It is further to be observed, that the fish caught upon the coast and in the bays, far exceed the bank cod, and fetch an advanced price in foreign markets; the fishermen being on the spot, will commence fishing the very instant the season permits, and will continue to the very last of it; whereby at least, two months will be gained to the trade, which are just now, a heavy expence to it, without producing the least profit. Next to the cod, in importance, is the whale fishery, which can be carried on to the greatest advantage in the River St. Lawrence, with less risk and expence than in any other seas, where these animals resort; under this head, may be placed, the seal and sea cow fisheries, of which there is a prodigious abundance, and an immense quantity of oil and whalebone may be annually exported to Great Britain. There are several small rivers on the coast of Labrador, abounding with vast quantities of excellent salmon; this, if followed with spirit and industry, might very soon become a considerable object to the British trade. 4. His Majesty's yards may, by the best accounts, be supplied with masts from Chambly, at a much cheaper and easier 1ate than from New England; by the litter, a tedious land carriage of seve ral miles, and the immense fall of a most rapid river, over which, they must be rafted, and where many are lost, must greatly en hance the value of this useful and necessary branch of naval stores; whereas, by the former, with little or no risk at all, at a proper season, there is an easy water carriage for them all the Quebec, the port for shipping them to Europe. way to It is likewise probable that this very branch may be much further extended than ever it was under the French, by reason of the superior diligence and application of the British traders. It ust be allowed the French were laudable in restraining the vent of spirituous liquors to the Savages, beyond a certaiu quantity. means many broils were avoided, for they are fond to excess of thing strong, and are all mad in their intoxications. By this every Raising hemp and flax, for which the lands are in many places extremely proper, must be an object of the most serious consideration; and I must repeat here, how useful this must prove to the end of promoting Agriculture, of employing the women and children during the tedious winter months, and of procuring, in a short time, a vast exportation of that useful commodity, for which the returns will be made in British manufactures. 7. As the country every where abounds with oak, ash, walnut, birch, beech, maple, and other hard woods, which, by experience, are known to yield the most salts, the article of pot-ash so much demanded in our manufactories, may be easily produced and soon become an object of consequence; the essays for this purpose, which have been made in our other colonies and have miscarried, ought not to discourage an attempt in this; the high price of labour, the woods being in many parts remote from water carriage, and the great encouragement for growing and exporting provisions to the West Indies, have been so many obstacles to the making pot ash in our colonies; whereas prov sions here must be very cheap, in a few years, for the navigation being closed six months out of the twelve, this country can never vie with our Suthern Colonies, in the West India trade; besides, the country being settled close to the river side, the conveyance of the commodity to the Port, where it is to be shipped, will be both cheap and easy; it will likewise be a means to employ the men all winter, in the business of felling and drawing of wood, which time they chiefly dedicate to idleness and soaking. 10. CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. The Canadians may be reckoned under four different classes. 1. The gentry, they cail the nobility. 2. The Clergy. 3. The Merchants, or trading part. 4. The Peasantry, or what is here stiled Habitants. 1. The GENTRY.-These are descended from military and civil officers, who have settled in the Country at different times, and were usually provided for in the Colony troops; these consisted formerly of twenty-eight, afterwards thirty, and had been lately augmented to thirty-three companies; they are in general poor, except such as have had commands in distant Posts, where they usually made a fortune in three or four years; the Croix de St. Louis quite compleated their happiness. They were extremely vain, and have an utter contempt of the trading part of the Colony, though they made no scruple to engage in it, pretty deeply too, whenever a convenient opportunity served; they were great tyrants to their vassals; who seldom met with redress, let their grievances be ever so just. This class will not relish the British Government, from which they neither can expect the same employment, or the same douceurs, they enjoyed under the French 2. The CLERGY.-Most of the dignified among them, are French; the rest Canadians, and are, in general, of the lower class of people; the former no doubt will have great difficulty to reconcile themselves to us, but must drop off by degrees; few of the latter are very clever ; however if the ecclesiastical state was once composed entirely of natives, they would soon become easy and satisfied; their influence over the people, was, and is still, very great; but though we have been so short a time in the Country, a difference it to be perceived; they do not submit so tamely to the yoke, and under sanction of the capitulation, they every day take an opportunity to dispute the tythes with their curés. These were moved from their respective Parishes at the Bishops pleasure, who thereby always kept them in awe. It may not be perhaps improper to adopt the same method in case his Majesty should think right, for the sake of keeping them in proper subjection, to nominate them himself, or by those who act under his authority. It is not improbable that the Jesuits, warned by their late disgra ees in the dominions of those potentates who seemed to favor them the most, and apprehending the like or worse treatment from those they stile hereticks, will choose to dispose of their estates and retire. As they may, possibly, find some difficulty to get purchasers, the Government might buy their lands at an easy rate, and dispose of the same to many good purposes. 3. The Traders of this Colony, under the French, were either dealers in gros or retailers; the former were mostly French, and the latter, in general, natives of this Country; all of them are deeply concerned in the letters of Exchange, many are already gone to solicit payment; and few of those who have any fund of consequence in France, will remain. 4. The fourth order is that of the Peasantry; these are a strong healthy race, plain in their dress, virtuous in their morals and temperate in their living; they are in general extremely ignorant, for the former Government would never suffer a printing press in the Country; few can read or write, and all receive implicitly for truth the many errant falsehoods and atrocious lies, industriously handed among them, by those who are in power. They took particular pains to persuade them, the English were worse than brutes; and that, if they prevailed, the Canadians would be ruled with a rod of iron, and be exposed to every outrage; this most certainly did not a little contribute to make them obstinate in the defence; however, ever since the conquest, I can with the greatest truth assert, that the troops have lived with the inhabitants, in a harmony unexampled even at home. I must here, in justice to those under my command in this Government, observe to your Lordships, that in the winter which immediately followed the reduction of this country, when from the calamities of war, and a bad harvest, the inhabitants of these lower parts were exposed to all the horrors of a famine, the officers of every rank, even in the lowest, generously contributed towards alleviating the distresses of the unfortunate Canadians by a large subscription; the British merchants and traders readily and chearfully assisted in this good work; even the poor soldiers threw in their mite, and all gave a day's provision or a day's pay in the month, towards the fund; by this means, a quantity of provisions were purchased and distributed with great care and assiduity to a number of poor families, who without this charitable support, must have inevitably perished; such an instance of uncommon generosity towards the conquered, did the highest honor to their conquerors, and convinced these poor deluded people, how grossly they had been imposed upon. The daily instances of lenity, the impartial justice which has been administered, so far beyond what they had formerly experienced,* have so altered their opinion with regard to us, I may safely venture to affirm, for this most useful order of the state, that they have not the least design to emigrate from their present habitations into any other of the French Colonies. Their greatest The General might have added, that it is only in well balanced Governments, not in Despotisms, or Democracies, that justice is well administeredIn England the law is the Sovereign, its will executed in its Courts of Justice. dread is least they should meet with the fate of the Acadians, and be torn from this their Native Country Convinced that this is not to be their case, and that the free exercise of their Religion will be continued to them, if once Canada is irrevocably ceded by a peace, the people will soon become faithful and good subjects to his Majesty; and the Country they inhabit, will, in a short time, prove a rich and most useful Colony to Great Britain. Before this report is closed, it will not be improper, to observe to your Lordships, how impossible it is to ascertain exactly what part of North America the French stiled, Canada, no Chart or Map whatsoever having fallen into our hands, or public records of whatever, to show what they understood by it. any kind However, it is to be hoped, the limits on this side at least, will need no canvassing or admit of any dispute. Should I be able to procure further lights either to those limits or the several other matters contained in this report, worthy of notice, you may be assured they shall be forthwith transmitted to your Lordships; happy if my labors can any way conduce to His Majesty's service or the good of my Country. Quebec, 5th June, 1762. No. XXII. AN ACCOUNT OF THE TEMPERATURE, WINDS Temperature of Climate from Thermometrical Observations. Months. January 1 Year's Observation. 1743 and 4. Mean Heat. February March April August September October 10 deg. 10 22 40 52 67 69 67 51 44 36 20 42 86 Place. State of the Weather at Quebec, from annual Observations. Times, Fair. Cloudy. Rain. Snow. Hail. Frost. Thun. Hazy. No.of Ob Quebec. and 277 128 88 32 4 14 |1744.] 405. A view of the extremes of Heat and Cold, at Quebec, for ten years, In the Column respecting the Cold, the figures denote below zero. |