The abandonment of the colonial post office by the home authorities at the end of the same year, left the four post offices on the banks of the St. Lawrence the sole remnants of the system which had extended from Quebec to Georgia. Though Finlay was nominally the associate deputy postmaster general for the district between Canada and the southern boundary of Virginia, his real authority was confined to the service of Quebec, Three Rivers, Berthier and Montreal.
Finlay occupied important positions in the government of the country, from his arrival in the year when Canada fell into the hands of the British, until his death in 1801. His knowledge of the French language procured for him a nomination as justice of the peace, the duties of which office were, owing to the circumstances of the time, delicate and responsible.
Two years after a regular government was established, Finlay was nominated to the legislative council, and a glance over the proceedings of that body will show that he always took an important, and often a leading part in its transactions. He was clerk of the crown in chancery and provincial auditor, and, for a number of years, chairman of the land committee, the duties of which were to superintend the distribution of the crown lands to the settlers, who came into the country in large numbers.
Finlay was much attached to the French Canadians. He became their advocate in council, and incurred some displeasure on the part of the governor for his pertinacity on their behalf. The _maitres de poste_ were the objects of his special attention. He endeavoured, though unsuccessfully, to assimilate their position to that of the masters of the post houses in England. As their standing and rights were but roughly defined, they had to endure much hardship and oppression from the ill-nature and rapacity of travellers, and Finlay's championship was of substantial service to them.[119]
When Canada was invaded by the Americans in 1775, Finlay drew up a form of pledge for the _maitres de poste_ to sign, in which they bound themselves to defend the country from the king's enemies, to give to the government all useful information they might become possessed of, and to render faithful service in the conveyance of the mail couriers. All the _maitres de poste_ except three signed the engagement.[120]
To Finlay, in truth, the maintenance of the organization of _maitres de poste_ was indispensable. Without them the mails could not be carried, except at an outlay which the revenues were not able to bear. It has always been the practice of the post office in this country to take advantage of any carrying agencies which might be operating on a route, to secure the transportation of the mails on approximately the same terms as those at which ordinary freight of the same bulk would be conveyed. Thus, by utilizing a stage coach, the cost of conveyance between two towns was a mere fraction of what it would be, if the same conditions of speed and security were required in a conveyance used exclusively for the mails.
In the _maitres de poste_ Finlay had a transportation agency, which was unexcelled at that period, and by protecting them and confirming to them the exclusive right to provide for passenger travel along the road from Montreal to Quebec, he obtained not only all the ordinary advantages accruing to the public from the operation of this agency, but secured the conveyance of his couriers from stage to stage at half the charge paid by travellers.
Finlay's efforts on behalf of the _maitres de poste_ were first exerted in the legislative council.[121] He desired to obtain an ordinance defining their duties, and declaring their right to the exclusive privilege of providing horses and vehicles to travellers. Having succeeded in this, he endeavoured to have himself appointed superintendent of the _maitres de poste_.
In this he had to encounter the opposition of the governor who, though personally friendly to Finlay, was unwilling to allow himself to be occupied with the matter, while he was engaged with the more important duty of providing for the defence of the country. Finlay was a man of much persistence, and when he found the governor indisposed to give him the appointment, he sought the aid of the postmaster general, to whom he represented that on his control over the _maitres de poste_ depended his ability to secure the conveyance of the mails at a reasonable charge.[122]
Governor Haldimand resented the pressure thus brought on him, declaring that the postal service of Canada was quite equal, if not superior, to the service in England. Not long afterwards, however, the governor relented so far as to give Finlay a temporary holding of the position he coveted, and when conditions became settled, his appointment was made permanent.[123]
The stoppage of the service to New York made it necessary to provide otherwise for the maintenance of the connection with Great Britain.
While navigation was open on the St. Lawrence occasional visits were made to Quebec by war vessels and merchantmen, and all such opportunities to send mails to England were taken advantage of.
With Halifax, also, communication was opened by means of a vessel which ran from Quebec to Tatamagouche, on the straits of Northumberland, from which point the journey to Halifax was an easy overland trip.[124]
During the summer, therefore, communication with Great Britain was maintained without special difficulty. When navigation on the St.
Lawrence closed, however, and vessels could no longer reach Quebec, the situation was entirely changed.
Haldimand, in a letter to a friend, written in November 1778, bemoans his isolation. He will receive no news whatever, unless the rebels should manage to get into the province, an eventuality he has done his best to prevent by destroying their supplies on lake Champlain. The only possible means of establishing a winter communication with Great Britain was to send couriers by the inland route to Halifax.
At this period and for a long time afterwards, this route presented many difficulties. It was very long, and at certain seasons the natural obstacles in the way of travel were nearly insuperable. The connecting links between the Maritime provinces and Quebec were the portages between the waters running into the St. Lawrence and those running into the St. John river. Of those there were several, but the one which was adopted ran from Notre Dame du Portage, a few miles west of River du Loup, in south-easterly direction until it reached lake Temiscouata.
During the French regime, despatches were not infrequently carried between the governor of Quebec and the governor of Louisburg. The courier, who had despatches from the governor of Quebec for Halifax, would travel on foot over a fair road on the south shore of the St.
Lawrence, to the portage between Kamouraska and River du Loup. From this point his course ran over the portage between the St. Lawrence and the St. John river systems.
After a toilsome journey of thirty-seven miles over a country alternating between mountains and swamps, the courier reached lake Temiscouata. Having crossed this lake, he came to the entrance of the Madawaska river, which runs due south until it empties into the St. John river. From this point to fort Howe, the site of the present city of St.
John, there was a long river journey of two hundred and twenty-eight miles.
The trip from St. John to Halifax took the courier across the bay of Fundy to Annapolis, thence along the Annapolis valley to Windsor, and so on to Halifax. The distance from Quebec to Halifax by this route was six hundred and twenty-seven miles. This route was followed frequently by couriers during the winters of the years of the war of the Revolution.
In 1775, Finlay proposed to introduce some system into the arrangements by having couriers from Quebec and Halifax meet at fort Howe for the exchange of despatches. While the war lasted, the arrangement was to be kept secret. In 1781, the merchants in London who traded to Quebec urged the adoption of this route for a regular winter service, but the danger of having the couriers intercepted by prowling parties of Americans on the long unprotected stretches made it impossible to have more than an occasional trip. The trips, also, cost at least 100 each, a not unimportant consideration in those days.
Finlay's activity as deputy postmaster general was confined to the inland service in Canada, and he gave his attention to improving the conditions under which the service was performed. The state of the roads was a matter which occupied him considerably. They were probably, as Finlay reported, as bad as they could be.
For many years before Canada passed into the possession of the British, the habitants were fully occupied with the war, and when peace was restored, the roads remained as the war had left them. Work on the roads was never willingly undertaken by the habitants. When Lanoullier constructed the great highway between Montreal and Quebec, it was only by his personal superintendence that he was able to keep the habitant to his task. As soon as his eye was withdrawn the work lagged.
Lanoullier lived until 1751, and during the last few years of his service he failed to maintain the energy that had been an earlier characteristic; and after his death, the country was in a constant state of war, so that even if there had been an efficient grand voyer to succeed him, the general neglect into which the domestic affairs fell must have affected the condition of the roads.
The procedure employed in calling upon the habitants to work upon the roads was that the grand voyer issued an order to the local captains of militia, who published the order to the habitants by notice at the church doors. The grand voyer complained to Finlay that it was impossible to induce the habitants to work upon the roads. When the order was read at the church, the habitants would dismiss the matter with a shrug, and the remark "c'est un ordre anglais."
The consequence of this neglect was seen in the details of Finlay's reports[125] as he travelled from Quebec to Montreal. As he passes from post house to post house, his journals are a monotonous, though indignant, recital of ruts, bogs and rocks.
The roads were unditched, and the bridges dangerous trap holes. The bridges were no more than rows of poles lying crosswise, and scarcely longer than the width of a _caleche_. When the water rose, the poles were set afloat. The post houses should have been three leagues apart, but the difficulty of inducing the habitants to undertake the irksome and thankless duties of _maitre de poste_, often compelled Finlay to choose persons whose houses were at a considerable distance from where they should have been, and consequently post houses were found quite close together.
There were places where the post houses were no more than one league apart. As a _maitre de poste_ could not carry passengers beyond the next adjoining post house, the inconvenience of the frequent changes of horses was very great.
The mail couriers were bound to travel by night as well as by day; and it is not difficult to believe Finlay when he says that the courier travels by night at the risk of his neck. When other means of obtaining help with the road work failed, Finlay offered to put the road in good condition and keep it so if given the services of twelve soldiers of the German legion, and a grant of 100.
An application was made to Finlay in 1781 for a postal service to the settlements and forts along the Richelieu river. This was one of the most prosperous sections of the country. When Catalogne made his report on the state of Canada in 1712, he was particularly struck with the evidences of comfort in some of the parishes bordering on the Richelieu.
It was not on this account, however, that it was thought necessary to extend to this district the benefits of the postal service. The valley of the Richelieu was the pathway along which travel from lake Champlain pursued its course into the heart of Canada. Settlements were established along the river at different times by French and English to oppose a barrier to incursions from the south.
British forces were stationed in 1761 at St. Johns, Chambly and Sorel; and it was to keep up a communication with these forces that a postal service was desired. The detachments at St. Johns and Chambly received their letters and despatches from Montreal, but as the most important communications were with the governor, whose headquarters were at Quebec, the commandant of the forces in this district, Colonel St.
Leger, wished to have a regular exchange with Sorel at the mouth of the river.
Although Sorel was on the south side of the St. Lawrence, it had maintained connection with the couriers on the grand route between Quebec and Montreal, by means of a courier who crossed the river to Berthier, where a post office had been established since 1772. The postmaster general was disinclined to open a route between Sorel and St.
Johns, and the military authorities took the matter into their own hands.
The conclusion of peace in 1783 and the recognition of the independence of the United States was immediately followed by the dissolution of the old establishment which administered the postal system of the northern district of North America. The services of Finlay, as deputy postmaster general of that system, ceased forthwith; and in July 1784, he was appointed to the much humbler position of deputy postmaster general of Canada.
Foxcroft, Finlay's associate in the deputyship was made British agent at New York for the packet boat service, which was resumed between Great Britain and the United States. Dashwood, the departmental secretary of the old establishment, was appointed postmaster general of Jamaica in 1781.[126]
The first question of importance to occupy Finlay under the new order of things was the means by which communication between Great Britain and Canada was thereafter to be carried on. The merchants of Quebec and Montreal hearing that a line of sailing packets was to be re-established between Falmouth and New York,[127] at once demanded that the service between Canada and New York should be restored.
Conditions were not favourable to its resumption. The rancours of the war were not yet abated, and one or two messengers, who were sent down to New York by Finlay, were insulted and maltreated by the Americans.
The postmaster general of the United States, Hazzard, also set up difficulties.[128]
Finlay's plan was to have the Canadian mails taken down as far as Albany by his courier, and to pay the American postage on them from Albany to New York. But at this time there were no regular couriers between Albany and New York; and consequently the Canadian mails, having to depend on chance conveyance, would often miss the packet boats for which they were intended. Finlay thought to overcome this difficulty by having his courier take the mails past Albany and on to New York.
Hazzard, however, objected to this plan, and informed Finlay that he would have the courier prosecuted if he attempted to go farther south than Albany. Finlay met this objection, but at a ruinous cost. He arranged with the postmaster at Albany that the Canadian courier should go on to New York, and that at the same time Finlay would pay for this privilege at the rate of three shillings sterling per ounce for the mail, the bag being included in the weight. Thus, if the mail bag weighed twenty pounds--no very great weight--Finlay had to pay 48, the cost of wayleave for his courier to travel from Albany to New York. He had, of course, to pay his courier's expenses as well.
Nor did the situation show a prospect of improvement. The United States perceived that the toll which the Canadian post office would have to pay for leave to pass over their territory might be greatly increased by the simple expedient of establishing a post office near the Canadian boundary, and compelling the Canadian post office to pay a wayleave equal to the ordinary postage for the distance between that post office and New York, as well as the courier's wages and necessary expenses, for the Americans did not propose to be at any expense in the matter. This scheme would net the Americans four shillings an ounce.
But as has happened so often since in the relations of Canada with her neighbour to the south, the Canadian post office was driven by these oppressive charges to the development of the alternative, though naturally much less favourable, opening to the sea. The distance from Quebec to Halifax by the Temiscouata route was six hundred and twenty-seven miles as against rather less than four hundred miles, which is the distance from Montreal to New York.
The route to New York was the natural highway, which for a century and more had been pursued by Indians, soldiers and travellers on their way from the British American colonies to Canada. On the journey southward from Montreal to New York, there was a good road from Laprairie, opposite Montreal to fort St. John, which was connected by the river Richelieu with lake Champlain.
The trip down the lake from fort St. John to Crown Point (or fort Frederic) was easily and pleasantly made by canoe or _bateau_. From Crown Point, the traveller had a choice of routes to the Hudson river, which bore him to New York. Kalm, the Swedish naturalist who visited Canada in 1749, entered the country by the route described, and his account of the trip suggests no unusual difficulties.[129]
Before the war the mail couriers from Montreal to New York made the journey in from nine to ten days. The journey to Halifax was of a very different character. At the best it could not be made in less than a month, and during a considerable period at the beginning and the end of each winter season the trip was very arduous and dangerous.
There has been preserved the journal of a courier, Durand, who carried a mail from Quebec to Halifax and back in the early winter months of 1784.[130] His trip downwards, starting on the 11th of January, offered no features unusual in a winter journey, most of which must be made on foot through a country a large part of which was unsettled. He reached Halifax on the 29th of February, seven weeks from starting.
The journey homeward was exceedingly toilsome and dangerous, and as conditions remained unchanged for many years, at this season when winter was relaxing its hold, it may be worth while to note some of the incidents on the route.
At the Bay du Portage, on the lower St. John, Durand and his three companions broke through the ice, and they with their mails were rescued with difficulty. They managed to get as far as Presqu' Isle, partly on the honeycombed ice, and partly in the woods, when they found themselves face to face with an ice jam. As it was impossible for Durand to land his dogs on the shore, he clambered up the hill of ice, and he and the dogs had to make their way as best they could over the broken heaped-up pieces for twenty miles, when they came upon a stretch of water as clear as in summer.
Durand's guide had abandoned him and taken to the woods, but finding the snow too soft for his snow-shoes, after a league's trudging, he rejoined Durand on the ice. The swift and swollen waters, which they now reached, compelled them to wait till they could build a canoe. Embarking they poled their way for a couple of miles, as the speed of the current prevented rowing, when the ice began again to come down upon them in great masses.
Harnessing their dogs to an Indian cart, they hauled their canoe another stretch, and on the 14th of April they reached Grand Falls. Above the falls the ice, though bad, was firm enough; and having constructed a sled, they carried their canoe and baggage on it for fifteen leagues.