Blair Collection > Celtic magazine > Volume 5

162 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. |
gentlemen of their respective clans, as of yore, to figlit tlie battles of their Jj
country. ISIy interest in Quebec and its surroundings was intense ; but '|
it centred more in the history of the dead and the associations of the past ''.]
than in those of the living and the present. The surrounding scenery is j]
magnificent — by far the finest in Canada. Having spent three days about J
the place, on Monday evening I left by the Grand Trunk Railway of
Canada for
Montreal,
having crossed over the famous Victoria Bridge which spans the St Law- !)
rence a short distance before you enter the city, 172 miles from Quebec. -
I have already given a full description of this famous structure in the .
Aberdeen Daily Free Press, which, as well as many other details given
in my series of sixteen long letters to that paper, on " The Highlanders ,.
of Canada," I do not intend to reproduce in these pages. Those letters '|
were devoted more to a general description of the country, and its advan- i»
tages as a field for emigration, while the series in the Celtic Magazine are ■'•:
confined almost entirely to the more Celtic parts of the Dominion, and %
personal instances of Highland success. This must be held to account 't
for their incomplete and fragmentary nature. ';;
Montreal has a population of between 130,000 and 140,000, about |,)
five-eighths of whom are French, and three-fourths Eoman Catholics. It ■
contains some very fijie churches, and other public buildings, and is, in !!i
short, the finest city in the Dominion. The Scotch here are at the head i
of the commercial and political woild, and though the Highlanders \ '■.
are not numerous, there are a few amongst them distinguished for j
philanthropy, integrity, and wealth. The Mackays of Montreal are known i
all over the world. The family originally belonged to Kildonan, in the ,
county of Sutherland, which they left in humble circumstances. Joseph, ,
one of the sons, who has since become famous in the commercial world as ;
a millionaire and philanthropist, commenced life quite poor. He I
worked his way steadily onwards and upwards. In 1837, when the ;
French Canadian rebellion broke out, we find him doing a prosperous re- i
tail ready-made clothing and tailoring business. A large quantity of ;
clothing was required that year for the militia, and the Mackays (for Ed- j
ward had ere this become a partner) were successful in getting a large i
contract, which turned out well. By this they made enough money
to enable them to go into the wholesale trade. The business steadily
increased, and in a few years they added the woollen or, as it is called in
Canada, the dry goods business. They soon acquired a name for integrity
and for the excellent quality of their goods \ trade increased day by day
in the woollen department of the business, and the firm rose steadily in
the estimation of the public. Ultimately the ready-made department was
given up, that the firm might be able to devote their undivided atten-
tion to the more profitable part of their rapidly increasing business, :
In a comparatively few years, they amassed a largo fortune, and four oi
five years ago Joseph and Edward retired in favour of three nephews,
who, for many years previously, practically managed the business, and i
who now conduct the largest dry goods, or wholesale wooUen business ir ' \
Canada. Joseph and Edward are both unmarried, and live together in £ '
noble mansion, presided over by an amiable niece from the Scottish High- i