philosophy. Other Roman Catholic institutions are Laval
Normal and Model School, the Ursuline Convent, the Convent
of the Good Shepherd and several nunneries. The convent
and church of the Ursulines, founded in 1641, contains nearly
100 nuns and lay sisters, and nearly 600 pupils. It possesses
some excellent paintings and a number of relics, among which
is the skull of the French general, Montcalm. Morrin College,
founded in 1859 by Dr Morrin, was for some years an efficient
college in arts and theology, under Presbyterian control, but
is now defunct. High schools for boys and girls and numerous
academies are supported by the Protestants, under the dual
system of education in the province. The Literary and
Historical Society-the oldest chartered institution of the kind
in Canada, founded by Lord Dalhousie in 1824-the Canadian
Institute, the Geographical Society, the Young Men's Christian
Association, the Advocates' Library and the Parliamentary
Library, have valuable collections of books, the latter containing
70,000 volumes, and numerous MSS. chiefly relating to
the.early history of the province. The principal benevolent institutions
are the marine hospital, the Hotel Dieu, founded
in 1639 by the duchess of Aiguillon, the general hospital (1693),
the Jeffrey Hale Hospital, and the lunatic asylum at Beauport
controlled by the Grey Nuns (sisters of charity). The provincial
parliament buildings, erected in 1878-92, are situated
in extensive grounds on Grande Allée. The main building is
quadrangular in form, and is ornamented with numerous
statues. The seat of the lieutenant-governor is at Spencerwood,
a pleasant country estate outside the city. Other prominent
buildings are the palace of the Roman Catholic Archbishop,
which adjoins Laval University, the court house, post office,
custom house, city hall (1890-95) and masonic hall. Quebec
is well lighted with gas and electric light, and has a system
of electric tramcars, a plentiful supply of power being obtained
from the Montmorency Falls (268 ft. in height), 6 m. N.E.
The climate is severe, but bracing, the mean temperature in
winter being IOD, in summer 68°, and the mean of the year 39°.
The main lines of the Grand Trunk, Canadian Pacific and Intercolonial
railways are on the south bank of the St Lawrence,
but branch lines connect the city with Montreal, and it is the
headquarters of the Quebec and Lake St John, and various
smaller railways. Steam ferries connect the city with Lévis
on the opposite bank, but the project of a bridge, though of
great importance to the city, has been in various ways delayed.
In August 1907 the portion completed fell into the St Lawrence.
The city returns three members to the Canadian House of
Commons, and three to the Provincial House of Assembly.
It is governed by a mayor and council of aldermen, who hold
office for two years, and are usually re-elected, one mayor
having held office for eleven successive years. Quebec is the
seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop and of an Anglican bishop.
Economically, Quebec was long the chief port of Canada. A
series of strikes almost ruined its export trade, and numerous
severe fires, of which that of 1845 was the chief, also lessened
its importance. For many years the export trade passed
almost entirely to Montreal, but the increasing size of seagoing
vessels makes navigation above Quebec more and more
difficult, especially for fast passenger steamships, and for such
vessels Quebec 'is again becoming the terminus. Quebec's
staple export is timber, the greater portion of which comes
from the Ottawa and St Maurice districts. Formerly the
rafts floating down the river were collected in the coves which
extend along both sides of the river, above the city, and were
fastened by booms along the banks. Now much of the timber
is sent by rail. On the right bank of the stream, not far from
Quebec, are extensive sawmills. Deals and square timber form
the bulk of the export, but some furniture is also sent, and an
increasing quantity of wheat is shipped. The building of
wooden ships was formerly one of the chief industries of Quebec.
The principal manufactures are iron castings, machinery,
cutlery, nails, leather; rifies, gunpowder, musical instruments,
boots and shoes, paper, india-rubber goods, ropes, tobacco,
steel. The population increases but slowly, having risen from
59,699 in 1871 to 68,840 in 1901; of these over 60,000 are
French and Roman Catholic.
The first known white man to visit Quebec was Jacques Cartier, the French navigator, in 1535, who found on the site a large Indian village, called Stadacona. In July 1608 the present city was founded, and named by Champlain. Its growth was slow, and in 1629 it had but two permanently settled families, with a shifting population of monks, officials and fur traders. In that year it was captured by the English under Sir David Kirke (1597-1656; see H. Kirke, The First English Conquest of Canada, London, 1871, reprinted 1908), but in IO32 it was restored to the French by the treaty of St Germain-en-Laye. In 1663 the colony of New France was created a royal province, and Quebec became the capital. In 1690 Sir William Phips, governor of Massachusetts, attempted to reconquer it with a fleet and army fitted out by New England, but was defeated by the French governor, Frontenac. In 1711 a great British expedition sent against it under Sir Hovenden Walker was shipwrecked in the gulf of St Lawrence, and the French held possession till 1759 (see below), when it was captured by the British troops on the 18th of September, five days after the battle of the Plains of Abraham; it was finally ceded to Great Britain by the treaty of Paris in 1763. In 1775 the American generals Montgomery and Benedict Arnold attacked the city, but Montgomery was killed (December 31, 1775) and Arnold was compelled to retreat in the following spring.
In 1763-1841, in 1851-55, and in 1859-65 Quebec was the capital of Canada, and it is still its most historic and picturesque city.
See Quebec under Two Flags, by A. G. Doughty and N. E. Dionne (Quebec, 1903). Canada, an Encyclopaedia, by J. C. Hopkins (Toronto, 1898-1900), has a good account (vol. v. pp. 241-248). (W. L. G.)
Wolfe's Quebec Expedition, 1759.—Both in itself and also as the central incident of the British conquest of Canada, the taking of Quebec is one of the epics of modern military history. The American campaigns of the Seven Years' War, hitherto somewhat spasmodic, were, after Amherst's capture of Louisburg in 1758, co-ordinated and directed to a common end by that general, under whom James Wolfe, a young major-general of thirty-three years of age, was to command an expedition against Quebec from the lower St Lawrence, while Amherst himself led a force from New England by Lake Champlain on Montreal. Wolfe's column consisted of about 7000 troops, and was convoyed by a powerful fleet under Admiral Saunders. The expedition sailed 300 m. up the St Lawrence, disembarked on the Isle of Orleans and encamped facing the city. The defenders were commanded by Montcalm, a soldier whose character and abilities, like Wolfe's, need no comment here. The French were superior in numbers, though a considerable part of their force was irregular; but they had the dcfender's difficult task of being strong everywhere. Wolfe began the attack by seizing Point Lévis, and thence bombarding Quebec. This, however, affected the main defences of the upper city but little, and they were moreover protected from closer attack by the St Lawrence and the St Charles. The third side of the triangle was the “ plains of Abraham,” to which it was thought there was no approach from the river. After wasting some weeks, therefore, Wolfe decided to cross the St Lawrence 7 m. below Quebec and to fight his way to the city by the St Charles side. But Montcalm's fortified posts spread out from Quebec through Beauport as far as the Montmorency, and this formidable obstacle checked the English advance at the outset. No artifice could lure the defenders away, and at last Wolfe attacked the line of the Montmorency and was repulsed with heavy loss (July 31). Wolfe's fragile health gave way under the disappointment, and despondency set in in the English camp. But as soon as the young leader had recovered a little, he summoned his brigadiers and worked out a plan for attacking by the upper waters and the heights of Abraham. Access to the heights could be obtained, it was
