Chapter III: The "ancient Capital." (9)

"Brassard Deschenaux, the son of a poor cobbler, was born at Quebec. A
notary who boarded with Deschenaux, senior, had taught his son to
read. Naturally quick and intelligent, young Deschenaux made rapid
progress and soon found something to do in the office of Intendant
Hocquart where Bigot found him and succeeded in having him appointed
clerk in the Colonial Office at Quebec. Industrious, but at heart a
sycophant, by dint of cringing he won the good graces of Bigot, who
soon put unlimited trust in him, to that degree as to do nothing
without Deschenaux's aid, but Deschenaux was vain, ambitious, haughty
and overbearing and of such inordinate greed, that he was in the habit
of boasting 'that to get rich he would even rob a church.'

"Cadet was the son of a butcher. In his youth he was employed to mind
the cattle of a Charlesbourg peasant; he next set up as a butcher and
made money. His savings, he invested in trade; his intriguing spirit
brought him to the notice of the Intendant Hocquart, who gave him
contracts to supply meat for the army. Deschenaux soon discovered that
Cadet could be useful to him; he made him his friend and lost no
opportunity to recommend him to the Intendant. He was accordingly
often employed to buy the supplies for the subsistence of the troops.
In verity, there were few men more active, more industrious, more
competent to drive a bargain. The King required his services and
secured them, by having Cadet named Commissary General. He had his
redeeming points--was open-handed in his dealings--of a kindly nature
and lavish even to excess."

The worthy Commissary General, like Péan, was blessed with a charming
wife, whom Panet's Diary styles "La Belle Amazone Aventurière."
Probably like her worthy spouse,--of low extraction; "elle n'était pas
sortie de la cuisse de Jupiter," to use a familiar French saw.

She certainly was not, like Caesar's wife "above suspicion." Madame
Cadet, later on, transferred her allegiance from the rich butcher
Cadet, to one "Sieur Joseph Ruffio";... but let us draw the veil of
oblivion over the short comings of another age.

"Capt. Hughes Péan, _Chevalier de la Livaudière_, was Town Major
of Quebec, _aide-Major des Troupes_." He was not long in discovering
that with an Intendant like Bigot, he could dare anything. Had he not
without any trouble netted a gain of 50,000 half crowns? A large
quantity of wheat was required for Government; he was charged with the
purchase. There was a fat job in store for the Town Major. How was his
master the Intendant to manage the matter for him? Bigot was a man of
resource, who never forgot his friends. First, he provided Péan with a
large sum out of the Treasury to buy the wheat as low as possible for
cash; and then his complaisant council passed an order or Ordonnance
fixing the price of grain much higher than that at which Péan had
purchased. The town Major charged it to the Government at the rate
fixed by the Ordonnance; the difference left him a handsome profit. He
thought he would next try his hand at building coasting craft, which
he could manage to keep constantly in commission for Government; this
also was lucrative. Other devices, however, were resorted to; a secret
partnership was entered into between Cadet and a person named Clavery,
who shortly after become store-keeper at Quebec. Cadet was to purchase
wheat in the parishes, have it ground at a mill he had leased, the
flour to be sent abroad, secretly. Péan, too, had large warehouses
built--at Beaumont some say. Cargoes of grain were thus secretly
shipped to foreign ports in defiance of the law. Bréard, the
Comptroller-General, for a consideration winked at these mal-
practices, and from a poor man when he landed in Canada, he returned
to France in affluent circumstances.

The crowning piece of knavery was the erection of a vast shop and
warehouses near to the Intendant's Palace. Clavery had charge of this
establishment, where a small retail business was carried on as a
blind. The real object was to monopolize the trade in provisions and
concentrate it here. Clavery was clerk to Estebe, Royal store-keeper
at Quebec. In this warehouse were accumulated all such provisions and
supplies as were wanted annually, and ordered from France for the
King's stores at Quebec.

It was the practice of the Intendant to send each summer the
requisitions to Paris. Bigot took care to order from France less
supplies than were required, so as to have an excuse to order the
remainder in times of want, at Quebec. The orders were sent to
Clavery's warehouse, where the same goods were sold twice over, at
increased rates. Soon the people saw through the deceit, and this
repository of fraud was called in consequence La Friponne, "The
Knave."

Want of space prevents me from crowding in photos of the other
accomplished rogues, banded together for public robbery during the
expiring years of French domination in Canada.

It is singular to note how many low-born [122] parasites and
flatterers surrounded Bigot.

In 1755, the wheat harvest having failed, and the produce of former
years having been carried out of Canada or else stored in the magazine
of Bigot's ring, the people of Canada were reduced to starvation: in
many instances they had to subsist on horse flesh and decayed codfish.
Instead of having recourse to the wheat stored here, the Intendant's
minions led him to believe that wheat was not so scarce as the
peasantry pretended--that the peasants refused to sell it, merely in
anticipation of obtaining still higher rates; that the Intendant, they
argued, ought to issue orders, for domiciliary visits in the rural
districts; and levy a tax on each inhabitant of the country, for the
maintenance of the residents in the city, and of the troops.

Statements were made out, shewing the rations required to prevent the
people from dying of hunger. Cadet was charged with the raising of
this vexatious impost. In a very short time, he and his clerks had
overrun the country, appropriating more wheat than was necessary. Some
of the unfortunate peasants, who saw in the loss of their seed wheat
starvation and death, loudly complained. A few called at the
Intendant's Palace, but the heartless Deschenaux, the Intendant's
Secretary, was ever on the watch and had them questioned by his
_employés_, and when the object of their visit, was discovered,
they were ushered into the presence of Deschenaux, who insulted them
and threatened to have them imprisoned for thus presuming to complain
to the Intendant. Bigot was afterwards advised of their visit, and
when they appeared before him they were so maltreated and bullied that
they left, happy in the fact that they had not been thrown into
prison; soon, none dared to complain. Bread was getting scarcer every
day. The Intendant had named persons to distribute the bread at the
baker's shops, the flour being furnished by Government. The people
crowded the bakeries on the days fixed; the loaves were taken by
violence, mothers of families used to complain that they could not get
any; they used occasionally to besiege the Intendant at his Palace
with their lamentations and complaints, but it was of no avail, the
Intendant was surrounded by a crowd of flatterers, who on retiring,
gorged from his luxurious board, could not understand how the poor
could die of hunger.

Land of my fathers reclaimed from barbarism at the cost of so much
blood--so much treasure, bountifully provided with nobles--priests--
soldiers--fortifications by the great Louis; sedulously--paternally
watched over by Colbert and Talon: to what depth of despair, shall we
say, degradation are thou sunk!

Proud old city, have you then no more defenders to put forth, in your
supreme hour of woe and desertion! Has then that dauntless race of
_Gentilshommes Canadiens_, d'Iberville--Ste. Hélène--de Bouville
--de Bécancourt--de Repentigny, disappeared without leaving any
successors!

And you stern old de Frontenac, you who replied so effectually to the
invader through the mouth of your cannon, is your martial spirit
quenched forever, in that loved fortress in which rest your venerated
remains, you who at one time (1689) were ready, at the head of your
Regulars and fighting Canadians, [123] to carry out the rash scheme,
hatched by deCallières: the conquest of New York and destruction of
the chief settlements in New England, a scheme which involved the
dispersion of more than eighteen thousand people, as sixty-six years
later (in 1755), a British Commander tore from their homes the
peaceable Acadians of _Grand-Pré_. [124]

I could enlarge to any extent the gloomy picture which the history of
this shameful period discloses. Two skilful novelists, the one in the
English language, Wm. Kirby, [125] Esq., of Niagara, the other in the
French, Joseph Marmette, [126] of Quebec, have woven two graphic and
stirring historical romances, out of the materials which the career of
the Intendant Bigot and the desertion of the colony in its hour of
trial, by France--so abundantly supply. One redeeming _trait_, one
flash of sunshine lights up the last hour of French domination: the
devotion of the Canadian militia towards their oblivious mother-
country, their dauntless courage at the Beauport engagement--after the
battle of the Plains, 13th Sept., 1759--and at the battle of Ste.
Foye, on the 28th April 1760, a day glorious to French arms, but at
best a useless victory.

_RUINS OF THE INTENDANT'S PALACE._

"It is the voice of years that are gone! they roll before me with all
their deeds."--OSSIAN.

"'The descriptions, or perspective sketches,' says Mr. Walkem,
'according to the fancy or whim of the artist or the photographer, of
what is left of the ruins, convey no adequate idea of its real
capacity and magnitude in length, breadth or height. My present
object, therefore, with your permission, is to supply this deficiency
from plans and elevations drawn to a scale of feet about the year
1770--when some repairs were effected by the Military Engineers,--five
years before its destruction in 1775. And more especially do I feel it
my duty to submit this plan, &c., for publication since it has become
part of the military history, not of Quebec only, but of Canada.

"The following is an extract from the Centenary report: 'This once
magnificent pile was constructed under the French King's directions in
1684, under Intendant de Meules. It was burnt in 1712, when occupied
by Intendant Bégon, and restored by the French Government. It became,
from 1748 to 1759, the luxurious resort of Intendant Bigot and his
wassailers. Under English rule it was neglected, and Arnold's men
having, from the cupola, annoyed Guy Carleton's soldiers, orders were
given to destroy it with the city guns.'

"'Skulking riflemen in St. Roch's, watching behind walls to kill our
sentries, some of them fired from the cupola of the Intendant's
Palace. We brought a nine-pounder to answer them.'--(_Extract from a
journal of an officer of the Quebec Garrison_.)

"For those who may not be familiar with the meaning of the term
'Intendant,' and the official duties of his office, the following
remarks are submitted from the most authentic sources. It was one of
civil administration, direction management, superintendence, &c., and
next to that of Governor-General, the office of Intendant was one of
the greatest importance and celebrity in Quebec. It was established by
the proclamation of the King of France in 1663,--creating a Sovereign
Council for the affairs of the Colony--viz: the Governor-General, the
Bishop, the Intendant and four Councillors, with an Attorney-General
and Chief Clerk. The number of Councillors was afterwards increased to
twelve.

"The authority of the Intendant, except in his executive capacity, was
indeed little inferior to that of the Governor himself. He had the
superintendence of four departments, viz: Justice, Police, Finance,
and Marine.

The first intendant named under the proclamation of 1663 was M.
Robert; but he never came to Canada to fill his office, and it was not
till the summer of 1655 that Jean de Talon arrived at Quebec, as the
first real Intendant, with the Viceroy deTracy, and the Carignan
Regiment. The building in which the Sovereign Council first held their
meetings would appear to have stood on the south side of Fabrique
street westward (?) of the Jesuit College, known at that time as the
'Treasury.'

"During the Intendancy of M. de Meules, in 1684, that gentleman, at
his own expense, endowed the eastern portion of the St. Roch's suburbs
with an edifice henceforth known as the 'Intendant's Palace' ('Le
Palais'), remarkable for its dimensions, magnificence and general
appearance; it included also (according to old plans) about ten acres
of land contained probably between St. Rochs and St. Nicholas streets,
having the River St. Charles in front, and afterwards laid out in
ornamental gardens. The Palace was described by _La Potherie_, in
1698, as consisting of eighty toises, or 480 feet of buildings, so
that it appeared a little town in itself. The King's stores were also
kept there.

"In 1712, Intendant Bégon, with a splendid equipage and retinue,
arrived in Quebec from France, and took up his residence at the
Palace. On the 5th of January, 1713, the entire building and premises
unfortunately were destroyed by fire, and such was the rapidity of the
flames that the Intendant and his wife escaped with great difficulty.
Madame Bégon was obliged to break the panes of glass in her apartment
before she had power to breathe. The young lady attendants were burned
to death. The Intendant's _valet de chambre_, anxious to save some of
his master's wardrobe, also perished in the flames. His Secretary,
passing barefooted from the Palace to the river front, was so much
frozen that he died in the Hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu a few days
afterwards. [127]

"The Palace was afterward rebuilt under the direction of M. Bégon at
the expense of His Majesty, and of which the plans and elevation now
presented are presumed to be a correct and faithful illustration. The
principal entrance appears to have been from that side next the cliff,
opposite the 'Arsenal,'--or from the present line of St. Valier
street--with large store buildings, magazines, &c., on either side of
the entrance, and in the rear of that stood the building known as the
'Prison.' It would appear that _La Potherie's_ remark, in 1698,
of the first construction resembling a little town in itself, would
also apply to the group of the second construction--as no less than
twenty in number are shown on some of the old plans of this period.
From sketches taken on the spot by an officer of the Fleet in Wolfe's
expedition of 1759, and published in London two years afterwards,
there can be little doubt, for want of room elsewhere, that the Palace
was converted into barracks and occupied immediately after the
surrender of Quebec by the troops under General Murray, and continued
to be used as such until it fell into the hands of the American
insurgents under Arnold, in 1775, and was destroyed by the cannon from
the ramparts. The assumption is strengthened, if not confirmed, by the
occupation of the Jesuit College as barracks the following year the
amount of accommodation in both cases, a full regiment--would be the
same; hence the comfortable quarters in the 'Palais' by the rebel
force under Arnold, which would accommodate the most of his men.

"The appearance of this once celebrated structure in its general
aspect was more imposing from its extent than from any architectural
ornate embellishments. The style was the French domestic of that
period, of two clear stories in height, the extreme frontage was 260
feet, with projecting wings at either end of 20 feet (vide plan), the
depth from the front of the wings to the rear line 75 feet, and the
central part 58 feet; the height from the site level to the apex of
roof about 55 feet, and to the eaves line about 33 feet; in the
basement there were no less than 9 vaults, 10 feet high to the crown
of the arch running along the whole front, as shown in the elevation.
The apartments in the two stories are divided longitudinally by a wall
from one end to the other, and comprise altogether about 40 in number,
allotted into barrack-rooms as per original military plans.

"The roof is plain and steep, and only broken by the pedimented wings
at each end of the building, with chimney stacks and stone coping over
the transverse fire walls, and otherwise relieved by a small octagonal
cupola of two sections placed in the centre of the roof. The approach
to the building in front is by two flights of steps, an enclosed porch
forming a central feature to the main entrance; the basement windows
are shewn in the elevation above the ground line. The walls were
substantially built of black slate rock peculiar to Quebec and must
have taken much time in the erection judging from its tenacity, and
the hardness of the material still remaining. No doubt the walls, as
was the practice in those days, were built of dry masonry, a few feet
at a time, and then _grouted_ with mortar in a thin semi-fluid
state, composed of quicklime and fine sand poured into the interspaces
of the stone-work, filling every cavity, excluding the air, and left
to dry before commencing the next course. The wrought stone at the
quoins and angles appear to have been quarried at Point-aux-Trembles,
or more likely at Beauport, while the sides of the doors and windows
were faced with hard Flemish brick, still intact, and beyond doubt
imported directly from France. [128] The main store buildings in
front, with vaults underneath, were undoubtedly built in the same
compact manner, as Mr. Boswell, some years ago, in excavating for his
brewery on the site of these stores, came in contact with the old
foundation walls, so hard that powder had to be used for blasting. The
mortar was found to be harder than stone, and a drill had but small
effect upon it. That gentleman many years ago became the tenant of the
war department for these ruins and vaults, and has roofed them in,
taken care of the property and made improvements generally at his own
expense. There is an old story current that a subterraneous passage,
under the old ruins, led to the river. Others say that a passage
communicated with the Upper Town. It is highly probable the old vaults
and passage discovered by Mr. Boswell in the above excavation have
been the origin of this story; for in one case towards the river it
would be flooded at high water, and towards the Upper Town barred by a
rampart of solid rock.

"From 1775 to the withdrawal of the Imperial troops in 1870-71--
nearly a century,--this property was used specially for military
purposes, and commonly known, as shown on old plan, as the King's Wood
Yard, and more recently as the Commissariat Fuel Yard. The land
several years ago was reduced in extent by the sale of building lots
on the lines of St. Valier and St. Nicholas streets.

"At the beginning of this century, and many years afterwards, a
military guard seems to have done duty at the 'Palais' and adjoining
premises, east of St. Nicholas street, known as the Royal Dock Yard,
King's Wharf, Stores, &c. This latter property extended eastward as
far as La Canoterie, in front of a blockhouse, the site of the present
Nunnery Bastion, and lying between what is now known as St. Charles
street, or the foot of the cliff, and the high water mark on the north
side, corresponding pretty nearly with the line of St. Paul street.

"The ruins of 'Le Palais' and accessories since 1775 were several
times fitted up by the military authorities for stabling, fodder-
sheds, wash-house, military stores, caretaker's quarters, &c., &c.,
and the vaults were leased for storing ice, wines and other liquors,
and storage generally to the inhabitants of the city, and the roof was
shingled or otherwise covered in on several occasions by the
Government.

"In the great fire of St. Roch's (1845) the Fuel Yard, about four
acres in extent, with some hundreds of cords of wood piled there, and
a very large quantity of coals in a 'lean-to-shed' against the Palais
walls were consumed--the coals continued to burn and smoulder for
nearly _six months_,--and notwithstanding the solidity of the
masonry, as already described, portions of it, with the heat like a
fiery furnace, gave way. Upon this occasion an unfortunate woman and
two children were burned to death in the Fuel Yard. Great efforts were
made by Mr. Bailey, a commissariat officer, and Mr. Boswell, owner of
the brewery, to save the lives of the victims, but unfortunately
without success. These gentlemen, after their coats had been burned
off their backs, and the hair from their heads and eyebrows, had to
fly at last to save their own lives.

"On the withdrawal of the Imperial troops in 1870-71, the whole of 'Le
Palais' property was handed over to the Dominion Government.

"CHARLES WALKEM, "(Late R. E. Civil Service Staff in Canada.)
"Ottawa, 24th July, 1876."

Doubtless to the eyes of the "free and independent electors" of La Vacherie, in 1759, the Intendant's Palace seemed a species of "eighth wonder" The eighth wonder lost much of its _éclat_, however, by the inauguration of English rule, in 1759, but a total eclipse came over this imposing and majestic luminary when Guy Carleton's guns from the ramparts of Quebec began, in 1775, to thunder on its cupola and roof, which offered a shelter to Arnold's soldiery: the rabble of "shoemakers, hatters, blacksmiths and innkeepers," (says that savage old Tory, Colonel Henry Caldwell), bent on providing Canada with the blessings of Republicanism. A century and more has passed over the gorgeous Palace--now a dreary, moss- covered ruin, surrounded in rear by coarse grass, fallen stones: Bigot-- his wassailers,--the fair but frail Madame de Pean, like her prototype of Paris, Madame de Pompadour, have all fleeted to the land of shadows; and tourists, high and low, still crowd to glance meditatively at those fast fading traces of a guilty past. It was in October, 1879, the special privilege of the writer to escort to these ruins one of our Sovereign's gentle and accomplished daughters, H.R.H. the Princess Louise, accompanied by H.E. Lord Lorne, as he had done the previous autumn with regard to the learned Dean of Westminster, Revd. A. P. Stanley: proud he was to think that though Quebec had no such attractions like antique, like classic England,--turretted castles, moated granges, or even

"Old pheasant Lords,
"Partridge breeders of a thousand years,"

--its romantic past was not without pleasing or startling or interesting memories.

We have just mentioned "_La Vacherie_", this consisted of the extensive and moist pastures at the foot of _Coteau Sainte-Geneviève_, extending towards the General Hospital, where the city cows were grazed; on this site and gracing the handsome streets "Crown" "Craig" and "Desfossés," can now be seen elegant dry-goods stores, vying with the largest in the Upper Town. Had St. Peter street, in 1775, been provided with a regular way of communication with St. Roch; had St. Paul street then existed, the sun of progress would have shone there nearly a century earlier.

"For a considerable time past, several plans of amelioration of the City of Quebec," says the Abbé Ferland, "were proposed to the Ministry by M. de Meules. The absolute necessity of obtaining a desirable locality for the residence of the Intendant, and for holding the sessions of the Council; the Château St. Louis being hardly sufficient to afford suitable quarters for the Governor and the persons who formed his household. M. de Meules proposed purchasing a large stone building which M. Talon had caused to be erected for the purpose of a brewery, and which, for several years, had remained unoccupied. Placed in a very commodious position on the bank of the river St. Charles, and not many steps from the Upper Town, this edifice, with suitable repairs and additions, might furnish not alone a desirable residence for the Intendant, but also halls and offices for the Supreme Council and the Courts of Justice, as likewise vaults for the archives and a prison for the criminals. Adjacent to the old brewery, M. Talon owned an extent of land of about seventeen superficial acres, of which no use was made in M. de Meules' plan; a certain portion of this land could be reserved for the gardens and dependencies of the Intendant's Palace, whilst the remainder might be portioned off into building lots (_emplacements_), and thus convert it into a second lower town, and which might some day be extended to the foot of the Cape. He believed that if this plan were adopted, the new buildings of Quebec would extend in that direction, and not on the heights almost exclusively occupied by the Religious Communities. [129]

We perceive, according to Mr. Panet's Journal, that Saint Roch existed in 1759; that the women and children, residents of that quarter, were not wholly indifferent to the fate of their distressed country. "The same day (31st July, 1759)," says Panet, "we heard a great uproar in the St. Roch quarter--the women and children were shouting, 'Long Live the King!'" [130] "I ascended the height (on the _Coteau Ste. Geneviève_) and there beheld the first frigate all in a blaze, very shortly afterwards a black smoke issuing from the second, which blew up and afterwards took fire." On the 4th August several bomb-shells of 80 lbs. fell on St. Roch. We read, that on the 31st August, two soldiers were hanged at three o'clock in the afternoon, for having stolen a cask of brandy from the house of one Charland, in the St. Roch quarter. In those times the General (or _the Recorder_) did not do things by halves. Who was, this Charland of 1759? Could he be the same who, sixteen years afterwards, fought so stoutly with Lieut. Dambourgès at the Sault-au-Matelot engagement? Since the inauguration of the English domination, St. Roch became peopled in a most rapid manner, we now see there a net-work of streets, embracing in extent several leagues.

The first steep hill past the Y. M. C. Association Hall--formerly Gallows Hill, (where the luckless David McLane was disembowelled, in 1797, for levying war against the King of Great Britain), and leading from St. John street without to that not over-straight thoroughfare, named after the second Bishop of Quebec--St. Vallier street--borrows its name from Barthélémy Coton, who in days of yore closed his career in Quebec at the advanced age of 92 years. Can anyone tell us the pedigree of Barthélémy Coton? To the French portion of the inhabitants it is known as _Côte à Coton_, whilst the English portion still continue to surround it, unopportunely we think, with the unhallowed traditions of a lugubrious past and call it Gallows Hill. Côte à Coton debouches into St. Vallier street, which on your way takes you to Scott's Bridge, over the Little River St Charles. Across St. Vallier street it opens on a rather magnificent street as to extent--Baronne street,--commemorating the _souvenir_ of an illustrious family in colonial History, represented by Madame la Baronne de Longueuil, the widow of the third Baron, who had, in 1770, married the Honorable. Wm. Grant, the Receiver-General of the Province of Quebec, who lived at St. Rochs, and died there in 1805.

On M. P. Cousin's plan of Quebec, published in 1875, parallel to St. Vallier street to the south, and St. Fleurie street to the north, halfway between, is laid down Baronne street. The most ancient highway of the quarter (St. Roch) is probably St. Vallier street. "Desfossés" street most likely derives its name from the ditches (_fossés_) which served to drain the green pastures of _La Vacherie_. The old Bridge street dates from the end of the last century (1789). "Dorchester" street recalls the esteemed and popular administrator, Lord Dorchester, who, under the name of Guy Carleton, led on to victory the militia of Quebec in 1775.

"Craig" street received its name from Sir John Craig, a gouty, testy, but trusty old soldier, who administered the Government in 1807-9-10; it was enlarged and widened ten feet, after the great fire of 1845. The site of St. Paul's Market was acquired from the Royal Ordnance, on 31st July, 1831.

A former Quebecer writes:--

OTTAWA, 17th May, 1876.

"At the beginning of this century only eighty square-rigged vessels
entered the Port of Quebec. There were then in Quebec only nine
importers, and half a dozen master mechanics, one shipyard (John
Black's, where one ship was launched each year), one printing office
and one weekly paper.

"The tide then washed the rear walls of the houses on the north part
of Sault-au-Matelot street. The only deep water wharves were Dunières,
afterwards Brébaut's, Johnson & Purss', and the King's Wharf. There
were no dwelling houses beyond Dunières' Wharf, but a few huts were
built at the base of the cape. A black man was the solitary inhabitant
on the beach, and all the way to Sillery the woods extended to the
water's edge. A lease of this beach might then have been obtained for
£50 a year.

"In St. Roch's Suburbs there was no house beyond the Manor House near
the Intendant's Palace, save a few straggling ones in St. Vallier and
St. Roch's streets. The site of the present Parish of St. Roch was
mostly occupied by Grant's Mills, by meadows and farms.

"In St. John Suburbs there were only a few houses on St. John and St.
George's streets and St. Louis Suburbs which, in 1775, contributed but
three militia-men, viz--Jean Dobin, gardener, Jos. Proveau, carter,
and Jacques Dion, mason, could boast of only one house, and the
nearest one to it was Powell Place, Spencer Wood.

"On the St. Foy Road there was no house beyond the mineral well in St.
John Suburbs, until you came to the Haut Bijou--Mr. Stewart's. The
population of the city was then estimated at 12,000.

"I wonder if your friend Col. Strange is aware that his old friend
Sergt. Hugh McQuarters, of 1775 fame, was led captive to Hymen's altar
by the winning smiles and bright eyes of a _belle Canadienne_,
Mam'selle Victoire Fréchette. She died on the 12th October, 1812.

"Not having seen a copy of the address of Henri Taschereau, Esq., M.P.
before the Canadian Institute on the American Invasion of '75, I am
not aware if he alluded to the facet that Captain and Paymaster
Gabriel Elzéar Taschereau took part in the '_l'affaire du Sault-au-
Matelot_.'

"Thus, by degrees, you see some little odds and ends of Quebec history
are coming to light.

"I remain, "(Signed,) C. J. O'LEARY.

"J. M. LEMOINE, Esq."

In the present day the prolongation of the wharf has left no trace of it; the Station of the North Shore Railway covers a portion of this area.

"Church" street (la rue de l'Église), doubtless owes its name to the erection of the beautiful Saint Roch Church, towards 1812, the site of which was given by the late Honorable John Mure, who died in Scotland in 1823.

Saint Roch, like the Upper Town, comprises several _Fiefs_, proceeding from the _Fief_ of the Seminary and reaching as far as the Gas Wharf; the beaches with the right of fishing belonged originally to the _Hôtel-Dieu_ by a concession dated the 31st March, 1648, but they have since been conceded to others. The Crown possesses an important reserve towards the west of this grant; then comes the grant made, in 1814 or 1815, to the heirs of William Grant, now occupied by several ship-yards. Jacques Cartier who, in 1535-6, wintered in the vicinity of Saint Roch, left his name to an entire municipal division of this rich suburb, as well as to a spacious market hall. (The Jacques Cartier Market Hall.) The first secular priest, who landed in Quebec on the 8th August, 1634, and who closed his days in the Hôtel-Dieu on the 29th November, 1668, Jean le Sueur de Saint Sauveur, left his name to what now constitutes the populous municipality of Saint Sauveur. (Casgrain, _Historie de l'Hôtel-Dieu_, p. 81.)

On the spot on which the General Hospital Convent was erected, in 1691, the four first Franciscan Friars, Pères Jamay, D'Olbeau, LeCaron and Frère Pacifique Du Plessis, who had landed at Quebec on the 2nd June, 1615, soon set to work to erect the first Church, the first Convent and the first Seminary in New France, and on the 3rd June, 1620, Father d'Olbeau, in the absence of Father Jamay, the Superior of the Mission, placed the first stone of the church, under the name of _Notre Dame des Anges_, on the 25th May, 1625. This was on the bank of the river which Jacques Cartier had called the River Ste. Croix, because he had landed there on the 14th September, 1535, the day of the exaltation of the Holy Cross: the Friars changed the name to that of St. Charles, in honor of "Monsieur Charles de Boues, Grand Vicaire _de Pontoise_," one of the most distinguished benefactors of their Order.

St. Vallier street, leading to ancient and Indian Lorette, over the Little River Road, at present so well built up and echoing to the shrill whistle of the Q. M. O. & O. Railway, until a few years back was a lone thoroughfare, beyond the toll-bar, lined with bare, open meadows. Here, also, has been felt the march of progress.

In the genial summer months passers-by are admonished by a pungent, not unhealthy, odor of tannin, an effluvia of tamarac bark, that tanners and curriers have selected their head-quarters in St. Vallier street. History also lends its attractions to the venerable thoroughfare.

Our forefathers would tell of many cosy little dinners, closed, of course, with whist or loo--of many _recherché_ pic-nics in days of yore, kept up until the "sma' hours" at two renowned hostelries, only recently removed--the BLUE HOUSE and the RED HOUSE,--chiefly at that festive and crowning season of the year, when

"The snow, the beautiful snow,"

called forth the City Driving Club and its silvery, tinkling sleigh bells.

A steward--once famous as a caterer--on closing his term of service at the _Château_, with a departing Governor, more than a century back, was the Boniface at the Blue House: Alexandre Menut. A veritable Soyer was _Monsieur_ Menut. During the American invasion, in the autumn of 1775, Monsieur Menut, owing to a _vis major_, was forced to entertain a rather boisterous and wilful class of customers: Richard Montgomery and his warlike Continentals. More than once a well-aimed ball or shell from General Carleton's batteries in the city must have disturbed the good cheer of the New York and New England riflemen lounging about Menut's, a great rebel rendezvous in 1775-6, we are told, visible from afar, [131] "with its white flag flying on the house.

Arnold's head-quarters being close to the St. Charles, where Scott's Bridge was since built, the intervening space between the city and the General Hospital was daily swept by Carleton's artillery. The Page Diaries abound with details of the casualties or narrow escapes of the invading host. A few quotations will suffice:

"8th December, 1775. Mr. (Brigadier-General) Montgomery visited
Menut's to-day; a few minutes after he got out of the cariole, a
cannon ball from the city walls killed his horse.

"18th December. Some shells were thrown in to-day, and we threw some
into St. Roch's: very few of the enemy seen anywhere to-day. A man was
shot through the head from St. Roch; would it were destroyed; it
serves as a secure cover to the rebels.

"26th January, 1776. Eighty loaded sleighs passing towards Menut's.
Two field-pieces placed at the door; people passing and repassing
between that house and the General Hospital; some of our shots went
through Menut's house; we fired a long time at that object; at last we
perceived a man coming towards the town in a cariole, carrying the old
signal; he passed their guard-house and waved with his handkerchief;
we took no notice of him, but fired away at Menut's, he turned about
and went back. ... Perhaps, they find Menut's too hot for them.--
(_from Journal of an officer of the Quebec Garrison_, 1775-6,
quoted in Smith's History of Canada, Vol. II.)

"21st February, 1776. Fired at their guard-house and at Menut's.

"23rd February. About four this morning we heard the enemy's drum at
Menut's, St. Foix. Sentries saw rockets in the night."

Prince Edward street, St. Roch, and "Donnacona" street, near the Ursulines, the latter thus named about 1840 by the late Rev. Messire Maguire, then Almoner of the Ursuline Convent, bring up the memory of two important personages of the past, Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, an English Prince, and Donnacona, a swarthy chief of primitive Canada, who welcomed Jacques Cartier.

The vanquisher of Montcalm, General Wolfe, is honoured not only by a statue, at the corner of Palace and St. John's streets, but again by the street which bears his name, Wolfe street. In like manner, his illustrious rival Montcalm claims an entire section of the city, "Montcalm Ward." Can it be that the susceptible young Captain of the _Albemarle_, Horatio Nelson, carried on his flirtation with the captivating Miss Mary Simpson, in 1782, in the street which now rejoices in his name?

_NELSON IN QUEBEC_--1782.

"C'est l'amour qui fait le tour de la ronde."--OLD SONG.

"Though the "Ancient Capital," ever since 1764, rejoiced in an organ
of public opinion--a chronicle of daily events, fashions, city gossip,
the _Quebec Gazette_,--one would look in vain, in the barren columns
of that journal, for any intelligence of an incident, in 1782, which,
from the celebrity in after-life of the chief actor, and the local
repute of the reigning belle of the day, must have caused a flutter
among the F. F. Q. of the period. We mean the tender attachment of
Horatio (Lord) Nelson, commanding H. M. frigate _Albemarle_, 28 guns
then in port,--his romantic admiration for Miss Mary Simpson, the
youthful and accomplished daughter of Saunders Simpson (not "James,"
as Dr. Miles asserts), the cousin of James Thompson, Sr., one of
Wolfe's veterans. Traditions, venerable by their antiquity, told of
the charms divine, of the conquests of a marvellously handsome Quebec
beauty in the latter part of the last century: the _Catullus_ of 1783
thus begins his inspired lay in the _Quebec Gazette_ of that year:

'Sure you will rather listen to my call,
Since beauty and Quebec's fair nymphs I sing.
Henceforth Diana in Miss S--ps--n see,
As noble and majestic is her air;
Nor can fair Venus, W--lc--s, vie with thee,
Nor all thy heavenly charms with thee compare.'

"It was our fate first to attempt to unravel the tangles of this
attractive web. In the course of our readings, in 1865, our attention
had been drawn to a passage in the life of Nelson by the Laureate of
England, Robert Southey, [132] and enlarged on by Lamartine in the
pleasant sketch he gave of the naval hero. Our investigations were
aided by the happy memory of an old friend, now deceased: the late
Lt.-Col. John Sewell, who had served in the 49th under General Brock,
and whose birth was nearly contemporary with the visit of Nelson to
our port in September, 1782. It was evident the chief biographers of
the gifted sea captain ignored the details of his youthful attachment
on our shores.

"'At Quebec,' says Southey, 'Nelson became acquainted with Alexander
Davison, by whose interference he was prevented from making what would
have been called an imprudent marriage. The _Albemarle_ was about
to leave the station, her Captain had taken leave of his friends, and
was gone down the river to the place of anchorage; when the next
morning, as Davison was walking on the beach, to his surprise he saw
Nelson coming back in his boat. Upon inquiring the cause of his re-
appearance, Nelson took his arm to walk towards the town, and told him
he found it utterly impossible to leave Quebec without again seeing
the woman whose society contributed so much to his happiness, and then
and there offering her his hand.' 'If you do,' said his friend, 'your
utter ruin must inevitably follow.' 'Then, let it follow,' cried
Nelson; 'for I am resolved to do it.' 'And I,' replied Davison, 'am
resolved you shall not.' Nelson, however, on this occasion was less
resolved than his friend, and suffered himself to be led back to the
boat.'

"This led us to prepare a short 'Novelette' on the subject in the
_Revue Canadienne_, in 1867, subsequently incorporated in the _Maple
Leaves_: amended and corrected as new light dawned upon us in the
_Tourists' Note Book_, issued in 1876, and _Chronicles of the St.
Lawrence_, published in 1878.

"Whether it was Alexander Davison, his tried friend in afterlife, as
Southey suggests, or another Quebecer of note, in 1782, Matthew
Lymburner, as Lt.-Col. John Sewell, on the faith of Hon. William
Smith, the Historian of Canada, had stated to us, is of minor
importance: one thing is certain, some thoughtful friend, in 1782,
seems to have extricated the impulsive Horatio from the 'tangles of
Neaera's hair' in the port of Quebec: the hand of fate had marked the
future Captain of the _Victory_, not as the Romeo of a Canadian
Juliet, but as the paramour of Lady Emma Hamilton. Alas! for his fair
fame! It seems certain that the Commander of the _Albemarle_,
during his repeated visits to our port, in July, September and
October, 1782, became acquainted, possibly at some entertainment at
Freemason's Hall,--the 'Windsor' of the period--with 'sweet sixteen'
(he himself was but twenty-four) in the person of Miss Mary Simpson,
the blooming daughter of an old Highlandman, Sandy Simpson, a cousin
to Mr. James Thompson, then overseer of works, and father of the late
Judge John Gwalor Thompson, of Gaspé, and of late Com.-General James
Thompson, of Quebec. Sandy Simpson was an _habitué_ of this historical
and, for the period, vast old stone mansion where Captain Miles
Prentice, [133] as he had been styled in 1775, hung out, with good
cheer, the olive branch of Freemasonry and of loyalty to his
Sovereign. The _bonne société_ of Quebec, in 1782, was limited
indeed: and it was not probable the arrival from sea of one of H.M.'s
ships of war, the _Albemarle_, could escape the notice of the leading
men in Quebec.

"If the _Quebec Gazette_ of 1782 and _Quebec Herald_, published in
1789-90, contain no mention of this incident, several passages in the
correspondence [134] exchanged by the Thompson family with the early
love of Nelson, when she had become a stately London matron, as spouse
of Colonel Matthews, Governor of the Chelsea Hospital, throw light on
his previous career in Quebec.

"The question as to whether Nelson's charmer was Miss Prentice or her
cousin, Mary Simpson, which we submitted in the Tourists' Note Book in
1876 (see pages 26 and 36), we had considered as settled, in 1878, in
favour of Miss Simpson, as the following passage in the _Chronicles
of the St. Lawrence_ shows:

"Here anchored (Island of Orleans), it would seem, Nelson's sloop of
war, the _Albemarle_, in 1782, when the love-sick Horatio returned to
Quebec, for a last farewell from the blooming Miss Simpson, a daughter
of Sandy Simpson, one of Wolfe's Provost Marshals. Miss Simpson
afterwards married Colonel Matthews, Governor of the Chelsea
Pensioners, and died speaking tenderly of her first love, the hero of
Trafalgar.' (_Chronicles of the St. Lawrence_, p. 198.)

"This _éclaircissement_, as to dates, is not out of place, inasmuch as
one of our respected historians, Dr. Hy. Miles, in a scholarly
article, published March, 1879, three years after our mentioning Miss
Simpson, labours under the idea he was the first to give her name in
connection with Lord Nelson. Several inaccuracies occur in his
interesting essay. Miss Simpson is styled the daughter of 'James'
Simpson, whereas she was the daughter of Saunders Simpson, a cousin of
James Thompson, who had married a niece of Miles Prentice. In a foot
note appended to his essay the Doctor states that 'just before the
departure of our late popular Governor-General (Lord Dufferin), at a
breakfast at the Citadel, where His Excellency entertained the
Captains of the British war vessels _Bellerophon_ and _Sirius_ (he
means the _Argus_ and the _Sirius_), then in port, at which we were
present, the conversation having turned on former visits of commanders
of ships-of-war, when, Nelson's name being brought up, the Earl
remarked that Mr. LeMoine (then present) was able to afford some
information about him.' 'Mr. LeMoine,' adds Dr. Miles, 'at His
Excellency's request, related what he had previously written, much to
the satisfaction of his hearers.' Mr. LeMoine's account of the affair,
however, as it is based on the now exploded doctrine that the heroine
was one of the nieces of Mrs. Miles Prentice, was not, as has been
shown in the foregoing article, the correct one, however gratifying to
the distinguished listeners to its recital on that occasion.'

"As the correctness of the information we were asked to impart on this
occasion is impugned by the learned historian, we will, we hope, be
pardoned for setting this point at rest. Dr. Miles has committed some
egregious, though no doubt unintentional, error. The publication in
our _Tourist's Note Book_, in 1876, of the name of Miss Simpson,
in connection with Captain Nelson, three years before the appearance
of Dr. Miles' essay, which was published in March, 1879, and its
repetition, as previously shown, in the _Chronicles of the St.
Lawrence_, issued in the beginning of the year 1878, can leave no
doubt as to our knowledge of this incident, and disposes of the
Doctor's statement. The name furnished by us was that of Miss Simpson,
and no other. The breakfast in question took place on the 18th
October, 1878: there were present Lord Dufferin, Mrs. Russell
Stephenson, Mrs. J. T. Harrower, Very Rev. Dean Stanley, the Commander
of H.M.S. the _Sirius_, Capt. Sullivan, the Captain of H.M.S. the
_Argus_, Capt. Hamilton, A.D.C., and the writer."

Several streets in the St. Louis, St. John and St. Roch suburbs bear the names of eminent citizens who have, at different periods, made a free gift of the sites, or who, by their public spirit, have left behind them a cherished memory among the people, such as Berthelot, Massue, Boisseau, D'Artigny, Grey, Stewart, Lee, Buteau, Hudon, Smith, Salaberry, Scott, Tourangeau, Pozer [135], Panet, Bell, Robitaille, Ryland [136], St. Ours [137], Dambourgès [138]. Laval, Panet, Plessis, Séguin, Turgeon streets perpetuate the names of eminent Roman Catholic Bishops. Jerome street took this name from one of the ablest preceptors of youth the Quebec Seminary ever had--Messire Jerome Demers.

"Dorchester" Bridge was constructed in 1822, and took the place of the former bridge (Vieux Pont), on the street to the west, built by Asa Porter in 1789, and called after Lord Dorchester the saviour of Quebec. Saint Joseph street, St. Roch, was named after the eminent Roman Catholic prelate, Mgr. Joseph Octave Plessis, Bishop of Quebec, who, in 1811, built the church of St. Roch's suburbs, on land donated by a Presbyterian gentleman, John Mure, and dedicated it to St. Joseph, the patron saint of Canada. At one period it had a width of only twenty-five feet, and was widened to the extent of forty, through the liberality of certain persons. From the circumstance, the corporation was induced to continue it beyond the city limits up to the road which leads to Lorette, thereby rendering it the most useful and one of the handsomest streets of St. Roch.

At what period did the most spacious highway of the ward ("Crown" street, sixty feet in width), receive its baptismal name? Most assuredly it was previous to 1837, the democratic era of Papineau. "King" street, no doubt, recalls the reign of George III. So also does "Queen" street recall his royal Consort. The locality seems eminently favourable to monarchical belongings, to the House of Hanover in particular, judging from the names of several of its highways: _Crown, King, Queen, Victoria, Albert, Prince of Wales, Alfred, Arthur, Prince Edward,_ &c.

Towards the year 1815, the late Honorable John Richardson, of Montreal, conferred his name on the street which intersects the grounds which Sir James Craig had, on the 15th March, 1811, conceded to him as Curator to the vacant estate of the late Hon. William Grant, [139] whose name is likewise bequeathed to a street adjacent, Grant street, while his lady, La Baronne de Longueuil, is remembered in the adjoining thoroughfare which intersects it. A Mr. Henderson, [140] about the commencement of the present century, possessed grounds in the vicinity of the present Gas Works, hence we have "Henderson" street. The Gas Company's wharf is built on the site of the old jetty of which we have seen mention made, about 1720. This long pier was composed of large boulders heaped one upon the other, and served the purpose of sheltering the landing place at the Palais harbour from the north-east winds. In 1750, Colonel Bouchette says, it served as a public promenade, and was covered by a public platform.

Ramsay street, parallel with Henderson street, leads from St. Paul street to Orleans Place, _Place d'Orléans_, recalling the Bourbon era, prior to 1759, and also the last French Commander of Quebec, Jean Bte. Nicholas Roche deRamezay. The historic Château deRamezay, on Notre Dame street, Montreal, now threatened with destruction, attests the sojourn in New France of a scion of the proud old Scotch house of Ramsay.--(_Montreal Gazette, 3rd Feb._, 1881.)

THE HARBOUR DOCKS

One of the most active promoters of this hopeful scheme, in recent times, was the Hon. Mr. Justice C. J. Tessier, when a member of the Corporation about 1850. A plan of the Harbour Works which he suggested was submitted to the Council. Nothing, however, was then done. The Legislature eventually assigned the work to the Harbour Commission Trust. The dredging commenced on May 2nd, 1877.

"The progress made with our Harbour Improvements, year by year, forms
part of the history of our times, so far, at least, as the annals of
this most ancient city of Quebec are concerned. The first stone of the
Graving Dock at Levis was laid on Monday, the 7th June, 1880, by His
Excellency the Governor-General, and the tablet stone, with the name
of "Louise" graven on it, on Thursday, the 29th of July. Thenceforth
the Harbour Works in the River St. Charles became "The Princess Louise
Embankment and Docks," and the work in progress on the Levis or south
side of the St. Lawrence "The Lorne Graving Dock," thus naming the
entrance approaches to our cliff-bound city after our present popular
Vice-Regal rulers."

To the address presented to His Excellency the Governor-General on this occasion, the following reply was made:--

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE BOARD OF THE QUEBEC HARBOUR
COMMISSIONERS,--It is with a full sympathy for you in the hopes which
have guided you to the construction of this great work that the
Princess comes to-day to lay this stone, commemorating an important
stage in the completion of your labours. She desires that her name,
graven on this wall, shall serve to remind your citizens, as well as
all who profit by the excellence of the accommodation here given to
vessels of great burden, of her interest in your fortunes, and of her
association with you in the speeding of an undertaking designed to
benefit at once a great port of the new world and many of the
communities of Europe.

Access to Quebec is easy now to the largest ocean-going vessels. Tour
city has the railways far advanced, which will pierce to the heart of
the granary of the world--the great wheat centres of the Canadian
North-West. The very might and grandeur of the stream on which Quebec
is built is in her favour as compared with other centres of commerce,
for her visitors have but little tax to pay when a favouring wind
fails them, while steam must be employed against the strong currents
of the upper river.