Public-domain ebook
Language: en1,725 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: History - British·History - European·History - Modern (1750+)
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #48244.
The work is a scholarly chronicle of Montreal’s evolution from the British conquest in 1760 through the early years of the Canadian Confederation, presented in two complementary halves. The opening pages explain the author’s intent to balance the French‑Canadian majority’s perspective with that of the English‑speaking minority, while tracing the city’s political and civic milestones, interregnum, the Quebec and Constitutional Acts, the Union, and the establishment of municipal government. A detailed “Note to the Reader” outlines the structure: Part I follows constitutional and civic progress, chapter by chapter, from the immediate aftermath of the 1760 surrender to the municipal reforms of the 1890s; Part II supplies reference material on religion, education, culture, public services and the institutions that shaped the metropolis. The author, William H. Atherton, grounds each episode in documentary evidence, from governor’s ordinances to petitions and court records, promising a comprehensive, source‑rich account of Montreal’s growth under British rule.
Atherton writes in a formal, nineteenth‑century academic voice, employing exhaustive chapter headings and a dense catalogue of events, names and dates. The prose reflects the period’s emphasis on impartiality and exhaustive documentation, often invoking contemporary mottos and quotations to frame the narrative. Readers who relish meticulous institutional histories, students of Canadian or urban history, and anyone interested in the interplay of French‑Canadian and British influences will find the book rewarding. Its exhaustive scope makes it especially useful for researchers seeking a reference on Montreal’s political, social and religious development between 1760 and 1914.
The opening · free to read
Montreal of today is a cosmopolitan city, but it is preponderatingly French-Canadian in its population. This fact makes it necessary to give especial attention to the history of two-thirds of the people. There has, therefore, been an effort in these pages, while recognizing this, to respect the rights of the minority, and open-handed justice has been observed.
The position of a dispassionate onlooker has been taken as far as possible in the narration of the domestic struggles in the upbuilding of the city through the crucial turnstiles of Canadian history under British rule--the Interregnum, the establishment of civil government, the Quebec act, the Constitutional act, the Union, and the Confederation. This attitude of equipoise, while disappointing to partisans, has been justified if it helps to present an unbiased account of different periods of history and serves to maintain the city’s motto of “Concordia Salus”--a doctrine which has been upheld throughout this work. Tout savoir c’est tout pardonner.
Charles Dickens in his visit to Montreal in 1842 observed that it was a “heart-burning town.” There is no need to renew the occasion for such a title in the city of today.
It only remains to express thankful indebtedness to those, too numerous to mention, who have assisted in the compilation of certain information otherwise difficult of access, and also to thank a number of friends, prominent citizens of Montreal, who in connection with the movement for city improvement and the inculcation of civic pride have encouraged the author to embark on the laborious but pleasant task of preparing this second volume of the history of “Montreal Under British Rule,” as a sequel to the first volume of “Montreal Under the French Régime.”
WILLIAM HENRY ATHERTON. December, 1914.
In presenting the second volume to the reader the writer would observe that its first part deals mainly with the story of city progress under the various changes of the political and civic constitution, with certain chapters of supplementary annals and sidelights of general progress. The second part treats in detail, for the sake of students and as a reference book, the special advancement of the city through its various eras in religion, education, culture, population, public service, hospital, charitable, commercial, financial, transportation and city improvement growth, and in so doing the author has desired to present the histories of the chief associations that have in the past or in the present been mainly responsible for the upbuilding of a no mean city.
W.H.A.
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