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The Impact of the British Conquest on New France

Fan Zhang

The Anglo-French war between 1754 and 1763, known as the Seven Years' War, ended with the British conquest on New France. By the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, all French North America east of the Mississippi was ceded to Britain. This conquest resulted in the reinforcement of Roman Catholic Church and old feudal system of the Quebec society in the late 18th century and emergence of a Quebec identity.

From 1760 to 1774, when colonial affairs were almost completely neglected in George III ' s bitter struggle with the Whig majority, British military officers took the whole responsibility of administering the new colony. Indeed, the feudal structure of Quebec society appealed to the military mind. The new military governments continued old administrative structure of Quebec. In fact, most of seigneurs, gentlemen, bourgeois, wealthy merchants, lawyers and other professionals remained in Quebec after the Conquest. The clergy remained at their posts and the prestige as the the leaders of people was reinforced. The old administrative districts continued; the Superior Council of the old regime was revived; the laws of the country were taken over and applied as they had existed under the French. Finally, the military governors combined the roles of both governor and intendant in old days.

During this period, few British American moved to Quebec (there were perhaps 500 migrants in all), and those who did were attracted primarily by the prospect of taking control of the fur trade. Their bourgeois mentality and their repeated demands for the ' rights ' tended to alienate the landed-gentry-based British officers who sympathized with the conditions of the French Canadian elite and ignored the demands of those newly arrived Protestants for a general assembly and the application of English laws

But as a matter of fact, the Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763 contains the instructions on the Anglicization of the new colony: besides the ideas of assembly and English laws, assimilation was to be the order of the day; lands were set aside for the support of Protestant clergyman and schoolmasters, and things of that sort.

However, the then governor General James Murry did not attempt to apply those policies literally. This resulted in the agitation of the local Protestants and led to his recall to Britain. He was replaced in 1766 by General Guy Carlton who was expected to carry out the policy of the proclamation.

Carlton, however, soon came to see that the colony was certain to be permanently French He realizes that ' the British form of government, transplanted into this continent, never will produce the same fruits as at home.' With one eye on the colonies to the south, he convinced that democracy would become dominant in an assembly, and this clearly to be avoided in a province so lately conquered. Drawn by his aristocratic and autocratic turn of mind, Carlton did much in the interest of the seigneurs and of the clergy. He pleaded for a revival of the royal bounty which had supplemented the income of the seigneurs; he urged their sons be given commissions in armies and h favored the principle of a coadjutor. To Carlton, Britain’s best course was to forge an alliance with the elites of the former French colony: the seigneurs and the Roman Catholic Church. The acceptance by the imperial government of his policy resulted in the Quebec Act of 1774.

The Quebec Act marked a radical departure in the manner by which British colonies in America were governed. However, it set up a concrete foundation for a loyal British America by recognizing the distinctive national identity of French Canadian. This identity was not always separable from their feudal system and prestige of religious institutions. This feature defines the basic social conditions in the late 18th century's New France and it continued to matter in future historical development. This Act granted permission for Catholics in Quebec to hold public office; stipulated that an appointed council would advise the governor, rather than an assembly; and legitimized French civil law. The Quebec Act also recognized the legitimacy of French language and the Roman Catholic faith, gave the church power to enforce the collection of tithes, and formalized the authority of the seigneurs to collect the rents from their habitants. Never before had those landowners and clergyman enjoy this kind of prestige!

The motives of the British to preserve -- -in fact to enforce --- the old feudal system was to cement French loyalty and as said, this social system , along with the Catholic church, was inseparable from their national identity as French language was.. At same time, the satisfying French --- the so-called elite must have a say over the mass --- helped the British to strengthen their authority on this land of alien subjects. Well. it was conceded that ' the French Canadians could be British without becoming English'. Democracy and class differences were temporarily ignored, though the habitants vaguely realized the injustice of the feudal system and at the same time, voice of American Revolution was not unheard here.

Indeed, in October 1774, the first Congress of American colonies adopted an ' Address to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec ', in which they sought to convince the French Canadians that true interest lay in uniting with American colonies in the struggle for liberty, representative government, and freedom from economic persecution. However, just as those colony elite --- the clergy and the seigneurs didn't fail to point out that this same American had just denounced Catholicism in England, thus much of the effectiveness of the appeal destroyed. 'How can those non-beliver tell us what the liberty is?' they may have told the mass, ' and what about the survival of our culture?' Taking advantage of the religion as a national symbol, in collaboration with a foreign colonial authority, and helped by the fact that agriculture had made the most remarkable progress in the past decade, those social elite successfully stopped a possible deep involvement of French Canadians in the American revolution and reinforced their own as well as their colonial superior's authority.

As a matter of fact, the British conquest on New France was one of the historical reasons that helped the American Revolution take place. Indeed, the danger from New France to the American colonies was ended with the Conquest, thus weakening their dependence on British .Conversely, the American revolution now had its direct impact on New France: the coming of the loyalists. They crossed new frontiers and settled along the St. Lawrence River. Their impact in Quebec was great, resulting in a new province and more importantly, the Constitutional Act of 1791. Those newcomers had one desire: to hold the land granted them in simple ownership, something the civil law of Quebec did not allow. Some of them also wanted a representative government which was denied by the Quebec Act. Under their pressure as well as considering that American Revolution took place in the wake of American having not been granted the British constitution in proper forms, the colonial authority passed Constitutional Act in 1791.

In retrospect, the British Conquest on New France resulted in the reinforcement of the French feudal system and Roman Catholic Church. The motive for this enforcement was to build social stability on a national identity. They successfully achieved their goal.

Bibliography:

Wade, M (1955): ' The French Canadians’

Ouellet,F.(1980), ' Economic and Social History of Quebec 1760~1850 '

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online (2001)