Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.06.1967, Blaðsíða 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.06.1967, Blaðsíða 3
LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 1. JÚNÍ 1967 3 The first Brilish Flag on Norlh America. — It was in 1497 that John Cabol, a Venetian adventurer in the service of Henry VII of England, landed on the shores of Cape Breton, unfurled the Cross of St. George England. — From painting by J. D. Kelly for the Confederalion Life Colleciion. discovered country, lest the “infants of Satan,” the Luther- ans, come into possession of it. Here is in part, the text of a letter which he wrote to Fran- cis the First, the most Christ- ian King of France: “As the sun rises every day in the east, and sets in the west, goes around and makes a circuit of the earth, giving light and heat to everyone, so our holy faith, first planted in the east, at length came to the west of Europe. . . . We have seen this most holy faith of ours struggle against wicked heretics and false law- makers. . . . Even now at present, we see how the wicked Lutherans, aposta- tes and imitators of Maho- met, from day to day strive to cloud it over, and finally to put it out altogether, if God, and the true members of the same did not guard against this with capital punishment, as one sees daily by the good regula- tions you have instituted throughout your territories and kingdom. Likewise, also, one sees the princes of Christendom and the pil- lars of the Catholic Church unlike the above, infants of Satan, striving day by day to enlarge the same.” The Reformation was young then, and religious tolerance an unknown concept in Fran- ce, even as it is in Spain to- day. Cartier attempted to plant settlements in what we call the Maritime provinces, but known to the French as Aca- dia, and in the St. Lawrence Valley. It was not until the year 1608 however, that the St. Lawrence colony was firmly established under the leadership of Samuel de Champlain, who is regarded as the founder of the City of Quebec, and the first French colony in the new world. He also established a trading post in Montreal. His activities during the first two decades in the seventeenth century left an indelible impression upon the fortunes of French Can- ada. Champlain appears to have been more of an explorer than a politician. At least he made, what later appeared to be, a mistake by committing the French to an alliance with Algonquin and Huron Indians, against the more powerful confederacy of the Iroquois, who thus became allies of the British, both in war and in the fur trade. To this alliance is due in some measure at least, the failure of the French to hold their empire in North America. But the French made extensive claims to North America; they declared the en- tire region from the Maritimes west to Lake Superior was theirs, as well as the eastern part of what is now the United States, from the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1663, Louis the XIV made Canada a royal province, with a governor responsible to the crown. No attempt was made at representative government, nor was any Huguenot, nor heretic permitted to settle. Emigration from France was encouraged. Sturdy French peasants came over in large numbers. They brought with them the traditional system of land grants and tenure, which was used among the French in Canada until 1854, when it was discontinued by law. The next two centuries saw an incessant struggle between the English and the French for possession and control of the North American continent. In the long run France did not have the resources to cope with the British in America. British command of the coast- al waters was of great advan- tage to them. Finally, the long standing rivalry for con- trol of the continent was brought to a close with the Seven Years’ War, and the Treaty of Paris in 1763, which ended French territorial am- bitions for good and all, and turned all of Canada over to England. FRENCH CONCESSIONS But the Treaty of Paris gave France some important con- cessions and privileges. She was permitted to retain two groups of islands off the south coast of Newfoundland, St. Pierre and Miquelon, “to serve as shelter for the French fishermen.” Another provision was of much greater impor- tance: that the King of Britain “agreed to grant the liberty of the Catholic religion to the in- habitants of Canada,” and to allow them “to profess their worship of their religion ac- cording to the rites of the Romish church, as far as the laws of the Great Britain per- mit.” This regulation had refe- rence primarily to the inhabi- tants of the St. Lawrence Val- ley, which was already held by the French, and which now was made into the Province of Quebec. The Quebec Act, pas- sed by the British Parliament in 1774 superseded the Royal Proclamation of 1763 as the constitution of the Province was changed and far reaching innovations were introduced. The boundaries of the colony were extended westward and southward to include what be- came the Northwest territory, and the Ohio valley. The Ro- man Catholic religion of the subjects was officially recog- nized, and the church was per- mitted to collect its accus- tomed dues. French civil law was substituted for English civil law. Both the French law and the Roman Church have helped to perpetuate the French language and culture in Quebec, and to seriously impede the process of angli- cization in the province. In- stead of winning the loyalty of the French, which doubt- less was the objective aimed at by the Quebec Act, it has served to alienate the French population from their Cana- dian compatriots, even to the extent of creating a nation within the nation. THE LOYALISTS At the close of the American revolutionary war, and the independence of the thirteen American colonies, great many people, moved to Nova Scotia and Quebec out of loyalty to the British crown. Those who settled in Nova Scotia were refused adequate representation in the Provin- cial Assembly, and, therefore, petitioned for a separate gov- ernment. The Province of New Brunswick was formed for them in 1782, by cutting a slice out of Nova Scotia. Other groups of loyalists settled in upper Quebec, in the vicinity of Lake Ontario. Differences in language and religious practices made co-existence difficult for these people. Finally, Quebec was divided by the so-called Constitutional Act of 1791. The French speaking part became Lower Canada, while the so-called “Upper-Canada” b e c a m e English speaking. EXPANSION AND UNION The War of 1812 is one of the curious pathetic episodes of history. Actually it was a war between the United States and Great Britain, but was fought on Canadian soil. The war was brought about by inept diplomacy and an ir- responsible king. Actually the cause of the war had been removed two days before it commenced, but in those days there was no trans-Atlantic telegraph, and news travelled slowly. Both Canada and Un- ited States claim to have won the war, but neither did. After much senseless slaughter, the war was brought to a close with the Peace of Ghent, December 24th, 1814. Pecu- liarly enough, none of the al- leged causes of the war were mentioned in the peace terms, and both sides accepted the status quo ante bellum as the basis of peace. But while the war did not result in any ter- ritorial acquisition for Canada, it became the first common venture of the four unrelated provinces, and thus brought about a new sense of solidarity and unity unknown among Canadians up to that time. At the same time the exploration of the North-west, the prai- ries, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific Coast by McKen- zie, and Vancouver, gave the first glimpse of a national do- main. Lord Selkirk founded the Red River settlement, thus beginning the Province of Manitoba in 1812. Immigration commenced on a large scale, and a political unity of the country was envisaged. Lord Durham’s recommendations laid before the British Parlia- ment in 1831 led to the union of the Canadas in 1841, intro- duction of responsible govern- ment, and the growth of Ca- nadian national feeling. Even- tually, this led to Confedera- tion. Again, fear of the United States, facilitated the political unity of the Canadian people. Now it was the fear of becom- ing involved in the Civil War. A convention was held in Que- bec in which delegates from all the provinces were invited. A set of resolutions was adop- ted which served as a basis for the North America Act of 1867. By this Act, the pro- vinces of Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were formally con- federated into The Dominion of Canada. Upper Canada became On- tario, and lower Canada took the name of Quebec. Bytown, on the Ottawa river, became Ottawa, the Dominion capital. The anniversary of the Fede- ration is called Dominion Day (July lst). The various other provinces entered Confedera- tion on dates as follows: Al- berta, 1905; British Columbia, 1871; Manitoba, 1870; Prince Edward Island, 1873; Saskat- chewan, 1905; Newfoundland, 1948. Two events helped to adver- tize and open the western part of Canada, the prairies, and the Pacific Coast to the world and bring wave after wave of immigrants in the middle and last part of the last century. The first of these was the so- called Riel Rebellion, involv- ing a French Canadian by that name, who allowed him- self to be chosen a leader by the Indians and half-breeds of the western prairies. The trouble arose from the fear of the half-breeds that their rights to their land hold- ing would be disregarded with the influx of the white men from the east, — a fear which indeed was well founded. Riel made two attempts to stem the tide of white and protes- tant immigration to the west. Both failed, and subsequent to the latter effort, he was condemned to death and hang- ed. This made him a hero among the French and the Metis. A tremendous monu- ment adorns his grave in the ehurchyard of St. Boniface The discovery of Canada. — In 1534, a French expedition under Jacques Cartier a seaman of St. Malo, sent oui by Francis I, King of France, enlered the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He planted a cross at Gaspe and returned to France. The picture shows Carlier at Perce Rock. — From a painling by J. D. Kelly for íhe Confederation Life Collection.

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