CANADA 



1122 



CANADA 



from the council to the intendant, who could 

 try any case. The people were never consulted 

 on government matters; the spirit of govern- 

 ment was well expressed by one intendant, who 

 wrote that "it is of the greatest consequence 

 that the people should not be left at liberty to 

 speak their minds." 



Paternalism and absolutism ruled in society 

 as in government. Richelieu, in chartering the 

 Company of the Hundred Associates, had intro- 

 duced into Canada a feudal system much like 

 that of France. His object seems to have been 

 to establish a Canadian aristocracy and also 

 to find an easy method of dividing the land 

 among settlers. The land was granted by the 

 king to seigniors, who parceled it out to censi- 

 taires, who held their land on the payment of 

 cens or quit-rent. This rental was very low, 

 usually about one cent an acre. The actual 

 tillers of the soil were the habitants, the lowest 

 class of society. 



The Canadian aristocracy, as a whole, was a 

 penniless lot. The rich nobles of France were 

 too fond of court life to exchange it for the' 

 colonial frontier. The nobles in Canada, 

 therefore, were mostly officers of regiments 

 which had served in Canada or merchants and 

 farmers who had become prosperous. The 

 more aristocratic of them, too proud to engage 

 in farming or ordinary trade, were always heav- 

 ily in debt, but many of them found a way to 

 sustenance if not to wealth through the fur 

 trade. These exiled gentlemen became the 

 explorers and defenders of New France. 



Not all of the men in New France, however, 

 submitted to the feudal system. Love of ad- 

 venture, disgust with farming, ambition for 

 wealth, all combined to lead many of the 

 younger men into the woods. Here they 

 hunted and traded for furs, and many of them 

 lived with the Indians and took Indian wives. 

 These coureurs de bois, "runners of the woods," 

 as they were called, were brave and hardy, 

 but they caused much trouble for the governor. 

 They freely broke the regulations for the fur 

 trade, and any attempt to punish them was 

 likely to make them outlaws and enemies of 

 their country. After months in the distant 

 forests, where they secured the choicest furs, 

 they would return to the settlements for a few 

 weeks, to spend in revelry and dissipation all 

 the money they had received for the pelts. 

 When their money was gone they would wave 

 an adieu to civilization and plunge again into 

 the wilderness. 



After Britain's Conquest. The change from 



French to British rule was made without much 

 disturbance. Some of the Indians, led by 

 Pontiac, a chief of the Ottawas, rose against 

 their new masters; but the French as a whole 

 were glad to return to peaceful occupations. A 

 few of the seigniors, merchants and higher 

 officials perhaps 400 in all returned Jo 

 France, but the habitants were quickly recon- 

 ciled to British rule. For three years the con- 

 quered territory was under military rule, until 

 George III reorganized the government by 

 proclamation in 1763. 



Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton were 

 added to Nova Scotia, Anticosti was given to 

 Newfoundland, and the main colony .was or- 

 ganized as a separate province under the new 

 name of Quebec. 



In 1763 there were 60,000 French and only 

 500 English in Canada. The home government 

 felt that the incoming English settlers would 

 soon absorb the French element, but in this 

 opinion they were mistaken. Fortunately the 

 governor, General James Murray, tried to 

 satisfy the majority of the population. He 

 had no high opinion of the Englishmen in 

 Quebec, whom he called "men of mean edu- 

 cation, traders, mechanics, publicans, followers 

 of the army." Discontent remained, however, 

 and the necessary reforms in the government 

 were made by the Quebec Act (which see) in 

 1774. This Act met some bitter opposition in 

 England because of the great concessions it 

 made to the French-Canadians, but the wisdom 

 of its authors was soon to be proved, for in 

 1775 and again in 1812 the French-Canadians 

 refused the chance to rebel against England 

 and even helped to fight England's battles. 



At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War 

 the New England colonies tried hard to secure 

 the cooperation of Quebec, and when their 

 efforts failed they made vigorous attacks on 

 the loyal colony (for the military events of 

 this period, see REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN AMER- 

 ICA). The war brought one great gain to Can- 

 ada. Some 40,000 colonists who remained loyal 

 to the king and the United Empire abandoned 

 their homes in the United States and crossed 

 the border into the loyal colony. Many of 

 them left valuable estates or gave up influential 

 and remunerative positions as ministers, judges 

 and other officials. From a life of comparative 

 ease they plunged again into a wilderness. 

 Many settled in Nova Scotia, some in Eastern 

 Quebec, but most of them made homes for 

 themselves in the unoccupied lands which now 

 constitute New Brunswick and Southern On- 



