LIST OF OFFICERS

FOR 1838

 

PRESIDENT :

ANDREW STUART, ESQUIRE,

 

VICE PRESIDENTS :

HON. WILLIAM SHEPPARD,

G.B. FARIBAULT, ESQUIRE,

WILLIAM KELLY, M.D., R.N.

REV. H .D. SEWELL, M. A.

 

RECORDING SECRETARY .

J .C. FISHER, L.L.D.

 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

JOS. SKEY, ESQ., M.D., I.M.H.

 

COUNCIL SECRETARY .

WALTER HENRY, ESQ.

 

TREASURER .

ROBERT SYMES, ESQ.

 

LIBRARIAN .

DANIEL WILKIW, L.L.D.

 

CURATORS .

OF MUSEUM :

C. C. SHEPARD, ESQ.

OF APPARATUS :

V. DAINTREY, ESQ.

 

COMMITTEE ON HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS .

REVEREND JOHN HOLMES,

ANDREW STUART, ESQ.

HON. W. SHEPPARD,

JOSEPH SKEY, ESQ. M.D.

G. B. FARUSAULT, ESQ.

DANIEL WILKIE, L.L.D.

REV. JOHN COOK, D.D.

 

CHAIRMEN OF CLASSES.

LITERATURE—REV. J. COOK, D.D.

SCIENCE—CAPT. BAYFIELD, R.N.

ARTS—WILLIAM BRISTOW, ESQ.

FINE ARTS—THOMAS AMIOT, ESQ.

NATURAL HISTORY—JAMES A. SEWELL, ESQ. M D.

 

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL

Of

THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY

OF QUEBEC,

FOR THE YEAR ENDING JANUARY 9, 1839

 

In presenting to the Society a general view of its proceedings during the year that is about to close, the reason of the thing and established usage direct the Council to begin by paying the tribute of its respectful notice to the memory of your deceased members. Of these, the number is not so great as last year ; but one of them, the Founder and first Patron of this Society, occupies so prominent a place in the history of its rise and advancement, as to demand a more than ordinary share of the attention that we are accustomed to devote to this part of the report With so wide a field before it as the eventful life of this distinguised Nobleman, the Council will confine its observations, on the present occasion, to his character—first, as a patron of'learning and education, and, secondly, as the greatest benefactor of this Society.  

 

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE EARL of DALHOOSIE was born in Scotland in 1770, and was the ninth who bore that title, created in 1633. He was educated at ther High School of Edinburgh, and for a considerable portion of the time of his attendance, occupied the same form with the afterwards illustrious 8ir Walter Scott

 

It does not fall within the plan here adopted, to pursue the successive steps of His Lordship's advancement in the army, which he entered at the early age of seventeen, nor his important services in the several quarters of the globe, all of which he visited in his professional character. These services form part of the history of his country ; and there accordingly they are recorded. His acts, too, as a Civil Governor, form part of the history of that country, and of the Provinces over which he presided.

 

Soon after assuming the administration of the Government is the Province of Nova Scotia, on the 24th October, 1816, he seems to have been struck with the deficiency of the means of public education, which was but too obvious there as well as in the neighbouring Colonies. The College of Windsor, established about the beginning of the century, was in a great measure adapted, by its forms and constitution, for the benefit of persons of the Episcopalian persuasion,. His enlightened mind perceived the great advantages that would arise from a collegiate institution adapted to die habits, and accofdant with the wishes of persons of other persuasions. Accordingly, in the course of the following year, he succeeded in appropriating the sum of £9,750 to the erection of a college at Halifax. This sum was granted out of the amount of duties collected at Castine, which Loid Bathurst, then Secretary for the Colonies, had previously authorized the Governor to expend upon local improvements. A piece of ground was afterwards granted, under the great seal of the Province, for that purpose. And the Assembly soon after appropriated £2000 to aid in erecting the building called Dalhousie College. From some unforeseen delays and disappointments, this institution, did not go into operation till the present year.  

 

About the time that this laudable establishment was set on foot, I a grant from the same fund was made in aid of the military library, an object to which we find His Lordship afterwards directing his attention at Quebec.        

 

About this time, the Central Agricultural Society was established at Halifax. From His Lordship's general attention to improvements of all kinds, it might naturally be inferred that such an institution would readily meet with his support. And we are informed by the author of Agricola's Letters, that the Lieutenant Governor entered warmly into his schemes, became one of his earliest correspondents,'favoured the formation of similar Agricultural Societies, and " took frequent excursions into the country, to mark whether the husbandmen were ripe for any permanent improvement. "

 

The Earl of Dalhousie, in quality of Governor General, arrived at Quebec, with his family and staff, on the 13th of June, 1820.

 

The establishment of a Literary Society in Lower Canada appears to have occupied his thoughts from his first arrival. His impression probably was, that the time was now come when such an attempt could be made with some prospect of success, and that the Lower Province, the oldest of these Colonies, was the place where it ought naturally to originate. Accordingly, in the course of the year 1823, he called together, at the Castle of Saint Lewis, a number of. persons favorable to this design, and in a short address explained to them his views. After apologising for taking the lead in the absence of any other likely to do it, he stated that the advantages of such an institution were indisputable,—that, independently of other subjects of research open to all, the early history of Canada, and the language and customs of its aborigines, offered an immediate and prominent ground of enquiry—and concluded by offering for himself, art ardent zeal and most anxious desire to promote the success of the Society by evesy means in his power. 

 

The first meeting of the Society was held on the 6th of January, 1824, When an election of officers took place, and His Lordship was nominated Patron. At a subsequent meeting, on the 1st of March the same year, he fully redeemed the pledge held out in his opening address, by granting annually out of his own resources, the sum of £100 during the period of his stay in the Province. By means of this munificent grant, the Society was enabled to enter upon the collection of a museum and apparatus, with a rapidity which would otherwise have been impossible, with its scanty resources, and the paucity of its members at that period. From this source was procured, among other objects, the large collection of mineralogical specimens which now adorns our rooms, and attracts to them the student of natural history, as well as the intelligent stranger.

 

Other literary and scientific institutions in the country also received his patronage ; and the religious associations throughout the country, experienced his bounty to a greater extent than could have been expected.

 

When the account of His Lordship’s decease was received in Quenec, the Society, at its next meeting, in May, passed resolutions expressive of its sorrow at the event, and of condolence with the surviving members of his family. In accordance also with its resolution, an engraved full-length likeness of its noble Founder was obtained from Montreal, and is now placed full in your view.

 

The Society has, in the course of the present year, lost another of its oldest and most respected members, by the decease of the late HONOURABLE JOHN HALE, Receiver-General for the Province. This gentleman has been known to every man in the country for half a century. His connections were all in the very highest degree respectable, the offices which he held most important, and the fidelity with which he executed the trusts confided to him utterly unimpeachable. The breath of calumny has never attempted to soil his charcter for strict integrity. Yet in the intercourse of life, he was open, kind, and friendly, and afforded numerous proofs of the native humanity of his temper. He was a member of your Society from its first formation, and has his name constantly enrolled in the records of its meetings for several years. Strict attention to the duties of his office probably for some time, and the infirmity of age certainly of late years, precluded his attendance. A paper communicated by him appears in the first volume of your Transactions, written with the characteristic brevity and sententiousness of his manner. His support was given us to the last.

 

From the decease of an aged member, it is necessary to pass to that of a very young one. HENRY DAVIDSON, Esquire, Advocate, of the Quebec Bar, was among those who died since our last annual meeting. He was educated under the Reverend R. R. Barrage, of this city, and afterwards under the Reverend Mr. Brathwaite, at Chambly. He was a young gentleman of promising talents and good disposition, and likely to have proved an ornament to his profession.

 

From the members we have lost, the Council respectfully proceeds to announce what has been done by the Society, and what has been added to its sources of information.

 

The additions made to the Library this year, consist of three descriptions : the splendid donation of the Earl of Durham, the books procured for illustrating the history of the country, and the continuation of works in course of publication.

 

The Society is already well informed concerning the nature and extent of the munificent donation of books made by His Excellency the, Governor-General, who also consented to become its Patron. A circumstance that ought never to be forgotten by us, is, that this expensive and valuable present was procured for us in anticipation of our wants. The penetration of the Earl of Durham led him to perceive, before leaving his native shores, that a Society such as ours, must, in a distant Colony, be in want of support ; the slender information he had concerning us, suggested to him the kind of assistance we wanted ; and the generosity of his disposition directed him unsolicited to afford it. This benefaction, unique in its kind, and invaluable as to its importance, is doubly enhanced by the disinterested manner in which it was designed and bestowed.

 

This magnificent present consists of ninety-four volumes of Greek and Roman Classics, all of them extremely valuable, and many of them exceedingly scarce. They are, for the most part, of the most correct editions, several of them enriched with learned commentaries, and all of them respectable in respect of paper, type and binding. Several of them are the finest specimens of typography that the country has seen. A series of Reports on the editions to which they belong, has been begun to be read at the Monthly General Meetings, and will, it is expected, be continued.

 

Whether we consider the opportunities of learned research which are thus afforded us, the acquisitions which we are thus taught to prize, or the studies which we are thus urged to prosecute, we are, on every one of these accounts, bound to appreciate this donation at an no ordinary rate.

 

The next principal addition to the library has a reference immediately to the great object for which our association was originally formed. The enlightened nobleman already mentioned as its Founder, observed, on the first occasion on which he met the members of it as a body, that it was better to direct its attention immediately to the early history of Canada, wisely judging, that, by having a definite purpose in view, we were most likely to prosecute that purpose with success. It was for the same reason that the word HISTORICAL has been considered an essential portion of the name the Society bears. It is the history of the country, and not general history to which that portion of our name refers.

 

To enable us to pursue with greater effect this leading object of our institution, the Council came to the resolution of importing a very considerable and appropriate selection of works, which had been agreed upon, relating to this very subject. These works were procured in London, through the zeal and judgment of one of our members, the Honourable A. W. Cochran. This important addition to our sources of information has been obtained at comparatively an extremely small outlay ; and competent judges have declared, that they could not have anticipated obtaining so valuable an acquisition for less than double the actual cost. It consists of rare and unique maps and atlases, of books of travels and voyages to America, descriptions of the manners of the natives ; the proceedings, wars and sufferings of the first Colonies that settled on this continent, and histories of vafious subsequent periods.

 

The volumes procured in continuation of those already obtained will be found important ; such as, the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Philosophical Journal, the American Journal of Science, the Journal of the Geographical Society, and Cuvier's Natural History, now  completed.               

 

With the additions made to the library, must be mentioned two very valuable donations : The Nautical Magazine, in six volumes, presented by Dr. W. Kelly, R. N., and several works on military tactics, on geodetic operations, on mechanics, and some other subjects, presented by Major Wright, R. E.

 

Large additions have been made to our files of Quebec Newspapers. Six volumes of the Gazette have been procured or obtained as donations. Eighteen volumes of the Mercury have been collected.

 

The Councillor Macedo, Secretary to the Royal Academy of Lisbon, has transmitted to us a publication of his own, containing some learned researches concerning the navigation of the Atlantic Ocean at remote periods.

 

A large addition to the records of Great Britain and Ireland has been obligingly transmitted to us by the Record Commission.

 

The exterior form of the Library, it will be perceived, has undergone some expensive alterations, conducive to convenience, to embellishment, and to the safe keeping of the books. A great number of volumes, which were exposed to danger, by being loosely stitched, or only in boards, have been bound. A Catalogue, which has been long and much wanted, is in course of preparation, through the exertions and assiduity of the Assistant Secretary, and may be expected to be soon ready for printing.

 

Our cabinets of Natural History, are receiving a valuable augmentation, in a box of shells, selected and shipped for us by the Right Honourable the Earl of Gosford ; but which, by an accidental delay in transmission, was necessarily conveyed to New-York. It may be expected at an early day by overland carriage.

 

Our collections of this description, continue to receive frequent additions by donations of various kinds. A collection of moths, made at Grosse-Isle by Dr. George Douglas, is entitled to particular notice. Fifty-three specimens in Mineralogy, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the Districts of Quebec and Gaspé, have been presented by Captain Bayfield, R.N. The Reverend John Holmes, of the Québec Seminary, presented twenty-one specimens in Natural History, brought, with him from Europe. To these the same gentleman added a splendid and highly useful donation, consisting of sixty-three large folio plates, illustrative of Baron Cuvier's system of animated nature, and one plate illustrating the present system of Geology.

 

The publication of important historical documents, has been advantageously continued. By the influence and public spirit of His Excellency the Earl of Durham, some valuable manuscripts have been procured for us from Versailles, which the Committee on that subject had in vain striven to obtain through any other channel. The greatest part of them have been printed, and are nearly ready for distribution. They contain important information relating to the statistics and events of the province in former periods. The others remains in the Society's archives' for future disposal.

 

Mention was made in the last Annual Report, of some valuable manuscripts procured at Paris by the Reverend Mr. Holmes.

 

Several of these have also been deemed interesting and fit for immediate publication. Four hundred copies of part of them have been struck off, and the printing of the rest is going on.

 

You will be pleased with the favourable statement which your Treasurer gives of the state of your funds. The Special Council, in its spring session, voted for our use, the accustomed aid of fifty pounds. This sum, along with the increasing funds of the Society from its own resources, and the recovery of some past arrears, has enabled the Council to accomplish the extensive purchases of books that have been made, and to leave a balance in the Treasurer’s hands. The Legislative grant of three hundred pounds, made a few years ago for the publication of historical documents, has rendered it possible to proceed with the printing of the records already mentioned. That sum is now exhauster. Bas as, after supplying all the members both foreign and resident, and all the public institutions, a considerable number will still remain which may be disposed of by sale, the fund may in time partly supply its own waste.   

 

STATEMENT OF THE RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE.

 

Balance on hand January 1838,.             £111 15 9

Amount of Subscriptions in 1838,.                         90 10 0

Amount of Arrears received in 1838,.     45 12 6

Two Volumes of Transactions sold,.                    0 15 0

Legislative grant £50 0 0,.

Less Warrant,             2 6,.                                49 17 6

                                                                        £298 10 9

 

EXPENDITURE.

 

Printing and Binding,.          £102   4 2

New Books,.                          101 17 4

Library and Museum,.         19 16 3

Assistant Secretary,.                   30   0 0

Contingencies,.                      35   8 6

                                              £289   6 3

 

Balance on hand January, 1839,. £9 4 6

 

The call made upon the public by the offer of prizes for meritorious essays or works of art, has not been entirely without success. Some competition for them has appeared the preceding year and this. Since the last annual meeting, the society has had the satisfaction of awarding a prize for painting ; and other attempts in more than one department, though not deemed worthy of prizes, have yet been such as indicated a love of excellence, an aim at high designs which, if persevered in, must finally prove successful. In such matters, it is above all things necessary to be remembered, that it is the property of Genius, to e stimulated, not repressed by temporary disappointment ; and equally its characteristic not to be rendered inactive, but on the contrary roused to higher exertions, by every instance of past success.           

 

The addition made to the number of members in the course of the year is deserving of attention. Eight Associate Members, one Ordinary, two Corresponding, and one Honorary, have been elected.

 

The improvement of our Bye-laws by such alterations as experience suggested, has not been neglected. The alteration by which members continuing to be in arrears for more than two years, cease to be members, promises to be attended with manifest advantage, and has in fact, already proved its utility.

 

In conclusion, it is fair to state, that, however little we may appear to have performed, that little, if the state of the country be considered, will appear to be much. That we should in any way, however imperfectly, have pursued our peaceful course, amidst the storm of civil war, and the distractions of political changes, amidst the dreadful note of preparation, and the alarms, real r imaginary, by which the ear was continually assailed, ought to be considered as no slender merit.

 

The circumstance which forms the best apology for the little we have done, may also be fairly urged as a reason for applying ourselves to the prosecution of our great objects, with re-animated zeal. To what means are we to look for the cure of those aberrations of mind, that have produced our present and recent difficulties? To what so much as to progess of mental energy ; to the gradual triumph of mind over the ignorance in which it is involved, over the passions by which it is possessed, and the prejudices to which it is unhappily prone. It is to education that we must look for the cure of all those evils, to that culture of mind which dissipates the musts and acerbities of prejudice, which lays open to contemplation the experience of past ages, which affords a taste of the pleasure that attends the discovery of truth, and its superior attractions above those which attend the indulgence of the fiercer passions.

 

For we are really engaged in the work of education : we are educationg the public mind. Our endeavour is, to do what is most essential to promote that object ; to disseminate a taste for the possession of it, to exemplify the advantages that spring from it, and the pleasures which form its invariable result. If we resolve zealously and unremittingly, to discharge our duties as members of this Society, it need not be doubted, that our example will be followed by many, that our advice will be taken by not a few, that the path we mark out will be traced by numerous stops, and, what forms the highest pleasure of a benevolent mind, multitudes will become happier and more virtuous through the influence of our exertions.

 

LIST OF OFFICERS

FOR 1839

 

PRESIDENT :

WILLIAM KELLY ; ESQUIRE, M. D., R. N.

 

VICE-PRESIDENTS :

REVD. DANIEL WILKIE, L. L. D.,

ANDREW STUART, ESQUIRE,

HONBLE. WILLIAM SHEPPARD,

G. B. FARIBAULT, ESQUIRE,

 

RECORDING SECRETARY.

WILLIAM BRISTOW, ESQR.

 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

J. C. FISHER, L. L. D.

 

COUNCIL SECRETARY.

DAVID ROY, ESQR.

 

TREASURER.

ROBERT SYMES, ESQR.

 

LIBARIAN.

HON. F. W. PRIMROSE.

 

CURATORS—

 

OF MUSEUM :

ALEX. BEGS, ESQR.

 

OF APPARATUS :

V. DAINTREY, ESQR.

 

COMMITTEE ON HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS.

DR. KELLY, R. N.

HON. A. W. COCHRANE,

G. B. FARIBAULT, ESQR.

J. C. FISHER, L. L. D.

REVD. D. WILKIE, L. L. D.

HON. W. SHEPPARD,

REVD. JOHN HOLMES.

 

CHAIRMENT OF CLASSES.

 

LITERATURE—REVD. J. COOK, D. D.

SCINCE—R. C. GEGGIE, ESQR.

ARTS—J. B. EDIE, ESQR.

FINE ARTS—A. CAMPBELL, ESQR.

NATURAL HISTORY—JAMES DOUGLAS, M. D.