Picturesque Quebec | Page 3

back to an era nearly
coeval with the discovery of the continent by Columbus--much anterior
to the foundation of Jamestown, in 1607--anterior to that of St
Augustine, in Florida. Quebec, has, then, a right to call herself an old, a
very old, city of the west.

The colonization of Canada, or, as it was formerly called, New France,
was undertaken by French merchants engaged in the fur trade, close on
whose steps followed a host of devoted missionaries who found, in the
forests of this new and attractive country, ample scope for the exercise
of their religious enthusiasm. It was at Quebec that these Christian
heroes landed, from hence they started for the forest primeval, the
bearers of the olive branch of Christianity, an unfailing token of
civilization.
A fatal mistake committed at the outset by the French commanders, in
taking sides in the Indian wars, more than once brought the incipient
colony to the verge of ruin. During these periods, scores of devoted
missionaries fell under the scalping knife or suffered incredible tortures
amongst the merciless savages whom they had come to reclaim. Indian
massacres became so frequent, so appalling, that on several occasions
the French thought seriously of giving up the colony forever. The
rivalry between France and England, added to the hardships and
dangers of the few hardy colonists established at Quebec. Its environs,
the shores of its noble river, more than once became the battle-field of
European armies. These are periods of strife, happily gone by, we hope,
forever.
In his "Pioneers of France in the New World," the gifted Francis
Parkman mournfully reviews the vanished glories of old France in her
former vast dominions in America:--
"The French dominion is a memory of the past; and when we evoke its
departed shades, they rise upon us from their graves in strange romantic
guise. Again their ghostly camp-fires seem to burn, and the fitful light
is cast around on lord and vassal and black robed priest, mingled with
wild forms of savage warriors, knit in close fellowship on the same
stern errand. A boundless vision grows upon us: an untamed continent,
vast wastes of forest verdure, mountains silent in primeval sleep; river,
lake, and glimmering pool; wilderness oceans mingling with the sky.
Such was the domain which France conquered for civilization. Plumed
helmets gleamed in the shade of its forests; priestly vestments in its
dens and fastnesses of ancient barbarism. Men steeped in antique

learning, pale with the close breath of the cloister, here spent the noon
and evening of their lives, ruled savage hordes with a mild, parental
sway, and stood serene before the direst shapes of death. Men of a
courtly nurture, heirs to the polish of a far-reaching ancestry, here, with
their dauntless hardihood, put to shame the boldest sons of toil."
Of all this mighty empire of the past, Quebec was the undisputed
capital, the fortress, the keystone.
It would be a curious study to place in juxtaposition the impressions
produced on Tourists by the view of Quebec and its environs--from the
era of Jacques Cartier, the discoverer of Canada, down to that of the
Earl of Dufferin, one of its truest friends.
Champlain, La Potherie, La Houtan, Le Beau, Du Creux (Creuxius),
Peter Kalm, Knox, Silliman, Ampère, Mrs. Moodie, Dickens, Lever,
Anthony Trollope, Sala, Thoreau, Warburton, Marmier, Capt. Butler,
Sir Charles Dilke, Henry Ward Beecher, have all left their impressions
of the rocky citadel: let us gaze on a few of their vivid pictures.
"The scenic beauty of Quebec has been the theme of general eulogy.
The majestic appearance of Cape Diamond and the fortifications, the
cupolas and minarets, like those of an eastern city, blazing and
sparkling in the sun, the loveliness of the panorama, the noble basin,
like a sheet of purest silver, in which might ride with safety a hundred
sail of the line, the graceful meandering of the river St. Charles, the
numerous village spires on either side of the St. Lawrence, the fertile
fields dotted with innumerable cottages, the abode of a rich and moral
peasantry,--the distant falls of Montmorency,--the park like scenery of
Point Levis,--the beauteous Isle of Orleans,--and more distant still, the
frowning Cape Tourmente, and the lofty range of purple mountains of
the most picturesque form, which, without exaggeration, is scarcely to
be surpassed in any part of the world." (Hawkins' Picture of Quebec.)
"Quebec recalls Angoulême to my mind: in the upper city, stairways,
narrow streets, ancient houses on the verge of the cliff; in the lower city,
the new fortunes, commerce, workmen;--in both, many shops and much
activity." (M. Sand.)

"Take mountain and plain, sinuous river, and broad, tranquil waters,
stately ship and tiny boat, gentle hill and shady valley, bold headland
and rich, fruitful fields, frowning battlement and cheerful villa,
glittering dome and