1761 in Canada explained

Events from the year 1761 in Canada.

Incumbents

Louis XV[1]

George III[2]

Governors

Jeffery Amherst

Louis Billouart

Jonathan Belcher

Richard Edwards

Events

Births

Deaths

Historical documents

French court accuses British of starting war over borders of Acadia and Canada (with conflict extending to fighting on four continents)[4]

Britain refuses to cede Cape Breton to France (even with pledge of no fortifications), but agrees conditionally to allow French fishing[5]

French policy on ceding American possessions to Britain should consider not colony size, but economic and strategic advantages[6]

Populating Canada will only drain other British colonies, which should be consolidated by "becoming more populous, and [thus] compact"[7]

Advice of Waybukcumigut, "chief and captain" of Mississaugas, in essay on improving relations with Indigenous people (Note: "savages" used)[8]

British ordered not to provoke Canadians on their loss, nor their "language, dress, Manners, Customs, or Country," nor their "mistaken Religion"[9]

British map entire St. Lawrence River above L'Isle-aux-Coudres in detail (Indigenous and settler towns and fields, woods and swamps etc.)[10]

Prints depict damaged and destroyed buildings in Quebec City[11]

Canada is cold because winds passing over snow are full of "nitrous particles," and there are too few "sulphurous exhalations" as little land is tilled[12]

Nova Scotia Council rejects Gen. Amherst's "recommending the Continuation of the French Accadians" that royal order and provincial assembly forbid[13]

"Extremely necessary that the inhabitants should be assisted by the Acadians" to repair dykes and recover marsh lands in Nova Scotia[14]

Commodore Lord Colville reports that Acadians of "Bays of Vert, Miramichi, Chaleurs and Gaspey" have surrendered and their vessels are destroyed[15]

Trader's work in Chaleur Bay ends when Acadians expelled, who (like Mi'kmaq) take him to Chignecto after his ship deserts him (Note: "savages" used)[16]

Vessels arriving at Halifax with "any Plague, Small-Pox, Malignant Fever, or other contagious Distemper" must quarantine two miles below town[17]

With clearing of land in Nova Scotia comes risk of forest fire, and grand juries at county quarter sessions are to develop prevention regulations[18]

Economy of French fishery on Newfoundland includes trade with Labrador "Esquameau," whaling, and timber for shipbuilding[19]

Alexander Henry's canoe brigade journey begins at Sainte-Anne, where his men go to confession and later receive 8 gallons of rum each[20]

Warned repeatedly that, being English, he would be killed at Michilimackinac, Henry dons voyageurs clothing and wields paddle when anyone passes[21]

Voyageurs eat mashed maize on canoe trips, but for over-wintering, Henry finds high grain and meat prices make him "very industrious in fishing"[22]

Notes and References

  1. Guéganic (2008), p. 13.
  2. Web site: 31 December 2015 . George III . 18 April 2016 . Official website of the British monarchy . Royal Household.
  3. Web site: Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye The Canadian Encyclopedia . www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca . 24 February 2021.
  4. An Historical Memorial of the Negotiation of France and England [from March 26 to September 20, 1761] (translation; 1761), pgs. 4 and 7 Accessed 22 March 2022
  5. https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.32756/50?r=0&s=1 "The answer from England arrived the 30th June"
  6. http://international.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?intldl/ascfr:@field(DOCID+@lit(gcfr0007_0515)) "Memoir on the Boundaries of Louisiana"
  7. https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp75608/?sp=43 "The compact figure of France"
  8. https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_09353/34?r=0&s=1 (Text in italics)
  9. https://canadahistory.com/sections/documents/empire/wyndham_quebec_policy.html Letter of Charles Wyndham, Earl of Egremont, to Jeffery Amherst
  10. https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=4134077&lang=eng Plan of Canada or the province of Quebec from the uppermost settlements to the island of Coudre(…)
  11. Richard Short, "View of the Cathedral, Jesuits College, and Recollect Friars Church" "A View of the Treasury and Jesuits College" "A View of the Inside of the Jesuits Church" "A View of the Bishop's House with the Ruins as they appear in going down the Hill From the Upper to the Lower Town" (1761), McCord Museum. Accessed 23 March 2022
  12. https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp75608/?sp=39 "It is not very difficult to assign the causes of this cold"
  13. https://archives.novascotia.ca/deportation/archives/?Number=ONEII&Page=314 Council meeting
  14. https://archives.novascotia.ca/deportation/archives/?Number=ONEII&Page=319 Letter of Pres. Belcher
  15. Dispatch of Lord Colville (November 26, 1761), "The Recapture of Saint John’s, Newfoundland; Dispatches of Rear-Admiral, Lord Colville, 1761-1762," Occasional Paper Number Six, Maritime Museum of Canada (1959). Accessed 21 March 2022 http://ngb.chebucto.org/Articles/colville-1762.shtml (scroll down to "Northumberland at Halifax, 26th Nov. 1761"; see also details of attack and residents taken prisoner)
  16. Gamaliel Smethurst, A Narrative of an Extraordinary Escape Out of the Hands of the Indians(....) (1774). Accessed 14 July 2022
  17. https://bnald.lib.unb.ca/legislation/act-prevent-spreading-contagious-distempers "An Act to prevent the spreading of contagious Distempers"
  18. https://bnald.lib.unb.ca/legislation/act-preventing-damages-unseasonable-burning-or-firing-woods "An Act for preventing Damages by unseasonable burning, or firing of the Woods"
  19. T. Cole, "The French (by means of their Fishery" "The State of the Newfoundland Fishery, with a Plan [of] the 12th of May, 1761, to exclude the French from that Trade," in An Account of the Island of Newfoundland[....] (1765), pg. 31. Accessed 23 March 2022
  20. Alexander Henry, "In a short time, we reached(...)Saint-Anne" Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories[....] (1809), pg. 16. (See also voyageurs' method of portaging cargo) Accessed 24 March 2022
  21. Alexander Henry, "The hostility of the Indians" Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories[....] (1809), pgs. 34-5. (See Henry's welcome by Ojibwe chief Minavavana, and "A Plan of the Straits of St. Mary, and Michilimakinac, to shew the Situation & Importance of the two Westernmost Settlements of Canada for the Fur Trade") Accessed 24 March 2022
  22. Alexander Henry, "Trout are taken" Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories[....] (1809), pgs. 53-5. Accessed 24 March 2022

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