To What Depth Of Despair, Shall We
Say, Degradation Are Thou Sunk!
Proud old city, have you then no more defenders to put forth, in your
supreme hour of woe and desertion!
Has then that dauntless race of
Gentilshommes Canadiens, d'Iberville - Ste. Helene - de Bouville
- de Becancourt - de Repentigny, disappeared without leaving any
successors!
And you stern old de Frontenac, you who replied so effectually to the
invader through the mouth of your cannon, is your martial spirit
quenched forever, in that loved fortress in which rest your venerated
remains, you who at one time (1689) were ready, at the head of your
Regulars and fighting Canadians, [123] to carry out the rash scheme,
hatched by deCallieres: the conquest of New York and destruction of
the chief settlements in New England, a scheme which involved the
dispersion of more than eighteen thousand people, as sixty-six years
later (in 1755), a British Commander tore from their homes the
peaceable Acadians of Grand-Pre. [124]
I could enlarge to any extent the gloomy picture which the history of
this shameful period discloses. Two skilful novelists, the one in the
English language, Wm. Kirby, [125] Esq., of Niagara, the other in the
French, Joseph Marmette, [126] of Quebec, have woven two graphic and
stirring historical romances, out of the materials which the career of
the Intendant Bigot and the desertion of the colony in its hour of
trial, by France - so abundantly supply. One redeeming trait, one
flash of sunshine lights up the last hour of French domination: the
devotion of the Canadian militia towards their oblivious mother-
country, their dauntless courage at the Beauport engagement - after the
battle of the Plains, 13th Sept., 1759 - and at the battle of Ste.
Foye, on the 28th April 1760, a day glorious to French arms, but at
best a useless victory.
RUINS OF THE INTENDANT'S PALACE.
"It is the voice of years that are gone! they roll before me with all
their deeds." - OSSIAN.
"'The descriptions, or perspective sketches,' says Mr. Walkem,
'according to the fancy or whim of the artist or the photographer, of
what is left of the ruins, convey no adequate idea of its real
capacity and magnitude in length, breadth or height. My present
object, therefore, with your permission, is to supply this deficiency
from plans and elevations drawn to a scale of feet about the year
1770 - when some repairs were effected by the Military Engineers, - five
years before its destruction in 1775. And more especially do I feel it
my duty to submit this plan, &c., for publication since it has become
part of the military history, not of Quebec only, but of Canada.
"The following is an extract from the Centenary report: 'This once
magnificent pile was constructed under the French King's directions in
1684, under Intendant de Meules. It was burnt in 1712, when occupied
by Intendant Begon, and restored by the French Government. It became,
from 1748 to 1759, the luxurious resort of Intendant Bigot and his
wassailers.
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