EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING CULTURE IN POST-CONQUEST QUEBEC 1760-1800 by 01ga Ruskin B.A., University of Toronto A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Education We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA June, 1970 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada \ ABSTRACT The underlying problem undertaken in this study was to find out how English-speaking culture in Quebec managed to develop during the first forty years of British rule of a land that hitherto had been the home of French-speaking culture. As language is considered to be the most important aspect of a culture, so the problem narrowed itself into an examination of how the English language was kept alive in a period marked by the dearth of English-speaking schools to teach English. The reason for the survival of the English language in a land where French was the native tongue was due to the educa• tional influences named in the Introduction. The con• clusions reached in this study bear out the importance of such influences in the development of English-speaking culture. Historical research was used to amass material to illustrate the role of educational influences in the develop ment of English-speaking culture. The gathering of such material itself was a problem because historians have hitherto concentrated on the political aspects of the period, so that secondary material on English-speaking culture is scarce. Archival records have been of some use but have required extensive time for perusal in order to locate pertinent information. Newspaper records have proved to be exceedingly useful, and have been used extensively. It is hoped that this study, despite its inade• quacies, will illuminate one or two dark recesses in Canadian history. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 I. THE BEGINNINGS: 1760-1774 6 English-Speaking Settlers Arrive in Quebec; Background and Education of English-Speaking Settlers; Beginning of Protestant Church in Quebec With the Appearance of Clergy; Begin• ning of the English-Speaking Family; School Problems Face English-Speaking Families; Roman Catholic Schools; Beginning of English- Speaking Schools; "All Possible Encouragement Shall be Given to the Erecting of Protestant Schools;" Demand for English-Speaking, Protestant Schools; Quebec's First Newspaper; Importance of the Legal System; Educational Influences 1760-1774. II. REBELS, GENTLEMEN AND OTHERS: THE COMING OF THE LOYALISTS 1775-1785 39 Quebec: French or English? Quebec Act: Good or Bad? American Invasion; Coming of the Loyalists; Areas of Loyalist Settlement; Description of Loyalists; Protestant Church Grows; Work of the S.P.G.; Career of a Loyalist Clergyman; "The arduous and painful profession of Educating Youth"; Printing Activities; Quebec Library; Contributions of the Loyalists; Conclusion. III. THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING COMMUNITY OF MONTREAL AS REFLECTED IN THE PRESS 1785-1800 69 Formation of English-Speaking Communities; Founding of Montreal Gazette; Format of Montreal Gazette; Readership of Montreal Gazette; Physical Aspects of the Community; Popularity of Auctions; Assemblies, Clubs, Coffee Houses; Theatrical Life; Medical Matters; Interest in Poor; Protestant Church Activities; Political Ties; The Female Reader; Mingling of French and English; English Patronage of the Arts; Background of French-Canadian Artists; Existence of Slavery; Utilitarian Services of the Montreal Gazette; Urban growth and the Newspaper; Conclusion. CHAPTER IV. ENGLISH CANADIAN FAMILY LIFE AND EDUCATION 1785-1800 The French and English Family; Anglo-French Family; Anglo-Indian Family; Illegitimacy; ^Infant Mortality; Parental Responsibilities How to Educate English-Speaking Children? Protestant Education 1790; Jesuit Estates and Protestant Education; The Bishop's Plan for a University; The "Prime Minister's" Plan; French Proposals; Public Interest in Education; Bishop Mountain and Protestant Education; Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning. V. APPRENTICESHIP AND THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING CHILD 1760-1800 Background of Apprenticeship System; Apprenticeship in the Thirteen Colonies; Apprenticeship Compared: Quebec and New York; English-Speaking Apprenticeship in Montreal; Indentured Servitude and Slavery; Conclusion. VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION Influence of the English-Speaking Family; Influence of Protestant Church and Clergy; Influence of English-Speaking Private Schools; Importance of English-Speaking Apprenticeship; Influence of the Newspapers The English-Speaking Community; Conclusion. FOOTNOTES VI LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE I. Summary of Protestant Schoolmasters' Reports, 1790 . 111-114 II. Recapitulation Generale du Denombrement de la Paroisse de Quebec 169 III. Recapitulation de la Haute-Ville 170 IV. Recapitulation de la Basse-Ville 171 ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to thank Dr. F. H. Johnson in the Faculty of Education for his kindness, patience and guidance during the several years it has taken to produc this study. I would also like to thank Professor Neil Sutherland, also of the Faculty of Education, for his helpful advice and his interest in the development of this thesis. INTRODUCTION For over two hundred years English-speaking culture has survived in Quebec, even though it has been in constant contact with the numerically stronger French-speaking culture by which it is surrounded. But though the adherents of English-speaking culture are few in number, they have occupied what the Preliminary Report of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism has described as a privileged position in Quebec and have been able "to live in a social world of their own.""^" French Canadians are challenging this position of the Anglophone in Quebec by trying to establish the supremacy of the French language in that province. The daily news of the late I960'.is frequently contains accounts of the con• troversy aroused over language rights and language demands. But it is not surprising that the language question is con• suming so much interest and energy in the politics of Quebec, and to some extent in the rest of Canada, for "language is the most evident expression of a culture, the one which most readily distinguishes cultural groups even for the most 2 superficial observer." The survival of either French or English-speaking culture in Quebec is dependent upon the perpetuation of their respective languages. The term "culture" needs some definition at this 2 point, for it has many meanings because of the elusive nature of the concept. The sociologist has evolved a scientifically comprehensive description of culture that is 3 all-embracing. However, the Report of the Royal Com• mission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism has given the layman a useful description of culture, and it is this which is used here. (Culture) is a driving force animating a sig• nificant group of individuals united by a common tongue and sharing the same customs, habits and experiences. Culture is to the group rather what personality is to the individual ... It is the sum of the characteristics particular to a group and common to its individual members.^ Despite the relevance of English-speaking culture to the problems facing Quebec and Canada today, very little attention has been paid by historians to the development of such a culture in Quebec. The Post-Conquest period, in which the seeds of English-speaking culture were sown, has been examined by historians from the political and constitutional standpoint and on this there has been con• siderable writing. However, there is a large void in the historiography of the period in the area of the cultural development of the English-speaking population, making initial research in this direction a somewhat long, and at times, frustrating procedure. But the purpose of this thesis is not to examine the whole, wide spectrum of English-speaking cultural development in the Post-Conquest period, but instead to 3 focus on the role of the major educational influences. It should be explained at this point that Bernard Bailyn's view of education as "not just formal pedagogy but as the entire process by which a culture transmits itself across the generations" has been adopted in this study.-5 Bailyn stresses the importance of the church, community and in particular the family in accounting for culture transfer across the generations. However, it has not been possible to follow Bailyn's thesis here on the importance of the family in education because of the com• plete lack of research on the English-speaking family in this period. The major educational influences in this study are designated as those of the English-speaking family, the Protestant church, the English-speaking community, English- speaking private schools, the newspaper, the legal system, and the apprentice system. During the Post-Conquest years, these influences served to transmit the English language, the cornerstone of English-speaking culture and in this way fostered the development of English-speaking culture. Who were the people who imported their alien English-speaking culture into Quebec? These Anglophones were men and women from a variety of socio-economic back• grounds and countries—merchants, tavernkeepers, trades• men, army men of high and low rank, lawyers, doctors and 4 clergy. They came from the Thirteen Colonies, England, Scotland, and Ireland; as well, non Anglo-Saxons, in particular Jewish and German settlers, identified them• selves with the English-speaking community. The unifying element in this diverse group of people in an age where class structure was well-defined was the English language.