A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs | Page 2

room at the top of the house.

These I was allowed to see. This task, too, was of great interest and I
spent the better part of a summer holiday reading, analyzing, and
copying letters. Some of them told of the schoolboy days, in Edinburgh,
of the old Colonel's son and heir, the second seigneur, of this son's life
at Gibraltar at the time when Trafalgar was fought, of his return to
Canada, of campaigns in the war of 1812. Then there were touching
letters from others to tell how he fell at the battle of Crysler's Farm. So
intimate were the letters that one experienced again the hopes and fears
of more than a century ago. In time, out of the dimness in which all had
been shrouded, Murray Bay's history became clear. Of course one had
to seek some information elsewhere, especially in attempting an
analysis of French Canadian village life. But the story told in this
volume is based chiefly on the papers read during that holiday. Not
only did they enable one to reconstruct the story of a spot made almost
sacred by the joys of many a delightful summer; they furnished, besides,
an outline of the tragic history of a Canadian family. Here at Murray
Bay, a century and a half ago, a brave and distinguished British officer
secured a great estate and made his home. In his letters we read almost
from day to day of his plans. He had a strong heart and a deep faith. He
reared a large family and built not merely for himself but for his
posterity. And yet, just one hundred years after he began his work at
Murray Bay, the last of his descendants was laid in the grave and the
family became extinct. It is the fashion of our modern fiction to end the
tale in sorrow not in joy. Perhaps the fashion has a more real basis in
fact than we like to think. At any rate this true story of the seigneur of
Murray Bay ends with the closed record of his family history on a
granite monument in Quebec. There is no one living for whom the tale
has the special interest that attaches to one's ancestors.
I have received help from many but my deepest obligation is to Mr. E.J.
Duggan, the present seigneur of Murray Bay, for his great kindness in
permitting me to use the letters and papers in the Manor House. I owe
much to the Right Honourable Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, who has taught
me, in many holiday outings, most of what appreciation I have learned
for French Canadian village life, and has corrected errors into which I
should otherwise have fallen. So also have Mr. W.H. Blake, K.C., of
Toronto, a good authority on all that concerns life at Murray Bay, and

M. J.-Edmond Roy, Assistant Archivist at Ottawa, whose "Histoire de
la Seigneurie de Lauzon" and many other works relating to the
Province of Quebec entitle him to the rank of its foremost historical
scholar. To another authority on the seigniorial system in Canada,
Professor W. Bennett Munro, of Harvard University, I am much
indebted for information readily given. My colleagues Professor W.J.
Alexander, Ph.D., of University College, and Professor Pelham Edgar,
Ph.D., of Victoria College, Toronto, have given me the benefit of their
discriminating criticism. Dr. A.G. Doughty, C.M.G., Dominion
Archivist, and the Rev. Abbé A.E. Gosselin of Laval University, have
responded with unfailing courtesy to my numerous calls upon them,
and Mr. John Fraser Reeve, the great-grandson of Colonel Malcolm
Fraser, who figures so prominently in the story, has given me
invaluable information about the Fraser family. Dr. J.M. Harper and M.
P.-B. Casgrain, of Quebec, and Mr. A.C. Casselman, of Toronto, have
also aided me on some difficult points. To the Honourable Edward
Blake, K.C., of Toronto, I am indebted for reproductions of some of his
paintings of scenes at Murray Bay, and to the Honourable Dudley
Murray, of London, England, for a photograph of the portrait of
General Murray preserved in the General's family.
Toronto, _July, 1908_.

CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
THE FOUNDING OF MALBAIE
The situation of Malbaie.--The physical features of Malbaie.--Jacques
Cartier at Malbaie.--Champlain at Malbaie.--The first seigneur of
Malbaie.--A new policy for settling Canada.--The Sieur de Comporté,
seigneur of Malbaie, sentenced to death in France.--His career in
Canada.--His plans for Malbaie.--Hazeur, Seigneur of

Malbaie.--Malbaie becomes a King's Post.--A Jesuit's description of
Malbaie in 1750.--The burning of Malbaie by the British in 1759. 1
CHAPTER II
THE TWO HIGHLAND SEIGNEURS AT MALBAIE
Pitt's use of Highlanders in the Seven Years' War.--The origin of
Fraser's Highlanders.--The career of Lord Lovat.--Lovat's son Simon
Fraser and other Frasers at Quebec.--Malcolm Fraser and John Nairne
future seigneurs of Malbaie.--The Highlanders and Wolfe's
victory.--The Highlanders in the winter