1791, the part of the Province of Quebec west of the Ottawa River was called the "Upper Country."

Upper and Lower Canada Re-United.-July 23, 1840, an Act was passed by the British Parliament to re-unite Upper and Lower Canada so as to be and to form one Province of Canada. This Act was to come into force by Proclamation, not later than fifteen calendar months after its passage, viz., in 1841. Lower Canada was thenceforth called Canada East, and Upper Canada was styled Canada West. The Parliament met alternately at the city of Toronto, Canada West; and at the city of Quebec, Canada East.

The Dominion of Canada.-March 29, 1867, the "British North America Act" severed the "Province of Canada" (1841-67), and formed it into two separate Provinces, the part which formerly (1791-1841) constituted the Province of "Upper Canada" was thereby constituted the "Province of Ontario ;" and the part which during the same period (1791-1841) constituted the Province of "Lower Canada " was constituted the "Province of Quebec;" and these, together with the Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, were "formed into one Dominion under the name of Canada." This Act came into force by Royal Proclamation, July 1, 1867. By the subsequent adhesion of the colonies of British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, and the purchase by the Dominion of certain "rights" of the Hudson Bay Company, the Dominion of Canada now (1892) consists of seven Provinces, namely Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, British Columbia, and the Territories of Assiniboia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Keewatin, Labrador, and the remaining region east of Alaska, northward.

CHAPTER III.

FREEMASONRY IN NEW FRANCE.

1608-1760.-No city on the Western Hemisphere is so suggestive of the enduring labors of the Collegia Fabrorum of the Romans, the Steinmetzen of the Germans, the Compagnonage of France, and of the old guilds of Operative Freemasons of Great Britain and Ireland, as the ancient capital of New France!

Well-informed observers will not doubt but that 66 expert Masters and Fellows of Ye Royal Art," from over the sea, did more than lay the foundations of the city and citadel of the Gibraltar of America, and will ask what, if any, are the historic indices thereanent of nearly three centuries ago?

From "time immemorial," the genuine Masons "Guilds" in old France had claimed one of the most famous of its early rulers (715-41), the celebrated Charles Martel, "Mayor of the Palace," as their patron and protector; and so well grounded was this tradition deemed to be, and so obvious was it, that the principles, observances, and labors of these skilful craftsmen were conducive to the best welfare of the State, that wise and tolerant Kings long continued to grant special privileges and protection to these "Sons of Solomon," Enfants de Salomon; as witness, exempli gratia, the extant "Statutes of the Masons and Architects of Montpelier," granted by "Henry III, by the grace of God, King of France and Poland, at Paris, in the month of May, in the year of grace one thousand five hundred four score and six, and in the twelfth year of our reign. By the King in Council, and signed Gourdon, Vissa, Contentor and Bernard," but 22 years before the founding of the city of Quebec !

That there may be no doubt as to the "name and fame" of the abovementioned early "patron and protector" of the French "Operative Freemasons," be it remembered that it was this same Charles Martel who routed the invading hosts of the Saracens, and thereby rescued Europe from the law and religion of Mohammed; that it was he "to whom, in 741, Pope Gregory III applied for succor when he was besieged by "Luitprand;" that it was he who, "at the request of the Anglo-Saxon Kings, sent many skilled masons and workmen to England;" and that it was this same Charles Martel who, in many of the earlier extant copies of the "old charges (some dating from the 14th and 15th centuries) of British Freemasons," is named as the great patron of the Craft in France-historically midway, as it were, between the ancient Roman Colleges of artificers and the early Guilds of Freemasons in England! And hence why it is that many in France claim that in 1717-21 England but returned to France, with

"interest thereon," what she had given to Britain almost a thousand years before!

Consult R. F. Gould's "History of Freemasonry," London, 1883; and Le Livre du Compagnonage, by A. Perdiguier, Paris, 1841.

But what connection, if any, did "Les Enfants de Salomon," "du mestier de Machonnerie" of old France, have with the French settlement of North America, and with the founding of the cities of Quebec and Montreal? Much every way!

It should here be borne in mind, however, that the real founder of Quebec was the celebrated French Huguenot (Calviniste), Sieur De Monts, and that the brave Champlain was but the agent, the lieutenant of DeMonts and other French Huguenots and Catholics.

In 1604, Sieurs De Monts, Poutrincourt, and Champlain, sailed from France to found a colony in Acadia, and having explored the coasts of New England, they sailed up the Bay of Fundy, and on the picturesque shores of the Bay of Annapolis they laid the foundations of Port Royal, now Annapolis!

In 1606, DeMonts, being about to return to France, made a grant of the place to Poutrincourt. That Masonic craftsmen had been brought thither by DeMonts and the other French nobles is manifest from the fact that they left there engraven in stone their well-known "marks"! either to commemorate the last resting place of a "companion," or for some other obviously good purpose.

In 1827, on the shores of Goat Island, in the Bay of Annapolis, a slab of trap rock, about 21⁄2 by 2 feet, partly buried in the sand, was found! Upon this, somewhat obliterated by the hand of time, were chiseled deep "the Square and Compasses," and underneath the figures "1606." The "Craftsmen" had been there!

This record of 286 years ago speaks for itself. See Judge Haliburton's "Historical and Statistical Accounts of Nova Scotia;" and a monograph by S. D. Nickerson in "The History of Freemasonry and Concordant Orders," Boston, 1891.

Sieur DeMonts returned to France, and the following year, 1608, dispatched Sieur DeChamplain, his lieutenant, to establish a colony on the banks of the St. Lawrence. On the 3rd of July, Champlain landed the people" artisans, laborers, and sailors," on the site of the "Lower Town" of the city of Quebec.

It is, therefore, far more than probable, as their "works do show," that these "artisans," sometimes called "skilled artisans," were mostly of that superior class of "Craftsmen " which DeMonts himself had brought out to found Annapolis, two years before. In fact, there were in France at that period but few such like Craftsmen except those of the Masons' Guilds (who would have been selected by DeMonts), and the erection at Quebec in succeeding years of so many private residences, convents, chapels, public

buildings and the like in stone, clearly indicates that these "artisans" and others who reinforced them from time to time on their "works," amazing even to the present day, were of those "Operative Masons" whose enduring labors in the Mother Countries are the wonder and admiration of the world; and without doubt, many a corner stone" in the deep foundations of "Old Quebec" has upon it the significant marks and symbols of the "Sons of Solomon and of Hiram!"

The symbolic cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta, with the date, 1647, inscribed within a Templar shield, on a stone having the outline of a Keystone which was found, 1784, among the debris of the ancient Prioral House of the Order, and is now preserved in the cheek of the gate-entrance of the area wherein it stood, clearly indicates what may yet reward antiquarian research! The same probabilities, if in a lesser degree, exist regarding the ancient city of Montreal, founded two and a half centuries ago, and the forts of stone erected all over New-France! Doubtless these "Ancient Craftsmen" were accustomed to (6 assemble privately as was their wont; and it is no "secret" that, in "the better days," they and their successors received favor and co-operation from many of that class who now see fit "publicly" to affect otherwise!

1634. In the year 1634, Lord Alexander, "Viscount Canada," Son of the first Earl of Stirling, Scotland, Master of Work to King Charles I, and a zealous Craftsman, founded a colony of Scots on the banks of the River St. Lawrence (at Rimouski ?), twenty-six years after the founding of the city of Quebec by Champlain! It was then held that Nova Scotia (Acadia) extended north to the St. Lawrence, and west to Kamouraska! At the foregoing date, Lord Alexander was a member of " Edinburgh Lodge, No.1,""Mary's Chapel," which has records from 1599, and which tradition maintains was in existence in 1491,-four centuries ago! In 1636, his brother was the presiding officer of the famous "Old Operative Lodge" at "Atcheson Haven," Scotland, claimed to have existed from 1555! The probabilities therefore, are strongly in favor of his having established an "Operative Lodge" among his Colonists on the banks of the River St. Lawrence, in 1634! He is said to have expended a large fortune upon this colony. Besides the early Scottish settlements in Nova Scotia, it will be remembered that during the decade, 1630-40, some half a dozen British Colonies were planted along the American Atlantic coast from Maine to Maryland!

1721.-In a General History of Freemasonry, Paris, 1860, by Emmanuel Rebold, M.D., Past Deputy of the Grand Orient of France, and translated into English by J. Fletcher Brennan of Cincinnatti, Ohio, it is stated that "The Modern or Philosophic Freemasonry, as instituted by the Grand Lodge at London in 1717-23, was introduced into Canada in 1721!" He also says: "As early as 1721, Lodges of Masons were established in Canada." In Paris, nine years before the publication of Rebold's work, this statement, strange as it may appear to some, seems to have been

deemed to be well grounded, as will be seen by the account given on a subsequent page of the interchange of Representatives and the establishment. of fraternal correspondence in 1851, between "La Loge Clémente Amitié " of Paris and the "Albion Lodge " in the city of Quebec!

1721-25.-French Masonic Historians assert that two or more Lodges had been established in Paris, 1721-25, by English authority. The Grand Orient of France, at a later date, published the statement that "Loge Louis d'Argent" and four others existed in Paris, 1725-30; and R. F. Gould says that the "St. James Evening Post, London, on Sept. 7, 1734, and also Sept. 20, 1735, announced the formation of Lodges in Paris by English authority. It has also been officially stated that twenty-one Lodges existed in the French capital in 1742, in which many of the élite were initiated. In fact, the names of many of the French nobility famous on both Continents in civil and military story are known to have become Freemasons at this period. Gould has also given the names of about 90 Military Lodges existing in the French Army during the last half of the 18th century, one, "Parfaite Egalité," claiming to have existed since 1688! Moreover, there are not a few historical indices, as will be more fully seen hereafter, which point to the organized existence of Freemasonry amongst the educated French in Quebec, and other parts of New France, many years prior to the capitulation of the cities of Quebec and Montreal, 1759-60.

1733.-The records of the Craft at Boston, Mass., state that in 1732-33, Brother Henry Price was appointed Provincial Grand Master of New England by Viscount Montague, Grand Master of the premier Grand Lodge of England, and that his "Deputation" was subsequently extended to all North America (including, of course, Canada !).

1742. In the 4th Edition of Anderson's Constitutions, the 2nd Edition, revised by John Entick, M.A., and published at London, England, in 1767, there is given "A List of Provincial Grand Masters, deputed by, and under the protection of, the Grand Master of England." Amongst these it is noted that there was a "Deputation granted by Lord Ward, Grand Master, to Thomas Oxnard, Esq. (Boston), for North America," in the above year.

1754-55. During this year, a "Deputation" was granted by "the Marquis of Carnarvon, Grand Master, to Jeremiah (Jeremy) Gridley, Esq. (Boston), for all North America, where no Provincial is appointed." Col. Jeremy Gridley was then Attorney General of the Colony of Massachusetts. He was installed Provincial Grand Master in "St. John's Grand Lodge," Boston, Oct. 1, 1755.

1755.-It has been affirmed by French and other writers that a Lodge of Freemasons existed in the city of Quebec in the year 1755, but the writer has been unable to verify the statement from "facts of record."

1756.-On May 13 of this year, Provincial Grand Master Jeremy Gridley, by his Charter of Dispensation, authorized his younger brother, Right Worshipful Brother Richard Gridley, afterwards Major General