industrious emigrants, particularly of the agricultural classes. The tenant-farmer could at once become his own landlord with the capital required simply to stock a farm in England; and the farm-labourer may, with a few years of thrifty industry, attain to a practically independent position. The other classes to whom the Province offers great inducements are families possessed of independent, though limited, incomes. These would find cheap living, cheap education, and great facilities for starting their children in useful careers. To the British capitalist desirous of engaging in mining, manufacturing enterprises, or industrial undertakings of any kind, or of obtaining simply an increased return from investments, Ontario offers a great variety of good opportunities for the profitable use of money.

Female domestics are in much request in all parts of the Province at good wages. There is, however, no special demand at the present time for any other class of working-people who are solely dependent on their own labour for the means of subsistence.

Pamphlets containing full information regarding Ontario can be obtained on application to the Ontario Government Agency, 9 James Street, Liverpool.

THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC

BY HARRISON WATSON

(Curator for the Dominion of Canada at the Imperial Institute)

It might be considered somewhat of an anomaly that a considerable portion of a paper, forming part of a course which avowedly treats of the British Empire, should be devoted to the history of a colony under the rule of a foreign power.

The country about which I propose to speak this afternoon-the Province of Quebec-was, as everybody is doubtlessly aware, for over two hundred years a French possession. A glance at some of the main incidents of this French occupation affords the only means of explaining the reason why, after an interval of nearly a hundred and forty years, Quebec remains, both as regards its inhabitants and its institutions, to a very large extent essentially a French-Canadian province.

The space at my disposal prevents my doing anything like justice to the series of stirring struggles against terrible hardships and the many acts of personal bravery which form the earlier history of the country. To those persons who are accustomed to regard colonial history as a commonplace, if meritorious, record of commercial development and comparative statistics, the perusal of the admirable works of Francis Parkınan would cause considerable surprise.

They will then understand the fascination which the quaintly romantic story of New France, with its strange blending of the old régime and the wild

influences of the great unknown land, has commenced to exercise upon a modern school of picturesque writers. It is perhaps hardly surprising that the most distinguished of these should be a Canadian, Gilbert Parker, whose works at the moment command great popularity.

The history of Canada, its gigantic failure under French rule, and its subsequent almost equal prosperity when associated with British institutions, is perhaps the best example that can be shown of the superiority of British methods of colonisation.

An almost equally remarkable object lesson is provided by the present condition of Quebec. There the descendants of the two rival powers which, under Wolfe and Montcalm, struggled at the Gibraltar of America for the supremacy of the new world, now dwell peacefully side by side, each retaining the characteristics of distinct races, but united in interests and objects.

The discoveries of Columbus and John Cabot awakened the enterprise of the French, and Jacques Cartier, a native of St. Malo, sailing through the Strait of Belle Isle and past Newfoundland-visited thirtyseven years before by Cabot-on 1st July 1534, entered a large bay, which, on account of the extreme heat of the day, he named Baie des Chaleurs. Landing at the rocky headland of Gaspé, Cartier erected a wooden cross inscribed with the lily of France, and formally took possession of the new land in the name of his master, Francis I. The following year he returned to Canada with three vessels equipped by the king, and boldly navigated the mighty St. Lawrence until he reached the river now known as St. Charles, and under the rocky promontory which was later to be crowned by the city of Quebec, found the Indian village of Stadacona. Here he dropped anchor on 7th September, and was promptly visited by the Algonquin chief,

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Donnacona, accompanied by 500 of his followers. red men received the new-comers with natural curiosity, but were friendly. Further exploration meant wintering in the unknown country, but Cartier pushed on to the foot of the tremendous rapids, where, nestling below the height to which he gave the name of Mont Royal, was discovered the Indian settlement of Hochelaga. Here, later on, was to rise the prosperous and beautiful city of Montreal. The winter turned out to be most severe, and having neither adequate clothing nor provisions, the little band suffered intensely from cold and disease, many succumbing. The remnant, when returning to France in the spring, were guilty of an act of treachery towards the Indians which laid the foundation of much future trouble. Donnacona and nine of the chiefs were captured and conveyed to France, where they were baptized into the Roman Catholic faith. A third voyage of Cartier's, in conjunction with Roberval, for the purpose of colonisation, proved unsuccessful, and fifty years later several other attempts made all ended in disaster.

The magnetic attractions of the fur-trade were principally responsible for the settlement eventually effected at Quebio or Quebec by Samuel Champlain, a man whose name is indissolubly connected with the history of Canada, for up till the end of the eighteenth century the history of Quebec is the history of Canada. Champlain was a hero of the mediaval type. To chivalric courage and romantic enterprise he added intense religious enthusiasm. Winning the confidence of the Indians, he, with their assistance, carried out successive explorations which, under the circumstances, can be regarded as little short of marvellous. His principal achievement was the discovery of the great Lakes, which he attained by ascending the Ottawa, subsequently returning down the St. Lawrence, overcoming tremendous natural obstacles, in addition to

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having to undergo most terrible privations. nominal control of New France was an association of merchants, who now early in the career of the country exhibited the fatal defects which checked its development. The pursuit of the fur-trade was their sole object of interest. As to the colonisation and development of the huge and fertile territory handed over to them by their charter, they cared absolutely nothing. Champlain's activity and enthusiasm, however, attracted assistance in other quarters, and perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the period was the inauguration of the mission work, which was to be the story of the country for the succeeding fifty years, and the advent to Canada of the Jesuit fathers, who were to play so important a part in the future of the colony. Despite Champlain's zeal and energy, New France made but feeble progress, and at his death in 1635, the entire colony consisted of but 250 persons and a few primitive houses and barricades at Quebec, and scattered huts upon the St. Lawrence.

We now reach the most romantic period in the chequered career of the struggling nation. Despite his honesty and diplomacy, Champlain had, in order to effect his purposes, been obliged to invoke the aid of the friendly Indians. The Hurons and Algonquins had even been induced to accept Christianity, although it is to be feared that the alliance of the white man rather than any spiritual benefit dictated their action. This alliance aroused the fierce resentment of other tribes, particularly the bloodthirsty Iroquois, whose fiendish cruelty was for years to come centred upon the destruction of the invaders. From the death of Champlain up to 1663, although the rule of the 100 Associates continued, the true control of the country lay in the hands of the Jesuits. For the dreadful history of that period we are mainly indebted to the quaint relations which the Jesuit fathers sent home