CHAPTER XLIV

CANADIAN HISTORY [Sidenote: “Young” Rivers and Lakes] All the world thinks of Canada as the youngest of countries, for the extraordinary rapidity with which her western territory has been developed within recent years surpasses every other record of agricultural expansion. But in order to realize how young Canada is, in another sense, one must examine the less familiar facts of her geological history. “The innumerable lakes and waterfalls,” says the Britannica (Vol. 5, p. 143), prove “that the rivers have not been long at work,” and that the country owes its contours to comparatively recent geological action. “In many cases the lakes of Canada simply spill over, at the lowest point, from one basin into the next below, since in so young a country there has not yet been time for the rivers to have carved wide valleys.... Thousands of these lakes have been mapped; and every new survey brings to light small lakes hitherto unknown to the white man.... For the great extent of lake-filled country there is no comparison” in any part of the world. And because the rivers have not yet worn their beds to an even slope, there are waterfalls enough to provide unlimited horse power; so that the natural advantages of Canada invite manufacturing just as the fertility of her soil invites agriculture. The geographical and geological portions of the article CANADA (Vol. 5, p. 142) must be carefully read in order that the significance of the historical account of the country may be fully grasped; and the same is true of those parts of the article which deal with agriculture and with the commerce of which the first developments were associated with early exploration. There is ample and authoritative information on all these subjects in the article, which is equivalent in length to 85 pages of this Guide. The sections and their contributors are: _Geography_, by Prof. A. P. Coleman, Toronto University; _Population_, _Commerce_, etc., by Prof. W. L. Grant, Queens University, Kingston; _Agriculture_, by E. H. Godfrey, editor of Census and Statistics Office, Department of Agriculture, Ottawa; _History_—to the Federation by G. M. Wrong, University of Toronto, and after the Federation by G. R. Parkin, author of _Imperial Federation_ and _Life of Sir John Macdonald_, etc., and _Literature_—English-Canadian, by L. J. Burpee, author of _The Search for the Western Sea_, and French-Canadian by William Wood, author of _The Fight for Canada_. [Sidenote: Exploration and Settlement] On the early history of Canada the student should compare what is given in this Guide on the early history of America in general and especially the following articles: LEIF ERICSSON (Vol. 16, p. 396); VINLAND (Vol. 28, p. 98), by Prof. Julius Emil Olson, University of Wisconsin; JOHN CABOT (Vol. 4, p. 921); and JACQUES CARTIER (Vol. 5, p. 433), both by H. P. Biggar, author of _The Voyages of the Cabots to Greenland_; SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN (Vol. 5, p. 830), by N. E. Dionne, librarian of the Legislature of the Province of Quebec and biographer of Champlain; JACQUES MARQUETTE (Vol. 17, p. 752); SIEUR DE LA SALLE (Vol. 16, p. 230), by Charles C. Whinery, assistant-editor Encyclopaedia Britannica; FRONTENAC (Vol. 11, p. 249), by A. G. Doughty, Dominion archivist of Canada; LOUISBURG; DETROIT; SAULT STE. MARIE; MACKINAC ISLAND; PITTSBURG; NOVA SCOTIA, _History_; SEVEN YEARS’ WAR (Vol. 24, especially page 722); QUEBEC; MONTCALM and WOLFE. [Sidenote: The War Periods] The close of the Seven Years’ War saw New France ceded to Great Britain. On English rule down to Canadian Federation, the student should consult the following articles: QUEBEC ACT; JAMES MURRAY; AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE—and particularly the articles on MONTGOMERY and ARNOLD, leaders in the nearly successful attempt of the Americans to capture Canada, and that on the 1st Baron DORCHESTER, the British defender of Quebec; JOHN GRAVES SIMCOE; LOYALISTS—and the articles NEW BRUNSWICK and ONTARIO, both regions largely influenced by the settlement there of these Loyalists; AMERICAN WAR OF 1812—and especially the articles ISAAC BROCK, by Prof. W. L. Grant, Queens University, Kingston; ERIE, OLIVER H. PERRY, SACKETT’S HARBOR, TECUMSEH, LAKE CHAMPLAIN (Vol. 5, p. 830); FORT NIAGARA (Vol. 19, p. 634); JOHN STRACHAN; PAPINEAU and W. L. MACKENZIE for the two revolts of 1837; LORD DURHAM; LORD SYDENHAM; ROBERT BALDWIN and SIR LOUIS LAFONTAINE, heads of the first Liberal administrations; EARL ELGIN (Vol. 9, p. 268); SIR A. A. DORION; JOHN SANDFIELD MACDONALD, “the Ishmael of Parliament”; SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON, head of the Tory “Family Compact”; and, for Irish-American outrages on the Canadian border, the article FENIANS. [Sidenote: Federation and Since] On the period since federation (1867), see the article FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (Vol. 10, p. 233) for a general description of this form of administration; the articles NOVA SCOTIA, ALFRED GILPIN JONES and JOSEPH HOWE, for local opposition to federation; SIR CHARLES TUPPER, who alone in the delegation from Nova Scotia favoured federation; THOMAS D’ARCY MCGEE (by A. G. Doughty), a prominent opponent of Fenianism who was assassinated by a Fenian; the articles HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY and SIR G. E. CARTIER, by Prof. W. L. Grant, Queens University, Kingston, for the extinction of the Hudson’s Bay Company claims and the transfer of its territories to the government; LOUIS RIEL for the Red River Rebellion; PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND for its entrance into the Dominion; GEORGE BROWN, a prominent advocate of federation, by Prof. Grant; GEORGE MONRO GRANT, author of _Ocean to Ocean_; SIR JOHN MACDONALD, by G. R. Parkin, author of _Imperial Federation_, and biographer of Macdonald; SIR FRANCIS HINCKS and SIR ALEXANDER GALT, financiers; SIR HUGH ALLAN and SIR DAVID MACPHERSON, for the Canadian Pacific Railway question; _Lord Dufferin_; _Alexander Mackenzie_, head of a Liberal government from 1873 to 1878 when SIR JOHN MACDONALD returned to power on a platform calling for protection of Canadian industries; GEORGE TAYLOR DENISON, founder of the “Canada First” party; SIR SAMUEL LEONARD TILLEY, Macdonald’s minister of finance, who was principally responsible for the tariff of 1879; _Sir Louis Henry Davies_, Liberal politician and jurist; _Lord Strathcona_, by Prof. W. L. Grant, BARON MOUNTSTEPHEN, SIR WILLIAM C. VAN HORNE and SIR SANDFORD FLEMING for the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway; LOUIS RIEL for the Second Riel Rebellion; SIR JOHN THOMPSON; GEORGE EULAS FOSTER; SIR H. G. JOLY DE LOTBINIÈRE; HONORÉ MERCIER, the French leader of Quebec; S. N. PARENT; SIR MACKENZIE BOWELL, premier in 1894–1896; his successor, _Sir Charles Tupper_; EDWARD BLAKE, a Liberal leader who in 1892 left Canadian politics to take a seat in the British House of Commons; SIR OLIVER MOWAT, Blake’s successor as premier of Ontario; GEORGE WILLIAM ROSS; SIR DANIEL WILSON, educational reformer, by Professor Grant; SIR WILFRID LAURIER (by J. S. Willison, author of _Sir W. Laurier and the Liberal Party: A Political History_), the great Liberal leader of the last decade, and Laurier’s ministers of finance, _Sir Richard John Cartwright_ and _W. S. Fielding_, and his minister of militia SIR FREDERICK WILLIAM BORDEN; SIR WILLIAM MULOCK; and ROBERT L. BORDEN, long leader of the Conservative opposition and premier in 1911.