CANADA
235
CANADA
Concerning the French Catholic inhabitants of Lower
Canada the Act read: "All possible care must be
taken to ensure thorn the enjoyment of the civil and
religious rights guaranteed them by the terms of the
capitulation of the province, or since accorded them
by the liberal and enlightened spirit of the British
Government "(Christie, op. cit. infra, 16;Pagnuelo,69).
During the episcopate of Bishop Denaut (1797- 1806) and Bishop Octave Plessis (1806-1S25) the antagonism of Anglican Protestantism manifested itself in two very different forms. Under the name of "Royal Institution" Dr. Mountain, the Anglican Bishop of Quebec, devised a corporation which was to monopolize instruction in all its stages by concen- trating all educational authority in the hands of the governor. In this way the entire educational system was to be withdrawn from the Catholic clergy and fall under Protestant control: the natural result would be the easy seduction of childhood and youth. The vigilance of the clergy and of Bishop Denaut balked these astute machinations (Pagnuelo, " Etudes his- toriques et lega'es sur la liberty roligieuse en Canada", Montreal, 1872). The difficulties which beset Bishop Plessis were of a different kind. He had to deal with a powerful and fanatical oligarchy determined to re- duce the Church to a condition of servitude to the civil power, to make it, as in England, a docile instru- ment of the Government, in a word, to insensibly render Canada Protestant by administrative pressure. The chief spirit of this coalition was a certain Witzius Ryland. secretary to the governors of Canada from 1790 to 1S12. His policy was 'he confiscation of all ecclesiastical property and the exclusion of Catholi- cism from its dominant position. It was to be treated as a dissenting sect, tolerated by the condescension of the authorities. Chief Justice .Monk, Attorney- General Sewell, and the Anglican Bishop Mountain shared the same ideas, and they had no difficulty in converting to their opinions the governor, James Craig, whose administration has been called a "reign of terror". Bishop Plessis was given to understand that he must recognize the royal authority in religious matters, renounce his jurisdiction in parochial mat- ters, and subordinate his administration to state supremacy. The bishop was quite able to hold his own against his opponents. Firm yet gentle, he knew how to maintain his independence, abdicate no right, and renounce no just claim, yet he never wounded English feeling. In the end he was successful. It must be admitted indeed that Providence sent him unexpected support. The War of 1812 had just broken out between Great Britain and the United States. Bishop Plessis took the same stand as Bishop Briand thirty years before. He did all in his power to maintain the loyalty of Catholics and to promote the defence of Canada. When the American invasion had been repelled, the governor. Sir George Provost, felt that a renewal of the early conflict would be a fioor return on the part of the Government. He conceded to the bishop and his successors the official recognition of the title of Catholic Bishop of Quebec (1813). and granted them a yearly stipend of S5000. For some year- (1814-20) the Catholic Church en- joyed a certain degree of favour. During this time the Vicariate Apostolic of Nova Scotia was erected (1817), and the Bishop of Quebec given the title of Archbishop, with auxiliary bishops (1819). Upper ( 'anada was placed under Bishop Alexander MacDon- nell (q.v.) and Prince Edward Island and New Bruns- wick under Bishop McEachern (q.v.) Bishops were later placed over the Xorth-YVest and the district of Montreal (1820).
The favour granted to the Catholic Church could not fail to arouse some dissatisfaction. A group of fanat its resolved to abrogate the ( '(institution of 1791, which had separated Upper from Lower Canada, and to bring about the union of the two provinces, the one
Catholic, the other Protestant, on the most unjust
terms, with a view to destroying the influence of the
Catholic and French population. The plot found a
powerful agent in England in a certain Ellice, who
succeeded in having a bill to this effect brought before
the House of Commons (1822). It would have passed
almost unnoticed had not one Parker, an enemy
of Ellice, put the ministry on its guard. The news
of this attempt caused great excitement in Lower
Canada. Bishop Plessis and the clergy drew up pro-
tests, which were quickly endorsed with 00,000 signa-
tures, and were taken to London by Papineau and
Neilson, legislative councillors. Their mission was
successful, and the bill was withdrawn.
.Meanwhile the Canadian population continued to increase. In 1832 the French Canadians alone num- bered 380,000. Primary schools multiplied every- where, promoted by the Educational Society {Sociht d'iducaUon) of Quebec and by the law of the parish schools (Ecoles de jabrique). Colleges for secondary instruction were founded wdierever needed, and sev- eral episcopal sees were erected: Kingston (1826), Charlottetown (1829), and Montreal (1836). In all these movements Bishop Panet (1825-32), successor to Bishop Plessis, took a leading part. He died the year of the cholera, which carried off 4000 in five weeks, and was succeeded by Bishop Signay, wdiose episcopate was marked by several calamities: a second scourge of the cholera (1834): civil war (1837-38): disastrous fires which reduced Quebec to a mass of ruins (1845); and the typhus fever brought by the Irish immigrants, driven from their country by the terrible famine and evictions of 1847.
This period is marked by the solution of a question which had been agitated since the conquest: the recognition by the British Crown of the property of the Sulpicians, which, being of considerable value, aroused great cupidity. The bigoted counsellors who surrounded Sir James Craigat the be ginning of the nine- teenth century urged its confiscation. Sewell made reports am 1 suggested plans ; Ryland made vigorous use of his pen and was most active in promoting the cause; he went to London for the same purpose. Tlv British Government did not reply. In his memoii of 1819 M. Roux, superior of Saint-Sulpice at Montreal, answered every adverse claim, and Bishop Plessis pleaded the same cause with great force before Lord Bathurst (1821). The attacks were renewed in 1829. and the seminary was on the point of giving up its rights in exchange for an annual income. Rome, when appealed to, refused to ratify any such transaction, and the matter dragged on. Finally Queen Victoria, by an ordinance of the Privy Council, declared the Seminary of Saint- Sulpice the lawful owner of its holdings, an act of justice which permitted the Sulpicians to continue their beneficent work. Montreal owed to them its prosperity, the settlement of the surrounding dis- tricts, its flourishing college and great church of Xotre-Dame, the work of M. Roux (1825-30). It owed to them also its schools. A short time previous M. Quiblier, successor of M. Roux, had brought to Canada the Brothers of the Christian Schools. The Grand Seminaire, now so prosperous, was soon to open (1840).
In 1840 the union of 1'pper and Lower Canada, so long fought off by the latter as an act of gross injus- tice, was accomplished. The avowed aim of the Protestants of Ontario was to make Quebec subject to Ontario, the French element to the English, the Catholic to the Protestant. Contrary to all expecta- tion, this act turned out favourable to the liberty and progress of Catholicism. Far from abrogating the provisions of the constitution of 1791 concerning the Catholic religion, it extended them, at the same time providing for their enforcement. For in 1S40, after the guarantees of liberty given the Catholic
