Evening star., 1898-09-02
Little Progress Made in Anglicizing
Them.
LOYAL, But THOUGHTS ARE OF PARIS
The Old Making Way for the New
in Quebec.
MONUMENT TO MONTGOMERY
stan Correspondence of The Evening Star.

| "AAhiShi6 ~ Jake a recess tQe
JOINT nigh commission has come a little
nearer TO reaching a common ground II
may not have made much progress toward
| settling the seal fisheries dispute or toward
srpplantins Canada's preferential tariff by
| reciprocity with the United States in nat.
ural products. The deliberations are secret
| ana only guesses can be made regarding
| tEese subjects Besides it was not ex-
| pected that fundamental differences of this
Kind could be settled in a fortnight But
| going outside the domain of practical and
| controverted subjects the suggestion of a
monument to General Montgomery has been
| made, and is well received. If the monu-
n,ent fs built the labors of the joint COM
mission will not prove barren. The senti-
| ment which 1t would represent is worth
| mere In Strengthening the ties between
friendly countries than trade concessions.
montgomery was quite brave chap -
sald one OF the numerous attaches or
clarks' among the Canadian commission
| ers. 'he ought to have a monument"
Ihe memory of this brave chap who
sought to take the English fortress on the
81. Lawrence when the colonies revolted
is preserved by a sfgnboard hanging over
| the cliffs, which tells that Montgomery fell
| in December, 1715 There is also a tablet
| In the house that was built on the site of
the one in which the American commander
u-Nu- hc NoIiii-iOu litflldSe OI NGlOT is seen
in the monument to Wolfe and Montcalm.
Perhaps when it was erected the English
speaking residents of this province and the
French Canadians did not care to honor
! the bravery of whose success might
have made them citizens of a republic in
stead of subjects of empire, but more
likely they were not thinking of it at all.
Wolfe and Montcalm are part of their his
tory. while Montgomery simply might have
been. Yet it is to be hoped that some
enduring tribute to the revolutionary gen.
erals, who, like the English and the French
commanders, fell at the head of his men,,
will not long be lacking.
While Quebec has its fitting monu-
mentS, marking Historic events, it can fin
room for more. An American writer, with
some pretentions TO literary reputation
vas here the other day. In years gone by
he had been for several months licn!zen
of the city. They are desecratiug the old
town" he complained. They've got the
electric railway. and l hear them talking
about more modern buildings. They are
spelling it. What does Quebec need with
electric car lines and modern buildings?
hardly recognize the place. Don't tell me
about Its commerce and business Let
Montreal have that. Quebec was never
meant for commercial mart. 1t doesn't
need to grow. Let it live its history"
confess sympathetic feeling for this
view. Doubtless the electric cars are a
convenience here as elsewhere Thoy
shorten tine time in going from lower town
TO upper town, or vice versa. and yet they
pe spared. / ne caleCheS, Ca
lashes.' as the Hibernian drivers call the
two-wheeled vehicles, are comfortable
means of getting about. Moreover the
crooked narrow ard hilly streets are not
so difficult to thread, and they offer as
many shortcuts do the courts end al
leys of Boston. A climb up the larger
fliis once or twice a day is a bracing con-
stitutional. The newer buildings while
open to the objection that they are mod
ern. have been put up with some regard 20
their surroundings. The architecture is
rot hasny and the structures are not gin
gerbread. The city hall and the new court
house have about them the soidity with
out the excessive ugliness, of English gov
ernment buildings. In a hundred years
trey may not be cut of place in the midst
OF genuinely ancient landmarks To-day
they are too new. Come on, Eliza there's
one of those musty old places down this
lane l heard one of the visiting strangers
call ont one afternoon. Eliza came along
in due time, clutching her guide book In
one hand and her skirts IN the other. He
and she were typical tourists, hunting out
musty old places. They were sightseeing
in a very thorough way like persons who
feel they have conscientious duty to per-
form. Neither would have been suspected
Of sentiment, yet when both anathema-
tized Quebec's modern buildings, and re-
gretted that these were hiding the cd
landmarks, they had higher place in my
estimation.
The People Unchanged.
may be slowly changing and becoming too
modern, the people do not change much.
At a time when the United States is by
force of circumstances taking on itself the
responsibility for governing colonial depen-
denotes whose tongue is foreign to it's own,
the conditions which obtain in what is in
reality England's French-Canadian colony
offer an interesting study. l do not know
what would be considered evidence that
ynor rf of fha dam aSt,iG l,nc
gliciZed or that its Institutions and its GUS
tens are Angio-Saxon. Assured1y there
Is little that can be noted by a chance OBJ
server. Both tongues are spoken, but it is
Ell giish that appears to be the foreign Ian
guage. When the town is full of travellers
from across the border, who announce in
tones which can be heard up the St Law
renee 3 far as the falls of Montmorency
that they talk United States" the same
language pronounced with a harder accent
is apt to be heard from those whose 'busi-
ness 1t is to Look after the dollars of the
American tourists. Everybody talks Eng
lish to the visitor, and everybody whom l
have met seems to drop with equal facility
from one tongue into the other. But i'm
agine that in common int ercoursa arloBg
the people Of Quebec province French is the
prevailing language, Just as it is i'll the
parliament or provincial legislature. 1t may
be on the part Of many of those Who speak
1t a patoiS a dialect which would not be
understood in the salons of Paris, yet the
nationality is as distinct as though the
idiom were the purest French. Legal no
tices, documents of all kinds, are printed in
both languages. 1 asked an official if this
dual method of managing government af-
fairs was not a nuisance. No. he re-
piled, we are accustomed to the method.
1t is all a matter of training. We know
French and our French Canadians under
stand English though sometimes they pre-
tend they don't. But this isn't an English
speaking province and the sensible xling is
to recognize that fact. Everybody in bus-
ness or in Office talks French
An exception to this rule was the Irish
policeman who good-naturedly explained
some points of local municipal administra-
ton to me. The Frinch,' he said. lis
fine people. but 1 won't learn their lingo
ard they've got to know English when
they talk t. me. Thin Frinch lads is just
as sassy as other boys. They'll pritind not
to understand whin 1 tell 'em to get along"
and he started after pack of mischievous
boys. The soldiers at the citadel are more
cosmopolitan than the policemen. The one
who showed several Of us about was as
smart as q French guardsman. He spcke
excellent English, with lisping accept,
and hearing his conversation it required
an effort TO remember that he was one of
her Britannia majesty's regular soldiers