Excerpt from The Tragedy of Quebec: The Expulsion of Its Protestant Farmers

The first edition of this book appeared in 1907. Its purpose was to reveal to the people of the other pro vinces of the Dominion the condition of the English speaking farmers in the Province of Quebec, in the hope that they might be stirred to action to preserve a remnant and to take steps to prevent a like fate overtaking farming communities in the other pro vinces. The 'book was welcomed by few. It was described as a fire-brand production, the embodiment of bigotry. The booksellers of Montreal would not have it on their counters. The press ignored it, the few notices it received being carefully qualified so as not to be taken as endorsing either its sentiments or its statements, An exception was the Telegram, of Toronto, which heartily commended it, Not until the march of events showed its warnings as to the English speaking provinces being in peril from the power that dominated Quebec, in the matters of language, educa tion and marriage, did the book obtain a general cir cul'ation. Asecond edition was called for, and in it and in the third a wider range was taken in dealing with aspects of clerical interference outside of Quebec, and the eifort made to make it a handbook of civil rights for Canadians.

The long historical introduction has been objected to as a defect. I do not see how the present day evils of priestly domination can be successfully dealt with unless traced to their origin. The fact that no writer had treated the records of the early days of Canada critical-1y, all having perpetuated the delusion of their being romantic and heroic, impelled me the more to go to the heart of the subject and print what the archives at Ottawa reveal.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.