PEOCEEDINGS FOE 1887. XXIX 



boundary of the old province of Canada as fixed by act, 1Y74, and presented the argument in favor of 

 the height of land as the boundary of the present province of Quebec. 



At this meeting, it was decided to adoj)t a more defined and continuous scheme of study and, as a 

 course of preparation, to review during the winter session the whole of the history of Canada. This 

 system was inaugurated on December 22nd, 1886, when Mr. John Lesperance treated the period from 

 1497 to 1608, and it has since been successfully carried out. 



January 12th, 1887, the second period, 1608 to 1642, was treated by _Mr. C. S. Campbell, the set- 

 tlement of Quebec and the foundation of Monti-eal being the main incidents of the period. 



Jaunary 26th, Mr. W. D. Lighthall read a pa])er upon the period from 1642 to 1682, during which 

 the colony grew from 840 to 10,000 souls, and all those institutions and places which constitute our 

 idea of full-fledged New France were eetabli.shed. 



February 16th, the fourth period, 1682 to 1699, was handled by Mr. Henry Mott in a rapid 

 review of the interesting personages and events of this time. 



February 23rd, Mr. W. J. "White's paper on the fifth period, 1699 to 1725, was read, and contained 

 a brief account of the chief events of the period with particular reference to the oi'ganisation of the 

 judicial system. 



March 9th, the sixth period, 1725 to 1754, was treated by Mr. John Ecado. This paper dealt 

 with the strained relations between the ruling powers ; with the social condition of the people and 

 their restricted intercourse with the Bi-ilish colonies ; with commerce and industry', including the 

 curious episode of the ginseng trade ; with the prosecution of exploration westward and especially 

 the discoveries of the Vcrandrye familj^ ; with the causes of unrest and discontent, internal and inter- 

 national, which were giadually but surely leading up to the " happy calamity of 1759." 



The next period was 1754 to 1760. Mr. Geiald E. Hart in this paper treated of the expulsion of 

 the Acadians and the Seven Years War, dwelling particularly on the capture of Quebec. The Expul- 

 sion he justified on the political grounds of the military exigences of the jieriod, the Acadians never 

 having loyally accepted British rule, remaining by race, religion, language and sj'rapathy, French 

 subjects, inimical to the English population which was fast settling in Nova Scotia. He' furnished 

 many precedents for the act, many of them committed by the French themselves, one of the most 

 striking being that of the expulsion of the English fiom St. Christopher in 1666, for which event the 

 Fi ench Government struck a commemorative medal. He brought forwaid abundant authorities to 

 prove that the numbers present in the engagement at Quebec were largely in favor of the French, 

 and he impugned the veracity of a large number of historians on this contioverted point of Canadian 

 history. This important paper is now in the press. 



April 6th, Mr. Chas. M. Holt contributed a paper on the eighth period, 1760 to 1784, treating of 

 the establishm.ent of the Military Eegirae by Amherst, the Conspiracy of Pontiac, the Treaty of Paris, 

 the Quebec Act, the American Invasion and the grants to the United Empire Lo3alists. 



April 21st, the ninth period, 1784 to 1812, was dealt with by Mr. W. S. Kerry, who treated the 

 period in two divisions as the events referred particularly' to Upper or Lower Canada. 



May 11th, Mr. J. P. Edwards read a paper on the period from 1812 to 1815. This paper drew 

 special attention to the comparatively pacific tendency in Great Britain in 1812 towards the United 

 States, as conti'asted with the warlike preparations of the latter countrj' for many months previous; 

 to the great numerical inferiority of the British forces to the Americans in almost every land 

 engagement of the war ; to the genius and daring of General Brock and the incapacity of Sir George 

 Prévost; to the bibliography of the war and the gieat number of totally unreliable accounts of it 

 published in the United States. 



The two papers which will complete the series are to be read on June 1st by Mi'. E. W. Boodle 

 dealing with the period from 1815 to 1887, and by Mr. George Murray, who will contribute the final 

 paper upon the period, 1837 to 1841. 



The Society now numbers twenty-six resident members. Through the death of Mr. E. A. 



