Picturesque Quebec : a sequel to Quebec past and present Part 13

"But to return to the interments in the Jesuits' Chapel. The next which took place was that of Father de Quen, who died on the 8th October, 1659, of contagious fever brought into the colony by vessels from beyond the seas. It was he, who, in 1647, discovered Lake St.

John, and, in 1653, celebrated the Ma.s.s at the Hotel Dieu, when the Sister Marie de L'Incarnation embraced the religious profession.

Father de Quen was buried on the morning of the 9th _praesente corpore, dictae duae missae privatae, in summo altari, dum diceretur officium_. He was 59 years of age. The _Journal des Jesuites_ does not say that he was interred in the chapel, but it is easy to infer the fact from the _two private_ ma.s.ses said in presence of the body, and also because the entry of his burial does not appear in the parish register. Moreover, it is also the opinion of Rev. Messrs.

Laverdiere and Casgrain, as published in the _Journal des Jesuites_.

On the 15th November, 1665, arrived at Quebec, coming from the Richelieu River, a vessel bringing the body of Father Francois du Peron, who died on the 10th at Fort St. Louis (Chambly). The body was exposed in the Chapel of the Congregation, and 'on the 16th, after the service at which the Marquis de Tracy a.s.sisted, it was interred in the vault of the chapel towards the confessional on the side of the street,' and Father le Mercier, who wrote the foregoing, adds that 'there remains room only for another body.'

"From the preceding, it appears that three interments took place in the Jesuits' Chapel (the only ones mentioned in the _Journal des Jesuites_), and it is probable that the place remaining for only one more body was never filled. The remains of three bodies having been found, it seems to me therefore reasonable to conclude that they are those of Brother Liegeois and Fathers de Quen and du Peron. It is true only two skulls have been recovered, but it must be remembered that Brother Liegeois had his head chopped off and left upon the spot, as remarks the text, so that it is easy to conjecture that the Iroquois dragged his body further off, when it was found in a headless condition and thus buried. With respect to the site of the chapel, the text already cited relative to Father du Peron indicates sufficiently that it was alongside the street; and a reference to the map of Quebec in 1660 shows in fact the street skirting the Jesuits' property as it does to-day. Further, the excavations which, at the request of Pere Sachez, Dr. Larue and others, Hon. Mr. Joly, with a good will which cannot be too highly praised, has ordered to be made, have already laid bare the foundations of a well outlined building upon the very site where tradition locates the chapel and where the bones have been found.

"As it was stated at the time of the finding of the skeletons that one of them was supposed to be that of a nun of the Hotel Dieu, Mr. Bedard applied to the authorities of that inst.i.tution for information on the subject and received an answer from the records which conclusively proves that the nun in question was buried in the vault of the Jesuits' Church and not in their Chapel."

Though a considerable sum had been granted to foster Jesuit establishments at Quebec by a young French n.o.bleman, Rene de Rohault, son of the Marquis de Gamache, as early as 1626, it was on the 18th March, 1637, only, that the ground to build on, "twelve arpents of land, in the vicinity of Fort St. Louis" were granted to the Jesuit Fathers. In the early times, we find this famous seat of learning playing a prominent part in all public pageants; its annual examinations and distribution of prizes called together the _elite_ of Quebec society. The leading pupils had, in poetry and in verse, congratulated Governor d'Argenson on his arrival in 1658. On the 2nd July, 1666, a public examination on logic brought out, with great advantage, two most promising youths, the famous Louis Jolliet, who later on joined Father Marquette in his discovery of the Mississippi, and a Three Rivers youth, Pierre de Francheville, who intended to enter Holy Orders. The learned Intendant Talon was an examiner; he was remarked for the erudition his Latin questions displayed. Memory likes to revert to the times when the ill.u.s.trious Bossuet was undergoing his Latin examinations at Navarre, with the Great Conde as his examiner; France's first sacred orator confronted by her most ill.u.s.trious general.

How many thrilling memories were recalled by this grim old structure?

"Under its venerable roof, oft had met the pioneer missionaries of New France, the band of martyrs, the geographers, discoverers, _savants_ and historians of this learned order: Dolbeau, de Quen, Druilletes, Daniel, de la Brosse, de Crepieul, de Carheil, Breboeuf, Lallemant, Jogues, de Noue, Raimbeault, Albanel, Chaumonot, Dablon, Menard, LeJeune, Ma.s.se, Vimont, Ragueneau, Charlevoix, [58] and crowds of others." Here they a.s.sembled to receive from the General of the Jesuits their orders, to compare notes, mayhap to discuss the news of the death or of the success of some of their indefatigable explorers of the great West; how the "good word" had been fearlessly carried to the distant sh.o.r.es of Lake Huron, to the _bayous_ and perfumed groves of Florida, or to the trackless and frozen regions of Hudson's Bay.

Later on, when France had suppressed the order of the Jesuits, and when her lily banner had disappeared from our midst, the College and its grounds were appropriated to other uses--alas! less congenial.

The roll of the English drum and the sharp "word of command" of a British adjutant or of his drill sergeant, for a century or more, resounded in the halls, in which Latin orisons were formerly sung; and in the cla.s.sic grounds and gra.s.sy court, [59] canopied by those stately oaks and elms, which our sires yet remember, to which the good Fathers retreated in sweet seclusion, to "say" their _Breviaries_ and tell their beads, might have been heard the coa.r.s.e joke of the guard room and coa.r.s.er oath of the trooper.

It had been claimed as a "magazine for the army contractor's provisions on 14th November, 1760." On the 4th June, 1765, His Excellency General James Murray had it surveyed and appropriated for quarters and barracks for the troops, excepting some apartments. The court and garden was used as a drill and parade ground until the departure of Albion's soldiers. Here was read on the 14th November, 1843, by Major-General Sir Jas. Hope's direction, the order of the day, at the morning parade, congratulating Major Bennet and the brave men of the 1st Royals, whom he was escorting to England in the ill-fated transport "Premier," on the discipline and good conduct manifested by them during the incredible perils they had escaped at Cape Chatte when the Premier was stranded.

How singular, how sad to think that this loved, this glorious relic of the French _regime_, entire even to the Jesuit College arms, carved in stone over its chief entrance, should have remained sacred and intact during the century of occupation by English soldiery--and that its destruction should have been decreed so soon as the British legions, by their departure, in 1871, had virtually handed it over to the French Province of Quebec?

The discovery of the 28th August, 1878, of human remains beneath the floor of this building--presumed to be those of some of the early missionaries-- induced the authorities to inst.i.tute a careful search during its demolition. These bones and others exhumed on the 31st August, and on the 1st and 9th September, 1878, were p.r.o.nounced by two members of the Faculty, Drs. Hubert Larue and Chas. E. Lemieux, both Professors of the Laval University, (who signed a certificate to that effect) to be the remains of three [60] persons of the male s.e.x and of three [61] persons of the female s.e.x. Some silver and copper coins were also found, which with these mouldering remains of humanity, were deposited under lock and key in a wooden box; and in September, 1878, the whole was placed in a small but substantial stone structure, in the court of the Jesuit Barracks, known as the "Regimental Magazine," pending their delivery for permanent disposal to Rev. Pere Sachez, Superior of the Jesuits Order in Quebec.

In May, 1879, on opening this magazine, it was found that the venerable bones, box and all had disappeared, the staple of the padlock on the door having been forced. By whom and for what purpose, the robbery?

_THE ReCOLLET CONVENT._

Let us walk on, and view with the Professor's eyes the adjoining public edifice in 1749, the Recollet Convent, "a s.p.a.cious building," says Kalm, "two story high, with a large orchard and kitchen garden." It stood apparently on the south-eastern extremity of the area, on which the Anglican Cathedral was built in 1804, across what is now the southern prolongation of Treasury Street; it is said its eastern end occupied a portion of the site now occupied by the old _Place d'Armes_--now the Ring.

Its church or chapel was, on 6th September, 1796, destroyed by fire; two eye-witnesses of the conflagration, Philippe Aubert DeGaspe and Deputy- Commissary-General James Thompson, the first in his _Memoires_, the second in his unpublished _Diary_, have vividly portrayed the accident.

"At the date of the conflagration of the Recollets Church, 6th September, 1796, the bodies of those who had been interred there were taken up. The remains of persons of note, those among others of Count de Frontenac, were re-interred in the Cathedral (now the Basilica), it is said, under the floor of the Chapel N. D. of Pity. The leaden coffins, which, it appears, had been placed on iron bars in the Recollets Church, had been partially melted by the fire. In Count de Frontenac's coffin was found a small leaden box, which contained the heart of that Governor. According to a tradition, handed down by Frere Louis, the heart of Count de Frontenac was, after his death, sent to his widow in France. But the haughty Countess refused to receive it, saying that 'she did not want a dead heart, which when beating did not belong to her.' The casket containing the heart was sent back to Canada and replaced in the Count's coffin, where it was found after the fire." (_Abbe H. R. Casgrain_.)

The Church faced the Ring and the old Chateau; it formed part of the Recollet Convent, "a vast quadrangular building, with a court and well stocked orchard" on Garden Street; it was occasionally used as a state prison. The Huguenot and agitator, Pierre DuCalvet, [62] spent some dreary days in its cells in 1781-84; and during the summer of 1776, a young volunteer under Benedict Arnold, John Joseph Henry, (who lived to become a distinguished Pennsylvania Judge), was immured in this monastery, after his capture by the British, at the unsuccessful attack in Sault-au-Matelot Street, on the 31st December, 1775, as he graphically relates in his _Memoirs_. It was a monastery of the Order of Saint Francis. The Provincial, in 1793, a well-known, witty, jovial and eccentric personage, Father Felix DeBerey, had more than once dined and wined His Royal Highness Prince Edward, the father of our gracious Sovereign, when stationed in our garrison in 1791-4, with his regiment, the 7th Fusiliers.

The Recollet Church was also a sacred and last resting place for the ill.u.s.trious dead. Of the six French Governors who expired at Quebec, four slept within its silent vaults, until the translation, in 1796, of their ashes to the vaults of the Basilica, viz: (1) Frontenac, (2) de Callieres, (3) Vaudreuil, (4) de la Jonquiere. [63] Governor de Mesy had been buried in the Hotel-Dieu Cemetery, and the first Governor, de Champlain, it is generally believed, was interred near the Chateau Saint Louis, in a "sepulchre particulier," near the spot now surmounted by his bust, on which, in 1871, was erected the new Post Office.

On the south-west side of the Chateau, on the site where stands M. A.

Berthelot's old dwelling on St. Louis Street, now owned by James Dunbar, Esq., Q.C., could be seen a building devoted to the administration of Justice, _La Senechaussee_ (Seneschal's Jurisdiction), and which bore the name of "The Palace." It was doubtless there that, in 1664, the Supreme Council held its sessions. In 1665 it was a.s.signed to the Marquis de Tracy, for a residence whilst in the colony. From the _Place d'Armes_, the higher road (_Grande Allee_) took its departure and led to Cap Rouge.

On the right and left of this road, were several small lots of land given to certain persons for the purpose of being built upon. The Indian Fort was that entrenchment of which we have spoken, which served as a last hiding place to the sad remains of the once powerful Huron nation, forming in all eighty four souls, in the year 1665. It had continued to be occupied by them up to the peace with the Iroquois. After the arrival of the troops, they took their departure in order to devote themselves to the cultivation of the lands.

Besides the buildings of the Reverend Jesuit Fathers, those of the Ursulines (nuns), and those of the Hospital (Hotel Dieu), in the Upper Town, could be seen in a house situated behind the altar part of the Parish Church, where dwelt Monseigneur de Laval. It was, probably, what he called his Seminary, and where he caused some young men to be educated, destined afterwards for the priesthood.

It was at the Seminary the worthy prelate resided with his priests, to the number of eight, which, at that period, comprised all the secular clergy of Quebec. There, also, was the Church of Notre Dame, in the form of a Latin cross. [64]

Couillard Street calls up one of the most important personages of the era of Champlain, Guillaume Couillard, the ancestor of Madame Alexandre de Lery _nee_ Couillard. It would fill a volume to retrace the historical incidents which attach themselves to "La Grande Place du Fort," which in the early part of the century was known as the "Grand Parade" before the Castle, and is now called the _Ring_. We have pointed out a goodly number in the first pages (10-16) of the "Alb.u.m du Touriste." To what we have already said we shall add the following details:

_THE UNION HOTEL._

It would appear that the site upon which the Union Hotel was built [65]

(1805), and where previously stood the dwelling of Dr. Longmore, Staff Medical Officer, now occupied by the offices of the _Journal de Quebec, &c._, was owned by Governor D'Ailleboust, about the year 1650. He had reserved to himself, on the 10th January, 1649, the strip of ground comprised between Fort and Treasury Streets on the one side, and the streets Buade and Ste. Anne on the other side. At the corner of Treasury and Buade Streets, on the west, Jean Cote possessed a piece of ground (_emplacement_) which he presented as a dowry in 1649, to his daughter Simonne, who married Pierre Soumandre.

The grounds of the Archbishop's Palace formed part of the field possessed by Couillard, whose house stood in the now existing garden of the Seminary, opposite the gate which faces the princ.i.p.al alley, the foundations of which were discovered and brought to light by the Abbe Laverdiere in 1866. The Union Hotel was for years the meeting place of our festive ancestors, when the a.s.sembly b.a.l.l.s brought together the Saxon and the Gaul; it also recalls warlike memories of 1812.

_THE AMERICAN PRISONERS._

In looking over old fyles of our city journals, we find in the _Quebec Mercury_ of 15th September, 1812, the following item:

"On Friday, arrived here the detained prisoners taken with Gen. Hull, at Detroit. The non-commissioned officers and privates immediately embarked on board of transports in the harbour, which are to serve as their prison. The commissioned officers were liberated on their parole. They pa.s.sed Sat.u.r.day morning at the Union Hotel, where they were the gazing-stock of the mult.i.tude, whilst they, no way abashed, presented a bold front to the public stare, puffed the smoke of their cigars into the faces of such as approached too near. About two o'clock they set off in a stage, with four horses, for Charlesbourg, the destined place of their residence."

The Union Hotel here mentioned is the identical building erected for a hotel by a company in 1805, and now owned by the _Journal de Quebec_, facing the ring.

Were these prisoners located at Charlesbourg proper, or at that locality facing Quebec, in Beauport, called _Le Canardiere_, in Judge de Bonne's former stately old mansion, on which the eastern and detached wing of the Beauport Lunatic Asylum now stands?

Tradition has ever pointed to this building as that which sheltered the disconsolate American warriors in 1812, with the adjoining rivulet, _Ruisseau de l'Ours_, as the boundary to the east which their parole precluded their crossing.

The result of the American defeat at Detroit had been important--"one general officer (Wadsworth), two lieutenant-colonels, five majors, a mult.i.tude of captains and subalterns, with nine hundred men, one field- piece and a stand of colors, were the fruits of the victory, the enemy having lost in killed, wounded, missing and prisoners, upwards of fifteen hundred." (Christie's History.)

Amongst the American prisoners sent down to Quebec was the celebrated General Winfield Scott, who lived to cull laurels in the Mexican war. He was then Col. Scott, and there is yet (1878) living in Quebec an old resident, R. Urquhart, who well remembers, when a boy, seeing the "tall and stern American Colonel." He was six feet five inches in height.

(Lossing, p. 408.)

Of these prisoners taken at Detroit, twenty-three had been recognized as British born and deserters from the English army. they were sent to England for trial. It is yet possible that some of the veterans of 1812, by their diaries or other sources of information, may tell us who were the Charlesbourg or Beauport captives in 1812. They had not been under restraint much more than a week, when, by the following advertis.e.m.e.nt in the _Quebec Mercury_, dated 29th September, we find the British Government attending to their comforts with a truly maternal foresight:--

Commissary General's Office,

QUEBEC, 28th Sept., 1812

"Wanted for the American prisoners of war, comfortable warm clothing, consisting of the following articles:

Jackets, Shirts, Trowsers, Stockings, Mocca.s.sins or Shoes.

Also 2000 pounds of soap."

From which it is clear John Bull intended his American cousins should not only be kept warm, but suitably scrubbed as well. Two thousand lbs. of soap foreshadowed a fabulous amount of scrubbing. Colonel Scott and friends were evidently "well off for soap."

Colonel Coffin, of Ottawa, the annalist of the War of 1812, in reply to a query of mine, writes me:

"Scott remained in Canada from the date of his surrender, 23d October, 1812, to the period of his departure from Quebec, say May, 1813. But he was on parole the whole time, and from Quebec, as given in his life by Mansfield, p. 55, he went in a cartel to Boston, and soon after was exchanged. Under these circ.u.mstances, I do not think it likely that he would have been escorted militarily in custody anywhere. Winder may have been also taken to Quebec, or he may have been exchanged on the Western frontier. Armstrong's 'War of 1812' will probably give the details."

The _Quebec Mercury_, of 27th October, 1812, contains the following:

"The prisoners taken at Detroit and brought down to Quebec are on the point of embarking for Boston for the purpose of being exchanged. Five cannon are now lying in the _Chateau_ Court taken at Detroit."

In retaliation for the twenty-three American prisoners sent for trial to England, as deserters from the British army, the American Government had ordered that forty-six British prisoners of war should be detained in close confinement.

"In consequence of this," says Christie, "the Governor ordered all the American officers, prisoners of war, without exception of rank, to be immediately placed into close confinement as hostages, until the number of forty-six were completed over and above those already in confinement. In pursuance of this order, Generals Winder, Chandler and Winchester were conveyed from their quarters in the country at Beauport to a private house in Quebec, where their confinement was rendered as little inconvenient as their situation could admit of."