A visitor at Murray Bay is struck withnames like McNicol, Harvey, Blackburn, McLean, and one or two othersthat have a decidedly North British ring. Some, if not all, are names ofone or other of the half dozen soldiers who settled at Murray Bay inNairne's time. There was no disbanding there of a regiment, as traditionhas it. In time the 78th Highlanders were disbanded, but certainly notat Murray Bay, and, though hundreds of them remained in Canada, only afew individual soldiers came to Nairne's settlement. Already when hearrived French Canadians were there and from the first the community wasprevailingly French and Catholic. In 1784 when joined with LesEboulements and Isle aux Coudres under a single priest Malbaie alreadyhad 65 communicants. As likely as not some even of the Highlanders wereCatholics. In any case their children became such and spoke French, thetongue of their mothers; even Nairne's own children spoke only Frenchuntil they went to Quebec to school. 

When, from time to time, a missionary priest visited the place hebaptized children of Catholic and Protestant alike, including even thechildren of the Protestant family in the manor house. The only religiousservices that the people ever shared in were those of the Roman CatholicChurch. Nairne would have wished it otherwise. He held sturdy Protestantviews, and wished to bring in Protestant settlers. On one or more of hisvisits to Scotland he made efforts to induce Scots to move to Canada. But he met with no great success. A Scottish friend, Gilchrist, who hadvisited Nairne at Murray Bay, writes, in 1775, to express hope that hewill not encourage French settlers who will rob him, who have"disingenuous, lying, cheating, detestable dispositions, " and are the"banes of society. " He adds, "I am glad you give me reason to believeyou are to carry over some industrious honest people from hence withyou. I am convinced 'twere easy by introducing a few such [to bringabout that] the dupes to the most foolish and absurd religion now in theworld might be warmed out and your quiet as well as interest establishedfrom Point au Pique to the Lake. "[7] The Roman Catholic faith had morevitality than Nairne's correspondent supposed. It was Protestantism thatshould in time be "warmed out" of Murray Bay. 

To prevent this Nairne did what he could; for a long time he entertainedhopes not only that the Protestants at Murray Bay might be held to theirfaith but also that the Roman Catholics would be led into the Protestantfold. His chief complaint against the Roman Catholic Church was inregard to education. There was woeful ignorance. Nairne was in commandof the local militia and he found that officers of militia, and even aneighbouring seigneur, could not read. When Roman Catholic services wereheld at Murray Bay, as they were regularly before he died, the tonguewas one that the people did not understand. At the services there wasnothing "but a few lighted candles, in defyance of the sun, and thepriest singing and reading Latin or Greek.... None of us understands aword. " He complains of "the greatest deficiency in preaching sentimentsof morality and virtue. " Indeed, very few of the priests could preach orsay anything in public beyond the Latin mass. Nairne tried to securebetter means of educating his people. Probably earlier also, butcertainly in 1791, he was writing to the Anglican Bishop of Quebec tohelp him to do something. He lives, he says, in "the most Northerly and, I believe, the poorest parish on the Continent of America. " The peoplecannot read and have no literary amusement. Their idle days they spendin drunkenness and debauchery and he wishes something done for them. Tenyears later Nairne is returning to the charge. There are five Protestantfamilies in the neighbourhood. They cannot even be baptized except bythe curé. They cannot get any Protestant instruction; so the Protestantchildren are reared Roman Catholics. Nairne wished to have a Protestantclergyman established at Murray Bay; he could make that place hisheadquarters and carry on missionary work in the neighbouring parishes. But the five Protestant families at Murray Bay soon became three, forNairne says, in 1801, that his and Colonel Fraser's families and oneother man, an Englishman, are the only remaining Protestants. He andFraser, he adds, are growing old and, in any case, it was doubtfulwhether the Englishman would attend service. 

Yet Nairne still begged for a Protestant missionary. He desired most ofall a free school. The teacher should be, he says, French but able alsoto preach in English; there was now no school at Murray Bay; a freeschool and a church system which would release the people from payingtithes could work wonders and, probably, most of the people would soonbecome Protestants. Knowing the tenacity with which the FrenchCanadians have clung to their faith, it seems hardly likely thatNairne's dreams would have been realized. At any rate nothing was done. At that time there were hardly more than a dozen Anglican clergymen inall Canada and the Bishop of Quebec had no one to spare to look afterthe few scattered sheep at Murray Bay. On the other hand the rivalChurch did not forget her own. Long before the British conquestoccasional services had been held at Malbaie and these were continued, with some regularity, until a resident priest came in 1797. The visitingpriests worked hard. They were, Nairne says, "industrious in private toconfess the people, especially the women, which branch of their duty isdeemed most sacred and necessary. " Against this tremendous power of theconfessional, Protestantism had nothing that could be called an opposinginfluence. When a Protestant died he might not, of course, be buried inthe Roman Catholic burial ground. For these outcast dead Nairne setaside a plot near his own house, where, still, under a little clump oftrees, their bones lie, neglected and forgotten. Not more than half adozen Protestants were ever buried there and this shows that even theProtestant pioneers were few in number; hardly one of their childrenremained outside the Roman Church. 

Nairne thought the Canadians not too prone to industry and he deploredthe multitude of religious holidays that gave an excuse for idleness. In a year there were not less than forty, in addition to Sundays, and onsome of the holidays, such as that of the patron saint of the parish, there were scenes of great disorder. Nairne wrote on the subject to theRoman Catholic Bishop of Quebec asking him to take steps to ensure thatthe people might come to think it not sinful but virtuous to work forsix days in the week. The Bishop promised consideration of the matter. Already it had been under debate and in the end the Bishop gave ordersthat labour might continue on most of the Church's festivals; that ofthe patron saint of the parish was in time abolished. Nairne thus helpedto bring about a considerable industrial reform. But beyond this heachieved little. 

The French Canadians, who occupied his vacant acres, have shown both amarvellous tenacity for their own customs and also a fecundity that hasenabled people, numbering 60, 000 at the time of the British conquest, tomultiply now to some 2, 500, 000, scattered over the United States andCanada. To govern them has never been an easy problem. Nairne says thatthe French officer, Bougainville, who had known the Canadians in manycampaigns, called them at Murray's table a brave and submissive people;he thought they needed the strong hand of authority and added that hewas sure the British method of government would soon spoil them. Underthe French régime they had had no gleam of political liberty. For twentyyears before the conquest France had exacted from them the fullestpossible measure of military service. The British ended this and broughtliberty. Its growth is sometimes so rapid as to be noxious, and, nodoubt, some of those who came to Nairne's domain gave him much trouble. "No people, " Nairne said of them, "stand more in awe of punishment whenconvinced that there is power to inflict it, as none are so easilyspoiled as to be mutinous by indulgences. " Some of them showed strikingintelligence: in 1784 we find Nairne recommending for appointment asNotary one Malteste (no doubt the well-known name Maltais is a laterform) as a "remarkable honest, well-behaved countryman with moreeducation than is commonly to be found with one in his station. " Thedwellers at Malbaie were for the most part a quiet people entirelyuntouched by the movements of the outside world. "Nothing here, " wroteNairne in 1798, "is considered of importance but producing food tosatisfy craving Stomachs, which the people of this cold and healthycountry remarkably possess, and to feed numbers of children.... Theyhave no other ambition or consideration whatever but simply to procurefood and raiment for themselves and their numerous families. "

They had a very clear idea of their rights. Nairne's grant conferredupon him those of fishing and hunting. But the inhabitants declared thatwhen land was once granted, the seigneur lost all control over theadjoining waters. Nairne wished, for instance, to prohibit the spearingof salmon at night by the Canadians, with the aid of torches orlanterns. But they had never been hampered by such restrictions and, when Nairne tried to check them, they said that they would not behindered. It was in vain that he said "I had rather have no power at alland no seigneurie at all [than] not to be able to keep up the rights ofit. " When, in 1797, he ordered one Joseph Villeneuve to cease the"flambeau" fishing at night, the fellow "roared and bellowed" and sethim at defiance; no less than twenty companions joined him in thefishing. They would acknowledge no law nor restraint and seem to havehad _force majeure_ on their side. It was not until long after that thelegislature at Quebec passed strict laws regulating the modes offishing. 

Whatever the limitations on the seigneur's authority he had theundoubted right of control over fishing in rivers and lakes until theadjacent lands were conceded to occupiers. It was important, therefore, not to grant lands which carried with them the best fishing and Nairne'sardent friend Gilchrist kept exhorting him from Scotland on this point. "There is no place ... I would so willingly and happily pass life in, "he wrote, in 1775, "as in your Neighbourhood and often have I beenseized with the memory of your easy and uncontrolled way of rising, lying, dancing, drinking, &c. , at your habitation.... One hope ... Iwish to be well founded and that is that your Stewart, Factor orAttorney, has not conceded any lands with the River in front from theRapides du Vieux Moulin. If otherwise, you have lost more than theprofits [which] all above Brassar's will yield in our lifetime. Thefishing in that part of the River is alone worth crossing the Atlantic. "

Over trade Nairne and Fraser tried to exercise some real control. Theirgrants gave them no right to trade with the Indians and in reality noauthority over trade. But they were guardians of the law and took stepsto check traders from violating it. One Brassard, who lived up theMurray River, seems to have been a frequent offender. It was easy todebauch the Indians with drink and then to get their furs for verylittle and the seigneurs needed always to be alert. In 1778 we findMalcolm Fraser making with one Hugh Blackburn a bargain which outlineswhat the seigneurs tried to do in regard to trade. Blackburn bindshimself in the sum of £200 to obey certain restrictions: he will notattempt to debauch the Indians belonging to the King's Posts; in nocircumstances will he sell them liquor; nor will he sell liquor oncredit to anyone. He will obey the lawful orders of Nairne and Fraserrelative to the carrying on of his trade; he will pay his debts, andwill make others pay what they owe him, refusing them credit if accountsare not paid within six months. In consideration of these pledges byBlackburn Fraser guarantees his credit with the Quebec merchants. Thedifficulty in regard to trade with the Indians settled itself by thetragic remedy of their gradual extinction. In 1800 Nairne says that theMicmacs, once a great nuisance, are now rarely seen. 

Nairne was a good farmer and his letters contain many references tofarming operations. At Murray Bay, he says, plowing goes on for sevenmonths in the year, from the middle of April to the middle of November. But the Canadians do not plough well; they do not understand how topreserve the crops when cut; and, on the whole, are backward inagriculture. He himself preserved for a domain more land than he couldever get cleared, for this clearing was heavy work. Some of the soil atMurray Bay is very good. Gilchrist writes indeed to say that he has beentalking in Scotland about Nairne's land. "On my mentioning that you hadlime, without digging for it, it was acknowledged that you possessed allthe advantages possible and that anything might be done with ground suchas yours which is dry; and I verily believe would you thoroughly limeyour land you may keep it in crops as long as you please and haveprodigious returns. " Good farming, he says, Nairne may have and heshould preserve good fishing; then Murray Bay will be perfect. "If Ihave the pleasure of seeing your sisters, I'll represent Mal Bay as thecounterpart of Paradise before the fall. " He adds some localcharacterizations. "Catish will do for Eve, La Grange for Adam, andDufour for the Devil. "

Nairne was married in 1766 to Christiana Emery. Of her history I knownothing, except that she was born in Edinburgh and married in Canada. Soon after marriage Nairne paid a long visit to Scotland and there in1767 the freedom of the borough of Sterling was conferred upon him. Mrs. Nairne must have been considerably younger than her husband, for thoughhe lived to ripe old age, she survived him by twenty-six years, dying atMurray Bay in 1828. Whether she brought any dowry I do not know; Nairnecertainly had had in mind the improvement of his position by marrying. Nine children were born to them but three died in childhood of anepidemic fever that broke out at Murray Bay in 1773 while Nairne was inScotland. A fourth child, Anne, died of consumption. Five children livedto grow up--three daughters and two sons. 

Canada seemed so remote that it was not easy for Nairne to keep in touchwith his kin. The scattering of families, one of the penalties ImperialBritain, with a world wide domain, imposes upon her sons, had takenNairne's brother Robert to India. At a time only ten years later thanClive's great victory of Plassey, Britain's grasp on the country was, asyet, by no means certain and India was amazingly remote; five yearsusually elapsed between the sending of a letter to India from Canada andthe receipt of a reply! On January 5th, 1770, Robert Nairne writes fromMarlborough, India, acknowledging a letter from his brother John, onlyrecently received, dated April 21, 1767. The brothers discuss familynews and family plans, their old father's health, the desirability ofsettling down at home in Scotland, the life each is living, remote fromthat home. Though an officer, Robert engaged in trade and made somemoney. "The Company's pay is hardly subsistence, " he says, "and here wehave not, as on t'other side of India the spoils of plundered provincesto grow fat on. I keep my health very well and if I want thesatisfaction, I am also free from many Anxietys, people are subject towho are more in the glare of life. " He was in a retired place, wherethere were few people and perennial summer, with "no variety of seasonsnor of anything else. " Time passes insensibly, he says; "in India yearsare like months in Europe ... I write, read, walk and go in company thesame round nearly throughout the year. Here we have little company; yeteveryone wants to go to out settlements where they are quite alone. Icannot account for it. Mal Bay is your out settlement. Do you like thatas well as Quebec?"

Robert Nairne was something of a philosopher. "Have you ever so muchphilosophy, " he writes to the seigneur of Murray Bay in 1767, "as tothink everything that happens is for the best? I am so far of that mindthat content and discontent I think arises [_sic_] rather from the castof our own thoughts than from outward accidents and that there is nearlyan equal distribution of the means of happiness to all men, and thatthey are the happiest that improve their means the most. " He felt theweariness of exile, the Scot's longing for his own land. "Certainly to aperson of a right tone of mind if there are enjoyments in life, it mustbe in our own country amongst our friends and relations. With suchconditions the bare necessaries of life are better than riches withoutthem.... Death is but a limited absence and you and I are much in thatstate with regard to our friends at home. "

It was not long before Robert Nairne's letters ceased altogether. In1776, John Nairne received at Murray Bay the sad news that, in Novemberor December, 1774, his brother had been killed in a petty expeditionagainst some local tribesmen. A native chieftain had murdered, cookedand eaten a rival who was friendly to the East India Company and RobertNairne with some natives, and only three Europeans, went up country, through woods and bogs, to seize the offender. When there was fightinghis natives fled, and he was shot through the body. It was a pity, saysJohn Nairne's correspondent, Hepburn, to lose his life "in so silly amanner. " He would soon have been governor of Bencoolen and was in a wayto make "a great figure in life. " Of his fortune of £6, 000 John Nairnereceived a part. Twenty-five years after his brother's death Nairne wasto get at Murray Bay similar news of the loss of his own son in distantIndia. It has levied a heavy tribute of Britain's best blood. 

In 1774 Nairne again revisited Scotland. Though no politician, he musthave heard much about the Quebec Act, then before the ImperialParliament. The Governor of Canada, Sir Guy Carleton, after carefulconsideration of the whole question, had reached the conclusion, notbelied by subsequent history, as far as the Province of Quebec isconcerned, that Canada would always be French and that, with some slightmodifications, the French system found there by Britain should be givenfinal and legal status under British supremacy. So the Quebec Act waspassed in 1774. While the British criminal law was introduced, theFrench civil law, including the land system under which Nairne heldMurray Bay, was left unchanged. The Bill gave the Church the sameprivileged position that it had enjoyed under Catholic sovereigns. Thetithe could be collected by legal process; taxation for church purposesvoted by the parochial authority called the _fabrique_ was as compulsoryas civil taxes, unless the person taxed declared that he was not a RomanCatholic; and the whole ecclesiastical system of New France wassupported and encouraged. The Bill caused much irritation in ProtestantNew England, which saw some malicious design in the establishment ofRoman Catholicism on its borders. The Continental Congress of 1775denounced the Quebec Act, and even the Declaration of Independence hassomething to say about it. 

It is obvious that Nairne disliked the Bill. His irrepressible friend, Gilchrist, wrote giving a picture of its probable dire social results, upsetting all domestic relations between the two races. The Bill, saysGilchrist, "is the most pernicious [that] could have been devised. Judgeof the Fêtes now that the fools have got the sanction of the BritishParliament to their beggaring principles. It is not clear that yourProtestant servants will [even] be allowed to work upon their [the RomanCatholic] idle days. What would you and I think on being told by theseblack rascals [the priests are meant of course] that our people, I meanProtestants, durst not obey our orders without a dispensation fromthem?"

The social consequences of the Quebec Act did not prove as revolutionaryas Nairne's animated correspondent feared. Less than is usually supposeddid the habitant like it since it placed him again under the priest'sand the seigneur's authority, suspended since the British conquest. Tothe English colonies it added one to other causes of friction that bodedtrouble to the British Empire. In the previous year the people of Bostonhad defied Britain, by throwing into their harbour cargoes of tea uponwhich the owners proposed to pay a hated duty, levied by outsideauthority. The Quebec Act brought a final rupture a step nearer and atlast there was open war. "The colonists have brought things to a crisisnow, indeed;" wrote Gilchrist; "the consequences must be dreadful tothem soon and I am afraid in the end to our country. " To Great Britainindeed disastrous they were to be and soon the seigneur of Murray Baywas busy with his share in preparing for the conflict. 

[Footnote 7: The Lake is no doubt Lake Nairne, the present Grand Lac. ]

CHAPTER IV

JOHN NAIRNE IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

 Nairne's work among the French Canadians. --He becomes Major of the Royal Highland Emigrants. --Arnold's march through the wilderness to Quebec. --Quebec during the Siege, 1775-76. --The habitants and the Americans. --Montgomery's plans. --The assault on December 31st, 1775. --Malcolm Fraser gives the alarm in Quebec. --Montgomery's death. --Arnold's attack. --Nairne's heroism. --Arnold's failure. --The American fire-ship. --The arrival of a British fleet. --The retreat of the Americans. --Nairne's later service in the War. --Isle aux Noix and Carleton Island. --Sir John Johnson and the desolation of New York. --Nairne and the American prisoners at Murray Bay. --Their escape and capture. --Nairne and the Loyalists. --The end of the War. --Nairne's retirement to Murray Bay. 

When war with the revolted colonies grew imminent, it was obvious that aman of Nairne's experience in military matters would soon be needed. Oneaim of the government was to keep the French Canadians quiet bydisarming their prejudices and impressing upon them their duty to GeorgeIII. From Quebec, on July 13th, 1775, Nairne was given instructions toundertake this work for his district. Self-control and coolpersuasiveness fitted him for his task, he was told; his work would beto visit all the parishes on the north shore, with the aim of winningthe loyal support of the French Canadians during the coming struggle. Though fifteen years of tranquility under the mild British sway had madethe habitants prosperous and averse to war, it was still possible to getfrom them useful military service, under the leadership of Britishofficers. Nairne was to tell them that the Americans would borrow theirdollars, take their provisions, pay for them only in worthless lettersof credit upon the Congress, and even make free with their lands. He wasto show, also, how bitterly the Protestant English colonies hated theRoman Catholic faith of the Canadians. A British fleet, he was to add, would soon arrive and, if the Canadians joined the revolt, the secondBritish conquest would be shorter and not quite so gentle as the first;for "a fair and open enemy is a different thing from a rebel and atraitor. "

Fifteen years earlier the Canadians had borne a heavy part in defendingtheir country against the British assailant; now they were to fight inhis interests. Whenever possible Nairne was to employ the same oldCaptains of militia who had fought the battles of France against theBritish; he was to make a roll of those fit to bear arms, and to reportthe number of discharged soldiers in his district. To him were entrustedcommissions for Captains whom he might select; the inferior officers hemight also name. The Church aided his work as much as possible, theVicar-General sending to the priests instructions to this effect. 

On taking up his task Nairne found that at Murray Bay there werethirty-two men between the ages of 16 and 55. When summoned to meet himthey were respectful, but showed fear of having to serve in the army andpleaded that they were only a new settlement. Had there been, as is sogenerally supposed, many disbanded soldiers among them we should havehad a different tale but, already, in 1775, most of the people at MurrayBay were French. Neither they nor their neighbours showed any zeal forthe upholding of British rule in Canada. At Les Eboulements and Baie St. Paul, whither Nairne went, the inhabitants were respectful, as at MurrayBay, but also objected to military service. At Isle aux Coudres theydisregarded Nairne's summons to meet him, while at St. Anne de Beaupréthey made open manifestations of hostility. 

In the actual fighting, now imminent, Nairne was eager to take part, and, on August 12th, he wrote to Sir Guy Carleton offering himself forany service and applying for a vacant captaincy. On the 9th of Septemberhe received an urgent summons to Quebec, and, from that time, for six orseven years, he was engaged in the great fratricidal struggle. 

Again, in a time of crisis, Great Britain made special use of theHighlanders. Many of those who had served during the conquest of Canadahad become settlers in the New World. Now at the call to arms some ofthem--between one and two hundred--rallied again to fight Britain'sbattles. They were formed into a regiment known as the Royal HighlandEmigrants. It was not a regular corps but was organized for this specialcampaign only. Nairne's rank in the regular army was that of Captain;now he was given the duty of Major, though this promotion was not yetpermanent. Malcolm Fraser served in the same corps as Captain andPaymaster. The commanding officer, Colonel Allan McLean, was brave andindefatigable and he and his Highlanders played a creditable part in thework of saving Canada for Britain. 

When the American colonies saw that the war was inevitable they saw toothat Quebec was the key of the situation. Washington himself declaredthat in favour of the holders of Quebec would the balance turn in thegreat conflict. From the outset there was an eager desire to attack theCanadian capital. Washington believed--with some truth, indeed, --thatits defences were ridiculous. He thought, too, that the Governor, SirGuy Carleton, had no money to buy even provisions, that the Canadianswere eager to throw off the yoke of Great Britain and to co-operate withthe revolted colonies, and that some even of the few regulars to befound in Quebec would join the colonial army. To take Quebec seemed, therefore, comparatively easy, and the task was undertaken by a man witha sinister name for posterity as a traitor to the young republic, but avigorous and able officer, --Colonel Benedict Arnold. Wolfe's rôle Arnoldessayed to play and Wolfe's fame he fondly hoped would be his. 

A fundamental difference existed, however, between Arnold's task andthat of Wolfe. Wolfe's army had been carried to Quebec in ships;Arnold's was to advance by land. He chose the shortest route to Quebecfrom the New England seaboard. It lay through the untrodden wildernessand its difficulties were terrible. Half of it was up the Kennebec riveralong whose shallow upper reaches the men would have to drag their boatson chill autumn days in water sometimes to their waists; then they musttake them over the steep watershed dividing the waters flowing northwardto the St. Lawrence from those flowing southward to the Atlantic. Evenwhen they embarked on the upper waters of the Chaudière, which flowsinto the St. Lawrence near Quebec, the hardships were killing. Thenumerous rapids and falls on that swift and turbulent river would wrecktheir boats. At the time no fleet defended Quebec. If, instead ofadvancing by this land route, the Americans had been able to bring, bysea, an adequate force as Wolfe had done, the later history of Canadamight indeed have been different. 

Arnold set out in the middle of September with 1100 or 1200 men, --"thevery flower of the colonial youth" they have been called. Many werehardy frontier men trained in Indian wars, who knew well thedifficulties of the wilderness. But now they were face to face withsomething more difficult than they had ever before encountered. When oneParson Emerson had committed the enterprise to the divine care in aprayer that, tradition says, lasted for one hour and three-quarters, thearmy began its struggle across the dreadful three hundred miles offorest. The swollen rivers swept away much ammunition and food, untilupon the army settled down the horror of starvation. The boats proved tobe badly built; their crews were always wet and shivering. At night themen had sometimes to gather on a narrow footing of dry land in the midstof a swamp and huddled over a fire that at any moment rain mightextinguish. The cold became terrible. Many lay down by the trail to die. When the journey was half over, Colonel Enos, deeming it useless to leadthe force farther amid such conditions, turned back. With him went somehundreds of men; but Arnold held on grimly. He pushed ahead to getsuccour for his starving force from the Canadian settlements nearQuebec. With a few boats and canoes his party committed themselves tothe Chaudière river. In two hours Arnold was swept down twenty miles, steering as best he could through the rapids, and avoiding the rocks, inthe angry river. At one place all his boats and canoes were carried overa fall and capsized, the occupants struggling to land. But this recklesscourage did wonders. By October 30th, after more than a month ofunspeakable hardship, Arnold had reached the borderland of civilizationin Canada, and was sending back provisions to his men. It is littleshort of marvellous that at Point Levi on November 9th he could mustersix hundred men, five hundred of whom were fit for duty. 

The Canadians and Indians had been very friendly; without their aid thegreater part of Arnold's force would have perished. Even before Quebeche was dependent on their kindly offices. Its defenders, among whom wereNairne and Fraser, moved every boat to the north side of the St. Lawrence; the frigate _Lizard_ and the sloop-of-war _Hunter_, pigmyrepresentatives at Quebec of Britain's might upon the sea, lay nearWolfe's Cove ready to attack him if he tried to cross. But the Indiansbrought canoes and on the night of November 13th, silently andunobserved, they carried Arnold's force across the river almost underthe bows of the ships watching for them. The Americans landed whereWolfe had landed sixteen years earlier. On the morning of the 14th, tothe surprise of Quebec's garrison, a body of Americans appeared on thePlains of Abraham, not eight hundred yards from the walls, and gavethree loud huzzas. The British answered with three cheers and with themore effective retort of cannon, loaded with grape and canister shot, and the hardy pioneers of Arnold's attacking force retired. 

Quebec was not in a happy situation. Montreal had already fallen to theAmericans advancing by Lake Champlain, and to force the final surrenderof Canada General Montgomery was hurrying to join Arnold at Quebec. Fora time its defenders were uncertain whether Carleton himself, absent atMontreal, had not fallen into the hands of the enemy. A miraculousescape he indeed had. Leaving Montreal on a dark night, when theAmericans were already within the town, Carleton went in a skiff downthe river, both shores of which were already occupied by the enemy forfifty miles below Montreal. At the narrows at Berthier their blazingcamp fires sent light far out over the surface of the water. Carleton'sparty could hear the sentry's shout of "All's Well, " and the barking ofdogs. But they let the boat float down with the current so that it mightlook like drifting timber, and, when they could, impelled it silentlywith their hands. At Three Rivers they thought themselves safe andCarleton lay down in a house to sleep. But, while he was resting, someAmerican soldiers entered the house. His disguise as a peasant savedhim; he passed out unchecked. The skiff soon carried him to an armedbrig, the _Fell_, which lay at the foot of the Richelieu Rapids. Hehastened on to Quebec, which showed joy unspeakable when he arrived onNovember 19th. Meanwhile Montgomery pursued his rival down the river andon December 1st he joined Arnold before Quebec. 

Now the siege began in earnest. Carleton had 1800 men; Arnold andMontgomery can hardly have had more than a thousand, and these werebadly equipped. For the Americans the prospects of success were, at notime, very great, unless they could secure help from the Canadians. This, indeed, was not wholly wanting. Montgomery's march along the northshore of the St. Lawrence to Quebec was a veritable triumph. He promisedto the habitants liberty, freedom from heavy taxes, the abolition of theseigneurs' rights and other good things. Some of the Canadians hopedthat, in joining the Americans, they were hastening the restoration ofFrance's power in Canada--an argument however of little weight withmany, who remembered grim days of hard service and starvation when, without appreciation or reward, they had fought France's battle. Thehabitants were, in truth, friendly enough to the Americans; but theywould not fight for them. The invaders tried to arouse the fear of thepeasantry by a tale that when the British caught sixty rebel Canadians, they had hanged them over the ramparts of Quebec, without time even tosay "Lord, have mercy upon me, " and had thrown their bodies to the dogs. But this only made the habitants think it as well perhaps not to takearms openly against such stern masters. The Church's weight was whollyon the British side. Canadians who joined the rebel Americans diedwithout her last rites. Only one priest, M. De Lotbinière, a man, it issaid, of profligate character, espoused the cause of the invaders. Fordoing so he was promised a bishopric: to see Puritan New Englandersoffering a bishopric in the Roman Catholic Church as a reward forservice, is not without its humour. 

As December wore on Montgomery grew eager to seize his prey. Carletonsat unmoved behind his walls and allowed the enemy to invest the town. He would hold no communication with the rebel army. When Montgomery sentmessengers to the gates, under a flag of truce, Carleton would notreceive them; the only message he would take, he said, would be anappeal to the mercy of the King, against whom they were in rebellion. Montgomery, too, showed for his foe lofty scorn, in words at least. OnDecember 15th in General Orders he spoke of "the wretched garrison"posted behind the walls of Quebec, "consisting of sailors unacquaintedwith the use of arms, of citizens incapable of the soldier's duty and[a gibe at the corps in which Nairne served] a few miserable emigrants. "He went on to promise his troops that when they took Quebec "the effectsof the Governor, garrison, and of such as have been active in misleadingthe inhabitants and distressing the friends of liberty" should beequally divided among the victors. The opposing sides showed, in truth, the bitterness and exasperation of family quarrels and abandoned theusual courtesies of war. The Americans lay in wait to shoot sentries;they fired on single persons walking on the ramparts. It was reported tothe British that Montgomery had said "he would dine in Quebec or in Hellon Christmas"--gossip probably untrue, as a British diarist of the timeis fair enough to note, since it is not in accord with the dignity andsobriety of Montgomery's character. 

He did what he could to make possible this Christmas festivity withinQuebec's walls. His men got together some five hundred scaling ladders. Then heavy snow came and the defenders jeered at such preparations: "Canthey think it possible that they can approach the walls laden withladders, sinking to the middle every step in snow? Where shall we bethen? Shall we be looking on cross-armed?" The clear and inconceivablycold weather was also one of Quebec's defences for, as one diarist putsit, no man, after being exposed to it for ten minutes, could hold armsin his half-frozen hands firmly enough to do any execution. But bynothing short of death itself was Montgomery to be daunted; steadily hemade his plans to assault the town. 

Meanwhile Quebec was ready. Carleton ordered out of the town all whocould not assist to the best of their power in the defence. Some shammedillness to escape their tasks. But this was the exception. Well-to-docitizens worked zealously, took their share of sentry duty on thebitterly cold nights, and submitted to the commands of officers in themilitia, their inferiors in education and fortune. On the loftiest pointof Cape Diamond Carleton erected a mast, thirty feet high, with a sentrybox at its top. From this he could command a bird's eye view of theenemy's operations, to a point as distant as Ste. Foy Church. When oneof the besiegers asked a loyalist Canadian what the queer-looking objecton the pole really was he answered, "It is a wooden horse with a bundleof hay before him. " A second remark capped this one: "General Carletonhas said that he will not give up the town till the horse has ate allthe hay; and the General is a man of his word. "

Although Montgomery did not eat his Christmas dinner in Quebec a fewdays later he was ready for an assault. The crisis came on the last dayof the year 1775. Early on that day, between four and five in themorning, Captain Malcolm Fraser, in command of the main guard, wasgoing his rounds in Quebec when he saw a signal thrown by the enemy fromthe heights outside the walls near Cape Diamond. Fraser knew at oncethat it meant an attack. He sent word to the other guards in Quebec andordered the ringing of the alarm bell, and the drum-beat to arms. Hehimself ran down St. Louis street, shouting to the guards to "Turn out"as loudly and often as he could, and with such effect that he was heardeven by General Carleton, lodged at the Recollet convent. It was aboisterous night and the elements themselves raged so fiercely that someof the alarms were not heard. But, in time, all Quebec was aroused andthe guards stood at their posts. 

The alarm was completed when to its din was added the menacing sound ofcannon. The besiegers began to ply the town with shells, and those wholooked out over the ramparts could see in the darkness the flash ofguns. Soon began from behind ridges of snow, within eighty yards of thewalls of Cape Diamond, the patter of musketry. The Americans wereseeking to lead the defenders of Quebec to believe that an assault onthe walls of the Upper Town on the side of the Plains of Abraham wasimminent and to hold the defence to this point. In fact the real dangerwas far away. 

[Illustration: THE MANOR HOUSE AT MURRAY BAY

(The upper view from the West, the lower from the East)]

Montgomery's was a hazardous plan. He had resolved to try to seize theLower Town first and then to get his troops into the Upper Town byway of the steep Mountain Street, thus taking the defenders of the wallsin the rear. It was a desperate venture, depending for its successlargely upon the surprise of the garrison which Malcolm Fraser'sthorough-going alarm had prevented. Montgomery himself, with a force ofseveral hundred men, marched to the Lower Town from Wolfe's Cove alongthe narrow path under the cliffs, a distance of nearly two miles, withprogress impeded by darkness, by heavy snow-drifts, and by blocks of icewhich the tide had strewn along the shore. His men struggled on in thedark hoping to surprise the post which guarded the road below CapeDiamond at a point called Près de Ville. Here were some fifty defendersand the tale of what happened is soon told. The guardians of the postwere on the alert, for at it, too, Malcolm Fraser's warning had beeneffective. As Montgomery bravely advanced, at the head of his men, therewas a flash and a roar in the darkness and the blinding snow storm, and, a moment after, Montgomery lay dead in the snow with a bullet throughhis head. Two or three other officers were struck down. The Britishheard groans and then there was silence. As daylight came they saw handsand arms protruding from the snow, but only slowly did they realize thatthe chief of their foes was killed. 

Nairne was on duty elsewhere but he did not miss severe fighting. Arnoldwas to advance on the Lower Town from the north-eastern suburb, St. Roch's, to meet at the foot of Mountain Street Montgomery coming fromthe west. At first he was more fortunate than Montgomery. When therocket from Cape Diamond went up he set out. The storm was frightful butit served to conceal Arnold's force from Quebec's sentries. TheAmericans passed under the height where stands the Hôtel Dieu. HereNairne was stationed with a small guard. They spied the Americans in thedarkness and kept up as effective a fire as the dim light permitted. Butthe assailants were able to advance along the whole east side of Quebecand to reach the entrance to the Sault au Matelot, a short and narrowstreet opening into the steep Mountain Street, by which alone the UpperTown could be reached. Here fortune favoured them for, apparently, inspite of Fraser's alarm, they surprised the guard at the first barrierby which the street was closed. The street itself they secured but whenthey reached the second barrier at its farther end, commanding the roadto the Upper Town, it was well defended by an alert garrison. Arnold hadalready been wounded and taken to the rear and Morgan, an intrepidleader, was in command of the assailing force. Every moment he expectedthat Montgomery would arrive to attack the second barrier on the Saultau Matelot from the West as he attacked it from the East. ButMontgomery was dead and Morgan waited in vain. 

While the Americans were checked by the second barrier, Carleton was notidle. There was an excellent chance to send a force out of the PalaceGate near the Hôtel Dieu, by which the assailants had passed, and toattack them in the rear. For this duty Colonel Caldwell was told off andhe took with him Nairne and his picket of about thirty men. The forceplodded through the deep snow in the tracks of the enemy who, aboutdaybreak, were astonished to find themselves shut in by British forcesat each end of the Sault au Matelot. A hand to hand fight followed. TheAmericans took refuge in the houses of the street and it was the task ofthe British to drive them out. In this Nairne distinguished himself. "Major Nairne of the Royal Emigrants and M. Dambourges of the same corpsby their gallant behaviour attracted the attention of every body, "writes an English officer. [8] By ladders, taken from the enemy, theymounted to a window of one of the houses, from which came a destructivefire, and at the point of the bayonet drove the foe out by the door intothe street. In the end, to the number of more than four hundred, theAmericans were forced to surrender. The casualties included thirtykilled and forty-two wounded. By eight o'clock all was over. "It wasthe first time I ever happened to be so closely engaged, " Nairne wroteto his sister on May 14th, 1776, "as we were obliged to push ourbayonets. It is certainly a disagreeable necessity to be obliged to putone another to death, especially those speaking the same language anddressed in the same manner with ourselves.... These mad people had alarge piece of white linen or paper upon their foreheads with the words"Liberty or Death" wrote upon it. " Nairne's account is modest enough. One would not gather from it that his own conspicuous courage hadobtained general recognition. [9]

Even with Montgomery killed, Arnold wounded, and quite one-quarter oftheir force dead or captured, those grim men who wished "Liberty orDeath" had no thought of raising the siege. Ere long Arnold was againactive and, for four months longer, the Americans kept Carleton shut upwithin Quebec. So deep lay the snow that to walk into the ditch from theembrasures in the walls was easy; buried in the snow were the muzzles ofguns thirty feet from the bottom of the ditch. Sometimes Nairne wasactively engaged in scouting work. In February we find him leading aparty to take possession of the English burying ground in the suburbs;on March 19th, he went out into the open from Cape Diamond to theheight overlooking the Anse de Mer. But nothing happened; a diaristexpresses, on April 21st, his contempt for the American attack bywriting: "Hitherto they have killed a boy, wounded a soldier, and brokethe leg of a turkey. "[10]

The assailants were, in truth, impotent before the masterly inactivityof Carleton, who waited patiently behind his walls for the arrival inthe spring of a British fleet. Counting upon this expectancy theAmericans tried an old-time ruse. Between nine and ten o'clock in theevening of May 3rd, with the moon shining brightly and the tide flowingin and nearly high, a ship under full sail came into view from thedirection of the Island of Orleans. With the wind behind her she swungin at a good rate of speed. Those who watched were, for a moment, surethat the long expected rescue had come. But, as she bore down to the_cul de sac_ where lay the shipping at Quebec, she made no response tosignals. At last, the British, after three vain efforts to draw aresponse, warned her to reply or they should fire. When this threat wascarried out she was only some two hundred yards away. Then suddenlyflames burst out on the ship, followed by random explosions; a boat lefther side rowed very swiftly, and it was now apparent that she was sentto burn, if possible, the British shipping. It must have been ananxious moment when she was so near and heading straight for her prey. But, showing a natural prudence, those who steered left her too soonand, with no hand at the helm, her head came up quickly in the wind. Bythis time all Quebec had been alarmed and, as attack from the landwardside was also expected, every man was soon at his post. The ship was astriking sight as, with sails and rigging on fire, she driftedhelplessly before the town. When the tide turned she floated down, amass of fire, with explosions shaking her from time to time, to theshallows off Beauport where she soon lay stranded, a blackened ruin ofhalf-burnt timbers. 

Quebec still waited for rescue, and not in vain. At day break, on the6th of May, a frigate appeared round Point Levi. Again went forth thecry of "A ship, " "A ship. " "The news, " we are told, "soon reached everypillow in town. " Men half dressed rushed to the Grand Battery, which wasquickly crowded with spectators, who indulged in much shaking of hands, and in the exchange of compliments, as the character of the ship becameclear. She was the British frigate _Surprise_, and, with muchdifficulty, had forced her way, under full sail, through the greatfields of ice which still blocked the river. Following her closely werethe _Isis_ and a sloop the _Martin_. Quebec went wild with joy. Butthere was still serious business on hand. The _Surprise_ brought a partof the 29th regiment and a good many marines. They were landed at once. Carleton lost not a moment and, by twelve o'clock of the same day, thegates of Quebec were thrown open and he marched out to attack theAmericans. 

It was only a thin red line that stretched across the Plains of Abraham. But the Americans dared not face it. The newly arrived ships might, theyfeared, carry a force up the river and cut off retreat; so, after somedesultory skirmishing, the investing army fled. It was now commanded byGeneral Wooster, for Arnold had gone to Montreal. The flight soon becamea panic. Arms, clothes, food, private letters and papers were thrownaway. Nairne was in command of a portion of the Highland Emigrants, whowere the vanguard of the British pursuing force, and was among the firstto occupy the American batteries. On that very ground he had fought, victorious in 1759, woefully beaten in 1760; now, a victor again, hehelped to drive back a force, some of whose members had been hiscompanions in those earlier campaigns. That night the relieved Britishslept secure in Quebec, while the bedraggled American force was makingits distressful way towards Montreal. 

Though the American army soon withdrew from Montreal and from Canada, the war was still to drag on for many weary years. Throughout the wholeof it Nairne remained on active service. In September, 1776, we findhim in command of the garrison at Montreal. In 1777 he was sent tocommand the post at Isle aux Noix which guarded the route into Canada byway of Lake Champlain. Here Fraser was serving under him as Captain; thetwo friends were usually together throughout the war. At Isle aux NoixNairne remained until June, 1779. We get glimpses from his letters ofthe defects in the service at this time. There were involuntary evils, such as scurvy, caused by want of fresh meat and vegetables, butrelieved by drinking a decoction of hemlock spruce. Moral evils therewere too, such as gambling and drunkenness; in 1778 the commandingofficer gave warning that he had heard of losses at play, and that thosetaking part in such practises would be excluded from promotion. 

The British officers showed sometimes a fool-hardy recklessness. OnMarch 9th, 1778, one Lieutenant Mackinnon, with forty-five volunteers, set out from Pointe au Fer, near Isle aux Noix, to surprise an Americanpost at Parsons' House, no less than sixty miles distant, and in theheart of the enemy's country. A few days later two of the volunteersreturned with news that the attack had wholly failed, that six of theparty were killed and six wounded, and that Lieutenant Mackinnon andfour others were missing. So reckless an attack was bad enough and, inthe General Orders, it was condemned as "a presumptuous disregard ofmilitary discipline"; only vigilance and watchfulness were required ofthe picket at Pointe au Fer, so that the enemy might not invade theprovince. At the incident the Commander-in-Chief was very angry. "Inever saw the General in such a passion in my life, " wrote an officer toNairne. Mackinnon had surrounded the house in the darkness and both heand his men, as far as is known, had done their best. Though wounded andfor a time missing, in the end Mackinnon got back crippled to Isle auxNoix. But he had failed, and whispers soon began that he showedcowardice in the attack; an absurd charge, as Nairne said, for he hadgiven proof of rather too much, than of too little, courage. Theaccusation gave Nairne infinite trouble. The subalterns in the RoyalHighland Emigrants refused to do duty with Mackinnon, and GeneralHaldimand, who succeeded Carleton in the summer of 1778, would not takethe matter seriously enough to grant a Court Martial, that Mackinnonmight clear himself. For quite a year and a half the affair dragged on. In the end, at a Court of Enquiry, Mackinnon was acquitted. Haldimandtold Nairne to rebuke the officers sternly for combining to subvertauthority, for disrespect to their superiors, and for refusing, on thebasis of futile reports and hearsays, to serve with Mackinnon. "I muchmistake his character, " wrote Nairne of Mackinnon, "if he can ... Beprevented from calling one or two of those gentlemen to a severeaccount. "

A part of Nairne's duty was to watch the French Canadians and checksedition. In spite of the failure of Arnold's expedition many of themwere still favourable to the American cause. They harboured deserters inthe remoter parishes, gave protection and assistance to rebels, andthrew as many difficulties as possible in the path of loyalists. Nairnefound two men issuing papers from a printing press to foment seditionand sent them down to Quebec to stand their trial for treason. 

From Isle aux Noix Nairne was sent, in the summer of 1779, with fifty ofhis Royal Highland Emigrants, to command at Carleton Island, nearKingston where Lake Ontario flows into the St. Lawrence; somethirty-five years later his only surviving son held a military commandat the same place. Here there was much to do in strengthening thefortifications and in keeping up communications with Niagara and otherpoints in the interior. The situation was not without itsembarrassments. Prisoners were sent in from Niagara and he had no prisonin which to keep them. For want of fresh meat and vegetables there wasmuch sickness. But the Indians were his greatest trial. Through him cametheir supplies and, to hold them at all, he had sometimes to serve outthe rum for which such savages are always greedy. On July 4th, Nairnemade a speech to these Mississaga Indians and said pretty plainly whathe thought of them. Against the American scouts they had proved nodefence; at night they fired off guns in the neighbouring woods andcreated false alarms, which prevented Nairne's men from getting theirproper sleep. "My men work hard in the day, " he said, "and I will havethem to sleep sound at night, " and he warned the Indians that he wouldfire upon them if their noise disturbed him further. The savages, hewrote to Haldimand, are "almost unbearable, greedy and importunate. "They behaved more like rebels than friends and their talk ended alwaysin the demand for rum, "the cause of all bad behaviour in Indians. "

On the remoter frontiers the war was ruthless beyond measure. Sir JohnJohnson devastated the Mohawk valley, in the present State of New York, and some of his prisoners were received at Carleton Island. Of thisinglorious warfare Haldimand's secretary, Captain Matthews, wrote toNairne a little later [17th June, 1780], "You will have heard that SirJohn Johnson has executed the purpose of his enterprise without the lossof a man, having destroyed upwards of an hundred dwelling houses, barns, mills, stock, &c. , and brought off 150 Loyalists, besides Women andChildren. " The worst outrages came from the Indian allies, of whomNairne thought so badly. From Niagara, on March 1st, 1779, Captain JohnMacDonnell wrote to Nairne of the terrible massacre at Cherry Valley, onthe New York frontier, which excited horror throughout the colonies, anddid much to inflame the hatred of the Americans for England. Not, however, the English but the Indians were really guilty. "There hasnothing appeared, " wrote Captain MacDonnell, "on the theatre of the warof near so tragical or rather barbarous a hue; the reflection neverrepresents itself to my view but when accompanyed with the greatesthorrors; both Sexes, young and old Tomahawked, Speared and Scalpedindiscriminately in the most inhuman and cruel manner. But that therewas all possible care and precaution taken to prevent them isundenyable. Captain Butler, who had command of the expedition, wasindefatigable in his endeavours and exertions to restrain and mitigatethe fury and ferocity of the savages often at the risk of the Tomahawkbeing made use of against himself as well as the Indian officers.... Outof a hundred and seventy scalps three-fourths were those of Women andChildren. " Butler's name is still looked upon in the United States asthat of a fiend incarnate, but the testimony of his fellow officer seemsto free him from blame for the worst of the horrors. Both sides werebitter, but Nairne himself never shows any vehemence of passion. In hisview the war was a painful necessity, to be fought to the end withoutanger. 

Late in 1779, Nairne was recalled from Carleton Island. He reachedMontreal on the 5th of December, and, two days later, secured leave ofabsence to look after his private affairs. At this time GeneralHaldimand had matured a plan to take advantage of the remote position ofMurray Bay to confine there some of his American prisoners. At MurrayBay they seemed particularly safe. There was as yet no road over CapTourmente; in any case to go in the direction of Quebec would meanseizure sooner or later; to go in the opposite direction would be toperish in the wilderness; and the only outlet was by water across awintry river some twelve miles broad. On the 26th of January, 1780, Haldimand wrote to Nairne at Murray Bay that he was to erect buildingsfor rebel and other prisoners, and that, to do the work, some men werebeing sent down; he was to employ in addition as many of the inhabitantsas he might think necessary. 

Nairne stayed on at Murray Bay in 1780 much longer than the two monthsfor which he had originally asked. A part of his duty was to watch thatAmerican colony, so different in station and situation from the manyAmericans who now visit the spot. As yet there were no barracks in whichto confine the poor fellows, and the climate of Murray Bay is not toohospitable in winter. Some kind of rough quarters must have beenprepared for the prisoners, in the winter of 1779-80, and they were keptbusy in helping to build the houses intended for their occupation. Theyseemed contented. One of them Nairne kept about his person. He knewwhere everything was placed and all the men were used, Nairne says, inthe best manner he could think of. But liberty is sweet and they longedfor their own land. So, early in May, 1780, when the ice was out of theriver and there was a chance to get away, eight of them made a dash forliberty. [11] No doubt under cover of night, they stole a boat and putout boldly into the great river across which, in so small a craft, fewever venture, even in mild summer weather. Almost wonderful to relate, they reached the south shore in safety. Nairne was uncertain whetherthey had gone up, down, or across the river. He hurried to Tadousac, crossed to Cacouna and then went up the south shore. At St. Roch hefound that the men, rowing a boat, had been seen to pass. On May 14ththis boat was found abandoned. On the 15th the men were seen on thehighway carrying their packs. We are almost sorry to learn that the poorfellows were in the end captured and taken to Quebec. Nairne reportedthe flight of these men on the 14th of May. Their example was contagiousfor, on the 18th, while he was absent in their pursuit, four othersmade off, found a small boat on the shore some nine miles from Malbaie, and put out into the river, where their tiny craft was seen heading forKamouraska on the south shore. A few days later two others also escaped. These had not courage to strike out into the river, and one of them wascaught at Baie St. Paul. Nairne offered a reward of four dollars foreach of the prisoners and probably all were taken. A sequel of theincident was that a non-commissioned officer and eight men of theAnhalt-Zerbst Regiment were sent to guard the remaining prisoners atMurray Bay--a task apparently beyond Nairne's local militia. This guardwas, no doubt, composed of Germans; one wonders to what extent theyfraternized with the French Canadians. It is amusing to read that, whenone of them deserted, he was brought back by a habitant. 

In 1781 we find Nairne stationed at Verchères on the south side of theSt. Lawrence, nearly opposite Montreal. He was now in charge of theexpatriated Loyalists who had found refuge in that part of Canada. Awhole corps of them were billeted in the two parishes of Verchères andContrecoeur--the officers chiefly at Contrecoeur. They lived, ofcourse, in the cottages with the habitants. On December 16th, 1781, Nairne writes to General Riedesel, a German officer who played aconspicuous part on the British side in the Revolutionary war and wasnow in command at Sorel, that the Canadians do not mind supplyingfirewood for the loyalist officers but that they rather object to havingthe same people quartered upon them for two years at a time. Though anoccasional officer had said that the Loyalists were not obedient, headds that they were quiet and orderly people. Some of them had largefamilies and must have crowded uncomfortably their involuntary hosts. These colonial English living in the households of their old-timeenemies, the French Canadians, make a somewhat pathetic picture. We seewhat domestic suffering the Revolutionary War involved. Some were veryold; one "genteel sort of woman, " a widow, had four children, theyoungest but four months old; there was another whose husband had beenhanged at Saratoga as a spy. Very large sums passed through Nairne'shands in behalf of the Loyalists. One account which he renders amountsto about £20, 000. [12]

Nairne's regiment, the Royal Highland Emigrants, had been put upon thepermanent establishment in 1779. Sometimes he complained that his ownpromotion was slow; not until the spring of 1783 was he given the rankof Lieutenant-Colonel. Having reached this goal he intended, as soon ashe decently could, to sell out and retire. Late in 1782 we find himagain in command at Isle aux Noix and not sure but that he may at anytime be surprised by the Americans. It seems odd that, though Cornwallishad already surrendered at Yorktown, and the war was really over, Nairnewas still hoping for final victory for Great Britain; on February 8th, 1783, he writes: "It is to be hoped that affairs will at last take afavourable turn to Great Britain; her cause is really a just one. " Infact preliminary articles of the most disastrous peace Great Britain hasever made had already been signed. 

Nairne was now anxious to go home. But even in June, 1783, he could notget leave of absence from Isle aux Noix for even a fortnight. Conditionswere still unsettled. American traders were now pressing into Canada butNairne sent back any that he caught; the cessation of arms was, he said, no warrant as yet for commercial intercourse and many suspiciouscharacters were about. The troops from Europe were returning home. General Riedesel, about to leave for Germany, wrote from Sorel on July6th, 1783, a warm letter of thanks to Nairne for the attention, readiness, and punctuality of his services. Not long after, in the sameyear, Nairne was at last free. He now sold his commission, receiving forit £3, 000. With the sale he renounced all claim to half-pay, pension, orother consideration for past services and the sum he received was, therefore, no very great final reward for his long services. There hadbeen some competition for this commission and its final disposal throwssome light on promotion in the army under the purchase system. GeneralHaldimand insisted that Captain Matthews, who appears to have been hisrelative, should get it, since the General "must provide for his ownfamily. " At this time Malcolm Fraser too thought of selling out but hemade difficulties about terms and the opportunity passed; Fraser was, indeed, to live to see recruiting service in the war of 1812. When thewar was over, Nairne hurried to Murray Bay and to the country life inwhich he delighted, and in his correspondence we soon find himdiscussing not high questions of national defence but the qualities of"a well-bred bull calf" and of an improved plough. "I have moresatisfaction, " he says, perhaps with a touch of irony, "in a countrylife and [in] cultivating a farm than even [in] being employed as firstmajor of the Quebec militia. " Henceforth his heart is wholly at MurrayBay and in his interests there. 

[Footnote 8: Diary of an English Officer. Proceedings of the Literaryand Historical Society of Quebec, 1871-72, p. 61. ]

[Footnote 9: See Appendix C. , p. 273, for the text of his letter to hissister describing the operations of the winter at Quebec. It is an ablereview of the campaign. ]

[Footnote 10: Proceedings of the Literary and Historical Society ofQuebec, 7th Series, 1905, p. 75; "Blockade of Quebec, " etc. ]

[Footnote 11: The men's names were Peter Ferris, Squir Ferris, ClaudiusBrittle (Sr. ), Claudius Brittle (Jr. ), Nathan Smith, Marshal Smith, Justice Sturdevant, John Ward. ]

[Footnote 12: The book in which Nairne kept the accounts, with the namesof the recipients of the king's bounty, is still at Murray Bay. ]

CHAPTER V

THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN NAIRNE

 Nairne's careful education of his children. --His son John enters the army. --Nairne's counsels to his son. --John Nairne goes to India. --His death. --Nairne's declining years. --His activities at Murray Bay. --His income. --His daughter Christine and Quebec society. --The isolation of Murray Bay in Winter. --Signals across the river. --Nairne's reading. --His notes about current events. --The fear of a French invasion of England. --Thoughts of flight from Scotland to Murray Bay. --Nairne's last letter, April 20th, 1802. --His death and burial at Quebec. 

Colonel Nairne's life was troubled with many sorrows. In 1773, when hewas on a visit to Scotland, Malcolm Fraser had had the painful duty ofwriting to tell him of the death of three of his infant children atMurray Bay from a prevailing epidemic. His daughter, Anne, born in 1784, was sent to Scotland to be educated. She contracted consumption andafter a prolonged illness died there in 1796. "This event gave me greataffliction, " wrote Nairne, "she was always a most amiable child. " Therenow remained two sons and three daughters, [13] and Nairne may well havebeen certain that his name would go down to an abundant posterity. Oneof the chief interests of his life was their training and education. Allin turn were sent to Scotland for their chief schooling. The eldest son, John, born in 1777, and his sister Christine, some three years older, lived in Edinburgh with aunts who showed exhaustless kindness andinterest. Nairne was grateful, and writing from Malbaie on August 27th, 1791, he says: "[I] am glad of an opportunity, my dear Christine andJack, to remind you both in the strongest manner I am able of thegratitude and assiduous Duty you owe to your Aunts and other Relationsfor admitting you into their family and also for the attention they arepleased to bestow on your education. " Upon his children he imposesindeed counsels of perfection not easy to fulfil; "Remember it's myinjunctions and absolute orders to you both to have always an obedienttemper to your superiors ... To receive every reprimand with submissionand attention as it can only be intended for your benefit in order togive you a valuable character which of all things is the greatestblessing both for this world and the next; besides you must considerthat you are never to indulge yourselves in any sort of indolence orlaziness but to rise early in the morning to be the more able to fulfilyour Duty.... As to you, Jack, I expect to see you a Gallant andhonourable fellow that will always scorn to tell the least lie in yourlife. It was well done to answer Captain Fraser [Malcolm Fraser, aLieutenant in 1762, is still only a Captain in 1791!] with which he waswell pleased.... Both of you have I think improved in your writing whichgives me pleasure. " He adds regretfully to Christine: "I cannot send youa muff this year but perhaps I may do so next year. " The letter closeswith a modest list of purchases to be sent out from Edinburgh forMalbaie: "one piece of Calico for two gowns; one piece of calico forchildren; three pieces of linen (for shirts), two of which coarse andthe other a little finer; one yard of cambrick; five yards of muslin(for caps and Handkerchiefs); six yards of lace (for caps); twelve yardsof different ribbons, three pairs of worsted stockings and three pairsof cotton stockings for myself. "

Jack was to follow a military career, and he entered the army when ayouth of sixteen or seventeen. His first active service was in the WestIndies, after war with revolutionary France broke out, and the dangersof that climate gave his father some anxiety; all will be well, hehopes, if Jack continues to take a certain "powder of the Jesuits'Bark"; above all "the best rules are temperance and sobriety"; then "thesame gracious Power who protected me in many dangers through the courseof three Wars will also vouchsafe protection to you through this one. "In 1795, when Jack was only eighteen, his corps was back in Englandand, through the influence of a distant relative, General Graeme, withthe Duke of York, Commander in Chief of the Army and all powerful indays when promotion went avowedly by favour and purchase rather than bymerit, Jack secured a Lieutenancy in the 19th Regiment. His father wasdelighted: "I wish you much joy with all my heart of your quick rise inbeing at your age already a Lieutenant in an old Regiment whereas I waspast twenty-six years of age before I obtained a Lieutenancy in theBritish service and that only in a young corps. " At the time, withBritain warring on the French Directory, service in Europe for Jack wasnot unlikely, and was desired by Nairne. But in the end Jack's regimentwas ordered to India. Nairne was sorely disappointed, but writing toJack he laid down a great guiding principle: "we must suppose thatProvidence orders everything aright and that, provided we are alwaysactive and diligent in doing our duty, there is reason to be satisfied. "In view of what was to happen, his anxiety for the success of his son ispathetic. He exhorts him in regard to every detail of conduct. He is toavoid drink and gambling; to pay his accounts promptly; to be punctualand scrupulously exact whenever duty or business is concerned. Thefather is particularly anxious about his son's capacity to expresshimself in good English and lays down the sound maxim that "writing acorrect and easy style is undoubtedly of all education the mostnecessary and requisite. " To acquire this he "ought to write and read agreat deal with intense labour, attention and application"; to writeseveral hours a day is not too much and to get time he must go to bedearly and rise early. It is wise to keep a grammar and dictionary alwaysat hand to correct possible errors. He should also translate from Frenchinto English. The father himself undertakes the duty of the completeletter writer, drawing up for Jack a model on which his letters may bebased. "In writing ordinary letters (as in conversation) a large scopemay be taken, as of News, all sorts of information, adventures, descriptions, remarks, enquirys, compliments, &c. , &c. , but in a letterupon business one is commonly confined only to what is necessary to besaid on the subject and to civilitys and politeness. " Certainly Jack didnot lack admonition and when he does well his father writes that itmakes him "very happy. " When in one letter Jack mentions the practise ofsmoking his father is severe: "All our family have ever been temperatenot [practising] even the Debauchery of smoking tobacco, a nasty Dutch, Damn'd custom, a forerunner of idleness and drunkenness; therefore Jack, my lad, let us hear no more of your handling your Pipe, but handle wellyour fuzee, your sword, your pen and your Books. "

Certainly the pictures sometimes drawn of the brutality, violent mannersand ignorance of the British officer at this period find no confirmationin Nairne's monitions to his son, or in the account of his own militaryexperience which dates from the mid-eighteenth century. He says to Jack:"Say your Prayers regularly to God Almighty and trust entirely to HisWill and Pleasure for your own preservation.... If you should happen tobe in an engagement attend to your men, encourage them to act withspirit in such a manner as most effectually to destroy theirenemy's. "[14] When Jack is a little too free in his demands for moneythe Colonel, writing on Nov. 22nd, 1795, tells him of his ownexperience:

 I have done wrong in having given you so much money since you went into the Army which might have served you almost without any pay from the King and which by the bye I can little afford. You obtained it easily; for which reason I suppose you have spent it easily: you have no right to expect more than I had at your age yet you seem to regard twenty pounds as I would have done twenty shillings. But you must now understand that twenty pounds is a considerable sum to my circumstances they being straitened for the Rank and the family which I have to support; therefore I have to inform you that you are to draw no more Bills upon Mr. Ker nor upon me without first obtaining his or my consent in writing for so doing. It is no disgrace nor does it hurt the service (but quite the contrary) for every officer and soldier to live within the limits of the pay which Government has thought proper to allow them. They are thereby more led to temperance, to improve themselves by study, to mind their duty and how best to promote the service of their country. I served sixteen years as a subaltern officer in the army, made long sea voyages with the Regiment, furnished myself with sea stores, camp equipage and every other necessary equipments [and] my Father nor any Relation during that time was never [put to] one farthing's expense upon my account. Altho' I sometimes lost money in the Recruiting service I repayed it by stoppages from my pay, was always present with the men whether in camp or in Garrison and punctually attending on my Duty. I endeavoured to be in a good mess for my Dinner, drank small Beer or Water when it was good; when the Water was bad qualified it with a mixture of Wine or Ginger or Milk or Vinegar but no grog or smoking tobacco. I was always an enemy to suppers, never engaged myself in the Evenings, but on particular occasions or to be Complaisant to Strangers. Nor [did I] ask Company to see me when on Guard; nor show a Vanity to treat people. By which means I had a great deal of quiet and sober time to myself, to read and to write, &c. , &c. , especially as I always rose early in the Mornings. You may believe also that I was always far from being concerned in any sort of Gaming so as to risk losing any of my money or to have a desire to gain any from others. By such a Conduct I received more favour and regard sometimes from my Commanding officers even than I thought I was entitled to. 

These monitions to Jack were written while his father was in Scotland in1795. There they separated, the father to return to Canada withChristine whose schooldays were now ended, Jack to go with his regimentto India. In parting from his son the father pronounced a solemnbenediction: "that God may preserve you and assist you in followingalways that which is good and virtuous shall ever be my most earnestprayer. " They never met again. Jack continued to draw rather freely uponhis father for funds, and Nairne wrote to the Colonel of the regiment toask for information about the young man. Before an answer came Scottishrelatives learned in 1800 of Jack's fate and wrote of it to Murray Bay. A friend of the family in India had noticed in the newspaper that someone was promoted to John Nairne's place. This led to enquiry, when itwas found that he had died in August, 1799. Not until six months afterhis death, and then only in reply to the enquiry as to Jack's demandsfor money, did his commanding officer write the following letter toColonel Nairne:

 _Colonel Dalrymple to Colonel Nairne_

 _From Columbo [India], 1st Feb. , 1800. _

 I received your letter dated October, 1798, but a short time ago but too late, had there been any occasion to have spoken to your son upon the subject it contained for, Poor fellow, it is with pain I'm to inform you of his death. He died upon the 7th of August, 1799, in the Coimbalore country upon the return from the capture of Seringapatam. Never did a young man die more regretted nor never was an officer more beloved by his corps. He was an honour to his profession. An involuntary tear starts in my eye on thus being obliged to give you this painful information. 

 The cause of his having drawn for so much money from Bombay was unfortunately his ship parted from us and they did not join at Columbo for some months, where I understand he had been induced to play by some designing people. But I assure you, from the moment he joined here, his life was exemplary for all young men. He was beloved by every description of people. From the very sudden way he took the field and the very expensive mode of campaigning in this country he was in debt to the paymaster. He was not singular; they were all in the same predicament. The first division of the prize money which was one thousand ster. Pagodas, about your hundred pounds, will only clear him with the Regiment. 

Long before this letter arrived the news was known at Murray Bay. Malcolm Fraser, the tried family friend, writes on September 1st, 1800, that he has just discharged the most painful task of telling the sadnews to Jack's sister and companion, Christine, who was visiting inQuebec. In his grief Nairne gives an exceeding bitter cry, "Lord, helpme. I shall lose all my children before I go myself. " His sisterMagdalen wrote from Edinburgh on March 17th, 1800, to offer comfort andto hope that he bears the trial "with Christian fortitude, and that Godwill reward him by sparing those that remain to be a blessing to him, "Nairne's sisters now had with them in Edinburgh the two remainingchildren, Tom and Mary, called "Polly. " John is gone but Tom is left, says the fond aunt, and to console Nairne she tells of Tom's virtues:"Never was father blessed with a more promising son than our littleTom, and though I used to dread he was too faultless and too good tolive, I would now persuade myself he is intended by Providence tocompensate you for the losses you have sustained. " On Tom now centredthe hopes of the Nairne family. 

[Illustration: VIEW FROM POINTE AU PIC UP MURRAY BAY]

The sands of Nairne's own life were running out. As he looked around himhe could see much to make his heart content. He was never unmindful ofthe singular beauty of the place. "I wish I could send you a landscapeof this place, " he wrote to a friend, John Clark, in 1798; "Was you hereyour pencil might be employed in drawing a beautiful one which this Bayaffords, as the views and different objects are remarkably various andentertaining. " This is, no doubt, a mild account of the beauties of avery striking scene, but the 18th century had not developed ourappreciation for nature. Nairne tells of his delight in tramping throughthe woods, and over the mountains, with a gun on his shoulder. Theincrease of settlement, and the burning of the woods, had driven thewild animals farther back into the wilderness, but partridges and waterfowl were still abundant. There was salmon fishing almost at his doorand "Lake Nairne, " the present Grand Lac, had famous trout fishing. Thethick woods, which at his coming extended all round the bay, were nowcleared away. Much land had been enclosed and brought under cultivationand to do this had been a laborious and expensive task. Now he hadthree farms of his own, each with a hundred acres of arable land andwith proper buildings. There was also a smaller farm for hay andpasture. "I have been employed lately, " he writes in 1798, "making pathsinto our woods and marking the trees in straight lines thro' tracts ofpretty good land in order to encourage the young men to take lots ofland. " He tells how the successive ridges, representing, no doubt, different water levels in remote ages, were numbered. In the highest, Number 7, the lakes are all situated; the elevated land was generallythe best but as yet settlement was chiefly in Flats 1, 2, and 3. Hisgreat aim had always been to get people on the land and he denouncedobstacles put in their way. "For God's sake let them pitch away, and ifthey have not good titles give them better. " The Manor House had becomea warm and comfortable residence well finished and well furnished. In1801 Nairne wrote to his sister, with some natural exultation, thatwhere he had at first found an untrodden wilderness were now order, neatness, good buildings, a garden and plenty of flowers, fruits andhumming birds. In the winter one might often say "O, it's cold, " butmeans of warming oneself were always available. His wife had provedalways a useful helper and was indeed a motherly, practical woman, beloved by the people. These came to pay their compliments on the firstday of the year, when there was much drinking of whiskey and eating ofcakes, all costing a pretty penny. There were 100 young men in theparish composing a complete company of militia. The children grew up sofast that he could not distinguish the half of them. 

On the commercial side also Murray Bay was developing. In 1800 a mancame through the district buying up wheat at "9 livers a Bushel, " butsince the population was increasing very rapidly, and the people wereaccustomed to eat a great deal of bread, there was not much wheat forexport. The total exports of all commodities amounted in 1800 to£1500:--oil, timber, grain, oxen and a few furs being the chief items. Oil was the most important product; it came from the "porpoise" fishery. What Nairne calls a porpoise, is really the beluga, a small white whale. The fishery is an ancient industry on the St. Lawrence. [15] The creaturehas become timid and is now not readily caught so that the industrysurvives at only a few points. At Malbaie it has wholly ceased; but inthe summer of 1796 sixty-two porpoises were killed at "Pointe au Pique. "In the summer of 1800, which was hot and dry, no less than three hundredwere "catched. " Malbaie must have had bustling activity on its shoreswhen such numbers of these huge creatures were taken in a singleseason. We can picture the many fires necessary for boiling the blubber. The oil of each beluga was worth £5 and the skin £1. Nairne's own sharein a single year from this source of revenue was £70, but even then theindustry was declining. 

We have Nairne's statement of income in 1798 and it indicates simpleliving at Malbaie. We must remember that in addition, he had received anumber of bequests which brought in a considerable income and that hehad sold out of the army for £3000. Perhaps, too, 1798 was a bad year. 

"Porpoise" fishery £20Income from four farms at £20 each 80Profits from mills 20 ----- £120

The rent from the land granted to the habitants was scarcely worthreckoning, as the people paid nothing until the land was productive, acondition that could apparently be postponed indefinitely. Since underthe seigniorial tenure, the farmers must use the seigneur's grist mill, Nairne had his mill in operation and Fraser was building one in 1798. Nairne had also one or more mills for sawing timber. "I hope there are agreat many loggs brought and to be brought to your and my saw mills, "Fraser wrote in 1797, but an income of only £20 a year from the millsdoes not indicate any extortionate exercise of seigniorial rights. 

Already some of the city people were beginning to find Murray Bay adelightful place in which to spend the summer. In 1799 Nairne writes toa friend, Richard Dobie, in Montreal, that it is the best place in theworld for the recovery of strength. "You shall drink the best of wheysand breathe the purest sea air in the world and, although luxuries willbe wanting, our friendship and the best things the place can afford toyou, I know, will make ample amends:"--a simple standard of living thatsubsequent generations would do well to remember. In 1801 the manorhouse must have been the scene of some gaiety for there and at MalcolmFraser's were half a score of visitors. Christine, Nairne's seconddaughter, who preferred Quebec to the paternal roof, had come home for avisit and other visitors were the Hon. G. Taschereau and his son, Mr. Usburn, Mr. Masson, Mrs. Langan and Mrs. Bleakley, Fraser's daughters, described as "rich ladies from Montreal, " the last with three children. No doubt they drove and walked, rowed and fished, much as people fromNew York and Baltimore and Boston and Toronto and Montreal do still onthe same scene, when they are not pursuing golf balls. The coming ofpeople with more luxurious habits made improvements necessary and also, Nairne says, increased the expense of living--a complaint thatsuccessive generations have continued with justice to make. 

With Tom and Mary Nairne absent at school in Edinburgh, the family atMurray Bay during Nairne's last days consisted of but four persons--ofhimself and his wife and the two daughters Magdalen and Christine. Christine, a fashionable young lady, disliked Murray Bay as a place ofresidence, tolerated Quebec, but preferred Scotland where she had beeneducated. "Christine does not like to stay at Murray Bay and Madie hersister does not like to stay anywhere else, " wrote Nairne in 1800. Inthe manner of the eighteenth century he was extremely anxious that hischildren should be "genteel". Christine's Quebec friends pleased him. "Isaw her dance at a ball at the Lieutenant-Governor's and she seemed atno loss for Genteel partners but does not prepare to find one for life. I am well pleased with her and do not in the least grudge her so long asshe is esteemed by the best company in the place. " It was not easy tofind at Quebec proper accommodation for unmarried young women livingaway from home. Nairne writes in August, 1797, that he and Christineeach paid $1. 00 a day in Quebec where they lodged, although they mostlydined and drank tea abroad. "The town gentry of Quebec are vastlyhospitable Civil and well-bred but no such a thing as an invitation tostay in any of their houses. " At length a Mr. Stewart opened his doors. He must, Nairne wrote, be paid tactfully for the accommodation hefurnishes. Things went better when later Miss Mabane, the daughter of ahigh official of the Government, kept Christine with her at Quebec allthe winter of 1799-1800; no doubt Christine was pleased when Miss Mabanewould not allow her to go to Murray Bay even for the summer. Her eldersister, Madie, appears to have been hoydenish and somewhat uncongenialto a young lady so determined to be "genteel. "

In the winter time communication with the outside world was almostentirely suspended. In case of emergency it was possible indeed to passon snow shoes by Cap Tourmente, over which there was still no road, andso reach Quebec by the north shore. But this was a severe journey to beundertaken only for grave cause. Partly frozen over, and often withgreat floes of ice sweeping up and down with the tide, the river wasdangerous; the south shore, lying so well in sight, was really veryremote. Yet news passed across the river. On February 12th, 1797, Malcolm Fraser, who was on the south shore, found some means of sendinga letter to Nairne. Anxious to get word in return he planned a signal. He said that on March 6th he would go to Kamouraska, just oppositeMurray Bay, and build a fire. If Nairne answered by one fire Fraserwould be satisfied that nothing unusual had happened; if two fires weremade he would understand that there was serious news and would wish assoon as possible to learn details. Signalling across the St. Lawrenceattained a much higher development than is found in Fraser's crude plan. Philippe Aubert de Gaspé tells how the people on the south shore couldread what had happened on the north shore from Cap Tourmente to Malbaie. On St. John's eve, December 26th, the season of Christmas festivities, there was a general illumination. Looking then across the river to aline of blazing fires the news was easily understood. "At LesEboulements eleven adults have died since the autumn, three of whom werein one house, that of Dufour. All are well at the Tremblays; but atBonneau's some one is ill. At Belairs a child is dead, "--and so on. Thekey is simple enough. The situation of the fire would indicate thefamily to which it related. A fire lighted and kept burning for a longtime meant good news; when a fire burned with a half smothered flame itmeant sickness; the sudden extinguishing of the fire was a sign ofdeath; as many times as it was extinguished so many were the deaths; alarge blaze meant an adult, a small one a child. Before the days of postand telegraph these signals were used winter and summer; so great anobstacle to communication was the mighty tide of the St. Lawrence. [16]

At all seasons but especially in winter the news that reached Malbaiewas of a very fragmentary character. With his kin in Scotland Nairneexchanged only an annual letter but since each side took time and painsto prepare it, the letter told more, probably, than would a year's bulkof our hurried epistles. Newspapers were few and dear and only atintervals did any come. Books too were scarce. Occasionally Nairne notesthose that he thought of buying--St. Simon's "Memoirs;" an account ofthe Court of Louis XIV; "A Comparative View of the State and Facultys ofMan with those of the Animal World;" "Elegant Extracts or Useful andEntertaining passages in prose, " a companion volume to a similar one inpoetry, and so on. He writes gratefully, in 1799, to a friend in Quebec, who had sent newspapers and sermons, both of which remotely differentclasses of literature had furnished "great entertainment. " From Europehe is receiving the volumes of the new edition of the EncyclopædiaBritannica, still on the shelves at Murray Bay, and is thankful thatthey were not captured by the French. "The older I grow the fonder I amof reading and that book is a great resource. " Our degenerate age getslittle "entertainment" out of sermons and usually keeps an encyclopædiastrictly for "reference"; obviously Nairne read it. 

The old soldier watched and commented upon developments which were thefruit of seed he himself had helped to sow. He had fought to win Canadafor Britain; he had fought to crush the American Revolution. By 1800 hesees how great Canada may become and is convinced that yieldingindependence to the United States has not proved very injurious to GreatBritain. Though, in a short time, the United States was to secure thegreat West by purchasing Louisiana from France, when Nairne died it hadnot done so and in 1800 he could say that the United States "are smallin comparison of the whole of North America. They are bounded upon allsides and will be filled up with people in no very great number ofyears. Our share of North America is yet unknown in its extent. Enterprising people in quest of furs travel for years towards the northand towards the west through vast countries of good soil uninhabited asyet ... [except] for hunting, and watered with innumerable lakes andrivers, stored with fish, besides every other convenience for the use ofman, and certainly destined to be filled with people in some futuretime. We have only [now] heard of one named Mackenzie[17] who isreported to have been as far as the Southern Ocean (from Canada) acrossthis continent to the West. " Long before Canada stretched from theAtlantic to the Pacific Nairne was thus dreaming of what we now see. 

Of war, then raging, Nairne took a philosophic view. "War may benecessary, " he writes in 1798, "for some very Populous countrys as anycrop when too thick is the better of being thinned. " But it occurred tohim that the problem of over-population in Europe might have been solvedin a less crude manner. "It is strange, " he says, "that there should beso much of the best part of the globe still unoccupied, where the footof man never trod, and in Europe such destruction of people. It ishowever for some purpose we do not, as yet, comprehend. " Those were thedays when Napoleon Bonaparte's star was rising and when, in defiance ofEngland, led by Pitt, he smote state after state which stood in the pathof his ambition. Nairne's friend and business agent James Ker, anEdinburgh banker, was obviously no admirer of Pitt, for he writes onJuly 20th, 1797, of the struggle with revolutionary France which, thoughit was to endure for more than twenty years, had already, he thought, lasted too long:

 After a four years' war undertaken for the attainment of objects which were unattainable, in which we have been gradually deserted by every one of our allies except Portugal, ... Too weak to leave us; and after a most shameless extravagance and Waste of the public money which all feel severely by the imposition of new and unthought of taxes, we have again sent an ambassador to France to try to procure us Peace.... If our next crop be as bad as our two last ones God knows what will become of us. If it were not for the unexampled Bounty and Charity of the richer classes the Poor must have literally starved, but we have been favoured with a very mild winter. 

In 1798 when Napoleon led his forces to Egypt and disappeared from theken of Europe, Nairne hopes devoutly that "he has gone to the Devil, or, which is much the same thing, among the Turks and Tartars where he andhis army may be destroyed. " After Nelson succeeded in his attack on theFrench fleet at the Battle of the Nile Nairne rejoices that his countryis supreme on the sea, "By ruling the waves she will rule the wealth ofthe world not by plunder and conquest but by wisdom and commerce andincreasing riches everywhere to the happiness of mankind. " On March20th, 1801, when Austria had just made with France the Peace ofLunéville, Ker writes again to Nairne:

 We live in the age of wonders, sudden changes and Revolutions. The French have now completely turned the tables on us. They have forced Austria to a disastrous peace and Russia, Prussia, Denmark and Sweden from being our friends and Allies are now uniting with our bitter foes for our destruction, so that from having almost all Europe on our side against France we have now the contest to support _alone_ against her _and almost all Europe_ and nothing prevents the ambitious French Republic from being conquerors of the world but our little Islands and our invincible fleets. Notwithstanding all this we do not seem afraid of invasion and a large fleet under Sir Hide Parker and Lord Nelson is preparing to sail for the Baltic to bring the northern powers to a sense of their duty, and to break in pieces the unnatural coalition with our inveterate foes, the foes of Religion, Property, true Liberty, which but for our strenuous efforts would soon nowhere exist on this Globe. 

In spite of what Ker says as to no fear of invasion, such a fear grewreally very strong in 1801, and, for a brief period, it seemed as ifMurray Bay might become a refuge for Nairne's kindred in the distressedmother land. One of his sisters writes in an undated letter:

 We are much obliged to you for the kind of reception you say we should have met with at Mal Bay had we fled there from the French and I do assure you ... It was for some time a very great comfort and relief to think we had resources to trust to. I for one, I am sure, was almost frightened out of my wits, for a visit from these monsters, even the attempt, tho' they had been subdued after landing, was fearsome. I suspect you might have had more of your friends than your own family to have provided for. The Hepburns I know turned their thoughts toward you and all of us determined to work for our bread the best way we could. But you might have no small addition to your settlers; some of us poor old creatures would have settled heavy enough I fear upon yourself and family. It is a fine place Mal Bay turned by your account. What a deal of respectable company. I am glad of it on your account. A very great piece of good fortune to get Col. Fraser so near; I wonder he does not marry Maidy, but she will think him too old. I think Christine may do a great deal worse than spend the summer if not more at Mal Bay. You are most amazingly indulgent to her. I wish she would make a grateful return by bestowing more of her company on her friends at home in a situation it would appear so pleasant. But she is a good kind-hearted Lassie after all and I suppose when she has got her full swing of Quebec she will be very well pleased to return home. 

A legislature now sat at Quebec, the result of the new ConstitutionalAct passed in 1791, and Nairne might have become a member. Murray Baythen formed a part of what, with little fitness, had been called by theEnglish conquerors the County of Northumberland, no doubt because it layin the far north of Canada as Northumberland lies in the far north ofEngland. Two members sat in the legislature for this county. "I neverhad any idea of trying to be one of them, " writes Nairne in 1800, "butsucceeded in procuring that honour for a friend Dr. Fisher, who residesin Quebec. He is rich and much flattered with it and is ready on alloccasions to speak. "

To Nairne, contrary to a general impression, the climate of Canada didnot seem to grow milder as the land was cleared. In any case the bloodof old age runs less hotly. Formerly the winter had its delights ofhunting excursions but now, he writes, these are all over. "The passionI had formerly for hunting and fishing and wandering through the woodsis abated.... What with the cold hand of old age my former Winterexcursions into the woods seem impossible and no more now of fishingand hunting which formerly I esteemed so interesting a business. " Hewrites again: "My employment is more in the sedentary way than formerlyand what from calls in my own affairs and calls from people here intheirs, accounts to settle, &c. , [I have] ... Plenty of occupation. Besides being a Justice of the Peace and Colonel of Militia ... I employmyself without doors in farming, gardening, clearing and manuring land. "If we may credit the words of Bishop Hubert of Quebec written just atthis time (in 1794) the new liberties gained by the habitants did notmake the seigneur's task easier. The good bishop makes sweeping chargesof general dishonesty; of attempts to defraud the church of her titheand the seigneurs of their dues; of bitter feuds between families andinnumerable law suits. In such conditions Nairne, as a justice of thepeace, would have his hands full. 

His end was drawing very near. One of his sisters died in 1798. Thisbrought sad thoughts but he wrote: "I am very thankful to have found inthe world connexions who have produced such regards and sympathys. Timeseems not to be going slowly now-a-days but running fast. I hope we areto have other times and to know one another hereafter. " "I must makehaste now, " he wrote later, in 1801, "to finish all improvements herethat may be possible as I will soon be finished myself. Crushed alreadyunder a load of years of 7 times 10 really I find the last 2 years ... Heavier than 20 before that time. " "The scenes of this life, " he hadwritten to his old friend and neighbour Malcolm Fraser "are continuallyvarying like the elements, sometimes cloudy, sometimes sun shine; [it]never lasts long one way or the other till night soon comes and we mustthen lie down and die. Therefore all is vanity and vexation of spirit, but God will help us and most certainly some time or other bless andreward the friendly honest man. "

His last letter to his Scottish relations was intended to be a farewell:

 _Colonel Nairne to his Sister Miss M. Nairne From Murray Bay, 20th April, 1802. _

 My Dear Madie, --

 I shall see our friends in the world of spirits probably before any of you; whatever darkness we are in here I have always convinced myself that we shall meet again in a better place hereafter. 

 Although I have enjoyed good health till past 70 years of age, the agues of Holland and sometimes excessive fatigue have probably weakened parts of my inward machinery that they are now wore out and must soon finish their functions. I can have no reason to expect to live longer than our father; I am chiefly uneasy that the event may occasion grief to my sisters, yet it ought to be less felt my being at a distance; a poor affair to grieve when it must be all your fates to follow. I am happy that Mr. Ker understands my circumstances and my last will, and that he will be so good and so able to assist in settling it properly; I wish to follow his ideas therein in case of any difficulty, and I am likewise perfectly satisfied with all Mr. Ker's accounts with me. I write this letter to you to go by the first ship in case I should not be able to write later; I do not expect to be able to write to Robie Hepburn nor to Mr. Ker; nothing I can tell now from this country can entertain them; my mind is taken up with nothing but the Friendship, which they know.... So soon as the weather is warmer I intend to go to Quebec in order to obtain the best advice: I shall not personally be so conveniently situated there, as here. I am able yet to go out as far as a bank before the Door and to walk through the rooms; indeed the arrangements and conveniences of this house with the attendance and attention I receive are all in the best manner I can possibly desire; ... It's enough to say that were you here I think you would approve of them. Industry and neatness prevail and everything nesessary [is] foreseen and provided for. No wonder my wife and I agree so well now these thirty-five years as she happens to be equal in every moral attribute which I pretend to.... We are in friendship with everybody, because we do justice impartially and really without vanity have assisted many persons in forming farms and providing for the support of familys; although thereby not in the way of enriching ourselves it affords perhaps as much Satisfaction. 

 This place certainly thrives exceedingly; although we may by such exertions be recommending ourselves to the Father of all things, how poor they appear in my eyes having read lately the Newspapers. Most unreasonable are some men in Parliament to find fault with the ministry of Pitt and Dundass who have steered the Vessel of the State so successfully through such dangerous times and threatening appearances. Every Briton I think has reason to be proud of his Country which is raised higher than ever before not only in national Character but in its prospects of Commerce and Wealth by the Peace [the brief Peace of Amiens signed in March, 1802]. What prodigious honour and glory has been acquired and bestowed upon our Army of Egypt, exertions indeed on the most conspicuous theatre of the World and at the most conspicuous period of the world. We formerly thought ourselves sort of heroes by conquering Louisbourg and Quebec but nothing must be compared to that of Egypt.... The French troops have fought much better under their Diacal Republican government than under their King's and our troops not only fight equally well as formerly, but our Generals and Officers are much better writers; never have I read better wrote letters than those describing these renown'd events. 

 But pray allow me to sink into poetry to help to fill up this paper; ... Let me transcribe a letter in verse which is handed me now by an old Soldier residing near us. [18] He received it from an acquaintance of his who is only a private soldier in the 26th Regiment. That Regt. Is now gone home; ... Should it be at Edinburgh pray invite James Stevenson to a dram of Whiskey for my sake; though I do not know the man we had served together in the American War and he shows the idea the private men had of me and how a man of a slender education (I believe from Glasgow) can make verses. The Canadians here, I believe, have the same opinion though they are very far from making verses upon any subject whatever; it is much more useful here to cut down trees which they can do with great dexterity. 

 Quebec, 25th April, 1800. 

 My worthy conty, gude Jock Warren, Thou's still jocose and ay auld farren, Gentle and kind, blythe, frank and free, And always unco' gude to me. And now thou's sold thy country ware And towards hame mean to repair. [19] Accept these lines although but weak And read them for thy Comrade's sake. May plenty still around thee smile And God's great help thy foes beguile, In Wisdom's path be sure to tread And her fair daughter Virtue wed. My compliments and love sincere To all our friends both here and there, But in particular to him That's tall in body, long in limb, Auld faithful Loyal, Johny Nairne, Lang may he count you his ain bairne; By his example still be sway'd; Be his good precepts still obeyed; Revere this good and worthy man And always do the best you can. This is my wish and expectation, God granting you and me salvation. We ance were young but now we're auld, Oour blood from heat commences cauld, A drop of whiskey warms the whole, Renews the body, cheers the soul; Observing still due moderation, In order to prevent vexation, Proceeding on with cautious care Till Death with his grim face appear; Then with a conscience, just and true See Heaven's Glory, in your View. 

 My neighbour, Mr. Fraser, tells me that by my looks and speaking he cannot think me so ill as imagined. You will think the same by my writing the above. My distemper is owing to Gravelly Ulcers and it is a great chance at my time of life to recover, so [we] should be prepared for the worst. 

 It is a satisfaction to me to have been able to write this letter, such as it is. My thoughts are every day and every night with my sisters and [I] figure myself frequently at your fireside. Remember I am not to write any more unless I get a great deal better. [I] shall refer you to Christine to correspond and to tell you all you would wish to know from this country. And now I have nothing but Compts. And love to send to all my friends--to Robie Hepburn as my oldest and nearest my heart--my blessings to his family, as to the Kers and Congaltons. And once more to Anny you and Mary and Mrs. Ker and my Polly and Tom. God bless you all. I am truly my dear Madie with much affection, Yours for aye, JOHN NAIRNE. 

Nairne was not mistaken in his view that the end was near. He writesabout this time to his physician at Quebec (there was no practitioner atMurray Bay) describing his symptoms and ends: "Now, dear Doctor, I daresay you think some apologies necessary for my troubling you soparticularly with the complaints of an old man of 71, as his inwardmachinery is probably wore out and irreparable. " In a last vain hopethey took him to Quebec for medical care. But the machinery was, indeed, "wore out, " and at Quebec, on July 14th, 1802, he closed his eyes on aworld which, though it brought him labour and sorrow, he thought to bevery good. 

Among his own letters is preserved the printed invitation to hisfuneral:

 Quebec, _Wednesday, 14th July, 1802. _

 Sir, --

 The favour of your company is requested to attend the Funeral of the late Colonel Nairne, from No. 1 Grison Street, on Cape Diamond, to the place of interment, on Friday next at one o'clock in the afternoon. 

All that was most worthy in Quebec attended to do honour to his memory. He was buried in the Protestant cemetery; long after his body wasremoved to Mount Hermon Cemetery, to lie beside his son andgrandson--the last of his race. 

Nairne played his part with high purpose and integrity. Among his papersat Murray Bay is a prayer, intended apparently for daily use, in whichhe asks that he may be vigilant in conduct and immovable in all goodpurposes; that he may show courage in danger, patience in adversity, humility in prosperity. He asks, too, to be made sensible "how little isthis world, how great [are] thy Heavens, and how long will be thyblessed eternity. " It is the prayer of a strong soul facing humbly andreverently the tasks of life. [20] He would have wished to found acommunity English speaking and Protestant. But the forces of nature wereagainst him. The few English speaking people who came in (and they werebut a few scattered individuals) for the most part married Frenchwives. The children held the faith and spoke the tongue which theylearned at their mothers' knees. It was the course of nature, and alwayswe are foolish to quarrel with nature. A granite monument marks theresting place where the good old man sleeps in the cemetery at Quebec, but some memorial might well stand at Murray Bay, that those who lookout upon the majestic river, the blue mountains, the smiling valleyshould have before them a reminder of the "friendly, honest man" who, acentury and a half ago, began to win their heritage from thewilderness. [21]

[Footnote 13: It may be convenient to state at once the dates of thebirths and deaths of each of these children:

Magdalen (Madie) (Mrs. McNicol) born 1767 died 1839. Christine Nairne " 1774 " 1817. John Nairne " 1777 " 1799. Mary (Polly) Nairne " 1782 " 1821. Thomas Nairne " 1787 " 1813. ]

[Footnote 14: See Appendix D. , p. 277. , for a formal memorandum drawn upby Nairne for his son's guidance. ]

[Footnote 15: See Appendix E. , p. 279. "The 'Porpoise' (Beluga or WhiteWhale) Fishery on the St. Lawrence. "]

[Footnote 16: "Les Anciens Canadiens, " Chapter IV. ]

[Footnote 17: Sir Alexander Mackenzie who accomplished in 1793 what wasthen the astonishing feat of crossing the Rocky Mountains to the PacificOcean and whose book, "Voyages from Montreal on the River St. Lawrence, through the Continent of North America, to the Frozen and PacificOceans, " first published in 1801, attracted general attention, includingeven that of Napoleon Bonaparte. ]

[Footnote 18: John Warren, the ancestor of the numerous family at MurrayBay of that name. ]

[Footnote 19: Warren, Nairne's neighbour, had been visiting Quebecapparently for business reasons. ]

[Footnote 20: See Appendix F. , p. 286, for this Prayer of ColonelNairne. ]

[Footnote 21: The inscription to be placed on Nairne's tomb was long asubject of debate in the family. Two drafts remain at Murray Bay, bothcopious in length, and neither like the inscription now to be found atMount Hermon Cemetery. (See p. 221. ) In the taste of the timeinscriptions were expected to give a full account of the career of thedead man. One of these inscriptions speaks of Nairne's "enjoying as areward of his services a gift of Land on the River St. Lawrence. He hadalike the merit and the happiness of converting a wild and uninhabiteddesert into a flourishing colony of above 1000 inhabitants, who regardedhim as their Tender Friend and Patriarch. He died honoured with theesteem of all who knew him. " The other inscription mentions what, otherwise, we should not have known, that Nairne received a wound on thePlains of Abraham. It goes on in verse:

 "Though 'gainst the Foe a dauntless Front he reared, Ne'er from his lips was aught assuming heard; Modest, though brave; though firm, in manners mild, Strong in resolve, though guileless as a child; To honor true, in probity correct; To falsehood [stern] and urgent to detect; To party strange, to calumny a foe; The good Samaritan to sons of woe; At a late hour he heard the fatal call, Obeyed and died, wept and deplored by all. "]

CHAPTER VI

THOMAS NAIRNE, SEIGNEUR OF MURRAY BAY

 His Education in Scotland. --His winning character. --He enters the army. --Malcolm Fraser's counsels to a young soldier. --Thomas Nairne's life at Gibraltar. --His desire to retire from the army. --His return to Canada in 1810-11. --His life at Quebec. --His summer at Murray Bay, 1811. --His resolve to remain in the army. --Beginning of the War of 1812. --Captain Nairne on Lake Ontario. --Quebec Society and the proposed flight from danger to Murray Bay. --Anxiety at Murray Bay. --The progress of the War. --An American attack on Kingston. --Captain Nairne on the Niagara frontier. --Naval War on Lake Ontario. --Nairne's description of a naval engagement. --Sense of impending disaster at Murray Bay. --The American advance on Montreal by the St. Lawrence. --Nairne's regiment a part of the opposing British force. --The Battle of Crysler's Farm. --Nairne's death. --His body taken to Quebec. --The grief of the family at Murray Bay. --The funeral. 

At his father's death Thomas Nairne was the only surviving son. In 1791the father had written of this boy, born in 1787 and thus only fouryears old: "Tom continues very stout but not easy to manage and [I] amafraid it will be difficult to separate [him] from his mother. He doesnot speak a word of English; neither do your sisters Mary (now calledPolly) or Anny speak any other language than French; but I intend tosend them all to Quebec next summer, where it's to be hoped they willsoon learn to understand a little English. " So to Quebec Tom was sent tobegin his education. By 1798, when only eleven years old, he had gone tothe relatives in Scotland and Nairne's friend, Ker, writes of him: "Ithink Tommie one of the sweetest tempered fine boys I ever saw and hewill, I doubt not, be the comfort and delight of you all. " Polly wasthere too--"a very good girl ... Of great use to her Aunts to whom shepays every attention. " Tom, like his brother John, was carefullyinstructed by his father. He must look after himself, dress, care forhis clothes, and keep clean, without troubling others. Especially musthe try to think clearly and speak distinctly--truly a sound beginning ofeducation. His brother's death in 1799 made him an important person, thepride of his house. "There are many Tams now in this parish, " wrote hisfather in 1801, "even a part of it is named St. Thomas, all incompliment to our Tom. " At the time of his father's death in 1802, a boyof fifteen, Tom was attending the Edinburgh High School. Before me liesa coverless account book of octavo size in which are written by somecareful person, in clear round-hand, recipes, scraps of poetry, problemsin arithmetic and geometry, and among other things, "Tom's Expenses, 1796. " A quarter at the High School costs 10/6, "Lattin books, " 4/-, school money is 3/-, a ferret 3d. , and so on. His sister Polly'sexpenses are entered in the same book and that young lady's outlay wasmore formidable. Items for the milliner such as "making up a Bonnet. 3/6, " (young ladies still wore bonnets) are frequent. Miss Polly spent6/- on ear-rings. Once when she took a "Shaise" it cost her 2/-, while"Chair Hire" is sometimes 1/6 and sometimes reduced to the modestproportions of 9d. No doubt for her health's sake she bought for 1/- a"Sacred Tincture" which, we may hope, did her good. 

Thomas Nairne was an attractive boy. He lived with his father's executorand friend, James Ker, an Edinburgh banker, a wise, prudent, far-seeing, man. Mr. Ker was married to Colonel Nairne's niece and he received Tomas his own child. The boy was the inseparable companion of Ker's sonAlick. Tom won praises on all sides. An Aunt wrote seriously that shehad feared he was too good to live; and she comforted Nairne's grief athis son John's death by the thought of what Tom will be to him. He is "ahappy chearful pleased little fellow always quiet at home"--but also"happy and at home wherever he goes. " So thoughtful, she adds, is hethat, entirely on his own motion, he deems it proper to write to hismother; one of these letters is before me--beautifully written in alarge but well-formed schoolboy hand. "A very promising sweet youngman, " was the renewed judgment of his business-like guardian upon Tomin 1803, when he was a boy of only sixteen. By that time, it was thoughtthat Tom had exhausted the advantages of the Edinburgh High School. TheEdinburgh accent of the day did not suit the taste of his fastidiousguardian, who hoped that in an English school a better manner of speechmight be acquired. Tom's cousin and companion, Alick Ker, a boy a fewyears older, was going to school at Durham and thither also went Tom. The lads "are the greatest friends in the world, " wrote his watchfulaunt; "Alick does not know how to exist without Tom but Tom is moreindependent of Alick, for he is not so shy. " In an aunt's, perhapspartial, view Tom was quicker and showed more application than Alick. "Tom advances with great deliberation in his height, " she writes, whichwas very convenient, for, since Alick was older, Tom came in for Alick'sout-grown clothes and this saved expense. 

When the boy's school days were drawing to an end his future course wasthe topic of much discussion. Tom's father had wished him to study law, though not to practice it: in Canada, he thought, there was no lucrativeopening for any one trained in the law unless he was made a judge. OldMalcolm Fraser, Tom's adviser after his father's death, would have hadhim, for safety's sake, adopt a civilian life; he was the last male ofhis house and therefore ought not to be exposed to a soldier's dangers. Tom's Edinburgh friends wished him to become a Writer to the Signet or, at any rate, to learn something about business since, as a landedproprietor, he must be a man of affairs. But the youth took the matterin his own hands. For his father's character and career he had always agreat reverence; soldier's blood was in his veins, and nature had herway. Tom became a soldier and, when the school days are ended, we findthe boy, not yet eighteen, Lieutenant in the 10th Regiment of Foot. Fraser wrote to Tom protesting against what he had done and from MaldonBarracks, in Essex, on April 5th, 1805, Tom answers his godfather'sobjections. Perhaps to add solemnity to his argument the old man hadassumed the tone of a valetudinarian and Tom replies: "I would fain hopeyou had no reason for saying you would soon follow my dear Father. Ihope God will spare you to us since he has thought proper to take myFather to Himself. Your loss would be irreparable, I having no otherperson to protect my mother and sisters as I have chosen a line of lifein which I may never have the fortune of being near them. " In spite ofFraser's appeal, Tom's resolution to remain in the army was unshaken. 

It was an amazing era in Europe and well may Fraser have feared for theyoung Lieutenant's safety. While the boy was writing, NapoleonBonaparte, with the lustre fresh upon him of a recent gorgeouscoronation at Paris as Emperor of the French, was gathering at Boulognea great army and hundreds of small boats with which this army might, hehoped, be thrown across into England within twenty-four hours. Thatcountry was very nervous but, for some reason, Tom's regiment, insteadof being kept at home to meet the invader, was sent to Gibraltar. Herehe remained inactive while world-shaking events were happening, whileTrafalgar and Austerlitz and Jena were fought, and Pitt stricken with"the noblest of all sorrows, " grief for the seeming ruin of his country, told those about him to "roll up the map of Europe, " and diedheartbroken. Not unnaturally at such a time Gibraltar seemed dull; amiserable place, Tom thought, a prison on a large scale. His friendswrote him letters containing an abundance of good advice, all of whichhe took with becoming modesty. A letter from Fraser of this character isstill excellent reading; his counsels to the young soldier have addedweight when we remember that the author was with Wolfe at Louisbourg andQuebec and now, nearly fifty years later, was still active in themilitia forces of Canada. 

 _Malcolm Fraser to Lieut. Thomas Nairne_

 _From Murray Bay, 7th October, 1805. _

 My Dear Godson, --

 I had the very great pleasure of receiving yours of the 5th April last at this place on the 15th September and as your sister Miss Christine has wrote you I must refer you to her for the news of Murray Bay. She left this for Quebec a few days ago and every thing continues to go well here and I hope will do so. Your mother improves your estate daily and if she lives ten years I am convinced that she will make it worth double what it was ten years ago and if after a peace, when I hope you will have a company, you can get exchanged into a Regiment serving in this Country without losing rank, you will by that means have an opportunity of examining your own affairs here and it will give the greatest pleasure to your mother and other relations and friends within your native country, and particularly to me, should I happen to live so long. Christine has I suppose wrote that you are now an uncle, your sister Madie having been delivered of a fine boy about two months ago, and I have the pleasure to tell you that she and her husband seem to be very happy and, tho' I did not at first approve of the match, that I am now quite reconciled to it as are all her friends here, as well as those in Scotland as far as I can learn. 

 Now as to yourself: tho' I had some objections to your going into the army so very young, yet now that you have become a soldier, I hope you will continue to follow the military life with ardour and Emulation as far as lays in your power and that you will endeavour to employ your spare time in acquiring the various accomplishments necessary to become a good officer. I would by no means advise you to avoid such innocent pleasures and amusements as are suitable to your age and rank. But I pray you beware of being led astray or going into any excess. I am very glad to find that the army is now in general much less addicted to (what was falsely called) the pleasures of the bottle than in former times, but you may still meet with temptations in that way which I hope you'll guard against. Try to resemble your late worthy father in temperance and moderation as well as in punctuality and exactness in doing your duty with strict subordination to your superiors, particularly to the commanding officer of your corps, as it is by his recommendation, commonly, that those under his immediate command may expect promotion. You must by all means avoid getting into any parties or factions against him, which I have known sometimes to have unfortunately happened to others; but there can be hardly anything more detrimental to the service as well as dishonourable to the corps wherein it takes place. I would also recommend to you ... , in case you are engaged in any action, to beware of passing judgment on the conduct of your Commanders, till at least you are of an age and have acquired experience to entitle you to give your opinion, as it is very common for a young man to be mistaken. You must also avoid any dispute or difference with your brother officers, for tho' there are unhappily some cases where a gentleman _must_ vindicate his honour yet where I have known such things happen they might have been prevented _with honour_ if the parties had not allowed their passions to get the better of their reason; and you must remember there is never honour to be acquired by being quarrelsome, but the reverse, and that your life ought now to be devoted to the service of your King and country. I know you will not be sparing of it when occasion requires. 

 I would also recommend to you to read useful books when you have time and to acquire a competent knowledge of History, both Ancient and Modern, especially that of the country in whose service you are engaged, as also such books as treat of your profession; and to pay particular attention to the lives and actions of those who have distinguished themselves in its service, who you will find to have been in general as remarkable for their moral, as for their military characters; and I hope you will endeavour to imitate them and, tho' you may not acquire the rank, you must remember that you cannot become a _good general_ or even a good officer without first acquiring a competent knowledge of your profession. For this purpose (tho' I never had any proper knowledge of those matters myself yet I am sensible of my deficiency) I would have you study and read such books as treat of fortification and encampments; and as you are still very young I imagine you may soon acquire a competent knowledge by such reading, suitable to avail yourself of it on any emergency. 

 I must now recommend you to keep those who may be under your command in that degree of subordination and obedience which the service requires. But you must never forget that your inferiors, even the Private Man who serves in the ranks, is your fellow soldier and fellow-man, and that you are bound to show him every attention and humanity in your power. This was one of the many good qualities for which your father was remarkable, for which he was beloved by all ranks; and I hope you will imitate him. I must now conclude by recommending to you to let me hear from you once a year, at least, or oftener if an opportunity offers. Nothing can give more pleasure than to hear good accounts of you to

 Your affectionate godfather, MALCOLM FFRASER. 

 In short you must never forget that you may at times become responsible for the lives and honour of those under your command as well as for your own, and, it may even happen, for that of your King and Country, in some degree, and that you are to act accordingly. All this with more and much better you may read or hear from others; but I flatter myself that you will not think the less of it as coming from _me_. 

It must be admitted that the soldier's ideal in that age for the Britisharmy was as high as our own. We are accustomed to think that a hundredyears ago drunkenness was hardly accounted a vice. Perhaps it was not incivil life, but in the army, in young Nairne's time, sobriety was therule. Writing on May 20th, 1807, he says that few in the army resort todrink, as a pleasure, even at Gibraltar, where wine is cheap andplentiful; the allowance in the regiment after dinner is but one-thirdof a bottle, and only now and then when there are guests is it usual todepart from this allowance. The deadly dullness and idleness ofGibraltar were its chief defects, the young officer thought. 

There had been futile talk of peace. On August 13th, 1806, Ker wrote toMurray Bay from Edinburgh: "We expect to hear of Peace between thiscountry and France. The Earl of Lauderdale has been sent to Paris totreat. But what sort of peace can we make with Bona Parte?" What sortindeed? Peace was not to come during Tom Nairne's lifetime. He wasgetting ready meanwhile for an enlarged career. At Gibraltar he pressedhis guardian to purchase him a captaincy. Those were the bad old dayswhen promotion in the army went largely by purchase and Tom had beenLieutenant for little more than a year when, at a cost of £1, 000, Kerbought for him the desired rank; he attained to this dignity at the ageof nineteen. The purchase strained his resources severely but his familygot some comfort out of the thought that he was advancing. There was anexcellent library at Gibraltar and he had good opportunities forself-improvement of which he promised to avail himself. But the promisewas hardly realized. At any rate Tom gave a very poor account of his owndoings for, after he had returned to England, he wrote to his mother(from Chelmsford Barracks on March 19th, 1808) a not very flatteringaccount of himself at Gibraltar:

 Only figure to yourself a rock, about two miles and a half in length and scarcely the fifth part of that in breadth, and then most likely you will not be so much astonished at my making the above comparison [of Gibraltar to a prison], from which you may wisely suppose that those unfortunate beings who had the misfortune of being shut up in it led a most inactive and stupid life.... However, to give the Devil his due, I must not omit to observe that it contained a most excellent Library, by which means officers might improve themselves greatly and spend their leisure hours to their credit, provided they were desirous of doing so; particularly as nothing existed in that place to take off their attention from study; and I make no doubt but some young men had the sense to profit by that favourable opportunity. At the same time [I] am extremely sorry to inform you your promising son did not, in any shape whatever, and am much concerned to add that he spent a very idle life whilst there, doing nothing else the live-long day than riding or lounging; which I presume you will think was a complete disgrace to any man of a liberal education, in which I perfectly agree with you.... I sincerely hope and trust that he [your son] will mend as he becomes older and wiser. 

Tom confesses himself at this time "a complete idle, good for nothingfellow, " but he disarms his mother's reproaches when he adds that he ischiefly occupied in thinking of her and of his large estate in Canadawhere he longs to be. It had for him a new attraction, since his cousinAlick Ker was just going out to Canada, a Captain on the staff of SirJames Craig, the new Governor, who was related to the Kers. For the timeTom's family was content that he should be at Gibraltar, where he wassafe, and where, too, as Ker prudently says, "he lives cheaper than hecould in England, has a genteel [how the age loved that word!] societyand the use of a large Library. " He rode on the sandy beach; sometimes, until the coming of the French troops, the British officers were allowedto ride into Spain. 

These diversions all came to an end on August 26th, 1807, when Tomturned his back on Gibraltar for good. Incredible as it may now seem, the voyage to England took nearly a month; he arrived on the 24th ofSeptember. The young man had been turning over seriously his futureprospects. In a letter to his mother he makes some enquiry about hisown probable income from his estate. While protesting that he is himself"a Devilish ugly fellow" he has some thought of getting his mother tochoose a "rib" for him and, presumptuous as it may seem, she must behandsome. He was thinking now of a civilian career. At Gibraltar he hadfound that he was short-sighted, and long sight seemed a necessity to asoldier. But Fraser, to whom he poured out his woe, answered thatshort-sightedness need not interfere with his efficiency; Colonel Nairnehad been short-sighted and yet, withal, a successful officer; thequestion of sight would matter only if he was in command, in face of theenemy, and, even then, he could get assistance. Fraser advised him tostay in the army until he attained the rank of a field officer, when hemight retire on half pay to his estate at Murray Bay, "extensive but notvaluable in proportion. " In truth Tom, tired of the army, was home-sick. He says to Fraser that he is "feeling an indescribable degree of anxietyto see my dearest mother, sisters, and yourself, not forgetting toinclude my estate, where I often figure myself, strutting about likeunto a mighty Bashaw; which peaceful idea I sincerely hope will berealized, some day or other, if it pleases God to spare me so long; ... My only desire is now that blessed time may be near at hand or even thatI could afford to set out to Murray Bay without any further delay. However it is proper to drown that wish, for the present, amongst thenoise of arms, as the whole world is up against us, and my assistance, though little enough, God knows, may be of some use. At all events itwould be tasting the sweets of this life before I had ever felt themiseries of it. " He ends by asking that nothing of which he is possessedmay be spared "towards making Alick Ker pass a pleasant time in Canada. "

The fear which the old aunt had ingenuously expressed that Tom mightprove too good to live was happily belied, for he appears to have been asufficiently idle young fellow, though, as his watchful guardian wrote, "a good economist"; the same guardian thought this extremely opportune, since "Bona Parte, " with all Europe under his heel, was making it livelyfor the fortunate islands, and forcing them to levy a tax of 10% onincomes. "This tax, " writes the indignant banker, "is one of the manyblessed fruits of the French Revolution, and of the horrible tyranny andperfidy of their rascally Emperor. "

Not long did Tom remain in England. Soon he was off with his regiment toSicily, at this period garrisoned by British troops, and saved by astrip of inviolate sea from the grasp of the master of Italy. Thesojourn in Sicily must have been dull. He was stationed at Syracuse, buthis school training had not gone deep enough to interest him inThucydides's marvellous story of the siege of that place or in theantiquities of Sicily. The chief surviving record of his sojourn inSicily is an account from his washerwoman, "Mrs. De Lass, " dated atSyracuse the 8th of March, 1809. His distaste for the army was nowcomplete. His sister Polly had ended her school days and, by a fortunatecircumstance, had gone out to Canada "under the protection of SirWilliam Johnstone's lady" and to Canada Tom was himself resolved to go. Early in 1810, he was back in Edinburgh, taking a few weeks' holidaywith the Kers, resolved to go on half pay at once, if possible, or, failing this, to sell out, and after a delay of fourteen or fifteenmonths, to go home to Murray Bay. The intervening time he intended tospend in the study of farming; he had almost completed a plan for goinginto Berwickshire to reside with a farmer and thus equip himself as aland owner. His friends thought him changeable. "The Captain, " wrote Keron the 30th of March, 1810, "is a sweet tempered good young man but hewants steadiness.... I fear that after trying to be a farmer at MurrayBay he may tire and want to return to the army. " So serious was Tomabout his future bucolic life that he wrote to his sister Christine, ashe had written before to his mother, to ask whether she did not think heshould look round for a wife; such a companion would be necessary, hethought, if he settled down as a farmer in Canada. We can imagine thatthe proposition, from a youth of twenty-three, caused some dismay amongthe occupants of the Manor House at Murray Bay; but Tom was soonprofessing himself something of a woman hater and he never married. 

His return to Murray Bay followed quickly. By a fortunate, or perhaps, in view of the tragic fate awaiting poor Tom, unfortunate, chance, instead of going on half-pay, he was able to exchange from the 10thRegiment of Foot to the Newfoundland Regiment. The chief reason for theexchange was that the Newfoundland Regiment was ordered to Canada, whereTom could get leave of absence to pay a long visit to Murray Bay andlearn how its life would suit him. So, in the autumn of 1810, the youngman was in Canada, which he had not seen since childhood. To Murray Bayhe soon paid a flying visit; the longer leave of absence would comelater. His competent, busy, prudent and affectionate old mother welcomedhim with open arms. He had thought of himself as a young Bashawstrutting round among the people of his seigniory. No doubt they weremuch interested to see the young Captain; but his duties soon called himback to Quebec, from which place on December 3rd, 1810, he writes to hismother:

 I have this moment finished drinking tea, all alone.... You have totally spoiled my relish for anything except for Murray Bay; my notions of things in general appear to be entirely changed. Murray Bay while viewed only in perspective afforded me a sort of pleasing reflection; but now that I have a nearer view and enjoyed its comforts my ideas have experienced a complete revolution. So you see what your society and most kind loving treatment have effected. You may therefore rest assured that no stone will be left unturned to try to get back in order that we may remain together in this world as long as it may please the Almighty to permit us. On my arrival here at 2 o'clock p. M. I proceeded to the Upper Town in order to look out for a bed, concerning the getting of which I had entertained my doubts being, _tout ensemble_, a queer figure, having on my covered handkerchief, thick great coat, Canadian boots, and round hat; in short at the first essay I was refused by a "No room in the house, Sir, " a common reply given to those whose unfortunate appearance happens not exactly to please the harsh and scrutinizing eye of the lord of the mansion. I then turned my frozen steps towards this house of hospitality where after explaining _mon besoin_ to the waiter he scrupulously and critically eyed me from top to toe, from head to foot, then turned on his heel to go to his master and report accordingly. During his absence I commenced a serious inspection of self to find if possible what had attracted his attention so pointedly towards my toes, when I observed the cause to be the silver chain of my over-alls peeping out from under my great-coat; which, no doubt, was the reason of having received a favourable answer; for on his re-entrance he asked me to sit down and I finally engaged a room. 

On January 9th, 1811, Tom wrote to say that a man had arrived fromMurray Bay but without letters:

 "What the Devil has come over those sisters of mine? Pray are they still behind the stove patching their old stockings? No time forsooth--Rediculous--Could not the lazy wretches have only wrote me the scratch of a pen merely to wish me a good New Year? Mr. McCord to be sure mumbles something about time; it is highly diverting to have country lasses talk about want of time, particularly those I am now speaking of, unless they have greatly altered for the better since I saw them last, and turned their hands to cow-keeping, tending of poultry, or something of that description; but I'll be bound for it they still employ themselves with nothing else except perching behind the stove, growling, and driving carriols. "

He exhorts his sisters to take long walks in the fine cold weather. Thenhe dips into politics. There is to be an election at Murray Bay for thecounty of Northumberland and Mr. Bouchette, a Canadian, had asked forthe interest of Tom as seigneur. He regrets that he cannot himself offerto stand since he is unsettled in plans, "and totally unacquainted withthe language of the country"; a strange comment on the fact that inearly youth he had known only French. The habitant had recently securedthe right to vote but already pleased himself in exercising it. Though, as Tom says, "Dr. La Terrière of the adjacent seigniory of LesEboulements, the Curés, and the Devil knows who" all wished Bouchetteelected and Tom was himself anxious that a habitant should not bechosen, Bouchette failed and a habitant was sent to Quebec to representthe district in the Legislature. 

Tom's letters written during the winter of 1810-1811 are full of thegossip and events of the time in Quebec. He is now obviously keen forself-improvement, and, in the manner of his father, for the improvementof others also; while congratulating Polly on the better style of herletters which are now "sprightly", he corrects her spelling. Among otherthings he is trying to complete a proper inscription for his father'stomb. He sends for the title deeds of his property in order that he maydo homage to the governor Sir James Craig, and shows a lively interestin the management of his estate. His father's old friend, ColonelFraser, was visiting Quebec which, more than fifty years earlier, he hadhelped to win for Britain but where now, it is somewhat sad to think, hehas, as Tom says, very few acquaintances. So the young Captain spendstwo or three hours daily with the Colonel and finds that he has manyinteresting subjects to talk with him about. He drives with him into thecountry. He enquires about a house in Quebec which his mother had somethought of buying and talks of a trip to Montreal to buy a horse to sendto Murray Bay. In the letters home Christine, "Rusty" is the specialobject of his teasing. She has been accustomed to spend the winters atQuebec, but is now at Murray Bay, and he asks how she likes the dullcountry at this season. "She never says anything about it, which is inher favour.... I trust that through the means of Picquet you contrive tokeep her rusty dollars moving. " Tom's absence from Murray Bay was soonto end. On March, 23rd, 1811, he wrote joyously that he has got leave ofabsence for six months, and is coming "to my own dear Murray Bay. "Christine had been dangerously ill and he is naturally anxious to be athome. 

So behold the young seigneur disporting himself at Murray Bay in thespring of 1811. Old Malcolm Fraser, at the manor of Mount Murray justacross the bay, kept a watchful eye on the godson who, he had begun tofear, was not proving wholly satisfactory. The cause of Fraser'smisgiving is not clear but he lectured Tom with tactful insight. Of hisown career the young officer was now beginning to take a new view. During the long holiday at Murray Bay he had time to taste its pleasuresand to learn its chief interests. He went out fishing and shooting; hesailed and rowed on the river; he occupied himself in the daily businessof the seigniory, for which his competent mother had so long cared; shewas now building a mill which would probably add to Tom's revenues. Hemade friends with the curé Mr. Le Courtois. This gentleman, a Frenchémigré, who found a refuge in Canada, had thrown himself with greatdevotion into the rough life of a missionary among the scatteredpeoples, Canadians and Indians alike, of his remote parish. He was a manof culture and remained always a valued counsellor of the Protestantfamily in the Manor House. [22] But, in spite of all the interests andfriendships at Murray Bay, Tom soon found that the little communityhardly needed him. Every thing was well looked after, prosperous andpromising. He would be only a fifth wheel to the coach and, before long, he had made up his mind that he had better stick to his military career. 

Without doubt Tom was a young man of winning character. Malcolm Fraser, having studied him and lectured him, reconsidered his unfavourableestimate, and wrote to Ker on the 10th of October, 1811: "I think himincapable of any immoral or mean action; ... He seems to hearken to thelectures of his old Godfather tho' not perhaps always delivered in themost delicate Style. " To his mother he was a tender son, and for hisfather's memory he showed a filial reverence. One of his first acts onarriving in Canada had been to arrange for the erection in Quebec of aproper monument in his memory--something that others had long talkedabout and which Tom brought to completion, but which has, alas, longsince disappeared. Tom was in truth a man of action, and to action inthe larger world he now turned. Towards the end of September, 1811, atthe time when, to-day, Murray Bay's summer sojourners turn reluctantlyhomeward from the crisp autumn air and from the mountain sides beginningto show the season's glowing tints, Captain Nairne set out from theManor House to join his regiment at Quebec. He had in mind a plan to goback to Europe and to get to Spain or Portugal for a share in thePeninsular War then raging. Fraser, now in his 79th year, writes onOctober 10th, 1811, his advice that the young man "should continue onfull pay till he attains the rank of Major, by brevet or otherwise, andthen, if he chooses, he may exchange and retire on the half of whateverfull pay he holds at the time, and as soon as such exchange can beaccomplished with decency and propriety. " War with the United States wasnow impending, hardly a fitting time for a young man to withdraw fromthe army, and Fraser points out that "in the present situation of publicaffairs and at his age and fitness for service" Tom's retirement wouldbe hardly decent. "Next to my own nearest connections, " he continues, "my chief attention will be paid to Captain Nairne and the otherconnections of his late Father with whom I had the happiness to live inFriendship and intimacy from our first meeting (1757) till his Decease(1802) and I trust we shall meet again in a future state. "

The young man thus returned to his military duties with his old friend'sbenediction and restored confidence. But to the family the plan for amilitary career was a sore disappointment. His sister Christine, itswoman of the world, and the one most in touch with the Canadian societyof the time, was keen that Tom should live at Murray Bay. To herentreaties he answers on October 6th, 1811, that there is no earthly usefor him at Murray Bay where everything is so well looked after that hispresence would do more harm than good. Time would hang heavy on hishands if he were always employed in fishing, shooting and navigating theriver. It is better, he says, that he should continue in his presentposition and he intends to withdraw his application for half pay. WhenChristine returns to the charge and urges that Murray Bay is not to bedespised the young man retorts that he never said it was and answers herwith some dignity:

 It will ill become me to despise the favourite residence of a person for whom I have at all times testified the greatest love esteem and respect. Indeed I think my behaviour hitherto might have spared me such a severe remark.... You charge me with being inconsistent and changeable, in which opinion you are not, I believe, singular; but until you point out to me where I have been so, I shall till then, plead not guilty in my own mind. 

War was now brooding over Canada--the fratricidal War of 1812. But forthe time Quebec was gay. There was hardly a week without a private ball, Tom wrote in February, 1812; and the assemblies, dinners and supperswere innumerable. He chaffs his sister Christine, whose rheumatic painshad apparently become a kind of family joke, and says that, since theyare the enemies of high kicking, her inability longer for this pastime"is partly the cause of her sounding a retreat to the peaceful shadesand grottoes of Murray Bay. " Polly, the other unmarried sister, was morecontent to be at Murray Bay, with results that led to a family tragedyas we shall see later. Her brother pictures her driving his nag with hercarriole through the country; so reckless is she that she is sure to rundown some one. "Does she, proud and high, still continue hopping away tothe country weddings?" His request that Pope's Works and _The Spectator_be sent to him seems to indicate a serious turn of mind. He is sendingto Murray Bay _The Lady of the Lake_ and _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_whose middle-aged author was just turning from poetry to winunprecedented success as a writer of fiction. In the spring he goes outshooting for snipe nearly every day; and he sends to Murray Bay for hisfishing tackle. When a fellow officer falls ill he sends him down toMurray Bay for a month. 

Soon came a more active life. War with the United States was near andCanada was getting ready. In May, 1812, Malcolm Fraser, led to Quebecfrom Murray Bay and the intervening parishes what militia he couldmuster. At the same time, he was made a commissioner to administer theoaths of allegiance: in extreme old age the veteran was ready again todo what he could. The Newfoundland regiment, to which Tom belonged, wasordered to the interior. The storm cloud drew near and burst on June19th, 1812, in the form of a declaration of war by the United States onGreat Britain. The Americans intended to pour troops into Upper Canada, but sparsely settled at that time, and quickly to occupy it. Thefrontier on the Niagara River was the chief danger point and theNewfoundland Regiment was sent up to Lake Ontario to aid in the defence. On July 3rd, 1812, Tom writes from Kingston in Upper Canada. The newshas reached him that war has been declared; and already, busy with thetask of placing men and supplies where they will be most needed, he hasbeen the length of Lake Ontario in the _Royal George_; staying two daysat York, now Toronto; going thence to Niagara and then sailing back toKingston. At Kingston there are 1, 000 militia and Carleton Island, (where Tom's father had commanded in the War of the American Revolution)has been taken by the British--an inglorious success for its garrisonconsisted of but three veterans and some women. The adjacent Indians, says the young Captain, "are anxious to be at the Yankees with theirToma-hawks. " Altogether some exciting campaigns were in prospect and Tomwas glad that his family was "snug at Murray Bay. "

[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF LAKE ONTARIO AND R. ST. LAWRENCE TOILLUSTRATE WAR OF 1812]

There, remote and isolated, they seemed indeed safe--so safe that, toshare the security, a general descent of their friends seemed imminent. At Quebec there was, for a time, something like a panic. "Every onehere, " wrote Mrs. Hale to Miss Nairne "is in a complete state of anxietyand suspense, not at all knowing whether we shall be attacked, or whatmay become of us. I have just now seen Colonel Fraser, who assures me Ishall be welcome at your mother's house, in case we should be obliged toleave Quebec. [He] advised my writing for fear you should haveapplications from other quarters.... Many ladies are going toEngland.... My spirits are so depressed that I cannot pretend to amuseyou with any anecdotes. " Murray Bay offered its hospitality with greatheartiness and Mr. Hale wrote, "I believe all Quebec mean to movetowards you if necessary, so you must prepare. "

Quebec was in a flutter of successive excitements, now certain that itwas invulnerable, now fearing an immediate descent of the enemy, andalways longing for peace. In England the Orders in Council whichprovoked the war were now revoked, and Malcolm Fraser wrote that thismust soon bring peace in America, especially since New England and NewYork were against the war. Miss Nairne's friend in Quebec, JudgeBowen[23], wrote to her in November, 1812, announcing the armistice forsix months, arranged some time before, and assuring the ladies at MurrayBay that all cause for anxiety was now past, --an illusive hope for thearmistice was not ratified by President Madison and the war went on. Weget echoes of social jealousies that may now amuse us. Sir James Craig, the late Governor, had repressed sternly the aspirations of the Frenchelement and had been specially friendly with the Nairne circle; he wasindeed a cousin of the Nairnes' relative by marriage, James Ker. But nowwith Sir George Prevost as Governor things were changed. Sir George camefrom Halifax and Quebec society looked with green-eyed jealousy upon his"Halifax people. " "They are not the right sort, " Judge Bowen wrote toChristine Nairne:

 It will be long before we meet a staff like Sir James Craig's gentlemanly men.... The castle affords no delight but to the Halifax people. They are all Gods, the Quebecers all Devils. As for me I have no desire to be deified.... Would you believe it Pierre Bedard [a French Canadian leader whom Sir James Craig had clapped into prison] is now Judge of the Court of King's Bench at Three Rivers. Would that poor Sir James[24] could raise his head to take a view of the strange scenes daily occurring here; but it is better he should be spared the Loathsome sight. What it will end in I dare scarcely express. 

In these days there was ceaseless anxiety at Murray Bay. "We are allhere in a complete state of suspense, " wrote Christine Nairne, "... Mybrother is now in Upper Canada doing duty as a marine officer on boardthe _Royal George_. We are in the utmost anxiety about him but on theAlmighty we rely for preservation in these horrid times. " Echoes came ofstirring events. Tom wrote of General Brock's succeeds in capturingDetroit and with it the American General Hull and his whole army. Alittle later the Detroit garrison was sent to Montreal and CaptainNairne, doing duty on the _Royal George_, carried General Hull--"theextirpating General" he called him in view of dire threats that Hull hadmade as to what he should do--with 200 prisoners from Niagara toKingston and then in batteaux down the River St. Lawrence on the way toMontreal, through whose streets the Canadian militia marched theirprisoners to the strains of "Yankee Doodle. " Elated with the successagainst General Hull, Tom now expected to hear any day that the Americanfort at the mouth of the Niagara River had been taken by General Brock. He heard a much sadder tale. Instead of awaiting attack the Americansbecame the aggressors and crossed the river into Canada. In a successfulattempt to dislodge them from Queenston Heights the gallant Brock wasslain. The invaders were driven back; but all Canada mourned for Brock. Mrs. Bowen wrote to Christine Nairne, "I am sure you will have deeplyfelt the loss of poor General Brock. He was always a great favourite ofyours as well as mine. Salter Mountain spoke in the highest terms of himin his sermon last Sunday. "

As the war became more grim in character Captain Nairne formed a fixedresolve to see it through to the end. On October 5th, 1812, he writesfrom Kingston that in response to his former request he had justreceived notice of having been put on half pay. With this release hemight now have retired to the serenity of Murray Bay. But, even thoughhe had not changed his mind, this would have been to turn his back onfighting when men were most needed. So when Captain Wall of the 49thRegiment broke his leg, and was thus rendered unfit for service, withhim Nairne effected an exchange. "I could not reconcile myself to theidea of sneaking down to Murray Bay and forsaking my post at the presentcritical period, " he wrote to Fraser. That old soldier was delighted atTom's spirit and made this note at the foot of the letter whichannounced this action:

 Point Fraser, [Murray Bay], Oct. 23rd, 1812: I do hereby certify that my Godson Captain Thomas Nairne has, as I think, acted as becomes him and very much to my satisfaction--Malcolm ffraser. 

From Prescott on the 29th of October, 1812, Tom wrote to his mother ofhis delight at being once more a regular "in that distinguished oldcorps the 49th. " It was indeed a fine regiment. Brock had led it inNorth Holland and in 1801 it had been on board the fleet at Copenhagenwith Hyde Parker and Nelson; it is now the Berkshire Regiment and thename "Queenston" where its commander, Brock, fell, is on its flag. Though a soldier not a sailor, Tom had now one gunboat and three armedbatteaux under his command, and, when writing, he had just arrived atPrescott with the American prisoners taken in the gallant action atQueenston where Brock was killed. His tone is serious and tender. "Whenthe war is over I trust in God we shall all have a happy meeting againat Murray Bay, perhaps never more to part during our stay in thisworld. " It was now his plan that if he should outlive the war he wouldgo to Edinburgh, find a wife and settle himself on his property withoutloss of time. A few days later, on November 15th, he writes fromKingston of a lively incident in which he has taken part. With sixschooners and an armed tug, the _Oneida_, of 18 guns, all full oftroops, the Americans had appeared before the place. At 4 o'clock on themorning of the 10th the adjutant of the 49th came into Tom's barrackroom to arouse him with the news that the enemy was thought to belanding a force five or six miles above the town. "He lit my candle, "says Tom, "and left. I immediately jumped out of bed, dressed myself ina devil of a hurry and sallied forth to the Barrack yard where I foundthree Companies of the 49th under arms, Gunners preparing matches andartillery horses scampering out of the yards with field pieces. " He wassoon sent to hold a bridge about three miles west of the town. The shipskept up a fierce cannonade for some time but it was so briskly returnedthat in the end they drew away having lost four men. But they hadcommand of the lake, a supremacy not to be challenged until a BritishCommodore, Sir James Yeo, arrived in the following summer. 

In his letters at this time Nairne speaks of his heavy expenses and saysthat even if the opportunity came to visit Murray Bay he could not gofor lack of money. So he begs his mother to build all the mills andhouses she can, and thus to make the profits which he sorely needs. Hecomplains of hearing from home so rarely: "You have only wrote once, Ibelieve, since I came to the Upper Country. What in the name of wonderare you all about? I hope Yankey Doodle has not run off with you. I amsure there can be no complaints of my being negligent in this way. "

The scene changed rapidly. Early in February, 1813, Nairne was sent toNiagara. Here for a time he was stationed at Fort George. The Americanswere now menacing Fort Erie on the Canadian side of the Niagara River. But things were looking well for the British. On January 22nd theBritish Colonel Procter defeated the American General Winchester atFrenchtown near Detroit and made him and 500 of his men prisoners. Nowyoung Nairne talked even of "extirpating" General Harrison whom theEnglish were attacking in what is now the state of Ohio. But again highhopes were dashed. General Harrison succeeded in forcing the British toevacuate Detroit; then he invaded Canada, and before the campaign of1813 was over he defeated the British badly at the river Thames in whatis now Western Ontario. Meanwhile about Niagara there was some livelycampaigning. In March Nairne describes an exciting night journey insleighs from Fort George to Chippewa near Niagara Falls where anAmerican landing was feared. Echoes of more distant wars reach thisremote frontier. This was the winter of Napoleon's terrible retreat fromMoscow and word comes, "glorious news certainly if true, " that 140, 000French have been captured by the Russians. 

Nearer home the chronicle was less glorious. The American fleet appearedbefore York (Toronto), burned the Parliament Buildings and publicrecords, and carried off even the church plate, and the books from thelibrary, of Upper Canada's capital, acts avenged by the burning ofWashington later in the war. Flushed with success, the Americans nowprepared to attack Fort George in overwhelming force. The 49th, Nairne'sregiment, were the chief defenders. The attack came on May 27th, 1813. There was sharp and bloody fighting. Greatly outnumbered, the Britishwere beaten; so hastily did they evacuate the fort that Nairne andothers lost their personal effects. He writes, somewhat ruefully, thathe has now only the clothes on his back and his watch, a purse, a familyring, and some trinkets. But this had its compensations; now he couldcarry everything in a haversack and blanket. Even paper, pens and inkare hardly to be got; he is writing on the last bit of paper he islikely to have for some time. 

For many weeks the young man took his share in this campaigning in theNiagara peninsula. The British headquarters were by this time atBurlington Heights at the head of Lake Ontario, half way between FortGeorge and York, the ruined capital. By June the British had turned onthe foe with vigour. On June 6th they rather stumbled into victory atStoney Creek, capturing two American Generals, Winder and Chandler. OnJune 7th a British squadron, under Sir James Yeo, appeared offBurlington Heights, bombarded the American camp on the shore at FortyMile Creek and compelled a retreat towards Fort George. Soon the Britishwere menacing the enemy in Fort George itself. Nairne's letters, watchedfor, we may be sure, at Murray Bay with breathless interest, recount theincidents of the campaign. At Beaver Dam, only a dozen miles or so fromFort George, Lieutenant Fitzgibbon of Nairne's regiment, the 49th, entrapped an advancing party of Americans and, by the clever use of 200Indian allies, filled them with such dread of being surrounded andmassacred by the savages that nearly 600 Americans surrendered to littlemore than one-third of their number. These same wild Indians in theirwar paint were enough, Nairne thought, "to frighten the Black Deilhimsel', " and their proximity in the campaign is one of many causes forwhich he thanks Heaven that the plague of war is so far removed fromMurray Bay; even if it lasted for years, it would still not reach thatremote haven, he says. Meanwhile Murray Bay can help him. Two pairs ofsocks, one flannel and one linen shirt, have been the modest increasesto his wardrobe since the hasty exit from Fort George many weeks before. He begs his sisters to make him some shirts and socks, but not many, since on the marches, usually made at night, he has to carry all hisbelongings on his own back. The charge of a too elaborate transportservice sometimes brought against the British army in modern campaignsseems to have no place in the War of 1812. The British, few in numberand defending an immense area, had to do killing work. Nairne says thathis men were able only rarely even to take off their accoutrements. 

With the arrival of Yeo's squadron the war was again half military, halfnaval. Yeo was a brilliant young officer and the remote waters of LakeOntario witnessed some clever naval tactics. The small fleets wereevenly matched. Chauncey, the American commander, was very cautious andwould not fight unless he could get the advantage of his longer range ofguns, while Yeo, if he fought at all, preferred to fight at closequarters; so they manoeuvred for position, each declaring that theother could not be brought to bay. On August 3rd, 1813, Nairne wrotefrom Burlington Heights to Malcolm Fraser. In an earlier letter thatveteran had expressed the desire of dancing at Tom's wedding and Tom hadtold him, with the prophetic saving clause "should I outlive this war, "that to see his friend of eighty years dancing would be a considerableinducement to marry. He hopes that they may soon discuss the war "over agood bottle of your Madeira at Mount Murray. "

He calls Burlington Heights the stronghold of Upper Canada. "Thesituation we have chosen is by nature a strong position being bounded onthe east by Burlington bay, on the south by a commanding battery, ditchand parapet, this being the only side bounded by the mainland; on thewest by a morass and creek; on the north by the continuation of thissame creek, which here discharges itself into Burlington bay. The heightof the land above the level of the water all round is upwards of 100feet and the only side therefore necessary to fortify is the south, which I assure you is pretty strongly so. " Here was the chief Britishsupply depôt and Nairne had just been sent thither to aid in repelling amenace from the American fleet. He had brought his force from Ten MileCreek, in boats, on the open lake, and the journey, lasting all day, wasticklish enough. All the time the American fleet was in pursuit and itreached the narrow gateway to Burlington Bay only an hour and a halfafter Captain Nairne entered. The enemy intended to storm the heights, and landed 800 men for that purpose; but finding the position toostrong, they re-embarked their force at daylight on August 1st, and boreaway for York (Toronto) where they wrought new havoc in that undefendedand "much to be pitied town. "

On August 20th Nairne writes, still from Burlington Heights. This, hislast letter, gives a dramatic account of a running fight between therival fleets, in the dark, illuminated, however, by the flashes fromtheir cannon:

 It was a moment of great anxiety with us when the two fleets lay in sight of each other, the one wishing to avoid coming to hard knocks and the other straining every nerve to be at it. I rode 20 miles to see the hostile squadrons, and, for nearly two days, had the pleasure of observing their movements from the mountain at Forty Mile Creek, and I must confess I never saw a more gratifying or more interesting sight. At 11 o'clock on the night of the last day that I was there (the 10th inst. ) Sir James Yeo contrived to bring them [the Americans] to a partial engagement and for an hour and a half the Lake opposite the _Leo_ appeared to be in a continual blaze. I remained in a state of uncertainty as to the result till daylight when I observed the Yanky fleet steering for Fort George with two Schooners less than they had the evening before, and our fleet steering towards York with two additional sail. [They were the _Julia_ and the _Growler_. ] The Americans have besides lost two of their largest Schooners, which upset from carrying a press of sail, when our fleet was in chase of them. 

While this dramatic fighting is going on before his eyes Nairne's oneregret is that his present quarters are "completely out of the way ofbroken heads. "

Meanwhile at Murray Bay events were happening. Colonel Fraser was keptbusy. Some of the French Canadians already showed a restiveness thatended in open rebellion in 1837 and these misguided people now dreamedof using the war with the United States as an opportunity for throwingoff the British yoke. At Murray Bay traitorous meetings were held. Fraser watched them closely and caused a number of the habitants to beimprisoned for a time on a charge of treason. For an old man of eightyhe showed amazing vigour. His neighbours of the Nairne household werenow in great trouble. Tom's elder sister by five years, Mary, thesprightly "Polly" of his letters, had brought grief to her family. Shemade a clandestine marriage with a habitant, the news of which, theyoung man, in his last letter preserved to us, wrote, "nearly bereft meof my senses. " In those anxious days of domestic difficulty and of warthe old mother and her two remaining daughters at the Manor House hadassuredly enough to think of. Then came Fate's sharpest blow. Thetradition is still preserved at Murray Bay that on November 11th, 1813, Mrs. Nairne, the Captain's mother, was in the kitchen at Murray Bay, when suddenly a sound like the report of a gun came up as it were fromthe cellar. She put her hands to her head, cried "Tom is killed, " andsank fainting into a chair. The day and the hour were, it is said, notedby those about her. 

By this time Thomas Nairne's regiment had passed from Burlington Heightsto Kingston, at the opposite end of Lake Ontario, some two hundred milesaway. The St. Lawrence River had now become the chief danger point forCanada. On October 21st the American General Wilkinson, with 8, 000 men, left Sackett's Harbour near the east end of Lake Ontario, oppositeKingston, in boats, to descend the St. Lawrence and attack Montreal--theidentical plan that the British had found so successful in 1760. Inaddition, as fifty years earlier, another American force was to advancethrough the country bordering on Lake Champlain so that the two armiesmight unite before Montreal. From the first the American plans went ill. The more easterly force met with ignominious defeat by a handful ofFrench Canadians at Chateauguay. Wilkinson did little better. Britishtroops, among them Nairne's regiment, were hurried down the river underColonel Morrison to harass, if possible, Wilkinson's rear and to fireupon his 300 boats from the points of vantage on the shore. After a slowdescent, day after day, on the night of November 10th the rear of theAmerican force, under General Boyd, landed and encamped near Crysler'sfarm, a short distance above the beginning of the Long Sault Rapids onthe St. Lawrence, to descend which needed caution. As the American rearwas some distance from the vanguard, the British, though much inferiorin numbers, thought the time favourable for attack. On the morning ofthe 11th when General Boyd was about to begin his day's march forward, the British, some 800 against a force of 1800, advanced in line. Theirright was on the river and the line extended to a wood about 700 yardsto the left. The American general did not refuse the gage of battle anda sharp fight followed. Boyd tried to outflank the British left andNairne's company was sent forward to charge for one of the enemy's guns. When well in advance it was checked by a deep ravine lying between thetwo armies and the American cavalry made a movement to cut off theadvancing party. The pause was fatal to Thomas Nairne. A musket ballentered his head just above the left ear; he died instantly and withoutpain. The British won the day. After a fierce fight the enemy fled totheir boats, embarked in great disorder and fled down the river. Theirgenerals, when they could hold a council, decided that the attack onMontreal must be abandoned. 

Meanwhile dead on the field of battle lay Thomas Nairne. When the actionwas over and the enemy had retired, his fellow officers bethought themof the body of their companion lying stark where he fell. Already somesinister visitor had been upon the spot for his watch was stolen--"aswas not unusual on such occasions, " wrote Nairne's Commanding-officer, Colonel Plenderleath, grimly. They dug a grave; Colonel Plenderleathstooped over the body to cut off for those who loved him a lock of hairfalling over the dead face, and then, without a coffin, they laid him inthe earth. But before the grave was filled a member of the Canadianmilitia stepped forward. He said that he had known Nairne's father, andbegged that, for the esteem and veneration which he bore that gallantsoldier, he might be allowed time to provide a coffin for his son. Arough box was hastily prepared. In this the body was placed and oncemore lowered into the grave and there, a few yards from where he fell, the mortal remains of Thomas Nairne were committed to the earth with thesolemn rites of the Anglican Church. 

The next day Colonel Plenderleath, who was not two yards away whenCaptain Nairne fell, wrote to Judge Bowen what words of comfort he couldfor Nairne's friends:

 He was a gallant officer of most amiable Manners and Disposition.... It may be of some comfort to his family that he has fallen in the honourable service of his country. We obtained a complete victory, having beaten a force greatly superior to ours, driven him from the field of battle, and captured one Gun and several Prisoners. 

If Nairne fell Canada was saved and the gallant young officer did notdie in vain. 

News travelled slowly in those days but bad news has swifter wings thangood; a week after Thomas Nairne fell the particulars of his death hadreached Quebec. It was Judge Bowen's painful duty to send to Murray Baythe intelligence he had received from Nairne's Colonel. He wrote to Mr. Le Courtois, the curé, giving the sad news and adding "I understand thatthe enemy have since crossed over to their own side.... Would to Godtheir visit had fallen upon any other head than that of our poorfriends. " He begged Mr. Le Courtois, who, himself an exile from Francebecause of the Revolution, had witnessed many sad days, to be theminister of consolation at this time. "You will, I am sure be the friendof the distressed and instil into their bosoms that peace which, I amafraid, nothing but your assistance and time can restore to them. " Mr. Le Courtois was to hand to Miss Nairne a touching and wise letter fromBowen. "Do not, my dear Miss Nairne, " he wrote, "give way to feelingsbut too natural upon a trying moment like this but rather exertyourself to speak comfort and consolation to your dear Mother. Recall toher that we are all but sojourners here on earth and that he is but gonebefore to those blessed mansions of eternal peace and happiness whereshe will one day meet him never to part again. " Old Malcolm Fraser sentthe sad news to Tom's friends in Scotland. "I am not fit to write much, "he said, but he found comfort in the thought that the young Captain diedgallantly and that the enemy "must have suffered great loss of men, asthey were entirely drove off the Field and they lost a piece of cannon. But, alas! all this can afford little consolation to his good andafflicted mother. "

Nairne's body was not allowed to remain where he had fallen. Judge Bowenthought he ought to lie at Quebec beside his soldier father and this wasalso in accord with Mrs. Nairne's wishes. Colonel Morrison, the officerin command on the field where Nairne fell, had already been transferredto the garrison at Quebec and every attention was paid to the task. Bowen ordered a strong oak coffin, large enough to contain that in whichNairne was buried, and with this itself in an outer box a man was sentto bring back the body. He bore a letter from the Bishop of Quebec tothe clergyman who had buried Nairne. All was carried out as arranged. Asecond time Nairne's body was taken from the grave where it had beenlaid and its bearer began his long winter journey to Quebec. The sleighwith its sad burden, a moving dark speck on a white background, made itsslow way along the wintry roads and by the shores of the ice bound St. Lawrence. We can picture the awed solemnity with which the FrenchCanadian peasants heard the story of Nairne's fall as his body restedfor the night in inn or farm yard. On January 20th, 1814, Bowen wrote toMr. Le Courtois that the body would arrive by Saturday as it was atBerthier on the previous day when the stage passed. 

The funeral took place at one o'clock on the 26th of January, 1814. Ofthe people of Murray Bay a single unnamed habitant was present, a mandetained by Bowen in Quebec that he might witness the ceremony and carryback an account of it to his home. "I examined the body, " wrote Bowenbriefly of what must have been a grim task, "with the assistance of myfriend Buchanan and there cannot now be the smallest doubt as to theidentity of it. He was buried poor Fellow in the Cloathes he wore whenkilled. His Regimental Jackit and shoes which were put into his coffin Ifound in it upon opening it and have taken them out and will preservethem for his poor friends if so melancholy a Remembrance of him shouldbe desired by them. " The lock of hair cut off by Colonel Plenderleath atthe funeral was brought to Quebec by young Sewell, one of Nairne'scompanions; the remainder of his effects, sent forward in a box, seemto have been lost on the way. At the funeral the six senior Captains inQuebec were his pall bearers and the mourners were fellow officers ofthe 49th and Quebec friends of his family--well-known names--Caldwell, McCord, Stewart, Hale, Mountain, Dunn and Bowen himself. A great crowdwas present. "Never, " wrote Bowen to Miss Nairne, "was a funeral atQuebec more generally attended. " The death of the young officer was tootragic not to call forth the sympathy of a wide circle. Eulogies werepronounced upon him and they said only what was true--that a soldier, brave, lovable and promising had fallen on the field of honour. 

[Footnote 22: See Appendix G. , p. 287. "The Curés of Malbaie". ]

[Footnote 23: Bowen's career was remarkable. He continued on the benchuntil 1866, having held the office of a Judge in Canada for well nighsixty years. ]

[Footnote 24: He had recently died, and it did not diminish the Nairnes'interest in him that he left £5, 000 to their relative Ker. ]

CHAPTER VII

A FRENCH CANADIAN VILLAGE

 Life at Murray Bay after Captain Nairne's death. --Letters from Europe. --Death of Malcolm Fraser. --Death of Colonel Nairne's widow and children. --His grandson John Nairne, seigneur. --Village life. --The Church's influence. --The habitant's tenacity. --His cottage. --His labours. --His amusements. --The Church's missionary work in the villages. --The powers of the bishop. --His visitations. --The organization of the parish. --The powers of the _fabrique_. --Lay control of Church finance. --The curé's tithe. --The best intellects enter the Church. --A native Canadian clergy. --The curé's social life. --The Church and Temperance Reform. --The diligence of the curés. --The habitant's taste for the supernatural. --The belief in goblins. --Prayer in the family. --The habitant as voter. --The office of Churchwarden. --The Church's influence in elections. --The seigneur's position, --The habitant's obligations to him. --Rent day and New Year's Day. --The seigneur's social rank. --The growth of discontent in the villages. --The evils of Seigniorial Tenure. --Agitation against the system. --Its abolition in 1854. --The last of the Nairnes. --The Nairne tomb in Quebec. 

With the death of Thomas Nairne almost end the dramatic events in thehistory of the family. It remains briefly to bring this to itsconclusion, and to add to it some general account of a village of FrenchCanada in the past and in the present. Captain Nairne's mother was nowthe owner of the property and it continued in her competent hands untilher death in 1828. "Polly's" marriage had taken that daughter away and, though there was a reconciliation, no longer was the Manor House herhome. Mrs. McNicol (with her husband and children) and Christine Nairnestill lived there with the widow of Colonel Nairne, and life went onmuch as before, save that its interests were now narrowed to Murray Bay;no more was there an outside career, such as the young Captain's, towatch. 

When Thomas Nairne was killed the struggle against Napoleon in Europehad reached a supreme crisis. Occasional letters to Murray Bay giveglimpses of great events. On March 16th, 1814, an Edinburgh friendwrites to Christine: "The Castle was fired to-day in honour of thesuccesses of our allies in France who have again routed Bonaparte, whohas retreated to Paris. His enemies are within twenty-five miles of thatcapital so we must hope that the Tyrant's fate is at the Crisis and thatwe shall soon enjoy the blessings of a permanent peace; much has Bony toanswer for. " Ker wrote a little later from Edinburgh to say thatBonaparte "is now a prisoner on board of one of our 74 gun ships, " andto express the hope that by his fall Britons will soon get quit of theproperty tax. 

On March 17th, 1815, we hear from another correspondent of the renewedfiring of the Castle guns at Edinburgh, this time to announce thearrival from America of the ratification of Peace with the UnitedStates. "We only regret this had not been settled before the disastrousaffair at New Orleans where we have lost so many brave men and ablegenerals, but such are the horrors of war. " Just as this peace came inAmerica renewed war broke out in Europe. "That monster Bonaparte afortnight since landed and raised the standard of rebellion in the southof France. The accounts from there are very contradictory. " On March22nd the news seems better. "Troops are assembling in defence of Franceand the traitor does not seem to have any adherents, so we would fainhope all may go well. " The writer, a Miss Beck, sends, for the amusementof Murray Bay, the book "Guy Mannering, " which is "in very highrepute ... The author unknown, but very generally thought to be WalterScott, the Poet. "

The hope that all would go well in regard to Bonaparte was soondissipated. Ker wrote on April 10th, 1815, a bitter letter:

 We were flattering ourselves with being at Peace with the whole world when like a thunderbolt, the tremendous news of the monster Buonaparte's Escape from Elba, his landing and rapid progress through France, and the second Expulsion of the unhappy Bourbons burst upon us!... We have the immediate prospect of being involved in a bloody and interminable war, the consequences of which no man can foretell. The French army, Marshalls, and Generals have covered themselves with indelible Disgrace and shewn themselves, what I always thought them, the most perfidious and perjured traitors and miscreants that the world ever produced, and the rest of the French Nation are a set of the most unprincipled Knaves and Cowards that ever were recorded in history. I trust however that their punishment is at hand and that the Almighty will speedily hurl vengeance on their guilty heads. Among other evils, a new tax on Property, with additions, is said to be in immediate contemplation and God knows how we shall bear all the accumulating Burdens to which this Country must be subjected. 

Just at this time came old Malcolm Fraser's end. At the age of 82 hedied on June 17th, 1815, the day before the battle of Waterloo. He hadentered the army in 1757 and apparently was still serving in theCanadian militia at the time of his death so that his military careercovered well nigh sixty years. One instruction given in his will ischaracteristic; it is that his body might "be committed to the earth orwater, as it may happen, and with as little ceremony and expense as maybe consistent with decency. " His removal was a heavy blow to the familyat the Manor House. It was Christine who kept most in touch with theoutside world and to her the letters of the period are nearly alladdressed. They contained the gossip of Quebec, --how in December, 1814, a Mr. Lyman--"a bad name for a true story to come from, "--had broughtword of peace negotiations at Ghent; news of General Procter's CourtMartial and of a fee of £500 paid to Andrew Stuart, one of the lawyersin the case. The letters are few and in 1817 they cease altogether. During the spring of the year Christine had been ailing. On a June dayshe drove out for an airing and, as she alighted from the carriage, expired instantly. The feeling of the Protestant family towards theRoman Catholic Church is shown in the fact that she left a small legacyto the curé, Mr. Le Courtois. 

There now remained but two daughters. In May, 1821, "Polly" died inQuebec at Judge Bowen's house. Her old mother followed in 1828. OfColonel Nairne's large family but one child remained, Mrs. McNicol. Herhusband, Peter McNicol, appears to have been a quiet and retiring manand of him we hear little. He was an officer in the local militia and, in 1830, became a Captain in the second Battalion of the County ofSaguenay. There were two sons, Thomas and John. Thomas, the elder, wasto get the estate at Murray Bay; for John India was talked of; but hismother could not let him go--"our family has been too unlucky by goingthere. " In 1826, when a youth of twenty, Thomas made a tour in Europe. Then, or later, the young man fell into dissipated habits and he died inearly manhood. There remained only John. When he came of age in 1829 hetoo travelled in Europe; in April he was at Rome and there saw thenewly-elected Pope, Pius VIII. He returned to Canada quite a man of theworld and for a time lived in Quebec, engaged in business. But in 1834when his father Peter McNicol died[25] John's prospects changed. Theseigniory belonged to his mother, during her lifetime, but he was theheir. It seemed desirable that the name of the first seigneur should becontinued and, in 1834, by royal warrant, John McNicol adopted the nameand arms of Nairne. Once more was there a John Nairne. In 1837 we findhim empowered to take the oath of allegiance from the habitants--to showthat they were not in sympathy with the rebel Papineau. His mother, theold Colonel's last surviving child, died in 1839. She was a kindlywoman, of genial temper, with a fine faculty for friendship; so intimatewas she with Malcolm Fraser's daughter that she wrote "I do believe, nayam sure, she has not a thought with which I am not made acquainted. " Shenever lost her sympathy with young people and her delight in their"innocent gaiety. "

As in 1762, so now again in 1839, a John Nairne ruled at Murray Bay. Theyoung seigneur soon took a wife. In 1841 he married Miss CatherineLeslie, of a well known Canadian family, a bride of only seventeen, andthen settled down at Murray Bay to live the life of a country gentleman. He became Colonel in the militia, took some part in politics on theConservative side, and studied agriculture. He was resolved to keep upthe dignity of his position and set about rebuilding the manor house. The work was begun in 1845 and completed by the autumn of 1847; the newstructure with little change is the present Manor. It is of stonecovered with wood, a capacious dwelling with some fine rooms, andadmirably suited to its purpose. To John Nairne an heir was born in 1842and named John Leslie Nairne and the prospect seemed excellent for thefinal establishment of a Nairne dynasty in the seigniory. But, alas, this was not to be. The child died in his third year and the last of theNairnes ruled at Murray Bay knowing that with himself the family shouldbecome extinct. 

We must turn now to study the type of community of which he was thechief. A singular type it is, French in speech, Roman Catholic in faith, half feudal in organization, in a land British in allegiance, if not inorigin. Long the determined rival of the Briton in America the FrenchCanadian, though worsted in the struggle, remains still unconquered inhis determination to live his own separate life and pursue his ownseparate ideals. When the British took Canada they fondly imagined thatin a few years a little pressure would bring the French Canadians intothe Protestant fold. [26] Immediately after the conquest preparationsfor this gradual absorption were made. The Roman Catholics were to beundisturbed but, as soon as a majority in any parish was Protestant, aclergyman of that faith would be appointed and the parish church wouldbe given over to the Protestant worship. The minority would, it washoped, acquiesce, and, in time, adopt the creed of the majority. Themost illuminating comment upon these expectations is the fact that, during the half century after the conquest, Protestantism made probablynot more than half a dozen converts among the Canadians, while ofProtestants coming to the country during that time hundreds went over tothe Church of Rome. In other ways too the type in French Canada hasproved curiously persistent. A Lowland Scot of twenty-five married anIrish woman of twenty-three and went to live in a French Canadianparish. Hitherto they had spoken only English but after twenty-fiveyears they could not even understand it when heard. They explained thatat first they spoke English to each other but when the children went toschool they used only French. So the parents yielded "_C'était lesenfants, M'sieu!_"

A modern critic of France[27] has announced, as a sounding paradox, thatthe French, even of present-day anti-clerical France, are a profoundlyreligious people. Certainly this appears in France's efforts in Canada. When the Roman Catholic faith was first planted there the ground waswatered with the blood of martyrs, done to death by brutal savages. Atthe very time when in France Pascal's satire and scorn were making thespiritual sincerity of the Jesuits more than doubtful, in Canada thesesame Jesuits were dying for their faith almost with a light heart. Theyand others, like-minded, won New France for the Catholic Church and tothat Church the conquered habitant has since clung with a tenacityreally heroic. He accepts its creed, he believes in its clergy. Whateverlicense of conduct marked the clergy of France in the bad days beforethe Revolution, the clergy in Canada during the 300 years of its historyhave been notable for a severity in morals so austere that hardly oncein that long period has there been a whisper of scandal. In consequence, they have always retained the respect of the people and to-day, in everyvillage, the curé commands extraordinary influence. 

It may be that to the Church chiefly does the habitant owe thepreservation of his identity. Inferior to the heretic conqueror insocial status, the habitant yet retained in religion the sense of hisown superiority. Was he not a member of an ancient body, in the presenceof which Protestantism represented a mushroom growth of yesterday? TheChurch taught him that wealth, honour, and worldly power were not alwaysgiven to the faithful; they had the truer riches of spiritualprivileges and spiritual hopes. What mattered the pride of life in theface of these eternal treasures? So the habitant went his way. Led byhis teachers he showed striking tenacity of character. He would notfollow the customs of the English. He looked with suspicion upon theirmethods. Even in agriculture, where he had everything to learn, he wouldnot imitate him. Their language he would not learn, their religion heabhorred; so he remained, and he remains still, true to his owntraditions, a Gallic island in the vast Anglo-Saxon sea of NorthAmerica. 

The habitant has not proved a pliable person. The very name shows hissense of his own dignity. Though he held his land under feudal tenure hewould not accept a designation that carried with it some sense of theservile status of the feudal vassal in old France. So the Canadianpeasant, a feudal tenant _en censive_ or _en roture_, yet wished not tobe called _censitaire_ or _roturier_, names which he thought degrading;he preferred to be called a habitant, an inhabitant of the country, afree man, not a vassal. The designation obtained official recognition inNew France and has come to be the characteristic word for the FrenchCanadian farmer among English-speaking people. 

In other respects too the Canadian has been hardly less assertive. Earlier writers, while they call him obliging, honest and courteous, speak also of his self-conceit, boastfulness, fondness for drink. AtMalbaie Nairne found him defiant when his spirit was aroused. Not lesstenacious than the men were the women. Malcolm Fraser tells how when hewas stationed at Beaumont, near Quebec, in January, 1761, he sent one ofhis men to cut wood on the property of a certain habitant, the manhimself consenting. But Madame, his wife, was not pleased. She abusedFraser, called him opprobrious names, and, in a war of words, remained, he admits, mistress of the field. The wrathful virago carried her appealto Murray in Quebec, who, she said, had passed many officers under therod and Fraser found himself called upon to explain the matter. In apetition he humbly begs that some "recompence" (of punishment of course)may be made to the woman for "the insolent expressions used by her aswell against the general, as the officers, who have the honour to serveunder His Excellency. "

Even when he knows only rude frontier life the French Canadian oftenretains something of the politeness and deference in manner of thenation from which he springs. But, unlike them, he has retained littlesense of what is artistic. No thought of beauty of situation seems todetermine his choice of the site for his dwelling. What he has in mindis protection from the prevailing wind, if this is possible, and, forthe rest, convenience. So he puts his house close to the highway, inmany cases even abutting upon it. He shows no taste in grouping hisfarm buildings. He plants few trees and his house stands bare andunattractive by the road side. The absence of trees near his dwelling issometimes accounted for by the need, in earlier times, of clearing awayeverything that might offer a chance of ambush to his Indian enemies. Ifthis is the true origin of the habit, an instinct survives long afterthe need which developed it has disappeared. The houses are persistentin type and nearly always of wood. The principle doorway opens into theliving room, usually of a good size. It is kitchen, diningroom, parlour, often even workshop. In this chamber cooking, sewing, repairing oftools, all the varied family activities, take place. One large guestchamber or two small bedrooms open off it. In the corner there is a rudestaircase and up under the sloping roof are two more rooms; one abed-room probably with three or four beds, the other a general lumberroom. Often there are two families in a household. As always with theFrench, family feeling is very strong. As soon as they are old enoughthe elder sons may go out into the world; it is usually a younger sonwhom the father selects to remain with him on the family property. Thisson is free to marry and to him, when the old father dies, the land goeson condition that he will always keep the door open to members of thefamily who may seek its refuge. It is not easy to see how so small acottage can discharge these hospitable functions; in addition to adultsthere are often, in a French Canadian family, from ten to fifteen, sometimes twenty or twenty-five children. Through the long winters, doors and windows remain closed. The family gets on without fresh airand it gets on also without baths. 

Since there are often many hands to do the work habitant farming isgreatly diversified. But improvements come only slowly. Some of the mostfertile areas in Quebec have been half ruined because the habitant wouldnot learn the proper rotation of crops. Of the value of fertilizing hehas had only a slight idea. His domestic animals are usually of aninferior breed, except perhaps the horses. Of these he is proud and, nomatter how poor, usually keeps two, an extravagance for which he wasrebuked by successive Intendants under the French régime. In recenttimes the French Canadian farmer has been making great progress. He ispre-eminently a handy man. Though his versatility is lessening, to thisday, in some of the remoter villages, he buys almost nothing; he iscarpenter, farmer, blacksmith, shoemaker; and, if not he, his wife isweaver and tailor. The waggon he drives is his handiwork; so is theharness; the home-spun cloth of his suit is made by his wife from thewool of his own sheep: it is an excellent fabric but, alas, the youngpeople now prefer the machine-made cottons and cloths of commerce andwill no longer wear homespun. Sometimes the habitant makes his ownboots, the excellent _bottes sauvages_ of the country. The women makenot only home-spun cloth, but linen, straw hats, gloves, candles, soap. When there are maple trees, the habitant provides his own sugar; hemakes even the buckets in which the sap of the maple tree is caught. Tobacco grows in his garden, for the habitant is an inveterate smoker:sometimes the boys begin when only five years old or less. The women andthe girls, indeed, do not smoke and an American visitor, who declaresthat he saw pretty French Canadian brunettes of sixteen puffing cloudsof smoke as they worked in the harvest field, is solemnly rebuked by aFrench Canadian writer; the brunettes must have been Indian women. [28]

Though nearly all the children now go to school, yet reading can hardlybe considered one of the amusements of the habitant. In theneighbourhood of Malbaie, at least, rarely does one see other than booksof devotion in a habitant household; the book-shelf is conspicuous byits absence. Of course newspapers are read but many of the habitants arestill illiterate, or nearly so, and read nothing. Not less gay are theyfor this deprivation. They are endless talkers, good story tellers, andfond of song and dance. They have preserved some of the popular songs ofFrance, --_Malbrouck s'en va-t-en guerre_, _En roulant ma Bouleroulant_, _A la Claire Fontaine_, and others--and these airs simple, pleasing, a little sad, have become characteristic of French Canada. Nearly every house has its violin, often home-made, and though thismusic is rude it suffices for dancing. But some of the bishops are assevere in regard to dancing as is the Methodist "Book of Discipline" andin their dioceses the practise is allowed only under narrowrestrictions. The short Canadian summer makes that season for thehabitant one of severe labour. Winter, though it has its own labours, such as cutting wood, is the great season of social intercourse. For along time the habitant would not consider a mechanic his social equal;perhaps, still, the daughters of a farmer would spurn the advances ofthe village carpenter. But whatever the social distinctions, baptisms, marriages, anniversaries, are made the occasions for festivity. Thereare _corvées récreatives_, such as parties gathered for taking the husksoff Indian corn, when there is apt to be a good deal of kissing as partof the game. At New Year, the _jour de l'an_, the feasting lasts forthree days. Hospitality is universal and it is almost a slight not tocall at this time upon any acquaintance living within a distance oftwenty miles. Every habitant has his horse and sleigh and thinks littleof a long drive. 

Often in the foreground of the habitant's life, always in the backgroundat least, stand the Church and the priest. Malbaie, like a hundred otherpopulous, present-day Roman Catholic parishes, was nursed in the firstinstance by the travelling missionary. In winter he could go on snowshoes but his usual means of travel in a country, covered by forests, but with a net-work of lakes and rivers, was by canoe. Malbaie could bereached either from Tadousac, at the mouth of the Saguenay, one of theearliest mission stations in Canada, or from Baie St. Paul in the otherdirection. The St. Lawrence was oftentimes a perilous route. Its wavesrise at times huge as those of Ocean itself; a frail canoe could onlyhug the shore and at times would be storm bound for days. The missionarytravelled usually with an attendant. They carried a portable chapel withthe vessels necessary for the celebration of the mass. We have adescription of the arrival of one of these missionaries, the Abbé Morel, as long ago as in 1683, at Rivière Ouelle where one now takes the ferryto cross to Murray Bay. A group of people stand on the shore watching asmall black object round a distant point. As it comes nearer they see itis a birch bark canoe, paddled by two men. In a short time the bow ofthe canoe has touched the sandy beach where stands the waiting group. Asthe figure in the bow rises a long black cassock falls down to hisfeet; he is the long expected missionary come to celebrate mass. Withthe sun sinking behind the mountains of the north shore, a kind oftriumphal procession escorts the missionary to one of the neighbouringhouses. The evening is spent in preparation for the service of themorrow. The priest hears confessions and imposes penances. At daybreakon the following morning the people begin to gather, some coming by landfrom the neighbouring clearings, others, in birch bark canoes, frompoints more distant. Perhaps fifty persons gather before the house. Meanwhile in its best room the portable altar has been arranged. Silencefalls upon the people as they enter the door. The mass begins; after thegospel the priest preaches a practical sermon with impressive solemnity. The mass over, a second service, vespers, soon follows. Then the peopleseparate. Before the priest leaves he says the office of the dead over agrave made, it may be, many weeks ago, he baptizes children born sincehis last visit, and perhaps marries one or more bashful couples. "Howbeautiful upon the mountains, " says a Canadian historian of the work ofthese devoted men, "are the feet of those who bring the gospel ofpeace. "[29] Such a scene we may be sure was enacted many a time for thebenefit of the scattered sheep at Malbaie before and after the arrivalof Colonel Nairne. 

It was not until 1797 that these occasional services ceased and MurrayBay secured a resident priest. Then was fully established in the parishthe imposing church system that to-day probably retains its originalvigour more completely in the Province of Quebec than in any othercountry in the world. At its head is the diocesan bishop. Subject onlyto the distant authority of the Pope he reigns supreme. With one or twoexceptions, such as that of the curé of Quebec, he appoints and he canremove any and every priest in his diocese, a right, it is said, almostnever exercised arbitrarily. He fixes the tariff to be paid for masses. It is he who determines whether such a practise as, for instance, dancing shall be permitted in the diocese. He watches over the Church'srights and gives the alarm when a political leader proposes anythingthat seems to menace them. If a newspaper adopts a course dangerous tothe Church it has often happened that the bishop gives it one or twowarnings; in case of continued obstinacy his last act is to forbid thefaithful to read the paper; and since most of them will obey, thisinvolves ruin for the recalcitrant journal. 

The bishop visits each parish at least every third year and sometimeseven annually. A mounted cavalcade will probably meet him as he crossesits boundary. A procession is formed. The roads have been cleared anddecorated with boughs of ever-green trees stuck in the ground. Thepeople watch the cavalcade from their doors and all kneel as theprocession passes. The bishop goes at once to the church where he giveshis benediction and holds confirmation. He remains for some days. Thereis daily communion and spiritual instruction. He inspectseverything--the church and its furnishings, the registers, the accounts, the inventory of effects, the cemetery. He has already given notice thathe is ready to hear any complaints or grievances even against the curé. We may be sure that when he comes there is a general clearing up ofparochial difficulties. A wise bishop is a great peacemaker; anarbitrary one commands an authority not lightly to be disregarded. 

The church that towers over the humble cottages of a French Canadianvillage invariably seems huge. But we need to remember how large are theparishes and how few in number relatively are the churches; it isprobable that in English-speaking Canada there are half a dozenchurches, or more, to every one in the Province of Quebec. In allCanada, rural and urban, there is probably not a Protestant parish towhich are attached as many, or perhaps half as many, people as the fivethousand who dwell in the parish of St. Etienne de la Malbaie, one ofsecondary importance in the Province of Quebec. In a whole diocese thereare often not more than forty or fifty parishes. In the country thechurches are usually built at intervals of not more than three leagues(nine miles) so that no one may have to travel more than a league and ahalf to mass. The life of the people centres in the Church. In itsregisters, kept with great accuracy, is to be found the chief record ofthe village drama, the story of its births, marriages and deaths. Trueto the tastes of old France the French Canadian has an amazing interestin family history, and genealogies, based upon these ample records, areclosely studied. In the olden days the habitant brought his savings tobe kept in the Church's strong chest. The church edifice, its picturesand its other furnishings, are things in which to take pride. Eachvillage aspires to have its own chime of bells. To chronicle baptisms, marriages, burials, anniversaries, the chimes are rung for a longer orshorter time according to the fee paid. Every day one hears them oftenand a considerable revenue must come from this source. Whatever thehabitant knows of art, painting, sculpture, music, he learns from theChurch and it is all associated with religious hopes and fears. "Dwellers in cities, " says a French Canadian writer, "have concerts, theatres, museums; in the rural communities it is the Church thatprovides all this. During her services the most fervent among thefaithful taste by anticipation the joys of heaven and murmur, enchanted:'Since here all is so beautiful in the house of the Lord how much moreso will it be in his paradise!'"[30]

Thus it happens that here the parish and its church have a significancenot felt where, as now in practically all English speaking countries, each community represents a variety of religious beliefs. At Malbaie, asin dozens of other parishes, there is not, except in summer, a singleProtestant. So strong is the pressure of religious and social opinion, that even persons with no belief in Christianity are constrained to joinoutwardly at least in the church services. In the villages, at least, nearly every one confesses and partakes of the communion many times inthe year; at Easter there are practically no abstentions from thesacrament. With this unanimity it has been possible to establish bylegislation a most elaborate system providing for the support of thepriests, for keeping up cemeteries and other parish needs. Elsewhereleft largely to voluntary action, in Quebec such duties become a tax onthe community as a whole. Whether a parishioner likes it or not, hemust, if the taxpayers so determine, pay his share for building a churchor for other similar expenditure decided upon. 

We will suppose that a new residence for the priest is desired. Amajority of ratepayers must address to the bishop of the diocese apetition with a plan of what is proposed. The commission of fivemembers which exists in every diocese then gives ten days' public noticein order that objectors may have every opportunity to express theirviews. When, in the end, a decision to build is reached, thecommissioners announce this by public proclamation. The next step is forthe ratepayers of the parish to meet and vote the necessary money. Trustees are then appointed to carry out the work with power to collectthe required funds from the Catholic ratepayers. This assessment is afirst charge on the land; it must be divided into at least twelve equalinstalments and the payments are spread over not less than three, ormore than eight, years. To be quite safe the trustees levy fifteen percent. More than the estimated cost. If ready money is not on hand forthe work the church property may be mortgaged. When the building iscompleted the trustees render their accounts with vouchers and take oaththat they are correct. All is precise, clearly defined, business-like. 

No expenditure of money can be made for building without the consent ofthe people. Always in French Canada a trace of old Gallican libertieshas remained, in the power over Church finances left in the hands ofchurchwardens (_marguillers_) elected by the people. But in the old dayswhen the habitant was more ignorant and less alert than now he is, nodoubt the voice in this respect might be the voice of the churchwarden, but the hand was the hand of the curé. No doubt, also, it is still truethat any project upon which the curé sets his heart he will in the endprobably get a majority of the parishioners to adopt. But he mustpersuade the people. Sometimes they oppose his plan strenuously andfeeling runs high. Then when a churchwarden is elected, as one isannually, the curé may have his candidate, the opposing party theirs. AtMalbaie recently there was a sharp difference of opinion between thecuré and the people on a question relating to the cemetery. The partiesdivided on the choice of a churchwarden and the curé's candidate wasdefeated. 

Yet the curé's position is one of great strength and authority. He hashis own income uncontrolled by the _fabrique_, which is master of therest of the church finances. The curé's tithe consists of onetwenty-sixth of the cereals produced by the parishioners. A furthertithe he has: the twenty-sixth child born to any pair of hisparishioners is by custom brought to the priest and he rears it;sometimes, strange to say, this tithe is offered! From his tithe oncereals the income is not large; at Malbaie it is probably never morethan from $1000 to $1200 a year; sometimes much less. The average incomeof a curé is not more than $600. It is the custom for the parishioner todeliver duly at the priest's house one twenty-sixth of his grain and inthe autumn a great array of vehicles may be seen making their waythither. Usually there is considerable variety in the grain thus broughtbut sometimes the curé is almost overwhelmed by a single product such aspeas; one of their number, thus paid, the neighbouring clergy christenedthe "_curé des pois_. " The French Canadian farmer is often narrowlypenurious and if he will not pay, as sometimes happens, the curé rarelypresses him or takes steps to recover what the law would allow. In anycase a bad harvest is likely to leave the curé poor. Changes in the typeof farming may also curtail his income. Of the products of dairy farminghe gets no share, yet it is a creditable fact that many priests haveurged their people to adopt this kind of farming. Fees for weddingswhich, in Protestant Churches, go usually to the minister, are in theProvince of Quebec handed over to the general church fund. Of course thepriest has sources of income other than the tithe. He receives fees formasses but the sums chargeable for these ceremonies are determined bythe bishop; the priest himself has no power of undue exaction. There isindeed no evidence of a desire for such exaction. Whatever personaldifferences may arise, the French Canadian curé is usually one inthought and aim with his people. Wherever he goes he is alwaysrespectfully saluted. To him the needy turn and there are heavy callsupon his charity. Few curés have any surplus income. They keep up alarge house and have constant need of one or more horses. Most curés, itis said, die poor. 

It is the complaint in Great Britain and the United States that, ratherthan enter the Christian ministry, the best intellects are seekingsecular pursuits. This is not the case in the Province of Quebec. Thecurés watch the promising boys in the schools. The Church has manyboarding schools where boys are led on step by step to the final one ofentering the priesthood. A promising boy, if he needs it, is given ascholarship. When the time comes he is sent to complete his education atRome or elsewhere. The Church has selected him, trained him in herservice, and, for the rest of his life, his best powers are at her call. Every family is ambitious to have a representative in the priesthood andthis becomes the most notable thing not merely in the family but also inthe parish. The Province of Quebec has many parish histories. Thesevolumes are rather dreary reading, it must be admitted, consistingchiefly of the record of the building or improvement of the church andof the coming and the going of the curés. But one chief record is alwaysfound--that of the sons of the parish who have entered the priesthood. They are its glory. Not merely pride in the success of their offspringleads parents to wish for a son in the priesthood. He may bring to themmore substantial benefits. He is the interpreter of sacred mysteries, the intercessor in some respects between God and man, and he will pleadfor them in the court of Heaven. 

This ambition to get sons into the priesthood has made it possible nowfor the Church to rely wholly upon priests Canadian in origin. Notalways was this the case. After the British conquest it was not easy toget priests. The British government frowned upon the introduction ofpriests from France, still Britain's arch-enemy. Irish priests werethought of, but they could not speak French and, besides, the Bishop ofQuebec did not find in them the submissive obedience of the Canadianpriest. For a time it was seriously proposed to supply Canada withpriests from Savoy, since of them Britain could have no political fears. But for the time the French Revolution solved the question. Emigrépriests, driven from France, could be in Canada no political danger toGreat Britain since, like her, they desired the overthrow of theexisting French government. So a good many emigré priests were broughtout, among them Mr. Le Courtois, so long the curé of Malbaie. Thismovement soon spent itself. In time the Church in Canada had a number ofseminaries for training priests and it now levies a heavy tithe upon thebest intellects of the country. Recently a new emigration of Frenchpriests to Canada has taken place. But they have not been whollywelcome; their tone is not quite that of the Canadian priesthood;sometimes they assume patronizing airs and they are felt to beforeigners. I have even heard a French Canadian priest say in brokenEnglish to a Protestant from the Province of Ontario: "I feel that Ihave more in common with you than I have with the French priests who areflocking into this country. "

The Canadian curé is the priest always. Unlike the clergy in other partsof Canada he wears his cassock even when he goes abroad; one sees dozensof these black robes in the streets, on the steamers and trains. He doesnot share in the amusement of other people. In Quebec Anglican clergymenplay golf and tennis; probably if a curé did so he might be called toaccount by the bishop. Occasionally priests ride bicycles, but even thisis looked upon with some suspicion. Into general society the priests gobut little. They come together in each other's presbyteries for mutualcounsel and to celebrate anniversaries, such as the 25th year of theordination of one of their number. The large presbyteries, which onesees even in remote parishes, are necessary to house the visiting clergyon such occasions. They assist each other when their parishes havespecial fêtes. But their social intercourse is chiefly with each other. The courtly abbé of old France, a universal guest in salons and atdinner tables, is hardly found at all in the Province of Quebec. Nor isthe scholar usual. Even in small parishes there are rarely less than 500or 600 communicants and the calls upon the curé's time are heavy. Thereare, of course, priests of literary tastes; as there are those with ataste for art, to whom are due the occasional good pictures found in theparish churches. Some priests interest themselves in agriculture andgive wise guidance to their people. But behind everything is the solemn, severe, exacting, conception of the priest's high function as the mediumof God's speech to man. He is almost sexless--a being apart consecratedto an awe-inspiring office. A mother will sometimes quiet an unrulychild by threatening the portentous intervention of the curé. 

Yet he is the universal friend. His relation to his people is not merelyofficial; it is affectionate, personal. The confessional makes himfamiliar with the intimate details of nearly every one's life. On allthe joyous and sad crises, at births, marriages, and deaths, he is athand with sympathy, comfort and support. When he goes on a journey helooks up not merely his own but his parishioners' friends and is welcomeeverywhere. He is the general counsellor, the reconciler of familyquarrels, the arbitrator in differences, the guardian of morals. Theseigneur at Malbaie found the priest enquiring as to the manner in whichthe male and female servants of the Manor were lodged. 

Colonel Nairne thought that the Church was too willing to see the peopleremain ignorant; with her the primary virtue is obedience. But it isnot less true that on moral questions, such as sobriety and purity, theChurch has always shown great vigilance and zeal. In the old days therewas a mighty struggle between the Bishop of Quebec and the governorFrontenac as to the sale of intoxicating liquors, and the Church isstill keen for temperance. It is due to her that public drinking placesare unknown in most Canadian villages. At Murray Bay it happenedrecently that, by some lapse in vigilance, the party favourable to thegranting of licenses got the upper hand. The results were immediate anddeplorable. Summer visitors frequently found their drivers under theinfluence of liquor and the habitant, usually courteous and respectful, was now often rude and quarrelsome. The sudden fall made one realize howslight might be the strength of virtue due merely to the absence oftemptation. The Church saw the danger. In the following winter she begana systematic temperance campaign. For some ten days daily services wereheld at which eloquent denunciations of intemperance roused the people. Every effort was made to ensure attendance at these services and theparish church, a great structure, was well filled daily. Hundreds signedthe pledge and by the next summer all was changed. No one was licensedto sell liquor and the community was sober. If the relapse had beenrapid it must be admitted that the recovery was not less so. 

The curé and his assistants do their work with the precision andregularity of a business man in his office. They watch education, andhave their own educational ideals. In the public schools of theEnglish-speaking world in America, manners and religion receive, alas, but slight attention. But in Quebec one need only pass along a countryroad to see that the children are taught respect and courtesy. The chiefsubject of instruction is religion and to prepare the children for thefirst communion seems to be the main aim of education. In the parish thepriest is never far away. Nearly always one or other of the clergy is atthe presbytery to answer calls of urgency, and their duties begin at anearly hour. "I am very busy until nine o'clock in the morning, " a curéonce said to me. My comment was that most of us are only beginning theserious duties of the day at that hour. "But I am tired by that time, "he said, rather sadly, "for already, so early in the day, I have heardmuch of human sin. " The people come early in the morning to confess andby nine o'clock the curé was weary of the tale of man's frailty. Thursday is his day of recreation. Only on that day usually does heleave his parish and then he always arranges that a neighbouring priestshall be within call. This oversight is not spasmodic; it is persistent, alert, universal, and hardly varies with the individual curé. In humansociety there is no institution more perfectly organized than the RomanCatholic Church and in Quebec her traditions have a vitality and vigourlost perhaps in communities more initiated. Of course not every oneaccepts or heeds the curé's ministry. Many a _mauvais sujet_ is carelessor even defiant but, when his last moments come, at his bedside standsthe priest to show to the repentant sinner the path of blessedness, and, when he is gone, his wayward course will give ground to call the livingto earlier obedience. 

In the Canadian parishes faith is simple, with a pronounced taste forthe supernatural. In the year 1907 a Jesuit priest, M. Hudon, publishedat Montreal the life of Marie Catherine de Saint Augustin, 1632-1668, aQuebec nun. This devout lady lived in an atmosphere charged always withthe supernatural. She knew of events before they happened; with demonswho tempted her she had terrific combats; she read the thoughts ofothers with divine insight. Perhaps the climax of her experiences isfound when she has regularly, as confessor and mentor, the Jesuit fatherand martyr Bréboeuf, dead for some years. M. Hudon declared that hehad submitted the evidence for these wonders to all the tests thatmodern scientific canons could require and that they were undoubtedlytrue. The Archbishop of Quebec, Mgr. Begin, wrote a prefatory noteapproving of the teaching of the book, and adding that Mother MarieCatherine's life could not fail to be an inspiration to young girls tolive nobly. This simple belief in the constant occurrence of thesupernatural is not found only in the remoter parishes of the Provinceof Quebec as a French Canadian writer seems to indicate;[31] it appearseverywhere. All Christians believe in a God who shapes human events andhears and answers prayer. But many, Catholic and Protestant alike, believe that the energy of God, in response to man's appeal, is appliedthrough the ordinary machinery of nature's laws. Modern thought ispervaded with the conception of nature's rigour. I have seen goodCatholics shrug their shoulders at the wonders narrated by MarieCatherine de Saint Augustin. But others, and these not only theignorant, think that this attitude shows the lack of a deeper faith. Must God and his saints, they ask, be confined within the narrowframework of nature's laws? Cannot He do all things?

So it is not strange that the Canadian peasant dwells in a world chargedwith the supernatural. Night furnishes the opportunity for goblins to beabroad; the flickering lights on the marshes are goblin fires. Then, too, the vagrant dead wander about restlessly, sinful souls refusedentrance to Heaven until they have sought and secured adequate prayersfor their pardon and relief. To cross a cemetery at night might attractthe fatal vengeance of the dead thus disturbed. The grumbling mendicantat the door may really be an evil spirit bent on mischief. With a few, magic and the gift of the evil eye are still dreaded forces and it iswell to know some charm by which evil may be averted. Since night is thetime of danger, if abroad then be watchful; if at home close doors andwindows, ere you go to sleep. I was once on a fishing expedition withhabitant guides when we had to share the same _cabane_. The air becominginsufferable, I got up quietly, opened the door and went back to bed. Presently I heard one of the guides steal softly to the door and closeit. When I thought he was asleep I opened it again. But in vain; oncemore it was closed. In the morning nothing was said about it. Certainlynot cold was what he feared, for the weather was hot. I do not think itwas the mosquitoes. Was it the goblins?

A simpler and touching faith is common. Every one has noticed in theProvince of Quebec the numerous crosses by the way side. These Calvairesare of rough wood, usually eight or ten feet high; sometimes with thecross are the dread implements of Christ's pain--the crown of thorns, the hammer and nails, the executioner's ladder, the Roman soldier'sspear. Often at the foot is a box for alms to help the forgotten deadwho are in purgatory. As the habitant passes them he usually lifts hishat. The Calvaires are a kind of domestic altar to which the peoplecome. In the summer evenings one may see a family grouped about them inprayer. When there is need for special prayers, several families willcome across the fields to meet at the Calvaire. Dr. Henry, of whom morelater, tells how at Malbaie some eighty years ago he found in thecottages social family worship night and morning. It is to be fearedthat the present generation at Malbaie is less devout, corrupted it maybe by the heretic visitors' bad influence and example. But still theguide with whom one goes camping rarely neglects his evening devotions. In some families prayer sanctifies all the actions of the day. There isprayer at rising, prayer at going to bed. Though here, as in France, women are spoken of as only _créatures_, the mother is usually bettereducated than the father and often leads these devotions, the othersjoining in the responses. Before meals is recited a prayer, usually the_Benedicite_. There is often a family oratory and here at theappropriate seasons, in the month consecrated to the special familysaint and guardian, in May, the Virgin's month, in June, that of theSacred Heart, in November, "the month of the dead, " special prayers aresaid. On Sunday evenings the family chant the Canticles. The Church'sfeasts are marked by festal signs such as the laying of the best rugson the floor. If there is drought groups gather frequently at theCalvaires to pray for rain. Occasionally such supplications have acuriously commercial basis in frugal minds. A habitant's wife, learningthat a near neighbour had made an offering to the curé for prayers forrain, declared that she would give nothing, since if rain fell on theneighbour's farm it would not stop there: "_S'il mouille chez lesPierrot Benjamin, il mouillera ben icitte_. "[32]

In each year, if he chooses, the habitant has a good many chances tocast his vote. The Church, the greatest institution of the village hasits annual election--that for a churchwarden; of the three churchwardensone retires every year. An annual election there is also for themunicipal council, two or three of whose members retire each year. Thisbody looks after the highways, the granting of licenses to sellspirituous liquors and so on. Annually also are elected schoolcommissioners, who have charge of education. The municipal council andthe school commission are comparatively new institutions in the Provinceof Quebec. They have been borrowed from the Anglo-Saxon world, but thehabitant takes kindly to the elector's privileges and struggles aresometimes keen. The innovation of the ballot not having been adopted, asyet, in municipal elections, the voting is open. Every voter must thusshow his preferences and when a moral question, such as the licensing ofdrinking places, is before the electors this open voting aids theChurch's influence. Usually the curé is an ardent temperance man and tovote for a license against his wishes, made known perhaps from thepulpit, needs great strength of conviction. It thus happens that a verylarge number of parishes in the Province of Quebec have no licenseddrinking places. 

Of offices in the gift of the village voter those in the Church are themost highly esteemed. To be a municipal councillor or a schoolcommissioner is indeed all very well. But the village council is notreally very important. It spends only a few hundred dollars a year andto keep up the roads is not an exciting task. The village council rarelyhas even the "town hall" usual in other communities; it meets in the"salle publique, " or the vestry, of the Church, or in the school house. The school commissioners too have no very dazzling work to do. The curéis sometimes their chairman and thus in some degree they come under thecontrol of the Church. The commissioners appoint the teachers in theschools and keep up the school buildings, but their outlay is also verysmall, for the salaries of teachers, usually women, are appallingly low. The really important elective office in the parish is that ofchurchwarden (_marguiller_). In the church the churchwardens have aspecial seat of honour assigned to them. They control the temporalitiesand may beard even the curé himself. Large sums of money pass throughtheir hands. They receive the pew rents, --and every habitant has a pew;they receive the voluntary offerings. It often happens that the Churchaccumulates large sums of money and that, if the building of a_presbytère_ or parish church is decided upon, there is enough on handto pay for it outright. The municipal council and the schoolboard, onthe other hand, are always poor. The habitant watches their taxationwith a parsimonious scrutiny and it is a thankless task to carry ontheir work. 

Municipal interests represent of course only a part of the village'spolitical thought. In provincial politics, federal politics, there isoften in Quebec an interest keener even than in other parts of Canada. It would be too much to say that the habitant has a wide outlook onpublic questions; but the village notary and the village doctor arelikely to have political ambitions and rivalry becomes acute; oftenindeed the curse of the village is the professional politician. At timesin Quebec politics have been closely associated with religion and alwaysthe bishops are persons to be reckoned with. Their attitude has everbeen that, if the policy of one or the other party seems to be inimicalto the Church, they have the right to direct Catholic electors to voteagainst such a party. From the point of view of British supremacy inFrench Canada it would be a mistake to say that the bishops in apolitical rôle have always been mischievous. After the conquest theysoon became the most staunch supporters of the authority of George IIIand through the Church the British conqueror was able to reach thepeople. When the American Revolution began, the bishops were strenuousfor British connection and from the pulpits came solemn warnings againstthe Americans. Again in Britain's war on Revolutionary France theCanadian bishops were with her, heart and soul. They ordered _Te Deums_when Nelson destroyed the French fleet at the battle of the Nile, andover Trafalgar there were great rejoicings. After Waterloo we find inFrench Canada perhaps the most curious of all the thanksgivings; atMalbaie, as elsewhere, a _Te Deum_ was sung and the people were told inglowing terms of the victory of the "immortal Wellington" which hadcovered "our army" with glory and ended a cruel war. Later, in the daysof Papineau, the Church opposed rebellion; she has since opposedannexation to the United States. She has also helped to preserve order. If a crime was to be detected, the curé read from the pulpit a demandthat any one, who could give information to further this end, should doso. Solemn excommunication was pronounced against offenders; to make thewarning impressive the priest would drop to the ground a lighted candleand put it out with his foot; so would God extinguish the offenders thusdenounced, and those who abetted their crimes. 

Since the Church has aided the state, not unnaturally she expected somespecial favours in return. She got them in the days of the early Britishgovernors of Canada. Sir Guy Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester, secured for the Church the legal power to levy the tithe on Catholicsand practically all the other privileges she had enjoyed under the oldrégime. The bishops tended to become more and more active in politicsand this reached a climax in 1896. With great heat the bishops threwthemselves into the attack on the Liberal party, because it would notsupport the Church's demands for her own separate schools in Manitoba, supported by taxes levied on Roman Catholics by the state. Some of thebishops went too far in denunciation; an appeal against their action wascarried by Catholics to the Pope and the offenders were rebuked. Theincident showed that in politics the habitant knows his own mind, for hegave an overwhelming support to the party on which the bishops werewarring. Since then many a habitant draws a sharp distinction betweenthe spiritual and the political claims of the bishops. Their fullspiritual authority he does not doubt; in politics he thinks his ownopinion as good as theirs. 

If in spiritual matters the Church led it was intended that in temporalaffairs too the habitants should always have guidance. An old worldflavour seems to pervade the relations between seigneur and vassal in aFrench Canadian parish. The seigneur was himself the vassal of thecrown, bound to do humble homage at the capital when he received hisgrant. We have a detailed account of the ceremony as performed, perhapsfor the first time under British rule. On December 23rd, 1760, in themorning one Jacques Noël, a seigneur, accompanied by royal notaries, proceeded to the government house in Quebec. He knocked at the principalentrance and, when a servant appeared, Noël asked if His ExcellencyJames Murray, the Governor, was at home. The servant replied that HisExcellency was within and that he would give him notice. On beingadmitted to the presence of the Governor, Noël with head uncovered, and, to symbolize his humble obedience, wearing neither sword nor spur, fellon his knees before him and declared that he performed faith and homagefor the seigniory to which, on his father's death, he had become theheir. He then took an oath on the gospels to be faithful to the king andto be no party to anything against his interests; to hold his ownvassals to the same obedience; and to perform all other duties requiredby the terms of his holding. 

The Crown required very little of the seigneur and so, in truth, did theseigneur of his tenants. Their annual payment of _cens et rentes_ rarelyamounted to more than a very few dollars. When it fell due in the autumnthey were given abundant notice. Still in the Canadian parishes, whenthe Sunday morning mass is over, the crier stands on a raised platformnear the church door, the people gather round, and the announcement ismade of tithes and taxes due, of articles lost or found, of anythingindeed of general interest to the community. It was in this way that asSt. Martin's day, November 11th, approached the people were reminded ofthe falling due of the _cens et rentes_. The meaning of the two terms issomewhat obscure. The _cens_ was a trifling payment by the _censitaire_in recognition of the seigneur's position and rights as landowner; whilethe _rentes_ represented a real rental based in some degree on thesupposed value of the land. But the rate was usually conventional andvery small. In early Canada the river was the highway and upon ittherefore every settler desired to have a frontage. There was, also, greater safety from Indian attacks in having the houses close togetherat the front of the farms. So these became long narrow strips, with thehouses built so close together that the country side often seems like acontinuous village. The habitant paid usually in _cens et rentes_ twentysols (about twenty cents) for each arpent (192 feet) of frontage;instead of cash usually he might pay in kind--a live capon or a smallmeasure (demi-minot) of grain for each arpent. He paid also about onecent of rent for each superficial acre. Thus for a farm of 100 acres, with two arpents of frontage, a habitant might pay $1. 00 in cash and twocapons. If each of 400 such tenants paid for their frontage in capons, 800 of these fowls would he brought to the seigneur's barn-yard eachautumn!

Though payment was due on November 11th, the habitants usually waitedfor the first winter days when the sleighing had become good. In many ofthe sleighs, hastening with the merry sound of bells over the wintryroads to the manor house, there would be one or two captive capons or abag or two of grain. M. De Gaspé has described how on such an occasionthe seigneur, or some member of his family for him, would be found bythe tenant "seated majestically in a large arm chair, near a tablecovered with green baize cloth. " Here he received the payments, or inmany cases only excuses for non-payment. The scene outside was oftenanimated, for the fowls brought in payment of the rent, with legs tiedbut throats free, would not bear their captivity in silence. Rent daywas a festal occasion, but the great day in the year at the manor housewas New Year's Day. Then the people came to offer their respects to theseigneur and Nairne speaks of the prodigious consumption of whiskey andcakes at such a time. The seigneur was usually god-father to thefirst-born of the children of his tenants. It is a pretty custom amongFrench Canadians for the children to go on New Year's Day, which is agreat festival, to the chamber of their parents in the early morning andkneel before the bed for their benediction. To the seigneur as to aparent came on this day his god-children and we have it from M. DeGaspé, an eye witness, that on one occasion he saw no less than onehundred of these come to call upon the seigneur at the manor house! Inthe old days the people came also on the first day of May to plant theMay-pole before his door and to dance round it. 

Some of the seigneurs were as poor as their own _censitaires_ and, likethem, toiled with their hands. But usually there was a social gulfbetween the cottage and the manor house. Even the Church marked this. The seigneur had the right to a special pew; he was censed first; hereceived the wafer first at the communion; he took precedence inprocessions, and was specially recommended from the pulpit to theprayers of the congregation. Caldwell, who was seigneur of Lauzonopposite Quebec, used to drive through his great seigniory in state, half reclining on the cushions of his carriage and with a numerousfollowing. If on a long drive he stopped at a farm house, even for thelight refreshment of a drink of milk, he never paid the habitant withanything less than a gold coin. I once asked a habitant, who rememberedthe old days, whether the seigneur really was such a very great man inthe village. He replied, with something like awe in his voice, "_Monsieur, il était le roi, l'empereur, du village_. "

The ministrations of the manor house were often patriarchical andbeneficent; the seigneur's wife was like the squire's wife in an Englishvillage. In time this relation aroused resentment. Some villager's sonwith a taste for business or letters made his way in the world, got intotouch with more advanced thought, and when he came back to the villagewas not so willing as formerly to touch his hat to the seigneur andaccept an inferior social status as a matter of course. M. De Gaspétells how he often accompanied Madame Taché, in her own rightco-seigneuress of Kamouraska, opposite Malbaie, in her visits to thepeople on the seigniory. She took alms to the poor, and wine, cordials, delicacies to the sick and convalescent. "She reigned as sovereign inthe seigniory, " he says, "by the very tender ties of love and ofgratitude. " When she left the village church after mass on Sunday thehabitants, most of whom drove to church in their own vehicles, wouldwait respectfully for her to start and then follow her in a longprocession, none of them venturing to pass her on the road. At the pointwhere she turned from the high-way up the avenue leading to the manorhouse, each habitant, as he passed, would raise his hat, although onlyher back was in view disappearing in the direction of the house. 

But early in the 19th century this spirit was changing:

 One day I was myself witness, says M. De Gaspé, of a violation of this universal deference. It was St. Louis's day, the festival of the parish of Kamouraska. As usual Madame Taché, at the close of mass, was leading the long escort of her _censitaires_, when a young man, excited by the frequent libations of which in the country many are accustomed to partake during the parish fêtes, --a young man, I say, breaking from the procession passed the carriage of the seigneuress as fast as his horse would go. Madame Taché stopped her carriage and turning round towards those who followed her cried in a loud voice:

 "What insolent person is this who has passed before me?"

 An old man went up to her, hat in hand, and said with tears in his voice:

 "Madame, it is my son who unfortunately is tipsy, but be sure that I shall bring him to make his apologies and meanwhile I beg you to accept mine for his boorishness. "

 I ought to add that the whole parish spoke with indignation of the conduct of the young man. The delinquent had committed a double offence. He had been rude to their benefactress, and besides, violating a French Canadian custom, he had passed a carriage without asking permission. [33]

This must have been before 1813 for in that year this good Madame Tachédied: even so early was youth restive under the old traditions ofdeference and subordination. Already some even of the seigneurs weresaying that the system retarded settlement. It would have suited theseigneurs to have their holdings converted into freehold, for then theycould have held the unsettled land as their own property instead ofbeing under obligation to grant it for a nominal rental to_censitaires_. But to make this conversion would have been too kind tothe seigneurs; so the matter dragged on for a long time. 

The grievances of the habitant against the seigneurs were numerous, someof them real, some fanciful. It seemed anomalous that, in a Britishcolony in the nineteenth century, there should be men holding greattracts of land with rights over their tenants, as some authors haveseriously claimed, extending from the power of trying them for pettyoffences to that of inflicting the death penalty. This last right was, in any case, only nominal and was never exercised by any seigneur inCanada; but even the claim that it existed shows how high were theauthority and privilege of the seigneur. A right like the _corvée_ had asinister meaning. One of the greatest hardships of the old régime, inFrance it meant that, on demand, the peasant must drop his own work tojoin in making highways, in carrying from one place to another theeffects of a regiment, and other unwelcome tasks, all without pay. InCanada it was milder. The seigneur levied a _corvée_ of so many days'labour, which he employed on the useful task of improving the highway. Some seigneurs required that at the times they chose, the habitantsshould work for them a certain number of days, usually six, in eachyear. They could even make the habitants work without pay at building amanor house; a few of the massive stone mansions still fairly numerousin the Province of Quebec were constructed by such labour. Notunnaturally the habitant came to feel it odious and humiliating to beobliged thus to give his labour at another's order. 

The seigneuries too were often broken up. In Canada there is no law ofprimogeniture and, at a seigneur's death, the land went to daughters aswell as to sons. Few of the old seigniorial families remained on theiroriginal estates. In time those who held the property came to think thata rental of about a cent an acre was not enough. In the days of Frenchrule they could not have increased it; but the old custom, they claimed, did not apply under British sovereignty. So these charges were oftenincreased; in time instead of a penny the habitant had to paythree-pence, six-pence, and even eight-pence, an acre; the seigneurs, asa judge put it, showed an excellent knowledge of arithmeticalprogression. Thus the _cens et rentes_ began to bring in a real income. So did the _lods et ventes_, the tax of one-twelfth of the price ofwhatever land the habitant sold. In early days land was rarely sold. Butwhen towns and villages had grown up on seigniorial estates, a good dealof buying and selling took place and there stood always the seigneurdemanding in every transaction his share of the selling price. If theland was sold two or three times in a year, as might well happen, eachtime the seigneur got his share of one-twelfth. If the occupier hadbuilt on the land a house at his own cost, none the less did theseigneur, who had done nothing, get his large percentage on the sellingvalue of these improvements. This was a real grievance. To avoid payingthe seigneur's claim a price, lower than that really paid, was sometimesnamed in the deed, and this led to perjury. To protect themselves theseigneur used his _droit de retrait_ the right for forty days of himselftaking the property at the price named. This involved vexation and delayand increased discontent. Moreover the seigneur's right to _lods etventes_ stood in the way of a ready transfer of property between membersof the same family. 

There were other causes of discontent. The seigneur had the _droit debanalité_, the banal rights, under which in France the habitant must usethe seigneur's wine-press, his oven and his mill. In Canada no wine wasmade, so the seigneur's winepress did not exist. Some attempts were madeto force the habitant to bake his bread in the seigneur's oven but whatwould do in a compact French village, where fuel was scarce, becameabsurd in Canada; the picture is ludicrous of a habitant carrying adozen miles, over rough roads, to the seigneur's oven, unbaked doughwhich might be hard frozen _en route_. Moreover new inventions madeovens common and cheap so that the habitant could afford to have hisown. The seigneur's oven thus caused no grievance. Not so however theseigneur's mill. In the early days when the seigneur had the sole rightto build a mill this became for him, in truth, a duty sometimesburdensome; for, whether it would pay or not, the government forced himto build a mill or else abandon the right. But in time the mill provedprofitable and to it the peasant must bring his wheat. There might be agood mill near his house, while the seigneur's mill might be a dozenmiles away and even then might give poor service; yet to the seigneur'smill he must go. If it was a wind-mill, nature, by denying wind, mightcause a long delay before the flour should be ready. As time went on, some seigneurs claimed or reserved a monopoly in regard to all mills;grist mills, saw mills, carding mills, factories of every kind. Canadain time exported flour, but the seigneur's rights stood in the way ofthe free grinding of the wheat for this trade. The habitant might haveon his land an excellent mill site with water power convenient, but hecould not use it without the seigneur's consent. More than this theseigneur often reserved the right to take such a site to the extent ofsix arpents for his own use without any compensation to the habitant. 

In many cases the seigneur might freely cut timber on the habitant'sland to erect buildings for public use, --church, presbytery, mill, andeven a manor house. The rights to base metals on the property he alsoretained. The eleventh fish caught in the rivers was his. He mightchange the course of streams or rivers for manufacturing purposes; healone could establish a ferry; his will determined where roads should beopened. Some seigneurs were even able to force villages and towns to paya bonus for the right to carry on the ordinary business of buying andselling. So it turned out that if the habitant's crop failed he hadlittle chance to do anything else without the seigneur's consent; he is, says the report of a Commission of Enquiry in 1843, "kept in a perpetualstate of feebleness and dependence. He can never escape from the tiethat forever binds to the soil him and his progeny; a cultivator he isborn, a mere cultivator he is doomed to die. " No doubt this plaint ispitched in a rather high key. But in time the burden of grievances wasgenerally felt and then the seigniorial system was doomed. 

In the days of the last John Nairne political agitation became an oldstory at Malbaie. We get echoes of meetings held in the village tosupport the cause of the idol of habitant radicalism, Louis JosephPapineau; in 1836 ninety-two resolutions drawn up by him and attackingthe whole system of government in Canada appear to have met withclamorous approval from the assembled villagers. Papineau was himself aseigneur and did not assail the system. But after his unsuccessfulrebellion in 1837-38 the attack on the seigneurs intensified. We knowlittle of what happened at Malbaie but the end came suddenly. In 1854, after an election fought largely on this issue, the Parliament of Canadaswept away the seigniorial system. The habitants then became tenantspaying as rent the old _cens et rentes_. They could not be disturbed aslong as this trifling rent was paid. Moreover at any time they mightbecome simple freeholders by paying to the seigneur a sum of moneyrepresenting their annual rent capitalized on a six per cent, basis. Theterm seigneur is still used but is now a mere honorary title. No longerdoes his position give him the authority of a magistrate; no longer mustthe habitants grind their corn at his mill; no longer can he claim _lodset ventes_ when land is sold. For the loss of these rights he was paidcompensation out of the public treasury. [34]

With the abolition of the seigniorial system ends too the story of theNairne family. In 1861, exactly one hundred years after Colonel Nairnefirst visited Malbaie, died his grandson and the last of hisdescendants, John McNicol Nairne, son of Colonel Nairne's eldestdaughter Magdalen. This last Nairne left the property absolutely to hiswidow, tied only by the condition that it was to go to her male issue ifshe had such, even by a second marriage. In 1884, she too diedchildless, and bequeathed the property to an old friend, both of herselfand of her husband, Mr. W. E. Duggan. Had Mr. Duggan not survived Mrs. Nairne the property was to go to St. Matthew's Church, Quebec. Mr. Duggan occupied it, until his death in 1898, when it passed by will tohis half-brother, Mr. E. J. Duggan, the present seigneur. [35]

It is a sad story this of the extinction of a family. Both Thomas Nairneand his father were buried at first in the Protestant cemetery atQuebec. But not there permanently were they to lie, and many years agothey found a resting-place in a new tomb in Mount Hermon Cemetery. On alovely autumn day in 1907 I made my way in Quebec to the spot where theNairnes are interred. In the fresh cool air it was a pleasure to walkbriskly the three miles of the St. Louis road to the cemetery. Onecrossed the battle field of the Plains of Abraham where, within a fewmonths, a century and a half ago, Britain and France grappled in deadlystrife. The elder Nairne saw that field with its harvest of dead onSeptember 13th, 1759, and, in the following April, he saw its snowstained with the blood of brave men who fell in Murray's battle withLévis. In May, 1776, he marched across it in victorious pursuit of thefleeing American army. At Mount Hermon I readily found the Nairne tomb. It lies on the slope of the hill towards the river. Through the nobletrees gleamed the mighty tide of the St. Lawrence. A great pine treestands near the block of granite that marks the Nairne graves and agentle breeze through its countless needles caused that mysterioussighing which is perhaps nature's softest and saddest note. One'sthoughts went back to the brave old Colonel who wrought so well and hadsuch high hopes for his posterity to the soldier son, remembered here, who died in far distant India; and to the other soldier son who fell inCanada upon the field of battle. He was the last male heir of his line. The name and the family are now well-nigh forgotten. The inscriptions onthe tomb, reared by a friend, connected with the Nairnes by ties offriendship only, not of blood, are themselves the memorial of the riseand extinction of a Canadian family. [36]

[Footnote 25: He must have been a Roman Catholic for he was buried inthe churchyard at Murray Bay. ]

[Footnote 26: We have seen (_ante_ p. 49) how at Malbaie Colonel Nairneexpected that a Protestant missionary would soon make the communityProtestant. ]

[Footnote 27: Professor Barrett Wendell, France of To-day, New York, 1907. ]

[Footnote 28: Roy, Histoire de la Seigneurie de Lauzon, IV: 169, 170. ]

[Footnote 29: The Abbé H. R. Casgrain: _Une Paroisse Canadienne au XVII. Siècle_. _Oeuvres_, Vol. I, pp. 483 _sqq. _]

[Footnote 30: Roy, La Seigneurie de Lauzon, IV: 247. ]

[Footnote 31: M. Léon Gérin in "L'Habitant de Saint-Justin", p. 202. ]

[Footnote 32: Roy, La Seigneurie de Lauzon IV: 245. ]

[Footnote 33: De Gaspé, _Mémoires_, p. 533, 4. ]

[Footnote 34: Mr. Nairne claimed as compensation for his _lods etventes_ £4, 560, 9s. 6d. , (Halifax currency) and for the banal rights£3, 400. He probably received considerably less. More than 400 dwellersin the seigniory still pay the annual _cens et rentes_. ]

[Footnote 35: Malcolm Fraser's seigniory, Mount Murray, remainedsomewhat longer in the family of its original owner. On Fraser's deathin 1815 his eldest son William, who had become a medical practitionerand a Roman Catholic, succeeded. He died without issue in 1830 and hisbrother, John Malcolm Fraser, then fell heir to the seigniory. When hedied in 1860 the property passed by will to his two daughters, bothmarried to British officers. The elder, Mrs. Reeve, succeeded to themanor house. The younger, Mrs. Higham, soon sold her share to the Cimonfamily who became prominent in the district and one of whose members satin Parliament at Ottawa on the Conservative side. Mrs. Reeve died in1879 leaving the use of the property to her husband, Colonel Reeve, forhis life. When he died in 1888, his son Mr. John Fraser Reeve, MalcolmFraser's great-grandson, became seigneur. In 1902 he sold the propertyto the present seigneur, Mr. George T. Bonner, of New York, a Canadianby birth. Though there are numerous living descendants of MalcolmFraser, Murray Bay knows them no more. ]

[Footnote 36: Sacred to the memory of Lieutenant Colonel John Nairne, First Seigneur of Murray Bay. This Gallant Officer during 38 yearsdistinguished himself as an able and brave Soldier. For simplicity ofmanners as a man, for Intrepidity and humanity as a Soldier, and for thevirtues of a Gentleman, his memory will long be respected and cherished. Born in Scotland, March 1, 1731. Died at Quebec, July 14, 1802. 

Lieutenant Colonel Nairne first entered the Dutch Service where hebelonged to that distinguished Corps, the Scotch Brigade. He afterwardsentered the British Service where under Wolfe he was present at thetaking of Louisbourg and Quebec. He also served under Murray andCarleton and distinguished himself in a most gallant manner when Quebecwas attacked by the Americans in the years 1775 and 1776. 

And of his eldest son, Lieutenant John Nairne of the 19th Regiment ofFoot, who fell a victim to the climate of India when returning with thevictorious troops from the capture of Seringapatam in the 21st year ofhis age; also of his youngest son, Captain Thomas Nairne, of the 49thRegiment of Foot who bravely fell at the head of his Company in theBattle at Chrysler's Farm in Upper Canada November 11, 1813, aged 26years. 

Also of John Leslie Nairne, great grandson of Colonel Nairne, born July23, 1842, died March 18, 1845; and of John Nairne, Esq. , Grandson ofColonel Nairne, born at Murray Bay, March 22nd, 1808, died at QuebecJune 8, 1861; and of his Widow, Maria Katherine Leslie, died at Quebec, August 25, 1884, deeply regretted by her friends and by the poor of whomshe was the constant benefactress. 

This monument is erected in affectionate remembrance of much kindness byone who was privileged to enjoy their friendship during the best part ofhis life. ]

CHAPTER VIII

THE COMING OF THE PLEASURE SEEKERS

 Pleasure seeking at Murray Bay. --A fisherman's experience in 1830. --New visitors. --Fishing in a mountain lake. --Camp life. --The Upper Murray. --Canoeing. --Running the rapids. --Walks and drives. --Golf. --A rainy day. --The habitant and his visitors. 

In the Middle Ages mankind in pursuit of change of air and scene and ofbodily and spiritual health went on pilgrimage to some famous shrine; inmodern times dwellers in cities, in a similar pursuit, go in summer tosome beautiful spot by sea, or lake, or mountain. To many these placesthen become as sacred as was the saint's shrine of an earlier age. Busymen have leisure there to be idle, to read, to enjoy companionship, topursue wholesome pleasures. Such a spot has Murray Bay become to many. Their intrusion was not looked upon with favour by those who wished topreserve the old simplicity, but it could not be resisted. More than ahundred years ago Colonel Nairne and Colonel Fraser had parties ofguests in the summer that must have made the two manor houses livelyenough. The beauty of the place, its coolness when Quebec and Montrealsuffered from sweltering heat in the short Canadian summer, thesimplicity and charm of its life, proved alluring. There was alsoexcellent sport. Salmon and trout abounded. Though time has broughtchanges, in some seasons the salmon fishing is still excellent and, inall the world, probably, there is no better trout fishing than in theupper waters of the Murray and in some of the lakes. 

Thus it happened that the earliest annals of pleasure seeking at MurrayBay relate to fishing. It is at least possible that more than twohundred years ago the Sieur de Comporté tried his fortune as a fishermanin the lake that bears his name. A hundred and fifty years ago, as wehave seen, Captain Nairne and his guest Gilchrist had such excellentsalmon fishing that Gilchrist thought this sport alone worth a tripacross the Atlantic. Many other fishing expeditions to Malbaie theremust have been and, fortunately, a detailed narrative of one of them, made in 1830, has been preserved. The fishermen were Major Wingfield andDr. Henry--attached to the 66th regiment at Montreal. 

They went by steamer from Montreal to Quebec and an American General onboard jeered at them for travelling three hundred miles to catch fishwhich they could buy in the market at their door! When they reachedQuebec they found no steamer for Murray Bay, --hardly strange as then thesteamboat was comparatively new. Three days they waited at Quebec untilat length they bargained with the captain of a coasting schooner boundfor Kamouraska, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, to land them atMalbaie. The weather was stormy, the ship nearly foundered, and theeighty miles of the journey occupied no less than four days and nights. The fishermen had brought with them a quarter of cold lamb, a loaf, anda bottle of wine, but, before the journey was over, sheer hunger drovethem to the ship's salt pork and to sausages stuffed with garlic. Ratherthan take refuge below among "thirty or forty dirty habitants fromKamouraska" they stuck to the deck and encamped under the great sail, but the rain fell so heavily that they could not even keep their cigarsalight. At length "with beards like Jews, " cold, wet, half-starved andmiserable, they reached their destination. As they landed at Murray Baythey saw a salmon floundering in a net, bought it, and carried it withthem to the house of a man named Chaperon where they had engagedlodgings. Here, says Dr. Henry, the sensation of being clean andcomfortable in their host's "pleasant parlour" was delicious. The tea, the toast, the dainty prints of fresh butter were all exquisite "afterrancid pork and garlic, " and he declares that they ate for two hours andconsumed "some half gallon of thick cream and half a bushel of new laideggs. " Under their window bloomed a rose bush in full flower. Murray Baywas at its best. 

On Monday morning, July 5th, 1830, the two fishermen engaged a_calèche_, and a boy named Louis Panet drove them up the Murray River. The present village church was already standing, "a respectable church, "says Dr. Henry, "with its long roof and glittering spire and a tall elmor two"; the elms, alas, have disappeared and now there are onlywillows. A wooden bridge crossed the Murray and its large abutmentsloaded with great boulders told of formidable spring floods sweepingdown the valley. A recent "éboulement" or land slide had blocked theroad along the river and men were still busy clearing away the rubbish. Eight or ten miles up the river at the fall known as the Chute, still afavourite spot for salmon fishing, they had magnificent sport. One JeanGros, in a crazy canoe, took them to the best places for casting thefly. The first salmon weighed twenty-five pounds and they had to play itfor three-quarters of an hour. That evening when they returned to M. Chaperon's, to feast once more, they had five salmon weighing in all onehundred and five pounds and forty-five sea trout averaging three poundseach. No wonder Gilchrist has said such fishing was worth a trip acrossthe Atlantic! The blot on the day's enjoyment was that in the Julyweather they were pestered with flies. 

Excellent sport continued from day to day. Once Jean Gros lost his holdof the pole by which he controlled the canoe and it drifted helplesslytowards a rapid, Henry all the time playing a salmon. The man wasalarmed and knelt to mumble prayers but Henry caught up a board thrownfrom the shore, gave him a whack with it on the back and shouted:"_Ramez! Sacré! Ramez!_" The effect was electrical. The old fellowseized the board, paddled with it like mad, steered down the rapid, andHenry finally landed his salmon. Day after day the two fishermen droveup to the Chute to fish until, after a fortnight, the river fell and thesalmon ceased to rise; then they went down in a large boat to RivièreNoire, said never yet to have been fished with a rod, slept at night onthe sandy beach, but had no luck. Henry tells of an annoyance at Malbaiethat still continues; mongrel dogs ran after their _calèche_; sometimesone would try to seize the horse by the nose and nearly cause arun-away. Each cur pursued the vehicle and barked himself hoarse, andthen, when he retired, his neighbour would take up the task. At length, after this experience had been frequently renewed, they decided toretaliate. One black shaggy beast had made himself specially obnoxious;with his thick wooly fur he did not mind in the least being struck bythe whip. So one day Dr. Henry got ready the salmon gaff and, as thebrute darted out at them, skilfully hooked him by the side. The driverwhipped up his horse, which seemed to enjoy the punishment of hisenemy, and the vehicle went tearing along the road, the dog yellinghideously as he was dragged by the hook. The people ran to the doorsholding up their hands in astonishment. The Doctor soon shook off thedog and he trotted home little the worse. Next day when he saw thefisherman's calèche coming he limped into the house "as mute as a fish"with his tail between his legs. 

Dr. Henry thought Murray Bay an earthly paradise. The people in this"secluded valley" were the most virtuous he had ever seen. Flagrantcrime was unknown, --doors were never locked at night. There was no needof temperance reform; "whole families pass their lives without anyindividual ever having tasted intoxicating fluids. " The devout people, he says, had social family worship, morning and evening; the familieswere huge, fifteen to twenty children being not uncommon; when a youngcouple married the relations united to build a house for them; and soon. Unfortunately we know from other sources that conditions were not asidyllic at Murray Bay as Dr. Henry describes; but it was, no doubt, asimple and virtuous community. 

In time its isolation was to disappear before invaders like Dr. Henry, in pursuit of pleasure. So gradual was the change that we hardly knowwhen it came. By 1850 there was a little summer colony mostly fromQuebec and Montreal. Soon a few came from points more distant. As meansof transport on the St. Lawrence improved a great many travellers passedMurray Bay on their way to the Saguenay. Tadousac, at its mouth, wasalready well known and an occasional stray visitor stopped off at MurrayBay to see what it was like. The accommodation offered was rude enough, no doubt, but perhaps less rude than one might suppose. At Pointe au Picstood a substantial stone house. This was turned into a hotel and knownsome fifty years ago as Duberger's house. There were besides a few otherhouses for summer visitors. Thus, long ago, was there tolerable comfortat Murray Bay. In any case visitors soon found that the place hadabundant compensations even for discomfort. They came and came again. Friends came to visit them and they too learned to love the spot. SomeAmericans from New York chanced to find it out and others of theircountrymen followed; by 1885 already well established was the nowdominant American colony. 

The influx has limited and restricted but has not destroyed the olddiversion of fishing. There are still many hundreds of lakes in theneighbourhood on which no fisherman has ever yet cast a fly. But nearlyall the good spots within easy range are now leased or owned by privatepersons and clubs; no longer may the transient tourist fish almost wherehe pleases. All the better for this restriction is the quality of thefishing. What magnificent sport there is in some of those tiny lakes onthe mountain side and what glorious views as one drives thither! Toreach Lac à Comporté, for instance, one crosses the brawling Murray, drives up its left bank for a mile or so and then heads straight up themountain side. Turning back one can see the silver gleam of the smallriver winding through its narrow valley until lost in the envelopingmountains. From points still higher one looks northwestward upon themountain crests worn round ages ago, some of them probably never yettrodden by the foot of man. Most are wooded to the top but there arebare crags, a glowing purple sometimes in the afternoon light; but theprevailing tone is the deep, deep blue, the richest surely that naturecan show anywhere. Along the road where we are driving stretch thehouses of the habitants and sometimes, to survey the passing strangers, the whole family stands on the rude door-step. They rarely fail in acourteous greeting, with a touch still of the manners of France. 

Two or three days spent on one of these wild mountain lakes, such as Lacà Comporté, is as pleasant an experience as any one can have. The walkis beautiful from the last cottage where the vehicles are left and thetwo or three men are secured who shoulder the packs with the necessaryprovisions. At first the forest path is hewn broadly in a straight linebut it soon narrows to a trail winding up the mountain side. The way isrough; one must clamber over occasional boulders and turn aside to avoidfallen trees. The white stems of birches are conspicuous in the forestthicket. After a stiff climb we have passed over the shoulder of themountain; the path is now trending downward and at length through thearch of green over the pathway one catches the gleam of the lake. Thepace quickens and in a few minutes we stand upon the shore of a lovelylittle sheet of water with a shore line perhaps three miles long, lyingin the mountain hollow. Evening is near and, half an hour later, eachfisherman is in a boat paddled softly by a habitant companion. In athousand places the calm water is disturbed by the trout feeding busily;they often throw themselves quite clear of the water and, when the sporthas well begun, at a single cast one occasionally takes a trout on eachof his three flies. Before it is dark the whole circuit of the lake hasbeen made and a goodly basket of trout is the result. 

A camp at evening is always delightful. The tired fishermen lie by thecheery fire while the men prepare the evening meal, to consist chieflyof the trout just caught. They have the vivacity and readiness of theirrace: rough habitants though they are their courtesy is inborn, inalienable. After the meal is over silence often falls on the group ofthree or four by the fire. Every one is tired and at barely nine o'clockit is time for bed. Before each of the two or three small tents standingsome distance apart by the water's edge the men have built a blazingfire which throws its light far out over the tiny lake. All round risethe mountains, now dark and sombre; a sharp wind is blowing and as onestands alone looking out over the water there comes a sense of chill;for a moment the mountain solitude seems remote, melancholy andfriendless: with something like a shiver one turns to the cheerful firebefore the tent. Here blankets are spread on sweet scented boughs of_sapin_; the bed is hard, but not too hard for a tired man and onequickly falls asleep. 

Other fishing expeditions at Murray Bay take one farther afield and intomore varied scenes. In its upper stretches, three thousand feet abovethe sea, the Murray River flows through a level country before itplunges into mountain fastnesses, almost impregnable in summer, for along and troubled détour, to emerge at length into this last valley. Toreach this flat upland one must drive through a beautiful mountain passwith great heights towering on either side of the winding roadway. Inthe upper river the fishing is still unsurpassed. Of small trout thereare vast numbers, excellent for the table, but in the deep pools arealso huge trout, ranging in weight from three to eight pounds. Thesurrounding country is open; there are only clumps of scrubby timber;and the plain is covered with deep moss readily beaten into a hard pathupon which the foot treads silently. Here the bears come to feed uponthe berries and the Canadians have called the plain prettily the "Jardindes Ours. " Other sport than trout fishing there is. In season thecaribou and the moose are abundant--but that is a sportsman's tale byitself. 

Fishing and hunting are not the sole diversions. As long ago as in 1811, when young Captain Nairne came here fresh from Europe, the boatingattracted him and he spent much time on the bay and the river. No doubtthe young seigneur was soon skilful in the art of paddling a canoe. Inthose days there were real Indians and no other canoes than those ofbirch bark; now these have well-nigh disappeared and, indeed, fewvisitors at Murray Bay, use any kind of a canoe. The pastime is thoughttoo dangerous for all but the initiated. Amid these mountains, windsrise quickly and beat up a sea, and it is well to keep near the shore. The rising tide sweeps like a mill race over the bar at the mouth of thebay and when one has passed out to the great river it is like beingafloat on the open sea. On perfectly calm days we may go far out to beswept up with the tide; but it is both safer and pleasanter to glidealong close to shore under the shadow of the cliffs, around sharpcorners, dodging in and out among boulders submerged, or now beingsubmerged, by the rising tide. The successive sandy beaches are eachbacked by high cliffs. The river is a shining, spangled, surface oflight blue and white, reflecting the sky sprinkled with fleecy clouds. Here a chattering stream, the Petit Ruisseau, falls over white rocks tolose itself in the sand. Far ahead now one can see the Church of Ste. Irénée perched on a level table-land, two or three hundred feet abovethe river. Soon a dark green line on the high birch-clad shore marks thegorge by which the Grand Ruisseau flows to the St. Lawrence. At itsmouth is a good place to land and make tea. The canoes are drawn up on asandy beach under the shadow of cliffs, a medley of red and grey andbrown. Near by, the Grand Ruisseau, a fair sized brook, babbles in itsbed crowded with great boulders. A wild path, part of it including stepsfrom rock to rock in the bed of the stream itself, leads to a lovelylittle cascade where, in white foam, the water falls into a deep darkpool. One hurries to visit it and then, with the evening shadows fallingand the narrow gorge becoming sombre, it is wise to hasten back. As onesteps out from the wooded path to the shore of the great river the sceneis enchanting. The river's shining surface is perfectly smooth. Faracross it is a dark-blue serried line of mountains. Houses, twenty milesdistant, stand out white in the last light of the sun. From thetin-covered spire of a church far away, the flash of the rays comes backlike the glow of fire. Standing in shadow we look out on a realm oflight:

 "As when the sun prepared for rest Hath gained the precincts of the West, Though his departing radiance fail To illuminate the hollow vale, A lingering light he fondly throws On the fair hills, where first he rose. "

The shore is strangely silent; one hears only the occasional puffing ofthe white whale or the sad cry of the loon. 

A thrilling diversion is that of running the rapids in the Murray River. The canoe is sent up by _charette_ and after luncheon it is a walk ordrive of eight or nine miles up the river to the starting point--a deep, dark-brown pool, which soon narrows into a swift rapid, the worst in allthe stretches to the river's mouth. Formerly a procession of half adozen canoes would go through the rapid with light hearts, but, longago, when the river was very high, a canoe upset here and one of itsoccupants was never seen alive again. As one paddles out into the pooland is drawn into the dark current moving silently and swiftly to therapid the heart certainly beats a little faster. The water's surface isan inclined plane as it flows over the ledge of rock. Straight ahead thecurrent breaks on a huge black rock in a cloud of white foam. One mustsweep off to the right, with the great volume of the water, and needcatch only a little spray in swinging safely past the danger point. Then, in the waves caused by the current, before the canoe is quiteturned "head-on" a wave may curl over the bow and leave the occupantskneeling in half an inch of water. In such a case it is wise to land andempty the canoe. In the next rapid, a tangled maze, the water is shallowand skill is required to wind in and out among the rocks and find waterenough to keep afloat. Then the canoe slips over a ledge with plenty ofwater and the only care is to curve sharply to the left with the currentbefore it strikes the bank straight ahead. The whole trip down the riveroccupies two glorious hours. There are short stretches of smooth anddeep water; then the river contracts and pours with impetuous swiftnessdown a rocky slope. Sometimes trees stand close to the river; then thereare bare grey banks of clay; then smiling fields sloping gently up tothe high land; at times the canoe is in shade, then in the flashingsunlight. The river grows milder as it nears its mouth but theexcitement does not end until we float under the bridge at Malbaievillage and lift the canoe over the boom fastened there to catch logs intheir descent. To paddle home in calm water across the bay seems tameafter dancing for two hours on that tossing current. 

Of course there are many walks and drives--on the whole the mostdelightful of Malbaie's diversions. The favourite walk is to "Beulah. " Ageneration that does not read its Bible as it should may need to be toldthat Beulah is the name of the land no more desolate in which the Lorddelighteth; some Bible reader so named a spot on the mountain where onelooks out far, far, afield in every direction for immense distances. Itmay be reached by a forest path straight up the mountain side fromPointe au Pic. We go through spruce and birch woods till we reach anopening where we look out northward on rounded mountain tops blue, silent, immeasurable, spreading away, one might almost fancy to theNorth Pole itself, so endless seems their mass. On beautiful turfthrough woods, then by a cow path across a bog, the path leads until abare hill top lies full in view. This is Beulah. Standing there oneseems to have the whole world at one's feet. When Petrarch had climbedMount Ventoux, near Avignon, the first man for half a century to do so, the scene overwhelmed him; thoughts of the deeper meaning of life rosebefore his mind; he drew from his pocket St. Augustine and read: "Men goabout to wonder at the height of the mountains and the mighty waves ofthe sea, and the wide sweep of rivers and the circuit of the ocean andthe revolution of the stars, but themselves they consider not. " I neverstand on "Beulah" without thinking of this passage. Far away to thedistant south shore, and up and down the river we can survey a stretchof eighty or ninety miles. We stand in the midst of a sea of mountainsand look landward across deep valleys in all directions with the rangesrising tier on tier beyond. 

[Illustration: THE GOLF LINKS AT MURRAY BAY]

Among diversions for men golf, in spite of a certain reaction, has stillthe chief place. The club house is on the west shore of the bay. Oneplays out northward. The players zigzag here and there among curiousearth mounds formed by the eddying swirl of water when the river'scurrent held high carnival over these level stretches. Then the courseleads up to the higher slope and mounts steadily, until, at the farthesthole, a considerable height has been reached. As one turns back towardsthe river he faces a wonder scene of changing grey and blue and greenand white. The smoke of passing steamers floats lazily in the air; theytake the deep channel by the south shore and are a dozen miles away. Itis usually a silent world that one looks out upon; but when there is anorth-east wind great green waves come rolling in upon the sandy shoreof the bay and fill the air with their undertone. 

Even the rainy days have their own pleasures. One is glad of its excuseto sit before a crackling fire of birch wood and read. When the rain hasceased and the sun comes out, looking across to Cap à l'Aigle and upthe river valley one sees new beauties. The mist disperses slowly. Firstit leaves bare the rounded mountain tops; they stand out dark, massive, with bases shrouded still in fleecy white. When the sun grows strong, river and valley are soon clear again, though the outlines are still alittle softened. Up over the sand and boulders of the bay comes therising tide changing sombre brown to shining blue. It rushes noisilyacross the bar at the bay's mouth a few hundred yards away. 

The visitors to this beautiful scene gather year by year from placeswidely separated and form in this remote village a society singularlycosmopolitan. English, French, Americans, Canadians, all mingle herewith leisure to meet and play together. For a time far away seems thehard world of competition. Rarely do newspapers arrive until at leastthe day after publication; the telegraph is used only under urgentnecessity; as far as possible business is excluded. The cottages arespacious enough but quite simple, with rooms usually divided off only byboards of pine or spruce. Very little decoration makes them pretty. Gardening has a good many devotees; the long day of sunshine and in someseasons the abundant rain of this northern region help to makevegetation luxurious. If one drives he may take a _planche_--theconvenient serviceable "buck-board, "--still unsurpassed for a countryof hills and rough roads. But to me at least the _calèche_ is the moreenjoyable. It comes here from old France, a two-wheeled vehicle, withthe seat hung on stout leather straps reaching from front to back oneach side of the wooden frame. It is not a vehicle for those sensitiveto slight jars. The driver sits in a tiny seat in front and one isamazed at the agility with which even old men spring from this perch towalk up and down the steep hills. Their ponies are beautiful littleanimals, specially fitted by a long development for work in this hillycountry. So well do they mount its heights that travellers repeat anunconfirmed tradition of their having been known to climb trees!

It is not strange that in our happy summer days we acquire a deepaffection for this northern region, its brilliant colouring, its crispair. Not its least charm is in the cheerful and kindly people. One wouldnot have them speak any other tongue than their French, preserving herearchaic usages, with new words for new things, influenced of course byEnglish, but still the beautiful language of an older France than theFrance of to-day. The people have their own tragedies. One sees palewomen, over-worked. The physician's skill is too little sought; thecountry ranges are very remote; it is difficult and expensive to getmedical aid; and there are deformed cripples who might have been madewhole by skill applied in time. Consumption too is here a dreadscourge, though against it a strenuous campaign has now begun. Manychildren are born but too many die. Still, most of the people live incomfort and they enjoy life--enjoy it probably much more than would anAnglo-Saxon community of the same type. 

We who are among them in the summer are citizens of another and anunknown world. New York and Chicago, Boston and Washington, Toronto andMontreal are to us realities with one or other of which, in some way, each of us is linked. To this simple people they are all merely thatouter world whence come their fleeting visitors of summer, as out of theunknown come the migrant birds to pause and rest awhile. We bring withus substantial material benefits; but it is not clear that our moralinfluence is good. Leaving his farm the habitant brings to the villagehis horse and calèche to become a hired _charretier_. He often gets goodfares but there is much idle waiting. Bad habits are formed and regularindustry is discouraged. The curé finds Malbaie a difficult sphere. Wealone get unmixed benefit from this fair scene, its days of gladserenity, and of almost solemn stillness, when even a bird's note isheard but rarely. 

Because all that concerns it interests us I have tried to put togetherfrom scattered fragments the story long forgotten of the past ofMalbaie. In it there is abundance of the tragedy never remote fromman's life: if the telling of the tale has been a pleasure it has provednot less a sad pleasure. But the story adds only a deeper meaning to ourbeautiful playground. After all it is man and his activities which giveto nature's scenes their deepest interest; Quebec's chief charm is dueto Wolfe and Montcalm, St. Helena's to Napoleon. The shaggy mountaincrests which we view from our valley, the glistening blue river, thestrong north-east wind which clouds the sky, turns the river to grey, and sprinkles its surface with white caps, --all are full for us ofjoyous beauty. But how much less of interest would there be did thewhite spire of the village church not peep out above the green trees upthe bay to tell of man's weakness and his hopes! The story of the braveold soldier who peopled this valley, the pathetic tragedy of hissuccessor's fate, add something here to the bloom of nature. It may bethat the chief service of the chequered and half-forgotten past when itspeaks is to show how vain and transient is all we think andplan, --"what shadows we are and what shadows we pursue. " But be it so. One would not miss from life this last joy of knowing what it reallymeans. 

AUTHORITIES

CHAPTER I. --For Jacques Cartier see his Voyages of 1535-36, inFrench (Ed. D'Avezac) Paris, 1863, translated into English (Ed. Baxter), New York, 1906. For Champlain see his Oeuvres (Ed. Laverdière) Quebec, 1870. Bourdon's Act of Faith and Homage is in Canadian Archives, SeriesM. , Vol. I, p. 387. M. B. Sulte gives an account of the CarignanRegiment in the Proc. And Trans. Of the Royal Society of Canada for1902. The account of the Sieur de Comporté in France is in CanadianArchives Series B. , F. , 213, p. 46; that of the auction sale of hisproperty is in a MS. Preserved at Murray Bay, while a record of the saleof Malbaie to the government is in Canadian Archives, Series M. , Vol. LXV, p. 75. "The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents" (Ed. Thwaites)(Cleveland, 1900), Vol. LXIX. , pp. 80 _sqq. _ contains the account ofMalbaie in 1750. The authority for the burning of Malbaie in 1759 is SirJames M. Le Moine, "The Explorations of Jonathan Oldbuck, " Quebec, 1889, based upon documents printed by "T. C. " in _L'Abeille_, Nov. And Dec. , 1859. Standard histories of the time such as Parkman's "Montcalm andWolfe" give references to authorities for the events of the Seven Years'War. 

CHAPTER II. --The "Dictionary of National Biography" containsgood articles on Lord Lovat, General Murray, &c. , with references toauthorities. Alexander Mackenzie's "History of the Frasers of Lovat"(Inverness, 1896) is the most recent detailed history of the family. MacLean, "An Historical Account of the Settlement of Scotch Highlandersin America, " (Cleveland, 1900), contains valuable information. Theportion of the chapter relating to Malbaie is based upon MSS. Preservedthere in the Murray Bay Manor House. 

CHAPTER III. --MS. Material preserved at Murray Bay. 

CHAPTER IV. --Much original material relating to the Siege ofQuebec in 1775-76 has been published by the Literary and HistoricalSociety of Quebec. To be specially noted are the two volumes ofdocuments on the "Blockade of Quebec in 1775-76 by the AmericanRevolutionists, (Les Bostonnais)" Edited by F. C. Würtele (Quebec, 1905and 1906). Two or three works have been written recently on the episodefrom the American point of view: Codman, "Arnold's Expedition to Quebec"(New York, 1901); Justin H. Smith, "Arnold's March from Cambridge toQuebec, a critical study, together with a reprint of Arnold's Journal, "(New York, 1903); Justin H. Smith, "Our Struggle for the FourteenthColony, " 2 Vols. (New York, 1907). The story of Nairne's part in the waris based chiefly upon MS. Material preserved at Murray Bay. The incidentof the escaped prisoners is told in Nairne's reports; to CaptainMatthews, Secretary to Haldimand, on the 14th of May, 1780, and to MajorLe Maistre, on the 5th of June. These are at Murray Bay. A furtherreport to Matthews on the 3rd of June is preserved at Ottawa; CanadianArchives, Series B, Vol. 73, p. 130. Mr. James Thompson was in charge ofthe building of the houses for the prisoners and tells of their escapein his MS. Diary. 

CHAPTER V. And CHAPTER VI. Are based upon MSS. AtMurray Bay. 

CHAPTER VII. --M. Léon Gérin has given an exhaustive analysis ofthe life of the habitant in "L'Habitant de Saint Justin, " published inthe Proc. And Trans, of the Royal Society of Canada for 1898 (Ottawa, 1898). M. J. -E. Roy's "Histoire de la Seigneurie de Lauzon, " of whichfive volumes have been published (the last, Levis, Quebec, 1904) is themost detailed and authoritative account of a Canadian Seigniory. Vol. IVdeals especially with the life of the habitants. Philippe Aubert deGaspé's "Les anciens Canadiens, " (Quebec, 1863), and his "Mémoires"(Ottawa, 1866), contain much that is interesting on the life of aCanadian manor. So also do H. R. Casgrain's "Une Paroisse Canadienne auXVIIe Siècle, " Oeuvres Completes, Vol. I (Montreal, 1884), andParkman's "The Old Régime in Canada, " (Boston, 1893). W. Bennett Munro's"The Seigniorial System in Canada, " (New York, 1907), and his "Documentsrelating to Seigniorial Tenure in Canada, " (Toronto, 1908), coveradequately the whole subject, and contain, in addition, abundantreferences to further authorities. The "Mandements des Evêques deQuébec, " (Ed. Têtu and Gagnon), in six volumes, the first published in1887, contain much of interest in regard to the attitude of the Churchto the people. The Second Part of "The Report of the Commission chargedwith revising and consolidating the General Statutes of the Province ofQuebec, " (Quebec, 1907), outlines the legal aspects of the school andChurch systems. M. André Seigfried's "Le Canada, Les Deux Races, "(Paris, 1906), translated into English under the title of "The RaceQuestion in Canada, " (London, 1907), is a passionless analysis ofreligious and political thought in the Province of Quebec. 

CHAPTER VIII. --The account of fishing at Murray Bay in 1830 isby Walter Henry; "Events of a Military Life, " 2 Vols. (London, 1843). The chapter is based chiefly upon personal observation. 

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A (p. 31)

THE JOURNAL OF MALCOM FRASER, FIRST SEIGNEUR OF MOUNT MURRAY, MALBAIE

Malcolm Fraser was a young man of about twenty-six when he kept hisdiary of Wolfe's campaign against Quebec. It shows that already he hadconsiderable powers of observation and very definite opinions. No doubtFraser preserved a record of events in the campaign earlier than thoseof 1759; and it seems likely that the habit of recording his experienceswould also have been kept up in later life. When, some time before 1860, were made the extracts from Fraser's Journal upon which the presentnotes are based, the original remained in the possession of his son theHon. John Malcolm Fraser. The extracts were published by the Literaryand Historical Society of Quebec in 1868 and have been used by Parkmanand other historians, who usually, however, confuse Fraser with hiscommanding officer Colonel Simon Fraser. The extracts have long been outof print. I have not been able to trace the original MS. Or any otherJournal of Fraser, except a brief and quite valueless one preserved atMount Murray. In one of his later letters, written fifty years afterthis Journal, Fraser speaks of his reluctance to handle the pen. Butthis did not keep him from writing in a beautiful round hand many longletters and making also copies for his own use. 

Early in the spring of 1859 a great British fleet had arrived in Americafrom England and a squadron under Admiral Holmes had gone to New York toembark the Highlanders and other regiments wintering there to proceedto Quebec. The place of rendezvous was Louisbourg. Fraser's Journalbegins on May 8th, 1759, with the departure of the regiments from SandyHook, the fleet consisting of about twenty-eight sail. The Highlandershad taken part in the siege and capture of Louisbourg in the previousyear but had gone to New York for the winter. On May 17th the fleetsailed into Louisbourg Harbour after "a very agreeable and quickpassage" of nine days. Patches of snow lay still on the ground and onthe 29th of May Louisbourg Harbour was so full of ice that boats couldnot pass from the ships to shore. "I suppose, " says Fraser, "the icecomes from the Gulf and river of St. Lawrence, " regions he was in timeto be very familiar with. He hears that a Lieutenant has shot himself onone of the men of war "for fear I suppose the French should do it. If hewas wearied of life, he might soon get out of it in a more honourableway. "

On Monday, June 4th, after much bustle of preparation, the fleet setsail for Quebec. "I take it to consist of about 150 sail, " says Fraser;so great was the array that to count the ships was almost impossible. They numbered in fact nearly 300, a huge force. On June 13th the fleetanchored at Bic in the St. Lawrence River. As they came up the riverFraser noted that the north shore was but little inhabited, a defectwhich, within a few years, he was himself to try to remedy in part. OnJune 23rd a whole division of the fleet anchored near Isle aux Coudresas Jacques Cartier had done more than two hundred years earlier. 

Arrived before Quebec the Highlanders were sent to Point Levi where, onJuly 1st, they pitched their tents. The next day Fraser's companyestablished itself in the Church of St. Joseph there. The Canadians werecarrying on guerilla warfare, firing on the British from the woods andFraser was shocked at the horrid practise of scalping. He writes on July2nd:

"While we were out, I observed several dead bodies on the road, not farfrom our Camp; they were all scalped and mangled in a shocking manner. Idare say no human creature but an Indian or Canadian could be guilty ofsuch inhumanity as to insult a dead body. "

He was to see worse atrocities committed on his own side. On July 10th, still at Point Levi, he writes of the doings of a company of thecolonial scouting force, the Rangers, commanded by Captain Gorham, whosoon after desolated Malbaie. 

"A party of our Rangers having been sent out on this side of the river(the south), on the 9th they took one man prisoner and two boys (hischildren) having followed him a little way, making a great noise, werein a most inhuman manner murdered by those worse than savage Rangers, for fear, as they pretend, they should be discovered by the noise of thechildren. I wish this story was not fact, but I'm afraid there is littlereason to doubt it:--the wretches having boasted of it on their return, tho' they now pretend to vindicate themselves by the necessity they wereunder; but, I believe, this barbarous action proceeded from thatcowardice and barbarity which seems so natural to a native of America, whether of Indian or European extraction. In other instances, thoseRangers have hitherto been of some use, and showed in general a betterspirit than usual. They are for the most part raised in New England. "

On Friday, July 13th, the scene changed. Wolfe was planning an attack onMontcalm's camp and Fraser writes: "I was sent orderly officer to theCamp, at Montmorency, where I had an opportunity of seeing our own, andthe French posts nigh the Fall. The river is fordable below the Fall atlow water. " On July 24th, 350 of the Highlanders under Col. Simon Fraserwere sent down the river to bring in prisoners and cattle. The Highlandleader met with misfortune. On July 26th Fraser writes: "Lieut. Alexander Fraser, Junior, returned to camp from the detachment whichmarched with the Col. On the 24th. He brings news of the Colonel'shaving been wounded in the thigh, by an unlucky shot from a small partyof Canadians who lay in ambush and fired on the detachment out of abush, and then retired. In the evening, the Col. Came to camp with Capt. McPherson, who was wounded by the same shot, and the ball lodged in histhigh; but it is thought neither of their wounds are (_sic_) dangerous. There was not another man of the detachment touched. " Next day the restof the detachment "returned with three women and one man prisoners, andabove two hundred head of cattle. "

On the following night July 28th, the French tried to destroy theBritish fleet by a fire ship. "This night the French sent down a largefire raft which they did not set fire to till they were fired on by someof the boats who are every night on the watch for them above theshipping. Our boats immediately grappled it, and tho' it burnt withgreat violence, they towed it past all the shipping without any damage. "We know from other sources that one of the sailors engaged in draggingaway the fireship likened it to having "hell-fire in tow. "

Fraser records on Tuesday, July 31st, the disastrous attempt by theBritish to carry by a frontal attack Montcalm's entrenchments along theBeauport shore. The attack failed partly through the rashness of theGrenadiers who dashed forward prematurely. For this Wolfe rebuked thembut he commended the cool steadiness of the Highlanders. Some 700British casualties were the results of the attack. When the British drewoff they left many of their men fallen on the shore. Fraser says: "Iobserved some men coming down from the trenches where some of our peoplelay killed; we imagined they were Indians who were sent to scalp them, after the whole had retreated. "

At once after the disaster, the Highlanders were moved back to their oldcamp at Point Levi. Some idle days followed. But, on August 15th, adetachment which included Fraser was sent to the Island of Orleans. Itwas bent on the work of desolating the Canadian parishes, the people ofwhich still persisted in warring on the British. On Thursday, August16th, the detachment, consisting of about 170 officers and men, marchedthe length of the Island of Orleans and on the 17th it crossed to St. Joachim--the fertile flats lying almost under the shadow of CapTourmente: Fraser was drawing near to the Malbaie country. He writes:"Friday, 17th August. --Crossed from the Isle of Orleans to St. Joachim. Before we landed we observed some men walking along the fences, as ifthey intended to oppose us and on our march up to the Church of St. Joachim, we were fired on by some party's of the Enemy from behind thehouses and fences, but upon our advancing they betook themselves to thewoods, from whence they continued popping at us, till towards evening, when they thought proper to retire, and we kept possession of thePriest's house, which we set about fortifying in the best manner wecould. " They remained quietly at St. Joachim for some days. But theywere getting ready for the grim task of desolating the parishes lyingbetween St. Joachim and Montmorency. Fraser tells the story withsoldier-like brevity, but obviously he hated the work. 

"Thursday, 23rd. --We were reinforced by a party of about one hundred andforty Light Infantry, and a Company of Rangers, under the command ofCaptain Montgomery of Kennedy's or forty-third Regiment, who likewisetook the command of our detachment, and we all marched to attack thevillage to the west of St. Joachim, which was occupied by a party of theenemy to the number of about two hundred, as we supposed, Canadians andIndians. When we came pretty near the village, they fired on us fromthe houses pretty smartly; we were ordered to lie behind the fences tillthe Rangers, who were detached to attack the Enemy from the woods, beganfiring on their left flank, when we advanc^d briskly without greatorder; and the French abandoned the houses and endeavoured to get intothe woods, our men pursuing close at their heels. There were several ofthe enemy killed, and wounded, and a few prisoners taken, all of whomthe barbarous Captain Montgomery, who commanded us, ordered to bebutchered in a most inhuman and cruel manner; particularly two, who Isent prisoners by a sergeant, after giving them quarter, and engagingthat they should not be killed, were one shot, and the other knockeddown with a Tomahawk (a little hatchet) and both scalped in my absence, by the rascally sergeant neglecting to acquaint Montgomery that I wantedthem saved, as he, Montgomery, pretended when I questioned him about it;but even that was no excuse for such an unparalleled piece of barbarity. However, as the affair could not be remedied, I was obliged to let itdrop. After this skirmish we set about burning the houses with greatsuccess, setting all in flames till we came to the church of St. Anne's, [the now famous shrine of St. Anne de Beaupré], where we put up for thisnight, and were joined by Captain Ross, with about one hundred andtwenty men of his company. 

"Friday, 24th August. --Began to march and burn as yesterday, till wecame to Ange Gardien where our detachment and Captain Ross, who had beenposted for some days at Chateau Richer, joined Colonel Murray with thethree companies of Grenadiers of the 22nd, 40th and 45th Regiments, where we are posted in four houses which we have fortified so as to beable, we hope, to stand any attack which we can expect with small arms. 

"Saturday, 25th. --Busy felling the fruit trees, and cutting the wheat toclear round us. 

"Sunday, 26th. --The same. 

"Monday, 27th August. --I hear Brigadier Murray has returned with hisdetachment, having had all the success expected of the detachment. Wereceived orders to march to-morrow to Chateau Richer. Some men wereobserved skulking in the corn, round the houses we possessed; uponwhich, some of our people fired from one of the houses, when the wholetook the alarm and continued firing from the windows and loopholes forabout ten minutes. For my own part I can't say I could observe any ofthe Enemy, but as we had one man killed, and most of the men affirmedthey saw men in the Corn, I can't doubt but there were a few of theEnemy near us. "

So the record goes on. On August 30th the detachment was busy fortifyingitself in the Church at Château Richer near Quebec. On the next dayorders came to burn the houses there but not the church and return atonce to Montmorency. At Ange Gardien, on the way, General Murray, afterwhom Murray Bay is named, joined them with his detachment. As theymarched along the force burned all the houses and was soon back in campat Montmorency. They had left a trail black with desolation between thatpoint and Cap Tourmente. Captain Gorham completed the tale of woe bydestroying Baie St. Paul and Malbaie. Hardly a house was left betweenMontmorency and the Saguenay. 

But all this was only side-play. The crisis of the campaign was nownear. On September 3rd Wolfe abandoned the camp at Montmorency. Fraserwrites: "The Army at Montmorency decamped this day, and crossed to theIsland of Orleans, and from thence to Point Levy, without molestationfrom the French, tho' they must have known some time ago that weintended to abandon that post. "

Wolfe was now massing as many troops as possible above Quebec on thesouth side of the river. On September 6th, 600 of the Highlanders, together with the 15th and the 43rd, marched six miles above Point Leviand there embarked on board the ships. Fraser says: "We are muchcrowded; the ship I am in has about six hundred on board, being onlyabout two hundred and fifty tons. " On the 7th and 8th it rained and themen must have been very uncomfortable in their narrow quarters. For somedays still they remained in this condition. Meanwhile were issued to themen careful instructions as to what they should do. The army was to dropdown the river in small boats, and to attempt to make a landing on thenorth shore. 

On the evening of September 12th came the final effort so carefullyplanned. "About nine o'clock, the night of the 12th, we went into theBoats as ordered. " Fraser says that a shore battery began to fire on theBritish boats about 4. 0 A. M. Before they landed and that the landing atthe Foulon to climb to the Heights was made at daybreak. 

"Thursday, 13th September, 1759. --The Light Infantry under the commandof Colonel Howe, immediately landed and mounted the hill. We were firedon in the Boats by the Enemy who killed and wounded a few. In a shorttime, the whole army was landed at a place called 'Le Foulon, ' (nowWolfe's Cove) about a mile and a half above the Town of Quebec, andimmediately followed the Light Infantry up the hill. There was a fewtents and a Picket of the French on the top of the hill whom the LightInfantry engaged, and took some of their Officers and men prisoners. Themain body of our Army soon got to the upper ground after climbing a hillor rather a precipice, of about three hundred yards, very steep andcovered with wood and brush. We had several skirmishes with theCanadians and Savages, till about ten o'clock, when the army was formedin line of battle, having the great River St. Lawrence on the right withthe precipice which we mounted in the morning; on the left, a fewhouses, and at some distance the low ground and wood above the GeneralHospital with the River St. Charles; in front, the Town of Quebec, abouta mile distant; in the rear, a wood occupied by the Light Infantry ... And the third Battalion of the Royal Americans.... The Army was orderedto march on slowly in line of battle, and halt several times, till abouthalf an hour after ten, when the French began to appear in great numberson the rising ground between us and the Town, and [they] having advancedseveral parties to skirmish with us, we did the like. They then got twoIron field pieces to play against our line. Before eleven o'clock, wegot one brass field piece up the Hill, which being placed in the properinterval began to play very smartly on the Enemy while forming on thelittle eminence. Their advanced parties continued to annoy us andwounded a great many men. About this time, we observed the Enemy formed, having a bush of short brush wood on their right, which straitened themin room, and obliged them to form in columns. About eleven o'clock, theFrench Army advanced in columns till they had got past the bush of woodinto the plain, when they endeavoured to form in line of Battle, butbeing much galled by our Artillery, which consisted of only one fieldpiece, very well served, we observed them in some confusion. Howeverthey advanced at a brisk pace till within about thirty or forty yards ofour front, when they gave us their first fire, which did littleexecution. We returned it, and continued firing very hot for about six, or (as some say) eight minutes, when the fire slackening, and the smokeof the powder vanishing, we observed the main body of the Enemyretreating in great confusion towards the Town, and the rest towardsthe River St. Charles. Our Regiment were then ordered by BrigadierGeneral Murray to draw their swords and pursue them, which I dare sayincreased their panic but saved many of their lives, whereas if theartillery had been allowed to play, and the army advanced regularlythere would have been many more of the Enemy killed and wounded, as wenever came up with the main body. In advancing, we passed over a greatmany dead and wounded, (french regulars mostly) lying in the front ofour Regiment, who, --I mean the Highlanders, --to do them justice, behavedextremely well all day, as did the whole of the army. After pursuing theFrench to the very gates of the Town, our Regiment was ordered to formfronting the Town, on the ground whereon the French formed first. Atthis time the rest of the Army came up in good order. General Murrayhaving then put himself at the head of our Regiment, ordered them toface to the left and march thro' the bush of wood, towards the GeneralHospital, when they got a great gun or two to play upon us from theTown, which however did no damage, but we had a few men killed andOfficers wounded by some skulking fellows with small arms, from thebushes and behind the houses in the suburbs of St. Louis and St. John's. After marching a short way through the bush, Brigadier Murray thoughtproper to order us to return again to the high road leading from PorteSt. Louis, to the heights of Abraham, where the battle was fought, andafter marching till we got clear of the bushes, we were ordered to turnto the right, and go along the edge of them towards the bank, at thedescent between us and the General Hospital, under which we understoodthere was a body of the Enemy who no sooner saw us than they beganfiring on us from the bushes and from the bank; we soon dispossessedthem from the bushes and from thence kept firing for about a quarter ofan hour on those under cover of the bank; but as they exceeded usgreatly in numbers, they killed and wounded a great many of our men, and killed two Officers, which obliged us to retire a little, and formagain, when the 58th Regiment with the 2nd Battalion of Royal Americanshaving come up to our assistance, all three making about five hundredmen, advanced against the Enemy and drove them first down to the greatmeadow between the Hospital and town and afterwards over the River St. Charles. It was at this time and while in the bushes that our Regimentsuffered most: Lieutenant Roderick, Mr. Neill of Bana, and AlexanderMcDonell, and John McDonell, and John McPherson, volunteer, with many ofour men, were killed before we were reinforced; and Captain Thomas Rosshaving gone down with about one hundred men of the 3rd Regiment to themeadow, after the Enemy, when they were out of reach, ordered me up todesire those on the height would wait till he would come up and jointhem, which I did, but before Mr. Ross could get up, he unfortunatelywas mortally wounded in the body, by a cannon ball from the hulks, inthe mouth of the River St. Charles, of which he died in great torment, but with great resolution, in about two hours thereafter. 

"In the afternoon, Mons. Bougainville, with the French Grenadiers andsome Canadians, to the number of two thousand who had been detached tooppose our landing at Cap Rouge, appeared between our rear and thevillage St. Foy, formed in a line as if he intended to attack us; butthe 48th Regiment with the Light Infantry and 3rd Battalion RoyalAmericans being ordered against him, with some field pieces, they fireda few cannon shot at him when he thought proper to retire. 

"Thus ended the battle of Quebec, the first regular engagement that we... Fought in North America, which has made the king of Great Britainmaster of the capital of Canada, and it is hoped ere long will be themeans of subjecting the whole country to the British Dominion; and ifso, this has been a greater acquisition to the British Empire than allthat England has acquired by Conquest since it was a nation, if I mayexcept the conquest of Ireland, in the reign of Henry the 2nd. 

"The Enemy's numbers I have never been able to get an exact account of. We imagined them seven or eight thousand: this has been disputed since. However, I am certain they were greatly superior to us in numbers, astheir line was equal to ours in length, tho' they were in some placesnine deep, whereas ours was no more than three deep. Add to this, theiradvanced parties and those in the bushes, on all hands, I think theymust exceed five thousand. 

"Our strength at the utmost did not exceed the thousand men in the line, exclusive of the 15th Regiment and 2nd Battalion Royal Americans, whowere drawn up on our left, fronting the River St. Charles, with the 3rdBattalion Royal Americans and Light Infantry in the rear, and the 48thRegiment, who were drawn up between our main body and the Light Infantryas a Corps of Reserve. So that I am pretty certain our numbers did notexceed four thousand men, the Regiments being very weak, most of themunder three hundred men each. 

"We had only about five hundred men of our Army killed and wounded, butwe suffered an irreparable loss in the death of our commander the braveMajor General James Wolfe, who was killed in the beginning of thegeneral action; we had the good fortune not to hear of it till all wasover. 

"The French were supposed to have about one thousand men killed andwounded, of whom five hundred killed during the whole day, and amongstthese Monsieur le Lieutenant Général Montcalm, the commander in chief ofthe French Army in Canada, one Brigadier General, one Colonel andseveral other Officers. I imagined there had been many more killed andwounded on both sides, as there was a heavy fire for some minutes, especially from us. 

"We had of our Regiment three officers killed and ten wounded, one ofwhom Captain Simon Fraser, afterwards died. Lieutenant ArchibaldCampbell was thought to have been mortally wounded, but to the surpriseof most people recovered; Captain John McDonell thro' both thighs;Lieut. Ronald McDonell thro' the knee; Lieutenant Alexander Campbellthro' the leg; Lieutenant Douglas thro' the arm, who died of this woundsoon afterwards; Ensign Gregorson, Ensign McKenzie and LieutenantAlexander Fraser, all slightly. I received a contusion in the rightshoulder or rather breast, before the action became general, whichpained me a good deal, but it did not disable me from my duty then, orafterwards. 

"The detachment of our Regiment consisted, at our marching from PointLevi, of six hundred men, besides commissioned and non-commissionedOfficers; but of these, two Officers and about sixty men were left onboard for want of boats, and an Officer and about thirty men left at thelanding place; besides a few left sick on board, so that we had aboutfive hundred men in the action. We suffered in men and Officers morethan any three Regiments in the field. We were commanded by Captain JohnCampbell; the Colonel and Captain McPherson having been unfortunatelywounded on the 25th July, of which they were not yet fully recovered. 

"We lay on our Arms all the night of the 13th September. 

"Friday, 14th September. --We got ashore our tents and encamped ourRegiment on the ground where they fought the battle yesterday. He[re] weare within reach of the guns of the town. 

"Saturday, 15th September. --We were ordered to move our Camp nigh thewood, at a greater distance from the Town. We are making advancedredoubts within five hundred yards of the town. "

Such is Fraser's account of the struggle on the Plains of Abraham and ofthe conduct of the Highlanders in their first pitched battle in NorthAmerica. The resolute preparations to attack Quebec produced theireffect. On September 18th the fortress surrendered. A little later thearmy broke up the camp outside the walls and marched into the town. Theoutlook was certainly not cheerful: "Most of the houses are destroyedand we have but a very dismal prospect for seven or eight months, asfresh provisions are very scarce, and every other thing exorbitantlydear. " A little later the fleet sailed away and General Murray with asmall force was left in a hostile country to hold Quebec through a longand bitterly cold winter. He established two out-posts, one at Ste. Foy, the other at Lorette, and then the army bent all its energies to meetthe foes, cold, disease and the French. Fighting the cold was terriblework. Fraser writes:

"December 1st. --The Governor ordered two weeks wood to be issued to theGarrison. It is thought we shall have a great deal of difficulty insupplying ourselves with fuel this winter. The winter is now verysevere. 

"December 20th. --The winter is become almost insupportably cold. The menare notwithstanding obliged to drag all the wood used in the Garrison onsledges from St. Foy, about four miles distance. This is a very severeduty; the poor fellows do it however with great spirit, tho' several ofthem have already lost the use of their fingers and toes by theincredible severity of the frost, and the country people tell us it isnot yet at the worst. Some men on sentry have been deprived of speechand sensation in a few minutes, but hitherto, no person has lost hislife, as care is taken to relieve them every half hour or oftener whenthe weather is very severe. The Garrison in general are butindifferently cloathed, but our regiment in particular is in a pitifulsituation having no breeches, and the Philibeg is not all calculated forthis terrible climate. Colonel Fraser is doing all in his power toprovide trowsers for them, and we hope soon to be on a footing withother Regiments in that respect. 

"January, 1760. --Nothing remarkable during this month. The duty is verysevere on the poor men; we mount every day a guard of about one hundredmen, and the whole off duty with a subaltern officer from each Regimentare employed in dragging fire wood; tho' the weather is such that theyare obliged to have all covered but their eyes, and nothing but the lastnecessity obliged any men to go out of doors. "

Early in February the St. Lawrence froze over. On February 13th theBritish established a force in the Church at St. Joseph at Point Levibut it was attacked by the French and then, on February 24th, Murraysent a rescue party. The Highlanders and the 28th went across on the iceand nearly intercepted the retreat of the French force, which was drivenoff. The kilted Highlanders marching on the ice in the bitter winterweather make an interesting picture. But by this time, no doubt, theywere not bare-legged!

Towards the end of March there was much illness and Fraser writes: "TheScurvy, occasioned by salt provisions and cold, has begun to make fiercehavock in the garrison, and it becomes every day more general. In short, I believe there is scarce a man of the Army entirely free from it. " Onthe 24th of April he writes again: "Great havock amongst the Garrisonoccasioned by the Scurvy, &c. ; this is the more alarming, as the Generalseems certain that the French are preparing to come and attack theplace, and will he says, be here in a very few days. "

Of the garrison of 5653 no less than 2312 were on the sick list, when, on the 26th, came the great crisis of the defence of Quebec:

"On the night of the 26th April, a man of the French army who, with someothers had been cast away in a boat that night, came down the river on apiece of ice, and being taken up next morning at the Town, gave theGeneral information that the chevalier de Levi [Lévis] was within twentymiles of us, with an army of about twelve thousand men, made up ofregulars, Canadians and savages. 

"27th April, 1760. --The Governor marched out, with the Grenadiers andPiquets of the garrison, to support the Light Infantry which had takenpost some days before near Cap Rouge. By the time he got out, thevanguard of the French army appeared; upon which, he thought itadviseable to withdraw the Light Infantry, and all the other outposts, and retire to Town; and for that purpose he sent orders to the 28th, 47th and 58th and Colonel Fraser's Regiment to march out to St. Foy andcover his retreat; the 35th Regiment, 2nd Battalion Royal Americanshaving been detached in the morning to prevent the enemy, in case theyattempted to land at Sillery or any other place near the Town. Theretreat was accordingly effected without any loss, tho' the enemy wereso nigh as to skirmish with our rear till we got within half a league ofthe Ramparts. 

"On the 28th April, 1760, about eight o'clock in the morning, the wholeGarrison, exclusive of the Guards, was drawn up on the parade, and aboutnine o'clock we marched out of Town with twenty pieces of FieldArtillery, that is, two to each Regiment. The men were likewise orderedto carry a pick axe or spade each. When we had marched a little way outof Town, we saw the advanced parties of the Enemy nigh the woods, abouthalf a league distant from us. When we were about three-quarters of amile out of Town, the General ordered the whole to draw up in line ofBattle, two deep, and take up as much room as possible. Soon thereafter, he ordered the men to throw down the intrenching tools, and the wholeArmy to advance slowly, dressing by the right, having drawn up the 35thRegiment and 3rd Battalion Royal Americans in our rear as a corps ofreserve, with one hundred men (in a redoubt which was begun by us a fewdays preceding) to cover our retreat in case of necessity. In thisorder, we advanced, about one hundred paces, when the canonading beganon our side, and we observed the French advanced parties retiring, andtheir main body forming in order of Battle at the edge of the wood, about three hundred paces distant we continued canonading and advancingfor some minutes. The enemy, on their side, played against the left ofour army, where our Regiment happened to be, with two pieces of cannonand killed and wounded us some men. The affair begun now to turnserious, when the General ordered the Light Infantry, who were posted onthe right of our army, to attack five companies of French Grenadiers whothey obliged to retire, but they being supported by a large column ofthe enemy, the Light Infantry were in their turn obliged to give way, which they doing along the front of our line on the right (as I am told)hindered our men on the right from firing for some minutes which gavethe enemy full time to form. On the left, matters were in a worsesituation. The company of Volunteers of the garrison, commanded byCaptain Donald McDonald of our Regiment, and Captain Hazen's company ofRangers who covered the left flank of our army having been almostentirely destroyed, were obliged to give way; by this means the left ofthe 28th Regiment was exposed, and this obliged them to give groundafter an obstinate resistance; Colonel Fraser's Regiment was next themto the right, and being in danger of being surrounded, and at the sametime extremely galled by a fire from the Bushes in front and flank, were under a necessity of falling back instantly, when Colonel Fraserwho commanded the Left Brigade consisting of the 28th, 47th and his ownRegiment, sent orders to the 47th to retire; they were drawn up with asmall rising ground in their front, which till then covered them prettymuch from the enemy's fire, but as most of the Regiment to the right, aswell as the two Regiments to the left of them, had by this time retired, it was absolutely necessary for the 47th to quit that ground, otherwisethey must inevitably have been surrounded in a few minutes. Most of theRegiments attempted to carry off their artillery, but the ground was sobad with wreaths of snow in the hollows, that they were obliged toabandon them, after nailing them up, as well as the intrenching tools. Every Regiment made the best of their way to Town, but retired howeverin such a manner that the enemy did not think proper to pursue verybriskly, otherwise they must have killed or made prisoners many morethan they did. Our loss was about three hundred killed, and about sevenhundred wounded, and a few Officers and men made prisoners. We had aboutthree thousand in the field, one-third of whom had that very day, comevoluntarily out of the Hospitals; of these, about five hundred wereemployed in dragging the cannon, and five hundred more in reserve, sothat we could have no more than two thousand in the line of battle, whereas the enemy must have had at least four times as many, beside alarge body in reserve, and notwithstanding their great superiority wesuffered very little in the retreat; some Regiments attempted to rally, but it was impossible to form in any sort of order with the whole, tillwe got within the walls. 

"Our Regiment had about four hundred men in the field near one half ofwhom had that day come out of the Hospital, out of their own accord. Wehad about sixty killed and forty wounded, and of thirty-nine officers, Captain Donald McDonald who commanded the volunteer company of the army, and Lieutenant Cosmo Gordon who commanded the Light Infantry company ofour Regiment, were both killed in the field; Lieutenant Hector McDonaldand Ensign Malcolm Fraser died of their wounds, all very much regrettedby every one who knew them. We had twenty-three more Officers wounded;of this number was Colonel [Simon] Fraser, who commanded the left wingof the army, and it was with great pleasure we observed his behaviourduring the action, when he gave his orders with great coolness anddeliberation. He was touched at two different times; the first took himin the right breast but having his cartouche box slung, it luckilystruck against the star of it and did not penetrate tho', otherways, must infallibly have done his business. The second, he got in theretreat, but striking against the cue of his hair, he received no otherdamage than a stiffness in his neck for some days. [Fraser then addsthis tribute to Lord Lovat's son:] Here I cannot help observing that ifany unlucky accident had befallen our Colonel, not only his Regimentmust have suffered an irreparable loss, but I think I can, without anypartiality say, it would be a loss to his Country. His behaviour thiswinter in particular to his Regiment has been such, as to make him notonly esteemed by them, but by the Garrison in general. Captain AlexanderFraser of our Regiment, was wounded in the right temple, and thoughtvery dangerous, the rest are mostly flesh wounds. I received a musketball in the right groin, which was thought dangerous for three or fourdays, as the ball was supposed to be lodged, but whether it has wroughtout in walking into Town, or did not penetrate far enough at first tolodge, or is still in, I cannot say, but in twenty days I was entirelycured, and the wound which was at first but small was entirely closedup. 

"When we marched out, we thought the General did not intend to give theFrench battle; and as he ordered the Army to carry out intrenchingtools, we thought he meant to throw up works on the rising ground, before the Town, if the Enemy should not choose to attack him that day;but, it seems he changed his mind on seeing their situation, which gavehim all the advantage he could desire with such an inferior Army andwhere, if the Enemy ventured to attack him, he could use his Artillery, on which was his chief dependence, to the best purpose: having a risingground, whereon he might form his Army and plant his Cannon, so as toplay on the Enemy as they advanced for about four hundred or fivehundred yards, with round shot, and when they came within a properdistance the grape shot must have cut them to pieces. However, it seemshe observed the enemy, some formed at the edge of the wood, someforming, and the rest marching from St. Foy. The bait was too tempting, and his passion for glory getting the better of his reason he orderedthe Army to march and attack the enemy, as he thought, before they couldform, in a situation the most desired by them and ought to be avoided byus, as the Canadians and Savages could be used against us to thegreatest advantage in their beloved (if I may say element) woods. Itwould give me great pleasure to relate something more to the advantageof this gentleman who is, in many respects, possessed of severalvirtues, and particularly all the military ones, except prudence, andentirely free of all mercenary principles; but, as his conduct on thisoccasion is universally condemned by all those who are not immediatelydependent on him, truth obliges me to state matters as I believe, theyreally stood; more especially as it is not said he advised with any ofthose who had a right to be consulted before such a step should betaken. Nay, it is said: that the preceding night, at a meeting with thedifferent Commandants of the Corps, he declared his intention offortifying himself on the heights and not to attack the Enemy, unless heshould be forced to it, which we were persuaded of by his orders tocarry out intrenching tools. We had very little chance of beating anArmy four times our number [an exaggeration: they were not twice asnumerous] in a situation where we could scarce act; and if the Enemy hadmade a proper use of their advantage, the consequences must have provedfatal to us, as they might have got betwixt us and the Town, cut off ourretreat, and by that means ruined us to all intents. " [It will hardly bedenied that the young officer is rather severe upon his future friendand patron, General Murray. ]

"Our situation became now extremely critical: we were beat in the field, by an army greatly superior in numbers, and obliged to rely on whatdefence we could make within the walls of Quebec, which were hithertoreckoned of very little consequence against a superior army. 

"The French that very night after the Battle opened trenches within sixhundred yards of the walls, and went on next, 29th April, with theirworks pretty briskly. For the first two days after the battle there wasvery little done by us; and on the 1st of May, the largest of our blockhouses (small square redoubts of Logs musquet proof) was blown up byaccident, and Captain Cameron of our Regiment and a subaltern of the48th with several men, dangerously burnt and bruised. On the 3rd dayafter the battle, the General set about to strengthen or (I may say)fortify the Town, and the men worked with the greatest alacrity. In afew days there were about one hundred additional guns mounted, withwhich our people kept an incessant fire on the enemy, and retarded theirworks very much. 

"On the 9th May, the Leostaff Frigate, Captain Dean, arrived fromEngland, and brought us news from thence, and informed us that therewas a squadron in the River, which might be expected every tide to ourassistance. This added greatly to the spirits of the Garrison, and ourworks were carried on briskly. The General seemed resolved from thefirst to defend the place to the last. This, nobody doubted, and everyone seemed to forget their late misfortune, and to place entireconfidence in the General's conduct, which all must acknowledge veryresolute, when reduced almost to an extremity. 

"On the 11th May, the French opened two Batteries mounting thirteenguns, and one or two mortars. Their heavy metal consisted of onetwenty-four and two eighteen pounders, the rest were all light. They didnot seem to confine their fire entirely to any particular part of theWalls, otherwise I believe they might in time have made a breach, andtheir fire was not very smart. We were masters of a much superior fire, and annoyed the besiegers at their batteries very much. Their firebecame every day more and more faint, and it was generally believed theyintended to raise the seige. 

"On the 16th May, in the evening the Vanguard, commodore Swanton, andDiana Frigate, Captain Schomberg, arrived from England, and nextmorning, 17th May, 1760, they and the Leostaff attacked the two FrenchFrigates that lay at anchor in the Bay, above Cape Diamond; which whenthey first observed, they made as if they intended to engage, but on ourships approaching nearer, they set sail up the river; but one of themran ashore immediately, and our Frigates soon got up with theirs, andobliged them also to run aground and thereafter destroyed them. One shiphowever escaped out of their reach, and unluckily, the Leostaff, afterall was over, ran on a rock, sunk and was entirely lost. 

"That very night several deserters came into the Town, and informed thatmost part of the French army had marched, the Trenches being guarded bytheir Grenadiers only. About twelve o'clock at night, the General sentout a party who found the Trenches entirely abandoned and next morning, 18th May, 1760, we found ourselves entirely freed of very disagreeableneighbours, having left behind all their artillery, with a great part oftheir ammunition, Camp equipage and baggage. What made them retreat withsuch precipitation we could not guess; but, it seems they were seizedwith a panic. It appears they allowed the savages to scalp all thekilled and most part of the wounded, as we found a great many scalps onthe bushes. 

"I have been since informed by Lieutenant McGregor, of our Regiment, whowas left on the field wounded, and narrowly escaped being killed, havingreceived two stabs of a bayonet from two French Regulars, that he sawthe savages murdering the wounded and scalping them on all sides, andexpected every moment to share the same fate, but was saved by a FrenchOfficer, who luckily spoke a little English. "

Thus ends Fraser's narrative of the two sieges of Quebec. He served inthe third siege, that of 1775-76, and was still alive in 1812-15 to givecounsel when Quebec was again menaced by the Americans. 

APPENDIX B (p. 38)

TITLE-DEED OF THE SEIGNIORY OF MURRAY BAY GRANTED TO CAPTAIN JOHNNAIRNE OF THE 78th REGIMENT, APRIL 27th, 1762

By the Honourable James Murray, Esquire, Governor of Quebec, &c. 

Whereas it is a national advantage and tends to promote the cultivationof lands within the province to encourage His Majesty's natural-bornsubjects settling within the same:

For these purposes, and in consideration of the faithful servicesrendered by John Nairne, Esquire, Captain in the 78th Regiment of Foot, unto His Majesty, I do hereby give, grant, and concede unto the saidCaptain John Nairne, his heirs, executors, and administrators for ever, all that extent of land lying on the north side of the river St. Lawrence from the Cap aux Oyes, limit of the parish of Eboulemens, tothe south side of the river of Malbaie, and for three leagues back, tobe known hereafter, at the special request of said John Nairne, by thename of Murray's Bay; firmly to hold the same to himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators for ever, or until His Majesty's pleasureis further known, for and in consideration of the possessor's payingliege homage to His Majesty, his heirs and successors, at his castle ofSt. Lewis in Quebec on each mutation of property, and, by way ofacknowledgment, a piece of gold of the value of ten shillings, with oneyear's rent of the domain reserved, as customary in this country, together with the woods and rivers, or other appurtenances within thesaid extent, right of fishing or fowling on the same therein includedwithout hindrance or molestation; all kind of traffic with the Indiansof the back country hereby specially excepted. 

Given under my hand and seal at Quebec, this 27th day of April, 1762. 

(Signed) JAS. MURRAY. 

APPENDIX C (p. 78)

THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC IN 1775-76

COLONEL NAIRNE TO MISS M. NAIRNE

_Quebec, 14th May, 1776. _

The New England rebels were very successful on their first arrival inthis Province having got most of the Canadians in their interest. Theytook the two Regiments (which were all the regular troops in theProvince) prisoners, made themselves masters of the Town of Montreal andall the Forts and the whole open country. Flushed with this success theycame before our Capital (Quebec) where their main army was joined by areinforcement of six hundred men who had marched straight through theWoods from Boston where scarcely any body had ever passed before andthought utterly impracticable for a body of men. The suburbs aboutQuebec which were extensive (now in ruins) were not all destroyed at thefirst arrival of the enemy so that in two places they annoyed us withtheir Riflemen though they only killed a very few. They also (though inthe Winter) got a Battery of five guns against the Town but [it] wassilenced by a superior fire from our Ramparts. They also bombarded theTown in the night with small shell till the 31st December when about twohours before day they made a general attack with their whole force uponthe Ramparts, their two principal attacks being against the twoextremitys of the low Town. Their General (Montgomery) an Irishgentleman who had been a Captain in our army possessing extraordinaryqualifications fitting him for such a Command led the attack against avery strong post in the low town. Our Cannon (six pieces) loaded withgrape shot, did not begin to fire till the enemy was within the distanceof twenty yards, which with the musketry of the guard at the same timemade terrible havoc. Their General with four of his officers lay slainin one heap within twenty and others within ten yards of ourfortifications by which that attack was wholly frustrated and all thatpart of their army retired in confusion. The attack upon the otherextremity of the low Town was made with six hundred men. At first theyhad success though that turned out at last to their ruin. They forcedour advanced post where we had four pieces of cannon, afterward gotpossession of another barrier and forced their way through a narrowstreet to the last barrier, which if they had gained they would havebeen in the low Town. At the same time the Governor ordered a sally outat a Gate they had passed to follow their track in the snow (that wasthen deep) and fall upon them behind. That we should open a Gate andattack them when attacked ourselves was a thing very unexpected so thatfinding they were stopped at the last barrier and thus attacked behindthey were obliged to take shelter in the houses of the narrow street andat last gave themselves up prisoners to the number of about four hundredand fifty amongst whom were thirty-two officers of all ranks fromColonels to Ensigns. The morning of the attack I happened to have thePiquet and guessing by the flashes in the air (in the dark) that it wasmusketry at the other side of the town, tho' we heard no report, had thePiquet drawn out upon the Ramparts at our alarm post, before the firingcame round that length, which it soon did and we fired away upon thesepeople as they passed along that way, which they were obliged to do toget to the low Town. About break of day Major Caldwell came round withsome men, and took me with part of the Piquet along with him to the lowTown. When we got there the enemy had got on as far as the inner Barrierand [had] a Ladder on both sides of it. There the Battle raged till theEnemy falling back got into Houses. Some time after the Sorti comingbehind them put an end to the affair. It was the first time I everhappened to be so closely engaged as we were obliged to push ourbayonets. It is certainly a disagreeable necessity to be obliged to putone another to death especially those speaking the same language anddressed in the same manner with ourselves. Only these mad people had alarge piece of white linen or paper upon their foreheads with the words"Liberty or Death" wrote upon it. The Garrison in general behavedremarkably well consisting in all of about 1400 men, mostly the townMilitia and sailors with 200 of Maclean's corps which were only raisedlast summer. They certainly did their duty with much patience during asevere winter of six months. In the day time we wrought a great deal atthe fortifications and shovelling the snow and in the night even thosenot upon duty durst not sleep but with Clothes and accoutrements on andby whole Companys in one House to be the more ready, for, upon ourvigilance, everything depended. For the last month the Enemy had twoBatterys of four Guns each, playing on the Town with red hot Balls, inhope to set it on fire but luckily did very little harm. They also madeuse of a fire ship in order to burn our shipping in the Harbour, whichwould have communicated the flames to the Town, at the same timeintending to escalade the Walls, for which purpose they laid numbers ofladders all round in our sight which had the effect to keep us more uponour Guard. This fire ship got very near the Harbour but a Cannon beingfired that was well directed the men that were in her left her a littletoo soon so that the tide carried her clear past the town without doingthe least harm and disappointed them of their attack for which theirwhole army was prepared. Thus from the 14th of November last we passedone dreary night after another either watching or making Rounds andPatrole upon an extent of works of upwards of three miles round, tillthe 6th of May when we had the agreeable sight of Commodore Douglasswith a Ship of War and two Frigates arriving in the Bason with part ofthe 29th Regiment on board. And the same day with only the reinforcementof about 300 Regular Troops the Gates were thrown open and the wholegarrison (except those on Guard) poured out, drove off the Enemy'sadvanced Guards and marched forward near two miles clear out upon theplain (our former field of Battles last war) with three pieces of cannonin our front that fired away at some partys of men at a distance. ThisSally, so unexpected and the two Frigates [being] under sail at the sametime up the River; [and the enemy] being ignorant of our numbers andsuspecting probably that there was a force on board the Frigates whichmight by taking possession of a strong post above cut off their retreat, their whole army took to their heels (it is said about 3000 men) leavingall their Artillery stores, baggage and provisions which fell into ourhands. I suppose they will retreat to Montreal where they expect strongreinforcements from New England. We will probably soon follow themthough our Corps may possibly be left to garrison Quebec. GeneralCarleton has gained honour by his behaviour this winter. He showedhimself a brave steady officer careful not to expose rashly the lives ofhis men, in short a chief whom we esteem and cheerfully obey. Lieut. Colonel Maclean has likewise great merit in having contributed much tothe preservation of this place by his forwarding the reparations of thefortifications and his indefatigable care and trouble in the directingthe duty of the Garrison, together with his management in every shape asa good officer. He was here the second in Command and seemed the fittestman in the world for the place he occupied. There were also several oldOfficers who happened to be here and were of great service as MajorCaldwell who distinguished himself very much, Major Cox, two CaptainFrasers and several others. 

Mr. Wauchope who you will wish to hear of is very well. He has doneLieutenant's duty this winter in Maclean's Regiment, is a good officerand went through some severe Duty with great perseverance. 

Yours, &c. , &c. , J. N. 

APPENDIX D (p. 98)

MEMORANDUM FOR ENSIGN JOHN NAIRNE, 5TH APRIL, 1795

1st. You ought to read the Articles of War. 

2nd. To pay the greatest attention to all orders from your SuperiorOfficers. 

3rd. Take care to have your own Orders strictly obeyed by those who areunder your Command but before you give any Order, be sure it is rightand necessary. 

4th. Attend the Parades, and learn without delay the different motionsand words of Command and every part of the Duty of a Subaltern officerwhen upon guard; also when under Arms with the whole Battalion, orotherwise. 

5th. Be always ready and willing to go upon every military duty that maybe ordered. Never think you do too much in that way; the more the betterand the more honourable. 

6th. Be careful in doing the Company Duty, in such a manner, that theSoldiers may be kept in excellent Order and everything belonging tothem; as their Arms, Accoutrements, Ammunition, Necessarys, Dress, Messing, etc. , according as may be regulated by the standing Orders ofthe Regiment, or that may be most agreeable to your Captain orLieutenant Commanding the Company; also not only to know every man ofthe Company by Name, but, as soon as possible, to know their severalCharacters and Dispositions that each may be encouraged, cherished, orpunished, as he deserves. You ought every day, or very frequently towait on your Captain, or Lieutenant Commanding the Company, in order toreport to him upon these matters, and to know if he has any directionsor Commands for you. 

7th. Endeavour all you can to learn the Adjutant's Duty: To be able toExercise the Company (or even the Battalion) in the Manual, theirManoeuvres and the firings. 

8th. Make yourself fit for paying the Company, and to be exact inkeeping Accounts, so that you may be capable of even being paymaster toa Regiment. 

9th. You ought to practice writing Court-Martials, Returns, and Reportsof all sorts, Acquittance Rolls, Muster Rolls, and Letter Writing;taking always great pains to have a good hand of writ and to spell well. 

10th. It is also recommended to you to study Engineering and Drawing; Toread Military Books, The occurrences and news of the time and History, etc. ; Never to leave anything undone which you think ought to be done;in short, not to lose or misspend time, but constantly [to] endeavour togain knowledge, and improvement, and to exert yourself in being alwayssteady and diligent in the Execution of every part of your Duty. 

11th. No doubt you will soon get Acquainted with all the officers of theRegiment, and to know the Companys the Subaltern Officers belong to, likewise to know the Names and Characters of all the non-Commissionedofficers, and the Companys they belong to, even most of the private menand what Companys they are in. You ought to have a Book of Quarters (orList of the Army) and learn the Number, and any thing else Remarkable ofeach Regiment; also concerning the Generals, and Field Officers, and theRules and Regulations of the Army. 

N. B. --Never be ashamed to ask questions at any of your Brother Officersin order to gain information. The Sergeants of your Company will furnishyou with any Rolls, Lists or Returns you may have occasion forrespecting the Regt. 

APPENDIX E (p. 104)

THE "PORPOISE" (BELUGA OR WHITE WHALE) FISHERY ON THE ST. LAWRENCE

The so-called "porpoise" of the St. Lawrence is in reality the French_marsouin_, the English beluga, a word of Russian origin, signifyingwhite. The Beluga (_Delphinapterus leucas_), is a real whale with itsmost striking characteristic the white, or rather cream-coloured, skindescribed by some writers as very beautiful. Like the narwhal it has nodorsal fin. Though the smallest member of the whale family it issometimes more than twenty feet long; but usually ranges from thirteento sixteen feet. The young are bluish black in colour and may be seenswimming beside their mother who feeds them with a very thick milk. These young grow rapidly and become mottled and then white as they growolder. The beluga is peculiar to northern regions where the water iscold: when one is seen at the mouth of an English river it is a subjectof special note. There are numbers in Hudson Bay and they have beenfound in the Yukon River, it is said, 700 miles from its mouth, whitherthey went no doubt after salmon or other fish. 

Jacques Cartier saw the beluga disporting itself off Malbaie nearly 400years ago and in summer it is still to be seen there almost daily. It isnever alone. One sees the creatures swimming rapidly in single file. They come to the surface with a prolonged sigh accompanied by thethrowing of a small jet of water; the perfectly white bodies writhe intoview as the small round heads disappear. Sometimes the beluga makes anoise like the half suppressed lowing of oxen and, since the aquaticworld is so silent, sailors have christened the beluga, for this slenderachievement, the "sea canary. " It is a playful creature and isapparently attracted by man's presence. Before its confidence in him wasshaken it used to linger about wharves and ships. But, in spite of theextremely small aperture of its ear, it is very sensitive to sound andmodern man with his fire arms and clatter of machinery frightens itaway. In 1752 the Intendant Bigot issued special instructions to checkthe use of firearms on the point at Rivière Ouelle, in order that thebeluga might not be frightened, to the ruin of the extensive fisherythat has existed there for more than two hundred years. Its sight, touchand taste are also well developed but it has no olfactory nerve and isapparently without the sense of smell. The creature has qualities thatwe should hardly expect. It has been tamed and almost domesticated. Theenterprising Barnum exhibited in New York a beluga which drew a boatabout in his aquarium. At Boston another beluga from the St. Lawrencedrew about a floating car carrying a woman performer. It knew its keeperand at the proper time would appear and put its head from the water tobe harnessed or to take food. This beluga would take in its mouth asturgeon and a small shark confined in the same tank, play with them andallow them to go unharmed. It would also pick up and toss stones withits mouth. 

The beluga is greedy. In the early spring, when he is thin and halfstarved, capelin and smelt in great numbers come to spawn along thenorth and south shores of the St. Lawrence. With high tide comes thebeluga's chance to feed on the spawning fish and he will rush in quitenear to shore for his favourite food. So voracious is he that with thefish he takes quantities of sand into his stomach. In eight or ten dayshe will eat enough to form from five to eight inches of fat over hiswhole body. "The facility with which he thus grows fat is explained, "says the Abbé Casgrain, "by the easy assimilation of such food and bythe considerable development of his digestive apparatus. "

No doubt the beluga enjoys himself hugely. But Nemesis awaits him. Hisfish diet has a soporific effect; gorged with food he becomes stupid andis easily taken. Man's trap for him is simple and ingenious. A centuryand a half ago it was to be seen at Pointe au Pic and to-day it is inoperation at Rivière Ouelle on the south side of the river. The weir orfishery for the beluga must be on a large scale and is expensive to keepup; it is for this reason that when the number of these creaturesdeclined it was no longer possible to maintain the fishery at Pointe auPic. At Rivière Ouelle annually more than 7000 stakes, from 18 to 20feet long, are necessary to keep in repair the fishery which is almostentirely destroyed each year by ice. Beginning at the shore a line ofstakes is carried out into the river placed perhaps a foot apart to forma rough semi-circle about a mile and a third long. The stakes curve backto the shore leaving however a passage of perhaps 1000 feet open betweenthe farther end and the shore. This outer end of the weir is completedby a smaller circle of stakes, so arranged as to make entrance easy byfollowing within the line of stakes, but exit difficult. The distancebetween high and low water mark at Rivière Ouelle is about a mile and ahalf and along this great stretch of beach the small fish come in greatnumbers to spawn. There is a considerable point at the mouth of thelittle Rivière Ouelle. The wide beach, bare at low water, and this pointfurnish an admirable combination for the beluga fishery. At high tidethe beluga comes rushing in near to shore after his prey, sometimes inwater so shallow that his whole body comes into view. In his progressalong the shore he is checked by the stakes reaching out from the point, so close together that he cannot get through. The stakes sway with thecurrent and sometimes strike together making considerable noise. Earlywhalers thought the beluga would try to pass by squeezing between thestakes and to prevent this they fastened the stakes together with ropes. But this was not necessary. Frightened by the noise the timid beluga'sinstinct leads him to make for the open water. He dashes across thesemi-circle of the fishery only to be checked by the line of stakes onits outer edge. The line like a wall he follows, looking for an opening, and may be led insensibly into the labyrinthine circle at its end fromwhich he will hardly escape. If he heads back towards shore where hecame in, he is frightened by the shallow water which he disregarded onlywhen in pursuit of his prey. Where was shallow water indeed he may nowfind dry land for the tide is running out. So the creature becomesbewildered. He swims about slowly, as it were feeling his way, ordisappears at the bottom, to be stranded when the tide goes out and thusbecomes the prey of his enemy, man. 

Some old belugas are very cunning; they are called by the FrenchCanadian the _savants_, the knowing ones, and seem to understand thewiles of the fisherman. They warn off the others and so foil the designagainst them. But greediness proves often their destruction. Fromover-feeding year after year they become fat and stupid and they too arelikely in time to be taken. The less knowing beluga has usually slightchance of escape when once he encounters the line of stakes stretchingout from the point and, since they follow each other blindly, if one istaken a whole troop is likely to meet the same fate. 

The Abbé Casgrain, who, since his childhood was spent at the Manor Houseat Rivière Ouelle, was long familiar with the "porpoise" fishery, describes the scene witnessed there by him on May 1st, 1873. It was aglorious day and the belugas appeared in greater numbers than for manyyears. They swarmed off the mouth of the Rivière Ouelle. At high tidethey came in, skirting the rocks within a stone's throw of shore anddevouring greedily the innumerable small fish. The surface of theshallow water in which they swam was white with their gleaming bodies. When they puffed they spurted jets of water into the air which fell inspray that sparkled in the sunlight. The Abbé then describes how thecreatures became entrapped in the fishery. Instances of the mother'sdevotion are recorded. They have been known to wait outside the stakesfor their young, caught within, and to allow themselves to be strandedand killed rather than leave their offspring. 

When the tide is low the slaughter begins. In the season of the springtide the water at Rivière Ouelle retreats so far that the entrapped"porpoises" are left high and dry in the fishery and are readily killed. But in the season of neap tides enough water is left for them to swimabout within the semi-circle of stakes. Boats are taken into the fisherythrough the outer line of stakes and then begins a regular whale huntwithin a very circumscribed area. If the belugas are numerous theircaptors have not a moment to lose for the creatures may escape with thenext tide. And numerous they sometimes are; 500 have been taken in asingle tide; at Rivière Ouelle, about 1870, 101 were killed in one nightby only four men. They had not expected such a host and had no time tosend for help before the tide should rise again. 

The captors are armed with barbed harpoons and with spears. The harpoonis sometimes thrown at the beluga from a considerable distance. Whenstruck the creature rushes to the surface, plunges and rolls to getfree. He never defends himself but thinks only of flight. It is anaccident if a boat is upset by the stroke of its tail; such accidentssometimes happen but the victim gets little more than a soaking, much tothe merriment of his companions. The harpooned beluga will make off atfull speed dragging in his wake the assailant's boat which flies overthe face of the water, boiling with the mighty strokes of the monster'stail. Soon the water is red for each beluga sheds eight or ten gallonsof blood. When he is tired the boat is drawn in closer by the ropefastened to the animal. As opportunity offers the spear is used and, driven home by a strong hand, it sometimes goes clear through the body. A skilful man will quickly strike some vital spot; otherwise the belugastruggles long. 

"Picture if possible, " says the Abbé, "the animation of the beluga huntwhen a hundred of them are in the weir, when twenty-five or thirty menare pursuing them, when five or six boats dragged by the creatures areploughing the enclosed waters in every direction, when the spears arehurled from all sides and the men are covered with the blood whichgushes out in streams. Some years ago the passengers of a passingsteamer from Europe were witnesses of such a scene and showed their keeninterest by firing a salvo of cannon. "

When the belugas have been killed the next task is to get them to shore. The work must be done quickly for the next tide will stop all work andmay sweep the animals away. Horses are brought and the bodies aredragged ashore or partly floated with the aid of the rising tide. Thetask of cutting up and boiling follows immediately. Workmen with longknives take off the skin and separate the blubber from the flesh. TheAbbé Casgrain describes the process in detail. In the end the blubber iscut up into small pieces and boiled in huge caldrons. The poor neverfail to come for their share of the catch and, with proverbial charity, the Company carrying on the operations never send them away empty. "Theshare-holders" says the Abbé Casgrain, "are convinced that the successof their labours depends upon the gifts which they make to God, andtheir generosity merits His benediction, " Many a habitant goes home witha mass of blubber in his pot or hooked to the end of a stout branch. 

The fishery is old and has been very profitable. La Potherie describesthe industry as it existed at Kamouraska in 1701: that at Rivière Ouelleis found in 1707 and it remained in the hands of the heirs of theoriginal promoters until, in 1870, it was found necessary to form theminto an incorporated company. The oil is highly valued. It is very clearand has good lubricating qualities. Before the universal sway ofpetroleum it was much used for lighting purposes; an ordinary lamp wouldburn for 72 hours without going out. The Abbé Casgrain says that abarrel of the oil is worth from 100 to 200 dollars and since each belugawould yield not less than a barrel the value of the fishery in a goodseason is evident. The skin is very thick and of extraordinary strength. It has no grain and will take a beautiful polish. 

[Beddard, "A Book of Whales" (London, 1900), pp. 244 _sqq. _

Sir Harry Johnston, "British Mammals, " (London, 1903), pp. 22 _sqq. _

La Potherie, "Histoire de l'Amérique Septentrionale, " (Paris, 1703), Vol. 1, Lettre X. , pp. 273 _sqq. _

Casgrain, "Une Paroisse Canadienne au XVIIe Siècle, " Oeuvres, Vol. 1, pp. 530 _sqq. _

Casgrain, "Eclaircissements sur La Pêche aux Marsouins, " Ib. P. 563_sqq. _]

APPENDIX F (p. 122)

THE PRAYER OF COLONEL NAIRNE

(There are several versions of parts of the Prayer. It is, I think, partly copied from some other source, partly Nairne's own composition. )

We believe in Thee our God; do thou strengthen our faith; We hope inthee; confirm our hope; we repent of all our Sins; but do thou increaseour repentance. As our first beginning we worship thee; as ourbenefactor we praise thee; and as our supreme protector we pray untothee that it may please thee, O God, to guide and lead us by thyProvidence, to keep us in obedience to thy justice, to comfort us by thymercie, and to protect us by thy Almighty power. We submit to thee allour thoughts, words, and deeds, as well as our afflictions, pains, andsufferings, and in thy name and for thy sake [we desire] to bear alladversity with patience. We will nothing but what thou Willest, becauseit is agreeable to thee. Give us grace that we may be attentive inprayer, vigilant in our Conduct, and immovable in all good purposes. Grant, most merciful Lord, that we may be true and just to those who puttheir trust in us, that we may be Courteous and kind to all men, andthat in both our words and actions we may show them a good example. Dispose our hearts to admire and adore thy goodness, to hate all erroursand evil ways. Assist us, most gracious God, in subduing our passions, covetousness by liberality, anger by mildness, and lukewarmness by zealand fervency. Enable us to Conduct ourselves with prudence in alltransactions, to show courage in danger, patience in adversity, inprosperity an humble will. Let thy Grace illuminate our understanding. Direct our will and bless our souls. Make us diligent in curbing allirregular affections and Zealous in imploring thy Grace, careful inkeeping thy Commandments and constant in working out our own salvation. 

We humbly beseech thee, O Lord, to assist us in keeping our temper andpassions under due restraint to reason and to virtue, so as not only tocontribute to our internal peace of mind, honour, and reputation in thislife, but also to our eternal Comfort and happiness in the life to come;and to defend us, O Lord, from the arts and subtilties which designingmen may work against us in order to lead us into evil or idle purposes. Finally, O God, make us sensible how little is this world, how great thyHeavens and how long will be thy blessed eternity. O! that we may wellprepare ourselves for Death and obtain of thee, O God, eternal lifethrough the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

APPENDIX G (p. 144)

THE CURÉS OF MALBAIE

Of the early missionaries I have found no record, though no doubt onecould be compiled from the episcopal archives. The registers at Malbaiedo not begin until 1790 but I find a note that in 1784 there weresixty-five communicants. Isle aux Coudres, Les Eboulements and Malbaiewere then united under one curé, M. Compain, who lived at Isle auxCoudres. He served Malbaie from 1775 to 1788. This curé has a share inthe legend of Père de La Brosse, which, since it is characteristic ofthe region, is worth repeating. 

Père de La Brosse was a much loved and saintly missionary priest, dwelling in his later years at Tadousac. On the evening of April 11th, 1872, he played cards at Tadousac at the house of one of the officers ofthe post. Rising to go at about nine o'clock he said to the company:

"I wish you good night, my dear friends, for the last time; for atmidnight I shall be a dead man. At that hour you will hear the bell ofmy chapel ring. I beg you not to touch my body. To-morrow you will sendfor M. Compain at Isle aux Coudres. He will be waiting for you at thelower end of the island. Do not be afraid if a storm comes. I willanswer for those whom you shall send. "

At first the company thought the good father was joking. None the lessdid they become anxious to see what should happen. Watch in hand theywaited for the hour named. Exactly at midnight the bell of the chapelrang three times. They ran to the chapel and there found Père de LaBrosse upon his _prie-dieu_ dead. 

The next day, Sunday, a south-east wind blew with violence. Hugewhite-capped waves made the great river so dangerous that the employésof the post refused to undertake the journey to Isle aux Coudres offorty or fifty miles in a canoe over a raging sea. But the chief clerkat the post said to them: "You know well that the Father never deceivedyou. You ought to have confidence in his word. Is there no one among youwho will carry out his last wish?"

Then three or four men agreed to go. When they put their canoe in thewater, behold a wonder! To the great surprise of every one the seasubsided so that before them lay a pathway of calm water. To theirfurther amazement, they made the journey to Isle aux Coudres withincredible rapidity. As they neared the shore they could see M. Compainwalking up and down, a book in his hand. When they were within hearingdistance he called out "Père de La Brosse is dead. You come to get me tobury him. I have been waiting an hour for you. " When the canoe touchedthe shore M. Compain embarked and they carried him to Tadousac. At Isleaux Coudres the bell of the chapel had distinctly sounded three timesat midnight as at Tadousac. M. Compain knew what it meant for Père de LaBrosse had told him what he told his friends at Tadousac. Other churchbells in the neighbourhood also rang miraculously on that night. Père deLa Brosse had said while curé at Isle Verte, "If I die elsewhere thanhere, you will have certain knowledge of the fact at the moment of mydeath. "

The legend, the rather obscure motive of which is to emphasize thesaintly virtues of Père de La Brosse, is believed even to this day bymany simple people, hundreds of whom know it by heart. But some areskeptical. "I should have been able to give more certainty to thistradition, " says M. Mailloux, the historian of Isle aux Coudres and alsoits curé, "had I been able to make more extended investigation. Meanwhile, " he adds naïvely, "my investigations suffice to give a highidea of the virtues of this admirable missionary. "

There is little to record of the careers of curés at Malbaie subsequentto M. Compain. Often the annals of the good are not exciting and this iseminently true of these virtuous teachers. M. Charles Duchouquet wascuré of Isle aux Coudres and served Malbaie in 1790. In 1791 he wassucceeded by M. Raphael Paquet who lived at Les Eboulements. The firstcuré resident at Malbaie was M. Keller who came in 1797. When he wentaway in 1799 M. J. -B. -A. Marcheteau who was curé of Les Eboulements andlived there, served Malbaie. In 1807 M. Marcheteau was succeeded by M. Le Courtois, the second resident curé, a French émigré who remained atMalbaie until 1822 and was, as we have seen, an intimate friend of theNairne family. For a long time M. Le Courtois carried on missionary workamong the Indians. In 1822 M. Duguay became curé; he went to Malbaieafter being curé at Isle aux Coudres. In 1832 he was succeeded by M. Zephérin Lévêque who, in 1840, was followed by M. Alexis Bourret. Thiscuré was something of a scholar. He read the Greek fathers in theoriginal which is, I fancy, very unusual among the priests of Canada. In1847 M. Beaudry became curé and in 1862 he was followed by M. NarcisseDoucet. It was under M. Doucet that the great influx of summer visitorsbegan. Naturally they desired to have their own Protestant service onSunday and M. Doucet did all he could to prevent their getting a placeof worship. Protestantism having disappeared from Malbaie the curé wasnot anxious to see it revived. But the last Mrs. Nairne, a Protestant, then ruled at the Manor House, and she gave for the purpose ofProtestant worship the admirable site of the present Union Church. M. Doucet was a man of considerable culture. The parish church, first builtin 1806, was remodelled in his time as also was the _presbytère_; hebuilt, too, the convent for girls. In 1891 M. B. -E. Leclercq becamecuré--a good man of the peasant type, who retired in 1906 and died atMalbaie in the following year. The present energetic curé is M. Hudon. 

[For Père de La Brosse, see Casgrain, Oeuvres, Vol. 1, "Une Excursiona L'Ile aux Coudres"; Mailloux, "Histoire de L'Isle aux Coudres"(Montreal, 1879). M. Mailloux has particulars about some of the curésnamed above. The dates for the successive curés are found in theregisters at Malbaie. ]

INDEX

Abraham, Plains of, 30, 69, 74, 81, 123, 258, 262. 

Amherst, General, 34. 

Amiens, Peace of, 119. 

Ange Gardien, 254, 255. 

Arnold, Colonel Benedict, 66-70, 76, 78, 81. 

Augustine, St. , 236. 

Austerlitz, Battle of, 129. 

Avignon, 213. 

Baie St. Paul, 2, 9, 16, 20, 64, 89, 183, 255. 

Barnum, P. T. , 280. 

Baxter, J. P. , 243. 

Bazire, Marie, 11. 

Beaudry, Père, 290. 

Beauport, 252. 

Beaupré, 16. 

Beaver Dam, 156. 

Beck, Miss, 170. 

Bedard, Pierre, 150. 

Begin, Mgr. , 198. 

Begon, M. , Intendant, 14. 

Belairs, 109. 

Belmont Seigniory, 36. 

Beluga Fishery on the St. Lawrence, 279-285. 

Bencoolen, India, 59. 

Berthier, 9, 69. 

Bic, 250. 

Bigot F. , Intendant, 18, 280. 

Blackburn, Hugh, 54, 55. 

Bleakley, Mrs. , 106. 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 112, 129, 133, 155, 169. 

Bonneau, 10, 11, 109. 

Bonner, G. T. , 219. 

Boucher, Pierre, 9. 

Bouchette, Mr. , 141. 

Bougainville, Col. , 29, 51, 259. 

Boulogne, 129. 

Bourdon, Jean, 8, 243. 

Bourret, Père Alexis, 290. 

Bowen, Judge E. , 149, 150, 163-7. 

Bowen, Mrs. E. , 151. 

Boyd, General, 162. 

Brassard, 54. 

Bréboeuf, 198. 

Brock, Gen. Sir I. , 151, 153. 

Brosse, Père de la, 287-9. 

Buchanan. Mr. , 166. 

Burlington Heights, 156, 158, 161. 

Burlington Bay, 158, 159. 

Butler, Captain, 86. 

Cacouna, 88. 

Caldwell, Colonel, 84, 85, 87, 148. 

Cameron, Captain, 269. 

Campbell, Lieut. Alex. , 261. 

Campbell, Lieut. Archibald, 261. 

Campbell, Capt John, 261. 

Cap à l'Aigle, 2, 11, 21, 238. 

Cap aux Oies, 2, 11. 

Cap Rouge, 259, 264. 

Cap Tourmente, 2, 87, 108, 109, 253, 255. 

Cape Diamond, 73-78, 270. 

Carignan Regiment, 9, 34, 243. 

Carleton, Sir Guy (Lord Dorchester) 22, 59, 64, 65, 69-78, 83, 206, 276. 

Carleton Island, 84-7, 148. 

Cartier, Jacques, 56, 244, 250, 279. 

Casgrain, Abbé H. R. , 245, 281-285. 

Castle Dounie, 24. 

Chambly, 9. 

Champlain, Samuel de, 6, 7, 243. 

Chandler, General, 156. 

Chaperon, M. , 224, 225. 

Château, Richer, 254-5. 

Chateauguay, Battle of, 161. 

Chaudière River, 66. 

Chauncey, Commodore, 158. 

Chelmsford, 134. 

Cherry Valley, 86. 

Chicoutimi, 15. 

Chippewa, 155. 

Cimon family, 219. 

Clark, John, 102. 

Clive, Lord, 57. 

Colbert, 8. 

Columbo, India, 100, 101. 

Compain, Père, 287-9. 

Company of New France, 7, 8. 

Comporté, Philippe Gaultier, Sieur de, 9-14, 223, 243. 

Comporté, La, 15, 16. 

Comporté, Lac à, 12, 229. 

Continental Congress, 60, 63. 

Contrecoeur, 89. 

Cook, Captain, 22. 

Coquart, Father Claude Godefroi, 16-18. 

Cornwallis, General, 91. 

Cox, Major, 276. 

Craig, Sir James, 135, 142, 150. 

Crysler's Farm, Battle of, 162. 

Culloden, Battle of, 23, 33, 48. 

Dalrymple, Col. , 100. 

Dambourges, M. , 77. 

D'Avezac, Editor of Cartier's Works, 243. 

Dean, Captain, 269. 

De Lass, 138. 

Detroit, 151, 155. 

_Diana_, the, 270. 

Dobie, Richard, 106. 

Dorchester, Lord, (See Carleton, Sir Guy). 

Doucet, Père Narcisse, 290. 

Douglas, Lieut. , 261. 

Douglass, Commodore, 276. 

Duchouquet, Père C. , 289. 

Dufour, Joseph, 16-18, 20, 56, 109. 

Duggan, E. J. , 219. 

Duggan, W. E. , 219. 

Duguay, Père, 289. 

Dundass, 118. 

Durham, 127. 

East India Co'y, 57, 58. 

Edinburgh, 94, 95, 101, 119, 125, 127, 128, 133. 

Edinburgh Castle, 26, 169, 170. 

Elibank, Lord, 35. 

Emerson, Parson, 67. 

Emery, Christiana, (Mrs. Nairne), 56. 

Enos, Colonel, 67. 

_Fell_, the, 70. 

Fisher, Dr. , 115. 

Fitzgibbon, Lieut, 156. 

Forbes, Duncan, of Culloden, 23. 

Fort Erie, 154. 

Fort George, 154-157, 160. 

Forty Mile Creek, 156, 159. 

Foucault, Seigniory of, 36. 

Foulon, Anse de, 256. 

Fraser, Alex. , Jr. , 252, 261, 267. 

Fraser, John Malcolm, 219, 249. 

Fraser, Malcolm, Seigneur of Mount Murray, 21, 28, 30-41, 49, 54, 55, 65, 74, 75, 82, 92, 93, 95, 101, 105, 106, 108, 114, 117, 120, 127-132, 136, 142-147, 149, 152, 158, 160, 165, 171, 178, 219, 222, "Journal, " 249-271, 276. 

Fraser, Ensign Malcolm, killed, 267. 

Fraser, Simon, Lord Lovat, 24-26, 243, 267. 

Fraser, Colonel Simon, Commander of the 78th Regiment, 25, 26, 31, 32, 249, 251, 252, 261, 264-267. 

Fraser, Simon, Explorer, 26. 

Fraser, Simon, Captain, 261. 

Fraser, William, 219. 

Fraserville, Seigniory of, 39. 

Frenchtown, 154. 

Frontenac, 196. 

Gagnon, Mgr. , 245. 

Gaspé, Philippe Aubert de, 109, 209-212, 245. 

Gaultier, Philippe, (See Comporté). 

Gérin, Léon, 244. 

Gibraltar, 129, 133, 134, 135, 136. 

Gilchrist, Mr. , 47, 53, 55, 60, 61, 223, 225. 

Glasgow, 119. 

Goose, Cape, 2. 

Gordon, Lieut. Cosmo, 267. 

Gorham, Captain, 20, 34, 36, 251, 255. 

Graeme, General, 96. 

Gregorson, Ensign, 261. 

Gros, Jean, 225. 

"_Growler_", the, 160. 

Haldimand, General, 46, 83, 85, 87, 92. 

Hale, Mr. And Mrs. , 149. 

Halifax, 150. 

Harrison, General, 155. 

Hazen, Captain, 265. 

Hazeur, François, 12, 13, 14. 

Hazeur, J. T. , 15. 

Hazeur, P. De l'Orme, 15. 

Henry, Dr. , 201, 223-227, 245. 

Hepburn, 42, 59, 114, 118, 121. 

Higham, Mrs. , 219. 

Holmes, Admiral, 249. 

Hubert, Bishop of Quebec, 46

Hudon, M. , Jesuit, 198. 

Hudon, Père, 290. 

Hudson Bay, 14, 279. 

Hull, General, 151. 

India, 96, 99, 100, 172. 

Isle aux Coudres, 2, 6, 46, 64, 250, 287-289. 

Isle aux Noix, 82, 83, 84, 91. 

Isle Verte, 289. 

Jena, Battle of, 129. 

Jervis, John, Lord St. Vincent, 22. 

Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 35. 

Johnston, Sir John, 85. 

Johnston, Sir William, 138. 

_Julia_, the, 160. 

Kamouraska, 89, 108, 211, 212, 224, 285. 

Keller, Père, 289. 

Kennebec, River, 66. 

Ker, Alick, 126, 127, 135, 137. 

Ker, James, 98, 112, 114, 117, 118, 121, 125, 126, 133, 134, 137, 138, 144, 150, 169, 170. 

Ker, Mrs. , 121. 

Kingston, 148, 151, 152, 153, 161. 

La Fouille, 10. 

La Grange, 56. 

La Motte-Saint-Heray, 10. 

La Potherie, 285. 

La Terrière, Dr. , 141. 

Lake Champlain, 36, 82, 161. 

Lake Ontario, 9, 84, 148, 156, 161. 

Lake St. John, 15. 

Langan, Mrs. , 106. 

Lanoraye, 10. 

Lauderdale, Earl of, 133. 

Lauzon, Seigniory of, 36, 210. 

Laverdière, Editor of Champlain's Works, 243. 

Le Courtois, Père, 143, 164, 166, 172, 193, 289. 

Leclercq, Père, B. -E, 290. 

Le Maistre, Major, 244. 

Le Moine, Sir J. M. , 243. 

Les Eboulements, 2, 14, 37, 46, 64, 109, 141, 287, 289. 

_Leo_, the, 159. 

_Leostoff_, the, 269, 270. 

Leslie, Miss C. , 173, 221. 

Lévêque, Père, 289. 

Levis, 36. 

Lévis, Marquis de, 32, 220, 264. 

Longueuil, 9. 

Lorette, 262. 

Lotbinière, Père de, 71. 

Louisbourg, 29, 42, 119, 129, 221, 250. 

Lovat, Baroness, 24. 

Lovat, Lord, (See Fraser, Simon). 

Lyman, Mr. , 171. 

Mabane, Miss, 108. 

McCord, Mr. , 141. 

McDonald, Capt. Donald, 265, 267. 

McDonald, Lieut. Hector, 267. 

McDonnell, Alex. , 259. 

MacDonnell, Capt. John, 86, 259, 261. 

MacDonnell, Lieut. Ronald, 261. 

McGregor, Lieut. , 271. 

MacKenzie, Sir Alex. , 111. 

MacKenzie, Alex. , author, 243. 

MacKenzie, Ensign, 261. 

MacKinnon, Lieut. , 82-4. 

McLean, Col. Allan, 65, 275, 276. 

McNicol, John, (See Nairne, John McNicol). 

McNicol, Peter, 172, 173. 

McNicol, Mrs. Peter, 93, 107, 114, 130, 169, 172, 173, 219, 221, 290. 

McNicol, Thomas, 172. 

McPherson, Capt. , 252, 259, 261. 

Madawaska, Seigniory of, 36. 

Madison, President, 150. 

Mailloux, Père, 289. 

Maldon, 128. 

Malteste, notary, 52. 

Marchand, Louis, 12. 

Marcheteau, Père, 289. 

Marie, Catherine de St. Augustin, 198, 199. 

Marlboro', India, 57. 

Masson, Mr. , 106. 

Matthews, Captain, 85, 92, 244. 

Micmac Indians, 55. 

Mingan seigniory, 14. 

Mississaga Indians, 85. 

Mistassini, 15. 

Mohawk Valley, 85. 

Montcalm, Marquis de, 19, 241, 251, 252, 260. 

Montgomery, General R. , 69-78, 273. 

Montgomery, Capt. , 253, 254. 

Montmorency, 251, 253, 255. 

Morel, Abbé, 183. 

Morgan, 76. 

Morrison, Colonel, 162, 165. 

Mount Hermon Cemetery, 122, 123, 220. 

Mount Murray Seigniory, 21, 38. 

Mount Ventoux, 236. 

Mountain, Salter, 152. 

Munro, W. Bennett, 245. 

Murray, Alex. , 35. 

Murray, Admiral George, 35. 

Murray, General James, 30-38, 42, 43, 51, 178, 207, 243, 254, 255, 258, 262, 272. 

Nairne, Anne, 56, 94, 125. 

Nairne, Baron, 27. 

Nairne, Christine, 93, 94, 99, 101, 106-108, 114, 121, 130, 138, 142, 145, 146, 150, 151, 164, 169, 171, 172. 

Nairne, John, First Seigneur of Murray Bay, Chap's. I-V. , 178, 184, 195, 209, 219-223. 

Nairne, John, Mrs. , 56, 149, 161, 165, 168, 172. 

Nairne, John, Captain, 93, 94, 95-101, 221, 277-279. 

Nairne, John Leslie, 174, 221. 

Nairne, John McNicol, 172-174, 218, 219. 

Nairne, Magdalen (See McNicol, Mrs. Peter). 

Nairne, Mary (Polly), 93, 101, 107, 121, 124, 126, 138, 142, 147, 160, 169, 172. 

Nairne, Miss, 27, 101, 117, 273. 

Nairne, Robert, 57-59. 

Nairne, Captain Thomas, 93, 101, 102, 107, 121, 124-167, 220, 221, 232. 

Neill, Mr. , of Bana, 259. 

Nelson, Lord, 114, 153, 205. 

Newfoundland Regiment, 139, 147, 143. 

New Orleans, Battle at, 170. 

Niagara, 148, 151, 154-156. 

Niagara Falls, 155. 

Niagara River, 148, 154. 

Noël, Jacques, 207. 

Northumberland County, 115, 141. 

_Oneida_, the, 153. 

Orleans, Island of, 1, 253, 255. 

Panet, Louis, 225. 

Papineau, L. J. , 205, 218. 

Paquet, Père Raphael, 289. 

Parker, Sir Hyde, 114, 153. 

Parsons' House, 82. 

Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 23, 26, 34. 

Pitt, William, 112, 118. 

Pius VIII. , Pope, 172. 

Plassey, Battle of, 57. 

Plenderleath, Colonel, 163, 166. 

Point Levi, 80, 250, 251, 253, 255, 256, 261, 263. 

Pointe au Fer, 82, 83. 

Pointe au Pic, 47, 104, 228, 236, 281. 

Pointe aux Trembles, 15. 

"Porpoise" Fishery (See Beluga). 

Prés de Ville Barrier, 75. 

Prescott, 152, 153. 

Prevost, Sir George, 150. 

Procter, General, 154, 171. 

Quebec Act, 59-61. 

Quebec, Protestant Bishop of, 48, 50, 165. 

Quebec, Roman Catholic Bishop of, 45, 51. 

Queenston Heights, 151, 153. 

Reeve, Colonel, 219. 

Reeve, John Fraser, 219. 

Reeve, Mrs. , 219. 

Richelieu, Robert, 70. 

Riedesel, General, 89, 91. 

Riverin, 13. 

Rivière du Loup, 36, 39. 

Rivière Noire, 37, 226. 

Rivière Ouelle, 183, 280, 281, 283, 285. 

Roderick, Lieut. , 259. 

Ross, Mr. , 43. 

Ross, Captain, 254, 259. 

Roy, J. E. , 244. 

_Royal George_, the, 148, 151. 

Sackett's Harbour, 161. 

Saguenay River, 5, 183, 228, 255. 

Saguenay County, 172. 

Saint Anne de Beaupré, 64, 254. 

Saint Charles River, 257, 258, 259, 260. 

Sainte Foy, 73, 259, 262, 264. 

Sainte Irénée, 233. 

Saint Jean Seigniory, 36. 

Saint Joachim, 253. 

Saint Matthew's Church, Quebec, 219. 

St. Roch's, Quebec, 76, 88. 

St. Roch, 88. 

Sans Bruit Seigniory, 36. 

Sault au Matelot, 76, 77. 

Schomberg, Capt. , 270. 

Scott, Sir Walter, 27, 170. 

Sewell, Mr. , 166. 

Sicily, 137, 138. 

Siegfried, André, 245. 

Sillery, 264. 

Smith, Justin H. , 244. 

Sorel, 9, 90, 91. 

Soumande, Pierre, 12. 

Stadacona, 5. 

Sterling, 56. 

Stevenson, James, 119. 

Stewart, Andrew, 172. 

Stewart, Lieut Chas. , 33. 

Stewart, Mr. , 107. 

Stoney Creek, 156. 

Stuart, Prince Charles, 22, 27. 

Sulte, B. , 243. 

Swanton, Capt, 270. 

Syracuse, 137, 138. 

Taché, Madame, 211, 212. 

Tadousac, 6, 7, 14, 15, 19, 88, 183, 228, 287-289. 

Talon, Jean, 8, 11. 

Taschereau, Hon G. , 106. 

Ten Mile Creek, 159. 

Têtu, Mgr. H. , 15, 245. 

Thames River, Ontario, 155. 

Thompson, James, 244. 

Three Rivers, 69, 150. 

Toronto, 148, 155, 159. 

Trafalgar, Battle of, 129, 205. 

Tremblay, 109. 

Usburn, Mr. , 106. 

_Vanguard_, the, 270. 

Vaudreuil, Marquis de, 34. 

Verchères, 9, 89. 

Villeneuve, Joseph, 53. 

Wall, Captain, 152. 

Walpole, Sir R. , 23. 

Warren, John, 119. 

Washington, 155. 

Washington, George, 65. 

Waterloo, Battle of, 205. 

Wauchope, Mr. , 277. 

Wellington, Duke of, 205. 

West Indies, 95. 

Wilkes, John, 35. 

Wilkinson, General, 156. 

Winchester, General, 154. 

Winder, General, 156. 

Wingfield, Major, 223. 

Wolfe, General James, 19, 20, 22, 23, 28, 29, 31, 66, 241, 252, 260. 

Wolfe's Cove, 29, 68, 75, 256. 

Wooster, General, 81. 

Würtele, F. C. , 244. 

Yeo, Sir James, 154, 156-159. 

York, Duke of, 96. 

York (Toronto), 148, 155, 156, 159, 160. 

Yorktown, 91. 

Yukon River, 279.