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The Scot in New France (1535-1880)


a Scot, Mr. Redpath !—men distinguished, for their benefactions, wealth and intelligence. If you should long for more proof of the feelings of Scotchmen towards mental culture and education; Look round! Reflect on the spot where you stand! To whom does Quebec owe this roof which shelters us to night, the Morrin College! To the thoughtful munificence of a Scotchman, Dr. Joseph Morrin. Honor to his name. (Loud applause.)

On every side we look, some memento recalls for Scotia’s sons, a glorious past. Before you, there, stands the quaint model of the first steamship which crossed with steam the Atlantic: the "Royal William," manned by a Scot, Capt. John MacDougall. A Scot, at Quebec, in 1831, George Black, laid her keel in the shipyard, at Ance des Mêres, owned by Messrs. Sheppard & Campbell.

To whom does the Literary and Historical Society owe its origin? To a progressive and public spirited Vice-roy of Canada, George Ramsay, Earl of Dalhousie, a Scotch nobleman.

Would you like to hear how it originated? We will briefly tell you. In the autumn of 1823, His Excellency the Governor General of Canada assembled round him the elite of Quebec Society and invited their co-operation to a literary project over which he had long meditated. On the 6th January 1824, we next find him, surrounded by the most distinguished citizens of Quebec of all origins, at the Chateau-Saint Louis yonder, his official residence:

the Sewells, Stuarts, Aylwins, Bayfields, Sheppards, Wicksteads, Mountains, McCords, McKenzies, Morrins, Wilkies, Henrys, Blacks, Primroses—join hands with the Valliéres, the Signal, the Demers, the Carons, the Garneaus, the Bouehettes, the Farihaults, the Taschereaus, the Perraults ; the Charter of the Society is drafted, with the able assistance of Dr. John Charlton Fisher, ex-Editor of the New York Albion, recently settled in Quebec; and was subsequently sanctioned by His Majesty, George IV.


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