FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF QUEBEC.
Quebec, founded by Samuel de Champlain, in 1608, has certainly much to
recommend her, by her monuments, her historical memories and her scenery,
to the traveller - the scholar - the historian. The wintering of the
venturesome Jacques Cartier on the banks of the St. Charles in 1535-6, by
its remoteness, is an incident of interest, not only to Canadians, but
also to every denizen of America. It takes one 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.
