Quebec of Yester-Year by Arthur G. Doughty (review)

REVIEWS OF BOOKS Quebec of Yester-•Year. By ARTI•URG. DouGI•T¾. Toronto: Thomas Nelson and Sons. 1032. Pp. 108; 1õ illustrations. ($3.00) AuxI•ORand publishersare both to becongratulatedon the body, soul, and spirit of this book. Its body is decidedly attractive to the discriminating eye. How gladly would any reader of good taste turn from the loathsomelydebasingdaubson somany hideous"jackets" to the delightful picturewhichsoappropriately headsthe "jacket" here the enticingcolour-printof Batchelor'slifelikepictureof Talon'swelcome arrival in a most promisinghabitant householdat the very heyday of the king'sown royal provinceof New France. The blue and grey-blue binding is alsoin the bestof taste; and,with the well-setillustratedtext, makes the body a befitting fabric for the soul. The soul of French Quebechas long appealed to Dr. Doughty, who was once a Quebecofficial, in daily touch with all the recordsof the past. Since then he has been in chargeof those vast and ever-growing Dominion Archives which are concerned with Canadian history at large. Yet, however far afield he goes, he never can forget Quebec, from which so much originating history sprang, and where, to judge from his more personalwritings, he still findsby far the most congenial spirit of his work. Indeed, readers of the present book who have insight might well be excusedfor imagining that he had oncereceived some genuine transfusionfrom the life-blood of New France. For, if suchreaderslet their fancy roam, they will soonfind themselvesamong what almost seem to be his living recollectionsof the vie intime he personallyfound at work and play among both French and FrenchCanadiansin Quebecduring the old r•gime. He reminiscentlyrecalls many significant personal touches connected with every important phaseof life in French Quebec. There are intimate scenesfrom every act in that appealingdrama: scenes of the pioneers'in exploration,trade, state, church, arms, settlement, and social life; scenesof the short but gloriouscolonising ageof Talon; scenes of the warring time of Frontenac; scenesof the far more peaceful age which followed; and, finally, scenes from the last disastrousdecade,when Bigot, Vaudreuil, and Montcalm were the knave, fool, and hero of a perishing New France. A meticulous critic could find a gooddeal here to cavil at; if only because there must be many questionsof omissionwhen even the truest short and local tales are told about the intimately human side of a long and complexgeneral history. But somehowDr. Doughty does select those salient parts which give a very fair idea of the concurrent greater whole. And if the super-critic should point out that two of the pictures chosenfrom the Dominion Archives date from the wrong r•gime, a critic with more imagination might reply that even these anachronisms(on pages38 and 118) are justifiable enough;because, though British, and of the early nineteenth century, they still, like Dr. Doughty's text, are distinctly reminiscentof the French r•gime. 311 312 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW A few points are rather more open to a little juster criticism. Dr. Doughty hardly makes his readers feel the overwhelming influence of sea-powerat every turn, even at every social turn. Shipping, shipbuilding , ocean fleets, and even the countlessflotillas of peace or war canoeson every inland waterway--all together, were of overwhelming importanceto the very life of French Quebec. On page132 his "rifles" are a little slip for smooth-boremuskets. On page 73 his referenceto the "crafty savage" might lead peoplefar lesslearned than himselfto think that perfidious Denonville was not a great deal worse. And, in all his referencesto the Iroquois and their terrific raids, why does Dr. Doughty forget to quote thosequintessentialdozenwordsin which the Jesuitswho knew Canada told the home-boundFrench onesjust exactly how these particularly "crafty" savagescarried out surprise attacks? "They approach like foxes, attack like lions, and fly away like birds." Is it, perhaps,only a hypercriticalreviewerwho would go one step further, to ask why Dr. Doughty, with his own vast knowledgeof the higherfactorsat work in all historicproblems,makesno specialmention of the higherintellectualfacultiesat work in the greatestof all scientists and the greatest of all commandersto be found in the history of New France. On page 116 Dr. Michel Sarrazin gets full credit for his devotionto the poor, for his notes"on someCanadian mammals", and for "discoveringthe curative properties"of...