lO JOHN LESPBRANCB ON 



culable service by their knowledge of the country and their skill in arms. It was Joseph 

 Bouchette, the well-known engineer and hydrographer, who piloted Sir Guy Oarleton, 

 with muffled oars, from Montreal past Sorel where the Americans were watching in force, 

 and down to Quebec to take command of the capital during that lengthy siege ; it was 

 Dambourges, Dumas, and a giant named Charland, who performed prodigies of valour 

 and strength in resisting Benedict Arnold's midnight attack at the Oul-de-Sac ; it was 

 Chabot and Picard, at Près-de-Ville, with thirty militiamen of their own nationality, who 

 were in command of the log house and battery of three pounders, and a few British sailors, 

 acting as artillerymen under Captain Barnsfare and Sergeant McQuarters, and from that 

 battery was fired the most fateful shot that was ever belched from a gun's mouth. By it, 

 thirteen bodies were stretched in a winding sheet of snow — for the storm was so fierce 

 that memorable new year's night, that the American invaders had to cover the locks of 

 their muskets with the lappets of their coats — and foremost among the slain lay Richard 

 Montgomery. Then the remainder of the assaulting body, stunned by this first discharge, 

 fell back in confusion and retreated in all haste to "Wolfe's Cove. The same loyalty was 

 displayed in the second American invasion of 1812-15. The Canadian Fencibles fought 

 side by side with the British linesmen and the English-speaking militiamen ; the names 

 of Queenstown and Chateauguay are both entwined in wreaths of undying laurel, and 

 while Brock's monument stands on the field where he died victorious, like Wolfe, the 

 statue of De Salaberry stands at attention, for ever, in Chambly, where the hero's ashes 

 rest in the peaceful churchyard.' 



VII. 



In 1*786 an important step forward was taken. Lord Dorchester — Sir Guy Carleton 

 that was, and one of "Wolfe's officers — was named Governor-General of British America, 

 opening brilliantly a brilliant array of governors that has brought to our time such names 

 as Dufferiu, Lome and Lansdowne. The maritime provinces having just been established 

 under constitutional charters, the Canadians requested the same ; and having got the 

 Habeas Corpus and trial by jury in civil cases, as an instalment, they bade for more, and in 

 1Y91, obtained the Constitutional Act which could be set apart as the first step toward 

 Canadian responsible government. Canada was divided into Upper and Lower, each 

 province having a separate legislature, consisting of a Council, appointed by the Crown, 

 an Assembly, chosen by the people, and a Governor, nominated by the home authorities, 

 and responsible only to them. The first Lower Canada legislature met at Quebec in 

 ItOl, and the first of Upper Canada at Newark, the present Niagara, in 1792, and con- 

 tinued meeting there till 179*7, when it removed to York, now Toronto, founded by 

 Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe in 1*793. From this date, and during the first quarter of the 

 next century, the civil and political history of Canada is uneventful enough, although 

 very interesting as a battle ground of the growing antagonism betwixt the conquered 

 race, forming the majority, and the conquerors who were in a feeble minority, but had 

 the whole influence of the Foreign Office at their back. The conflict waxed strong till 



> The literature of this period is represented by CofiBn's Chronicle, a love story; Les Fiancés de 1812, by the 

 late Joseph Doutre ; Mrs. Curzon's Laura Secor, and the fine dramatic poem of Charles Mair, entitled Tecymsçh, 



