Formation op Canadian Character.—The Rival Colonies.—England and France.—New England.—Characteristics op Race.—Military Qualities.—The Church.—The English Conquest.
Not institutions alone, but geographical1 position, climate, and many other conditions unite to form the educational influences that, acting2 through successive generations, shape the character of nations and communities.
It is easy to see the nature of the education, past and present, which wrought3 on the Canadians and made them what they were. An ignorant population, sprung from a brave and active race, but trained to subjection and dependence4 through centuries of feudal5 and monarchical6 despotism, was planted in the wilderness7 by the hand of authority, and told to grow and flourish. Artificial stimulants8 were applied9, but freedom was withheld10. Perpetual intervention11 of government, regulations, restrictions12, encouragements sometimes more mischievous13 than restrictions, a constant uncertainty14 what the authorities would do next, the fate of each man resting less with himself than with another, volition15 enfeebled, self-reliance paralyzed,—the condition, in short, of a child held always under the rule of a father, in the main well-meaning and kind, sometimes generous, sometimes neglectful, often capricious, and rarely very wise,—such were the influences under which Canada grew up. If she had prospered16, it would have been sheer miracle. A man, to be a man, must feel that he holds his fate, in some good measure, in his own hands.
But this was not all. Against absolute authority there was a counter influence, rudely and wildly antagonistic18. Canada was at the very portal of the great interior wilderness. The St. Lawrence and the Lakes were the highway to that domain19 of savage20 freedom; and thither21 the disfranchised, half-starved seignior, and the discouraged habitant who could find no market for his produce, naturally enough betook themselves. Their lesson of savagery22 was well learned, and for many a year a boundless23 license24 and a stiff-handed authority battled for the control of Canada. Nor, to the last, were church and state fairly masters of the field. The French rule was drawing towards its close when the intendant complained that though twenty-eight companies of regular troops were quartered in the colony, there were not soldiers enough to keep the people in order. * One cannot but remember that in a neighboring colony, far more populous25, perfect order prevailed, with no other
* Mémoire de 1736 (printed by the Historical Society of
Quebec).
Whence arose this difference, and other differences equally striking, between the rival colonies? It is easy to ascribe them to a difference of political and religious institutions; but the explanation does not cover the ground. The institutions of New England were utterly28 inapplicable to the population of New France, and the attempt to apply them would have wrought nothing but mischief29. There are no political panaceas30, except in the imagination of political quacks31. To each degree and each variety of public development there are corresponding institutions, best answering the public needs; and what is meat to one is poison to another. Freedom is for those who are fit for it. The rest will lose it, or turn it to corruption32. Church and state were right in exercising authority over a people which had not learned the first rudiments33 of self-government. Their fault was not that they exercised authority, but that they exercised too much of it, and, instead of weaning the child to go alone, kept him in perpetual leading-strings, making him, if possible, more and more dependent, and less and less fit for freedom.
In the building up of colonies, England succeeded and France failed. The cause lies chiefly in the vast advantage drawn34 by England from the historical training of her people in habits of reflection, forecast, industry, and self-reliance,—a training which enabled them to adopt and maintain an invigorating system of self-rule, totally inapplicable to their rivals.
The New England colonists35 were far less fugitives36 from oppression than voluntary exiles seeking the realization37 of an idea. They were neither peasants nor soldiers, but a substantial Puritan yeomanry, led by Puritan gentlemen and divines in thorough sympathy with them. They were neither sent out by the king, governed by him, nor helped by him. They grew up in utter neglect, and continued neglect was the only boon38 they asked. Till their increasing strength roused the jealousy39 of the Crown, they were virtually independent; a republic, but by no means a democracy. They chose their governor and all their rulers from among themselves, made their own government and paid for it, supported their own clergy40, defended themselves, and educated themselves. Under the hard and repellent surface of New England society lay the true foundations of a stable freedom,—conscience, reflection, faith, patience, and public spirit. The cement of common interests, hopes, and duties compacted the whole people like a rock of conglomerate41; while the people of New France remained in a state of political segregation42, like a basket of pebbles43 held together by the enclosure that surrounds them.
It may be that the difference of historical antecedents would alone explain the difference of character between the rival colonies; but there are deeper causes, the influence of which went far to determine the antecedents themselves. The Germanic race, and especially the Anglo-Saxon branch of it, is peculiarly masculine, and, therefore, peculiarly fitted for self-government. It submits its action habitually44 to the guidance of reason, and has the judicial45 faculty46 of seeing both sides of a question. The French Celt is cast in a different mould. He sees the end distinctly, and reasons about it with an admirable clearness; but his own impulses and passions continually turn him away from it. Opposition47 excites him; he is impatient of delay, is impelled48 always to extremes, and does not readily sacrifice a present inclination49 to an ultimate good. He delights in abstractions and generalizations50, cuts loose from unpleasing facts, and roams through an ocean of desires and theories.
While New England prospered and Canada did not prosper17, the French system had at least one great advantage. It favored military efficiency. The Canadian population sprang in great part from soldiers, and was to the last systematically51 reinforced by disbanded soldiers. Its chief occupation was a continual training for forest war; it had little or nothing to lose, and little to do but fight and range the woods. This was not all. The Canadian government was essentially52 military. At its head was a soldier nobleman, often an old and able commander, and those beneath him caught his spirit and emulated53 his example. In spite of its political nothingness, in spite of poverty and hardship, and in spite even of trade, the upper stratum54 of Canadian society was animated55 by the pride and fire of that gallant56 noblesse which held war as its only worthy57 calling, and prized honor more than life. As for the habitant, the forest, lake, and river were his true school; and here, at least, he was an apt scholar. A skilful58 woodsman, a bold and adroit59 canoe-man, a willing fighter in time of need, often serving without pay, and receiving from government only his provisions and his canoe, he was more than ready at any time for any hardy60 enterprise; and in the forest warfare61 of skirmish and surprise there were few to match him. An absolute government used him at will, and experienced leaders guided his rugged62 valor63 to the best account.
The New England man was precisely64 the same material with that of which Cromwell formed his invincible65 “Ironsides;” but he had very little forest experience. His geographical position cut him off completely from the great wilderness of the interior. The sea was his field of action. Without the aid of government, and in spite of its restrictions, he built up a prosperous commerce, and enriched himself by distant fisheries, neglected by the rivals before whose doors they lay. He knew every ocean from Greenland to Cape66 Horn, and the whales of the north and of the south had no more dangerous foe67. But he was too busy to fight without good cause, and when he turned his hand to soldiering it was only to meet some pressing need of the hour. The New England troops in the early wars were bands of raw fishermen and farmers, led by civilians68 decorated with military titles, and subject to the slow and uncertain action of legislative69 bodies. The officers had not learned to command, nor the men to obey. The remarkable70 exploit of the capture of Louisburg, the strongest fortress71 in America, was the result of mere72 audacity73 and hardihood, backed by the rarest good luck.
One great fact stands out conspicuous74 in Canadian history,—the Church of Rome. More even than the royal power she shaped the character and the destinies of the colony. She was its nurse and almost its mother; and, wayward and headstrong as it was, it never broke the ties of faith that held it to her. It was these ties which, in the absence of political franchises75, formed under the old regime the only vital coherence76 in the population. The royal government was transient; the church was permanent. The English conquest shattered the whole apparatus77 of civil administration at a blow, but it left her untouched. Governors, intendants, councils, and commandants, all were gone; the principal seigniors fled the colony; and a people who had never learned to control themselves or help themselves were suddenly left to their own devices. Confusion, if not anarchy78, would have followed but for the parish priests, who in a character of double paternity, half spiritual and half temporal, became more than ever the guardians of order throughout Canada.
This English conquest was the grand crisis of Canadian history. It was the beginning of a new life. With England came Protestantism, and the Canadian church grew purer and better in the presence of an adverse79 faith. Material growth, an increased mental activity, an education real though fenced and guarded, a warm and genuine patriotism80, all date from the peace of 1763. England imposed by the sword on reluctant Canada the boon of rational and ordered liberty. Through centuries of striving she had advanced from stage to stage of progress, deliberate and calm, never breaking with her past, but making each fresh gain the base of a new success, enlarging popular liberties while bating nothing of that height and force of individual development which is the brain and heart of civilization; and now, through a hard-earned victory, she taught the conquered colony to share the blessings81 she had won. A happier calamity82 never befell a people than the conquest of Canada by the British arms.
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1
geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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monarchical
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| adj. 国王的，帝王的，君主的，拥护君主制的 =monarchic | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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stimulants
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| n.兴奋剂( stimulant的名词复数 )；含兴奋剂的饮料；刺激物；激励物 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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restrictions
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| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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volition
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| n.意志；决意 | |
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prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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antagonistic
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| adj.敌对的 | |
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domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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populous
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| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
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guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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constables
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| n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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panaceas
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| n.治百病的药，万灵药( panacea的名词复数 ) | |
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31
quacks
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| abbr.quacksalvers 庸医，骗子(16世纪习惯用水银或汞治疗梅毒的人)n.江湖医生( quack的名词复数 )；江湖郎中；（鸭子的）呱呱声v.（鸭子）发出嘎嘎声( quack的第三人称单数 ) | |
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32
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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rudiments
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| n.基础知识，入门 | |
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34
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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36
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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40
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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41
conglomerate
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| n.综合商社，多元化集团公司 | |
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42
segregation
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| n.隔离，种族隔离 | |
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43
pebbles
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| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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45
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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50
generalizations
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| 一般化( generalization的名词复数 )； 普通化； 归纳； 概论 | |
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51
systematically
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| adv.有系统地 | |
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52
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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53
emulated
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| v.与…竞争( emulate的过去式和过去分词 )；努力赶上；计算机程序等仿真；模仿 | |
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54
stratum
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| n.地层，社会阶层 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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57
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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adroit
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| adj.熟练的，灵巧的 | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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61
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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64
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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65
invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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66
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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civilians
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| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
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legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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franchises
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| n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 ) | |
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76
coherence
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| n.紧凑；连贯；一致性 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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81
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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