1765 he returned to India as Governor of Bengal. In the year 1760, before the news of the great victories of Wandewash and Pondicherry had reached England, George II. died, and was succeeded by his grandson, George III.

CHAPTER XI.

CANADA FROM 1760 TO 1777.

BRITISH RULE ADMINISTRATION OF GENERAL MURRAY - GOVERNMENT OF GENERAL CARLETON EVENTS DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

1. THREE years after England had conquered Canada a treaty of peace was concluded between Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal, and signed at Paris in February, 1763. By this treaty France ceded to England the whole of her colonial possessions in America, with the exception of Louisiana and the small fishing-islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, near the coast of Newfoundland, and received back Martinique and Guadaloupe in the West Indies, England retaining Grenada and the Grenadines, while Spain exchanged Florida for Cuba. This treaty ended the long struggle between these powers.

2. Nearly all the French military officers and troops, as also many of the chief inhabitants, returned to France as soon as they relinquished all hope of the restoration of the French power in Canada; and their return was facilitated by the English, who thought themselves fortunate to thus quietly rid themselves of so powerful an element of disturbance. It was well known on both sides that the process of assimilation between the French and English would be very slow, so different was the character of the social and political institutions of the two races. "Independently of the dissimilarity in national tastes and habits, the relations of the French colony with the Imperial government were essentially different from those which connected a British colony with the mother country. The French colony was a child of the State. Everything in it of a civil nature was under official patronage or political surveil lance, while religious matters were subject to vigorous ecclesiastical control. Two principal objects engrossed the attention of the French colonists, the extension of the peltry traffic, and the conversion of the Indian tribes. As a means of carry

ing out these two great projects, exploration and discovery formed a chief feature of French colonial life." In the English colony of that day, on the contrary, the government was as much a civil and social board as an embodiment of the will of the royal authority. Matters of trade were but slightly interfered with, the colonists being left, for the most part, to themselves and their own modes of development. This was why the English engaged themselves so little in enterprises of exploration and discovery. When, therefore, we find the colonists in conflict, it was generally concerning matters of trade and influence over the Indian tribes; but with the fall of Canada these struggles were forever put to an end.

3. Canada was under military rule during the period from the fall of Canada, in the winter of 1759-60, to the treaty of peace, in 1763, when General Murray was appointed the first governor-general of British Canada, in place of the commanderin-chief, Lord Amherst, who had administered a rigid military government during the period mentioned; the boundaries of the new province of Canada, under British colonial government, were "contracted by the separation from it of New Brunswick and Labrador. The old district divisions of Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers were retained. General Murray, with an executive council, governed the Quebec; General Gage, the Montreal; and Colonel Burton, the Three Rivers District. Two other districts—the St. Maurice and the St. Francis — were shortly afterwards set apart. Justice was administered in each district, chiefly by military or militia officers, subject to an appeal to the governor. This system was not popular, and only continued in operation for a short time, until a court of king's bench and a court of common pleas were instituted. The laws and customs of France were, however, followed in matters affecting land." At this time the population of Canada did not exceed eighty thousand, including eight thousand Indians. The country had been exhausted by desolating wars, and the peaceful arts had languished into decay and ruin.

4. In 1766 General Murray was recalled, and General (afterwards Sir Guy) Carleton was appointed governor-general, and, as we shall meet this distinguished nobleman frequently in succeeding chapters, we may as well make his acquaintance here. Sir Guy Carleton (Lord Dorchester) was among the most eminent men who have governed Canada. He was born in England, in 1725, entered the army, and took a prominent

part in the siege and capture of Quebec, under Wolfe, in 1759. He was for his services promoted to the rank of brigadiergeneral, and during the governor-general's (Murray's) absence from Canada, in 1767, he administered the government. Being in England in 1770, he aided in the passage of the Quebec Act of 1771. In 1774 he returned as governor-general, and successfully resisted the attack of the Americans upon Quebec in 1776. In 1778 he returned to England, and was knighted by the king. In 1782 he succeeded Sir Henry Clinton as commander-in-chief of the royal forces in America. In 1786 he was created Lord Dorchester for his distinguished services, and from that time until 1796 (with an exception of two years) he remained in Canada as governor-general. He was thus connected with Canada for the long period of thirty-six years. During this time he acquired great distinction by his prudence, firmness, and sagacity. When he retired from the government it was with the regret of all classes.

5. In August of the year of his first appointment, Governor Carleton, and Governor Sir Henry Moore, of New York, met at Lake Champlain, with a party of surveyors, to determine the boundaries between their respective provinces. On this occasion the boundary stone was set up where afterwards the iron monument was reared at the time of the Ashburton Treaty of 1842. But, notwithstanding Governor Carleton's great prudence and impartiality, dissatisfaction began to manifest itself, because of the continued administration of civil offices solely by military men, and many of the inhabitants left the province. Memorials and complaints on the subject were sent to England; but these received no reply save instructions to the governor to inquire concerning the truthfulness of the complaints. The governor went to England, in 1770, to report concerning the irritation of his French subjects, and did not return till 1774, in which year the British ministry submitted to Parliament the bill which was finally passed, entitled a "Bill for reconstructing the Government of the Province of Quebec." This bill is known in Parliament as the "Quebec Act," and it provided, among many other things in favor of the French Catholics, for the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion, for the establishment of the Legislative Council, and for the introduction of the criminal law of England into the provinces; but it declared that in all matters of controversy, relative to property and civil rights, resort should be had to the laws of Canada as the rule for the decision of the same. Thus, the enjoyment of the

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religion, the protection under the civil laws, of French Canada were confirmed to the inhabitants by Imperial statute; and a system of local self-government was introduced. The act was distasteful to the British residents, but it gave unmixed satisfaction to the French Canadians; and, at a time when the old English colonies were wavering in their attachment to the British crown, it confirmed the French Canadians in their allegiance to the king." This was the price, it may as well be said, at which England purchased the loyalty of her FrenchAmerican subjects during the Revolutionary War,-a price which has taxed Canada bitterly to pay, and under which our country has suffered much, and is still ill at rest; but, in the light of saving Canada to British rule, the price was not extravagant. It can only be regretted that statesmanship could do nothing better.

6. A detailed account in the following chapters of the earlier revolutionary events makes it unnecessary to speak of them here. The Americans failed, after repeated attempts, to secure the sympathy and coöperation of Canadians, and Congress, therefore, despatched a twofold expedition, to secure the British posts in Canada, and to develop a more friendly feeling of the inhabitants. One army from

Boston, under Gen. Benedict Arnold, was sent against Quebec. The other army, under Gen. Richard Montgomery and Schuy ler, marched against Montreal. On its way it surprised and captured the important forts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, with all their munitions of war; and, in succession, it also took the posts at Isle aux Noix, St. Johns, Chambly, and Sorel. A still more flattering address was then issued by Congress and extensively circulated in Canada. Many people of both British and French origin heartily sympathized with its objects. The governor-general (Sir Guy Carleton) was much embarrassed by such disloyal sympathy; and, although aided by the clergy and seigneurs, he could scarcely collect a sufficient force to stop the progress of the

BENEDICT ARNOLD.

Americans, to whose victorious standard many British and French Canadians had flocked. Montreal, after a slight resistance, surrendered to the invaders. Gen. Carleton had even to fly in disguise to Quebec." Here he found many of the inhabitants desirous of joining the Americans. These he compelled to leave the city, and proceeded at once to organize the loyal militia, with a view to defending the place.

7. Canada, with the exception of Quebec, was now virtually in the hands of the Americans, and God grant it may never be so again, under similar circumstances! The capture of the ancient capital would therefore have brought the whole country under the Congress. Carleton had but sixteen hundred men, of whom six hundred were raw militia. General Arnold arrived, made an unsuccessful attack, and retired to await Gen. Montgomery. On his arrival an attack was made, in which the latter was killed and the former wounded. The Americans withdrew part of their forces, but still continued the siege. Early in May, 1776, however, they fell back to Three Rivers, but were vigorously followed by Carleton, who had now been reinforced. He captured their artillery and stores, and put them to route. "In the mean time Congress was not idle. It despatched further reinforcements to Canada in June, 1776, under Gen. Sullivan, but without effect; and again issued an animated and characteristic address to the Canadian people. Three special commissioners -Benjamin Franklin, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton (who was accompanied by his brother John, afterwards Archbishop Carroll, of Baltimore), and Samuel Chase were despatched to treat with the Canadians. Their embassy signally failed; for the inhabitants had by this time learned by experience to regard the Americans as enemies rather than as friends. Strong efforts were also made by the Americans to detach the Iroquois from the British standard, but without effect. Under the able chieftainship of the brave Joseph Brant, or Thayendanega, the Iroquois, or Six Nation Indians, remained fast and loyal allies of king George III."

8. Joseph Brant (Thayendanega), a Mohawk Indian of pure blood, was born on the banks of the Ohio, in 1742. He received a good education, in Connecticut. In the Revolutionary War of 1776 he became the ally of the English; and, as a prominent chief among the Iroquois, he influenced several cantons of the celebrated league to join the British standard. During that war he was chiefly engaged in raids upon the border settlements of New York and Pennsylvania, with John, the son