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BY A. H. U. COLQUHOUN, B.A.
THE backbone of the
commerce of Montreal appears to have been Scotch from a comparatively
early period; that is, some years before the close of the eighteenth
century. As soon as the country passed under British rule, as soon as
the developing fur trade found itself under the protection and stimulus
of British enterprise and power, the opening presented by Canada to
hardy, venturesome and capable young men was taken advantage of by many
young Scotsmen.
The fur trade generally,
and in particular the service of the Honorable the Hudson's Bay Company,
attracted a number of our race, who, either in exploration, in trading
with the Indians, or in commercial operations within the settled areas
of the Canadas, exhibited those qualities which make for success
everywhere—character, energy, industry. Names like Alexander Mackenzie,
James McGill, Simon McGillivray, John McLeod, and many others, will
always be remembered for the services to commerce and civil life
performed by the men who bore them. Because it is characteristic of most
of these Scotch pioneers of commerce that they were wide-minded in their
views of life and full of public spirit, not mere money- grubbers, but
able to shape the policy of the community as well as construct their own
private fortunes. They and their associates and successors, therefore,
bulk largely in the expansion of old Montreal, more largely, perhaps,
than their numbers, by an actual count of heads would warrant, since
there never was a time when mer. of other racial origins— English
German, French, and especially American—did not play an honourable part
in the development of Montreal. But to our own race, I think, belongs
the lion's share of the credit, and certainly the outstanding names of
that period are Scotch.
As the years went on, and
Montreal began to acquire commercial supremacy, owing to her situation
as a distributing point, we find that Scotchmen still figured
prominently in her commercial affairs. When you reach the year 1830, or
just before the introduction of railways and ocean-going steamers, you
find that names like these confront you in the mercantile chronicle:
Robert Gillespie, of Gillespie, Moffatt & Co.; Hugh Allan, of Miller,
Edmonston & Allan; John G. MacKenzie, of J. G. MacKenzie & Co.; Joseph
McKay, of Joseph McKay Bro.; James Ferrier, of Ferrier Co.; James
Law, of Law, Young Co.; James Scott, of Scott, Montgomery & Co., and a
score of others, names sufficiently indicative of their origin. Every
one of these men acquired a handsome fortune, and more than one of them
became personally associated with the great business expansion which
opened out in Canada after 1840.
Montreal, as we know it
to-day, owes so much to its Scottish merchants and capitalists that we
can hardly conceive of its being the city it is without their courage,
their ability, their far-sightedness, and their resources. These are
large claims. Can they be substantiated, or are they the idle boastings
of prejudiced partiality? Let us examine a few of the conditions that go
to make Montreal the principal distributing point, manufacturing centre,
financial force, and ocean port of Canada— surpassing every other city
in the Dominion in every one of these respects—and let us enquire how
far Scotsmen were a factor in the ultimate result.
Of course, I realize that
when once capital accumulates in the hands of a body of men of any race
the opportunities for undertaking great enterprises successfully are in
their favor. It may be said, many Montreal capitalists were Scotch;
consequently, when capital was required for great ventures Scotchmen
naturally became connected with those ventures. But that is a one-sided
view. I claim that the Scotch temperament had much to do with the
directions into which capital was sent, and the success with which it
was manipulated. Supposing the intrepidity and determination of Sir Hugh
Allan had been less than they were, would the ocean carrying business
have been attracted to Montreal as early as it was? Mr. Allan was an
Ayrshire lad, who came to Canada in 1826. After amassing a moderate
fortune in the Montreal firm of which he was a member, he became
interested in the ocean trade, partly, no doubt, owing to the fact that
his partner,
Mr. Miller, was a ship
builder, and he himself the son of a ship captain. The idea of having
steam vessels come up the St. Lawrence involved heavy risks. Only a man
of courage would have entertained it. The coasts were dangerous and
badly lighted. The competition of Boston and New York, for passenger
traffic, at least, was even greater than at present. But from the first
trip of the steamship "Canadian," in 1853, down to the present day, the
great shipping firm of H. & A. Allan has been a staunch factor and
friend in the development of our Atlantic Ocean trade. Sir Hugh Allan
was at all times so confident of the commercial future of this country
that any new scheme brought to his attention, calculated to promote
national development, could at once claim his support as director or
share-holder.
If the ships that came up
the St. Lawrence from the sea had stopped at Quebec and unloaded there,
where would Montreal's position as an ocean port be to-day? Another
Ayrshire man, John Young, who came to Canada in the same year as Hugh
Allan, may fairly claim the chief share of the credit for the deepening
of Lake St. Peter, between Quebec and Montreal, so that the largest
ocean vessels could make their way to Montreal. In 1849, Mr. Young
became a member of the Harbor Commission, and at the time of his death
in 1878, thirty years after, he was chairman of that body, and the needs
of the harbor and the ship channel, the promotion of navigation and the
expansion of commerce, were never out of his thoughts. He was bold in
conception, and many of his plans were criticised as being wild and
visionary. But they have all been realized. He, like many others, was
simply ahead of his time in far-sightedness and capacity. If Montreal
takes in earnest to erecting monuments to her foremost men, she will do
well to remember the names of Hugh Allan and John Young. They were not
alone in the work by any means, but their names stand out more
prominently than those of some others.
They were good types of
the Scotch merchants of Montreal who, as a class, have produced some
remarkable examples of what thrift, capacity and sagacity can
accomplish. Peter McGill was one of these. He was a native of
Wigtonshire where he was born in 1789. His father's name was McCutcheon,
and subsequently he adopted that of his mother, a sister of John McGill.
He was for many years President of the Bank .of Montreal, one of the
earliest promoters of railways, and interested in all the political and
military activities of the time. To another Scotsman— a man of the same
name—James McGill, Montreal owes her famous University, which was
founded under the terms of his will when both church and state had
failed to take adequate steps for the secular education of the people of
the Province of Quebec. James McGill's original foundation has been
largely added to by other men of the same race, by Lord Strathcona, Sir
William Macdonald, Lord Mount- Stephen, Peter Red path, and others. The
works of benevolence and charity were never forgotten by the Scots of
Montreal. As one instance of this may be mentioned the McKay Institute
for Deaf Mutes founded by Joseph McKay, who established the great dry
goods firm of Joseph McKay & Bro., and made a large fortune which he
used wisely and well. Mr. McKay was born in Kildonan. By his will he
left over $60,000 to charitable and religious objects. Another name
worthy of mention is that of James Ferrier, a native of Fifeshire, who
like all the others mentioned here was the architect of his own fortune.
Mr. Ferrier became not only associated with large financial interests
but took a keen interest in public affairs, in educational work, in
municipal administration. In 1845 he was mayor of the city, and at one
of the crises in the history of McGill University he was its staunch
friend and benefactor.
If one took away from
Montreal the ocean trade, the ship channel, the terminus of the Canadian
Pacific Railway, the Merchants' Bank, the University of McGill, the
Royal Victoria Hospital, and other institutions and enterprises which
all owe their existence to the foresight and genius of the Scots
merchants of the city, one would realize the extent of their labors and
the wisdom of their conceptions.
THE old precentor of a
small rural parish kirk, though he had for years, Sunday after Sunday,
given out the Psalms to be sung in the service, had never quite mastered
the Roman numerals. One Sunday, after some consideration, he announced
Psalm xliii. in the following manner:-" Let us sing to the praise and
the glory of God, the ex, the el, and the three-eyed Psalm! |
