AT THE CLOSE OF THE FRENCH PERIOD IN CANADA


When the flag of France departed from Canada, it left a people destined
to find under the new rule a fuller freedom, an ampler political
development, a far more abundant prosperity. It left a people destined
to honour their new allegiance by loyalty and heroic service in the hour
of trial.

This people, which thus became British by a campaign and a treaty, was
destined to form the solid core around which should grow the vast
Confederation of Canada. But for them there would now, in all
likelihood, be no Canada. By their rejection of the proposals of the
revolted colonies, the northern half of this continent was preserved to
Great Britain. The debt which the empire owes to the French Canadians is
immeasurably greater than we at present realize. Let us examine the
characteristics of the small and isolated people which was to exercise
such a deep influence on the future of this continent.

The whole population of Canada when she came under the British flag was
about sixty thousand. This hardy handful was gathered chiefly at Quebec,
Three Rivers, and Montreal. The rest trailed thinly along the shores of
the St. Lawrence and the Richelieu. The lands about the Great Lakes, and
the western country, were held only by a few scattered forts, buried
here and there in the green wilderness. At Detroit had sprung up a
scanty settlement of perhaps one thousand souls. In these remote posts
the all-important question was still that of the fur-trade with the
Indians. The traders and the soldiers, cut off from civilization,
frequently took wives from the Indian tribes about them, and settled