|
AFTER we left Banff (at midnight), and emerged from
the Rocky Mountains, we found ourselves at daybreak on the vast
prairie that stretches across the North-West Territories and the
province of Manitoba on to Winnipeg. The first part of the prairie
is rather desolate. The soil is thin, and at some places so
impregnated with alkali that in the distance you would suppose you
saw a lake of milk or a meadow of snow. It is here that one might
have expected to see the buffalo, of which there were myriads a few
years ago. But the buffalo is rapidly approaching to the condition
of an extinct animal. There were plenty of bleached buffalo bones
gathered in heaps by the Indians to be used by the sugar-refiners,
and at some stations there were sets of buffalo horns for sale by
Indians, who seemed to be doing a very good business in the article;
but of live animals we saw none. The farms at first are few and far
between, although I believe that much of these North-West
Territories (Alberta, Athanaska, Assiniboia, and Saskatchewan) is
admirably adapted for agriculture. After a day and night of hard
travelling, we were in Manitoba. This is the vast agricultural
region which is believed to be capable of supporting millions. The
outlook was different now. Neat farm-houses, well-tilled farms,
churches, and towns indicated a region much further advanced. The
great drawback is the severity of the winter; but many people say
that they get used to the cold, and that many places are colder.
Our destination was Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba. It is a city
of between twenty and thirty thousand inhabitants, very recently
begun, but a most thriving and attractive place. The unusual width
of its streets—one hundred and twenty feet, if I remember
right—gives them a spacious and distinguished appearance. A few
years ago Winnipeg was the scene of one of those gambling “booms”
which are sure to be followed by a great reaction. Capitalists at a
distance ran up the price of land to a ridiculous figure, and when
the illusion was scattered many were ruined. Crowds came to Winnipeg
only to be disappointed, and were obliged to leave it, go where they
might. The city now seems to have recovered from the effects of that
movement, and is advancing at a sure and steady pace. I was
delighted to see the orderliness of Winnipeg, and especially its
high standard of church-going and Sabbath observance.
I preached (as usual) in two of the churches—St. Andrew’s and
Knox’s. In both I had congregations of from one thousand to twelve
hundred; and I understand that this was not much in excess of the
usual.
Manitoba College, founded by the Presbyterians almost as soon as
Winnipeg itself, is the most considerable institution for advanced
instruction in the province. Along with an Episcopal, a Roman
Catholic, and now (I believe) a Methodist college, it forms the
University of Manitoba, and has contributed more graduates than all
the others put together.
In Manitoba a great struggle has just begun for another object. When
“confederation” took place, it became legal for the Roman Catholics
to have separate schools supported by rates, and it also became
legal to make use of the French language in these schools. Against
this arrangement a strong resistance has arisen, as being likely to
perpetuate a condition of things which in Quebec has been very
disastrous. I have a strong conviction that that resistance will
prevail, and that the unfair advantages to Roman Catholics and the
unpatriotic use of the French language, which in a province like
Manitoba are entirely out of the question, will soon cease and
determine.
Hospitality in Winnipeg took the form of carriage drives. Our
landlord of the Clarendon Hotel, Mr. Bennett, an enthusiastic
Scotsman, took us to the gate of Fort Garry, the only remains of the
station of the Hudson Bay Company before Winnipeg was built, and to
the suburb of St. Boniface, where the Roman Catholic colony of
French Canadians have their schools and other establishments.
Professor Bryce took us to Kildonan, the old Sutherlandshire
settlement, peopled by Highlanders about the beginning of the
century, under the auspices of the Earl of Selkirk; and the Rev. Mr
Hogg took us to Sir Donald Smith’s, where there is a small herd of
living buffaloes that, in the absence of the wild animal, every
traveller likes to see. There was an entertainment going on in the
city of a peculiar kind. A hall, beautifully decorated with flowers
and evergreens, was given over for each evening of the week to one
or other of the congregations of the city, who undertook to provide
songs, recitations, piano and other performances, for the enjoyment
of the audience. On the night when we were there the great sensation
was a Japanese marriage. Some thirty young men and young ladies of
the church were dressed in Japanese dresses, and went through the
ceremony with great correctness. The presents to the bride were not
very costly, generally toys, but every person brought something. The
object was to provide funds for a children’s home, and if all the
meetings were as crowded as the one we attended, the success must
have been great.
In the North-West Territories and in Manitoba the law of prohibition
prevails. I understand that this arrangement was adopted first with
a view to the Indians, who would have ruined themselves, body and
soul, if they had had free access to liquor. The law, I believe, has
had an excellent effect on the whole, especially in new mining
communities, where the temptation to drunkenness is usually so
great. There seem to be some exceptions, however, to its
enforcement. The Canadian Pacific Hotel at Banff, for example, has a
license, obtained through the influence of the railway company, to
which it belongs. What precisely is the law in Winnipeg 1 am not
quite sure. I have heard that the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba
has power to confer licenses in exceptional cases. Certainly there
are very few saloons in the city. I was told that if a license were
asked for a particular place, and five out of the twenty nearest
inhabitants objected, the license was refused. This gives rise to
some murmuring against the power conferred on minorities; but it
keeps down the number of licenses, and it contributes to the peace,
the good order, and die prosperity of the city.
It is a long cry from Winnipeg to Toronto. First a land journey of
more than twenty-four hours through a rich and interesting region to
Port Arthur, then a day’s sail through Lake Superior, another
through Lake Huron, and four hours of land journey to Toronto. The
lake scenery was sometimes beautiful, especially that of Lake Huron;
and the passage through the canal that connects the two lakes, with
the setting sun illuminating the two villages—the American Sault
Ste. Marie on the one side, and the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie on the
other—was exquisite. Provincially “Sault” is pronounced Soo, and the
passage is always spoken of as going through the Soo.
One experience of an unusual kind may be noted. In the middle of the
night, in the first part of the journey, we came to a trestle bridge
which had in some degree subsided. The authorities knew of it, but
not the passengers. To those of us who were struggling hard to woo
sleep, it was hard to be constantly conscious of something impeding
our progress— going forward a little bit and back a little bit, as
if our engine were disabled and could not drag its load. The
explanation we got in the morning was that the carriages had been
detached from the engine, which had been placed behind and had
pushed them on to the edge of the bridge. Then a wire rope had been
attached to the carriages and fastened to an engine on the other
side of the bridge, which slowly drew them over. Two or three hours
were consumed in this operation, but we had cause to think ourselves
fortunate in comparison of some previous passengers who had had to
walk over, and others who had been detained for many hours. The
Canadian Pacific Railway crosses hundreds of trestle bridges; and I
have counted as many as ten stories of trestles, one above the
other. Every bridge is watched and examined daily, which makes
travelling over them comparatively safe. If an unobserved subsidence
should take place the consequences might be awful.
As you draw near to the capital of Ontario you get a better idea of
the productiveness and comfortableness of the province. The farms
and farm-houses are very attractive, as if they were all the abodes
of peace and plenty, as many of them no doubt are. 1 will not linger
over the city of Toronto, nor speak of its marvellous progress since
I last visited it nine years ago. But this I will say, after
visiting many American cities, and especially those of the Pacific
coast, that Toronto is very different from most of these. No
streetcar runs on the Lord's day through its streets. No saloon is
open for drinking. No newspaper is published on the first day of the
week. No theatre or place of amusement is open. Toronto is a very
Scotch city, and Ontario is a very Scotch province; and among the
points in which this feature is most apparent is the tone of Sabbath
observance.
I had expected to pass through Toronto unobserved, but I found that
where the carcass is thither the eagles are gathered together. The
eagles were ministers desiring pulpit help; so I preached in two
churches, in both cases to large and imposing audiences. The
newspapers were more than usually eager to make out that far-off
fowls have fair feathers, and at my hotel I had no fewer than three
visits from editors wishing for my manuscripts and anything else
they could fish out of me.
I was extremely gratified at the many proofs of the progress of the
Presbyterian Church in Canada, and its great activity. It has paid
especial attention to the North-West, and is undoubtedly the leading
Church in those parts. Wherever I was I made inquiry as to how the
union of the three Churches was working. Generally I got a very
gratifying answer. All were practically one, and it was almost
forgotten with which section ministers had been previously
connected. Some were not so sure about this; but it is beyond doubt
that the Church has made extraordinary progress since the union.
It happened that the American Association for the Advancement of
Science were holding their annual congress at Toronto, and we were
in time to hear a little of their wisdom. We were naturally
attracted to a lecture on Niagara by a Washington professor. I am
afraid 1 must say that he contrived to make a grand subject dry and
uninteresting. He brought out one important fact, however—that since
reliable observations began to be taken, the cataract had receded at
the rate of from four to six feet per annum. This is about a mile in
a thousand years. The cataract seems to have receded in all about
seven miles, but there is no certainty that it has done so at a
uniform rate. We were delighted in calling on an old Edinburgh
friend, the Principal of the University, to greet him as Sir Andrew
Wilson, and to shake hands in his house with his brother Principal
of Montreal, Sir William Dawson; and to find them occupying places
of honour in the association, and enjoying in a high degree the
esteem of their brother savants of America.
A question that is absorbing an extraordinary amount of interest in
Canada at the present day is connected with what is called the
Jesuits’ Bill. There is an excellent statement of the whole case in
the October number of Macmillan's Magazine by Professor Goldwin
Smith. Two years ago the Society of the Jesuits got itself
incorporated, with the right of a corporation to hold property, and
then they instituted a claim to property in Quebec amounting to two
million dollars, which, it was said, had once belonged to them. The
Quebec authorities, after a correspondence with the Pope, in which
the Pope was allowed to determine to what parties the money should
be given, passed a measure—avowedly a compromise—giving them four
hundred thousand dollars. Then it came before the Dominion
Government to determine whether this was competent, and with the
exception of thirteen members they voted that it was. The
Governor-General, and also the Crown authorities in England, have
both successively upheld this decision. But it is very generally
felt that if technically competent, the act of the Quebec
legislature was morally wrong, and that it was most humiliating to
let the Pope have his finger in the pie. A powerful association has
been formed, called the Equal Rights Association, to protest against
unfair advantages being given to Roman Catholics, or any other
religious denomination, over the rest. Principal Cavan of Toronto
has taken a leading part in this movement. Many in Canada are
disgusted with the way in which the Church of Rome has not only made
the Quebec Government a tool in her hands, but obtained a kind of
controlling influence in the Dominion Government also. This last is
one of the effects of federation. Now that federation is un fait
accompli, it would be difficult to undo it. But it is surely very
unwise to weaken the bond. I have no idea that Canada as a whole has
any desire for union with the United States, although I am told that
the younger generation is less opposed to this than their fathers.
But it seems a possible thing, if Quebec is to rule the Dominion,
that the confederacy will be broken up. And it would be a very
serious matter if Ontario were to dissever itself from it. It may
seem disloyal even to hint at such a possibility. But the people of
Ontario are men of spirit, and cannot abide truckling to the Pope. I
cannot help thinking that it is a dangerous experiment that is being
tried with them, and one that it would be well not to carry too far. |
