The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-07-20
The Quebec Tercentenary.

The Quebec Tercentenary.
The ceremonies and pageants by which
will be commemorated this week the
three hundredth anniversary of the
founding Of the city of Quebec by SAMUEL
DE CHAMPLAIN seem ~singularly appro-
pirate when we recall the racial, political
and social history Of the Canadians.
A great monument to peace and fra
ternity is to be erected in the harbor.
an imposing emblem Of the harmony
which since the passage of the British
North America act has existed between
the French speaking and the English
speaking inhabitants Of what was once
called New France, a harmony strikingly
exemplified in the fact that a citizen OF
| French descent, Sir WILFRID LAURIER,
has been for years the Prime Minister
of the Canadian Dominion.
The browning feature Of the celebra-
ton, however, Is to be the transfer
nation Of the Heights and Plains Of
Abraham and Of all the five battlefelds
surrounding the city into anational park
dedicated forever to the uses Of all the
people of the Dominion. Associated
with this dedication will be a pageant
reproducing the momentous battle which
took place on the Plains Of Abraham
September 10, 1850, and in which both
the English and French commanders,
WOLFE and MoNTcALM, lost their lives,
We may we'll call that battle momentous,
for its outcome, the capture Of Quebec,
which was surrendered four days later,
gave to the English tongue and the
institutions Of the Germanio race the
then UNEMPLOYED and seemingly illimitable
west and north of a continent.
No less honored in remembrance is
to be the battle fought on April 20,
1904 battle almost wholly over
looked by Englishmen and Americans,
for scarcely anything is said about it
in our histories, ever BANCROFT giving
it but a paragraph-in which MONT
cALM's successor, General LEWIS, re-
solved to recover Quebec, so thoroughly
defeated the British General, MURRAY,
who had come forth 10 meet him, that the
latter had to fly back to the town, leav-
ing a fine train of artillery and losing a
thousand men. Trenches were forthwith
opened by LEWIS, and although the frost
delayed the works the beleaguered city
must soon have fallen had not the feet
despatched by PITT for the relief of the
garrison arrived on May is and destroyed
the French shipping, thus raising the
siege. Never has glory been more evenly
distributed than in the fighting between
the French and English which took place
around Quebec.
The tremendous Importance of LEvIs's
failure to regain Quebec in the spring Of
1850 should be patent to all Americans
when they recall that v q as it "a
there was doubt among English states
men as to the ~expediency Of retaining
Canada. LEWIS had with him not far
from ten thousand men, and had the
French flag been waving once more from
the ramparts of Quebec when the British
feet arrived in the river it is very doubt
full whether it could have been retaken.
Under the circumstances, and especially
as PITT was about to be superseded by
Lord Butte, England would probably
have contented herself at the peace with
acquisitions in the West Indies, and
especially Guadeloupe. and would have
let New France remain a thorn in the
side of the American colonies. WILLIAM
BURKE, the kinsman and friend and often
the political associate Of EDMUND BURKE,
declared that it would be wiser to hold
fast to Guadeloupe and give back Canada,
because, he said, referring to the Ameri-
can colonies, "a neighbor that keeps us
in some awe is not always the worst
OF neighbors." There should be-, he
thought, a balance of power in America.
Private letters from Guadeloupe gave
warning that the annexation OF Canada
would tempt America to revolt. "One
can foresee the event clearly said the
writer; mo gift of prophecy is required.
1t is a natural and unavoidable conse-
quence."
1t is then not only Canadians, whether
of British or of French descent, but
Americans also who have been profoundly
affected by the issue of the battles on
the Plains of Abraham which are now
about to be commemorated. Our ma
tional fortunes, no less than theirs, were
staked upon those stricken fields. As
things were to turn out, France, which
had been a deadly enemy throughout our
colonial times, was to be our champion
and savior in the revolutionary struggle,
so that we hesitate to say, as we look
back, whether u republics debt be
greater TO the countrymen of WOLFE or
the countrymen OF MoNTCALM.