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Title: History of Canada: from the time of its discovery until the Union year Vol. I

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HISTORY OF CANADA,

FROM

THE TIME OF ITS DISCOVERY

TILL THE UNION YEAR (1840-1):

TRANSLATED FROM

"L'HISTOIRE DU CANADA" OF F.-X. GARNEAU, ESQ.

As the following reproduction, in English, of M. Garneau's "Histoire du Canada," is a moderately free, rather than a slavishly literal translation of that work, a few prefatory remarks are by him considered to be necessary for the information of his readers, more especially those who are not acquainted with the original.

As regards the TEXT, the tenor of the author's narrative has been scrupulously observed, although, in a number of places, some of his sentences have been abridged, in order to bring the volumes within a reasonable compass, no less than to make room for illustrative matter; which latter is, for the most part, appended in supplementary foot NOTES, or in additions to the author's own notes. In both these cases, an initial B. superadded, plainly shows the amount of material for which the translating editor alone is responsible.

It is to be observed also, that a few passages have been intercalated even with the author's textual matter; but in nearly all such instances, bracket marks [ ] define, typographically, the limits of sentences for which the editor needs to claim indulgence.

Readers acquainted with M. Garneau's Histoire, and who may happen to compare the present translation of it, page by page, with the original, will discern at sight, the several retrenchments of its exuberances which have been ventured upon, as above indicated, in a good many pages; not only so, but in a few chapters some [Pg iv] substitutionary matter, of a more exact, or more complete, or more succinct character, occupying the place of M. Garneau's. It will be for him and for his friends to judge whether the work has, upon the whole, gained or lost by the changes thus made; which are, after all, chiefly modifications rather than supercessions of the transmuted material. In very many instances, faulty figures have been corrected, wanting dates supplied, and vague indications elucidated, while translating. French-Canadian critics will please to remember—the editor would hint—that the present work had to be shaped, to some extent, to meet the reasonable expectations (but not to flatter the prejudices) of Anglo-Canadian readers; for whose special benefit the abridgments made and the illustrations appended are intended. Had the translator not taken some friendly freedoms with the text of his author, verbally speaking, the volumes would not be so "readable," for such, as the editor hopes those who peruse will find them.

The editor earnestly appeals to his brethren of the Canadian Press, in hopes of a favourable estimation of the worth of the pains taken in the present case: this much, at least, he can safely say, that his labours have been conscientious in their nature at least, if necessarily of a subordinate character.

We present to the public a third edition of the History of Canada, from its discovery till the Union year, 1840.—When we began the work, we did not possess the official correspondence of the French Governors with the Home Government, commencing with the foundation of Quebec, and ending at the Conquest. On the other hand, the accredited documents we had regarding the after times of British domination, threw little light upon our history.

Since the time above adverted to, several compilations of historical pieces have been formed. We may adduce here, the Albany Collection, which the Legislature of New York has had translated and printed, under the care of Mr. O'Callaghan, author of an excellent history of the New Netherlands; also the repertory of Canadian documents in the library of the Provincial Legislature; likewise the official pieces given in the last two volumes of Mr. Christie's History of (British) Canada; finally, the collection of documents, regarding Canada, brought from Paris, or found among the archives of the Province, by M. l'abbé Ferland, of the archdiocese of Quebec.

These precious acquisitions have enabled us to rectify sundry particulars not stated with sufficient exactness in either of our two preceding editions, and empowered us to speak with more certainty regarding several facts; besides adding many curious details not hitherto known. To put the public in possession of ameliorations necessary to make our work less imperfect, we have not hesitated to incur the cost attendant on issuing this third and improved edition.

There are few countries in America concerning which so much [Pg vi] has been written as Canada, and yet there are few so deficient as we are in histories: for we are not to accept for such, several productions which take that name, which are merely memorials, or narratives of travellers and voyagers; such as l'Amérique Septentrionale of La Potherie.

During a long period, there appeared in France a host of printed productions, into which were carefully gathered all that was passing in Canada, then the arena of a sanguinary struggle between civilisation and barbarism. These had, for the most part, small literary merit; but they contain a mass of remarkable and interesting materials, which caused them to be read in Europe with avidity. By degrees, however, as Canadian peculiarities became known, the interest excited by their novelty greatly abated, and the Province had ceased to attract much public attention in France, till it was invaded and passed under the yoke of an alien power. This change once effected, French writers who collected materials for our annals became more rare than ever.

Among authors anterior to the Conquest, the most conspicuous is the famous Jesuit Charlevoix. The extensive plan of his book, La Nouvelle France, the exactness of the facts he minutely reports, added to his simple and natural style, long ensured for him a high place in public estimation; and he is, even yet, considered the best early historian of our country. If he listens too much to inspirations of a pious credulity, if his likings and dislikings occasionally lead him, in all honesty, into mis-estimations; yet upon the whole all the learned admit, that he discourses of men and things with right judgment and sound discretion; that he appreciates events with wisdom and impartiality: while his relations with the Court of France procured him access to peculiar sources of authentic information. Under his pen our history, thitherto an imperfect sketch, took the proportions of a complete work. That he fell into some errors regarding Cartier's voyages and explorations, and a few other matters appertaining to our early annals, is not to be wondered at, considering that means for testing the exactness of what he wrote respecting those times were few and widely scattered. The precious materials he did possess must have been brought together with great care and cost; for it was not then as now, that Governments and Legislatures consider it a part of their [Pg vii] duty to form public collections, or to aid the efforts of individuals to form such. We may cite as an example, what has been done in this regard by the British Government of our day, for illustrating the history of its American possessions.

Still the history of Charlevoix comprises only the first moiety of the years which have elapsed from the foundation of Quebec till our own time. Neither does the aim or nature of his work apply to present circumstances, or harmonize, in its spirit, with our present political state. Written chiefly in an ecclesiastical view, it contains many digressions from the highway of history, to the side-path of missionary enterprises and experiences, which have long lost their interest, for a majority of readers at least. And again, the author, viewing things chiefly from a French stand-point, enters into details which, perhaps necessary for the elucidation of his subject to European readers, were and are superfluous to Canadians. Lastly, through lapse of time, much of his general materials have ceased to repay perusal anywhere.

The plan we had to choose necessarily occupied much of our attention, because the scenes of our historic action were many and lay widely apart, taking Quebec for the middle ground. Now, although the present work is, in name, a history of Canada only; it includes the annals of all the French Colonies on the continent of America, from their origin till the treaty of 1763. The unity of the viceroyalty of New France, and the relations maintained between its several territories, forbade our treating the subject otherwise than as a whole. Nevertheless, we do not always cause the events passing in others of France's American Provinces to run in pairs along with those reported, in order of time, as proceeding in Canada itself; for that would have been to raise a sense of confusedness, rather than due order, in the reader's mind, through frequent temporary transitions, which it is ever fatiguing to follow. We therefore report, in separate chapters or sections, the events which passed synchronically in each dependent colony, wherever that is useful for clearness' sake; yet still keeping up a virtual unity in the collective composition.

Among the subjects treated apart will be found,—notices of the aborigines; accounts of the governmental institutions, civil and ecclesiastical, established at different times in the viceroyalty; a [Pg viii] relation of discoveries and explorations, early and late, &c. By this arrangement, a Canadian reader can skip, at will, such chapters of the work as may not interest him; say, for instance, the notices it contains of Louisiana.

While treating of the memorable epoch when constitutional government was established in this country, the mind naturally reverts to the earlier time of the Magna Charta, that first basis upon which British franchises were founded, and which have descended to us; and we are especially interested in remembering, that to barons of Norman race did our second mother country owe its earliest free institutions; to the operation of which she chiefly owes her present power and glory. [1] From the moment that Canada was endowed with a representative constitution, our annals have borne a double interest. No sooner did it begin to operate, than the feelings, tendencies, and peculiar genius of our people took an immediate expansion; political struggles, and the rivalries of race forthwith commenced; the executive and the people's deputies, in earnest contention as to the limits of their powers and rights, or for privileges always disputed: there was, we say, everything attractive in the animating spectacle of those bloodless jousts of human reason in action, which had for their object the amelioration of a country and the well-being of its people. But in proportion to the importance of this part of our task, will be the difficulty we shall have in treating it properly.

[2] The destiny of Canada is dependent on the cause which we vindicate in this work; namely, the conservation of our religion, our language, and our laws. By holding to the creed and maintaining the nationality of our forefathers, we perhaps are opponents of British policy, which has placed the two Canadas under one government, in view of causing the disappearance of those three great features of Canadian existence; and it even may be, that in taking our stand upon the old ways, we incur the censure of such [Pg ix] of our compatriots as wish to fall in with British views on this matter. In any case, we can conscientiously declare, that in whatever we have related, with or without comment, we have been actuated by no feelings of party hostility. We have only obeyed the impulses of our heart, by favouring a cause founded on all that is (or should be) sacred in the eyes of Christians and patriots.

We are quite alive to the consequences which may result from our firm attachment to repudiated sympathies. We know that in reproving the decrees of an all-potent metropolitan state, we may be denounced on one hand, as propagators of pernicious opinions; and on the other, regarded as the purblind votaries of a separate nationality, which had best become extinct. Not discouraged by such repudiations as the latter, we are consoled by the conviction that we play an honourable part; and although our Province should never attain that prosperity, or make that progress in material civilisation, which some parties think would result from an amalgamation of races, they must still respect the motives which impel us to pursue the even tenor of our way. There remains this consideration too, that if Canada's future be menaced, who knows what its birth-time may bring forth? Islamism assured itself that the cause of Greece was lost for ever, yet Byron sang the Maid of Athens and the Bride of Abydos. [3] The free breath of ancient Greece now stirs the folds of the Acropolitan standard. "A great people," says Thierry, "are not so speedily subjugated, as the official acts of those who govern it by force would have the world believe. The late resurrection of the Greek nation proves, that those deceive themselves strangely who accept the histories of kings, or even of conquering populations, for the final annals of the territory wherein they are dominant." And a Race of smaller account than that named in the foregoing passage cited from the work already referred to, may survive long in its fallen estate.

Add to all, that there are, for certain races, propitious times, when Providence seems to come in aid to exalt them from depression and animate their minds with a fitful renewal of their [Pg x] hopes. The people of the United States have already, more than once, by their resisting attitude, prevented the uplifted hand of oppression from falling on the (French) Canadians. The flag of the neighbouring republic possesses this advantage, that when waved abroad, it scares violence from its prey, and paralyses the arm which would be exerted in effacing the name of a people from the roll of recognised nations.

History has become, dating from a half century back, a rigorously analytic science. Not only the facts narrated, but their causes also, have now to be indicated with precision and discernment, in order that the former may be judged by the latter. A severe criticism will throw aside all that bears not the impress of truth. That which presents itself without critical acceptance, and without having been discussed and approved before the tribunal of sound judgment, is treated as being of fabulous nature, and dismissed into the region of figments. In this perfect day of close scrutiny and applied common sense, disappear marvels, prodigies, and all those phantasmagoria in presence of which nations in a state of mental childhood are stricken with a secret fear or are rapt in puerile admiration; such phantasmagoria, we would observe, as of old animated the sombre forests of Canada in the brooding fancy of their first inhabitants, those warlike and barbarous tribes, of which the remnants now remaining are so few.

The historical revolution adverted to above, in the mode of appreciating events, is incontestably due to the progress of mind and to the increase of political liberty, and is in itself the greatest proof that could be adduced of the gradual perfecting of social institutions. The clouds of mystery which enveloped the early annals of Greece and Rome, [4] have now lost their awe-inspiring aspects; keenly scrutinising eyes have pierced the veil that hid them from ordinary inspection; and if we closely scan the true origin of those nations, the clouds of historical marvel disperse, even as light morning vapours are scattered by the rays of the [Pg xii] sun. It is a notable fact too, that while to mythological heroes and early kings a celestial origin was assigned; while the adulation of the adorers of personal might and rude regality enveloped their origin with portents and prodigy, nothing super- or infra-human preceded or attended the existence of the dominated commonalty; the prosaic life of the masses held "the even tenor of its way," in the memorials regarding them even in the earliest annals of pseudo-history.

No farther back than three centuries ago, superstitious ignorance everywhere dimmed and paralysed popular intelligence. Three quarters of the habitable globe were unknown to the majority; who were equally ignorant of most of those unusual phenomena of nature which raised admiration or called up fear; the sciences were wrapped in mystery by their professors, an alchemist passed for a diviner or a wizard, and often finished by becoming the dupe of his own deceptions, and believed that he did or could hold converse with the spiritual world.

The invention of Printing, and the discovery of the New World, at length began to make an impression on the thick mental darkness of the Middle Ages. And when Columbus suddenly rendered America to astounded Europe, unveiling, as by a magic touch, so great a domain of the thitherto Unknown, he dealt a brain-blow, by that very disclosure, to the sway of ignorance and superstition.

Freedom of mind also, though all but lost during prevalent barbarism, was not quite extinct in some high places, and powerfully contributed to the new movement of the human faculties. In fact, we may say, that liberty first inspired that movement, and afterwards sustained it with an ever-growing potency.

From this time, The People began to appear in history. Hitherto they who ought to have occupied the fore-ground, were thrown into the remote distance of the word-pictures which passed for histories of the nations; the canvas being taken up with the gigantic and lowering shadowy outlines depicted of their masters. All the figures discernible are those of absolute chiefs, holding in one hand a sword, in the other a diploma of their pretended divinity: the rest of mankind, passive plebeians, an inert and suffering mass of living, breathing humanity, has no recognised condition of [Pg xiii] existence apart from that of obedience. [In a word, the "court-and-battle historians" [5] made small account or none of The People during a long series of ages.] But in proportion as the bulk of mankind resume manhood's rights, the current of history begins to change, yet slowly: that science, even when modified, long seemed subjected to the influence of prejudices and errors, surely destined to pass away; it is only in our own times that national annalists have become faithful to their true mission. Have their works thereby lost their interest or ceased to attract? We trow not. What more sublime spectacle is there, than that of a thinking people in action! We note their wants, we are pained with their sufferings, we mark and judge of their aspirations; we joy in their joys, we participate by sympathy in their sorrows. The great ocean of enfranchised humanity, when stirred to its depths by great thoughts, whether of love or hate, manifests a power capable of producing far greater effects than all the wondrous material works erected by the submissive hordes of Egypt or Asia. But it needed four revolutions, that of Batavia, those of Great Britain, and that again of the United States, [before the Lion of the Tribe of the People could be firmly set up on his pedestal].

The epoch of national revolts, so famous in European annals, is that wherein appeared the first essays of American historians of any repute. It is no wonder if America, inhabited as it is but by one class of men only, namely "the people"—using the term in the ignoble sense given to it by the privileged orders, or the "swinish multitude" (la canaille) as Napoleon phrased it,—should adopt in their entirety the principles of the Modern School of history, which regards the Nation as the source of all lawful power.

The first individuals who set themselves to exorcise the phantoms which guarded the sanctuary of absolute monarchy against the assaults of the "sacrilegious" masses, were an Italian and a Swiss, two men who, consequently, were born in the freest countries of Europe in their day. Lawrence Valla gave the signal of [Pg xiv] self-enfranchisement to the 12th century. Glareanus, so called as being a native of the canton of Glaris, followed in Valla's steps. "Switzerland is a land of reasoners," says Michelet. "Despite the gigantic poetry of nature among the Alps, the spiritual breeze that comes from their glaciers, is prosaic; it wafts us to Doubt, chiefly." [6]

The history of the origin of Rome exercised their critical powers. Erasmus, Scaliger, and other learned Dutchmen followed in their wake. Louis de Beaufort, a Frenchman, finished the work of demolition; but he destroyed only, he did not reconstruct. The ground being thus cleared, the celebrated Neapolitan, Vico, appeared; and gave the world, in 1725, his vast system of the metaphysics of history; [7] among which may be found, in embryo at least, all the labours of modern science. The Germans seized the germ he planted, and it fructified in their hands; Niebuhr became the most illustrious of Vico's disciples.

Meanwhile the voice of all those profound thinkers was heard among certain nations, whose people proclaimed, as we have remarked, each in due succession, the dogma of Liberty for all. From the schools of doubters issued Bacon; thence resulted the discovery of the New World, the metaphysics of Descartes, the immortal Esprit des Lois, the labours of Guizot, and, finally, the works of Sismondi, every line in which contains a plea in favour of the poor people, long crushed under the heel of feudalism; an institution once so powerful, but which now shows but withered or seared remnants of what it once was: even as are those trees, in our forests, when doomed to perish by steel and fire, which may be seen in many a newly gained field, clearing for tillage.

An observation we call to mind here, which seems to us to have the gloss of novelty, so pregnant is it with too-little-remembered truth. It is this: How glorious for Christianity, to be able to say for itself, that the progressiveness of modern civilisation is in part due to the spirit of that most famous and sublimest of all [Pg xv] books, the Bible; that continually speaking object of the meditations of the scholastics and the learned. The Regenerator-God took birth among the people, he preached only to the people; and he selected, by a preference too marked not to have its special significance, his disciples from among the lowest ranks of Hebrew unfortunates, enslaved by those Romans who were about to bring to ruin their antique Jerusalem. This fact, more than any other, explains the tendencies of Christianity, and accounts for the indelible imprint it has put on modern civilisation. [8] And it was under its influence, too, and in the spirit of Christian precepts, that America was peopled by Europeans.

A new phasis turned up in the world's history; namely, that resulting from the second overflowing of population, after the Christian era began. The first, we need not say, was that which precipitated the fall of the Roman empire; the next was the immigration from Europe to America, which hastened, in its turn, the departure of barbarism.

If the spectacle presented by olden civilisation, corrupted by sensuality and falling before the steel and firebrands of barbarians, is calculated to excite deep feelings of horror and pity; that offered by the discovery and colonisation of the New World, despite a few gloomy shadings, inspires sentiments of hopefulness, and evokes perceptions of grandeur elevating for the soul. Touching it is to see setting forth, from different regions of Europe, those long trains of humble but industrious colonists, with countenances steadfastly fixed on our Occident. Up to that time, men of the sword had been the precursors of all combined emigrations. "War alone," says one author, "opened up the olden world to general observation." Intelligence, and impulses towards labour, accompanied, among the moderns, those who came and yet come to [Pg xvi] seek and to secure a foothold in America. The rapidly attained successes of the former proved the advantages attending a state of peace with freedom to toil, over a reign of violence, amid the tumult of arms, for founding rich and powerful empires.

The establishment of Canada, as a French dependency, dates from the times of the great movement of European populations towards the West; a consideration of which movement, as to its general causes, is of interest to this country as well as to the rest of America. We ought not to allow ourselves to form erroneous conceptions as to the direction taken by American civilisation. The study of such matters is necessary for all the inhabitants of this continent who are heedful of the future.

Such is, we repeat, the character of that civilisation, and the colonisation begun and maintained under its all-powerful influence. Canada, though originally founded under religious auspices, is one of those colonies which has been least affected by their influence, for reasons which the reader will be able to understand as he proceeds in the perusal of this work. In a young colony, each forward step is full of import for the future. We should grossly mistake, if we regarded the early pioneer, with hatchet in hand, levelling the trees in his way in the Laurentian valley, as a mere woodman, toiling only to satisfy the daily wants of his body. The work he was then engaged in, humble as it might seem, drew after it results far more vast and infinitely more durable than the contemporary feats of arms stricken in his own country, the report of which rang through Europe. The history of the discovery and foundation of French Canada has general interest as great as the recorded origin of any other colonial empire on this continent. The boldness of a Cartier, the first who set up a tent at the mountain foot of Hochelaga, amidst unknown tribes of wild men, inhabitants of a region well nigh 300 leagues inland; the perseverance of a Champlain, contending, not merely with material obstacles but also with the apathy which denied him means to overcome them, yet succeeding at last in founding a colony yet to become an empire; the sufferings of its first inhabitants, and their sanguinary wars with the famous Iroquois tribes, confederated against them; the exploration of nearly the whole interior of North America, from Hudson's Bay to the Mexican Gulf on one traversing [Pg xvii] line, from Acadia to the Rocky Mountains on another; the military expeditions of Canadians in the North, in Newfoundland, towards Virginia, and into Louisiana; the foundation, by seculars or missionaries, of the earliest European settlements in Michigan, Wisconsin, Louisiana, and eastern Texas: here is surely a striking amount of operations of import high enough to arrest our attention and win the admiration of our posterity. The recorded incidents attending these impart to our early history a variety, a richness of colouring, constantly affecting the imagination and interesting the mind of those who read it.

When we contemplate the history of Canada as a whole, from the time of Champlain till our own day, we first remark its two great divisions,—the period of French supremacy, and that of British domination. The annals of the former are replete with the incidents of wars against the savages and the people of the conterminous British colonies, since become the United States; the other portion is signalised by parliamentary antagonism of the colonists to all infractions of their nationality and designs against their religion. The difference of the arms defensively used during these two periods, shows the Canadian nation under two very distinct aspects; but it is the second epoch which, naturally enough, may most interest the existing generation. There is something at once noble and touching in the spectacle of a people defending the nationality of their ancestors; that sacred heritage which no race, how degraded soever, has ever yet repudiated. Never did cause of a loftier character or more holy nature inspire a heart rightly placed, or better merit the sympathies of all generous minds.

If Canadian valour has shone brightly in fields of war, the oratorical, argumentative, and administrative ability manifested by our leading Statesmen, have been no less conspicuous in the Senate and Cabinet. The Papineaus, the Bedards, the Vallières, the Stuarts, will, in those regards, take a distinguished place in the history of the country, as they already have in the remembrance of their grateful contemporaries.

From the circumstance that Canada has had to undergo many evil vicissitudes, and not through her own fault but arising out of her colonial dependence, what progress she did make was effected [Pg xviii] amidst obstacles and social shocks; obstructions which have been aggravated, in the present day, by the antagonism of two races confronted with each other; as also by the hates, the prejudices, the ignorance, and the errors of governments,—sometimes, too, through the faults of the governed. The authors of the Union of the two Canadian provinces, projected in 1822 and realised in 1840, have adduced in favour of that measure divers specious reasons to cover, as with a veil, its manifest injustice. Great Britain, prone to regard the French Canadians only as turbulent colonials, as ill-disposed aliens, feigns to mistake for indubitable insurrectionary symptoms (an artifice unworthy of a great nation), their inquietude and their firm attachment to menaced institutions and habitudes. Britain's general conduct, however, proves too well that while she believes not what is advanced against them, no regard for treaties nor official acts, drawn up for the protection of her Canadian subjects, has prevented her agents from violating concessions, which ought to have been all the more carefully respected for being regarded as forming an ægis to protect the weak against the oppression of the strong. But whatever may betide, the perdition of a people is not so easily effected as its enemies may imagine.

While we are far from believing that our nationality is secured against all further risks, like many more we have had our illusions on this subject. Still, the existence of the Canadians as a distinct people, is not more doubtful than it was a century ago. At that time, we were a population of 60,000; we now exceed a million souls. [?]

What characterises the Gaulish race above all others, is "that occult force of cohesion and of resistance, which maintains their material unity amidst the most cruel vicissitudes, and makes it rise superior to every attempt to depress it." The olden Gallic heedlessness (étourderie), says a French author, [9] has outlived the unchangeable theocracies of Egypt and Asia, the political combinations of the Greeks, the civic wisdom and military discipline of the Romans. Endowed with a less flexible genius, more confiding [Pg xix] and less calculating, this people, of antique blood but ever young in heart, when the appeal of a noble conception or the call of a great man inspires them,—this people would have disappeared as other races, more sage in seeming than it, had done before; and why? because they comprehend only one mission (rôle), one interest, and one idea.

All things concur to prove, that the French settled in America retain these characteristics of their ancestors, near and remote; that they possess a strong yet undefinable buoyancy of mind, peculiar to themselves, which, invulnerable as mind itself, eludes political guile, as spirit is unassailable by the sword. The type of the race remains, even when all seems to forebode its extinction. Is the nucleus of a French community found amid alien races? it grows apace, but always in isolation from others with whom it is possible to live, but never to incorporate. Germans, Dutch, Swedes, who came in groups into the United States, and lived apart for a while, have insensibly been fused in the general mass of population, and left no trace of their origin. [10] On the contrary, two sections of the Gallic race, one at each extremity of this continent, not only maintain their footing in two countries so wide apart, of contrasted climate and under diverse political constitutions; but, as if by instinct, concur in repelling all infractions of their nationality. Is its sacrifice called for? they serry their ranks the closer. The nationality of the great people from whom they are descended, animating them under menaces, causes the rejection of all capitulations offered to them; their Gallic nature, while separating them from phlegmatic races, sustains them in circumstances hopeless for others. In fine, that cohesive force, peculiar to their moral temperament, develops itself in proportion to the efforts made to overcome it.

The eminent statesmen who guided the destiny of Great Britain after the acquisition of Canada in 1763, well comprehended that the position of its people, relatively to the neighbouring Colonists of English origin, would be confirmatory of their fidelity [Pg xx] to the British crown; and their expectations, wisely conceived, were not disappointed.

Nevertheless, left to ponder on their position, after the prolonged and sanguinary struggles they had erewhile to sustain, and in which they had shown so much devotedness to France, the Canadians regarded the future with inquietude. Abandoned by the most opulent and intelligent of their compatriots, who, in quitting the country, carried with them that experience which would have been so useful had they remained; so few in number, and put helplessly, for a season, at the discretion of the populous British Provinces near by, whose overbearingness they had resisted for a century and a half with so much spirit, they yet did not mistrust their fortune. They advertised the new Government of their wants, and reclaimed the rights guaranteed to them by treaties; they represented, with admirable tact, that the discrepancies existing between them and their neighbours over the lines, the diversity of races and interests, would attach them rather to the British monarchy, than induce them to make common cause with democratic denizens of the English plantations. They had divined, in fact, the Revolution soon to ensue.

Chance has brought to light, in the Secretary's Department at Quebec, a memoir on this subject, the author of which has traced, with great perspicuity, the wants likely to arise at such a crisis, and his predictions were not slow of realisation. Thus, anticipating the future independence of the thirteen provinces, he observes that "If there subsists not between Canada and Britain prescriptive ties and mutual interestedness, of a nature such as New England could not possibly extend to the Canadians, the British could no more trust to the continued fidelity of the former than to the provincials of New England. Will it be thought paradoxical if I add, that this union of all the parts of colonized North America, based on the principle of a universal franchize, will bring about a time when Europe shall have no American colonies, except those which America chooses to leave her? for a hostile expedition, got up in New England, might reduce the British West India possessions, before it could be known in London to have left port. If there be a means for preventing or postponing such a revolution, so far as we are concerned in the matter, it is [Pg xxi] to be done only by maintaining and respecting the diversity of language, opinions, habitudes, and interests which now exists between the inhabitants of Canada and the people of New England."

The Government of Great Britain, influenced by such considerations as the foregoing, left undisturbed the Canadian language, laws, and religion, at a crisis when it would have been comparatively easy to compass the abolition of all three; for at that time the British possessed a moiety of North America. They had soon cause for rejoicing at their wise forbearance. Two years had scarcely elapsed after the promulgation of the law of 1774 when all the Anglo-American colonies were up in arms against the mother country; and during the contest ensuing, the people of the former wasted a considerable part of their resources in vain attempts to wrench from her that Canada which they had helped to conquer for her special glorification!

The Canadians, called on to defend their institutions and laws, guaranteed to them by that same law of 1774, which the Congress of the insurrectionary provinces had so injudiciously denounced, just before, as "unjust, unconstitutional, very dangerous, and subversive of American rights,"—the Canadians, we say, promptly ranged themselves under the banner of their new Protectress, who now profited, more than she had ventured to hope for, by the effects of the wise because liberal policy of her general Government. That policy was sanctioned and extended on two memorable occasions afterwards: namely, in 1791, when the British Parliament accorded a representative Constitution to the Province; and again, in 1828, when the Imperial Parliament enacted, that Canadians of French origin should never be disturbed in the enjoyment of their laws, their religion, or those privileges which had been already assured to them.

If this polity, which twice became the means of saving Canada to Great Britain, was virtually repudiated by the Union Act, it is not improbable that it will be found expedient to revert to it; for the time that has elapsed since 1840, has manifested that Canada has become anything rather than anglified: and nothing indicates that the future will differ from the present or past in this respect. A return to that policy may become inevitable, if only [Pg xxii] through the continued expansion of the colonies still remaining to Britain on this continent; and by the prospects of a new revolution, similar to that which paved the way to independence for the United States. Were it otherwise, we should opine that the people of Great Britain, coinciding in sentiment with some of their statesmen, [that "Canada is a suction and not a feeding pipe," as such] ought to be left to herself; the British nation not caring to expend its resources in keeping much longer an uneasy foothold on the nearer parts of the North American continent.

America, was it known to the Ancients?—The Island of Atlantis.—Discoveries of the Portuguese and Spaniards.—Christopher Columbus, his birth and life: he repairs to Lisbon, and thence passes into Spain; Ferdinand and Isabella, to whom he had communicated his project of seeking a western passage to India, give him the command of three vessels equipped for that purpose.—He discovers the New World.—He returns to Spain; the distinguished reception accorded to him at the Spanish Court.—His second voyage, and further discoveries.—He is sent back, in chains, to Spain by Bovadilla.—Death and character of Columbus.—Continuation of the discoveries of the Spaniards and Portuguese.—Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian navigator, discovers Florida, Newfoundland, and the coasts of Labrador, for Henry VII, king of England.—Verazzani, a navigator in the pay of Francis I, king of France, coasts the North American Atlantic shores, from Florida to Newfoundland.—The fact noted, that French fishermen, from the Basque, Breton, and Norman provinces, had taken cod on the Banks of Newfoundland long previously.

Among the Greeks and Romans, who deified all things which bore the stamp of greatness, the founders of cities were worshipped as gods. Had Columbus been a citizen of olden Rome, he would have taken rank with Romulus; for blind chance, the cause of so [Pg 2] many discoveries, had nought to do with the finding of America. Columbus alone conceived the magnificent idea of raising the mysterious veil which, before his time, covered the western limits of the Atlantic Ocean; setting out, as he afterwards did, with a determination to pass oceanic barriers which ignorance and superstition had for ages conjoined to regard as the unpassable limits of the earth on its occidental side—in which great quest, that foremost of navigators had the far greater fortune to discover a world lost to the view of civilised man during, it may be, a thousand years or more.

Nevertheless the regions, since misnamed America, which form nearly a third of the habitable earth, seem, in part at least, not to have been all unknown to the people of the Olden World. Thus Egyptian traditions speak of an island named Atlantis, situated westward of the Columns of Hercules, or Straits of Gibraltar, amid the ocean beyond, and which the Phœnicians were said to have visited as traders or otherwise. The first ancient author who made mention of such an island, or rather continent, was Plato; and the notices of it occur in two of his Dialogues, namely the "Timæus" and the "Critias." Upon a tradition which had some foundation in facts, he grafts a statement which was doubtless intended to flatter the national vanity of his countrymen. Solon, it is intimated, when travelling in Egypt happened to meet a priest of that country, and, speaking of Athenian antiquities, the latter said to the sage, "Athens has existed for many an age; and its people became civilised at a very early date. Long ago its name became famous in Egypt through exploits they achieved, which you know not, yet which are recorded in our archives: it is therein you will find the earliest antiquities of your city.... In them you may learn how gloriously the Athenians, in times remote, stopped the invasive career of a redoubtable power which, by a sudden irruption of its warriors, starting from the bosom of the Atlantic Sea, overspread Europe and Asia. That sea environed a tract of land facing the entry of the Herculean Strait, being a territory larger than Asia and Lybia in one. Between this country and that strait, there were several other but smaller islands. The Atlantian region, of which I speak, was governed by a confederation of sovereigns. In one of [Pg 3] their expeditions they possessed themselves, on one side, of Lybia as far as Egypt; on the other, of all the western regions of Europe onward to Tyrrhenia. We, all of us, were enslaved by the Atlantians; and it was your ancestors who restored our freedom, for they led their fleets against those our alien masters, and defeated them. But yet a far greater evil befel them not long afterwards: for their island sank in the ocean; and thus a vast country, larger than all Europe and Asia together, disappeared in the twinkling of an eye."

The annals of Carthage report that Himilcon saw a previously unknown land in the same oceanic region of the globe. During the year 356 of Rome, a Carthaginian vessel, having made a long stretch westward, on an unknown sea, reached a spacious and fertile island, having great rivers with magnificent forests. The attractions of the land tempted a part of the crew to settle there; and the rest returning to Carthage, its senate, being apprised confidentially of the discovery thus made, and deciding to bury the event in oblivion from fear of what its promulgation might lead to, caused all those who knew of it to be put secretly to death. All means of communication were, through this stroke of policy, perforce broken off for ever between the remaining mariners and their native land. [11]

Such traditions as the foregoing assume a semblance of verity, through the archæological explorations of Antonio del Rio and other scientific men in Central America; whose recent discoveries render more probable than ever before, the hypothesis that some such nation as the people reported as of the island Atlantis did indeed at one time inhabit our continent. But in what age did they exist? Some authors opine, that it was before the Deluge; [12] a belief which helps us not in accounting for the general peopling of the world after all its inhabitants were drowned, excepting those that were saved in the ark with Noah. We must, adopting [Pg 4] the above hypothesis, conclude that an emigration took place from the orient to the occident, and that previously, America was in communication with Europe or Asia. Be this as it may, we rightly infer, at sight or on report of the majestic ruins found at Palenque and Mitla, in the forests of Yucatan, the pyramids and idols of granite, the bassi-rilievi, the hieroglyphics, there existing—viewing these objects, we conclude that the people, whosoever they may have been, who left these works behind them, must have attained a high degree of civilization. [13]

On the other hand, we conclude that no such people as those whose relics are still extant in Central America, inhabited the Atlantian country (supposing the story of its existence were not a figment) discovered by the Carthaginians, since, upon the same authority, it was reported, even as Columbus actually found the parts of the American continent he visited, to be destitute of all vestiges of art and industry.

Such, then, are all the evidences that have descended to us of the existence of an Atlantis, which yet became a subject of learned speculation during successive ages down till the 15th century. At that period of time, even the learned in Europe had the most confused notions of countries with which no direct intercourse was maintained. Thus the contemporaries of Columbus believed that the torrid (sun-roasted) zone was a region literally answering to its name, and, by natural consequence, utterly uninhabitable. They were also content to put implicit faith in fictions, which reported distant or unexplored regions as having men-monsters for their chief inhabitants; it being easier to take fabulous narrations of pretended travels and voyages on trust, than to verify material facts lying at a distance from European observation. [14]

We need merely advert to the real or imagined expeditions to the New World, reported as having taken place by sea-rovers from Gaul, from Scandinavia, and other regions of Northern Europe. Chance may have borne castaway crews as far as Greenland, or to the nearer shores of the upper American continent itself; by a like haphazard, petty crews of adventurers, located even during preceding ages, on the outer sea-margins of Western Europe, may have been drifted across the Atlantic, and have returned to relate those experiences, although these have not reached us; but what we are certain of is this, that although the Danes or Norwegians discovered Greenland at an early period of the Christian era, [15] the particulars of their voyages remained unknown to the other peoples of Europe; whose general belief was, that the hyperborean regions so visited by the Normans were scattered islands amidst a remote and undefined expanse of ocean.

Nevertheless the time was drawing nigh, when the once civilized races of Europe, whom the irruption of Asiatic barbarians, on the decline of Roman domination, sank for ages in mediæval ignorance, were about to make rapid strides in the march of improvement. Trading instincts at length being aroused and the spirit of adventure re-awaking among most of the populations of Christendom, extended navigation necessarily followed. The Normans, in especial, a race of daring nature and restless disposition, with trading or aggressive aims, ventured as far forth of the eastern shores of the Atlantic as the Canary Isles; and the Norman baron Jean de Béthancourt actually conquered these islands for himself and followers, holding them as a fief of the Spanish kingdom of Castile. In early times, the Canaries were of great repute; and for the ancients as well as the people of the middle ages, they were the farthest territorial landmarks of the western world. [16]

Portugal, one of the smallest kingdoms of Europe, was fated to lead the way to great geographical discoveries, and to a new field of glory for modern nations. Its explorers had already made some progress in this new path, when there appeared among them a prince, whose name will be ever memorable in the annals of navigation and commerce: Henry IV, son of King Joam I, who was deeply versed in every science pertaining to seamanship, formed the plan of despatching ships to Asia, by rounding the southern promontory of Africa, now known as the Cape of Good Hope, [17] and of thus opening up a trade with India by a shorter and less arduous route than that of the Red Sea. The Carthaginians, indeed, had tried to effect this project long before. If it were now fairly realised, Henry hoped to make Portugal the entrepôt of oriental riches and trade for all Europe. The idea was worthy of a great genius, the conception was that of a mind far in advance of the age which gave it birth.

Under the direction of Prince Henry, the Portuguese navigators doubled Cape Bojador, penetrated boldly into the hitherto dreaded tropical latitudes, and explored the African shores as far as Cape Verd, between Senegal and the Gambia, which river they discovered A. D. 1474. Nearly at that time, Gonzallo Vello reached the Azores' isles, 360 leagues distant from Lisbon, and intermediate to Europe and America. But Henry died (A. D. 1463) while still engaged in superintending the explorations of his countrymen; nevertheless, although it was not till several years afterwards that Vasco de Gama was able to double the Cape of Good Hope, to the memory of the Portuguese Prince attaches the chief credit due to that great undertaking.

The discoveries of the Portuguese soon excited the attention of all Europe. [18] The news of their distant expeditions, the narrations of their voyagers, spread throughout Christendom, and were listened to everywhere with astonishment. Forthwith, numbers of spirited individuals, from other countries, repaired to Portugal, all hoping to share in the good fortune of its mariners, in the regions newly [Pg 7] opened up for colonization or trade. One of these adventurers was Christopher Columbus, who reached Lisbon in 1470. [19]

Columbus, whose name is for all time inseparably connected with the annals of the New World, was born, according to the most reliable accounts, at Genoa, circa 1435. His father, who gained a living by manual labour, could give him but little education. At a very early age, however, Columbus manifested strong aptitude for acquiring geographical science, along with irrepressible desires for a seafaring life. Whatever knowledge of geography he may have acquired he was impatient to turn to account, for, when only fourteen years old, he took service as a boy-mariner. Very little is known of his experiences as such; but it appears that he took part in several warlike expeditions against the Moors of Barbary and against certain Italian princes; that he served under John of Anjou in the war of Naples, and under Louis XI of France: for the French kings were then accustomed to hire Genoese vessels for warlike uses. In all these services, but more especially in the Neapolitan expedition, he evinced both skill and courage. [20]

During his residence at Lisbon, he pursued his geographical studies, noting particularly the Portuguese discoveries, and examining all extant cosmographies, both ancient and modern. With Portuguese crews, he made several voyages to the coast of Guinea; and he visited Iceland in 1477. His voyages and researches brought him into relations with several of the scientific men of Europe, and with such navigators as had taken part in the voyages following those since the time of Prince Henry. It was through living in the society of an age big with enterprising aspirations, when the imaginations of men were exalted every day by the recital of new discoveries, that he conceived the idea of reaching India by a direct course to the west. Such a project, according [Pg 8] to his conceptions, had nothing of unreason in it, for he was convinced, despite the Ptolemean system, then in universal credit, that the globe is really round; as several of the ancients thought it must be, and as Copernicus taught in Northern Europe some years after the time when Columbus became a convert to the true cosmographic theory. The times were indeed auspicious for the advancement of geographical knowledge: a novel application of science to the art of navigation, the astrolabe, since become the octant, through its ameliorations by the celebrated Auzout, [21] and the mariner's compass, then coming into use, were about to embolden navigators to stretch far beyond the coasts along which they had for ages been accustomed to feel their way.

Columbus imparted his project to Joam II, King of Portugal; of whom he asked, but in vain, a few vessels to carry out an enterprise which, if successful, would have glorified that monarch's reign and exalted Portugal among the nations. Being thus repelled, Columbus directed his longing eyes on Spain; and, in 1484, he set out for Madrid with his son Diego, to make to Ferdinand and Isabella [22] the same proposals which Joam had rejected. At first, he had no success; still he was not cast down, having unbroken faith in the feasibility of his project, during eight years of fruitless solicitations, every day of which supplied, or seemed to him to supply, fresh evidences of the soundness of his own views. But the fruition of his hopes was nigh. Every reader knows of the famous examination the patient Columbus had to endure by the Spanish theologians, met in conclave, with Bible in hand, not so much to test his beliefs, as to confute them from scripture. Much about that time, the contemporary kings of France and [Pg 9] England, [23] to whom Columbus had sent his brother Bartholomew, to court their patronage, both returned favourable answers; so that it appears likely one or other of these monarchs, had those of Spain not given in to the project of Columbus, would have become agents in unconsciously bringing about that great act, the discovery of a new world.

After all, the means put at the disposal of Columbus by Ferdinand and Isabella, were scanty indeed. It was a flotilla of three small vessels, called caravels, only one of which, named the "Santa Maria," was decked. With these he sailed from Palos, [24] August 3, 1492. Before leaving the Spanish Court, he was invested with the title of Almirante, admiral or administrator, of all new lands he might discover, and possess in name of, and for his royal employers. He was accompanied by three brothers named Pinson, who risked their all in the great enterprise. The vessels were victualled for a year, and the entire number of the three crews was 120 men; [25] while some, even of that small aggregate, were unenrolled hands, who took their chance in reliance upon the future fortune of their admiral.

At night, on the seventieth day of the voyage, Columbus thought he perceived, on the verge of the forward horizon, the semblance of lights, shining fitfully as if from a range of coast, under cloud of night. Calling one of the watch, the latter soon observed the like signs of human habitation. Presently the cry of "Land!" woke every sleeper on board the Santa Maria, and the night was spent in one anxious vigil. As day dawned, a fair shore, richly clothed with trees and herbage, rose gradually to view, its woods and thickets resonant with the song of birds of the gayest plumage. Entranced at the sight, the crew set up a shout of triumph. Their pride of heart, next giving way to a devotional feeling, caused all in unison to chaunt a Te Deum, not unaccompanied with tears.

Early in the morning, Columbus manned his boats, and, with his armed followers and standard-bearers, in fine array, made for the land; the rowers keeping stroke to the strains of martial music. He was the first to leap ashore, when, after kissing the earth amidst his kneeling men, he, with sword in hand, set up a cross and took formal possession of the country in name of the crowns of Castile and Leon. It proved to be the sea-margin of one of the Guycaos, Lucayhan, or Bahama Islands. Meantime the discoverer named it San Salvador. [26]

The country proved to be inhabited, and its almost naked people looked on, with mingled curiosity and awe, at the ceremonial going on before them, and at those engaged in it. The differing complexion of the Spaniards, their costume, their armour and warlike implements, the vessels that had borne them—all was novel, unaccountable. It is said that the simple natives at first imagined the strangers to be "children of the sun," on a visit to the earth. Above all, the noise of the artillery fired upon the occasion, astounded their senses. The curiosity of the Spaniards was scarcely less awakened as to what they saw before them. The coppery tint of skin in the aborigines, their wild mien; the animals, the trees, the plants, that met the view, differed totally from any they had seen in Europe. And though the soil of the country was so plainly fertile, not a trace of cultivation anywhere appeared.

After a short survey of the island, Columbus set sail to prosecute further his explorations, and soon came upon others of the Lucayhan group. Progressing still, he reached Cuba, and then San Domingo. In the latter he found tobacco growing, and noted its being smoked by the natives; a practice till then new to Europeans. The batatas, or potato, was another novel plant; the tubercles of which have proved, as Washington Irving observes, more precious to mankind than all the spices of the East.

Columbus took possession, in every case, of all the regions he arrived at, in name of their Spanish majesties. Having done so, he paused in his career of research, with intent to return to Spain, [Pg 11] and be the first to announce to his royal patrons the most important discovery that had ever been made by man. He was able to tell them, that wherever he had landed, he was well received, or at least met with no opposition. And having lost one of his vessels at St. Domingo, he left there a part of its crew, by permission of a cazique, or lord of the country. He even obtained leave to build a fort, for the safety of the men, in raising which the aborigines assisted. This favour was granted under condition, however, that the Spaniards thus remaining should assist the islanders to repel the attacks of the Caribs, ferocious and predatory tribes who then inhabited the more southern isles. Finally, on the 4th January, 1493, Columbus set sail with his two vessels for Europe; and, after a stormy passage, reached Palos, amidst the acclamations of the people of that place, most of whom had, by this time, lost all hope of ever seeing him again.

The journey of Columbus, from Palos to Barcelona, where the Court was then held, was a continued triumphal progress; crowds gathering around him, from far and near. The conjoint sovereigns of all Catholic Spain, willing to honour him with unusual though deserved distinction, received him at a public sitting; Ferdinand on one seat, Isabella beside him, on a kind of double throne, under one canopy. Thence arose both King and Queen, surrounded by grandees, to receive Columbus; who came with a train of titled men, himself, personally, the most noble-looking as well as interesting individual of all present. Their majesties, after bidding Columbus be seated,—an honour then rarely accorded, even to a grandee of the first class,—caused him to relate the chief circumstances attending his voyages, and adventures on land. They listened to all with deep interest; and when he ceased speaking, they, with bended knees, and tearful eyes directed to the firmament, breathed their grateful thanks to God for having crowned with an unexpected amount of success, an enterprise sure to become the chief glory of their reign. Every one present joined in this solemn thanksgiving; followed, before the august assembly broke up, by enthusiastic demonstrations in honour of Columbus.

Nor were the first honours paid to Columbus confined to this signal public recognition of his merits. A patent of nobility was at once made out in favour of himself and his posterity. [Pg 12] But a time was coming, neither was it distant, when the remembrance of the homage now paid would but embitter the suffering and mortification in store for him, through the baseness of certain agents of the rulers of his adopted country, the ingratitude of too many of its people, and their blindness to his surpassing merits.

Meantime the news of his discoveries quickly spread throughout Europe; and made, in other countries, a sensation little less profound than in Spain itself. Learned men, and all those most capable of appreciating what had been done, while anticipating what was sure to follow, exulted at the thought of living in an age of time which was marked by such an event as the discovery of a New World. [27]

Columbus voyaged yet thrice to the new world: namely, the second time, in the years 1493-96; the third, in 1498; and the last, from 1502 to 1504. During his successive researches he discovered most of the isles of the Mexican Archipelago. In his second voyage, he coasted the southern continent from the Bay of Honduras to the Gulf of Darien, and explored the Gulf of Paria. It was in one of these expeditions that Francis de Bovadilla, governor of San Domingo, and a mortal enemy of Columbus, had the audacity to send him, fettered, back to Spain. The king seems not to have manifested the indignation against his deputy which the occasion called for, although he blamed or pretended to blame him for thus ignominiously treating the greatest man of the age; while, in sign of the ingratitude of the master as well as of the insolent tyranny of his man, Columbus carefully preserved the irons that had bound him, and directed that they should, at his death, be put into his coffin along with his body. After some years of suffering, through courtly neglect, poverty, and bodily pain combined, he died at Valladolid, in Spain, on the 20th of May, 1506. His body was transported, first to Seville, then to San Domingo, and lastly to Cuba. It now reposes under a monumental tomb in the cathedral of Havana.—Christopher Columbus was, even in person, a remarkable man, as we have already intimated. His stature was majestic, complexion fair, visage regularly oval, nose aquiline, hair [Pg 13] auburn in youth, but become prematurely hoar, doubtless through mental over-labour and the vicissitudes of a chequered life. His courage, both active and passive, was surpassing. His mien was courteous, his speech ready, and, when occasion demanded, loftily eloquent.

While Columbus was prosecuting his discoveries in the Bay of Mexico, other navigators were pursuing their researches in the southern regions beyond. Thus, in 1500, Pinçon discovered the estuary of the river Amazon; and, the same year (May 3), Pedro Alvares de Cabral, when on his way to India, sighted the shore of Brazil. He sailed along the coast as far as Porto Seguro (lat. 16° S.), where he landed, and took possession in name of the king of Portugal. Thus, as Dr. Robertson observes, if Columbus had not discovered the New World eight years before, such a happy chance as that of an unexpected divergence of an India-bound vessel (through the force of equatorial currents),—the agent in Cabral's discovery of Brazil,—would, it is probable, have assured to Europe a knowledge of America before many more years would elapse.

The prodigious acquisitions made in and around transatlantic waters by Spanish and Portuguese adventurers, had by this time awakened the acquisitiveness of all the other nations of Christendom. The mariners of every European seaboard, shaking off the timidity which had confined their adventurousness to coasting voyages, or to short passages across landlocked seas, were now ready to undertake any enterprise, even the most daring. Henry VII, king of England, regretting his indifference or tardiness regarding the offers made to him by the brothers Columbus, signed a patent, March 5, 1496, in favour of Giovanni and Sebastiano Gabotto (the Cabots, father and son) for the discovery and conquest of new lands. Early in 1497, Sebastian Cabot, at that time but twenty years of age, sailed in a Bristol ship with the view of seeking a N. W. passage to India. June 24, he reached the American N. E. coast, probably the shore-line of Labrador, about lat. 56° N. In the succeeding year, he made a second voyage to parts unknown, in or near to the same region; of which no details have been recorded. In 1499, he made a third voyage to America, and, coasting the upper region of the Gulf of Mexico, discovered Florida. In this voyage he also discovered Newfoundland and Labrador.

All this time, it was the universal belief that the occidental lands thus discovered were parts or appurtenances of the continent of Asia: hence originated the name, long applied to both Americas, but now confined to their eastern insular portions, the West Indies. This error became manifest in the year 1513, when Vasco Nunez de Balboa traversed parts of the Isthmus of Panama, and discovered the Pacific Ocean. By another misnomer, not yet corrected, nor ever likely to be, the whole New World missed taking its rightful name of Columbia; which thus happened:—When, in the year 1500, chance directed Pedro de Cabral, as related above, to the shores of Brazil, he sent an account of the event to Lisbon; upon which the Portuguese king sent Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine, to examine the country; who accordingly took an extensive but superficial view of most of its coasts, and, upon his return, drew up and published a plausible account of the whole, with a map, or rather chart, of the Brazilian seaboard. From that time, the collective Western Indies began to take the name of America.

Three years after the voyage of Cabot, it appears that the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador were visited by a Portuguese named Cortéréal; but already, about this time, Bretons and Normans fished for cod on the Great Bank of Newfoundland and on the coasts of Canada. Charlevoix reports he had read in memoirs, that an inhabitant of Honfleur, Jean Denis, traced a chart of a part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, at as early a date as 1506.—How was it that those fishermen should have found their way to the banks of Newfoundland, in so short a time after the discovery of America by the first voyage of Columbus? A question hypothetically answered by some authors, who assume that (unknown) French navigators had previously visited those regions. One, in particular, author of the "Us et Coutumes de la Mer," maintains that men of France discovered the banks of Newfoundland a hundred years before Columbus reached the New World. The "Archives de la Marine," in Paris, contain an old MS. entitled "Abridged Account of Discoveries in New France," in which it is stated that natives of Brittany and Normandy were the first to discover, in 1504, the great bank and island of Newfoundland. Certain it is, that when Sebastian Cabot visited those parts, the [Pg 15] native Newfoundlanders called a fish, found thereabout, bacalléos; and this term, in Basque idiom, is the name of the cod.

But whatever may have been the nature or extent of the relations maintained, for trading purposes, by natives of France, with the New World, the French government claimed no national interest in North America sooner than the year 1523. The general trade of France, at that date, was considerable; more so, in fact, than is generally imagined. National authority in France was not, as yet, properly centralized. Each of its provinces played a kind of independent part; and this makes it difficult to combine the early commercial returns of the Basque, Breton, Norman, and other trading populations, so as to form a just notion of the amount, at any given time, for the whole kingdom. We know, however, that, from the year 1517, the whale fishery and the cod fishery became important and extending branches of the industry of France; and that, early in the 17th century, some hundreds of its vessels took part every year in the fisheries of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The pecuniary benefit thence accruing, naturally turned public attention towards the lands in the adjoining territories; and in 1518, Baron de Léry, zealous, say the old chroniclers, for the common weal, also for the credit of the nation (which, we must allow, came late into the field), proposed to found a French establishment in Acadia (Nova Scotia). The baron was a man of courage and of lofty aspirations. He set sail for America with a company of colonists, intending to become their resident director; but the adverse weather which the adventurers encountered, and other cross accidents, caused the enterprise to miscarry.

Louis XII having demised, was succeeded by Francis I. Continued wars, and stinted finances, had prevented the former from undertaking any maritime expeditions. The new king, less careful than Louis had been of the pecuniary means of his people, was also impelled by a desire for gaining the credit attaching to a nation from its colonial acquisitions; and even during the hottest of his warrings against the Emperor Charles V, ceased not to excite his subjects to emulation in commercial pursuits with those of other countries, and in the forming of colonies in new or recently discovered regions. The latter inspiration took a practical form [Pg 16] in 1523, when he confided to Verazzani, a Florentine navigator taken into the French service shortly before, the command of four vessels, for a voyage of exploration. No detailed account of the incidents attending his first attempts has come down to us; nor do we know what was the course he pursued. In his second voyage, A.D. 1524, he passed the Island of Madeira, still steering to the westward; and, after nearly losing his vessels through a tempest, and attaining about lat. 34° N. he anchored (finding no bay to run into) hard by a coast clothed with the richest tropical vegetation, of varieties not known to him or his people; the country being inhabited by savages, who gazed upon the former, and upon the vessels that brought them, with wonder and awe. Thence departing, Verazzani stood northward, "in view of ascending," as he expresses himself in the relation of this his second voyage, "to the countries discovered, in times by-gone, by the Bretons, below the 50th degree of latitude." Florida and Newfoundland seem to have been the extreme points, S. and N. of the seaboard he now touched at.

King Francis was so well satisfied with the report given by Verazzani, that he entrusted him with the charge of a third and an ill-starred expedition, in which chief, captain, and crews must have perished, for no tidings were ever learned of a living soul embarked in it. [28]

The sad fate of Verazzani paralysed, for a time, all projected colonization of America by the French. Less given to maritime exploration than to trading with their neighbours, they doubted the advantages supposed to attend the acquisition of distant territories: and this tendency of the national mind manifesting itself for continuous centuries, we find that in no part of the globe, during that time, did a colonial population, of French origin, become numerous enough to ensure its predominant nationality.

Another obstruction in the way of French colonization, arose from the unquiet state of the country itself. "Intestine troubles," [Pg 17] observes Raynal, "in France, discouraged its people from prosecuting extensive foreign commerce, and checked all aspiration for founding kingdoms in the two Indies. Again, the paramount authority of our kings, though not formally, was virtually either opposed or eluded. Traces of the feudal system still remained, and several of its abuses yet existed. Most of the provinces composing the monarchy were self-governed, under differing laws and forms. The machine of general government was of a complex character. The nation was always negociating, as it were, with its Sovereign. The royal authority was really unlimited, though not recognised as such by the laws; the nation, though often too independent in act, yet had no legal guarantee for its liberties. The government, occupied alone with the task of subjecting the people, took no care of the interests of the commonwealth."

Yet Francis I had fewer troubles with his subjects than his predecessors; although the defection of the Constable de Bourbon, and some popular revolts from over-taxation, marked his reign. Civil and religious discord, under his sway, would have been greater than they were, but for the continued wars he waged against Charles V, which nearly absorbed the attention of the fierce spirits of the nation, of whatever degree. For the time, then, all further attempts at maritime discovery, and distant colonisation, were either abandoned, or indefinitely postponed.

Projected French establishment in America.—Jacques Cartier appointed to command the first expedition for that purpose; he explores the Gulf of St. Lawrence; his return to France. Second voyage of Jacques Cartier; he discovers the river St. Lawrence.—Visits Stadaconé (site of Quebec).—Aspect of the lands seen by him.—Indian village of Hochelaga (site of Montreal city).—Cartier winters in the country, his vessels being iced up.—Scurvy attacks his crews.—Advent of spring, 1534-5, and departure of Cartier for France; wherein war being renewed, further expeditions to America are postponed for the time.—Upon the return of peace, Roberval named Governor of Canada.—Third voyage of Jacques Cartier; he ascends the St. Lawrence as high as to Lake St. Louis, and winters at Cape Rouge.—He leaves for Europe, and, meeting Roberval at Newfoundland, on his way to Canada, refuses to attend him thither.—The latter, pursues his way to Canada, reaches Cape Rouge, raises a fort and winters there.—Disease carries off fifty of his men.—Next year, Cartier arrives, and Roberval returns home.

At this time (1534) the war-harassed French people having enjoyed an unwonted breathing-time of three years,—thanks to the treaty of Cambrai, popularly known as the "Paix des Dames," signed in 1529,—their battling King was temptingly reminded by his grand admiral and chief companion in land-war, Philippe de Chabot, of the prodigious golden and territorial acquisitions lately made by the Spaniards and Portuguese, in Central and Southern America; where numerous native populations had submitted to the yoke of Europeans almost without resistance; the Governor of Burgundy and Normandy (for such then was Chabot) proposing that King Francis should now resume those designs, he had long entertained, of seeking to share along with his brother monarchs in the riches perennially flowing into the Old World from the New.

The attention of the French King, in a project for obtaining a firm footing upon the mainland of America, was turned by his advisers in the direction of its nearest north-eastern regions; and this the rather, because many of his seafaring subjects had long fished the banks of Newfoundland. The royal consent having been obtained, for the equipment of an experimental armament, the grand admiral gave the direction of it to Jacques Cartier, of St. Malo, reputed to be a hardy mariner and skilful navigator.

When the expedition was in preparation, its probable destination coming to the knowledge of the Kings of Spain and Portugal (the Emperor Charles V. and Joam III.), they entered a protest against it, as tending to an encroachment upon their territorial rights. The pretensions thus set up only elicited an indignant exclamation from Francis: "What, then! do my royal brothers expect that they are to share all America among them, without my ever seeking to take part with them in the spoil?" The king adding, sarcastically, "I should like to see the clause in our father Adam's will and testament which bequeaths to them alone so vast an heritage!"

Cartier sailed from St. Malo, a seaport of Brittany, [29] in the spring of 1534, with two vessels, neither of which exceeded 60 tons burden, their united crews being but 122 men in all. Twenty days thereafter, the coast of Newfoundland was reached; thence the tiny barks passed, through the Straits of Belleisle, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Here Cartier and his men passed nearly three months, the latter trafficking, while coasting along, with such of the natives of the surrounding countries as they could fall in with; the former carefully noting, as he neared the great river itself, the peculiarities of the shores that successively came into view.

During this his first voyage Canada-ward, Jacques Cartier made no important discovery, most of the salient points of the shores of the Laurentian Gulf being already known to his countrymen, who habitually fished in its waters;—the latter had even bestowed [Pg 20] recognised names on some of these, [30]—but he was the first to scan carefully the arid and desolate sea-margin of Labrador. He coasted Newfoundland as far as Cape de Raye, passed between the Magdalen Isles, and entered the Bay de Chaleurs, which owed and yet owes that name to the heat of the weather at the time he visited it. Landing on its coast, he took ceremonial possession of the country around, in the name of the French king; and set up, despite the remonstrances of an aged native chief who witnessed the act, a wooden cross, on a point of land situated, probably, between Chaleurs Bay and Cape des Rosiers.

Sterile in results this first expedition of Cartier was not, seeing that it led afterwards to the discovery of the river St. Lawrence. Two of the aborigines, whom he embarked at Gaspé, and took with him to France, were, it is reported, the first parties who informed him that the river existed; and we are led to believe, adverting to the route followed by him in his second voyage, that he wished them to verify their accounts, both of the course of the stream and of the countries it traversed, as they then appeared, from Montreal to the sea. [31]

Next to the grand-admiral Chabot, the cause of maritime discovery had no greater friend in France, at this time, than Charles de Mouy, Sieur de Mailleraie, vice admiral of France. He it was, in fact, who first recommended Cartier to Chabot; and he obtained for the former far better means than he had the year before, [Pg 21] for effecting the object in view, by assigning to his guidance three good vessels, all well manned.

Conforming to the laudable custom of the time, Cartier, before setting out on his second voyage, repaired with his men, in procession, to the cathedral of St. Malo, to crave the blessing of Heaven upon the enterprise he undertook to carry out.

The little squadron, having aboard 110 hands and provisioned for three months, departed with a favouring wind, in May, 1535. As Captain-General, Cartier hoisted his pennant on La Grande Hermine, a vessel of about 110 tons burden; the two others, of much less tonnage, had for Captains, Guillaume le Breton and Marc Jalobert. Several persons, of gentle blood, such as Claude le Pont-Briand, served in the three vessels as volunteers. The passage was tedious, and adverse winds widely separated each several vessel from its consorts. The flag-ship did not reach, till July, the baie des Châteaux, situated in an island between Newfoundland and Labrador, which locality Cartier had appointed as a general rendezvous; the two other vessels got in some days after La Hermine. After a few days of rest, the flotilla set out again, made stretches on divers lines, and neared numerous isles. After having been forced, by stress of weather, to seek refuge in a haven which he named Port St. Thomas, he put to sea again, and on St. Lawrence day entered a bay, which he named after that Saint, at the mouth of the river St. John; the designation (of St. Lawrence) attaching itself afterwards to the river itself and to the gulf receiving its waters. Conducted by two savages taken on board, Cartier entered the river mouth, and ascended to a point fully 200 leagues up; reaching a fair island, since named Isle d'Orléans. His native guides reported that the country around him was then divided into three sections: namely, the Saguenay territory, extending from the Isle d'Anticosti to the Isle aux Coudres; next Canada,—its chief place, then called Stadaconé, occupying the site of Quebec. The territory of Canada, indicated above, commenced at the Isle aux Coudres, and extended up the river to Hochelaga; the last, the richest and most populous of the three sections. The denomination Canada, thus given to a part only of the Laurentian regions, doubtless signified, in the native tongue, clusters of cabins, or villages.

Cartier set ashore his two native guides, to treat with the people of the country; who fled from them at first, but soon returned, and in their canoes of bark quite encircled the ships; offering to their crews supplies of fish, maize, and fruit. Cartier gave all a kind reception, and made them presents. Next day the agouhanna, or chief of Stadaconé, followed by a dozen canoes, full of natives, paid Cartier a visit. The interviews between the two was most friendly; and their different peoples parted mutually content; the chief of Stadaconé, before leaving, kissing each arm of Cartier,—this act being esteemed one of the greatest marks of respect the native chief could show for a stranger.

As the season was now far advanced, Cartier made the bold resolve to winter in the country.

Entering, therefore, a tributary stream named by him the "Sainte Croix," but since known as the St. Charles river, he moored his vessels under the native village Stadaconé, the huts of which were perched on a height to the southward. This part of the Laurentian country, with its mountains, hill-slopes, and valleys, forming collectively the basin of Quebec, is one of the grandest sites in all America. The St. Lawrence itself, for a great portion of its course above the gulf of the same name, has an imposing, but, at the same time, a wild and saddening aspect. The immense breadth of its waters, which are 90 miles wide at its embouchure, the numerous rocky points, apparent or hidden, obstructing its course, the dense fogs attending the blasts that ruffle its bosom, at certain seasons of the year, all combine to render its navigation redoubtable to mariners. The rocky steeps which confine its waters for more than a hundred leagues; the frequent islets met with, and which increase in number as the navigator advances; all manifesting the struggle of ages between a stream and the gigantic natural obstructions opposing its passage to the ocean, are well fitted to sadden or appal the spirit of the voyager when first ascending its course. But on nearing Quebec, the scene changes at once. The river, so vast and sombre in its lower expanses, now becomes varied and graceful in feature, yet in its whole aspect still preserving the stamp of natural majesty; further enhanced and embellished, as its environage has been, in modern times, by the improving hand of man. And not alone are [Pg 23] such ameliorations, of the face of Canada of the 16th century, peculiar to the regions around the beauteous city of Quebec. Were Jacques Cartier to waken from the sleep of death, what marvellous changes, operated on the regions he found one vast and trackless wilderness, would meet his view!

Impatient to visit Hochelaga, a native settlement situated sixty leagues above Stadaconé, Cartier set out for that place, Sept. 19, with a portion of his people, including his two captains and the gentlemen volunteers. It took the party thirteen days to ascend thus far. Hochelaga, they found, was located on ground which now forms part of the city of Montreal. When the French appeared, a crowd of the natives came forth to meet them, and, as the denizens of Stadaconé had done before, manifested the liveliest joy at their coming among them. Next day, Cartier and his suite, in gala garb, made a ceremonial visit to the inhabitants of the locality. Hochelaga comprised about fifty wooden dwellings, each 50 paces long, and from 12 to 15 broad. Every house was roofed with slips of bark sewn together, the interiors parted into several rooms, encircling a square apartment in which was the fireplace, round which the inmates reclined or sat. This Indian village was begirt with a triple inclosure, of circular form, palisaded. There existed, in several places, towards the upper end of this enclosure, raised passage-ways, with ladders placed for ascending; and heaps of stones lay near by, to serve for defensive missiles. In the centre of the village was a large area, or public square. Thither were Cartier and his followers conducted at first. The accustomed salutations, native and French, being concluded, the Indian women laid mats upon the grass for the strangers to sit upon. Forthwith there appeared the agouhanna, borne by twelve men, who seated him in a bear-skin they spread for him upon the ground. This personage was about fifty years of age, and decrepit in every limb. A cap of red fur encircled his temples. After saluting his visitors, he made signs to express his pleasure on seeing them all; and, as an ailing man, held up his legs and reached out his arms towards Cartier, as if he desired him to touch them. This the latter at once did, rubbing the shrunken members with both hands. Thereupon the grateful patient took his head-tire and presented it to Cartier; at the same [Pg 24] time a number of persons lame or infirm pressed around the latter, seeking to be touched, believing, doubtless, that he was a being of rare endowments.

The French commandant asked to be led to a mountain top, a short mile distant. Arrived there, his eye commanded an immense extent of country. Enchanted at the view, he gave to the hill itself the name of Royal Mount; words which, combined and slightly modified, have become the appellation of the fair city, Montreal, laid out on its southward declivities.

When Cartier returned to St. Charles river, doubting the continued friendly feeling of the natives, he strengthened the palisades of an enclosure which his men had, while he was absent, formed about the vessels, adding thereto pieces of artillery. December arrived, and scurvy, of a violent kind, broke out among the French, whose condition altogether became deplorable. The winter cold was now intense, and increased day by day. Of 110 men, the three vessels' crews, for some time not more than three or four were free from disease; and in one of them, there was not a hale man to wait upon the sick. Too much weakened in body to open a grave for the dead, the survivors, yet able to crawl about, deposited them under the snow covering the ice-bound soil. Twenty-six men died between this time and the month of April. Most of the others were at death's-door, when a native accosted Cartier, observing that he too had become scorbutic, and told him of a means of cure; which, being resorted to, did in effect cure all the ailing Frenchmen in a few days' time.

When spring returned, Cartier hastened to depart for France, taking with him, for presentation to its king, several natives, among them Donacona; a chief who vaunted to have travelled much, and professed to have seen in the western regions of his country men who wore woollen garments. None of these savages, thus expatriated, ever returned, all dying before 1541, the earliest year after the present that the French again visited Canada.

Cartier found his native land distracted with religious dissensions, and plunged in renewed war against Charles V. In the year preceding that of Cartier's return, severe laws were decreed against the protestants. Scaffolds were erected, penal fires lighted up, in all parts of the realm. The Emperor, who had, by his [Pg 25] crafty policy, lured Francis into a war of conquest in Italy, taking advantage of the spiritual discords of France, and of the absence of its king and army, poured his forces into that country at both extremities, north and south, simultaneously. Amid intestine troubles, and the din of defensive war, Cartier found his presence unheeded and his projects disregarded. The existence of Canada, even the name of America, seemed now to be ignored by king and country alike.

Cartier was fain to wait for better times. His favorable season at last came round: this happened towards the year 1540, when Francis once more inclined to listen to his subject's proposal for further explorations in the New World. The success of the last expedition had raised clamours against colonisation among those opposed to all enterprise of that nature. This party represented that the climate of Canada was rude and unhealthy, that, numbers of those already sent out had perished miserably; the objectors adding, that the country had no mines of gold or of silver. These sinister representations had a discouraging effect upon some minds: but the friends of colonisation, on the other hand, contrived at last to nullify them, by proclaiming the advantages which were sure to accrue to the French nation through a large trade with the Canadian savages in peltry; urging, at the same time, the impolity of the French people looking on, while others were exclusively sharing the spoils of the New World among them. In fine, the party of progress gained their cause.

One of the leading spirits of that body was a Picard noble named Jean-François de la Roque, superior of Roberval, whom King Francis called "the little king of Vimeu." This personage, who had gained his royal master's esteem through his bravery and fidelity, asked and obtained the right and title to govern, in the king's name, all the countries newly discovered. It was conceded at the same time, in a royal edict dated June 15th, 1540, that Roberval might raise a body of volunteers to found a permanent establishment. Cartier also had the command of the vessels assigned to him for conveying the colonists to America; and some delays and disputes arising, he, without waiting for Roberval, set out with five ships, early in the summer of 1541. After a three months' stormy passage, in which the vessels were scattered about, [Pg 26] Cartier arrived at Newfoundland, where he tarried a while, expecting the arrival of the Governor, who was to have followed him within a few days, but he came not; so pursuing his own voyage, he ascended the St. Lawrence, and cast anchor at Quebec. The colonists, on landing, at once began clearing spots of land, near by, for cultivation. Leaving these men thus occupied, he ascended the St. Lawrence, hoping to get above the Sault St. Louis, but found it impossible to clear the rapids.

Autumn came on and passed away, bringing no tidings of Roberval; Cartier, therefore, prepared to winter in the country. He despatched two of his vessels, however, to St. Malo, to inform the king of his own proceedings, and to make inquiry why Roberval delayed coming out.

Cartier and his remaining people were allowed to pass the winter in peace; but in spring following, the savages manifesting a hostile spirit, he thought it fitting to re-embark his colonists and return home. He set sail for France about the very time that Roberval was leaving it with three ships, in which were several gentlemen adventurers, besides 200 other colonists, of both sexes. Insuperable obstacles had, it seems, prevented Roberval from joining Cartier the year before. According to the statement of a document lately found in the archives of the dépôt de la Marine, Paris, [32] the two squadrons met at a short distance from Quebec, and Roberval caused Cartier to turn back, in view of founding a settlement in the Isle d'Orléans. And if we may confide in another version of the alleged rencounter, it took place near St. John's, Newfoundland, a more likely locality; the narrator adding, that Cartier declined to follow Roberval, as perceiving that the latter desired to rob him of a part of his discoveries. Be all this as it may, we know for certain that Roberval reached his destination in safety; that he sent home, in autumn following, two of his vessels to inform the King of his arrival, and to request that provisions might be sent out to him next year. We know also that fifty of his colonists perished during the winter of 1542-43; and that the governor started in June following, with 70 men, upon an expedition for the interior, hoping to be more fortunate [Pg 27] than Cartier, and reach that country which the savages spoke of as abounding in the precious metals and stones of price. This second exploratory voyage to the interior was still less encouraging than that of Cartier. The extant relation of it, by Roberval himself, is incomplete; but had he discovered the country in the west, reported by the savages of the east as abounding in gold, silver and precious stones,—missed by his predecessor, of course,—surely some indication of its existence, if discovered, would be found in the extant account, fragmentary though it is; from which however we learn the discouraging fact, that before the expedition returned to Quebec, one of Roberval's vessels sank, and eight of his men were drowned.

Intelligence of Roberval's arrival in Canada arrived in Paris just as war was about to recommence between Francis I and Charles V. Instead of sending the succour that was asked for, the King, according to Lescarbot, ordered Cartier, in 1543, to bring Roberval back to France, [33] where his valour, and influence in Picardy, a province then about to become the seat of war, might be useful. All those whom Roberval took out as colonists, were it would seem, conducted, at the same time, to France by Cartier. Thus terminated the first attempt at colonising by France in North America, if we except that made by baron de Léry.

The name of Jacques Cartier, immortalized as it is by the discovery of Canada, thenceforth disappears from French history. [Pg 28] But if we may rely on the validity of the claim advanced by his nephews, some fifty years afterwards, for a continuation of the privileges accorded to their uncle, it is supposable that during several after years he trafficked in peltry with the natives.

Cartier manifested, in all his expeditions, adventurous courage. No contemporary navigator had as yet dared to advance so far into the lands of the New World as he, or ventured to face the perfidy and cruelties of their many barbarous tribes. In his braving the rigours of a Canadian winter, and shutting himself up for six months, without means of escape, among the aborigines whose amicable feelings towards the French he had every reason to distrust, he gave a signal example of the intrepidity of the mariners of his time and country. Of right, therefore, in every sense, he heads the long file of visitors of inner North America. By his ascent of the great river St. Lawrence, in which he reached the Sault St. Louis, he became the harbinger of successive French explorations, such as those of the shores of Hudson's Bay, of the Mississippi valley, and onward to the hither slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

In acknowledgment of his rare merits, it is said [34] that he and his race were ennobled by his royal master. Few of the mariners upon whom that distinction was conferred in France merited it so much as Jacques Cartier, master mariner of St. Malo.

Roberval sets out for America after the war, and perishes with all his followers.—M. Villegagnon attempts to found a French colony in Brazil; the enterprise miscarries, through the disaccord of the adventurers.—Foundation of Carolina, in Florida.—Massacre of its French colonists, by the Spaniards in time of peace; the queen-regent, Catherine de Medicis, demanding no satisfaction therefor, M. de Gourgues avenges the wrong done to his nation by sanguinary reprisals.—Prolonged indifference of the French people to colonisation.—Progress of the fisheries and traffic in peltry.—The marquis de la Roche undertakes to found a French settlement in Acadia; the project fails; of his colonists left in the Isle de Sable, the greater number perish; five years thereafter, the French King causes the survivors to be removed.—M. de la Roche, ruined by his failure, dies broken-hearted.—Concerning the obstacles French colonisation in those times had to encounter.

The war between Francis I and Charles V lasted for about three years (1542-4). During that time of hostilities, as in others since, Canada was lost to the view of the rulers of France. When the treaty of Crespy was signed (Sept. 17th, 1544) between the King and the Emperor, the return of peace caused the royal attention to be turned favourably to the suspended enterprises of Roberval; and this none the less that the latter had, meanwhile, done the state great service in fields of battle. No expedition, however, to Canada was realized before the death of Francis I, which took place March 31, 1547. Not till two years afterwards, Henry II being king, did Roberval organise his expedition to Canada; but which he was destined never to reach, as he perished in the passage, with all his followers, including a brother, who was almost as distinguished a warrior as himself. This catastrophe caused all projects of colonising Canada by natives of France to be abandoned; [Pg 30] and it would also most likely have restrained its people from undertaking any hazardous enterprise of the kind in any quarter, if admiral de Coligny's attention had not been directed to the subject of American colonisation by Frenchmen.

In 1555, Coligny, who was chief of the Huguenots, proposed to Henry II to found, in some region of the New World, a colony whither his Protestant subjects might retire and there exercise their worship in peace and with full freedom. The king approved of the design, but it was afterwards abandoned. Nicholas Durand de Villegagnon, knight of Malta and vice-admiral of Brittany, imbued with the new doctrines, obtained without much difficulty permission to conduct a body of such colonists to Brazil,—a country the temperature of which made it preferable to Canada. But this establishment met the fate of those that had been desiderated for the opposite extremity of the continent; the failure of each, however, being due to diverse causes. Villegagnon abjured his apostacy; and dissidences arising among the French colonists, they were unable, at length, to maintain their footing in the country.

All this while, religious dissensions were becoming more and more envenomed in France. The frightful massacre of the Vaudois in 1545, had filled the protestant mind with secret terror. Civil war was ready to break out: Coligny thought more seriously than ever about finding an asylum for his co-religionists, upon whom now began to press the rigors of a cruel persecution. He profited by a species of truce, in 1562, to interest the court in the plan of a settlement he had projected for them in Florida. Charlevoix opines that the admiral, according to all appearance, did not discover his main design to the King, and that he directed the royal attention to his project only as an enterprise that would prove beneficial to France in general; but it is difficult to believe that he could thus palm such a project upon His Majesty. Charles knew all about it; and he was but too happy to learn that Coligny engaged Huguenots only for his expedition, because the kingdom would thereby become purged of just so many enemies.

The admiral was at first left sole director of the enterprise. He gave the command of the expedition to Jean de Ribaut an excellent mariner of Dieppe; who set out for Florida in 1562, [Pg 31] accompanied by several gentlemen volunteers. Ribaut coasted the North American seaboard, holding a northerly course. He took possession, for France, of Florida and Georgia, by erecting a pillar, bearing the royal armorials, on a mound. Pursuing his way, he reached at length a small island, known as Santa Cruz to the Spaniards, upon which he constructed defensive works, and named the fortress Charles-Fort, in honour of the reigning king. The country bore every appearance of fertility, and its indigenous possessors gave the French a kind reception.

Ribaut returned to France in 1563, leaving in charge of the fort one of his captains, named Albert. Instead of tilling the soil, the French whom he left behind, trusting to the provisions in store, set about searching for veins of gold and silver, the whole soil of the New World being reported to cover abundance of both. Meanwhile, as food began to fail them, dissensions soon followed; and the commandant, who had till then disguised his true character, showed himself to be a cruel tyrant. One soldier, who offended him, he hung with his own hands; and at length he became so odious to all his men, that they killed him.

As the colonists saw themselves in danger of death from famine, and as Ribaut still returned not, they built a vessel, and caulked its plank-seams with mats, made sails for it with their bed-sheets and shirts, and for cordage used the inner fibres of tree-bark. In this rude vessel they all embarked for France, though having neither sailors to work nor pilots to guide their vessel. Delayed by a calm at sea, which lasted for several days, their provisions ran out, even fresh water at last failed them. "One of the party," reports Guérin, "having reminded his comrades that the death of one of them might become the means of saving the lives of all, not only was the proposal heard without horror, but received with a kind of ferocious joy. When lots were about to be cast for a victim by compulsion, a soldier named Lachau offered himself a voluntary sacrifice. He was forthwith slaughtered, and his blood, as it flowed, carefully caught and put apart, for after use as a beverage. Meantime, parts of the flesh were served out and ravenously devoured." Happily, no second sacrifice of this horrible nature was required by these forlorn men, as an English ship shortly thereafter neared their vessel, and kindly rescued them.

"Gaspard de Coligny," continues the same authority, "far from being deterred by difficulties of every kind which stood in the way of Calvinist colonisation, persevered in his attempts at its realisation all the more that their persecution was redoubled. He profited by a breathing-time they enjoyed through his means, by a composition with the court, to engage Charles IX to furnish new means for carrying his further attempts to settle them in America. The king did actually grant him three well equipped vessels for that purpose. They were confided to the charge, as captain-in-chief, of René de Goulaine de Laudouinière, a gentleman familiar with maritime affairs, and reported to be 'signally pious.' He had under him many picked soldiers and superior artisans. The king gave him 50,000 crowns to meet all needful outlay incurred before his departure, or arising thereafter; and several rich lords embarked with him, defraying their own charges. The primitive aim, in sending this second expedition to the same locality, was the re-victualling of Charles-Fort."

Laudouinière setting sail in April, 1564, passed first to the Canary Isles, thence to the Antilles, and at length cast anchor between the river St. Mary's and that of St. John, on the eastern coast of North America. He caused a fort to be erected at two leagues' distance from the sea, and named it Carolina. But in no long time the presence of the French roused the jealousy of the Spaniards. Philip II soon despatched a fleet expressly "to fight the heretics and prevent them from establishing their worship in America."

The fort of Carolina was, accordingly, invested by a Spanish force, and at length taken, after a vigorous resistance directed by Laudouinière. A portion of the garrison, however, escaped previously to the assault, the governor among the rest; who, returning to France, was ill received by the French government,—a disgrace which probably shortened his days. What perhaps hastened, if it did not quite cause the loss of Carolina fort was the obstinacy of Ribaut, then on the spot (having returned to America), who headed with the entire garrison an imprudent sortie on open ground against the besiegers. The loss of men, in an unequal combat, left the fort almost without defenders, and it became an easy prey to the Spaniards.

The enterprise of Ribaut had an evil ending. He was caught in a tempest, as sudden as furious, which drove his vessels fifty leagues to the southward, and wrecked them on a rocky coast. The crews, however, contrived to gain the land in safety. Ribaut was now fain to feel his way, with his people, to Carolina by land. Arrived in its vicinity, and made aware of its loss, he made an offer to surrender on terms, from not having means of support. Menendez, the Spanish governor, gave an encouraging reply to his messengers, pronouncing one of those Castilian oaths that the Inquisition habitually recommended to the abominable purveyors for their execution-days.

The French, to the number of eight hundred, put faith in the promises of Menendez. In order as they arrived, the monster crossing himself (thus outraging, in his blind fanaticism, the cross of Christ), caused poniards to pierce their hearts. The brave d'Ottigny, whilst they plunged the reeking steel in his bosom, took Heaven to his witness against Spanish turpitude. As for Ribaut himself, Menendez caused him to be flayed alive, afterwards sending his skin and beard to Seville, as trophies of his victory; the head of the French commandant being cut in four, and stuck on as many pike-heads. Finally, the Spaniards gathered all the corpses of their victims, including those whom they had previously murdered in the fort or killed in the woods, treating these poor remains with an unparalleled indignity; and, before burning them to ashes, hung them on trees, with this derisory and fanatical inscription appended: "These wretches have not been thus treated because they were Frenchmen, but because they were heretics, and enemies of God."—Almost all the colonists perished in this way. Their settlement had subsisted for about three years. The Spaniards kept the fastness they had thus gained, and farther fortified themselves there, intending to remain in the country.

When news of the massacre reached France, it excited public indignation in the highest degree. Every one, of what religion soever he might be, regarded the deeds done as inflicting a stain upon all France, and longed to avenge them. But the court viewed it with other eyes; out of hatred towards Coligny and the Huguenots, Charles IX, or rather Catherine de Medicis,—for it [Pg 34] was she who governed the kingdom, the sovereign being but fifteen years old,—put on the appearance of having taken no heed of a transaction which it is probable she connived at. The king, thus neglecting his duty to the country, a private vindicator of the national honour, tarnished as it had been, appeared on the scene. This was the chevalier Dominique de Gourgues, scion of a family of distinction in Guienne, a good catholic, and an officer of merit, but who had suffered fortune's reverses.

During the war in Italy he had held a French post at Sienna in Tuscany, for a long while, with thirty men only, despite the efforts of a corps of the Spanish army to dislodge him; but all its defenders being killed save himself, he was taken prisoner, and sent to the galleys. The galley aboard which he was put, had been first captured by the Turks, and retaken by the knights of Malta. By this turn of fate he regained his liberty, and he turned it to active account by voyaging in different regions of the world; quickly gaining therein such experience of the sea, that he became one of the most accomplished and daring navigators of the age. Profoundly affected on hearing of the massacre of the French of Carolina, he swore to avenge their deaths. With that intent he sold all he possessed, procured and armed two ships and a galley manned by 80 sailors and 100 arquebusiers, the latter mostly men of gentle blood.

Repairing to the island of Cuba, he assembled his followers, and related to them, in strong terms, the unheard of cruelties which the Spaniards had exercised upon the French in Florida. "Such has been, my comrades, the criminality of our enemies; and how much blacker would not ours be, were we still to delay doing justice upon those who have thus outraged the French nation! It is the desire to avenge the insult put upon us all which has induced me to sell my property; the same desire it is, which has opened for me the purses of my friends. We have reckoned on your aid to carry out our meditated design, believing you all to be so jealous of the honour of the land of your birth as to stake your existence in a cause of this importance. Can I be deceived in any of you? I trust to set you a proper example: I promise to be at your head always and everywhere; taking upon myself constantly the chief share of the perils that may be incurred. In a word, then, will [Pg 35] you refuse to follow whither I lead?" Universal acclamations immediately answered this appeal; and as soon as a fair wind arose, the vessels of the flotilla were steered towards Florida. When the French landed near Carolina, they ascertained that the natives about the place were ill-disposed towards the Spaniards. M. de Gourgues turned this dislike to profitable account by forming a league against the latter, the former making common cause with the French.

By this time the Spanish garrison had constructed two forts, in addition to that taken by them. M. de Gourgues nevertheless prepared to attack them all in succession; and for that purpose dividing his forces into two columns, he advanced accompanied by his native auxiliaries against the nearest dependent fort. Its garrison, of about threescore men, decided to abandon it; but in retiring they got hemmed in between the two attacking corps, and were almost all destroyed at the first shock.

The second fort was then assaulted, and taken after a short resistance. Its defenders met the same fate as the garrison of the former: they were intercepted in trying to flee, and cut in pieces. The third and original fort (La Caroline) was of the most importance, and contained 200 men. The French commander was about to escalade it, when the Spanish Governor committed a similar fault to that of Ribaut, which helped the former to gain it; for, making a sortie with 80 arquebusiers, these picked men were allowed to advance far beyond the fort, when Gourgues fell upon them, and in spite of a desperate resistance, killed them every one. The rest of the garrison, despairing of being able to maintain the post, endeavoured to cut their way to the woods, but were all intercepted or killed on the spot by the French or their native allies; with the exception of a few, however, who were reserved for a more ignominious death. The victors made a considerable booty. The Spanish prisoners were now led to the spot where the French captors had been immolated, as we have seen, and after being reproached with their previous cruelty and perfidy, they were hung upon the branches of the same trees as the murdered French; their avengers altering the former inscription graven on a stone by Menendez, to the following, which then took its place: [Pg 36] "Je ne fais ceci comme à Espagnols, mais comme à traîtres, voleurs, et meurtriers." [35]

After having thus avenged the death of their victimised brethren, the conquerors, being too few in number to maintain their foothold in the country after demolishing the Carolina with the other three forts, re-embarked and set sail for France; where having arrived they met with a warm reception, and were commended by all, as having vindicated the national honour by a just, if severe, act of reprisal. Yet the queen-mother and the faction of the Guises would have sacrificed M. de Gourgues, to appease the resentment of Philip II, but for the influence of his friends; one of whom, the president de Marigny, [36] concealed him for some time in his own house. The conduct of De Gourgues was openly applauded in foreign countries; and Queen Elizabeth of England offered him high employment in her marine service; which proffer the patriotic as well as brave Frenchman declined with grateful acknowledgments. Finally, king Charles again taking him into his good graces, M. de Gourgues was in act to take the chief command of the fleet of Don Antonio, who disputed with Philip the right to the crown of Portugal; when death suddenly cut short his career, at Tours, in the year 1567. His decease was greatly regretted by his compatriots; and his reputation has come down to their descendants, as that of one of the best captains of the age, having been a skilful leader upon sea and land alike.

The apathy manifested by Catharine de Medicis at Menendez' proceeding, gave some colour to the report spread about by the Spaniards to attenuate the barbarity of their conduct. It was asserted or insinuated, that Charles IX had come to an understanding with his brother-in-law Philip, that the Huguenots of Florida should be exterminated. But although the French king did refuse to demand satisfaction for the sanguinary violation of the laws of nations by the Spaniards in the persons of his Protestant [Pg 37] subjects, he was too immature in years to be held personally responsible for the policy carried out in his name. It would even be rash utterly to condemn Mary de Medicis herself, although she was the real sovereign of France at the time, seeing that in such a matter her connivance, although presumable by us, was never made out for a certainty. [37]

The length and period of time which elapsed between the expedition of Roberval (A. D. 1542-3) and that of the marquis de La Roche in Acadia [38] (1598), is entirely occupied by the grand struggle of France with Spain and Austria, and by the long and sanguinary wars of religion; the latter rendered so sadly famous by the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The attention of the heads of the state, absorbed by these memorable events, which shook France to its foundations, found no leisure to attend to concerns connected with the New World. When calmer times returned and Henry IV felt secure upon the throne, projects previously [Pg 38] formed for establishing a connexion with Canada, but not so much in view of its colonisation, [39] owing to the treaty of pacification made with the Huguenots.

It is to be kept in view, however, while making the observation, that, amidst the wars of religion which vexed olden France, its chiefs thought no longer of renewing intercourse with America, yet we ought to make an exception for a part of the French people: The Normans, the Basques, and the Bretons continued to fish for the cod and join in pursuit of the whales which frequented the embouchure of the St. Lawrence and its neighbouring waters; ever industriously plying these callings as if their native land enjoyed unbroken peace. Year by year, these hardy mariners widened the circle of their navigation. In 1578, a hundred and fifty French vessels repaired to Newfoundland alone. Another species of industry, almost as profitable as the deep-sea fishings, namely, a regular traffic in peltry with the natives of the surrounding or contiguous seaboard, was established during the same space of time. French traffickers in furs, &c., in their searches for sellers of these commodities, might be found widely spread over parts of the maritime regions of the continent, and along the banks of such of its rivers as fall into the ocean. They even ascended the St. Lawrence to places higher up than Quebec, and coasted the islands of the gulf and its environage. Noël and Châton, nephews and heirs of Cartier, were engaged in the peltry traffic, and were so successful in their dealings as to excite the jealousy of rival traders, who spitefully burnt several of their barges or coasting-vessels. In order to secure protection from such attacks, those nephews of Cartier solicited from Henry III a renewal of the privileges once accorded to himself, in commercing with the natives; asking, at the same time, an exclusive right to [Pg 39] work the mines they had discovered. In consideration of the services of the great navigators, letters patent, acceding to their wishes, were accorded them in 1588. But as soon as this became known, the merchants of St. Malo, lodging an appeal before the privy council, obtained a revocation of the grant; without, however, advancing their own interests much in the sequel, for, in the year 1598, that of the pacification of Vervins, the marquis de La Roche, then in Brittany, obtained a royal confirmation for himself of the charge of "lieutenant-general," or viceroy, of Canada, Acadia, and lands adjoining; which appointment, indeed, was only a renewal of what had been formerly accorded to him by Henry III, but which the troubles reigning in France itself had hitherto hindered him from enjoying. The marquis obtained, at the same time, additional powers destructive of the trading freedom of the merchants of St. Malo. Thus he was authorised to impress, in every port of France, all ships, with every master mariner and sailor in them, he might think needful for his expeditions. Not only so, but having gained a footing in America, he was empowered to levy troops, to make war or peace, and to build towns, within the limits of his viceroyalty; to promulgate laws, and to execute them; to concede lands in feudal form and with feudal privileges; lastly, to regulate the colonial trade at discretion. No trader, therefore, might venture to oppose any monopoly set up by this proposed lord of all, as they had done in the case of Cartier's descendants.

The marquis de la Roche, fearing that his people, being chiefly criminals, or vagabonds, might desert him, landed them on the Isle de Sable, at the entry of the gulf of St. Lawrence. That island, which is of crescent-like configuration, arid, and of rude aspect, bears no trees or fruit; its only vegetation is scanty grass or moss, growing around a lake in the centre. Leaving his colonists in this dreary sea-beaten region, La Roche passed on to Acadia. Returning thence, he was caught in a tempest; which, proceeding from the west, drove his vessel, in ten or twelve days' time, to the French coasts. Scarcely had he set foot in France, than he found himself in a maze of difficulties. The duke de Mercœur, then at war with Henry the Fourth, arresting him, kept him a prisoner in Brittany, for some time. Not till five years afterward was the [Pg 40] marquis able to apprise the king, then at Rouen, of the particulars of his voyage. Henry, compassionating the situation of the unfortunates in the Isle de Sable, ordered the pilot who had led them thither to learn their fate, and it was found to be deplorable. Of the whole band, forty in number, not more than twelve remained. Left to their own discretion, and incapable of self-government, they had became utterly lawless. Evil passions being ever in the ascendant, each man's hand was turned against his fellow, and several of them had thus come to a violent end. The few survivors, however, tamed by their ill-supplied bodily wants, had perforce latterly led a more tranquil life. It was found that they had constructed huts with the remnants of a vessel which had been wrecked on the breakers abounding on the isle's desolate shores; and owed their nutriment chiefly to eating the flesh of a few domesticated animals which baron de Léry had landed on the isle some fourscore years before, that had there continued their several species. [40] The clothes they had on being soon worn out, they made themselves vestments out of the skins of the seals they captured. The King wished to see them, accoutred just as they had been found. Along with their beards unkempt, and their hair in wild disorder, their visages had assumed a savage expression rather than that usual to civilised men. Henry (doubtless moved at the sight) gave to each of them fifty crowns, with full liberty to return to their homes, and assurances of oblivion of their evil acts committed aforetime.

The marquis de La Roche, who had embarked his entire fortune in the enterprise, lost all of it that yet remained, in succeeding misfortunes which awaited him through its means. He had set his heart upon realizing a noble project, and it had signally failed. The chagrin which consumed his mind was yet stronger than his regret at the dilapidation of his finances, and both working together consigned him to an early grave. He was censured by some of his contemporaries for imputed faults; but he could not rightly be blamed for the failure of plans which he had no fair opportunity of carrying out; while, in our day, his memory [Pg 41] must always be held in respect by the descendants of the early colonists of America.

All the disorders, observable in the attempts at colonisation made during the times now under review, were due to the intestine troubles which agitated Europe during nearly the entire 16th century. The choice, too, made of the kind of individuals to begin the work, who were, in most cases, soldiers, or men of like habitudes, was injudicious. Again: no regard was had for connectedness of the successive steps made towards the great object in view; and the indifference of statesmen to this great requisite ran an even race with the heedlessness of private individuals: the means at the disposal of the latter, besides, being usually inadequate to accomplish the task undertaken by or prescribed to them. But the last-noted species of obstructiveness was not peculiar to early French colonisation. The annals of the thirteen English-founded provinces of America, the first in chronological order of the United States, inform us that it was long before the people of British race were able to maintain a permanent footing on our northern continent. For, not to speak of the first English colonising expedition sent out in 1579, and which the Spaniards, jealous of the projects of other nations, and then masters of the sea, forced to retrace its course; [41] setting this aside, we know that Sir Humphrey Gilbert, four years later, began a settlement at St. John's, Newfoundland; which, though it bore hopeful appearances at first, yet the indiscipline of the colonists brought all to ruin. The celebrated Walter Raleigh, a disciple of Coligny's, whose tendencies and perseverance he shared, desiring to follow up the designs of the knight above named, who was his brother-in-law, planted a colony at Roanoke, in Florida; but, three years thereafter, Sir Francis Drake found it expedient to take the settlers on board his vessels on his return to England. [42] In 1586, another colony was commenced in Virginia; but all its people died of want, or were massacred by their savage neighbours. In 1602, again, a body of colonists from Britain, located on the seaboard [Pg 42] of New England, had no better fortune. Other abortive attempts, succeeding to the foregoing, were made by English adventurers, although sundry of them were rather trading expeditions than efforts to realise territorial settlement. [43] Despite these and other [Pg 43] discouraging results, from divers causes, it would be a mistake to conclude thence that the right time was not yet come for the general colonisation of America. "The wars, political and religious, raging in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, were as influential in impelling governments to colonise and induce their subjects to emigrate in those times, as the suffering from penury, or the pressure of over-population, at the present day." Repressed malcontents, and persecuted religionists alike, had heard of a land of refuge; and the wilds of America seemed to them a providence for that urgent want. Thither they hied eagerly, therefore; their trustfulness in the future not unmingled with regrets, however, at thus, through physical or moral compulsion, being forced to renounce the lands of their birth, for those where their descendants have established or laid the foundations of empires, present or to come.

Observations on the civilisation of Europe at this epoch; importance of Colonies for France.—M. Chauvin appointed Lieutenant-General of Canada and Acadia, with a monopoly of the peltry traffic therein.—Chauvin dying, is succeeded by the Commander de Chastes, who forms a commercio-colonial Society.—Messrs. Pont-Gravé and Champlain's voyage to Canada.—De Chastes dying, M. de Monts, a Calvinist, succeeds to his functions, and allows French Protestants to settle in the Colony.—Expedition of M. de Monts in Acadia.—Messrs. Champlain and De Monts discover the Bay of Fundy; also the rivers St. John, Penobscot, and Kennebec.—The colonists disembark at the Isle St. Croix.—Champlain explores the coasts.—Messrs. De Monts and Poutrincourt found Port-Royal, which place is conceded to the latter.—Lescarbot.—Progression of Port-Royal.—Withdrawal of the Monopoly accorded to M. Monts.—Dissolution of the Company trading in peltry.—Temporary abandonment of Port-Royal.—M. de Poutrincourt, who had left for France on a visit, now returns; after refusing to take Jesuit priests with him.—Assassination of Henry the Fourth.—The Marchioness de Guercheville purchases the rights of the partners of M. De Monts, in order to send Jesuits to Acadia.—Dissensions between the colonists and the Jesuits.—Madame de Guercheville sends them to found an establishment near to the Penobscot river.—The English of Virginia destroy St. Sauveur and Port-Royal, in time of peace.—The French Government takes no heed of these hostile proceedings, not considering the Franco-American Colonies in America as national, but private foundations merely.

We have now attained to an epoch wherein we may fix the commencement of durable success for French colonisation. Many [Pg 45] obstacles and calamities may yet retard its course, but its progress will not cease to be real. This epoch corresponds to the reign of Henry IV, one of the greatest of French Kings, and to that of his successor, Louis XIII. Foreign had given place to civil war, Richelieu had abased Austria and the French nobles; the latter having been weakened and divided by wars for religious pretexts. The national character, re-tempered in these long and sanguinary broils, had resumed its wonted energy; and France, once more in and at peace, wanted a new career to be opened up for her disposable energies. The march of civilisation still continued throughout the epoch referred to. Henry the Fourth brought his kingdom into order, caused it to flourish, regulated the finances, reformed the laws, fostered agriculture and commerce, established manufactures of all kinds, formed the Canal of Briare, &c. Trade with foreign countries was as profitable in improving men's manners, as in returning pecuniary gains; and the art of printing, which was rapidly spreading its influences, gave a new and potent impulsion to amelioration in every form. The middle class, having at last acquired importance by its riches, took the rank in society its most active and industrious members deserved; and, in elbowing from its accustomed pride of place the warrior nobility who had stood between all other subjects and the throne, exalted along with itself the inferior labouring ranks, erewhile lying hopelessly prone at the foot of the social scale. "Every step of progress," says Lamennais, "is resolvable into the extension of liberty; for progress is but a development, more or less free or complete, of the potencies of human being. Now, in the social scale, there is no real liberty without property; realised thrift alone can release men from slavish dependence on their fellows."

The discovery of the New World had accelerated the great movement going on. The nations set about colonising: some, to rid themselves of restless sectaries; others, to find a field for missionary labour; all, hoping to open up new sources of wealth and power. France, above every other, was distinguished for efforts at converting infidels. It is to the fervour of her zeal, in that regard, we must attribute the preferential esteem the French people have obtained, at all times, among savage nations.

America was now, more than ever before, fixing the attention of Europeans; and it remained to be seen which should obtain the largest share of its territory. When the time for division took place, it was not meet that France should be absent. Spain and Portugal had already divided much of the southern continent between them, by an arrangement with papal sanction; England persisted in forming settlements in Florida, despite the checks she received; Holland, with her flag displayed on every sea, had founded the New Netherlands (a province better known under its after-name of New York): in a word, the whole European world was in movement around France, and in such a condition of things she could no longer remain stationary, or look on, while her enemies and rivals were strengthening themselves in America. But the earlier individuals to whom the French Government confided the task of occupying a portion of the New World, after the decease of the Marquis de la Roche, merely turned their privileges to account in the form of speculative self-aggrandisement.

The sieur de Pont-Gravé, a rich merchant of St. Malo, formed a plan to obtain, for his own exclusive benefit, a monopoly of the fur-trade both in Canada and Acadia; and in order to gain this end, he took into his confidence a master-mariner named Chauvin, who besides having influential friends at court, had obtained some personal favour with the Government, from services in late wars. He obtained a royal grant in his own favour, of all the powers and privileges conceded to La Roche, armed with which he set sail for Canada, and landed a dozen men at Tadoussac, in such forlorn plight, that they would have died of hunger during the winter, had they not been succoured by the natives of that country. Chauvin himself dying shortly thereafter, Pont-Gravé would have found himself no further advanced than before, had not that luckless officer's mantle fallen on the shoulders of the Commander de Chastes, Governor of Dieppe, who was now invested with all the privileges granted to Chauvin. Trading interests, however, were but secondary objects with De Chastes; but Pont-Gravé, whose sole aim had been to enrich himself, showed to him how needful the profits attending a monopolising traffic would be found, to defray the unpaid cost attending the work of colonisation; and persuaded the Commander to join with him in forming a trading [Pg 47] society, having for its chief partners several men of rank and the leading merchants of Rouen. All other preliminaries being arranged, Captain Samuel Champlain, a distinguished naval officer, who had voyaged in the West Indies, and enjoyed favour at Court, was invited to command an expedition, and otherwise to carry out the views of Pont-Gravé and the other associated adventurers. With three barks of the pettiest dimensions, each but of twelve to fifteen tons burden, Champlain set sail in 1603. Arrived in Canadian waters, he, accompanied by Pont-Gravé, ascended the river St. Lawrence as far as the Sault St. Louis. Upon his return to France, he showed a chart and relation of his voyage to his royal patron. King Henry was so well pleased therewith, that he promised to countenance the objects in view with all his power; and, M. de Chastes having died meanwhile, his functions devolved on Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts, Governor of Pons, and a place-man at Court. To him was accorded the monopoly of the fur-traffic in all parts of North America lying between Cape de Raze, in Newfoundland, up to the 50th degree of north latitude, inclusive. All Huguenot (French Protestant) adventurers, it was ordained, were to enjoy in America, as in France at that time, full freedom for their public worship; conditioned always, however, that they should take no part in native proselytising; the charge of converting the aborigines being exclusively reserved for professors of the Catholic faith.

Much good was expected to result from the enterprise, if only through the merits of its chief; M. de Monts being a man of superior talents and much experience. He was distinguished, also, as one ever zealous for the glory of his country.—The association, formed by his predecessor and still subsisting, was increased in number; several of the chief merchants of La Rochelle and other cities and towns joining it. Four ships were manned and victualled: two of which were destined to commence the traffic for the company in peltry at Tadoussac; thence proceeding, to range the whole seaboard of New France, and seize all vessels found trafficking with the natives, in violation of the royal prohibition. The two other vessels were destined to bear the colonists embarked to such landing-places as should be agreed upon, and to aid in suitably locating them afterwards. Several gentlemen volunteers, some [Pg 48] soldiers, and a number of skilled artisans, were embarked in these vessels.

It will already have been noted, that young men of family usually took part, from choice, in the early exploring or colonizing expeditions which left France for distant regions. Cartier and Roberval were accompanied by such, in all their voyages. The restless and adventurous spirit which had largely manifested itself among French scions of nobility in the middle ages, during which time it originated warlike exploits in battle-fields extending from the foggy coasts of England to the arid rocks about the river Jordan,—the adventurous spirit, we say, of the young nobles of olden France in the time of the crusades seemed to revive in such of their successors as sought, in America, a new and wider field for its exercise. But there were other influences at work, in some cases, which impelled men of gentle blood to self-expatriation at this time. Numbers of nobles and gentry had been ruined during recent civil wars in France or by the vicissitudes of the time; while other nobles again, whose fortunes remained to them, desired to profit, by the chance now presented, of escaping from the heavy pressure now laid upon their exorbitant caste, through a constant increase of the royal power, for the abridgment of its privileges and suppression of its disorders. To the latter class we may assign baron Jean de Poutrincourt, who embarked with Champlain, intending to settle in America with his family.

The ships, with the emigrants, Catholic and Protestant, sailed from Havre-de-Grâce in March 1604, and stood towards Acadia, which M. de Monts preferred to Canada, because of its milder climate. He wished to set out a month earlier, but the parliament (supreme court) of Normandy refused to register his nomination because he was a Protestant. The king had to interpose, and blamed the parliament; reminding the judges that he was sending, along with M. de Monts, clergy of the best character.

Acadia, then the chief place of resort for French traffic, was considered to be the finest country of New France; and certainly it possesses fine ports, has a healthy and temperate climate, and a fertile soil in its middle region. Towards the seaboard, it abounds in copper-ore, iron-stone, coal, and gypsum. The coasts are frequented by a number of marine animals; as the whale, the sea-wolf, [Pg 49] the seal. Among the variety of its sea-fish, we find cod, salmon, mackerel, herrings, sardines, shad, &c. Besides these advantages, it possesses yet others over Canada, in having a finer situation for external commerce, and harbours accessible at all seasons of the year. The Micmacs, or Souriquois Indians, who inhabited the country, were at once bold of heart and gentle in their manners; they received the French at first with a kindness which never abated to the last. In a word, M. de Monts had no reason to repent of the preference he had shown for their country, as well suited in every respect for present colonisation.

The first place landed at was Port Rossignol, now Liverpool. Afterwards the adventurers coasted the Peninsula, as far as the bottom of the bay of Fundy,—called "la Baie Française" by M. de Monts.

While voyaging along the coast, the vessels entered a spacious basin, surrounded with smiling slopes, cleft with river-courses, their waters being lost in the sea. Poutrincourt, charmed with the beauty of the locality, wished to settle here: accordingly, having obtained a grant of the land, he named the settlement about to be formed, Port-Royal. After having circumnavigated the Baie Française, M. de Monts pursued his voyage to the southward; and Champlain, who had sailed in advance, discovered first the St. John's river, and next the river Ste. Croix. It was in an islet at the mouth of the latter, that M. Monts concluded to disembark his colonists, the fine season being far spent. But the choice he made was not a happy one: for, when winter fairly set in, his people found no wood or water near; and scurvy breaking out, thirty-six of the people died of it. As soon as spring returned, he made haste to quit the place, and set out in quest of a more suitable locality, further to the southward. After having coasted the shores of lower Canada, and what was afterwards the seaboard of New England, as far as Cape Cod, M. de Monts, perceiving no locality thereabouts which united all the conditions he desiderated, turned helm and returned to Acadia; where, he found, Pont-Gravé had arrived, while he was absent, with forty additional colonists. This opportune reinforcement raised the spirits of all, which were at a low ebb, owing to the privations and diseases the people had suffered during the past winter. The entire [Pg 50] body of colonists set out for Port-Royal, and began to construct that town, which is now better known as Annapolis.

In autumn ensuing, M. Monts returned to France. He there found public feeling very unfavourable to his enterprise, owing to the reports set a-going by the unassociated peltry merchants, whose interests were endangered by his monopolies, that the climate of Acadia was unhealthy, and that such establishments as his were injurious to individuals and costly to the state. He feared, for a moment, that the Society, thus discredited, would be broken up, for want of the aid without which, he concluded, nothing durable would be effected for colonisation; he resolved, therefore, to remain in France, to prevent, if he possibly could, such a disaster; and M. de Poutrincourt, who had returned also to France to gather emigrants, was ordered to fill the place of governor-substitute for M. de Monts. But before the former could reach Port-Royal, the colonists were already on their way home, thinking that they had been left to their own resources entirely.

The individual who had rendered the greatest service at Port-Royal was the celebrated Lescarbot, a person of great acquirements, and the first to point out the true means to found a colony solidly. He urged that proper culture of the land, being indispensable to success, was the one thing needful: and, adding example to precept, himself showed his fellow-colonists how to set about it. Some he cheered on, others he shamed into activity, says our authority; he was loved by every one, and this none the less that all knew he never spared himself when the general weal was in question. Not a day passed that he did not set a-going some new work of utility, constantly bringing into play his scientific acquirements along with the manual labour he either practised or stimulated. It is to Lescarbot that we owe the best memorials we now possess regarding the foundation of Acadia. Therein we may discern the superior mind and the practised pen of a man equally capable to write the history of a colony, as to lay its foundations.

Spurred on by a mind so intelligent and so practical, the colonists forthwith busily engaged themselves, some in charring wood, while others took to road-making in the forests. Up to this time, the people ground their grain with hand-mills: a water-mill was now [Pg 51] constructed and put in action, thus setting free many pairs of active hands for more skilled labour. Lescarbot showed the colonists how to make fire-bricks; and to construct a furnace, with apparatus for clarifying the gum of the fir and making pitch: in a word, the most advanced experience of the useful arts in that day was put in practice in the new settlement. The aborigines, astonished to see numberless objects taking shape before their eyes, admiringly exclaimed, "How many things these Normans know!"

It was, however, during the three years of this busy industry, which promised to do so much for the colony, that two misfortunes fell upon it and ruined all. The first blow was this: a party of Dutchmen, conducted to the Society's depot by a vagabond emigrant, seized a whole year's store of peltries there accumulated, and bore them off as a prize; the second and fatal blow was dealt by the merchants of St. Malo, who found means to bring about a revocation of the Society's monopoly of the traffic in peltry. As soon as authenticated intelligence arrived of these disasters, the colonists at once determined to quit Port-Royal. It was an unfortunate and even uncalled-for renunciation; for, had the people struggled on till the coming year, it is probable that means for their future subsistence would have been secured, and that the final establishment of the colony, by them, would have become a certainty.

M. de Poutrincourt, who had always governed the settlement, was a great favourite of the natives of the locality; many of whom shed tears while regretfully escorting him to the shore, when about to sail for France. Such, indeed, was the respect of these people for the French generally, that when they returned three years afterwards (in 1610), the fort and every other erection, with all that they contained, was found just as they were on the day of departure of their late possessors.

When M. de Poutrincourt thus left, it was his design (probably communicated to the natives) that he would soon return; as trusting to find partners rich enough to aid him effectively in continuing his work of colonisation. Certain persons of rank, indeed, during two years after his arrival in France, made promises of their assistance, but never meant to be realised: which being at last perceived by their dupe, he sought for help in another [Pg 52] direction, and soon found it; for early in 1610, he concluded a satisfactory arrangement with two leading traders of Dieppe, named Dujardin and Duquêne, for the equipment of a new expedition. When all was ready, he set sail for Acadia, taking with him a body of colonists, including skilled artisans, all of a superior class. But, unhappily, the assassination of Henry IV taking place soon thereafter (May 14), the blight which for the time fell upon France itself, extended itself even to its remotest settlement at la Baie Française. A system of conjoint despotism and intrigue succeeding, under the queen-dowager and her minister Concini, to the conciliating polity of the late king, brought about events which first called trouble on Port-Royal, and finally caused its second fall.

As soon as Concini attained the chief power, the Jesuits, by his means, forced M. de Poutrincourt to receive them as missionaries into his settlement. His partners, who were either Huguenots, or men who had prejudices against the Jesuits, whom they regarded as authors of the League and of the murder of Henry IV, preferred to retire from the Acadian association rather than to admit these religieux into the colony. But the Jesuit missionaries were sustained by the marchioness de Guercheville, who proclaimed herself the patroness of American missions. She secured their admission by buying up the dormant rights that M. de Monts had over Acadia, and which she proposed to obtain a renewal of, intending to put Poutrincourt himself under her dependence. In fact, the son of the latter was obliged, soon afterwards, to conclude an arrangement with her, that subsistence for the Jesuit missionaries should be had out of the produce of the fisheries and the peltry trade of the colony; an exaction which, says Lescarbot, tended directly to deprive those who would have taken part in the colonisation, of the means for doing so. That judicious author remarks, that "if a contribution of a seignorial nature were due to any one, it certainly was to Poutrincourt, and not to the Jesuits, who could not subsist without him. What I mean is this: first give our aid to the commonwealth, without which the church cannot exist; insomuch as (said an early prelate) the church cometh of the republic, while the republic proceedeth not from the church."

A portion of the profits accruing from the traffic in peltry by [Pg 53] the colonists, was however set apart for the sustentation of the Jesuit missions, to the detriment of Port-Royal. The Protestants and such of the Catholics of France as were partisans of Sully's polity, formed the most industrious section of the French people; and being so, were naturally the chief friends of commerce and colonisation.

Dissensions were not slow to break out in consequence. These were followed by hostile measures: the Jesuits, in the name of their potent patroness, seizing Poutrincourt's trading vessels, and originating imprisonings and lawsuits which effected his ruin. This reduced the people of Port-Royal, to whom he could not send supplies of provisions, to starve through a whole winter upon acorns, beech-mast, and such wild roots as they could grub up. After having thus crippled Poutrincourt, the marchioness ceased to be a partner in his association, and withdrew with her Jesuits to other localities, leaving Port-Royal desolate. Champlain did all he could to avert this catastrophe, by advising the lady to join with M. de Monts in carrying out the enterprise she thus abandoned; but this she refused to do, because the latter was a Calvinist. Besides the obstacles thus assigned, the members of the Society of Jesus were bent upon forming in Acadia an establishment similar to that they had in Paraguay, in order that the French colony should be entirely at their devotion likewise; but this attempt of theirs had the most unfortunate results, as the sequel proves.

Meantime the protectress of the French Jesuits in Acadia, aided by the Queen-dowager, got fitted out, at Harfleur, an armed vessel, and gave the command of it to La Saussaye, one of her favorites. The destination of La Saussaye was Port-Royal, in view of removing the Jesuits; but he proceeded, in the first place, towards the river Penobscot (Pentagoit), the valley of which stream Father Biart had explored the year before. His course being impeded by misty weather, however, he was fain to disembark his people at the island of Monts-Deserts, where he commenced a settlement which he named St. Sauveur; which at first seemed to thrive beyond his most sanguine hopes, but a political storm was gathering, which, when it burst, at once crushed the colony of the Holy Saviour.

At this time England claimed the whole territory of north-eastern [Pg 54] America from its southern seaboard up to the 45th parallel of north latitude, including, as of course, the central region of Acadia. France, on the other hand, contended that its share of the north-eastern parts of the continent and its adjoining islands, descended to lat. 40° N.; whence it followed, that whilst La Saussaye believed himself to be within the limits of New France while at St. Sauveur, the English insisted that its site was theirs. Following up this pretension, Captain Argall, from Virginia, proceeded to dislodge the French therefrom. He was stimulated to this invasion by the double motive of a desire for plunder, and by his prejudices against the French Catholics, to whom he attributed the ruin of Poutrincourt. He appeared suddenly before the then quite defenceless port, with a ship of 14 guns; and some show of resistance being made, he assaulted and sacked the place without mercy. Father Gilbert du Thet was killed in the attack. [44]

By way of legalising this act of piracy (for such it was), Argall filched the commission granted to La Saussaye, and affected to consider La Saussaye and his people, thus deprived of their official voucher, as unaccredited adventurers. By degrees, however, his harsh deportment towards them softened, and he proposed to those among the Calvinists who could gain their living by hard labour, to accompany him to Jamestown (Virginia), where, after a year's toil, it was promised they should be restored to their country. A dozen of such accepted his offer; the rest, including La Saussaye and Father Massé, preferred trusting themselves to a frail boat, in which they embarked for La Hève; where they found a vessel of St. Malo, in which they took passage to France. The twelve persons who had taken Argall at his word were confounded at being cast into prison, and treated as pirates, upon landing at Jamestown. They demanded in vain a realisation of [Pg 55] their capitulation with Argall, and were condemned to die! Argall, thinking that matters had gone far enough, and fearing that trouble might fall upon himself, through his abstraction of De Saussaye's commission, sent it to the Governor, Sir Thomas Dale, and confessed all.

At sight of the above-mentioned document, and in consequence of a number of the facts relating to the aspirations of France which transpired during the inquest that followed, the Government of Virginia resolved to drive all Frenchmen from every point occupied by them to the southward of 45° N. lat. A squadron of three armed vessels was accordingly sent, under the orders of Argall, to carry out the resolution thus adopted; Father Biart and the entrapped men of St. Sauveur being sent at the same time. This Jesuit was accused afterwards, too hastily doubtless, of now piloting his country's enemies to Port-Royal, out of hatred to M. Biencourt, then Governor there, with whom he had some misunderstandings previously, in Acadia.

The fleet began by razing to the ground all that remained of Ste. Croix: a bootless vengeance, seeing that it had been abandoned for several years. It then stood for Port-Royal, the inhabitants of which were labouring in their grounds, five miles distant. Argall set fire to the town; as also to the fort. In two hours' time the whole was a shapeless mass of smoking ruins. The French, perceiving the flames, hastened to the scene of destruction ere yet it was complete. Father Biart, trying to persuade them, thus deprived of their all, to seek shelter with their invaders, as their chief was a ruined man, was repulsed with indignation. One colonist, in particular, lifted a hatchet to kill him, saying that he was a traitor, and the cause of all the mischief.

Thus was Port-Royal thrice destroyed or devastated, through divers evil chances. This time its perdition was complete. Many of its late inhabitants took refuge in the woods around, with the aborigines; others found their way to the settlement which Champlain had formed beside the river St. Lawrence. Poutrincourt, who still lingered in Acadia, immediately returned home. Upon his arrival, he took service in the army; and soon afterwards was killed at the siege of Méri-sur-Seine, which he had undertaken to [Pg 56] reduce, during the seditions which accompanied the espousals of the young king. [45]

Poutrincourt may be regarded as the real founder of Port-Royal, and even of Acadia itself, as a French colony; for the destruction of Port-Royal did not cause the abandonment of the province, which ceased not to be occupied, at some point or other, by the remaining colonists; whose number was augmented, from time to time, by other immigrants.

The home government, while the events we have lately noticed were in progress, took little or no heed of the colony as a national dependency. The Queen-regent's court was a focus of intrigues which eventuated in a civil war, and put the independence of the kingdom in peril. [46] It was not a time for attending to the wants of the impoverished French Acadians, or for avenging the misdeeds of the piratical Argall. Poutrincourt, seeing the hopelessness of the case, made no formal representation of their wrongs; unless we take for such, a useless measure addressed to the Admiralty of Guienne, against Father Biart.

The marchioness de Guercheville, however, was more active: she despatched La Saussaye to London, to claim a full indemnity for the loss she had incurred through the illegal acts of the invading Virginians; and her demands, backed by the French ambassador, were in part complied with. She now recognised, but too late, the fault she had committed in not leaving Acadia in the charge of Poutrincourt, as Champlain counselled; a mistake, the discredit of which she indirectly imputed to Father Cotton, confessor of Louis XIII. [47] But led away by a spurious zeal, she thought it would be unsafe to entrust a Calvinist with the direction of an establishment, the chief end of which, in her estimation at least, was the propagation of the Catholic faith among the heathen.

On page 103, vol. I. of the edition of 1845, the following paragraph followed that ending with the words. . . . . . "other European nations:"—"This conduct of France, viewed in its political aspect, merits not equal praise, especially in regard of the pernicious sway she exercised over the moral regulations of her colonies. In Canada, for example, from a fear of shocking the savages by a juxtaposition of men of diverse religious creed, the government was induced to permit none but Catholics to become settlers among them. Thus while Catholicism was obliged to permit Protestantism to subsist at its side in the mother country, it had force sufficient to exclude it totally in the plantations beyond sea; a spirit of exclusion which, antecedent to the revocation of the edict of Nantes, adumbrated that overturning of the system of compromise fallen upon by Henry IV and Sully. The liberal and somewhat republican tendencies of the Huguenot mind, made the Protestant party always appear menacing to the crown; while the court viewed with a very different eye the submission of the Catholics and the higher clergy, as hostile at the least as the royal power to the liberty of the masses."

And again, page 122 of the first edition, chapter i. book I. [Pg 58] ends with the following sentences, which have been omitted in the last edition:—". . . . . . it is very deplorable that the interest of the colony, and that of religion, have not always been identical.

"Despite the nullity of its results in our day, we cannot but admire such religious enthusiasm as that of Madame de Guercheville, and which led her to sacrifice a part of her fortune for the conversion of the heathen. But while rendering all the justice due to her for a devotedness which ought to appear sublime in this age of cold calculation and self-seeking interestedness, the question still recurs, why did such charitable works bear no permanent fruit, or operate ultimately for the advantage of France? It is true that, at the time indicated, men's experience had not as yet taught them that the interest of religion itself demanded the sacrifice of all else, for the advancement and consolidation of the colonies; for, these failing, either the perdition of the missions must needs follow, or at least their after success would become problematical in the highest degree."

M. de Monts abandons Acadia for Canada.—Foundation of Quebec.—Conspiracy against Champlain punished.—Alliance with the Algonquins, &c.—First expedition against the Iroquois.—Second expedition against the same.—M. de Monts retires from Canadian affairs.—The count de Soissons replaces him.—Death of the latter.—The prince de Condé appointed lieutenant-general (viceroi) of Canada.—Champlain forms a Society possessing a monopoly of the peltry traffic.—Opposition made to this Society's exclusive privileges.—The prince de Condé sells his commission to admiral de Montmorency.—Champlain's treaty with the Huron tribes.—He explores the Outaouais (or Ottawa) river, and discovers Lake Ontario and Lake Nipissing.—Third expedition against the Iroquois.—Treaty of peace with the Algonquins and other tribes.—The duke de Ventadour becomes lieutenant-general of New France.—Arrival of the Jesuits in Canada.—Champlain leaves for France.—Cardinal de Richelieu dissolves Champlain's company, and constitutes the association denominated "Society of the Hundred Partners."

The sieur de Monts, as we have seen, abandoned Acadia in 1607. His whole attention was now turned to Canada. Two motives impelled him to persevere in his projects: a desire to enlarge the French possessions in America; and a hope he cherished, of being [Pg 60] able, at a future time, to reach the Pacific Ocean by a North-west passage. The possibility or otherwise of such a desideratum being realized,—a moot question ever since the age of Columbus, and still an unsolved problem,—was left to our own times to settle.

After having obtained from the king (1607) a renewal of his privileges for one year, M. de Monts appointed Champlain his lieutenant, and along with his partners equipped two vessels: one, to traffic at Tadoussac; the other, to bear the colonists who were to commence a settlement near the St. Lawrence.

The expedition arrived at Stadaconé (Quebec) on the third day of July. Champlain's people disembarked at the point of land now occupied by the lower town of the present city of Quebec. They forthwith cleared a site, and erected cabins for temporary sheltering-places.

Nature herself would seem to have formed the table-land whose bases are bathed by the rivers St. Lawrence, Cap Rouge and St. Charles, as the cradle, first, of a colony; next, the central point [Pg 61] of an after empire. It was not to be wondered at, therefore, that the tact of Champlain led him at once to pitch upon this locality as a proper head-quarters for the projected establishment. Having fairly set his hands to work, Champlain soon saw rise before him a fort, of some extent and respectable strength; while several labourers were busied in clearing contiguous land for tillage, or in other useful and urgent works. The foundations of a town, yet to become one of the most famous cities of the New World, were now being laid in the presence of wondering red men of the woods.

The etymology of the name of Quebec, like that of Canada, has been the subject of much learned discussion; but the question now scarcely admits of a doubt: Quebec owes its name neither to the exclamatory wonder of a Norman, struck with the peculiar features of the site and bold scenery around it; nor yet to the patriotic piety of another compatriot of the founder, said to have attributed to the locality a name dear to his recollections: in a word, Champlain asserts positively that he landed at a place which the natives called Kébec, which word meant, in their language, a strait; thus indicating the narrows between St. Lawrence and Cap Rouge, where the great river is not more than 500 rods (verges) wide. [49]

Hardly had the French gained a foothold on a part of the Canadian soil and made beginnings to clear it, than a plot was got [Pg 62] up which menaced the settlement with ruin. The severe discipline maintained by their chief, served for a pretext to Jean Duval, a Norman locksmith, to cut him off. This man, who was both violent and courageous, and had distinguished himself in war against the savages of Acadia, drew in several colonists to take part in the proposed murder of their governor. The conspirators proposed, when he was thus disposed of, either by cord or bullet, to pillage the stores and take refuge in Spain with the booty. Some days before the prescribed time for putting in act what had been proposed, one of the party, stung with remorse, confessed everything and named his accomplices, as indeed, upon the trial, all the others did, yet were they severally sentenced to death; but Duval only was executed: the rest were sent as felons to France, where the king pardoned them. The example thus made, however, sufficed to keep down a spirit of mutiny among the colonists. [50]

Champlain had been invested with ample powers, executive, legislative, and judicial—all which devolved upon his next successors in order. These powers constituted a real despotism; tempered, nevertheless, with usages and formalities; but which temperings, by degrees became less and less operative. [51]

The governors, as will be seen below, had no other curb put upon their absolutism, than such as might arise out of the official advice [Pg 63] given them by a council, the members of which they nominated themselves, and whose opinions they were not bound to carry into practice. Such powers as we have detailed, or powers very similar in nature and extent, were delegated to all the founders of provinces in North America, setting aside a few exceptions in the English colonial provinces. A despotism like this was not inconvenient at an early stage of the progress of any colony; because, in respect of the early French settlements at least, most of their members were in the pay of a governor or of a company. But in proportion as the colonies extended and became populous, they fashioned their institutions after the model of those of the mother country of each; unless, indeed, taking into account differing conditions of existence, such a pattern it was impossible to copy exactly.

Champlain found that, since the days of Jacques Cartier, aboriginal Canada had been metamorphosed by revolutions among its contending tribes. Stadaconé and Hochelaga existed no more; and it did not seem that the same native populations as those of Cartier's day possessed the country which had those places for their head-quarters. Had these settlements been destroyed in war, or had their possessors removed to other locations, better suited for the chase or the fishery?—Colden [52] reports that the Five Nations (Iroquois) once occupied the environs of Mont-Royal, whence the Algonquins drove them, according to an accredited tradition of these nations themselves. Revolutions of this kind are not uncommon among savage tribes.

It is inferrible, from the silence of Cartier upon the subject, that the wars between the Iroquois and the other savage nations of Canada had not begun when he wrote. He speaks only of the Toudaments, a seaboard tribe, between Acadia and Manhattan (New York). This people traversed the Alleghanies, to ravage parts of the Laurentian valley.

In Champlain's time, again, the country had inhabitants yet more barbarous than those encountered by Cartier. The tribes now generally found manifested signs of suffering, which proved that they were oppressed and overborne by other savages, of superior courage or greater craft than themselves. In their despair [Pg 64] of holding out against the latter, they eagerly sought an alliance with the French, against the Iroquois, who occupied the forests southward of Lake Ontario. These Iroquois were of the Huron type of aborigines, and formed five nations in confederation. One of these nations was divided into three tribes; bearing, severally, the appellations of Turtles, Bears, and Wolves. The Iroquois were mentally superior to all other native nations of North America.

Uninformed of the strength and nature of the confederation, and naturally anxious most to stand well with his nearest native neighbours, Champlain accepted, perhaps rashly, the proposal above mentioned; which embarked the colony in wars that lasted for more than a century. He expected that, by securing the people of one of the native tribes for friends, he might not only break up the Iroquois confederation, but ultimately subdue or awe into neutrality all other tribes disposed to be troublesome to the French. He knew not the fact, that alien colonists had ranged themselves with the Iroquois, and were ready to sustain their pretensions, so as to counterwork the polity he meant to pursue.

The Iroquois had now become the terror of all the North American aborigines out of their own pale. Thus when the Agniers took arms against the tribes of New England, the cry of alarm, passing from hill to hill, "The Iroquois are coming!" chilled every heart, paralysed every arm; and having arrived, other native men, women, and children were used to flee before them, as sheep from wolves. The Iroquois, from policy, took great care to keep up this dread; and sought, upon every occasion, to persuade other nations that themselves were invincible.

M. Pont-Gravé, having arrived from Europe with two vessels, full of men, Champlain set out, with his Indian allies, to attack the cantons. July 29, 1609, he met their forces on the borders of the lake which bears his name. Both sides forthwith prepared for the action, which did not take place, however, till next day. During the intervening night, the savages beguiled the time with dances, song, and provocative taunts launched at the native foes before them, in the style of warriors of the heroic ages of Greece, as recorded by Homer.[!] When day dawned, a body of Iroquois, 200 strong, advanced slowly, but with steady step and much confidence, to the attack, headed by three chiefs, each distinguished by [Pg 65] a large bunch of feathers on his head. The allies of Champlain, who had only three of his men at hand, the rest of his people not having come up, drew up into two separate corps, and put him forward as their leader, telling the French to aim principally at the enemy's chiefs. The Iroquois, when within thirty steps of their foes, stood still in wonder upon observing the unknown auxiliaries in the van of battle. Recovering from their surprise, they answered a flight of arrows from their adversaries with another; but when the French discharged their firelocks and shot dead two of the chiefs, and mortally wounded another, the entire horde fled to the woods, and, being hotly pursued thither by their triumphant antagonists, several more were killed and some of them taken prisoners.

Only fifteen or sixteen of the victors were wounded in this action, and none of them killed. They pillaged their enemies' camp and began a hasty retreat. Evening being come, they took one of their captives, and, first causing him to sing the native chaunt of death, prelusive to his coming fate, they tortured him in the modes usual with them upon such occasions. Champlain, shocked at their barbarity, asked leave to put the wretched man out of further pain by a quick despatch; but this was not allowed until the tormentors had exhausted every device of savage cruelty.

Towards autumn, Champlain returned to France. King Henry, then at Fontainebleau, received him favourably, and listened, with much interest, to the report he gave of the state of Canada: or, rather, as that prince now chose to call his American dependencies, "New France."

But M. de Monts was unable, notwithstanding, to obtain a renewal of his monopoly of the peltry traffic: adverse interests proved more potent than his credit at court could overcome. Yet although all the means that now remained for him to rely upon were the pecuniary resources of his partners, and the expected profits accruing from the traffic,—despite the competition of other parties, he dared to hope that he might still realise enough to balance the outlay occasioned by the needs of the infant colony: and thus confiding in his fortunes, he equipped two vessels, which he entrusted to Champlain, who set sail for Quebec.

The Indians, meanwhile, were impatient at the prolonged absence of the French chief, under whose orders they were eager to [Pg 66] set out on an expedition against the once-dreaded Iroquois, but whom they no longer feared to seek out for attack. Champlain, nothing loth, complied with their wishes shortly after his arrival, and took the field in pursuit of a body of Iroquois hovering about the embouchure of the river Richelieu.

When Champlain and his allies set out in quest of their foes, they were found nearer than was expected. The Iroquois had intrenched themselves, hoping thereby to shelter their bodies from the deadly action of European implements of war, such as they had experienced the year before. They met the first assault upon them with spirit, and successfully resisted the assailants. But at the second attack, volleys of musketry again decided the contest; which was long and well maintained by the Iroquois, and in which Champlain himself received a wound. Most of the defeated party were finally cut in pieces, and all those who escaped the tomahawk perished in a stream whither they were driven. Two hundred Hurons arrived after the combat was over. Most of these, having never seen a European, regarded the persons of the French, their dress, their arms, with astonishment, without forecasting, any more than Champlain's allies, the destiny of the strangers now recognised by them for the first time.

It was just after the return of Champlain from this short but brilliant campaign, that he became apprised of king Henry's tragical death, the news of which spread as much consternation at Quebec as at Port-Royal. Every one appreciated the magnitude of the country's loss; but Champlain felt it more than all, from having enjoyed the protection and friendship of that great prince. He embarked immediately for France, in order to attend personally to the colony's interests at head-quarters, which would likely be jeoparded by the discussions likely to follow upon the event which all good subjects, at home and abroad, conjoined in deploring.

The tendencies of the new government, its throwing open the traffic in peltry lately announced, all which had already given rise to brisk competition, forced M. de Monts to renounce his projects entirely; and those who wished to follow them up along with him, were fain to turn their speculative regards in other directions.

Champlain, after having conferred with his patron at Pons, strove to form a new company, and to put Canada under the protection of some high personage capable of assuring the favourable dispositions of the Court. The influence of the marchioness de Guercheville in the affairs of Acadia seemed to him to prove the necessity of similar patronage in the present case. Passing in review the likeliest individuals to meet his views among the crowd of French princes and grandees, he pitched upon Charles de Bourbon, Count de Soissons, as a suitable party; and on application made, that nobleman consented, by letters dated October 1612, to succeed M. de Monts as Lieutenant-General of Canada, and to retain Champlain as his deputy. Scarcely were those letters expedited, when the Count died. Champlain was again in difficulty; but he was promptly relieved from it by the prince de Condé's consenting to take up the functions which had fallen from the dying hands of De Soissons.

The commission now given to Champlain warranted him to seize every unauthorised vessel he should find trafficking in peltry between Quebec and the upper course of the St. Lawrence. This was abolishing, within those limits, the freedom of trade accorded by Henry IV. When the terms of the new commission became known in the several ports of France, a formidable opposition to it arose, and Champlain was put to his wits' end to conjure the storm. He proposed, in order to conciliate all adverse interests, the formation of a society for colonisation and traffic, into which every merchant whatever might rightfully enter. He desired at once to assure the prosperity of the colony thereby, and to give a certain amount of freedom to all parties engaged or intending to engage in the traffic on their own account. This compromise was the most judicious measure that could be adopted, under the circumstances; but the merchants of La Rochelle refused to join the association thus amended. They had been invited to repair to Fontainebleau, to sign the articles of agreement, along with the merchants of St. Malo and Rouen, but now refused to come. To give the dissentients due time for re-consideration, a third part of the shares of the new association was set aside for their use, if claimed within an appointed time; but as soon as that period elapsed, without such application being made, the book [Pg 68] was closed, and the whole shares were allotted to the two other trading marts in equal moieties. Constituted to endure for eleven years, the legality of the association was ratified by the prince de Condé and confirmed by the King: a high sanction which, when notified to the Rochelle merchants, caused them to repent of their obstinacy; because all legal trading competition was now shut out, a result they had not anticipated. They continued, however, to carry on a contraband traffic in opposition to the new association; this being all the easier because of the impossibility, in those days, of effectually guarding the coasts and interior water-ways of so extensive a region as Canada. Champlain, who expected great returns from the society's traffic, caused a site to be cleared in the vicinity of Montreal, for erecting a fort to protect the factory intended to be opened in the island of that name. He concluded, at the same time, a treaty of alliance and trade with the Hurons, a party of which nation, 200 in number, had come on a visit; and the chiefs gave him permission to commence a settlement in their country, if he found its soil suitable for the purpose.

Constantly scanning the country situated near the sources of the St. Lawrence and its chief tributaries, Champlain's attention specially fixed itself, in 1613, on the regions of the north. An adventurer assured him that, in company with some Algonquins, he once arrived at a remote sea-shore, where he had seen fragments of a wrecked English vessel. He wished to ascertain if this report were true, which the discovery of Hudson's Bay, in 1602, had rendered probable enough. But, having ascended the Ottawa nearly to its sources without coming to any sea, he retraced his course.

The discovery of Lake Ontario, in 1615, was an ample compensation for previous disappointments in his indefatigable explorations. He was at the Sault St. Louis, when the Hurons and the Outaouais arrived, to claim again his aid in repelling the Iroquois, who always obstructed their path. Accordingly, he set out for Cahiagué, on Lake Ontario, where the allies had assembled their forces. Ascending the Ottawa, he reached Lake Nipissing, about sixty leagues north-east of Lake Huron; then descending southward, he reached Lake Ontario, late in July. Champlain was the first European who visited the "fresh-water sea," as he called [Pg 69] Ontario; then, as now, a huge natural mirror, but at that time reflecting on its surface only the skirts of wild woodlands, instead of the smiling images of flourishing cities and towns which stud its shores at the present day.

Operations forthwith commenced; for all that was needful to reach the Iroquois, was merely to traverse the St. Lawrence. The savages, foreseeing what they had to expect, were found solidly intrenched; and by this means they effectually resisted the assaults of their native foes, who advanced in disorderly fashion, in spite of all the French could do to regulate their movements. Thus repulsed, their distrust of themselves now became as depressing, as their confidence had been high before. Nought was thought of but a retreat, and this was effected happily without loss.

Champlain, who had received two wounds in the affair, demanded the aid of two guides to conduct him to Montreal; this being denied to him under different pretexts, he was obliged to winter among the natives. But he did not pass the season idly: making himself acquainted with the Ontarian regions around, and visiting, in especial, the Neutral nation, a race of natives which kept up friendly relations with all the battling tribes around.

Champlain did not return to the Sault St. Louis till next June. A report of his death had gained currency, during the interval; therefore great was the joy of the colonists upon his re-appearing among them, after making discoveries which gave added celebrity to his name.

While he was extending to the westward the limits of New France, contestations were ceaseless in Old France regarding the company's invidious privileges. In 1618, when the convocation of Estates was sitting, the deputies from Brittany had succeeded in persuading the council to adopt an article in their instructions claiming free trade in peltry. Champlain, when he next revisited France, obtained a re-consideration of this concession, which undermined the basis of the lately formed association between the merchants of St. Malo and Rouen; and, after a hearing of all the parties interested, the society's monopoly was recognised as valid. Still a majority of its members were so wearied out by the vexatious oppositions they had to encounter, and so malcontent at the poor returns accruing from the speculation, that the association [Pg 70] would have broken up, but for the hopeful perseverance of its leading spirit. The founder of Quebec, by constantly recalling to his partners' minds considerations of personal interest, patriotism, and honour, succeeded in maintaining the association; upon whose continued existence, he well knew, that of the colony itself entirely or mainly depended. With him the latter consideration was paramount; for others it was subordinate. Often did he strive to excite the zeal of the association for extended colonisation; the only effect resulting being favourable promises, never kept. How these gentlemen understood their obligations in this regard, soon was made manifest.

Thus when Champlain was preparing to return to America with his family, a majority of the society proposed to deprive him of the Government of Canada, and give it to a more manageable man, one less addicted to colonising; a veil being drawn over this unworthy supersession, by the plausible pretext put forward, that he might be most usefully employed in explorations and in treating with the native tribes, for the benefit of the company and for national good. Pont-Gravé, a man whose only thought was the extension of traffic, was the party thought of to succeed Champlain, if the latter were superseded. Opinions on the whole subject, however, were divided: warm discussions arose; and the affair being brought under the consideration of the King's Council, a royal decree was passed, in 1619, confirming Champlain as acting governor of New France. But he was not able, even then, to set out for Canada, to resume his suspended functions, till next year. It was about this time that the prince de Condé, who had been imprisoned during the late seditions of the French nobles, was set at liberty; whereupon he ceded the lieutenant-generalship (vice-regality) of Canada, with which he had been invested in 1612, to admiral de Montmorency, for 11,000 crowns: a transaction proving sufficiently that such an honorary title was already of some value to the possessor. Champlain was confirmed, by the new titular, in all his former functions; and M. Dolu, a chief officer in the Chancery of France, was appointed home agent for the colony; in the affairs of which M. de Montmorency now took a warmer interest than ever did his predecessor. The dissentient partners, still dissatisfied, attempted to associate another governing chief with Champlain; but the King rejected this proposal.

Having reached Quebec, he laid the foundations of a government-house, since known as the castle of St. Louis, on the summit of the Cape; a building become famous as the residence of the successive governors of Canada, down to the year 1834, when it was entirely destroyed by fire. All their official acts were dated from this vice-regal dwelling, which has never been rebuilt. [53]

The Recollet Friars [54] had already, by royal permission, begun to erect a convent on the banks of the river St. Charles, although the whole population of Quebec, including those monks, did not exceed fifty souls. But such was the devotional spirit of the time, that different monastic orders were enabled, through the liberality of the pious in France, to found amid the Canadian wilds vast establishments of education and beneficence, which are still the boast of French Canadians. The foundation-stone of the Recollet convent chapel was laid in 1620. Six years before, Recollets of the Province of Paris had been invited to Canada by several parties, but chiefly by the association who feared the presence of Jesuits in the colony. Four of the body arrived in 1615. They visited the Hurons, along with Champlain; and one of them went, next year, amongst the Neutral tribe. An Indian whom they sent to France, was well educated in Calleville college. In 1618, Pope Paul IV accorded, at the instance of the French ambassador, the charge of missions in Canada to the Recollets of Paris. Several of these [Pg 72] religious men lived and died among the natives; and father Nicolas Viel, a very learned Recollet, was drowned by the Huron savages.

[Recollets: Friars Minor of the strict observance, order of St. Francis. They originated in Spain. Introduced to Italy in 1525, they were there called gli Reformati; and invited to France, in 1592, by Louis de Gonzague, duc de Nevers, he first established them in the convent des Recollets: its name thenceforward distinguished this branch of the order of Franciscan friars. Protected by Henry IV, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV, they spread all over France. John of Zumarraga, first Bishop of Mexico, was a Recollet. Dict. des Dates.—B.] These friars were the only missionaries in the colony till 1624. In that year, Father Irenæus Le Piat gave an invitation thither to a few Jesuits. The associated merchants at first would not sanction the proceeding. They set out for Canada notwithstanding; but when they reached Quebec, they were not permitted to land till the Recollets should find a permanent asylum in the infant city. [55]

In the sequel, the Recollets sold their convent, to which they had given the qualification of "Notre-Dame-des-Anges." It became an hospital. Louis XIV gave them, in 1681, the locality where was once the Seneschalsea of Quebec, facing the castle of St. Louis, for the site of an hospitium.

As the Recollets were the earliest missionaries known to Canada, [56] so were they the first to disappear from it. What arrested the attention of foreign visitors in an early time, was the number of conventual institutions; whereas, in the Anglo-American provinces, it was chiefly industrial establishments which first caught the stranger's eye: a characteristic difference, significant of the diverse character of the two races. While our forefathers were erecting monasteries, the early settlers of Massachusetts were constructing floating erections to be borne, on the wings of the wind, for trading purposes, to the ends of the earth. [57]

In 1621, the inhabitants and chief functionaries made a formal application to the home government for aid. Father George Lebaillif bore their petition to France. [58] About the same time, Champlain promulgated several ordinances for securing the maintenance of order in the colony: the collection forming a kind of code, the first that Canada possessed; a tract, of which no copy remains. [59] By this time, some of the colonists managed to live upon the produce of their own lands. The Héberts and the Couillards were among the earliest cultivators whose names appear in our annals as such. Louis Hébert brought his family to Canada in 1617. He was an apothecary, and he first settled in Acadia. He cleared a portion of the ground on which upper Quebec now stands. Not till 1628, was the arable ground tilled otherwise than by hand: at that time, bullocks began to be employed. In fact, the attention of French colonists was almost entirely taken up by the peltry traffic. The four principal fur-factories were at Tadoussac, Quebec, Trois-Rivières, and the Sault St. Louis.

The native races of the country became weary, at length, [Pg 74] of the internecine hostilities they had constantly waged, according to their own report, for more than fifty previous years. A number of the tribes agreed to a truce about the time now under our notice; this led to a "solemn treaty of peace," which was ratified in 1622.

The influx of Europeans influenced decisively the mutual relations of the tribes of aborigines with whom intercourse was maintained, or hostilities carried on.

Previously, it seemed to be the destiny of the proud Iroquois to acquire the domination of all the Laurentian territories, and the Atlantic seaboard regions. The French, by resisting them and protecting their adversaries, suddenly stopped the former in their career of conquest, temporarily exalted the latter, and finally subdued both, or reduced each to succumb before the mastering force of civilisation, to which their brute force and cautelous strategy were occasionally made subservient.

While the savages of Canada were thus coming to terms of pacification, the directors and shareholders of the society whose agents trafficked with them for their peltries, were carrying on a war against each other or the government, and sometimes each against all the rest.

Towards the year 1620, Thomas Porée's company, composed of citizens of Rouen and townsmen of St. Malo, invested with chartered privileges ceasing in 1624, were pleading in the courts against admiral de Montmorency, the Recollet friar George Delahay, deputy from Canada, Guillaume de Caën, and others of the admiral's society. Till a decision could be come to, the king, in 1621, permitted the members of the contending associations to carry on the peltry traffic concurrently. But, in 1622, a royal edict ruled that the Montmorency company only should subsist; conditioned, however, that all the king's trading subjects who chose had the option to join it within the year. It was further ordained, that an indemnity of 10,000 livres should be paid to Porée's company, for thus abridging the duration of the chartered time, as well as to compensate for its outlay at Quebec. This conclusion arrived at, Porée and a co-associate of his took the "ten-twelfths" of the Montmorency company: a measure which promised, by re-uniting the merchants in one firm, to terminate all dissension; but the admiral, wearied out by the troubles his titular governorship [Pg 75] had called down upon him, ceded his functions, about the year 1625, for a pecuniary consideration, to his nephew Henry de Lévy, duke of Ventadour.

The latter nobleman, disgusted with the world, had entered a monkish order, intending to pass the rest of his days in religious exercises. His primary aim, therefore, was to make his office helpful rather to the conversion of the heathen of Canada, than to the advancement of its material interests as a colony of France. Accordingly, missionary progress absorbed his whole attention from first to last. During the first year of his gubernatorial sway, he sent out to Quebec, at his own cost, five Jesuits; among whom were fathers Lallemant, Brébœuf, and Massé.—Champlain, meanwhile, attentive to his secular duties, watched over the colony as a protecting angel; and if he was not able to secure for it progressive stability, he at least saved it from falling into a decline. Becoming impatient, however, at the habitual indifference for its material interests manifested by the members of the society, he entered a formal accusation against them, addressed to the new lieutenant-general, depicting in lively colours their neglect of a country which only wanted a very moderate amount of aid to become a flourishing possession. His complaints, regarded or not by him to whom they were addressed, reached the ear of the Cardinal-duke de Richelieu, lately (1624) become master of the destinies of France.

This potent minister lent his attention the more readily to the patriotic representations of Champlain, that one of the great ideas which ever occupied his mind was to endow the kingdom with a formidable navy; and as a means for realizing this object, he knew that the possession of thriving colonies would be especially helpful. In place, therefore, of prematurely constructing, at great cost, war-ships half-manned, he began by improving the royal sea-ports and encouraging maritime trade as a nursery for sailors. He took the title himself of head superintendent of the possessions of France beyond sea, in order to encourage all French colonists through the influence of his name as their protector; but unfortunately, his attention (taken up with the critical relations then subsisting between France and other European states, also by intestine troubles, civil and religious) did not give him leisure, or else financial [Pg 76] means were wanting, to enable him to lay the broad foundations of such a colonial system as he at first projected—or founding either self-sustaining establishments, or such as, if requiring partial aid from the mother country for a time, would in the end augment her power and enhance her relative importance among the nations.

By a deep practical descent from his first expressed aspirations, Richelieu virtually consigned the prosecution, of French colonial trade and government alike, to the charge of private associations; reserving for the crown, in return for its nominal protection, certain royal dues, to be charged on the ascertained amount of the pecuniary returns of privileged traffic.

In 1625, Richelieu conceded to a trading body, the St. Christopher Association, the island of that name, the first that was colonised by France in the archipelago of the Mexican seas. He similarly dealt with the interests of New France. Thus did the French colonies fall, by degrees, under the sway of the monopolists who undertook to people them.

Nevertheless, paying some sympathising attention to the complaints of Champlain, as we have said, the cardinal, in the present case, willing at least to neutralise the vices of the existing system, intimated a desire that a renovated association should be formed, stronger in numbers, and possessed of sufficient capital to be in a condition to defray the cost of an extended emigration, and to face war charges, should hostilities with the conterminous colonists of rival nations at any time occur. But, at the same time, trading interests—in plainer words, an avidity for gain—lay at the root of any project of colonisation in conjunction with traffic; and a regard for personal considerations is ever ready to supersede all others. Although aware of all this, yet the cardinal fondly imagined he should succeed in exalting the views of the directors of great trading associations by investing them with an authority almost royal. With respect to French America, and in order to put an end to the troubles which had so often interrupted the progress of Canada's well-being in particular, he decided that he would establish an undivided vice-regality in the possessions of New France; convinced as he ever was of the importance of the unity of power and action. He therefore now organised a new Gallo-Canadian society of traders and colonisers, under the appellation of the "Company [Pg 77] of the Hundred Partners;" and conceded to its members collectively, in perpetuity, the viceroyalty of New France and Florida: to the crown being reserved sovereign homage, and the nomination of the higher functionaries of the colonial supreme courts. Thus, in the year 1628, did Canada pass, once more, from a royal to a commercial regime; a system which was the prototype of those potent politico-commercial establishments founded by Europeans in the East, the accounts of the progress and proceedings of which fill so many chapters in the volumes of modern history.

Reflections on political and religious persecutions, as urgent causes of emigrations, with examples adduced.—The Huguenots formally excluded from New France.—Great things expected from the newly constituted Society.—It sends a considerable armament to Quebec, under Roquemont.—Historical Notices of Acadia.—Sir William Alexander obtains a grant of its territory from James I, King of England, by whom part of the peninsula is called Nova Scotia. A British colonial expedition, sent thither, returns without disembarking.—Creation of a new order of titled men originally called baronets of Nova Scotia.—War between France and Britain. Kertk advances against Quebec, but soon abandons the enterprise.—Meeting the squadron of Roquemont, he captures it.—Quebec, reduced to famine thereby, surrenders next year; humanity of its captors.—Cape Breton, taken by Kertk, is retaken by Captain Daniel.—Chevalier de La Tour attacks Fort Cape Sable, but is repulsed.—Sir Wm. Alexander cedes all Nova Scotia except Port-Royal.—The French and English jointly occupy Acadia.—Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye.

"If we fail," says Lescarbot, speaking of colonising, "we must attribute it partly to ourselves who are located in too goodly a land to wish to leave it, and need be in no fear of finding a subsistence therein." The French are reproached for not emigrating; for allowing themselves to be dominated by the charms of society and the household; for refusing, in a word, to ameliorate their condition, because the abandonment of their country causes them too much regret. But this feeling is common to all men, even to semi-nomadic races. "Shall we say," replied the chief of an American horde (peuplade) whose grounds were wanted—"Shall we say to the bones of our fathers, rise up and walk?" The thought of leaving one's native land is afflicting. None but the most urgent motives can impel one to such a resolve. Accordingly, when we closely scan the annals of those emigrations which have [Pg 79] signalized each period, on one point or other of the globe, we ever find that they have been caused by some stern necessity; such as a famine, war, oppression, or conquest.

Ages ago, the Irish and Scots left their country in great numbers. From the year 1620 onward, the latter, to evade their conquerors, emigrated to Poland, to Sweden, to Russia. Their conquerors themselves, who felt the heavy hand of the Normans even in the 14th century, and who, afterwards plunged into the vortex of revolutions, did not escape from that influence, when they viewed the social heights (sommités) of their country occupied by men of the race under whom their forefathers had suffered so many wrongs. The English, pursued by this sentiment, quitted their country, in turn, to found in America the colonies which now form the republic of the United States.

We have already expounded the motives which caused the formation of the Company of the Hundred Associators. In being charged with the government of Canada and Florida, this company obtained the right, during fifteen years to run, of protecting and ruling those countries at their will; of declaring peace or war within their limits, and of trading, hunting, and fishing on all lands and in all waters, without brooking any competition whatever. There was one exception, however, to this monopoly of privileges, viz., the deep-sea fishing for cod, and the pursuit of the whale. As for the monopoly of the peltry traffic, that boon was assured to the company, by its new charter, in perpetuity.

Furthermore, the King made a present to the society of two stout ships, and conferred on twelve of its chief members patents of nobility. He also urged several persons of gentle blood, and clergymen, to join it as members. The company were allowed to transmit and to receive every species of merchandise without paying dues. The exercise of a state handicraft for six years in the colony, entitled any one, on returning to France, to untaxed trading franchises in all its cities, towns, and seaports. As a crowning privilege, free entry was given to all articles manufactured in Canada, and exported to the mother country. This invidious privilege bore hard upon the French producer, aggrieved as he was by endless fiscal exactions, and crippled in every way [Pg 80] by municipal and other impositions, to an extent hardly conceivable at the present day. [60]

In return for so many concessions in its favour, the company, which possessed a fund of 100,000 crowns only, engaged to send to Canada, commencing in 1628, the first year of its monopoly, 200 or 300 artisans of the more useful callings, and afterwards 4000 colonists, of each sex, [61] during the remainder of the fifteen years the charter was to be in force. These persons the society was to subsist for three years, and afterwards to distribute them upon cleared lands, supplying them with seed-grain sufficient for a first crop. Every colonist was to be of French birth, and a catholic. The cardinal-minister, marshal d'Effiat, commander de Razilli, and Samuel Champlain, were members of the company; and the settlers were nobles, chief merchants, or burgesses of substance in the principal cities and trading marts of France.

An association thus composed, endowed with unexampled privileges, invested with almost sovereign power, and having the leader of the state for its head, gave great assurance of stability, and seemed to secure in advance success to all its operations. Its first act, in order of time, was to succour the people of Quebec, then menaced with famine. Several vessels were forthwith equipped, extra-victualled, and put under the orders of Roquemont, one of the associators. A number of families and artisans took passage for Canada in these vessels, which set forth in 1628, but were fated never to reach their destination.

Before explaining how this happened, it may be convenient to give a few preliminary details as to the relations between France and Britain at this time. After Argall destroyed Port-Royal, the English quitted Acadia. In 1621, Sir William Alexander (afterwards better known as Earl of Stirling) obtained a grant of the province from James I, King of England, intending there to found a settlement of Scots colonists. The terms and the documents of [Pg 81] concession defined Alexander's lordship as including all the territory east of a line drawn from the river Ste. Croix to the St. Lawrence, in the direction of the north. This region received the name of "Nova Scotia," or New Scotland. But what amount of territory the appellation was meant to cover was never properly ascertained during the following times: the English afterwards contending that Nova Scotia and Acadia were one; the French maintaining that Acadia was a separate part of the peninsula, with distinct limits, forming a portion of New France.

Meantime (1622) Alexander embarked a body of emigrants to begin a settlement with; but they arrived so late in the year, that they were obliged to winter in Newfoundland. In spring, 1623, they set sail again, touched at Cape Breton, coasted Acadia, visiting some of its havens, and at length reached Cape Sable. There finding the French in full possession of the place, they turned helm and sailed back to Britain; on their arrival, giving a glowing account of the beauty and fertility of the entire country. Neither this year nor the next was any further attempt made. James I dying in 1625, Alexander applied to his successor Charles I for a confirmation of his rights, which was granted. The late king, who had, in 1611, established a minor order of British nobility called baronets, designed, towards the close of his life, to confer that title on as many persons as could purchase it and form estates in the new colony of Nova Scotia. After the return of the emigrants in 1623, nothing was done in the matter till Charles ascended the throne. When that king, in 1628, granted to Alexander a charter of "the lordship of Canada," he granted certain tracts of land in Acadia to various persons, who were to be called, to distinguish them from English and Irish members of the pre-existing baronetage, "baronets of Nova Scotia." [62]

At this time, intestine war between Catholics and Huguenots was raging in France. La Rochelle, the last bulwark of the latter, being closely besieged, an English fleet, commanded by the presumptuous [Pg 82] yet incapable Villiers, duke of Buckingham, was sent for their intended relief. The ill-managed attempt utterly failed: Cardinal Richelieu took La Rochelle, and the position of Protestantism in France became one of abjection. Stung by his defeat, rather than moved by patriotic feelings or by regard for the cause of religious freedom, Buckingham persuaded his master to declare war against Louis XIII. Hostilities between their subjects, forthwith begun in Europe, soon extended to those of America. A fleet of war-vessels was equipped in England to invade the settlements of New France, and in particular to attack Quebec. One of the ships was commanded by David Kertk, a master mariner of Dieppe, and another by Captain Michel, both being French Protestants. In midsummer 1628, the English ships reached the gulf of St. Lawrence, where they captured several French vessels, engaged in the fisheries and peltry traffic. Kertk, arriving at Tadoussac, wrote a very civil letter, dated July 8, to Champlain, admonishing him, that as famine reigned in Quebec, and no supplies could reach it by sea, the entry of the St. Lawrence being blockaded by the English fleet, it were best for all parties that the place should be yielded on favourable terms being accorded.

Champlain, judging from the distance between him and Kertk, that the latter was not so ready to put his threats in execution as he announced, sent a defiant reply to the summons; although, had Kertk acted at once, rather than lost time in parley, he might have attained his object easily; for the garrison of Quebec was then in helpless extremity. In order to disguise the nakedness of the land, the wily governor ostentatiously feasted the impressed Basques whom Kertk sent to deliver his minatory missive: although the inhabitants then had no resources whatever, and lived upon seven ounces of bread per head daily, served from the government stores; the latter containing, at this time, not more than 50 lbs. of gunpowder. When the messengers returned to Kertk with Champlain's letter, and answered the questions that were probably put to them, that officer, distrusting the reports he had previously received of the state of Quebec, destroyed all the vessels he had at Tadoussac, and returned to the lower Laurentian waters.

Shortly afterwards, Roquemont arrived in the gulf, and was erroneously informed, as he entered it, by natives whom he met, [Pg 83] that Quebec had been taken by the English. Doubting the evil news, however, peace having been re-established when he left, he despatched eleven of his men, in a light vessel, to Quebec, for more reliable information. Scarcely had this bark set out, than the people in her sighted six vessels bearing English colours; and next day, they heard a brisk cannonade. It proceeded from the guns of Kertk's and Roquemont's ships, then in close action. The latter had been chased, and were easily captured after a short opposition; they were, in fact, almost unmanageable in fight, being loaded to the gunwale with supplies, and necessarily crowded with unwarlike passengers. It appeared that Roquemont rather sought than avoided this irreparable calamity, for such it proved, as being the real mediate cause of the surrender of Quebec, although that untoward event did not take place till next year.

The governor, having had his mind prepared for the intelligence brought him of the capture of Roquemont's ships by what he already knew, bore the shock with his accustomed equanimity, and set about making the means of subsistence still left go as far as possible. Unfortunately, the year's returns from the small patches of land under cultivation proved unwontedly scanty. He despatched agents to buy as much provisions from the natives as they were willing to part with; and sent a number of others to winter with the Indians, so that there would be fewer mouths to consume the almost exhausted government stores.

After every precaution taken, however, the suffering from privation by the inhabitants of Quebec, during the following five or six months, must have been very great; for it is recorded that no sooner had the snow disappeared from the ground, than numbers of those whom want had not quite prostrated, went forth to the contiguous wilderness, to search for roots, &c., to keep life in their own bodies or in those of their families.

In the midst of this distress, Champlain seemed to rise superior to evil fate. Personally, he set the example of patience under extreme privation, while he gave encouraging assurances, which he could hardly have put trust in himself, that plenty would soon return; as doubtless vessels, freighted with abundant supplies, would soon arrive from France. But days, weeks, months, glided on, and they came not. The season of starvation continued through part [Pg 84] of the spring, with nearly as much suffering as in the previous winter, and was now being prolonged during the first months of summer. Every wood, for many leagues round the city, having been thoroughly ransacked for petty edibles, the sufferers had become utterly despondent, when all were roused into glad expectation on hearing that three inward-bound vessels were near, and had been signaled behind Pointe-Lévi. The joy at their presence was short-lived. They were English ships of war, commanded by Louis and Thomas Kertk, sent on by the admiral their brother; who sailed from England with a second expedition, but had tarried at Tadoussac with a larger number of vessels. No thought was entertained now in the mind of any one, but to give up the city, on the most favourable conditions that its foes would be persuaded to concede. They entered its gates, and took possession on the twenty-ninth day of July, 1629. Louis Kertk, who installed himself as English governor, treated the citizens with kindness,—and, it may be presumed, supplied the more pressing bodily wants of the people whose ruler he had become. However this may be, it is certain that a majority of the colonists concluded to remain in the country.

It was to be kept in view, also, that the taking of Quebec did not necessarily include the loss of New France, for several places in Acadia were at this time occupied by the French: and the island of Cape-Breton, suddenly lost for a moment, was almost as soon to be recovered; as we shall have occasion to narrate presently.

Thomas Kertk, accompanied by Champlain, passed to Tadoussac, there to take passage for Europe. In the descent of the St. Lawrence, they met M. de Caën, then steering towards Quebec a ship loaded with provisions. Thomas Kertk attacked and captured it after an obstinate resistance. Champlain embarked for England, where, having arrived, he repaired to London, and reported to the French ambassador there resident what had lately taken place in Canada; urging upon him the propriety of demanding the restitution of Quebec, its capture having been effected two months after the termination of the short war between the two nations. In fact, but for the understanding that no further hostilities would be tolerated, on either side, the city would have been reinforced before the recent inroad of the Kertks, as the directors [Pg 85] of the Company had given orders that transports bound for Canada should rendezvous at Brouage or La Rochelle, and take convoy under commander de Razilli, whose duty it would be to escort them in safety to Quebec. Peace, however, having been proclaimed, this arrangement was countermanded, the royal ships being recalled to exact satisfaction for some wrong inflicted on French subjects by the Sultan of Morocco. Forty days were lost while this change was impending; and Razilli not appearing, the Company's vessels set out, in the month of June, for America, under the convoy of Captain Daniel. Arrived in American waters, Daniel's ship was separated from De Caën's vessels by a tempest when near Newfoundland; and shortly afterwards he was met by an English armed vessel, which prepared to attack him, but the captain of the latter, on a near view noting the formidable look of Daniel's ship, which carried 16 guns, would gladly have sheered off; but the meditated flight was prevented, and his vessel became a prize to the French.

After this capture, captain Daniel, instead of seeking out the Company's transports, which, he concluded, would by this time have reached their port, changed his course and steered for the Grand-Cibou, on the eastern coast of Cape-Breton, expecting to obtain news from Quebec. There he learned that Lord James Stuart, with three armed vessels, had taken possession, two months previously, of a fishing-buss from St. Jean-de-Luz; that he had sent this vessel, along with two of his own, to Port-Royal; and that his lordship, in the remaining ship, had gone to Port-aux-Baleines, and there erected a fort, pretending that Cape-Breton belonged to England. Thus apprised, Daniel decided on capturing Stuart's fort, and do whatever else were expedient for maintaining French supremacy in the island. He arrived before the stronghold in September, and, immediately landing 53 of his men well armed, proceeded to scale the works. The struggle was both violent and prolonged; but in spite of the courage displayed by its defenders, the place was captured, and several of the garrison, along with its chief, taken prisoners.

Daniel razed this fort entirely; but proceeded to construct another, at the entry of the river Grand-Cibou, armed with eight guns, and garrisoned by 38 men. Leaving here also Fathers [Pg 86] Vimont and Vieuxpont, he set sail to France. Having reached the English shores, he landed 42 of his prisoners at Falmouth, and bore the rest, 21 in number, including Lord James Stuart, to Dieppe. [63]

Whilst Kertk was taking Quebec, and his lieutenant losing Cape-Breton, the French located in the southern region of Acadia were engaged in repelling the attacks made by two vessels of war commanded by Claude de la Tour, a French Protestant who had lately taken service in the royal navy of England. This enterprising man, owner of a large fortune, had been taken prisoner in one of Roquemont's vessels and carried to London, where he was well received at Court. While in England, he married one of the maids of honour to the Queen, [64] and was created a baronet of Nova Scotia. Having thereby obtained a concession of territory as a species of fief, in that province, situated near St. John's river, he made an arrangement with Sir William Alexander to found a settlement there, with immigrants from Scotland. The ungrateful duty also devolved upon him, meanwhile, of attempting to bring his own son under submission; the latter, true to his country's cause, being in command of a French fort at the Cape de Sable. [65]

In order to bring this about, two English ships-of-war were put under his orders, with which he set sail, accompanied by his youthful spouse. Arrived at his destination, he demanded an interview of his son; which being granted, he vaunted the flattering reception he had met with in England, and the honours that had been conferred on him by its King. He then promised that similar distinctions and advantages to those himself enjoyed would be extended to young La Tour, if he would continue in command of the fort, [Pg 87] but hold it as an English not as a French possession, with the rank and title of a knight, which he now had in charge to accord. The young man made this noble reply: "If those who sent you on this errand think me capable of betraying my country, even at the solicitation of a parent, they have greatly mistaken me. I am not disposed to purchase the honours now offered me by committing a crime. I do not undervalue the proffer now made me by the King of England: but the prince in whose service I am is quite able to reward me; and whether he do so or not, the inward consciousness of my fidelity to him will be in itself a recompense to me. The King of France has confided the defence of this place to me; and I shall maintain it, if attacked, till my latest breath." After this repulse, the father retired to his ship; but did not desist from further attempts to shake the faithfulness of the young man. He addressed to him a letter written in the most pressing terms, and couched in a tender strain, appealing to his filial regard. But this letter had not the desired effect. Menaces followed; still they had no result. He then disembarked his soldiers and a body of armed seamen, and tried to carry the fort by a brisk assault. His men were repulsed; and several other attempts, of the like kind, during two days, were equally unsuccessful. His people, provoked at his obstinacy, refused to answer his call upon them for further efforts to take the place; and he had perforce to give up what he rashly undertook to do, retiring humiliated even less by the defeat itself, than by the reflection that he had sustained it in a contest with his mother country and with his own flesh and blood. Not daring or caring to re-appear either in France or England, La Tour remained in Acadia with his English lady, who was willing to share his evil fortunes. The son, judging it improper ever to admit him into the fort, yet pitying him still, caused to be erected in its vicinage a small but well-furnished house, wherein he dwelt for several years. It was in this dwelling he was visited by M. Denis, author of the "Description des Côtes de l'Amérique," in 1635.

The invasion of Canada by the English, in time of peace, at first made a considerable sensation in Paris, because the honour of the nation seemed to have been affected by the proceeding; but, when the question was debated in the council of state, whether [Pg 88] the restitution of Quebec should be insisted on, opinions were divided. It was urged, by some of the king's advisers, that the possession of a rock amid a wilderness was not worth contending for; that even the country, for which it served as a capital, was almost uninhabitable from the rigor of the climate; that it was too vast to be properly peopled without draining France of its inhabitants; and if scantily peopled, of what value was it? The colonies held by Portugal in South America and India, it was observed, had been sources of weakness rather than of strength to that kingdom; Spain had visibly declined in importance since she had been deprived of so many of her most enterprising subjects by the constant drain of men for the Americas. Lastly, it was urged, by the same councillors, that although Charles V had the resources of the German empire, those of the kingdom of Spain, of the Low Countries, and of the Western Indies, at his command; yet Francis the First, monarch of a kingdom comparatively of small extent, and having scarcely any colonies, was able to make head against him, and, when dying, leave to his successors a kingdom at least as extensive as he found it. "Let us endeavour, then, rather to improve Old France, than strive to found a New France in the most unpromising regions of the West." Thus reasoned the "partisans of abandonment." [66]

Those who argued in an opposite sense, maintained that the Canadian climate, if subject to vicissitudes of heat and cold, was salubrious; that the soil was fertile, and the country, if properly cultivated, capable of supplying, in abundance, all the necessaries of life; and, adverting to the decline of the Spanish monarchy, they intimated that the injudicious expulsion of the Moorish race was a primary cause of the evil. They reminded their adversaries, that the drain of men from France for America was, as yet, almost nominal; that the few soldiers hitherto sent out yearly were mostly invalids. Then the produce drawn from French America was really considerable: the Newfoundland fisheries alone did much to enrich the kingdom, and formed a valuable nursery for sailors; adding, that, as the woods of France became exhausted of timber, she had at her disposition, if she chose, the largest forests [Pg 89] in the world, supplying wood for every kind of construction, or as fuel. Lastly, as a measure of enlightened national polity, it was of the last importance to keep a firm hold upon New France, in order to counterbalance the enhanced importance England had gained through the extent and populousness of her American plantations. The sum of all was this: Demand, at once, that Quebec be restored to its rightful owners.

These latter reasonings had much cogency, and were not lost upon a majority of the councillors, although no very strong decision was come to either way, at the time. As for the inert king himself, he seemed to take little interest in this matter, as was the case in too many others. But his chief minister—who regarded the English irruption, Raynal remarks, as a kind of personal injury done him, he being nominal patron of the Canadian Society—did not accept the insult offered to France so tamely. Accordingly, he instructed the king's ambassador resident at the English court to press for the withdrawal of the English garrison from Quebec; as also that New France generally should be evacuated by any other interlopers, military or other, of the same nation or from its colonies. King Charles promised that all this should be done; but diplomatic delays, accidental or intended, arising, Richelieu, by way of quickening the alien negotiators, equipped a fleet of six armed vessels, which he put under the orders of commander de Razilli. This practical hint sufficed. In terms of the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, signed March 29, 1632, the government of England renounced all the pretensions that had ever been put forward by its subjects; and pledged itself not to renew any such, at least so long as the peace should last. "We may date from this treaty," says Chalmers, "the commencement of a long series of evils for Great Britain and her colonies, the difficulties with the provincials afterwards, and, in some measure, the success of the American Revolution."

True it is, that in the seed-beds of nations and growing empires the germs of change are sown or in activity, to be fully developed in coming time. The proximity of the French tended greatly to loosen the bands of the English colonies to their mother country; as she bore with them longer than she would otherwise have done, because the flag of her ancient rival floated so near to her possessions [Pg 90] as the rock of Quebec, and rallied under its shadow so many barbarous hordes as it did. To make head against such warlike neighbours, it was needful to be armed; and we know that an armed is ever more exacting than an unarmed race. England could not help manifesting liberality in the case; the blood shed in her cause demanded a return, and colonial freedom was the compensation. Moreover, British colonists, from the outset, had chosen an American location, because of the perfect freedom they counted on enjoying there. Nothing less would have contented them; and England was wise enough to accord to an exacting son what he demanded, than to provoke him to cast off that allegiance to her which he might have transferred to an alien protectress. The neighbourhood of the French, then, was favourable to Anglo-American liberty, and, in the end, to that of several other nations; but by means of a concatenation, none of the links in the chain being, for the time, perceptible to political vision.

The course of the war terminated in 1632, exhibited Frenchmen ever in armed struggle against each other, and constantly rending and spoiling their common country for the behoof of enemies of all the contending parties.

The conduct of the Huguenots justified the predictions of the Catholics, who insisted that it would be unsafe to leave them in possession of colonies peopled by their British co-religionaries; because, on the smallest misunderstanding arising between the former and the government of their fatherland, they would be sure to join the latter, and thus imperil the continued existence of New France. The affair of the chevalier de la Tour is a case in point. [67]

Shortly after the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye was concluded, namely, on the 13th of November ensuing, the king of France in council ordained the "Company of the Hundred Associators" to pay 40,000 livres to Marie and Salomon Langlois, Raymond de la Ralde, Nicholas Canu, David Michel, Paul Languillez, and others, for having seized three ships sent by M. de Caën to fish upon the coasts of Canada.

De Thou, the friend of Cinq-Mars, for whom he lost his life on the scaffold, was the judicial reporter of the royal decree issued in the above case. The same document contains the name of "Cabot, burgess of Dieppe;" also that of the sieur "Duquesne, naval officer:" the latter being father of a personage whose name became famous in the after history of France and Canada.

Name given to the territories first discovered in North America.—Frontiers of the several colonies imperfectly defined; this indefiniteness the cause of many contestations.—Synopsis of the native populations of North America, particularly of the tribes of Canada.—Estimate of their numbers.—Account of their persons, their dress, their implements of war, &c.—Their modes of hostilities, of hunting, &c.—Their governmental polity.—Nature of their religious notions.—Of their diviners.—Of their regard for the dead; their manner of sepulture; their festivals.—Their figurative oratory.—Formation of the Indian languages; the aborigines were ignorant of letters.—Synthetic nature of Indian speech.—Intellectual qualities of the race.—Their origin: question discussed, whether they are descendants of nations which had attained to civilisation.

When Europeans began to pour into America, they gave to the various countries they entered the general denomination of terræ novæ, or Newfoundlands. From the time of Francis I, that name indicated the regions afterwards known as Florida, Canada, and Labrador, as well as the island which then, as now, bears the above designation. But when the different countries became better known, and were oftener visited, they had assigned to them particular appellations, which distinguished each from all the others; still those names were often changed, and always wrongly applied, while the territories they designated were of uncertain limitation. The confusion thence resulting became, in the sequel, the cause, often of dissensions, sometimes of wars, between France, England, and Spain, concerning their territorial rights or pretensions to debateable lands in America.

Early in the 17th century, the appellation "New France" was given to a vast region which now comprises the Hudson's Bay [Pg 93] territory, Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada, and a great part of the countries now known as the United States. [68]

At that time, the peninsula of Nova Scotia began to take the name of Cadie, Acadie, or Acadia; and the territorial term "Canada" already was not only the appellation of the country we now inhabit, but a name that, in an extended sense, covered a much larger region than the united provinces to which it now solely applies.

New France, before the discovery of the Mississippi, to the valley of which the foregoing collective appellation was extended, comprised, therefore, the basin of the St. Lawrence and that of Hudson's Bay. The St. Lawrence, which has a course of more than 700 leagues (over 2000 miles), takes its source, under the name of the "river St. Louis," in lat. 48° 30' N., long. 93° W. [69] on the great central plateau whence descends the Mississippi, (but which takes a southern course ending in the bay of Mexico,) and other rivers, of northern course, flowing into Hudson's Bay. The Laurentian valley, making a bend as if to clip Lake Erie, descends, by successive stages, from the plateau above noted; which table-land, like most other regions of the northern continent of America, is not much elevated above the water-level. In two localities only does the St. Lawrence lose its gentle and uniform slope. At Niagara, its mass falls, in sheer descent, 160 feet; and [Pg 94] just below Lake Ontario, its swift and turbulent waters dash foamingly over a rocky bed, which obstructs navigation between Kingston and Montreal.

The valley of the St. Lawrence is bounded, on the north, by a mountain chain now called, collectively, "the Laurentides;" which commencing in Labrador, form a line prolonged to the farthest region of Lake Superior. [70] The bases of the Laurentian heights are washed by the stream whose name they take, as far down as Cape Torment (30 miles below Quebec), where they rise to an elevation of 2000 feet. They traverse the bank of the river Ottawa, above the Chats Lake, and shut in Lake Huron on its northern side. The Alleghanies, the summits of which are visible from Quebec heights, enclose this basin as far as Lake Champlain. The Alleghany range, starting from the gulf of St. Lawrence, follows the course of the river, at from six to eight leagues distance in the canton of Rimouski, where its highest peaks attain a height of 4000 feet; then, deflecting to the south of Lake Champlain, it traverses the Hudson valley, and continues as far as Virginia.

Recent surveys of the five principal lakes of North America, four of which part Canadian from United States territory, gives us a pretty exact account of their respective superficial areas. Thus Lake Superior is (following its curvature) 435 miles long and 160 broad, with a medium depth of 988 feet; its water-line is 627 feet above the sea-level; and its whole area is about 32,000 sq. m. Lake Michigan is 360 miles long and 108 wide, area 23,000 sq. m., depth 800 feet, elevation 587 feet. Lake Huron is 260 miles long and 160 wide, area 20,000 sq. m., depth 800 feet, elevation 574 feet. These may be called the upper lakes of Canada and the United States. The two lower are not so extensive. The greatest length of Lake Erie is 250 miles and its breadth 80, mean [Pg 95] depth 84 feet, elevation 564 feet. The greatest length of Lake Ontario is 180 miles and its greatest breadth 65, mean depth 500 feet, elevation 265 feet. The total length of all five as a continuous water-way, including intermediate channels, is 1,612 miles, with an aggregate superficial area of more than 90,000 square miles. [71]

These lakes, the Falls of Niagara, the St. Lawrence river and Gulf, are of colossal magnitude, and in perfect keeping with the land-region which encloses them. Northward are mysterious forests of unknown limits; to the west, is much unappropriated woodland; while on the southern side, is the territory of a republic which much exceeds all Europe in extent. To the eastward, again, is the ocean, parted into the fog-beset, storm-vexed, and iceberg-encumbered seas of Newfoundland and Labrador. Infinity itself seems to reign over our frontiers.

Geologically, Canada is seated on an immense couch of granite, the elevations of which form the frame of its highest mountains: cropping out at Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Kingston, and elsewhere, in the upper province; at the River St. Maurice, Beauport, Tadoussac, Kamouraska, in Labrador, &c. This bed of granite is overlaid with many kinds of rocks; those most abounding being schists, limestone, and sandstone. [72]

Canada is rich in ores of iron. Several iron mines are worked; among others those of Three Rivers, L. C., (where the metal produced excels the Swedish,) and of Marmora, U. C. Copper, [73] zinc, lead, titanium, and mercury are found at intervals in small quantities; but explorations, now in progress, will disclose further our metallurgic riches. The French administrators of olden Canada paid much attention to this subject: their explorers discovered most of the mines mentioned by existing geologists.

The soil of Canada is generally fertile. It is especially so in its upper region, where its milder climate enables the cultivators to raise large quantities of wheat, some of which is superior to any grown elsewhere upon this continent. But the Alleghany and Laurentian highlands greatly abridge the cultivable surface of the Canadas. Nevertheless, their abundant watershed much promotes the fertility of the valley-lands and lower levels.

By some convulsion of nature, the Laurentides, which in the Saguenay region are from 12 to 15 leagues broad, have been reft in two; and in the ravine thus formed, flow the Saguenay waters, which are 1000 feet deep in some places, and shut in by nearly perpendicular rocks.

The basin of the St. Lawrence being of angular form with its apex turned toward the south, its two extremities, terminating almost in the same latitude, make its average calorific temperature tolerably equal. The maximum intensity of cold at Quebec is 30° F. below zero (62° under the freezing point), and that of summer heat 97 to 104° F. in the shade. At the foot of Lake Erie, the mercury sometimes falls, in mid-winter, to 20° below zero. The intensest heat seldom, if ever, indicates a higher point than 103° F.

The difference of climate between the provinces, lower and upper, will be best estimated by comparing the duration of their winters, and noting the nature and amount of their several products. The inhabited regions of the two Canadas, says Bouchette, [Pg 97] are situated between the 42nd and 48th degrees of north latitude. Judging by their distance from the equator and the north pole, we should expect that their relative climatic conditions would be similar to those of southern and central Europe; whereas their extremes of heat and cold are, the former more intense, the latter more severe. At Quebec, lat. 46° 48′ 49″, apples are grown in abundance, but neither grapes nor peaches ripen; at Montreal, all three attain to maturity. At Toronto these fruits, along with the apricot, grow in the greatest perfection. The acacia, which may not brook the chances of out-door temperature at Quebec, stands the climate, if indifferently, of Montreal; but constantly meets the eye as we ascend towards Detroit. [74]

At Quebec, and the region around that city, winter usually sets in about the 25th November, and lasts till the 25th April; the latter being the understood day when field labour ought to be resumed. Snow lies on the ground fully five months, and is usually from three to four feet deep in the woods. At Montreal, the winter is three or four weeks shorter, and less snow falls. In Lower Canada, during most of winter, wheel carriages are superseded by sledges; but in the upper province, their useful employment is confined to a space of seven or eight weeks. Upon the whole, the climate of the Canadas is salubrious, and favourable to longevity. [75]

The excessive cold experienced in the Lower Laurentian region is apparently caused less by latitudinal conditions than through the absence of high mountains from its northern sides. The vicinage, too, of Hudson's Bay, which polar winds traverse [Pg 98] before reaching the lower parts of the river valley, where they arrive charged with icy evaporation from the seas of Labrador, doubtless adds to the rigour of the atmosphere during our winters. [76]

The aurora borealis illuminates the nocturnal sky of Canada with a brilliancy and variety of play, especially during its autumnal and winter months, unknown, at the present day at least, in any part of northern Europe. It is now believed that this meteoric phenomenon is of electric origin; and this opinion is all the more probable, because of the peculiar rustling noise, similar to that of a stiff silken tissue put in movement, which often, if not always, accompanies the luminous appearances.

The Aborigines.—When the territories of Canada were discovered, they were found to be inhabited by numerous nomade tribes, belonging to three out of the eight great families of savages who occupied the region between the Mississippi, the Atlantic, and the Esquimaux country; namely, the Algonquins, Hurons, Sioux, Cherokees, Catawbas, Uchées, Natchez, Mobiles, &c. These were considered substantive races, because each spoke a language bearing no analogy with that of the others, and which was not understood by others when spoken: whereas, although many idioms existed among the different tribes forming a part of, or connected with, a nation using what might be called a native mother tongue, yet the individuals of each tribe composing a nation, however far apart, could understand the language of every other tribe of that nation; while they could not communicate with the men of an alien nation. [77]

This aggregation of uncivilised men was thus distributed over the extent of territory we have pointed out:—The Mobiles possessed all the southern extremity of the northern continent, from [Pg 99] the bay of Mexico to the river Tennessee and Cape Fear. The Uchées and Natchez (the latter, not a numerous body, being wedged in, as it were, by the former); the Natchez having a small country, bordered by the Mississippi; the Uchées, more serried towards the west, joining on to the Cherokees. The country of the Cherokees was equidistant from the bay of Mexico, Lake Erie, the Atlantic, and the Mississippi. That nation had for neighbours, the Mobiles and Uchées to the north, the Catawbas to the east. The Catawbas possessed a country of small extent, to the south of the Mobiles and to the west of the Cherokees. The great family of Algonquins possessed nearly a moiety of North America, eastward of the Mississippi. Their territory joined that of the Mobiles on the south side, and extended northward, to the Esquimaux regions, over the breadth between the Mississippi and the Atlantic, a superficies of 60 degrees of longitude and 20 of latitude. [78]

The Hurons, whose real name has been variously written Yendats, Ouendats, Wyandots, and Yendots, [79] but to whom the early French colonists gave the appellation we now know them by, and which is derived from our term hure, because of the rugged locks or unkempt hair of the people of that race; the Hurons, we say, lived amidst the Algonquins, on the margins of Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario. The Sioux, whose vast country was to the west of the Mississippi, occupied a small country to the eastward of Lake Michigan. Thus, as New France comprehended the river St. Lawrence and all the lakes out of which it flows, it included a part of three aboriginal "nations," who spoke the Sioux, Algonquin, and Huron languages, or three mother tongues of the Indians. Originally, the Algonquin dialect was spoken in the Lake Champlain district, and in the southern Ottawa region extending to the north; but in the sequel, migrations of tribes speaking other dialects, spread these in divers parts of Canada.

The principal tribes speaking Algonquin in New France were, to the south of the St. Lawrence, the Micmacs or Souriquois, who occupied Nova Scotia, [80] Gaspé and islands adjacent: a small tribe, their number never exceeding 4000. The Etchemins, who inhabited the seaboard countries, and the territory watered by the rivers St. John and Ste. Croix. The Abenaquis, who were located between the Micmacs and the Etchemins, the river St. Lawrence, New England, and the Iroquois. The Sokokis, a mongrel race, were refugees from the English colonies, living under French protection.

To the north of the St. Lawrence, were:—The Montagnais, on the borders of the Saguenay and Lake St. John; the Papinachois, the Bersiamites, the Hedgehogs, and several other tribes. The Algonquins, (properly, Lenni-Lenappes,) whose occupation extending from a point rather below Quebec to the river St. Maurice; one of their tribes inhabiting the island of Montreal. The Ouataouais, or Ottawas, who ranged at first about the country watered by the river which still bears their name above the Montreal district; and who extended themselves afterwards as far as Lake Superior.

The tribes speaking the Huron tongue were:—The Hurons or Wyandots, located on the northern margin of Lakes Huron and Ontario, as already mentioned. They were driven thence shortly after the French came, by the Iroquois. They were repelled on one side, towards the Lower St. Lawrence; on the other, beyond Lake Superior, to the arid plains which separated the Chippaways from their western enemies. Brought back by the potent aid of the Sioux, they were met with afterwards at Sault Sainte-Marie, at Machilimakinac, and finally at Detroit. The Hurons located at Lorette, two leagues from Quebec, are living relics of the great nation which once bore that name, so powerful of old, and to which the Iroquois, who conquered them, and other tribes besides, owed their origin.

To the south of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and the river St. Lawrence, up to the river Richelieu, in the vicinity of the Abenaquis, ruled the famous Iroquois confederation; whose proper [Pg 101] name was, the Agonnousionni, or "constructors of wigwams." The appellation Iroquois was at first applied to them by the French, because they usually began and finished their discourses or palaver with the word hiro, which means either "I say," or "I have said;" combined, as an affix, with the word koué, an exclamatory vocable joyful or sad according as it was pronounced long or short. The Iroquois confederation was composed of the Agniers or Mohawks, the Onnontagué's or Onondagues, the Goyogouins, the Onneoyuths, and the Tsonnonthouans. [81]

The Eries and the Andastes, once located between Lake Erie and the Iroquois country, had dwindled into a petty remnant when Canada was discovered, and soon afterwards were pitilessly exterminated.

The countries around Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron, were frequented, also, by the Nipissings, the Ottawas, the Miâmis, whom the Poutewatamis, coming from the south, thrust northward; by the Illinois, the Chippeways, the Outagamis or Foxes (a plundering and cruel race;) by the Kikapous, the Mascontins, the Sakis, the Malhomines, the Osages, the Missouries, the Menomonis tribes, all speaking the Algonquin tongue; and, finally, by the Kristinots or Kilestinots, using the language of the Sioux.

A number of other tribes, belonging either to the Sioux family, or to those of the Hurons or Algonquins, inhabited countries more or less distant from the foregoing, and individuals among them would come occasionally to visit the missionaries or trade with the peltry collectors on the borders of the lakes. This done, they re-entered the wilds whence they issued, and never were seen more; while men of other tribes, equally unknown to the French, came in arms to thrust out of place those who were nearest to the former, and force the rightful owners to relinquish their possessions.

We cannot estimate with precision what may have been the entire number of the native populations of North America in Cartier's time. Judging by the variety of "nations" and tribes [Pg 102] spoken of, we might be led to suppose that the aggregate was very considerable; but when we look close into the matter, we incline to fix the total amount at a low figure. In no wild country are the aborigines numerous, nor can they be. Some of the earlier explorers evidently were led astray on this point, by the metaphoric language of the savages, who considered 1000 souls as a prodigious multitude, and beyond the power of definite numbering. Thus in the year 1753, when the savages informed colonel Washington that the French were about to attack him with a host numberless as the leaves of the forest, their whole force, when counted by precise arithmetic, was reducible to a few hundred men.

Calculations have been made, with great care, for the countries situated between the St. Lawrence and Mississippi; which estimate the total nations of Algonquin race, the most considerable of all, at 90,000 souls; the total eastern Sioux at less than 3000; the Hurons and Iroquois together, about 17,000; the Catawbas, 3000; the Cherokees, 12,000; the Mobiles, 50,000; the Uchées, 1000; and the Natchez, 4000: general total only 180,000, dispersed over an immense space of territory. We incline to think that this moderate estimate must approximate, at least, to the truth; for a race of hunters requires a large field to draw even the scantiest subsistence from. Despite the great extent of the forest-lands of North America, its aborigines often were in straits from the difficulty they found in procuring a sufficiency of game for their support. If the general population had been really numerous, how was it that the Iroquois, who could count only 2200 warriors in the year 1660, were able to run a conquering career from Hudson's Bay to Carolina, and strike terror into the hearts of the whole tribes of that great range of territory?

Cartier could see in all Canada only some sparse native hamlets, which he called bourgades, each containing at the most 50 cabanes; and the greatest influx of the aborigines reported as having taken place, on any occasion, at Stadaconé (Quebec), during the winter he passed iced-up in the river St. Charles, did not number 1000 souls. In other parts of the country, he could scarcely discern a trace of human inhabitation. M. Joliet and Father Marquette traversed a great part of the Mississippi region and met no living man. M. de la Joncaire, in 1736, drew up for the information of [Pg 103] the home government an official estimate of the number of fighting men among the whole savage tribes then in existence between Quebec and Louisiana (that is, in nearly the whole of New France), and the aggregate total he ventured to give was but 16,000.

We have said that a comparison made of the different native dialects spoken in North America to the east of the Mississippi, had led to the recognition of eight aboriginal mother tongues; and upon that basis, the tribes were divisible into just as many great branches or families. Accepting this datum, of there being originally eight radical divisions of the red race of mankind within the limits assigned above,—but the adoption of which rather militates against the hypothesis of one only route of immigration from Asia by its north-west side,—one might expect that there would be as great diversity in a physical as in a moral point of view, between the people of tribes thus wildly dispersed and speaking so many distinct languages. Now there neither is, nor ever was, much sensible difference of either kind to be found. Between the savages of Canada and the far-removed red men of Florida, any slight differences of bodily height or make, complexion or aspect, were little if at all perceptible; or if such were apparent, it was readily referable to causes fairly imputable to climatic influences.

In person, the men of the Indian races, or rather race, of America, were and yet are tall and slender, their forms giving promise of agility rather than strength; their visages having that stern expression natural to all men, of whatever complexion, dependent upon the chase for subsistence, and exposed besides to the perils of war. [82]

With a complexion bronzed by sun, rain, and winds, the Indian of the forests has a visage more round than oval, the cheek-bones high and salient; eyes, of dark or light hazel colour, small but lustrous and deeply sunk in their orbit; forehead narrow, nose flattish, lips thick; hair of the head coarse and long, and beard wanting,—not that nature denies them that adjunct, but owing to a custom of depilation, begun at an early age and continued through life among the boys and male adults. Such were and are the physical characteristics of the unsophisticated man of the New World. [Pg 104] It need scarcely be added, that the five bodily senses of the race, while denizens of the wilderness, are exquisitely keen.

The North American savage, when first made known to Europeans, went almost naked in summer time; during winter, he girt his reins with deer-skin or some other kind of untanned hide, and covered the upper part of his body with a sort of jerkin, made of the spoils of one or more furred animals. The claws of a bear killed by the bearer, and serving as a brooch to attach the parts of a mantle of parti-coloured skins, constituted a favourite ornament in the costume of a chief, he being often arrayed in such sort, as to give other intimations of his exploits in war and the chase. A pair of mocassins (a kind of buskins, or gaiters rather) of curried hide, sometimes variously ornamented, with shoes of doe-skin, composed his foot and leg covering. The females had a costume little differing from the men's, except that they went with bare heads and naked arms. The latter wore necklaces of wampum; and shell or bead-worked ornaments, of the same nature, they attached to the front of their vestments, painted in striking tints, red being the predominant colour.

The savages painted or stained their bodies with resemblances real or imagined of beasts, birds, fishes, serpents, &c., in lively and varied colours, according to the means, skill, or caprice of the individual. Vermilion they had a passionate regard for, in face or body disfiguring. Some painted their noses blue, blackened cheeks, eyelids, &c., leaving the rest of the face an intense red; others, again, coloured their visages to represent three or more facial bands, passing from ear to ear, in red, black, or blue tints. The men arranged the hair of their head in different ways: some wore it raised up, others flattened it, others again let it hang in dangling locks. Head-tufts were worn by many, composed of vari-coloured feathers or bunches of animals' hair, all fixed in the most eccentric way. The ears and septum of the nostrils were pierced for affixing pendant objects. To the arms were affixed bracelets made of serpent skins, or wampum.

The several nations, tribes, and villages were distinguished by some kind of distinguishing symbol. In 1753, the Abenaquis of St. François and of Becancourt wore, by way of heraldic signs, the bear and the turtle-dove. Some others adopted the beaver and [Pg 105] the partridge for their signs. The Algonquins of the Two Mountains Lake had an oak in leaf. Among the five Iroquois nations each village and every family had its armorials; nay, individual men bore their distinctive marks. The Wild-oats of Lake Michigan bore an eagle perched on a cross; the Sioux had a buffalo, a black dog, and an otter. Among the northern nations, a man intimated his personality as much by using the symbols of his wife's family as by those of his own; but he never took a wife out of any family which bore the same symbol as his. [83]

The only offensive arms in use by the savages, before Europeans came among them, were the arrow and the tomahawk. The former was a kind of dart or short javelin; being a taper stick pointed with bone or flinty-stone; the latter, a kind of club made of hard-wood or stone, had a cutting edge on one side. Their defensive armour consisting of a kind of cuirass of light wood; and sometimes they bore a buckler of cedar-wood, ample enough to cover the body.

The very mention of a coming war raised in the bosoms of the younger savages an uncontrollable feeling of joy. Their imaginations, constantly exalted by the recital of the great deeds of the ancestors of the tribe, during the heady current of a fight, with imagined enemies palpitating and bleeding at their feet, caused a kind of sanguinary intoxication.

Although reasonable causes for going to war could not often exist, yet hostilities among the tribes were very frequent. Prescriptive rights attaching to certain hunting-grounds, a national or family feud, through the violent death of a compatriot or relative, these were the ordinary and fertile causes of internecine war constantly breaking out among the restless aborigines. Each man being, to a great extent, independent of his tribe, could at any moment—through his pugnacity or thirst for plunder, or from motives of personal vengeance or dislike, by one overt or secret act of enmity against a family or individual of another tribe—suddenly draw whole nations into hostilities of the most destructive character; the war never ending perhaps, till one of the contending [Pg 106] parties had exterminated its adversaries, or expelled them from their lands. The duration of peace, being thus constantly imperilled, in every region of the wilderness between Mexico and Hudson's Bay, made general tranquillity rather the exceptional than the normal state of existence in uncivilized America.

On the other hand, when it happened that a nation was disinclined or unprepared to wage war against another from whom it had received a wrong, the matter might be, and sometimes was settled by recourse to the lex talionis. Thus, M. Dalbert wrote under date of April, 1684: "When the nation of those who have been killed does not wish to war against that which has been offended by it, the nearest relatives of the slayers killed themselves; that is to say, to the extent of man for man." [84]

Each savage, when capable of bearing arms, was ranked as a warrior, and had the right to be present at meetings of the tribe, with power to deliberate and vote upon any public subject. Peace or war was determined on by the whole males called in council. Thus would the old men address the younger, to excite them to war, if such were intended, against another tribe:—"The bones of our slain brethren are bleaching on the ground; they cry to us for vengeance, and the cry must be answered. Paint yourself with the deepest colours; take up your terror-inspiring arms: let our war-songs and our demands for vengeance gladden the shades of our departed warriors and cause our foes to tremble. On, then! take captive our enemies, and fight as long as wood grows or water runs. Let the sun and the stars leave the firmament sooner than we shall quit the field of battle before victory be gained!"

Then would the song of war be heard:—"O places which the sun floods with his light, and that the moon illuminates with her paly torch; places where verdure waves in the breeze, where runs the limpid stream and the torrent leaps: take witness, O earth, and ye heavens, that we are ready every one to encounter our foes...... The war-clubs we snatch from enemies shall testify to our surpassing valour. The scalps we tear from their prostrated heads will ornament our huts. Our door-lintels we shall redden with the blood of our prisoners. Timid in captivity as feeble in combat, [Pg 107] we shall cause them to perish by slow torturings; and when life has fled their mutilated frames, we shall burn them up, and scatter their ashes to the four winds of heaven," &c.

Incited by such adjurations, inspired by such enthusiastic strains as the foregoing, the assembled warriors would testify their eagerness for the fray. But a chief, in whom they could all confide must be chosen; and one would be elected forthwith. The qualities required in a leader were—experience in stratagems of war, and renown acquired from former exploits; a commanding presence and high stature; a sonorous voice to harangue with effect, and so powerful in tone as to be heard distinctly amid the din of battle. The newly elected chief, before setting out with his warriors, to prepare himself for action would endure long fastings to propitiate the powers of good and evil; he would also scan his dreams, which in this season of preparation were for him so many oracular responses. The warriors, as a prelude to the campaign, would collectively repeat a prayer to their gods for success; all this followed by the war-dance, the movements and gestures in which were significative of what passed in real combats. The dance finished, a solemn feast would succeed, dog's flesh being the only viand devoured. During such a banquet, the warrior-chief would entertain the company with a vaunting discourse, the subject being the great deeds already done by himself and his ancestors.

All preliminaries over, at a preconcerted signal the petty army would set forth. So long as the path of the warriors lay through their own hunting grounds, they marched in little order, dispersing occasionally to kill or entrap game for their subsistence by the way, and re-assembling each night at stated places, to encamp together. But the instant they set foot on alien territory they kept close together, advanced stealthily, and communicated with each other rather by signs than words. At all times, but in time of war more especially, the aborigines were careful observers of the natural features of the countries through which they passed. They turned this observation to after account; and could anticipate safety or danger for themselves from the most trivial signs. So keen was their scent, that they were sensible of the existence of dwellings, though distant, by the odour of their smoke wafted [Pg 108] from afar. So sharp were they of vision, that they could discern the trail of a human being or animal of any kind, though impressed on the ground or herbage ever so lightly; specifying at once the sex and stature of the persons, and the length of time since they passed. In order to hide their marches, if that were desirable, the warriors would move in single file, each man putting his foot-plant in the trace left by his predecessor, and covering it with leaves. If a river or other stream flowed parallel to their course, they would walk in it rather than on land, so as to spare themselves the trouble of obliterating foot-marks.

Arrived at the scene of action, a council was called, and a plan of attack adopted. Before daybreak, if their enemies were supposed to be asleep, they glided into their village or camp, shot a flight of arrows against them, accompanied by the war-whoop; then rushing upon them, tried to complete the work of murder with clubs and tomahawks. They usually took prisoners as many as survived who were fit to walk; others they scalped before they left the scene of carnage. As the attack was sudden, so would the retreat of the assailants be precipitate, whether successful or repulsed. When followed or intercepted by avengers, the retiring party without scruple massacred their prisoners, and continued their flight. If left unmolested, on the other hand, the captives were carefully guarded, especially at night. The latter, anticipating their doom, would make the forests resound with funereal strains such as these: "I am about to die a cruel death, yet I fear not the torture I shall first have to suffer ere life quit this body. My end shall be that of one who is as stubborn to endure as his enemies are stern to inflict. Thus shall I fit myself to enter into company with the spirits of those heroes, my ancestors, who have passed to the land of shadows before me." [85]

When the victors returned to their villages, the females, with the invalid and juvenile population, went out to meet them, uttering exclamations of welcome and triumph. The prisoners, ranged in order, had each to run the gauntlet between a double file of men, who cudgelled them as they passed through. Those of them who were destined to die at once, were given up to the untender mercies of the war chiefs; others were, it might be, reserved and put at the disposition of the head of the tribe. Each of the first-named was tied to a post, and his suffering began; but sometimes they did not terminate till the lapse of several days of purposely prolonged torture, such as it is inconceivable that any other beings than demons could inflict. The sufferers, either from pride of spirit, or in a forlorn hope of provoking their tormentors to despatch them outright, braved them to do their worst. But such diabolical enormities were perpetrated only, we are told, upon the persons of the leaders of alien tribes: warriors not of high rank were burnt alive or enslaved.

The French missionaries did all that was possible to persuade the savages to renounce such barbarities: and as the most likely means to effect this end, called into play a selfish motive for adopting more humane usages, by inducing the captors of prisoners to keep or sell them as slaves; thus securing these unfortunates, at least, from such a death as we have, with intentional vagueness, described above.

The lives of such prisoners as were turned over to the chief of a tribe, were usually spared, in order that they might replace those warriors whom it had just lost. By this means, the amount of its fighting men, so far as the number thus adopted extended, would be maintained. Such substitutes, we are assured, were treated with the same consideration as the native-born of the community. There was good policy in this mode of treating captives as well as humanity; for by what other ties than those of kindness could the adopting party secure the attachment of the adopted?

With dispositions so vindictive as the savages habitually manifested, it may seem strange that their ordinary wars, if sharp, were also short; but their aggregate numbers, as we have seen, being very limited, the whole race would have been all but exterminated, [Pg 110] had their internecine hostilities been carried on for such a length of time as among European nations. The interruption given to the pursuit of animals by a long-continued pursuit and slaughter or capture of men, would, in no long time, have led starvation into the households of the belligerents. A state of peace—such peace as savages may brook—soon became, therefore, a necessity for all. The only difficulty was, how to bring it about; for the untutored savage, as well as the civilised man, must always have his feelings of self-love carefully respected! These having been tenderly handled, the chiefs and elders of the party most wearied of the war would wait upon the like personages in the antagonistic camp, and proffer terms of pacification. Such would probably be rejected at first, with real or feigned contempt. But, by degrees, the repelling parties would be talked into consent. It was usual, on such occasions, for the applicants to bring with them a kind of smoking-pipe, of particular make, called by Europeans "the calumet of peace." The palaver, or conference, fairly begun, it was the duty of a subordinate chief to fill the bowl of the pipe with tobacco, which, having lighted, he raised it toward the sky, then, depressing it, turned the end to each of the four cardinal points of the horizon; thereby inviting the powers of heaven, earth, and the atmosphere to sanction the transaction by their presence. The hereditary chief then taking the pipe in hand, drew from it a few puffs of smoke, which he blew forthwith, first heavenward, then all around, and next on the earth. The calumet was then passed to the other chiefs present, each of whom pressed it to his lips. If peace were conceded, a reddened hatchet was buried, as a symbol that oblivion of all past hostility between the contracting parties was to follow. A mutual exchange of neck ornaments sealed the treaty, after its terms were debated and determined. But all was not over yet, for the chiefs, on each side, proffered and accepted presents of rare articles; such as calumets of price, embroidered deer-skins, &c. This kind of ceremonial barter being terminated, to mutual satisfaction or otherwise, the conference broke up.

In times of peace; almost the sole occupations of the natives were hunting and fishing. The womankind among the North American Indians were the men's born-slaves; and, as such, did all [Pg 111] kinds of servile work, out-door labour included. To put hand to the latter was to degrade a savage, both in self-estimation and in the eyes of his fellows. Even the toils of hunting were habitually put off by the "noble savage," till the calls of hunger forced him to take to the woods or the water for prey. From the latter he chiefly derived his food in summer time: in the winter season from the forest; the skins of furred animals then being in their best state, an important consideration for him. In default of animal food, wild fruit and edible roots, oak and beech mast, even the inner bark of trees, were had recourse to for the support of a miserable existence.

The native bourgades, or settlements, were constantly being broken up: for the game and fish in the contiguous forests and streams were soon captured or scared away; and these parts of the wilderness, like exhausted arable ground, had to lie fallow, as it were, to recover. It was therefore difficult for the early traders or colonists to maintain steady relations with any portion of the native tribes.

To speculate upon the probability or even possibility of the existence of governmental institutions among such a people, would be idle. For such to exist, communities of men must be of a stable character, the first requisites being security for life and property. The aborigines of New France possessed none of the latter worthy of the name. As proper enjoyment of the benefits attending acquisition demands some fixity of habitation, and the Indians were almost all wanderers in the wilderness, what security for human life there could be among them we have already seen, or may easily divine. [86]

The first Europeans who visited the aborigines of Canada reported unanimously that no religious worship existed among them. The Micmacs and the savage tribes nearest to them, says Champlain, used no devotion for any superior being, nor any religious ceremonies. One tribe (the Cenis), according to Joutel, had [Pg 112] no certain notion of a supreme God. But though the savages had no religion, as we understand that term, they made habitual offerings to departed or unseen existences,—a kind of sacrifice which other reporters called worshipping; and all, or almost all the natives recognised supernatural beings, to whom they addressed aspirations for aid in critical circumstances. Those of Canada, in particular, assured Champlain that each prayed to his own deity in heart if not orally. But these inward emotions had none of the purity of religious aspirations. Valour and virtue were with them, as with the pagans of old, convertible terms. High desert, in a future as in the present state, was rewarded by a sensual paradise, reserved for the Indian warrior who had killed the greatest number of enemies, and exalted the renown of his tribe. His Hades was an imagined land of gloom, destitute of game, and all other creature comforts, whose inhabitants, sluggards and cowards on earth, lived forever in a wretched and despicable state of existence. Like the heathen of antiquity, also, the North American Indians deified the supposed powers of the visible universe, and its more striking natural phenomena. A "spirit" they supposed to be at work when air and water were in conflict, who would of course be the god or demon of storms; it was thus they would account for thunder and lightning, eclipses, &c. The sun, moon, and stars would also be considered as conscious entities by such a people. But of the existence even of a leading divinity, such as the Jupiter of the ancients, they do not seem to have dreamed. The first notion of "a Great Spirit," who created and sustains the universe, it is reasonable to believe, was suggested to them by those spiritual interrogations—which lawyers would call "leading questions"—addressed to them by missionaries and others, willing to believe, for the credit of human nature, on slender evidence, that no entire race of human beings, however barbarous in manners or degraded in mind, ever was or could be destitute of belief in a Supreme being. [87]

When the natives were preparing for a hostile expedition, they tried to propititiate war-loving Spirits, by prayers and fastings. [Pg 113] When setting out for the chase, preliminary fastings were supposed to be agreeable to the tutelary spirits of the creatures to be hunted. Superstitious respect was paid to the bones of the more redoubtable animals of the wilderness, seemingly out of sympathetic regard for fierce natures, akin to their own. [88] If the amplitude of a river, the height of a peak, the depth of a stream, the roar of a waterfall, arrested their attention in a region newly visited, their oblations were offered to the spirits of these waters, that rock, &c. The sacrificing, in such cases, was usually an offering of tobacco thrown into the river, or a headless bird thrown towards the adored height, if too lofty to be reached. The Cenis and the Agennis offered the first-fruits of their fields to such spirits as these.

The Spirit of evil, [89] and the spirit of war, were to be propitiated by bloody sacrifices only. The Hurons presented to them the carbonated flesh of slaughtered dogs as a burnt offering. Human sacrifices took place only at savage feastings after a victory. Jogues reported, that, when he was among the Iroquois, they sacrificed an Algonquin woman in honour of Agreskoné, their war-god: inviting that grim demon, as if he were present, to feast on the murdered woman's flesh; and as an acknowledgment of the homage, he was expected to grant his worshippers more victories.

The natives believed in tutelary angels, [90] under whose protection they set themselves, after long fastings. They put faith in dreams, and believed that superior beings therein gave directions and warnings to the sleepers for their guidance when awake. To disobey an unseen spirit was to court evil; though it was permissible to interpret such communications as the subject of it chose. Each person, too, was free to choose his own tutelary genii.

The savages thus peopling the universe with spiritual existences, necessarily were induced to put faith in human beings pretending to be interpreters of supernatural communications, and to fathom the mysteries of nature. The parties assuming such powers, once recognised among ourselves as diviners, but now known as impostors, the Indians called "medicine" men or women. These jugglers pretended, and were believed to permit or prevent rain at will, to turn aside thunderbolts, to predict events, to secure success in hunting, fishing, &c.; and were held in high estimation accordingly. They were also the only mediciners of their tribe. They undertook to cure diseases and heal wounds, by the use of herbs, &c., accompanying their administration with superstitious ceremonies, to enhance the curative virtues.

The funereal observances of the Indians were of a touching character. They mourned over their dead, uttering cries and groans for months together. [91] They covered the corpse, if that of a man, with his finest vestments, painted his visage, and exposed his body at the door of his hut, with the distinctive symbols appended which he wore in life. A warrior of the same tribe as the defunct would vaunt his past exploits in war and hunting. In some tribes, the women, upon such occasions, wept, danced, and sang, incessantly. When the time for sepulture came, a tobacco-pipe was placed in the mouth of the dead man, a club or tomahawk at his side, with one of his idols and a bow placed upon his chest. Thus equipped, the corpse was lowered into a deep grave, lined with furs. It was then covered over, with tender care. A memorial stone or other mark was set up; to which were affixed divers votive articles, as signs of the esteem of the offerers for the departed. Sometimes his likeness, cut in wood, was attached, [92] with graven symbols added, intimating the great acts he had done during life.

Among the Hurons, two funereal celebrations were performed. [Pg 115] The first was private, and took place on the day of the party's death; the second, a public ceremony, was postponed till a future time. In some places, the remains of the dead were borne in procession from village to village; and at the close of the solemnity they were deposited in a great tomb, serving as a place of general sepulture.

This public cemetery was hung with furred skins, and the dead within were ranged in an appointed order. Here their relations placed about them numerous articles of value, as memorials of the deceased. As every corpse arrived, the females who accompanied it uttered groans and lamentations; and each of the persons present took a small portion of earth from the newly made grave, which they afterwards carefully preserved, as believing that it brought luck to the possessor in gambling. [93]

One of the most singular celebrations among the aborigines was the festival of Dreams. This was attended or followed by real saturnalia, during which they worked themselves into a state of frenzy, and, like so many drunkards or madmen, would sometimes rush from the scene of revelling, torch in hand, and set fire to their villages.

They were much addicted to games of chance. The favourite play was that of "the bones," or dice, of which there were two, cut with unequal facets; one black, the other light yellow in colour. These were thrown into a kind of bowl. The losing party, after a certain number of throws, was replaced by others, until every man in the village had tried his fortune in the play. Sometimes a struggle for superiority at the game took place between the people of two villages: and upon such important occasions, the antagonist players addressed invocations to their tutelary spirits promising them votive offerings if luck were vouchsafed, imploring [Pg 116] favourable dreams, &c.; on the other hand, uttering defiances of their adversaries, and, these being retorted, often quarrels, ending in fights, would follow. In all cases, such matches lasted for days, amid general clamour, with triumphal cries on one part, and imprecations on the other.

The weakest of all the animal passions of the North American Indians was that arising from the sexual desires. Considering the degraded state of their females, it would be wonderful had the affections of the men for them been at all ardent.—As soon as the young attained nubile years, they were allowed all freedom, and "thought no harm of it," to use the words of Lescarbot. From this early and unrestrained frequentation, we may deduce one cause of the limited fecundity of the native women; as well as from their practice of suckling their children for several years. [94] We may attribute also, in part, the comparative paucity of progeny among savages, to the difficulties they everywhere meet with in rearing their offspring.

Eloquence was an accomplishment in such high esteem among the aborigines, that he who harangued the most volubly, no less than another who fought with the greatest success, had a fair chance to be elected as chief of a tribe. The native languages, being highly figurative, were well adapted for oratory.

The social history of a race may give beforehand an idea of the condition of its language; and what we have already set down in this work suffices for judging of the state in which the spoken dialects of North America were found when it was discovered. We ought not to expect to find among savages such perfect idioms as can belong only to the language of a highly civilised people; nevertheless the several Indian dialects were found to be complete in their organisation, and obedient to their own rules. [95] No horde [Pg 117] has ever yet been found speaking a language without order in its phrases, or composed of incoherent sounds of no distinct signification; for the spirit given to man, and which operates independently of his will, follows laws as fixed as those of nature, and manifests itself in vocables logically adapted to proper forms of thought. No aboriginal language bears the impression of an arbitrary increase of established terms, such as slowly results from the labour and invention of man. Language is born ready made with man. The dialects of savage tribes indeed bear the stamp, if you will, of their social conditions; but they are also clear, uniform, and well fitted, without having been regularised by the grammarian, to convey, with logical precision, the expression of all the passions. "Reason and speech exist everywhere bound together indissolubly," says Bancroft. "No people has ever been found without a formed language, any more than a race destitute of perception and memory."

The organs of speech being in mankind constituted alike, all are capable of learning the language of each, for the primitive sounds are essentially the same. This is so true, that the French alphabet served to express, from the first, the sounds of the native idioms; occasionally, however, with some slight variations. Thus the Onneyouths changed r into l, saying Lobelt for Robert. The other Iroquois, again, rejected the letter l, and in none of their dialects did the sound of m exist; neither had they any other labials. Of the different dialects of this people, that of the Onneyouths was the softest, being the only one which admitted the letter l; while the Isonnonthouans was the roughest but most energetic. The Algonquin dialects over-abounded in consonants, and were therefore harsh: but even in them there were exceptions, the Abenaqui language, for instance; which, having more vowels, was pretty melodious.

As we have already intimated, the aborigines, having adopted no characters, were of course destitute of the art of writing. Their communications with each other were by the voice; or, where that failed, by the help of hieroglyphic marks rudely traced. We might conclude from this fact that alphabetic signs originated in figures of persons or objects, or personified ideas, so modified in time as to have lost all resemblance to their antetypes. The rude lineaments [Pg 118] of some animal, serving as a symbol, cut on the bark of a birch-tree, would indicate to a wayfaring native that a member of his own or some other recognisable tribe had lately passed through the forest; and other significative marks appended thereto might communicate a desire, or impart some intention. These devices were sufficient, upon occasion, to embody the pith of two or three short verbal messages, &c., but they would of course be unsuited to record the "short and simple annals" of even the most primitive populations within the pale of civilisation.

The natural intelligence of the aborigine did not lend itself readily to analysis; nor was such a process often needed by him, for he would have few complex ideas; and it is certain that, in all the native tongues, words expressing things purely of abstract nature, or significant of mental operations, are totally wanting. In none do we find terms to interpret our names for justice, continence, gratitude, or the like.

The most distinguishing feature of the American languages, is their synthetic character. The savage does not separate the constituent parts of the proposition he enounces; his ideas he expresses in groups, and thus forms his completed word-picture. In fine, the absence from his mind of all reflective reason, of the want of logical analysis in his ideas, are the traits ever conspicuous in his modes of expression. [96] Every substantive term ought to be definite, that is, complete for itself; but neither the Algonquins nor Iroquois could express the sense of father, without adding to it the pronouns my, our, your, &c. The savages had few generic terms, or none; for every entity had to be designated by his, her, or its proper name. They would speak of a tree—say, an oak—as being green, or having some other attribute; but they had not the words tree and oak as simple terms. The nature of their languages obliged them to make one word serve for noun, pronoun, and adjective; but this collective nature could afterwards take verbal forms, undergo all changes needful, and comprise in itself every relation which those forms would express. [97]

The terminations of the verbs never changed. For the inflexions [Pg 119] in our languages indicating variations of modes, tenses, &c., the Indian languages had verbal affixes, which served the same purpose. For an instance of the collocative quality in their root-words above referred to, let us assign as an example the noun ogila, which signified "fire," and the adjective cawaunna, "great." Instead of expressing a "great fire," by those two words, they intermingled them thus: co-gila-waunna. There existed among all the American languages, from Hudson's Bay to the straits of Magellan, an analogy worthy of being noted; which is, a total disparity in their words, along with a great likeness in the structure of the dialects themselves. If we remember that this lingual phenomenon obtained throughout regions (almost a moiety of the terrestrial portion of our planet) stretching nearly from pole to pole, if we reflect upon the several shadings which existed in the grammatical combinations, we need not be surprised to find, among so considerable a portion of the whole human race, a uniform tendency in the development of intelligence and language. [98]

Reasoning thence, Mr. Gallatin was of opinion that this uniformity of character in the grammatical forms and in the structure of all the American languages, indicates a common origin in times far remote. The synthetic nature of aboriginal languages justifies us, some say, in drawing another conclusion yet more sure; which is, that the ancestors of our savages were not a people of nations more civilized than they, and that their languages yield inherent proof that these have not been spoken among any population but those dwelling in mental darkness, where had never shone the sun of civilization. Others again say, perhaps with more reason,—the great Humboldt being one,—that none of the American languages is in that state of rudeness for long ages mistakenly believed to characterise the infancy of human races: adding, that the more closely we examine the structure of a great number of idioms, the more shall we distrust those great divisions into synthetic and analytic languages; a specious classification, he says, which has but a deceptious simplicity. [99]

The question has been raised occasionally,—Are the red men as intellectually capable as the whites? If such a question had been put to the Romans, regarding the mental capability of the barbarians who invaded Italy, they would probably have replied to it as we now do in respect of our savages. Vainly do some reasoners, in order to account for the fruitlessness of all attempts hitherto made to civilize the latter, draw its explanatory inferences from the peculiar make of savage skulls, from their features, nay, from their very complexion. Suggestions of this kind are to be distrusted, as merely hypothetical, and therefore little worthy of acceptance in the present case. How many generations had to pass away, before the barbarians who inundated the Roman Empire could be civilized and christianized! and yet they settled amongst numerous and well-policied populations. They were surrounded with monuments of the fine arts, and had at their disposition the scientific inventions, the products of the highest genius and most consummate skill, that had then ever existed. If, instead of being located amid such means for self-improvement, they had found a wilderness to rove in, inhabited by wild animals only, should we be able to calculate with nicety how long it would have taken for those barbarians to raise themselves from the abyss of their degradation? Nothing, then, authorises the belief that the intellectual faculties of savages are, by nature, inferior to those of the barbarians who overran the Empire of Rome; yet who, or their descendants, became fused in the most civilized populations of early Christendom.

In illustration of the mental powers of the Indians, as estimated by one of our historical personages, nigh two centuries ago, [Pg 121] we shall refer to the report of a conference between M. de Frontenac and deputies of the Iroquois, held at Cataraqui, in 1673: "You would have been assuredly surprised, my lord, had you listened to the eloquent oratory, and marked the subtle spirit with which all those deputies harangued and reasoned. Did I not fear to incur your ridicule, I would venture to intimate that the noble presence of these deputies, in conference with me, recalled to my mind, somewhat, a meeting of the senate of Venice; albeit the fur coverings and the blankets of the Indian diplomatists differed greatly from the robes of ceremony worn by the procurators of St. Mark." [100]

Among the Iroquois who were fain to pass into Canada after the American revolution, was one of their number who had achieved some reputation as a man of letters. Tyendinaga was his Indian name; but he was better known to the whites as Colonel Brant, from having held a lieutenant-colonelcy in the British service. He received a classical education in one of the colleges of New England, and was specially cognizant of the dead languages. He translated into Iroquois, from the Greek, the Gospel of St. Matthew. He was reputed to be of a cruel disposition; and the poet Campbell gave him the discredit, in "Gertrude of Wyoming," rightly attaching to some atrocious acts of others, which he never committed. But the poet erased, in the second edition of his Gertrude, at the request of Brant's son, the accusations he had brought against his father. [101] Tyendinaga, in his latter years, retired, on half-pay, to a property he received, within twenty leagues of Niagara.

If the savages have succumbed before civilisation, it is, first, because of the paucity of their numbers; and next, because civilisation appeared among them all at once, without any transition, with all the completeness it had acquired in a progressive course of some thousands of years: besides, the whites laboured rather to despoil than to instruct them. The annals of the nations of antiquity prove, that conquest usually annihilated communities the most civilised and populous.

But if the savages were susceptible of civilisation, we must conclude that they had never come in contact with the people of a nation more advanced in the arts of life than they; nor had any such contact really taken place even in the remotest ages: for then they would have preserved somewhat of the advantages thereby to be acquired. They had nowhere the habitudes of that second stage in the progress of nations, the pastoral state. They had neither herds nor flocks, and were ignorant of the use of animals' milk as a nourishment for persons of all ages. Wild bees they knew of; honey-comb, doubtless, they sought after, but its wax they turned to no account. Iron they were not cognisant of; or if they were, they were incapable of smelting the ore: and no nation ever attained to high material improvement without its use.

These negational data being assigned, respecting the state of the North American Indians, when first visited by Europeans, are we thence to draw the positive inference, that their ancestors could not have been immigrants from Asia, in every region of which the above [Pg 123] commodities have abounded during countless ages? But central America, we now know, was once the seat of civilisation: the ruins of Palenque and Mitla, cities which of old stood proudly on the table-land of Mexico, indicate the presence there, during unascertained tracts of time, of a nation far advanced in the arts; as the late Mr. Prescott has so well expounded, in his admirable history of the Conquest of Mexico.

The red races of America present a striking facial likeness to the Mongols. Mr. Ledyard, a distinguished traveller from the United States, wrote from Siberia that the Mongols resemble, in every respect, the aborigines of America; and that there still exist in their remote region of northern Asia very perceptible traces of a current of emigration having flowed, from the north-west to the eastward and to the south, at some far distant time. The Tschuckchi of the north-west of Asia, and the Esquimaux of America, appear to have had the same origin, as the affinity of their languages indicates; and though the Tschuckchi and the Tungounas do not understand the Esquimaux tongue, the latter regard themselves and the former as people of one race. [102] The Tunassas of Siberia are the perfect bodily counterparts of our aborigines; and if we traverse America, starting from the north, we find more primitive languages towards the gulf of Mexico than anywhere else; [103] as if the nations, brought to a stand by the narrowing of the upper continent at this point, had been precipitated as it were on each other. There existed a communication between the continent of North America and Asia. A Jesuit, when travelling in the latter continent, was astonished, once on a time, in meeting an American savage whom he had known in Canada. [104]

Adopting the hypothesis of an Asiatic immigration, [105] we are to [Pg 124] conclude, then, that the Esquimaux and the Tschuckchi composed the extremity of the supposed great torrent of incoming population; which would come to a halt at the time when the two peoples were, one on the American sea-margin the other on the opposite side; and separated, at Behring's straits, by a sea-passage only about fifty miles wide.

The Californians and the Atzecs themselves claim a northern origin; [106] and all ethnic data that have been brought together in reference to the present subject, confirm the opinion, that the aborigines of the New World had their origin in the Old; and that those of North America, in particular, less advanced as they were and are than the race which raised the monuments found in Mexico and in other southern regions of the continent, had their origin in the deserts of Tartary. It would be impossible to conceive, in reality, of a greater similitude between two peoples, separated so long in time and so far removed in space, than that we find between the American savages and the Asiatic Tartars. [107]

We are well aware, now-a-days, how much influence climate has upon the physical nature of man; how it modifies his manners his morals, and even the tendencies of his mind. The old native citizen of the United States is quite a different person from the man of British birth. The Anglo-American is tall, lean, lathy; his complexion pale, or sun-embrowned or wind-dried. The Briton is of stout make, his complexion sanguineous, and freshened by the moist nature of his native climate. The descendants of the British races in federated America retain, in a word, little of the outward aspect that would conclusively identify them as being, in flesh, blood, and bone, the same human stock that became located in the now United States, at intervals, during the 17th or 18th centuries, and even the now elapsed years of the present century.

Louis Kertk gives up Quebec to the French.—Champlain returns to Canada as governor, and strives to attach the aborigines to the interests of France.—College of the Jesuits built at Quebec.—Death of Champlain (1635).—M. de Châteaufort succeeds him as governor.—M. de Montmagny.—War between the Iroquois confederation and the Hurons.—Father Lejeune founds the native village of Sillery.—Foundation of Montreal by M. Maisonneuve. Foundation of the Hôtel-Dieu and Ursuline convent.—Peace-time for all the Indian tribes; this is first broken by the Agniers.—M. d'Ailleboust replaces M. de Montmagny as governor.—War between the Iroquois and Hurons; the latter finally beaten and as a nation broken up (1649-50).—The colonists New England propose a treaty of perpetual alliance with the inhabitants of New France.—M. de Lauson succeeds to M. d'Ailleboust. The Iroquois, after their victory over the Hurons, fall upon the French establishments.—M. d'Argenson replaces M. de Lauson.—Devotedness of M. Daulac.—Peace made with the Iroquois.—Baron d'Avaugour appointed governor-general: his quarrels with the Bishop.—Earthquake of 1663.—D'Avaugour recalled; M. de Mésy succeeds him.—Dissolution of the Company of 100 Partners; Canada becomes a royal province of France.

We now take up the thread of historical facts, laid aside from the date (1632) of the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye.—The huguenot, Louis Kertk, kept Quebec for three years, in England's name; and gave it up, become a heap of ruins, [108] to M. de Caën, in terms of a clause in that treaty. The Company of the Hundred Partners resumed possession of the place during the following year. [Pg 127] Champlain, re-appointed governor, arrived with a richly laden fleet, and took administrative charge of the colony. A guard of soldiers, composed of pike-men and musketeers, with drums beating, landed and marched to fort St. Louis, of which M. Duplessis-Bouchard took command.

Recollecting the many efforts hitherto made by France to defend Canada, Champlain sought to attach to her interest the native tribes, the Hurons more especially, to whom he sent missionaries to preach the Gospel: these were Jesuits. Occasion had been taken, from the abeyance of French domination, to exclude the Recollets, though these friars were very popular in the colony; because it had long been thought that the presence of a mendicant order in a new missionary field, was more burdensome than useful. The Recollets in vain petitioned the Government to let them return. [109]

For an instant, immigration to the colony sensibly increased. Among the new-comers were many rural labourers and artisans of the more useful kinds: besides a number of persons of good family, who sought in New France that tranquillity denied them in the Old; inhabiting, as they previously did, those French provinces wherein the Protestants outnumbered the Catholics.

In 1635, René de Rohant, a French Jesuit priest, son of the Marquis de Gamache, laid the foundation-stone of the college of Quebec.—This was altogether a year of great promise for the colony; but before it closed, New France suffered a heavy loss, in the person of its governor and best friend, who died on Christmas-day.

His first calling was that of a mariner; and he distinguished himself, as such, in the service of Henry IV. The commandeur de Chastes singled him out as a fit person to command and direct the first of those expeditions from France to the New World which have caused his name to become a household word in Canada. Endowed with sound judgment and quick perception, he conceived quickly, and followed up his plans (all eminently practical) with a perseverance that no surmountable obstacles could discourage. Thirty years of untiring efforts to establish and extend the French possessions in America, often under the most unpromising circumstances, prove the inflexible steadiness of the resolution he brought to his great task,—the exaltation of New France. And this he chiefly effected, not by military or naval force,—for he had little of either at command,—but by equitable diplomacy and Christianising influences. For one deviation from his system of peaceful polity, he has been very severely censured, more as we think than the occasion called for; we mean, his waging war against the Iroquois. But the war, in which he thus took part, was not one of his making; and he was always ready to listen to reasonable proposals for the cessation of hostilities. Had he lived, the Huron tribes, whose confidence he possessed, would assuredly have found in him a friend able and willing to save them from that perdition which they were fated to suffer not long after his death.

Champlain has left us a relation of his voyages and expeditions, in which we find its author an attentive and judicious observer and a conscientious narrator. The work itself gives valuable notices on the geography and physical aspect of the countries he visited; and abounds in details, interesting and curious, on the condition and manners of their inhabitants. He had a religious turn of mind; but, like many of his compatriots, he distrusted the influence of the Jesuits. He preferred the Franciscan order, to that of St. Ignatius; the former having, as he said, "less (political) ambition." The Jesuits, however, having exerted their influence with the court of France to obtain permission to supersede the Recollets, gained their point. Doubtless that influence soon became of great service; for, more than once, the French kings were about to renounce the colony, and each time they abstained [Pg 129] therefrom, chiefly through religious motives. In these crises, the Jesuits, directly interested in Canada, powerfully seconded the founder of it. [110]

Champlain had a comely visage, a noble and soldierly bearing, and a vigorous constitution that enabled him to bear the wear-and-tear of body and mind which he underwent in a troublous career. He crossed the Atlantic fully a score of times, to defend the colony's interests at Paris. By the death of Henry IV, two years after the foundation of Quebec, he lost a good master and friend, whom he had faithfully served, and who had, in return, been greatly helpful to him.

As has been said before, Champlain brought his wife to Canada in 1620. She was a daughter of Nicholas Boulé, a protestant, and secretary of the royal household at Paris. The marriage-contract was signed late in 1610: but as the lady was then too young, it did not take effect till two years later; yet 4,500 livres tournois, out of a dowry of 6,000, were paid down. Champlain bequeathed, in advance, the usufruct of all his fortune to his wife, "in case he should decease while employed on sea and land in the royal service."

It would seem that he left no issue when he did die. The Recollets began to keep the parish registers [111] of Notre-Dame of Quebec during the following year. "When we open the first of these," says M. Ferland, "a pardonable curiosity impels to a search for any entries which might exist therein of the Champlain [Pg 130] family, in regard to whom other contemporary documents are silent. One would gladly trace the family history of the founder of Quebec, if its course lay amid the people for whom he opened up a new country to dwell in; one would gladly learn whether any of our Canadian families have a right to claim him for ancestor. But I have ascertained, not without chagrin, after careful research, that there exists not, in all probability, a single descendant of his in the colony he created, and in which his remains were reposited." [112]

Dame Champlain remained in Canada only four years. She returned to France in 1624, and appears never to have again revisited America. She founded a convent of Ursulines at Meaux, [113] took the veil herself, and entered her own foundation as "sister Helen of St. Augustin." [114] There she died in 1654.

The successor of Champlain was M. de Châteaufort, of whom we know little more than his name. He was replaced by M. de Montmagny, knight of Malta, who resolved to follow out the system [Pg 131] adopted by Champlain; but he took the reins of government in hand at a very critical time, by reason of the war of extermination then in progress between the Iroquois and the Hurons, now more than ever envenomed against each other. The establishment of the company surnamed "the Hundred Partners" had raised among the Hurons hopes of extended traffic in peltry with its agents, and other expected benefits to such a height, that this nation became insufferably presumptuous, and led its leaders into acts of such indiscreet daring, despite all the warnings given them by Champlain, that the ruin of their cause, as we have just intimated, soon followed upon his decease.

The Iroquois, more subtle than the Hurons, employed stratagems to hasten the annihilation of the latter as an independent nation. They made a hollow peace with a majority of the tribes; yet soon afterwards, under divers pretexts, they attacked their outermost settlements. The device became apparent only when the break of war fell in like a thunder-storm upon the astounded sense of the Huron nation. The scattered tribes of the latter were taken all unprepared by this sudden onslaught of enemies, before whom terror stalked. The Huron leaders were utterly disconcerted; and as often happens, in similar cases, among civilized populations, every movement they made to resist or escape from their mortal enemies became disastrous in its results.—Charlevoix, in an after-reflection upon their defensive war-policy at this time, thus expresses himself: "Nothing humiliates the surviving Hurons so much as the recollection of the murders they committed during their last operations against the Iroquois."

Meanwhile the war between the savages served to open the eyes of those who believed that the colonists could dictate the law to the aborigines as soon as the new Company should exist. It was now plain that the great association, which loomed so large in the distance, was incapable even of doing the little it had promised to effect in the expected direction.

It was in 1636 that the Iroquois penetrated, for the first time collectively, into the midst of the Huron hordes. Four years afterwards, war recommenced with vigour: but the Hurons, become heedful by defeats, were found more ready to resist their potent adversaries; over whom, occasionally, they even obtained [Pg 132] some signal advantages,—for the Huron warriors, generally, were equal to the Iroquois combatants in courage, but their discipline was inferior, while their presumption was greater.

Somewhat disconcerted by the spirited resistance of the Hurons, which they had not anticipated, the wily Iroquois set about separating the former from their French auxiliaries, so as to have only one body of enemies to encounter at a time. They detached 300 warriors, divided into several bands, who were directed to take prisoner as many of the Hurons as they could lay hands on. They were, at the same time, to capture a number of the French; the latter to be kindly treated, the former to be cruelly used: the design of this marked contrast in treatment being to make the Hurons become jealous of their French allies! This poor invention, born of savage subtlety, having failed, its devisers feigned an intention of attacking the post of Trois-Rivières, commanded by M. de Champflours; then suddenly seeming to relent, they sued for peace and gave up the French prisoners they had taken. M. de Montmagny in person came to Trois-Rivières to meet the Iroquois envoys: but the Governor penetrated their design and broke off the negociations; for though he could not deal these Indians, when hostilely disposed, any heavy blow, he always sought to present a bold front towards them. His situation, nevertheless, was really very disquieting. With his scanty garrison, he could only be a passive witness of the struggles of the savages, not always escaping insults from both of the contending parties. The French flag they had ceased to respect, daringly advancing to the mouths of the cannon mounted on the works. The forlorn state in which the government left this important post was a subject of astonishment to all.

In effect, whatever progress the colony was making generally, at this time, we must place to the credit of its private members, or individuals not in office. Thus to one of the latter, the commander de Sillery, at the instance of the Jesuits, the "habitation" which took his name as its designation, was founded, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, four miles from Quebec, in the year 1637. [115]

M. de Sillery sprang from a family of distinction. He was a knight of the grand-cross of St. John of Jerusalem, and commander or beneficiary of the Temple of Troyes. When past middle age, he took holy orders, and was ordained a priest A. D. 1634, in the archdiocese of Paris, wherein he ordinarily resided till his death in 1640. His beneficence was great, and reached far. M. de Rozillé had interested him in the well-being of Canada, and had persuaded him to join the company of the Hundred Partners. In the Sillery establishment only savage converts, or those who asked to become such, were received. Individual Algonquins and Montagnais were the first among the neophytes admitted: those were put under the charge of Father Lejeune, who represented M. de Sillery in America. The latter transmitted considerable sums of money for constructing the necessary buildings of the institution. [116]

The establishment of the Island of Montreal was commenced, a few years after the foundation of the Sillery institution. The Hundred Partners company had ceded the island, five years before, to Jacques Girard, seigneur of La Chaussée, who, in turn, parted with it to Jean de Lauzon, intendant in Dauphiny. The missionaries had several times urged the company, but in vain, to occupy that island, its situation being so advantageous for curbing the Iroquois, and for a central region whence to extend missionary operations. The project was taken up by M. de la Dauversière, receiver-general of La Flèche, in Anjou, and under his auspices an association for effecting that end was got up, by thirty-five [Pg 134] rich and influential persons, among whom was the Duke de Liancourt de la Roche Guyon. This company obtained a concession of the island in 1640, and a member of the association arrived at Quebec from France with several immigrating families, some soldiers, and an armament valued at 25,000 piastres, equipped at La Rochelle and Dieppe. Baron Fouquand, who obtained, in 1659, the rest of the island for the company, gave 20,000 livres for his part.

We may form some notion of the careful way in which this colonization was conducted, from the plan which was adopted to have assurance of the religious dispositions of M. de Maisonneuve. The association not only wanted soldiers, but a worthy commander. "I know a gentleman from Champagne, who would suit you well," one day said Father Charles Lalemant (who had then returned to France) to Dauversière; "he lodges at the —— inn." The latter, in order to study closely the character of the person thus recommended, took up his quarters in the house indicated. Having formed an intimacy with his fellow-lodger, Dauversière insensibly led the latter to speak of the proposed establishment at Montreal; he expressed great approval of the design. Finally he said, in confidence, to M. de la Dauversière, that tired as he was of the troublous times at home, he would be glad to quit France and take part in the enterprise; adding, "I would devote life and fortune in carrying it out, not expecting any other recompense than the consciousness of serving God, and the honour of continuing to serve his Majesty with this good sword." Dauversière immediately took him at his word. Charmed at hearing language at once so Christian in spirit, and so loyal in sentiment, he regarded the discovery of so fit a subject for the work in hand as something providential.

M. de Maisonneuve took military service in Holland, at the age of thirteen. "He there preserved his piety among heretical people," says the chronicler. "He learned to play on the lute," we are told by the same authority, "in order to beguile those hours of reclusion he chose to pass secluded from the contact of evil companions." [117] [Pg 135] In due course, he left France, entering Canada in a grateful frame of mind, and with a hopeful spirit.

When M. de Maisonneuve arrived at Quebec, the Governor tried to persuade him to tarry in the Isle d'Orléans, a locality then safe from the hostile attempts of the Iroquois; but the dangers attending the formation of an outlying settlement daunted him not, and he hastened, in the year 1642, to lay a foundation for the settlement of Montreal. The few buildings he erected on the site laid out, he surrounded for defence with wooden palisades, and he named the infant city "Ville-Marie," or Mariopolis. He then began to gather around the place such of the neighbouring natives as had been christened or desired so to be; wishing to teach them the arts of civilization, beginning with culture of the soil. Such were the beginnings of the fair city of Montreal; its nucleus was a school of morality, industry, and the subduing of savage natures,—a noble origination. The ecclesiastical ceremonies attending its inauguration formed as rich a display as the Canadian Church's means at the time could command.

Shortly thereafter, a reinforcement of colonists arrived, led by M. d'Ailleboust de Musseau. During the following year, a second party came. At this time the European population resident in Canada did not exceed two hundred souls. The immigrants who now entered it, had been selected with the utmost care. A Sieur de la Barre came to Canada in 1644, with several colonists placed under his orders by the Queen. He was a man of dissolute habits, but consummate hypocrisy; keeping up a sanctimonious exterior, the better to avert suspicion of his real depravity. This being soon detected, however, he was shipped back to France forthwith.

An enterprise, not unsimilar to that realized, so far, at Ville-Marie, was in progress at Quebec. In the mother settlement, a wood-clad height parted the Jesuits' College from the Hôtel-Dieu, or refuge for the diseased and impotent. On the two intermediate hilly slopes, a few houses, built European fashion, under the walls of the above-named establishments, served as dwellings for the savage neophytes, wherein they might also be habituated [Pg 136] to French modes of life. Natives, of the Montagnais and Algonquin tribes, had already assisted in clearing parts of the table-land upon which the upper city was afterwards erected: and all appearances were favourable, for a time, to the hopes of those who desired to bring the neighbouring savages, the young more especially, under the influences of religion and within the pale of civilization. But the irksomeness attending confinement, impatience of restraint, and the proximity of the wilderness, proved too much for the cultivators of wild natures, ever ready to escape from even the gentlest subjection. In a word, a well-intended project, hopefully begun at Quebec, soon came to nothing; and a more auspicious season for its after realization had to be waited for. [118]

About this time, it is related that two aged savages of a nation which had once inhabited the Island of Montreal, accompanied M. de Maisonneuve to the summit of "Mount-Royal," and (it is to be presumed), calling his attention to the magnificent expanse of country that lay before him, said, "All these lands and waters were once ours; we were a numerous people in those days, but the Hurons drove out our ancestors. Of those they thus expelled, one portion took refuge with the Abenaquis, another got shelter from the Iroquois, and the rest remained in subordination to their conquerors." The Governor, affected by what he heard, asked whether the surviving members of the broken tribe might not yet be brought together; offering, at the same time, that if they could be, and would come under his protection, he would treat them well and supply all their wants. The kind proposal came too late; for the very name of the nation thus ill-treated, had now fallen into oblivion. [119]

An idea strikes the mind, while reflecting upon the above incident, that those aged men may have been survivors of the aborigines found in quiet possession of Hochelaga little more than a century before. The traditions of savages do not go far back [Pg 137] without becoming vague and confused. The early explorers of New France could scarcely advance a step into the wilderness without hearing native accounts of tribes which had existed in times not distant, according to our impressions of the lapse of time, but far remote in the estimation of a race upon whose unrecorded annals each succeeding cycle of revolving time brought total obliteration.

While the well-being of the aborigines was an object of such deep solicitude on the part of many persons, a regard for that of the French residents did not less occupy the thoughts of philanthropic individuals. We have already made mention of the foundation of the Jesuits' College. The Hôtel-Dieu for the sick, and the Ursulines' Convent for training young girls, were also standing proofs of that inexhaustible generosity to which Canada owes almost all the great establishments of education that she possesses. The Hôtel-Dieu of Québec was founded in 1639, by the Duchess d'Aiguillon. In the same year, a young widow of high rank, Madame de Lapeltrie, commenced the erection of a convent of Ursulines; into which, when finished, she retired for the rest of her days. The religieuses who were to inhabit the two foundations, arrived at Quebec from France in one vessel, and landed on the same day. "The occasion was observed as a holiday by all the people of the city: labour was suspended, and the shops were closed. The Governor, with an armed escort, received the heroines of the day on the quay; they left the ship, while the cannoneers of the fort were firing a salute. The first compliments paid, M. Montmagny led them to the High Church, amidst the acclamations of the people, and Te Deum was chanted in thanksgiving for the two-fold benefit which Heaven had now conferred upon Canada." [120]

The Hospital was at first placed at Sillery; but from fear of the Iroquois, it was refounded at Quebec, in 1644.

These pious institutions which still exist to the honour of the country, rose amidst the din of war and amidst perplexing anxieties, caused by the vicissitudes of a troublous time.

We have seen how the negotiation terminated at Trois-Rivières, when the Iroquois, who made deceitful proffers of peace, were unmasked, but not intimidated. Thenceforth the embarrassments [Pg 138] of M. de Montmagny went on increasing. The colonists, who did not begin to sow wheat-seed till A. D. 1644, as thinking the climate too cold for that cereal, did not reap enough of any product to support themselves throughout the year; so that the governor had to partially subsist as well as protect his people. The insecurity of life for a few hundreds of peaceful colonists, amidst thousands of prowling Indians, was a great obstruction to agriculture and planting; for no man could till his ground with any safety without carrying protective arms. [121] The Iroquois habitually made intrusions even to the environs of Quebec, and spread alarm among the French residents on the banks of the St. Lawrence. The audacity of these savages ever increasing, it became necessary at last to resort to energetic measures for putting a stop to their encroachments; and as a preliminary measure, the foundations of a fort were laid at the mouth of the river Richelieu, in view of barring their descents to the lower waters. Discerning the intent of this, an armed band of them, 700 strong, suddenly attacked the builders unawares; by whom the treacherous assailants, however, were repulsed.

To avenge this check, they fell with renewed fury upon the Hurons, over whom their superiority was constantly increasing. The Dutch settlers of New Belgium, now the state of New York, had begun to supply them with fire-arms and ammunition, despite the remonstrances made by M. de Montmagny to the Dutch governor. Deprecations upon this point addressed, to the latter, were civilly replied to, but the practice continued. For some time, the French had suspected that the Dutch were fomenting hostile feeling among the border tribes against them, though the two countries were then at peace. [122]

By this time, the Hurons were nearly reduced to extremity. [Pg 139] The extent of territory held by them was lessening day by day; and its frontiers were being pitilessly desolated; yet those who ought to have defended them hung back from making reprisals, as fearing to incur further assaults from foes who, they said, wished "to swallow them up entirely."

In 1644, the Iroquois laid a plan, on a greater scale than ever before, to overwhelm the colony, by strategic means which seemed too far-reaching for savages to conceive. They began to carry it into effect by dividing their forces into two armies: then subdividing these into small bands, they took post at intervals around the colonial limits; thus inclosing the French territory as in an immense net. At a preconcerted signal, in spring following, they made an irruption, at all points, simultaneously. The positions they took, says Father Jer. Lalemant, were such that they could see their antagonists at four or five leagues' distance, without exposing themselves; and they never made an attack without having the advantage of superior numbers.

Their two first bands were located at the portage of Les Chaudières, the third at the foot of the Long-Sault, and the fourth took post above Montreal. Five other corps were distributed in the post of Montreal isle, the region about Rivière-des-Prairies and lake St. Peter, also in the environs of Trois-Rivières and Fort Richelieu. Lastly, there was a tenth band, charged to carry murder and destruction into the Huron country as soon as the time for action should arrive.

The fifth band, composed of eighty warriors, which lay in ambuscade before Montreal, intending to take the place by surprise, was discovered before it could act, driven off, and dispersed by the garrison. Several of the warriors were killed, and others taken prisoner by the Algonquin allies of the French. The latter savages burned alive the captive Iroquois four days afterwards. In an ambuscade laid by the ninth band near to lake St. Peter, six leagues distant from Trois-Rivières, fell Father Bressani, an Italian Jesuit. He had been two years in Canada, and was about to set out on a mission to the Hurons. [123]

The governor of Fort Richelieu repulsed the band arrayed against that fastness: but he could not, with his few forces, protect the entire territory of the colony, or the lands of his Indian allies; nor reach the hostile Iroquois, ever on the alert to attack or to retire. He, therefore, thought it would be advisable to re-open the negociations for peace formerly initiated by the Iroquois; hoping this time to engage them to consent to an enduring amity with the French. He trusted, for gaining this desirable end, to the influence of superior European diplomacy,—a superiority sensibly felt, if not acknowledged, by the Iroquois themselves. He had personal need of repose, indeed; for he was fairly wearied out, by the sleepless vigils constantly kept up, to prevent his post being taken by surprise.

The governor's first step to obtain a pacification, was to release one of the Iroquois prisoners in his hands, whom he charged to repair to the cantons, and intimate, that if they desired others of their captive countrymen to be set free, envoys must be sent forthwith, charged with full powers to conclude a treaty of peace. This measure had the effect desired. Several chief men repaired to Trois-Rivières, and, after a solemn conference with the governor on the place d'armes of the fort, assented to the terms he proposed. The Algonquins, the Montagnais, the Hurons, and the Attikamègues, conjoined in the same treaty. Amongst the Iroquois nation, only the Agniers canton ratified it, because it was the only one with which the colony was at open war. But the pacification, compassed with much difficulty, was soon violated, as we shall presently see.

The company of the Hundred Partners, which had suffered immense losses during these disastrous struggles, and whose members had disbursed more than 1,200,000 livres besides spending the revenue of the colony, hastened to profit by the suspension of hostilities, to transfer the traffic in peltries to the inhabitants. In the arrangement to this effect entered upon at Paris, the latter were represented by Messrs. Repentigny and Godefroi. The [Pg 141] company made the renunciation of their privileges, which was confirmed by royal edict, for a yearly seignorial rent of a million beaver-skins.

As soon as the treaty with the natives already mentioned was concluded, all the tribes contracting parties to it proceeded to chase and traffic together, as if they had always been good friends. The missionaries had penetrated to the Iroquois head-quarters, and they thought they had overcome the evil dispositions of the Agniers. But a state of unbroken peace was not at all to the taste of these restless and ferocious barbarians for any length of time; and in 1646, hostilities broke out afresh. An epidemic, which made great ravages in one of the tribes, and the loss of their crops by worms, they imputed to the wizardry of Father Jogues, whom they killed with a hatchet: murdering likewise at the same time, a young Frenchman who was in his company. The heads of their victims they exposed on a palisade, the trunks they cast into a river.

After committing these barbarous acts, the Agniers took up arms everywhere, and slaughtered every one who fell in their way. Some Algonquin women, who had escaped as if by miracle, from their gripe, brought intelligence to the French of what was passing in the wilderness. It was about this time that the chevalier de Montmagny was replaced by M. d'Ailleboust. The recall of the former occasioned some surprise; but it was merely a necessary result of a general arrangement just previously entered upon by the court. Commander de Poinci, governor of the French islands in America, had refused to consign his governorship on demand, to a successor; and persisted in retaining his post despite the royal orders. This act of disobedience was not without imitators. To provide against the recurrence of such insubordination, the council of state decided that in future all governors of French dependencies should be changed every three years; and it was in consequence of this rule that De Montmagny was superseded for the time.

Several important events signalised the administration of that governor of New France; such as the establishment of the island of Montreal, and the commencement of the ruin of the Hurons, which, as we shall see, was consummated under the administration of his successor. The Jesuits extended their explorations very far, [Pg 142] in his time, towards the north, and in the west. Father Raimbault even formed a design of penetrating as far as China, evangelising all nations by the way; and thus completing the circle of missionary stations around the whole globe. Although the opening up of heathendom by the indefatigable propagators of the faith were transactions apart from the action of the government, they threw a lustre on the administration of M. de Montmagny, and gave him personally a certain celebrity throughout Europe.

This governor had sought to imitate Champlain's polity in regard to the aborigines. And if the insufficient means put at his disposal did not always enable him to put a curb upon their pugnacious tendencies, he contrived nevertheless, by a happy union of firmness with conciliation, to make his authority respected among all the tribes; and to suspend, for a considerable time, the blow which at last fell upon the luckless Hurons. But a time came, when this interposing influence was to be of no further avail. Louis d'Ailleboust, his successor, came to Canada, as we have seen, with colonists for the island of Montreal, the settlement in which he governed in the absence of M. de Maisonneuve. He was afterwards promoted to the command of Trois-Rivières, a post more important than that of Montreal; therefore with such experience as he thereby gained, he must have known all the country's needs: but he took the lead at a very critical time. [124]—The war of the Iroquois against the Huron tribes recommenced with unwonted fury. In 1648, the former began to press the latter with the whole weight of their superior forces; the resistance of the Hurons not being commensurate, and their efforts were slackened while waiting for Onnontagué auxiliaries, who never came and never intended to come to their aid. The doomed Hurons, on the other hand, refused the offer of an alliance from the Audastes, who were willing and able to help them.

On the 4th of July, 1648, a numerous body of the Agniers-Iroquois, who had been some time in the Huron country without manifesting any hostile intents, fell suddenly upon the flourishing [Pg 143] village of "St. Joseph-des-Attignenonghac," then superintended by Père Antony Daniel, who had been resident among the Hurons during fourteen years. The heathen barbarians slaughtered every human being in the place, Daniel included, to the number of about 700 souls. They then set fire to the huts, the mission-house and church; throwing into the latter, when in full combustion, the hideously mangled corpse of the missionary: thus, unconsciously, according the most befitting funerary pile for a Christian martyr. During the rest of the year, the native villages where the Jesuits had stations, lived in a continual state of panic; never knowing but that they might, at any moment, meet the fate of the murdered converts of St. Joseph.

Nor were their fears groundless.—On the 16th of March, 1649, a body of Iroquois, not so numerous as the former, but nearly all provided with fire-arms, descended upon a Huron settlement, one of a cluster of six, near the shores of the Great Lake. Most of the men were absent at the time, hunting or otherwise employed; so that only the women, the children, the helpless, fell into the power of the invaders. As it was, however, about 400 human beings were slaughtered; those who were despatched at once being the most fortunate. Three persons, who escaped the vigilance of the butchers of their kin, had to run naked into the woods; for the assault took place during the night. These fugitives fled towards one or more of the other stations, and put their people on the alert.

Next day, the same band fell upon the missionary village of St. Louis, the station there taking the name of St. Ignatius: which was then in the care of Père Jean de Brébeuf and Père Gabriel Lallemant, both of whom, with most of the inhabitants, were put to death, in many instances by prolonged tortures. The two Jesuits were subjected to torments such as devils alone would be thought capable of inflicting; all of which, their colleagues reported, they bore with an unfaltering reliance on their Saviour equal to that of the primitive martyrs. [125]

These massacres were followed by open hostilities between the Iroquois and the Hurons, in which, for a time, the latter had alternate successes and defeats; but in a closing combat, the Hurons, overpressed by superior numbers, were totally defeated, losing all their best warriors. Utterly disheartened, the survivors agreed, with one accord, to leave their country. Accordingly, by concert or by tacit consent, every one of their homes was left tenantless, within a few days after the disastrous rout. A portion of those homeless bands, the great majority of whom must have been women and children, took present shelter with such of the nearest tribes as would receive them; others, doubtless the more active individuals, took to the farther wilds. Several Jesuit missionaries who had been domesticated, as it were, in Huron families, emigrated along with them.

When the living wrecks of the broken nation could, in some sort, be gathered up, the question arose where a secure asylum for the whole might be found. The island of Manitoulin in Lake Huron, at that time uninhabited, and reputed to abound in game, was suggested; but most of the Hurons thought it too distant from their old country,—hoping to repossess it some day, perhaps,—and, in the year 1649, the Hurons took possession of [Pg 145] the nearer island of St. Joseph. [126] Here they planted a village numbering a hundred cabins or huts, some having ten, others eight hearths or households each; and a great number of families formed isolated habitations in the vicinity, for the convenience of having a larger expanse of land and water whence to procure subsistence.—But scarcely had the expelled Hurons begun to feel at home in their new holdings, when that evil fate, which had hitherto dogged their steps, reached the isle of refuge, and subjected them to sufferings yet worse to endure, it may be, than those arising from the most calamitous war.

The island they chose proved to be a poor hunting and fishing country. When autumn came, the Hurons found it difficult to subsist themselves, their families, and the orphans of others whom they would probably have to provide for. Winter set in, and with [Pg 146] it came a famine. Reduced to extremity, they devoured the flesh of the dead, even that became putrid; while mothers might be seen, with dying infants on their bosoms, hoping to make a meal of their bodies once before they grew cold. Contagious diseases, the usual accompaniments of extreme privation, followed in the wake of famine, and carried off many of those whom want had spared. Amid such scenes of woe, the missionaries did all they could to comfort the sufferers in life, and to prepare them for death when the supreme hour arrived. But many of the Hurons, in the madness of their despair, turned in wrath upon those good men whom they hitherto had rightly regarded as their best friends; maltreating or cursing them, as if they had been their worst enemies. "The Iroquois," such insensates would exclaim with heathenish unreason, "are foes to us and know not God, and do every kind of wrong to their fellow-men; but they prosper nevertheless. It is only since we renounced the customs of our fathers, that our mortal foes have prevailed against us. What avails it that we give an ear to the Gospel, if ruin and death be the shadows that follow its footsteps?" [127]

Further details of the miseries endured by the unhappy refugees in the island of desolation, it would be as uninviting to read as painful to write; suffice it to say, that in a few months, of the broken bands of the Huron tribes, which might, even in their reduced state, number 800 warriors, scarcely thirty remained in each on the average. All the other surviving adults were, too, either aged men or women.

While the expelled Hurons were thus dying out at St. Joseph's, their enemies were carrying on active hostilities elsewhere. The Iroquois having taken the field, at first with 300 men, the people of the countries around were in fearful expectation, each fearing that their own would be the first to suffer. The horde of St. John was that nearest to their territory since the evacuation of St. Mary's: it contained 600 families. The irruption of the Iroquois was at first regarded as a mere bravado, and warriors of the place went forth to give chase to the invaders. The latter, feigning to flee before them, got out of sight of their pursuers, then making [Pg 147] a sweep behind the latter, fell upon St. John's, thus destitute of defenders, and massacred or enslaved its whole remaining inhabitants. Among the murdered was father Garnier.

The Hurons of the isle St. Joseph (now reduced to 300), advertised of these atrocities, no longer thought their place of refuge safe, and set forth to seek another. The rigors of the winter were overpast when they set out, and the ice on the straits between island and continent beginning to melt. Parts of it gave way under the feet of the wanderers, and a number were crushed or drowned. Of those who succeeded in reaching terra-firma, the fate of many was yet more deplorable; for, scattering themselves about the country, they were mostly picked up by prowling Iroquois, thirsting for their blood.—The remnant of all, weary and worn with suffering, set out, headed by Father Ragueneau and other missionaries, to seek the French governor, and solicit his protection as cultivators of the soil. The latter party chose a route by lake Nipissing and the Ottawa valley, taking devious lines to avoid their enemies; discerning on the way, however, plain marks of ravages recently committed in those regions by the Iroquois. On reaching Montreal, the party there tarried two days of disquiet, as fearing to have been followed thither by foes on their traces. Finally, they reached Quebec in July 1650. The governor received them kindly, assigning them a location on the lands of Madame de Grandemaison; where they were rejoined, in the following year, by several others of the tribe who had come to Quebec previously, and who had found a resting-place on the estate of the Jesuits at Beauport, in 1649.

"The Hurons," says M. Ferland, "remained in the isle d'Orléans till the year 1659; but continuing to be harassed by the Iroquois army, ever ready to attack and kill them, even in their place of retreat, they decamped and set up tents on an open space within Quebec itself, wherein they dwelt for several years. When peace was concluded with the Iroquois, after M. Tracy's expedition, the Hurons left Quebec, and settled four or five miles distant from the city; where they founded, in 1667, the mission of Notre Dame-de-Foye, since known as Sainte-Foye. On December 29, 1693, they removed thence to Old Lorette; and, several years afterwards, they formed the village of Jeune-Lorette."

The remainder of the Hurons were scattered abroad in all directions; and those who took refuge among other tribes, became the means of embroiling their protectors with the Iroquois. Others went to establish themselves in south-western regions, now known as parts of Pennsylvania; one band ascended beyond Lake Superior; lastly, a good many made their peace with the victors and were absorbed in the Iroquois nation. The result of all was, that not only the Huron countries, but those about the valley of the Ottawa, all teeming with population as they had been, were become howling wildernesses. The Iroquois had taken twelve years to break down the frontiers of the Hurons, and two more to effect the scattering of that people over the continent. Their continued presence as a nation would have been valuable to the colonists of New France, who had relied greatly on the alliance with them as a means of keeping all other tribes under a curb when hostilely inclined.

The first note-worthy event which followed in order of time, was the arrival at Quebec, in 1648, of an envoy from New England, charged with a proposal for a treaty of commerce and perpetual amity between the two colonies. An important feature of the project was an article, stipulating that the contracting parties should stand neuter in all quarrels between the respective mother-countries. The matter was taken into serious consideration; and in order to obtain further information from the heads of the English provincial governments as to the means for effecting the object in view, the Jesuit Druillettes and M. Godefroi were sent as delegates to Boston in 1650 and 1651; but the Canadians, whose trade was paralysed by the raids of the Iroquois, were more immediately desirous that an Anglo-French league, offensive and defensive, should be formed against those savages. "We cannot doubt," was it urged in the missives of the council, "that Heaven would prosper your arms and ours, taken up in defence of christianized natives, allies of us both, against heathen barbarians who know not God, and are sworn foes to man; evidence of whose atrocities our deputies are ready to give you on demand made for the same. They will not fail, either, to tender to you positive assurances of the sincere desire we have that Providence may continue to bless your provinces, and bestow upon their inhabitants its most [Pg 149] signal favours." The proposal for a special alliance to curb the Iroquois, caused the whole negociation to fail. [128]

The year 1650, so full of disaster for the Hurons, finished by the retirement of M. de d'Ailleboust from the direction of affairs; not the least of whose official mortifications was that of being constrained, by the force of circumstances, to look on, a passive spectator of their wrongs and sufferings. After demitting his functions, he settled and died in the colony.

M. de Lauzon arrived in 1651, as the successor of M. d'Ailleboust. He was one of the chief members of the Company, and had always taken a leading part in its affairs; but he did not manifest the same activity or tact as a colonial administrator in chief. True, he found affairs in a discouraging state. The Iroquois become insolent through the successes they had gained over their savage compatriots of the lake countries, fell furiously upon the French establishments. Under covert of the contiguous woods, some of their bands glided below Quebec. They killed the governor of Trois-Rivières, M. Duplessis-Bochart, in a sortie he made against them. They attacked the labouring colonists in their fields, murdered isolated individuals, and desolated the country with their pillagings. They pursued this system of hostilities with such untiring perseverance, that, as a recorder of the time quaintly expressed himself, "Hardly do those savages let us pass a day without alarms. They are ever at our skirts; no month passes that our bills of mortality do not show, in lines of blood, indications of [Pg 150] the deadly nature of their inroads." It was no longer safe for the colonists to go about their affairs without carrying arms for self-protection. Often, inhabitants had to entrench themselves in their dwellings, or abandon them. This state of things lasted for several years. [129] The population of the colony perceptibly diminished, through the number of individuals who were exposed to be taken unawares, and killed or captured: and hand-to-hand fights between small parties of the colonists and squads of hovering savages took place, at times, every day; and, occasionally, several times in the same day. Certainly, upon such occasions, the French usually gained the mastery; but the match was not equal, for the loss of one colonist was not to be compensated by the death of any number of Indians.

The Iroquois usually came in bands, the individuals composing which scattered themselves about the diversified part of the country more especially. Every rock, tree, or bush, each hillock or ditch, served them as a lurking-place to take aim at the colonists when engaged in tillage or planting. Some of their scouts, it is said, found place for espial in tops of trees around the houses, ready to give a signal to their followers when best to attack the settlement they were lying in wait to surprise; and if no propitious moment supervened, they would remain there posted for days together.

Nevertheless, it was amidst such adverse circumstances as we have enumerated, that the two most extensive and fairest sections of the colony, the territories of Montreal and Trois-Rivières, were [Pg 151] gained for civilisation. Every labourer had to play a soldier's part as well as follow his own calling, and each furrow he ploughed was liable to be moistened with an enemy's blood or his own. At length, the critical state of Canada attracted the notice of parties in France whose attention was turned towards the subject of colonisation; and M. de Maisonneuve succeeded in obtaining, from the provinces of Maine, Anjou, Poitou, and Brittany, a body of colonists, who reached Montreal in 1653. They were all picked men, alike fit for the needs of peace and war. This reinforcement was of the greatest utility; and the news of its arrival probably daunted the hostile savages yet more than it heartened the native allies of the colony. Besides, the most redoubtable of the former, the Iroquois, were beginning to perceive at last, that they had much to lose and little to gain by making inveterate enemies of the French. While in this frame of mind, making overtures for peace, these were favourably listened to, and a treaty was entered into by the intermediation of Father Lemoine.

Upon this occasion, there was a grand assembly of the cantons. Father Lemoine, as French plenipotentiary, proffered nineteen presents. As each of these was produced, the savages uttered their usual grunts of satisfaction. [130] He then made them an harangue, with a theatrical style of action, of two hours' duration. This over, the savages present grouped into cantons, and tribes, and a chief repeated what Father Lemoine had said. The discourse thus interpreted was followed by a loud song of gladness, in which all joined. Another chief now rose, and, addressing M. de Lauzon, said, "Onnontio, thou art a pillar of the creation! thy spirit is a spirit of peace, and thy words soften the most rebellious natures."

The ratification of the treaty, which took place in 1654, spread universal joy among the savages, and opened a new field for missionary [131] labours in the five Iroquois cantons, and gave a fresh impetus to the colonisation of New France. The pacification, now [Pg 152] happily concluded, had, nevertheless, its drawbacks. When the resumed traffic between the French traders and the Iroquois became brisk, it was still confined to the four cantons nearest to Canada. The fifth canton, composed of Agniers tribes, traded solely with their European neighbours, the colonists of Williamstadt. [132] A jealous feeling hence arose among the Agniers, who thought their interests were compromised by the trading prosperity of their countrymen of the north. They became intractably discontented, and determined to withdraw from the alliance with the French; into which, indeed, they had been reluctantly persuaded to enter. A pretext alone was wanting to them for assuming an openly hostile course, and one was soon found.

At the instance of the missionaries, the Onnontaguez had petitioned M. de Lauzon to form an establishment in their country,—a thing he had long desired himself, and which he now hastened to realise. In the year following (1656), Captain Dupuis was sent thither with fifty men. The people of Quebec, while taking leave of these persons, bade them what was thought an eternal farewell, as not doubting that they would become victims of Iroquois perfidy. The little band halted, at first, on the margin of Lake Gannentaha (Salt Lake); but they had scarcely begun to form a settlement there, when the Onnontaguez became jealous of their presence among them. Dislike soon rose to hate, and begot a desire in the savages to exterminate their guests. The French, forewarned by an intimation from a dying Indian, that their perdition had been determined, prepared to flee the country. As the best way of effecting this, in March following they invited their treacherous neighbours to a banquet, plied them well with liquor, and, when all were asleep or stupified, the whole colony embarked on the Oswego River, in canoes secretly got together for the purpose. As soon as the Agniers heard of the flight, 400 of their [Pg 153] number started in pursuit; but the fugitives had got headway enough to baffle all attempts to reach them. [133]

The Hurons of the Isle of Orléans, under the charge of Father Ragueneau, had now become cultivators of the soil. One day, a band of Agniers fell unexpectedly upon ninety of them, men, women and children, killed a number, and captured the rest. A part of these refugee Hurons, no longer feeling secure in their outlying asylum, quitted the island for Quebec; while another portion, distrusting French protection altogether, rashly offered to throw themselves on the mercy of the Agniers. The latter made them large promises of kindness, protesting that they should be treated, every way, as brothers; all with the intention of destroying or enslaving them, which took place accordingly. The surviving Hurons had become incapable of self-government; and when a few who remained at Quebec were asked for by the Agniers, the governor was weak enough to deliver them up to thirty delegates sent to demand them. These savages became quite insolent on the occasion, in presence of French authority; its supreme representative humbly receiving the law, as it were, from a horde of barbarians.

M. de Lauzon had neither the talents nor the energy necessary for the head of a government placed in difficult circumstances. This was felt by all, and he was superseded by an order from the French ministry.

The Viscount Voyer d'Argenson, then appointed Governor of New France, landed in Quebec, A. D. 1658, at a time when Canada was overrun everywhere by armed barbarians: Dupuis and his party had returned, finding it impossible to gain a peaceable footing in the wilderness. Even within the colony, it was [Pg 154] now, as before the treaty of 1653, unsafe to labour unarmed, or to travel without an escort. The new governor set out in pursuit of aggressive bands of Iroquois the next day after that of his arrival, but their movements were quicker than his. He ascended the river, shortly afterwards, with 200 men, as a corps of observation, and succeeded in driving them as far back as the Richelieu Isles. [134]

On his return to Quebec, such of the savage tribes as still sought to maintain amicable relations with the colonists came to pay their respects, and to crave French protection against their implacable enemies.

M. d'Argenson, made aware of the increasing difficulties of the government, through the stinted resources at its command, hastened to implore reinforcements of men, trained to war and industry; frankly expressing his belief to the French ministry, that, if succour were not accorded, Canada would be irretrievably lost to France.

In addition to barbaric invasions, civil and religious quarrels supervened. The archbishop of Rouen regarded the colony as a dependency of his diocese. He had, consequently, sent letters to the governor ordaining M. de Quelus to put himself under the orders of the Jesuits, to whom he had delegated the direction of ecclesiastical affairs. M. de Quelus laid claim to have been invested himself with that duty, and refused to recognise the archbishop as his metropolitan. The governor induced M. de Quelus to retire to Montreal, and wrote to Paris intimating his opinion that an episcopal see was wanted in Canada, to maintain peace in its church establishment. But the pope had already supplied the want by anticipation; for, in 1657, he had constituted Canada, ecclesiastically, a vicariat-apostolical, with M. de Laval as its first head. M. de Laval came to Canada in 1659, and almost directly there arose dissensions between him and the governor on the subject [Pg 155] of precedence in the council and of church incensings (l'encens à l'église). But it is necessary to ascend for a moment to the source of these troubles.

From the foundation of the colony, missionaries (in default of magistrates and other functionaries, the home government not providing such), had devolved upon them a portion of the civil duties in the parishes. Clothed thus with two great powers, they insensibly acquired, by their accomplishments and good management, an authority, which they began to exercise as if it were their legitimate possession. They thus excited the jealousy of the governors and chiefs of the laity. This feeling increased after the advent of M. de Laval, whose absolute spirit jarred with public prejudices. M. d'Argenson wrote to the minister, that M. de Laval was opinionated, and that his zeal led him to encroach illegally on the jurisdiction of others. In vain did the former call to his aid the counsels of Pères Dablon and Lalemant.

A royal edict was passed, in 1659, for harmoniously regulating the civil government of the colony. It was ordained, inter alia, that all the inhabitants, as suitors at law, should address themselves, in first resort, to the judges already named by the Company; with power of appeal, however, from their decisions to the governor in council, in all matters civil, criminal, or of contravention, not of importance sufficient to be carried before the Parliament (supreme court) of Paris; or in regard of such offences as involved prompt and exemplary punishment. Another edict accompanied the foregoing, ordaining that royal lieutenants, general and particular, greffiers and sergeants (head registrars and bailiffs), should not be superseded except by a command of the king in council.

The traffic in peltry with the natives, owing to their continual hostilities against each other, had by this time greatly fallen off. For its revival, the governor recommended the formation of a local association of traders, in dependence doubtless upon the metropolitan company; restricting the other colonists from engaging in a trade wherein interloping tended to throw all into confusion.

All this while, desolating hostilities, by the Iroquois, against the colony and its Indian allies, continued unceasingly. In 1660, seventeen of the armed inhabitants, commanded by Daulac, [Pg 156] were attacked unawares by 500 or 600 of those savages, in a palisaded post, at the foot of Long-Sault. The French, aided by fifty Hurons and Algonquins, held out for ten days; but being at length deserted by most of their native auxiliaries, the besiegers forced the place and killed all its defenders. Before the Iroquois got in, four Frenchmen, who were left unhurt, along with a few faithful Hurons, seeing that all was lost, despatched their wounded comrades, lest they should be tortured by the Iroquois. [135]

The self-devotedness of Daulac and his brave men was equal to a victory in its effects; for the savages, struck by the stout resistance they now met with and by other checks they received, gave up all thought of making an attack they had planned on Quebec, a rumour of which intention had already alarmed its inhabitants. Their design had been, once masters of that city, to ascend the river to Trois-Rivières and Montreal, and desolate the cultivated territory around those settlements. As a precautionary measure at Quebec, the convents and chief dwellings there had been put in a state of defence, and a portion of the townspeople removed into the forts; in the lower town the issues were barricaded, and guard-houses set around it. All males capable of bearing arms were embodied, mounting guard day and night; every one being determined, should the barbarians prevail, to sell his life at a dear rate.

The warlike excitement soon subsided, on welcome news being brought by a Huron who escaped from the massacre at Long-Sault, that the Iroquois had renounced their hostile designs on Quebec for the time. Before obtaining full assurance that the latter were in full retreat, as they really were, or that all danger was quite past, nevertheless a solemn Te Deum for the unexpected deliverance was chanted in the city churches. The fear of the inhabitants that the savages, suspending their design upon the capital, would fall vengefully, meantime, upon the lands of the colony,—their apprehensions, we say, were so far justified that in winter following, the Iroquois, collecting forces in the upper country, killed or made prisoner several isolated colonists found at a distance [Pg 157] from the strongholds. When they assailed the latter, however, they experienced such loss that they grew tired of their attempts; and, soon afterwards, deputies from the cantons of Onnontaguez and Goyogouins came to Montreal to treat for peace with the French. Not trusting much to their pledged word, the governor yet inclined to accept the offer, thinking that even a temporary pacification was preferable to unceasing hostilities with enemies against whom it was impossible to act otherwise than defensively, from want of force to keep the field. The people of those two nations, at the same time, among whom were several christened savages, asked that a missionary should be sent among them; and father Lemoine having offered to go, he set out, charged with a favourable answer by the governor, and some presents for the Indian chiefs.

The negotiation had arrived at this point, when the baron d'Avaugour arrived from France, in 1661, to succeed M. d'Argenson, whom disease, misunderstandings, and a repugnance to dissension, induced to solicit a recall before his period of service had expired. The irruptions of the Iroquois, and angry discussion with the clergy, filled up his short administration. M. de Laval complained to the governor's brother, a councillor of state at Paris, that M. d'Argenson had taken in evil part certain representations made to him. The governor, on the other hand, again accused the prelate of being opinionated, and encroaching on the jurisdiction of others. The latter retorted by asserting that a bishop could do what he liked, adding a threat of excommunicating his censor. Moreover, the governor always made Père Lalemant his mediator in these quarrels; saying, "he is a person of surpassing merit, and consummately sound judgment."

During M. d'Argenson's administration, some progress was made in discovery: on one side, in the country beyond Lake Superior, among the Sioux; on another, in the Esquimaux country, on Hudson's Bay.

The new governor had gained distinction in the wars of Hungary. He was of a resolute temperament and unbending character; and brought into the affairs of Canada the rigidity that he had contracted in military service.

On arriving at Quebec, he determined to visit all the posts of [Pg 158] the colony. He admired the plains loaded with growing crops, and remarked that the value of such a country was unknown in France; that ignorance of it alone caused it to be neglected. He wrote to the court what he had seen, and solicited the despatch of troops and munitions which had been promised to him when he left. His demand was for 3,000 regulars, to take possession of the Iroquois territory, or 600 colonists.

Just then he received intelligence from Père Lemoine. At a great council of deputies from three of the Iroquois nations, Onnontaguez, Goyogouins, and Tsonnonthouans, Lemoine communicated the ex-governor's answer to the overtures of these tribes, and presented the gifts he had designed for their chief men. Deliberations among the deputies followed, which lasted for several days. Lemoine was then informed that a delegation from the assembled deputies would forthwith be sent on, headed by Garakonthié, a recognised friend of the French, and a man of reputation among his compatriots, as brave in war, wise and eloquent at all times. The choice of such a negotiator was esteemed as of happy augury at Montreal; where the party were well received by the governor, and the preliminaries quickly and satisfactorily arranged. The treaty then entered into was ratified in 1662.

Still M. d'Avaugour had his doubts whether the pacification thus concluded would be lasting; for two of the Iroquois cantons had refused to concur in it. In fact, the Iroquois bands had scarcely ceased to wage war, on one side, than they made hostile irruptions on others, upon different points, falling unawares upon their human prey, and always killing more or fewer persons. [136] He profited by this fresh outbreak to depict, in strong colours, the situation of the colony, for the royal consideration, and prayed His Majesty to take the country under his immediate protection. Every other chief functionary backed this suit; and M. Bourcher, governor of Trois-Rivières, was charged to proceed to Paris to reinforce the representations made by M. d'Avaugour. The king gave a good reception to the Canadian agent, and ordered that 400 men should forthwith proceed to Quebec. M. de Monts was directed, also to repair to the colony, take an ocular [Pg 159] view of it, and report accordantly. Such commissions as this, usually preceded a change of policy. The arrival of M. de Monts, who had taken possession of Placentia fort, in name of the king, when on his way to Newfoundland, spread great joy among the inhabitants; who began to believe that the home government surely meant to attend seriously to their interests. But at the moment when they most trusted to obtain salutary reforms and a happier future, new dissensions, which put the whole colony into commotion, and for the time made all else be forgotten, arose between the governor and the bishop.

It had been remarked, that on his arrival M. d'Avaugour paid a visit to the Jesuits, without doing the like civility to the bishop; while, soon thereafter, he appointed their superintendent a councillor of state, although, ever since the erection of the vicariat-general, the prelate had replaced the pères in that capacity. [137] The resentment caused by these preferences was deep, though for a time not overtly manifested; but smouldering chagrin is ever prone to burst into flame, and an open quarrel between the offending and offended parties only waited for a pretext. It found one in the vexatious question of the liquor traffic with the savages. [138]

At all times, the sale of strong drink to the natives was prohibited, upon the interposition of the missionaries, by very severe and often renewed ordinances, as extant public documents prove. The government, in its purblind religious zeal, by thus giving way to the clergy, opened the door to a thousand difficulties, from subordinating to each other two powers which ought to be kept severally apart. So long as the colonial population was, in a [Pg 160] manner, of nominal amount only, the inconvenience arising was scarcely felt, because its operation was very limited; but in proportion as the colony extended, and being governed by men jealous of their powers, and as, in any case, the savages could procure liquors from the New Netherlands and New England,—despite all prohibitions by the French authorities, the case became a perplexing one for the Canadian Government, for the opposition of the clergy to the supplying of alcoholic beverages to the natives both obstructed trade and imperilled alliances formed with them. To get out of the difficulty, some persons wished that a compromise should be made with the bishop, by offering to repress the disorders attending an unlimited liquor traffic; but the catholic clergy, rightly jealous of infractions of religious independence, and who rarely compounded with the secular expediencies of communities under their spiritual jurisdiction, insisted upon a total prohibition of all liquor traffic with the natives. Pious governors viewed such a demand as a due exercise of an ecclesiastical right; but those governors who thought that the civil power should be independent of the sacerdotal, regarded the intervention of the clergy as dangerous. M. d'Avaugour was in the latter category.

The question thus presented itself under two aspects, according as it was viewed from an ecclesiastical or political stand-point. But the difficulty was really of easy solution; for, from the time that the province ceased to be a missionary settlement, the civil power entered into possession of all its rights and due authority. The result was the same as to the point under discussion, because the liquor traffic could not be absolutely free among the savages: commercial no less than political interest demanded great circumspection in that regard. In Canada, as in the English colonies, where prohibitions also existed, the government was bound to tighten or relax restrictions according to the varying urgencies of each case.

The more immediate cause for bringing the governor and prelate into collision at the present time, was the imprisonment of a widow for selling liquor to some savages, probably loiterers in the settlement. The woman having applied to one of the Jesuits for his intercession with the civil authorities, he not only consented, but [Pg 161] (for reasons not apparent) actually justified what she had done. [139] The governor, who had, shortly before, caused three men to be shot together, [140] for similar violations of the law, irritated at the interposition,—uneasy in his mind also, it may be, at having inflicted a penalty so disproportioned to a law-made crime,—M. d'Avaugour exclaimed wrothfully, that "since the sale of liquors was esteemed to be no fault in the present case, it should cease to be treated as an offence in all others;" adding that he, at least, would not lend himself in future to the execution of laws so contradictorily applied.

The bishop, who was a man of inflexible temper and lofty in bearing, took this in high dudgeon. The entire clergy followed his lead; and while their preachers thundered in the pulpits against those who ventured to continue the liquor traffic with the Indians, or dared to countenance those who did so, every priest began privately to refuse absolution to any such in the confessional. On the other hand, a great majority of the people made common cause with the governor, and clamoured against the clergy. At length the bishop, mitred and stoled, crosier in hand, went in procession, with all his clergy, to the cathedral, where, after a moving discourse on the evil effect of the spirit traffic on the bodies and souls of the natives, he read a general sentence of excommunication against all who should persist in carrying it on. The anathema thus solemnly enunciated, while it comprehended within its sweep the governor and chief civil functionaries, fell still-born from the episcopal chair as regarded the traffickers themselves; but it had this undesirable effect, that it brought the power of the church into discredit, and, for a season, much diminished its legitimate influence over the minds of men in general. [141] As a natural consequence, protests were entered against the bishop's conduct by the chief laymen of the colony, [Pg 162] and transmitted to the home government. These must have had some weight at court, for M. de Laval found it expedient to proceed to France, and defend what he had done. There, having no counter-influence in presence at court to combat his, he not only obtained a complete justification for himself, but a royal order for the recall of M. d'Avaugour; a proper successor for whom the proud prelate was invited to indicate, for the right direction of the king in his choice.

It was while the country was agitated by these discords, that, February 5, 1663, a violent earthquake-shock was felt in most regions of Canada, also in some parts of the New Netherlands and New England. The first shock was followed by others, of a weaker kind, in Canada, at intervals till August or September following. [142] Notwithstanding the duration of these perturbations, so rare in our latitudes, the damage done was small; being confined to the fall of a few chimney-tops, and to the dislocation of some rocks in the St. Lawrence, below Cape Torment. [143]

The savages said that the ground-heavings were caused by the souls of their ancestors, who had taken a fancy to return to earth. To prevent this, they fired their muskets in the air to scare them, as fearing that, should they succeed in the attempt, there would not be enough game in the country for both generations, the present and the departed! The phenomena, become repetitive, absorbed public attention; and, added to the alerts given to the colonists by [Pg 163] the Iroquois, had the effect of producing an oblivion of the dissidences between the high functionaries, civil and ecclesiastical.

It was when his disputes with the bishop were most violent, that M. d'Avaugour thought it his duty to re-constitute his council, which had been disorganised during the quarrel. He then put all the oldest members on the retired list, and replaced them by men whose opinions were in harmony with his own; and also made other changes, which caused a great sensation on account of their novelty, and led him to be regarded as a very audacious person. Those who suffered by his innovations professed to think that they were of dangerous consequence to a government naturally so little variable, in all respects, as that of Canada, and which had never changed its character. [144] It was therefore with extreme pleasure that these conservatives viewed the recall of "the reformer;" one who had talents certainly, but whose prideful bearing wounded the self-love of his subordinates.

M. de Mésy, fort-major of Caën, in Normandy, came to replace M. d'Avaugour, in 1663.—The latter, after a short stay in France, entered the service of the Emperor of Germany, and was killed, in 1664, while bravely defending the fort of Serin, on the Croatian frontier, against the Turks under the grand-visier Koprouli, shortly before the famous battle of St. Gotthard.

The administration of M. d'Avaugour is remarkable for the changes he effected in the colony. This governor did much, by his energy and remonstrances, to induce the king to labour seriously for the advancement of Canada, and to establish there a system more favourable to its prosperity. Had the governor, towards that end, only removed the obstacles put in the way of amelioration by the petty oligarchy which absorbed administrative influence, he would still have well earned a claim to the public gratitude. His quarrel with M. Laval, also, disclosed the grave inconveniences attending the absence of a judicial administration; inconveniences [Pg 164] which the bishop himself was the first to recognise, and which he contributed efficaciously to remove by sustaining, if not suggesting, the establishment of a "sovereign council." Having no interest in the "Company of a Hundred Partners," which nominal hundred had then dwindled to forty-five, M. d'Avaugour persuaded Louis XIV to break it up, and to resume, in 1663, possession of territorial jurisdiction over the colony which he had conceded to a trading association.

As a kind of parting bequest to the colonists of New France, its ex-governor drew up an able memoir, presented to the chief minister, in which he advised that the French nation should establish itself strongly in Canada, especially at Quebec; that a fort, auxiliary to strengthened works round the city itself, ought to be erected at Point Levi, and another at the river St. Charles. He recommended that 3000 selected soldiers, used to rural labour as well as inured to war, should be located on allotments of land, to be subsisted thereon for three years till they could obtain sufficient produce for self-support. "Plaisance, Gaspé, and Cape Breton," he remarked, "were well enough for fishermen;" but the regions around them were arid, and did not produce enough food for those who frequented their shores; and the people located higher up sometimes had scarcely enough for themselves, and seldom any to spare for the wants of other parts of New France; of which, he repeated, Quebec ever would be the foundation-stone; adding: "When I take note of the European wars now ended, and the progress that has marked the past fifty years and may attend the ten years next coming, not only my duty bids but impels me to express my opinions boldly."

These patriotic sentiments were not listened to so attentively as they deserved to be. Torrents of French blood were shed, millions of money were expended, in making petty acquisitions of European territory to extend the limits of Old France; while, with a few thousands of such colonists as those recommended by M. d'Avaugour, with bodies of men not more numerous than those slain in the great battles of Luxembourg and Condé, she might have assured to herself, for ever, the possession of a great part of America. The wars of Louis XIV, and those succeeding the first French revolution, did they bring to the several generations of [Pg 165] France as much profit as did immense colonisation to the people of British race?—How much cause have we for regretting the lost opportunity of easily acquiring a world, merely at the cost of that brow-sweat which fertilises the soil and founds empires. [145]

France, again become mistress of Acadia by the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, divides it into three portions; consigned, respectively, to commander Razilli (governor), to Chevalier de la Tour, and to M. Denis.—These grantees take Pemaquid from the English.—Waging war against each other, La Tour applies for aid to the people of Massachusetts, who, after consulting the Bible, to know whether it would be lawful, send him a favorable answer.—Treaty of peace and commerce signed between the governments of Acadia and New England.—La Tour left to his fate.—Heroism of Madame de La Tour, who twice repulses the troops of Charnisey, successor of Razilli.—She is betrayed by one of her people, and the fort taken; fate of the garrison.—She dies broken-hearted.—Civil war raging throughout Acadia.—Oliver Cromwell sends an expedition from England; Port-Royal and several other posts seized by the English (1654).—Cromwell grants the province, as an English dependency, to La Tour, to Sir Thomas Temple, and William Crown.—Acadia restored to France by the treaty of Breda, in 1667.

Cardinal Richelieu, while stipulating by an article of the treaty of St. Germain, that England should yield to France the posts of Acadia, then in English possession, had no serious intention of colonising the country. It was tacitly understood that it should remain at the disposal of the individuals who held it in farm. Left to their own discretion in its wildernesses, where they reigned absolute over traders and natives, the former, from disputing about contested rights of traffic, took up arms against each other, somewhat in the style of the battling feudalry of the Middle Ages.

Acadia was apportioned into three provinces, and put into possession of as many proprietary governors; namely, Knight-commander Isaac de Razilli, Chevalier de La Tour (Charles de St. Etienne), and M. Denis. To the first named was consigned Port-Royal, with all territory to the southward as far as New England; the second had the whole country between the Port-Royal territory [Pg 167] and Canso; the third had the rest of Acadia, from Canso to Gaspé. Razilli was appointed governor-in-chief of all the three provinces.

La Tour applied for and obtained royal letters-patent in France, recognising the validity of a concession of lands on the river St. John, granted to his father in 1627, by Charles I, king of England; and in 1634, he obtained, besides, the Isle de Sable, ten square leagues of seaboard territory at La Hève, and ten other square leagues at Port-Royal, along with islands adjacent. But Commander Razilli was so taken with the natural beauties of La Hève, so struck with its fitness for a harbour, with "its capacity for admitting a thousand sail of vessels," that he engaged La Tour to cede it to himself. He there fixed his residence, after taking possession, by royal order, of the country beyond as far as the Kennebec river. A frigate, which he had sent on, took possession of a petty fort at Pemaquid (Penobscot), which the New England colonists of Plymouth had erected, and therein deposited their peltries as a place of safety. The French placed a garrison in it. Soon afterwards Isaac Razilli died (in 1635); whereupon his brothers, one of whom, Charles, seigneur de Launay, was conjoint patentee, ceded their territorial rights to Charles de Menou, chevalier de Charnisey, who was named chief governor of all Acadia in 1647.—The deceased Razilli was a knight of Malta, and commander of l'isle Bouchard. He was also Commodore (chef d'escadre) of Bretagne, and had the reputation of being one of the most skilful navigators of his day.

The first act of Charnisey was to abandon La Hève, where the late commander had formed a flourishing settlement, and remove its inhabitants to Port-Royal. Angry discussions soon arose between him and La Tour, arising either from trading jealousies, both having a large stake in the peltry traffic; or else about the debatable limits of their several territories. From what source soever arising, nothing short of the arbitrement of arms, it seems, could settle the matter. In vain Louis XIII sent a royal missive to Charnisey, fixing the limits of his government at the New England frontiers on one side; and at a line drawn from the centre of Fundy bay to Canso on the other; the country westward of said line being assigned to his rival,—excepting, however, [Pg 168] La Hève and Port-Royal, which Charnisey was to retain in exchange for the St. John's river fort, held by La Tour: the king's letter, we say, produced no pacifying effect. Both parties, however, appealed to Louis against each other; and Charnisey, having succeeded in making out the best case at court, received orders to arrest La Tour, and send him prisoner to France. But before this could be done, Charnisey had to besiege and take fort St. John; which, accordingly, he forthwith invested.

La Tour, in this extremity, applied to the Bostonians for aid. As France and England were then at peace, the governor of Massachusetts (Winthrop) hesitated to sustain him openly; but he and his compatriots were not sorry to find the French in Acadia all waging intestine war. They acted so far in his behalf, as to allow him to raise and equip a small force in their province. With 80 men of Massachusetts and 140 Rochellois (French protestants) formed into a corps, La Tour was enabled, not only to raise the siege of St. John's fort, but to follow up the retreating forces of Charnisey to his head-quarters.

This indirect succour was not conceded without opposition: to parry which Winthrop had recourse to evangelical sanction for doing that which worldly policy recommended; those who demurred to becoming auxiliaries in French quarrels quoting texts of a directly opposite tendency in condemnation of all such interposition. Taking up the matter in a more rational way, Winthrop observed in his own justification, that "the doubt with us in the matter was this, Whether it were more safe, just, and honorable to neglect a Providence, which put it in our power to succour an unfortunate neighbour, at the same time weakening a dangerous enemy, than to allow that enemy to work out his purposes. We have preferred the former alternative."

Charnisey protested, in turn, against the aggression thus committed by English subjects in time of peace. The Bostonian governor met his remonstrance by proposing a treaty of amity and trade between Acadia and New England: an offer which was readily accepted by Charnisey; this the more, as he thought it might give him a preponderance over his rival. The treaty was signed October 8, 1644, at Boston; and it was ratified afterwards by commissioners of the confederated colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Haven, and Plymouth.

La Tour's English auxiliaries having been ostensibly recalled, and Charnisey learning that he was absent from his fort, thought he could easily take it by surprise; but Madame de La Tour, an heroic woman, took charge of its defence and played her husband's part so well, that the besiegers were fain to retire, after having lost 33 of their number. The garrison was also stronger than Charnisey expected, for the Bostonians still extended succour, underhand, to his antagonist. The former, chagrined at the repulse he had received, imputed it entirely to the above-noted practical violation of the treaty lately entered into. Disdaining to remonstrate, he threatened severe reprisals, and began by seizing a New England vessel. This act had the desired effect. All further aid to La Tour was withheld by the Bostonians.

Charnisey re-invested fort St. John, and plied the siege briskly; but Madame de La Tour, with a mere handful of men, repelled his assaults three several times. He began to despair of success, when a traitor in the garrison let him into the body of the place at an unguarded entrance, on Easter-day. Madame de la Tour had time to take refuge in one isolated part of the works, and stood so stoutly on her defence, that Charnisey was fain to subscribe to the terms of surrender which she demanded. When Charnisey saw the smallness of the number to whom he had capitulated, he regretted the concession he had made; and pretending that he had been deceived or misunderstood, he had the ineffable baseness to hang every man of the faithful band; obliging the heroine who had been their leader, to be present at the execution, with a halter round her neck. [146]

The unfortunate lady, whose mind was shattered by the excitement she had undergone, and affected by the wreck of her family's fortunes, fell into a decline, from which she did not recover.

Shortly afterward, her husband became an exile from Acadia. He came to Quebec in 1646, was received with military honours, and lodged in the castle of St. Louis. He passed two years in Canada; and, by the aid of some New England friends, resumed his peltry traffic in the Hudson's bay territory. News of the death of Charnisey attracted him to Acadia, in 1651; where (singularly [Pg 170] enough) he married the widow of his deceased enemy, and entered upon possession of all the estates of the latter, with consent of the heirs! But his connexion, past or present, with the New Englanders caused his patriotism to be doubted by Cardinal Mazarin; who empowered one Le Borgne, a creditor of Charnisey, to attach certain heritages left by his deceased debtor in Acadia, and, if necessary, to seize them by main force. Le Borgne, giving a large interpretation to his commission, determined to possess himself of the entire province; to effect which he attacked M. Denis unawares, mastered his establishment at Cape-Breton, and sent him a prisoner, manacled, to Port-Royal. He then burnt the settlement of La Hève, not even sparing the chapel of the place. He was preparing to attack La Tour in fort St. John, when an unforeseen antagonist appeared to stay his career of spoliation. This was the redoutable Cromwell, who, wishing to repossess Acadia, in 1654 sent thither an expedition for that purpose. His forces expelled those of La Tour from fort St. John, and Le Borgne's brigands from Port-Royal, taking their master prisoner. At the same time, the Massachusetts men in arms, as auxiliaries, attacked La Hève, then held by Le Borgne's son, and one Guilbaut, a merchant of La Rochelle. After having been at first repulsed, with the loss of their commandant, these troops, by their superior numbers, got possession of a petty fort, its defenders conditioning that they should retire unscathed with bag and baggage. After these stirring events, the country remained in a quasi unappropriated state, nationally speaking; its possessors, runners (coureurs) of the woods, recognising, sometimes the king of France as their titular sovereign, sometimes the Protector or restored king of England; other times, all three!

M. Denis, after his return to Chedabouctou, maintained friendly relations with the English; which intimacy, perhaps, exciting the distrust of his compatriots, the latter attacked him a second time. A person named de la Giraudière had obtained, under false pretences, as was said, the concession of Canso. He proceeded to capture Denis' ships, took possession of his factory at Cape-Breton, and beleaguered the fort there. The damage resulting from these aggressions, the costs of law-process thence arising, and the conflagration of his establishment, conjoined to effect his ruin. He had to leave [Pg 171] the country soon afterwards, where his presence had been really beneficial. Being a public-spirited man, he had established fisheries, factories for the peltry traffic; and depots for lumber, which he largely exported to Europe.

La Tour finally throve best. Being a Huguenot, he all the more readily put himself under the protection of the English, when they succeeded in bringing the country under their sway. In 1656, Cromwell granted to La Tour, Sir Thomas Temple, and William Crown, conjointly and severally, territorial rights over all Acadia. La Tour afterwards ceded his part in the same to Temple, who spent more than £16,000 sterling merely for putting the forts in order. The recorded annals of Acadia, from this time till it was retransferred to France in terms of the treaty of Breda (signed June 29, 1667), are of little significance.

Despite the constant representations and humble requests made to the authorities in the mother country by the inhabitants, the colony had been neglected at all times, for reasons we have elsewhere detailed, but which may be again briefly expressed here. Mistress as France was of immense forest territories, her rulers feared to encourage colonisation therein, lest the kingdom itself should become emasculated; again, whatever numbers of people it was thought the old country could afford to part with, were in the first place directed to Canada, as having the best claim to be served. The intention of colonising Acadia, indeed, was never abandoned; but constant postponement became virtually the same through its malign influence upon the affairs of the few resident French subjects. It must be allowed, however, that the inferior soil, and the exposure of Acadia to alien intrusion, made it less attractive to private settlers than Canada; but the geographical position of the country, with its range of seaboard and magnificent havens, made its acquisition and retention of great importance as the bulwark to such a potent colonial empire as that projected by the more lofty-minded among its founders and protectors from occidental France.

The enormous selfishness of individuals, as well as national supineness, worked in an adverse direction to that of progress for Acadia. Thus those ingrates who obtained concessions of immense tracts, as territorial seigneurs paramount and as lordly traders, desired to have no communities of sturdy colonists in their [Pg 172] way as "runners of the woods." Hence every effort made for extensive land-cultivation was systematically thwarted by the successive patentees, both French and English. Hence it was too, that the truculent Charnisey, from motives such as we have just stated, forbade any one to come within his bounds except by his license. Worse still, he kept colonists, whom he arbitrarily removed from La Hève to Port-Royal, in a state of slavish compression; besides discouraging all efforts, whether made by them or others, to ameliorate the physical condition of the country.

No wonder was it, all things taken into account, that Acadia was so late in taking its due rank, in public estimation, as an important province of New France. So far from founding settlements of any importance within its borders, or promoting industry on its lands or in its waters, successive ministers of state in Old France scarcely used means effectual enough to vindicate the nominal sovereignty of their masters over the neglected Acadian territory; the great Colbert himself being quite as supine in this regard as any of his predecessors.

M. de Mésy, governor-general; motives for his nomination.—His reception of Iroquois envoys.—Efforts and plan of Colbert to people Canada.—Colonial population in 1663.—Introduction of feudal forms, rights, and dues for land-holding; peculiar nature of the new tenures.—Absolute power of the governor-general.—Administration of justice in 1663.—Arrival of M. Dupont, as royal commissary.—Re-organisation of the government.—Constitution of a supreme council; its functions.—Separation of political, judicial, and administrative powers.—Introduction of the "Coutume de Paris."—Creation of courts of "royal jurisdiction" at Montreal and Trois-Rivières.—Creation of an Intendancy, and nomination of the first Intendant; functions of that officer.—The intendancy tribunals.—Judge-consuls.—Seigneurial justiceships.—Commissary courts.—Municipal officialities; mayors, échevins, syndics, &c.—Prevotal courts established.—Measures of precaution taken by successive French kings to restrain the inhabitants of their colonies from resorting to self-government.

The chevalier de Saffray-Mésy, ex-major of the citadel of Caën (Normandy), having been appointed to succeed Baron d'Avaugour as governor-general of Canada, left France early in 1663, and landed at Quebec in the spring of that year. He came charged with orders to inaugurate a new governmental system for the colony, as we have incidentally mentioned in a previous chapter of this work. [147] This gentleman had been recommended to the king by M. de Laval and the Jesuits concurrently, his Majesty consulting both as to the propriety of his nomination, trusting that peace would result from an appointment thus suggested. Louis XIV, having thus ratified rather than initiated the choice of an individual supposed to be at one with the bishop in principle and sentiment, never doubted that the twain would work harmoniously [Pg 174] together. It will be seen, from our narrative of coming events, that the king was utterly mistaken.

Few, if any, of the governors of Canada owed their elevation to such motives as those which caused the choice of the men invited to select a successor for d'Avaugour, to fall upon M. de Mésy. His days of adolescence had been passed in dissipation. A striking renunciation of early evil courses, a strict observance of external forms of devotion, and, above all, his apparent humility (which would sometimes manifest itself by helping a street-porter to bear his load, and the like), had first recommended him to the prelate's favourable notice. [148] As he was personally insolvent, the king, who had approved of him for office on account of his devotional turn, [149] ordered him a considerable sum of money to pay his debts; which very necessary act, for the credit of all parties, being done, he set out with his episcopal patron, the latter not doubting that he had in charge one of the best of men, and a docile coadjutor for himself.

When the new governor entered upon office, the agitation raised by the liquor traffic question having gradually subsided, he could turn his undivided attention to the exterior relations of the colony. The Iroquois had manifested much audacity of late, continually prowling about the colonial outer territories, and sometimes showing themselves, in hostile guise, close to the houses of the inhabitants, keeping their inmates in constant disquietude. Nevertheless the chiefs seemed willing to come to terms with the French, and had sent deputies to Quebec before the coming of M. de Mésy. He continued the negociation with them, showing a firmness and tact in dealing with savages not expected by those who had supposed he was a man of an easy disposition. He received with much graciousness the chief envoy, who presented to him a collar of wampum (the Indian credentials) from each of the cantons; excepting that of the Onneyouths, however. The governor, noting this omission, observed, that, taught by the experience of his own predecessors, it was a principle with him to put little faith in the professed amity of the native tribes; that the [Pg 175] chiefs were ever ready to violate their promises, however solemnly made, and that he had decided to put forth all his power to crush enemies with whom no lasting peace could be kept. The Iroquois envoy, daunted by so menacing a reply, returned despondingly to his constituents, and gave them a disheartening account of the preparations for war against them which he saw and had heard of; and which, after all, were real so far, but exaggerated in reporting. M. de Mésy brought to Canada, along with him, new legal functionaries, a good many families, with a good number of soldiers, more of whom were to follow, as well as a long-promised band of emigrants. These first arrivals and the unwonted bustle observed by the envoy at Quebec, accompanied as it was by the confident mien of the townspeople, must have raised his apprehensions, the impression of which he doubtless communicated to the other chiefs on his return.

Colbert had by this time given great attention to the subject of Canada, awakened as it had been by the reports and suggestions of M. d'Avaugour. He resolved to send out 300 emigrants yearly; and to domiciliate among the rural residents those individuals not used to field labour at home. After three years' training, allotments of public lands were to be made to them. It was arranged, too, that before the current year (1663) expired, 2,000 veteran soldiers were to be sent to Canada, and there disbanded. But months went on, and all the persons really embarked before the season closed were 300 colonists, who took shipping at La Rochelle. Of this number, 75 were left in Newfoundland, and 60 died on the passage. The remaining 165 were all that finally reached Quebec; and most even of these were "young men, such as clerks, students, or persons of classes who had never worked," [150] says a chronicler of the time. Several of these gentry sickened and died after landing.

The reasonable discontent of resident colonists at the quality as well as amount of reinforcements sent out in the preceding year, appears from letters sent by the Supreme Council to Colbert in 1664, asking that the next batch of immigrants should be composed [Pg 176] of men inured to labour. The minister was informed, at the same time, that as the country now produced sufficient grain for its own wants, no imports of food were needed; but that if a moiety of the sums accorded for the pay and keep of the King's forces were transmitted in specie, the country would be benefited by its circulation. A scarcity of coin, it appeared, then greatly cramped the internal trade of the colony; the inconvenience thence arising having lately been increased through a fall in the price of beaver-skins, owing to the imports of Muscovy woollens into the markets of France, which had in part replaced that species of peltry.

The population of Canada did not exceed, at this time, from 2,000 to 2,500 souls sparsely distributed, at different points, from Tadoussac to Montreal. At Quebec, the whole inhabitants were but 800. In the beginning, the colonists settled in that locality or near by; but by degrees, as the total increased, numbers removed further off, and set about bringing the nearest parts of the wilderness under cultivation. The introduction of feudal tenures among us, conformable to those of olden France, dates from the last years of the 16th century. In 1598, Henry IV invested the Marquis de la Roche with "the power to grant leases of the lands of New France to men of gentle blood, in form of fiefs, châtellanies, counties, viscounties, and baronies; said investitures to be charged with the tutelage and defence of the country, and subject to such dues, services, &c., as the grantor shall think fit to burden them with: conditioned, however, that the grantees shall be exempted from those dues, &c., for (the first) six years." [151]

When Richelieu re-constituted the "Company of a Hundred Partners," he obtained for it corporately, in full proprietorship, attributions of seigniory and justiceship; and vested in it the power of assuming for its infeoffed lands such title-deeds, honours, rights, powers, and faculties as should be judged fitting; with the right to erect therein duchies, marquisates, counties, viscounties, and baronies,—all such creations, however, to be subject to royal confirmation. But the erection of duchies, &c., in a country almost destitute of inhabitants was not to be thought of as yet; and the Company divided parts of their territory into simple seigneuries, twenty-nine of which were accorded between the years 1626 and 1663; namely, 17 in the government of Quebec, 6 in that of Trois-Rivières, and 6 in that of Montreal. The first fief entered on the Canadian feudal registers is that of St. Joseph, on the river St. Charles, which was conceded, in 1626, to Louis Hébert, sieur de l'Espinay, by the Duke de Ventadour. But it appears that the Cap Tourment district had been erected into a barony for Wm. de Caën, who was afterwards dispossessed of it; as also, that the Duke de Montmorenci had conceded the Saut-au-Matelot holding in 1622-3; and that this latter fief was interlocked with that of St. Joseph already mentioned.

These seignories, accorded to merchants, to military officers, or to religious corporations, were apportioned generally into farms of 90 acres (arpents), burdened with a yearly ground-rent of 2 sous per acre, and half a bushel (½ minot) of grain for the entire concession; but the quit-rent (cens) and rent-services (rentes) were never fixed by law. The renter (censitaire) engaged to have his grain floured at the seigneur's mill, rendering the 14th part for multure, and to pay, by way of alienation fine (lods et ventes), the case arising, one 12th of the valuation of his holding; nevertheless, he was not to be subject to the latter exaction, if he inherited the title to his farm by direct descent. By and by, the Canadian law of tenures held the seigneur to be only a kind of feoffer-in-trust (fidéi-commissaire), for if he refused to concede lands to the colonists at current rates (taux fixes), the intendant was authorized to do it for him by a decree (arrêt); said document (expédition) to stand in place of a title-deed (titre) for the renter.—Since the Conquest, however, our tribunals began to vary in their decisions [Pg 178] from the principle of this wise jurisprudence: and it is worthy of note, that, in proportion as our institutions waxed more liberal, the courts became less and less favorable in their decisions to the renters; thus leaving the latter exposed, without legal protection, to the cupidity of the seigneurs.

The law of 1854 abolishing feudal tenures in Canada, established a tribunal for regulating the relations of seignorial landlords and their tenants. It has decided, inter alia, that, any time since the year 1711, the seigneurs were obligated [152] to grant concessions of their lands; that the lands they conceded were to be holden by renters on ground-rent tenancy (à titre de redevances); that neither law nor custom had established a fixed rate of alienation fines, except in case the governor had to make a compellable concession to a renter, his lord refusing; that the seigneurs had no rights in navigable streams, unless by some special title; that streams non-navigable formed part of the sovereign's demesne-lands, and attached to proprietorship into whatever hands it might pass; that on lands conceded, streams non-navigable appertained of right to the renters, and, such being the case, all reserved seignorial claims were illegal; that ever since the promulgation of the decree (arrêt) of the year 1686, feudal banalité [153] became legal and universal in Canada, and consisted in an obligation laid on the seigneurs to erect grain-mills, and, on the renters, to carry thither all the grain needed to be floured for the use of the latter's families; that a power, on the seigneurs' part, to prevent the erection of other mills than their own, formed part of the right of banalité; that all burdens, reserves, or prohibitions, not properly falling under the description of ground-rents (redevances), and which should have the effect of retaining a part of the lands of the [Pg 179] fief (domaine), were illegal and null; lastly, that the imposition of days of statute labour (journées de corvée) was permissible. [154]

According to the system of land-tenure introduced to Canada, borrowed from European feudalism, the king was lord-paramount (suzerain), from whom all those who held (relevaient) lands, whether accorded in fee-simple (à titre de franc aleu), as a fief, or seignorially, derived their rights of possession. There were but two fiefs in fee-simple (or absolute freeholds) in Canada,—Charlesbourg and Trois-Rivières. At each alienation (mutation) by sale or gift, the seigneur had a right to demand payment of the fifth part (le quint) of the valuation of the transferred property; but the acquirer had an abatement of a third part of that fifth, if he discharged the claim at once (s'il payait comptant). When the holding passed to a collateral heir of a renter, the former was made to pay the seigneur the amount of a year's revenue accruing from the produce of the land (le droit de relief); but if the rented land passed in a direct line, then no such relief was exigible. [155] The new seigneur owed to his lord-paramount (suzerain) fidelity, homage, recognition (aveu), and a declaration of the nature and proceeds of the lands (dénombrement). [156] The other seignorial rights in force were those already mentioned when speaking of the renter. The seigneurs possessed, in days gone by, the right to try, in their domanial courts, all felonies and high and petty misdemeanors (haute, moyenne, et basse justice). [157] When the seigneury [Pg 180] of Les Islets was erected into the barony of Orsenville, in 1675, M. Talon, its baron, was vested, along with other rights, with that of "establishing prisons, permanent gibbets (fourches patibulaires à quatre piliers), also a pillory (pilier à carcans), whereon his armorials should be emblazoned." Criminal jurisdiction was but rarely exercised in Canada by its seigneurs at any time, and appears to have either been abrogated or allowed to fall into entire disuse after the Conquest. It may be mentioned also, that, in 1714, a royal edict was issued forbidding in future the creation of other seignories in Canada with juridical rights (seigneuries en justice), because they impeded the progress of the colony.

Such was the nature of the system of land-tenures introduced to Canada by its founders, and but recently abolished. The number of fiefs, or feudal estates, at the time of passing the act of 1854, was ascertained to be 220, possessed by 160 seigneurs and about 72,000 renters. The entire superficial area of these properties comprised 12,822,503 arpents, about a moiety of which was then ascertained to be rented (occupée). [158]

The French Canadians of early times were censured for settling scatteredly on the lands they selected for cultivation, thereby making communication difficult with each other, and all becoming an easy prey to bands of predatory savages. But the first want of a cultivator, is it not a convenient road, to convey his produce to market? The St. Lawrence was for our ancestors a route ready made; the soil on its borders, too, being the best anywhere to be found. [159] The French settlements, therefore, instead of radiating [Pg 181] around a common centre, were disseminated on either side of the great river; and experience has proved that it was not unfavorable to growth, for even olden Canada was, of all the colonies commenced by Louis XIV, or by his predecessors, that wherein was found the largest colonial population of French origin.

During the early times of our history, the governor-general exercised, conjointly with the intendant, the civil and military government, and, along with the seigneurs who had justiceships in their domains, juridical administration. But very soon, not being able to do all themselves, they had to employ delegates, and in civil cases had the aid of the secular clergy and the Jesuits, in default of lawyers. This system was very simple, and too arbitrary perhaps, but it was that adopted at the outset in almost all the French colonies. And if, on the one hand, "the award of the chief or that of his lieutenant, was as an oracle that none should interpret, a redoubtable decree to be obeyed, not examined; if these functionaries had all the power to inflict or to remit, to punish or reward, the right to imprison men without a shadow of culpability on their part, with the privilege yet more remarkable of claiming reverence as an act of justice for every instance of their caprice": [160] admitting that such unfavourable characteristics as the foregoing were occasionally attributable to the irregular jurisprudence of the early times of the colony, we would observe, also, that contestations were rare among our ancestors for many years, for in most of the early cases which have been reported, final decisions were usually obtained by recourse to the arbitration of neutral parties; and it was only when such means failed that the clients had recourse to the governor in council, whose decrees were dictated more by a common-sense view of the whole case, than by bringing to its consideration the strict rules of jurisprudence: in short, a spirit of equity rather than a subservience to the exigencies of law, is the great principle discernible in their awards. In thus dealing with questions brought before him, Baron d'Avaugour acquired repute rightfully among his contemporaries. The early colonists [Pg 182] were not a litigious race; most of them preferring to abate somewhat of their legal rights, rather than to incur greater loss by going to law. It seems even that there was some approach to a community of goods among them; and it was long before the habit of putting effects under the safeguard of lock and key obtained in their dwellings.

Toward the year 1639, we know not to what end, a "grand seneschal" was appointed, with jurisdiction over Trois-Rivières. This species of civil or military magistrate, whose authority, in olden France, was destined to put a curb on that of its seigneurs, was invested, in Canada, only with the powers of an ordinary judge, and his juridical functions were subordinated to those of the governors-general. In important affairs, the latter were bound to take the advice of "prudent and capable persons." In 1647, the king's council rendered, on occasion of an inquest on the abuses of the traffic in peltry, a regulation bearing that the supreme council of the colony should be composed of the following notabilities: the governor-general, the governor of Montreal, their substitutes (lieutenants), and, until a bishop were appointed, the superior of the Jesuits; all questions debated to be carried by a majority of votes. But it was merely out of regard to prescriptive observance that these councillors were nominated, for their decisions carried no authority. In judicial matters, the colonial council held of the parliament (supreme court) of Rouen, whose judgment in cases referred to it was final: but in the sequel the multiplicity of suits, and the great cost of appeals to tribunals in Normandy, led to new reforms of the colonial legislation.

In 1651, the Company appointed the seneschal, chief judge of the court of common pleas (chef de la justice ordinaire), with a jurisdiction over all the colony; and at the same time nominated him, as lieutenant-general, to take cognisance of matters civil and criminal in the district of Quebec; likewise a lieutenant subordinate (particulier), having civil and criminal jurisdiction in the first instance, from whose award an appeal lay to the governor, who, acting for the king, judged in the last resort. M. de Lauzon installed these officers the same year (1651).

Occasion was taken, when the sovereignty of Canada was resumed by the king, to adopt a system more conformable to the [Pg 183] wants of the country; one which should be based on a code of positive laws, with enactments easily recognisable,—such being the most efficient and ever-present protection for a people. The inconveniences of the olden system had become all the more grave that the clergy therein took a part, unsuited to the nature of their profession, in the adjudication of temporal controversies, and in the application of penalties. [161] A very natural alarm, too, prevailed in the community that the secrets of the confessional had an undue influence in determining the after decisions of ecclesiastics, in their juridical capacity, for or against parties coming before them under accusation, or as complainants. [162]

Along with M. de Mésy came M. Gaudais-Dupont, sent by Colbert as royal commissary to examine into the state of the colony, after having ascertained the needs and wishes of the inhabitants. The commissary, whose choice did no discredit to the sagacity of the great minister, performed his duties with energy and good discrimination of persons and things. He reported that the civil administration was in an unsatisfactory state, partly owing to the ineptness of some of the chief functionaries. One Jean Peronne Dumesnil, subscribing himself "avocat de Paris," who had been appointed controller-general and supreme judge for the colony by the Company, he denounced for his insensate conduct while in office (he had just been suspended); he also declared that the councillors were unlettered men, of little experience in public business, and, almost without exception, unfit to be trusted with the decision of any case of importance.

It was in consequence of the representations of M. Dupont, [163] that the minister soon afterwards effected a sweeping reform of the existing system, causing it to be re-organised entirely. Beginning at the head, the royal ordinance of April 1663 decreed the establishment of a "royal administration," and the erection [Pg 184] of a supreme tribunal named "the sovereign council of Quebec," constituted like the parliament of Paris. The chief governance of all the affairs of the colony, both administrative and judicial, was vested in the sovereign council, to be exercised with as full authority as that of any of the supreme courts of France. It was bound to register, but at the king's command only, all edicts, declarations, letters patent, and other ordinances, to give them the force of law. This council was composed, at first, of the governor-general, the bishop, and five councillors (named by those two dignitaries conjointly every year) and an attorney-general (procureur du roi). It had the right of trying all causes civil and criminal, with power of determining in the last resort, in conformity with the decisions and forms obtaining in the French supreme courts. The office of intendant had been created, as an adjunction to the renovated administration of the colony; but M. Robert, state councillor, who was the first nominated functionary of such a designation known to Canada, never coming thither, M. Talon, as his successor, arrived in Quebec two years afterwards, and forthwith took his seat at the council-board in that capacity. [164] In the sequel, the number of Councillors was increased to twelve, not comprising the addition of a clerk of council and several assessors, with deliberative voice in law procedure (they being official reporters), but having only a consultative voice in all other affairs.

As a law-court, the sovereign council met at the intendancy every Monday. The governor presided, the bishop at his right, the intendant at his left; the three ranged in one line, at the head of the council board. The procurator-general announced his conclusions seated. The councillors took place in the order of their appointment. The clients, accompanied by their attorneys (procureurs), pleaded their causes standing, behind the judges' chairs. There were no barristers (avocats) employed, nor any court-dues charged. [165] The court functionaries had no official costume, but [Pg 185] wore swords. The presence of at least five judges was necessary in civil procedure; and the tribunal sat only as a court of appeal.

In its administrative capacity, the sovereign council had the disposal of the revenue of the colony, and was at first charged with the supervision of its interior trade: but this faculty became almost null the year following that of its erection, by the creation of the West India Company; upon the dissolution of which, however, the functions mentioned above reverted to the former administrators.

The sovereign council was empowered to establish at Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and in all other places where such should be wanting, tribunals of first resort, for the summary disposal of cases of inferior importance.

Two other species of functionaries, for whose first appointment the colony was indebted, perhaps, to Colbert, but who were soon lost to it, were the commissaries for judging petty causes, and the "deacons (syndics) of habitations." These commissaries were the five councillors first mentioned above. One of their duties was to see that the decrees of the sovereign council were carried into effect; and to take preliminary cognisance of any affair intended to be brought under its purview by the deacons of habitations.

These deacons were a kind of municipal officers appointed, by election, to note any infraction of public rights, and be careful of the commonweal, in urban communities. The office was not new. The regulations of 1647, cited already, show that the inhabitants of Quebec, Montreal and Trois-Rivières had one such officer in each of these places; but it appears that the office had ceased to exist towards the year 1661. Upon the requisition of the procurator-general, the sovereign council, in 1663, called a meeting of the citizens for the election of a mayor and two aldermen (échevins [166]); [Pg 186] whereupon the chief inhabitants of Quebec and its environs (la banlieue) assembled, and chose Jean-Baptiste de Repentigny as their mayor, with Jean Madry and Claude Charron as aldermen; but these persons, probably under moral compression exerted by the sovereign council, sent in their resignation; which being accepted, the government made a declaration that, considering the peculiar condition of the district, and the fewness of its inhabitants, one head deacon (syndic) to be elected by the people would suffice for the time. When one was chosen accordingly, his election was annulled by the ruling party in council, under the pretext that it was not satisfactory to a majority of the constituents. The electors were convoked once more, but few attended this time, being overawed by the bishop's partisans, whom the council registers designate as "a cabal," and no decision was come to. The governor then addressed a circular of invitation to safe parties (personnes non suspectes), who made choice of a new chief deacon, despite the demurring of the chief citizens and protests of a minority in council.

The election took place in presence of the governor. The bishop's representative (M. de Charny, a priest) and two of his partisans, protested against it, but in vain. The party, thus defied, obtained a delay in council, of swearing in the officials; but the governor, taking note of "the obstinacy of the faction," as he called the dissidents, demanded an adjournment of the affair. In a subsequent sederunt, he proceeded to administer the needful oaths, despite the protestations of M. de Charny, and others present, in opposition; who were advertised that the convocation of public assemblies did not of right belong to the sovereign council. [167]

By way of imparting greater accord to the deliberations of the sovereign council, the governor proposed to M. de Laval to change a part of the councillors: a proposal at once rejected by the latter, as might have been anticipated. From this time forward, there was no farther question of free municipal government in Canada, so long as French domination endured, although a nominal syndicate existed for a short time after that now under review. We have been all the more particular in giving the preceding details, because the popular elections which then were first proposed, and forthwith caused to miscarry, were the only examples of the kind known to our annals. In that age, the metropolitan executive was bent on stifling all aspirations of the people for freedom, either at home or in the colonies; but more especially dreading any liberal pretensions arising in the latter. Thus in the official project for regulating the government of New France, drawn up by Messrs. de Tracy and Talon in 1667, we find the following deprecations on the subject:—"Laying it down as a principle that the obedience and fidelity due to the king is more likely to become slackened in provinces distant from the seat of central power than those which are near thereto, it will be only prudent to take precautions, in the nascent state called Canada, against the occurrence of such undesirable revolutions as might make it, from being monarchic as it is, to become either aristocratic or democratic; or, through an irregular potency of balanced powers among its members, end in a splitting up of parties, and give place to a dismemberment such as we have seen in France by the erection of sovereignties in the (so called) kingdoms of Soissons, of Orléans, the county of Champagne, and others."

The contestations born of the municipal question thus agitated did not quite terminate at this time, as we shall have occasion to show by and by. The contemporary opposition among the councillors to the governor growing apace, the exasperation of the latter at length became uncontrollable.

It is worthy of observation, that, in the re-organisation of the colonial government, the capital point of taxation, by whom or in what manner it was to be exercised, was not adverted to at all. It was plain, therefore, that Louis XIV, whose motto was, "I alone am the state!" did not intend to delegate the power of [Pg 188] levying imposts in New France to any body of men whatever; but reserved that important function in his own hands, to be exercised at the personal discretion of the kings of France. Thus, shortly before, or soon after that monarch's death, when it was found expedient to fortify Montreal, (circa 1716,) an arbitrary impost of 6000 livres, for the purpose, was laid on the town, from contributing to which none of its inhabitants were exempted, not even [168] the nobles. One third of the whole was imposed on the governing seminarists of St. Sulpice, in their capacity as seigneurs of the island; the rest was levied from the heads of the other religious establishments and the rest of the inhabitants. This imposition became a precedent ever after, when any sum, large or small, was wanted for a special public purpose; for Canada was never systematically taxed at any time while French domination in it lasted.

What was observed in practice, was vindicated on principle: "The governors and intendants," thus runs the decree (ordre) issued by Louis XV in 1742, "have no allowance to levy imposts: that is a sovereign right which His Majesty communicates to none. It is not even lawful for the people to tax themselves, except by our permission!" It is to be observed, however, that the kings of France habitually gave up, for the support of the colonial government and other public purposes, their proprietary rights in all crown domains situated in the dependencies beyond sea. [169]

Of the seignorial justiceships, no mention was made in establishing the sovereign council; but in the following year, the latter body passed a decree "prohibiting all judges of subaltern courts and official procurators therein from taking any salary or emoluments, [Pg 189] on pain of prosecution as extortioners (concussionnaires), though they might still accept pecuniary appointments from those who had inducted them to place," meaning the seigneurs, [170] upon whose domanial justiceships this brain-blow was intended to fall; for it was manifest that the seigneurs could not, or would not, except in rare cases, pay the salaries of judges and pleaders, or incur other expenses connected with a special tribunal, for the convenience of their renters or others. Later still, namely in 1679, Louis XIV ordained by an edict, that appeals should lie from seignorial awards to the royal courts and to the sovereign council; which measure tended still further to abridge feudal power. All the holders of seignories, a few excepted, we have seen, had the redoubtable power of inflicting the pain of death and corporal punishment. [171] Other [Pg 190] restrictions were laid on afterwards; insomuch that, at last, scarcely any seigneur cared to profit by the remnant of juridical rights still remaining to him. Upon the whole, candour obliges us to admit that the Canadian seigneurs "did their spiritings gently," else there would now be many accusatory reports or traditions extant in our country to their discredit, in respect to the proceedings of their domanial tribunals.

In 1664, the ordinance establishing the West India Company erected Quebec into a provostry (prévôté), and introduced that department of French jurisprudence known as the "law and custom of Paris" (la Coutume de Paris). To avoid the perplexing diversity prevalent in the mother country at that time and down to 1789, the legislation of no other coutumes were to be in force in Canada for the future. When the West India Company was suppressed, the provostry ceased for a moment, but only to be renewed by the royal edict of 1677. This tribunal, which existed till the Conquest, had jurisdiction, in first resort, of all matters civil and criminal; and in appeal, derived its authority (relevait) from the sovereign council. It was composed of a lieutenant-general [172] civil and criminal, of his substitute (lieutenant particulier), of a royal procurator, and a registrar (greffier). The king nominated, in 1677, a provost, assigning him six archers (armed runners) for a guard. Afterwards, the Quebec police consisted of a provost, an exempt (police lieutenant), and four archers.

In 1717 was erected the earliest admiralty court, the judge in which also bore the name of lieutenant-general. The dependent and subaltern justiceships of Montreal and Trois-Rivières, distinguished by the name of royal jurisdictions, were civil and criminal courts, organised in like manner to that of the provostry; only [Pg 191] there was no second judge (lieutenant particulier) at Trois-Rivières. All these courts had audiences twice a week regularly, and had, occasionally, extra sederunts.

The royal intendant, as chief of justice and police, also had his tribunal for criminal and civil affairs, as well as police. He took cognisance of all matters which concerned the king, and of all misunderstandings arising between the seigneurs and their renters (censitaires). He named, at times, sub-delegates, who disposed of debt cases, of any sum from 1 franc to 100; with a reserve of appeal to himself. There were no costs incurred in his court, wherein was adjudged, also, trading cases; and he was judge-consul for Canada. A right of final appeal lay from his decisions, as from those of the sovereign council, to the council of state, held in Paris, or wherever the king kept his court for the time.

Such, as we have described it, was the judicial system which existed in this country till the year 1760. Justice was administered by its expositors, in general, with equity, impartiality, and, above all, at little cost. Our current jurisprudence, built on the solid bases laid down in the celebrated ordinance of 1667, was not subject to the variations, or to the self-contradictory system which partially superseded it. Before the time of British domination, there were not two co-existent codes struggling for the mastery; or clients addressing themselves, by turns to this or that tribunal, French or English, according as they found one or the other most subservient to some special interest, without regard to the equity of the claims put forward or resisted: not to mention, that, while our own jurisprudence is well defined in principle and fixed in its decisions, the alien system is in its nature too optional (facultatif), vague, and ever variable; just as are the passions of the times and the degree of enlightenment of the judges, past and present, on whose precedents its uncertain decisions are founded. [173]

During the same year that a colonial admiralty court was founded, M. Collet, procurator-general, proposed to open a school of law at Quebec; but his project fell to the ground. He proposed, also, to unite the ordinance of 1667, the rules of 1678, and the edicts of 1678 and 1685, into one collective ordinance, to be entitled the "Civil Code of New France."

The administrative department of the government was left to the intendant, whose other functions we have already enumerated. This re-distribution of authority, by constituting an intendancy, formerly vested, almost entirely, in the governors-general, would have left little authority to the latter high functionaries, had the country been in a normal state, and if the peculiar composition of its population had not always permitted the chief of the government to exercise a potent influence on the administration of affairs. The inhabitants were too weak in numbers and too poor in resources to make head against any of their chief rulers, however they might act, with a chance of success. Men in office, again, were pretty sure to be backed, in dubious cases, by the home authorities. The governor had, ostensibly, only a kind of veto in regard to some civil matters; but he had the absolute command of the armed force, and the unshackled regulation of the exterior affairs of the colony. He alone communicated, also, directly with the ministry at Paris; calling in the aid of the intendant, however, in the latter and preceding cases, when urgent circumstances called therefor.

In the exercise and apportionment of the power of the colonial government, the people counted for nothing. It was considered a great favour done the inhabitants of Quebec, when they were permitted to elect a deacon (syndic) to represent and support their interests in the sovereign council; but the office, as a popular institution, was null; and as the election of that functionary was a mere act of routine, the custom of attending on such occasions was gradually wearing out.

Upon due consideration of the foregoing summary, it will be understood that all real power resided collectively in the governor, [Pg 193] the intendant, and the members of the sovereign council being, directly or intermediately, of royal nomination. The colonial government was simplicity itself, as all absolutisms are wont to be, no jarring of its uncomplex parts ever deranged its movements, whether pursuing the way of public well-being, or moved in a direction to subserve selfish interests, or for the gratification of personal ambition. The latter perversion of its powers was all the more likely to happen, because a substantially despotic power was delegated from the court of France, to be exercised at a great distance, in a community of quite a different character from that upon which it was dependent. No distinctly recognized liberty of the subject, besides, for those far or near, could be expected to emanate from Louis XIV, who was even jealous of the name of the "sovereign council," and changed that epithet into supreme; entertaining the puerile idea that its members might take it into their ambitious heads that they really were so many sovereigns absolute!

So long as M. de Laval and the Jesuits balanced the secular influence of the governor and his partisans in the council, there was a kind of opposition maintained, but in no liberal sense of the term; although each of the parties—the governor's and the bishop's—took occasion to court public approbation somewhat for their several lines of conduct when antagonistic to each other. But when the prelate lost his influence, the council, once paramount at court, became collectively the mere creature of the two representatives of royalty, the governor and the intendant; who, in turn, behoved to be reverentially obedient to orders sent from Paris. If, on any rare occasion, the ministry were at issue with the two chiefs, it would assuredly be on some point of selfish interest of their own: ah! then indeed, the oligarchic body would rise up hissingly, as a serpent erects itself to sting the foot that offers to tread upon it.

Of the Missions established in Canada; at first by the Recollets (Franciscans); afterwards by the Jesuits.—New France becomes an apostolic vicariat, in 1657; and a bishopric, in 1674.—M. de Laval, first bishop of Quebec; his character.—Oppositions to his nomination; M. de Queylus refuses to recognise him.—Establishment of the Seminary of Quebec; nature of its endowment.—Arrangements regarding the tribes.—The Recollets offer their services gratuitously.—The parsons (curés), their permanent status recognised up till the Conquest, but not since.—Public education little cared for.—Character of the Canadian clergy, under French rule.—Dissidences in the Gallican Church little felt in Canada.

Canada was at the outset, as a French possession, a country of missions; which were undertaken at first by Franciscan friars, who began their labours in 1615; afterwards, by members of "the Society of Jesus," who entered the field in 1625, as vicars of the see of Rouen. In time, the Jesuits were first subordinated, and finally superseded, by a regular establishment of secular clergy, forming at first an apostolic vicariat, afterwards an episcopal see. [174] Canada, as a province, was in 1629 brought, quoad civilia, under the jurisdiction of the parliament (supreme court) of Normandy: and hence, as is believed, it came to be considered, quoad sacra, as a dependency of the archbishopric of Rouen; the prelates of which see were allowed to exercise episcopal supervision in the province for many years; but their supremacy in the case was long contested and at length given up. Each territorial division of the colony [Pg 195] at first bore the name of "the —— mission (of such a district); but when populations increased and churches arose among them in various localities, parishes and cures gradually came into shape, and these terms were recognised as the proper appellation in public acts.

Canada was constituted an apostolic vicariat, by the pope, in 1657; and became an episcopal see, named "the bishopric of Quebec," circa 1674. Louis XIV, as an endowment of the new prelacy, granted the temporalities of the abbeys of Maubec and Lestric, in the diocese of Bourges; and afterwards, at the solicitation of M. de St. Vallier, second bishop of Quebec, added the revenue of the Augustinian abbey of Bénévent, in the diocese of Limoges. These sources of income for the see, however, have long ceased to flow. [175]

The first bishop known to Canada was Francis de Laval, titular of Petræa, a scion of the illustrious house of Montmorency. To his high birth he owed much of the influence he exercised in the civil as well as ecclesiastical affairs of the colony, making and unmaking its governors at will. He had great talents and much activity, while his overbearing spirit brooked no opposition. His naturally obstinate character, hardened rather than subdued by religious zeal, caused constant dissensions to arise between him and the public functionaries with whom he had to deal; he also got into trouble with the heads of the local religious communities, and even with private individuals. He was firm in the belief that in whatever he did for the supposed weal of the church, in any contingency, he could not err; and firm in this persuasion, he did some things, in a colonial sphere of action, which would have been deemed exorbitant in Europe.

After mounting the episcopal throne, he set about disciplining his clergy, as if they had been soldiers of a spiritual militia; just as the Jesuits were passively subject to the orders of their general. He sought even to make the civil power the creature of his will; [Pg 196] causing the sovereign council to decree the revocability of the curacies, and to ordain that tithes should be paid to his Seminary. But some of his projects, as contrary in sound principle as they were to all established usage in France, had no ultimate success. He found invincible antagonists in successive governors, all more or less jealous of the undue influence he already possessed; and who, individually, were often kept in countenance by public sentiment, which veered fitfully for or against the people's two absolute masters, lay and spiritual. The complacent recognition of such references to popular feeling seemed to solace the minds of the Colonists somewhat, under the oppression of the double yoke they had to bear.

M. de Laval, previously called the abbé de Montigny, was at first consecrated bishop of Petræa, in partibus infidelium, by the pope's nuncio, and vested with a brief as vicar-apostolic of Canada, before sailing thither. Quebec having been made an episcopal diocese, he was nominated its bishop suffragan of Rome by a bull of Clement X, which was forwarded from the papal chancery in 1674.

This nomination gave rise to many difficulties before induction could be obtained. The selection of apostolic vicars in heathen countries belonging to the popes, the court of Rome wished that the appointment it had now made should not be subjected, in the ordinary course, for the approval or rejection of the king, nor was the nominee himself to take the oath of fidelity to his majesty; while Louis XIV desired that the new bishop, as a dignitary of the Gallican church, should be subject to all its conditions, and, with that view, suggested that the episcopal diocese of Quebec should be suffragan of the archdiocese of Rouen,—at least until Canada were become populous enough for the pope to establish there a metropolitan see, with its dependent bishoprics. After much discussion, and when a decree had been rendered by the parliament of Paris at the instance of the procurator-general, the Holy See consented that the bishop should take the required oath; but stood out for the church of Canada's deriving all its authority directly from Rome. The King, backed as his wishes were by decrees of the parliaments of Paris and Rouen, and a protest by the archbishop of Rouen against the alleged "disruption of his diocese" involved in the proceeding, yet [Pg 197] had to give way perforce; though it seemed unreasonable that the liberties of the Gallican church, which by no forced interpretation of the concordat of 1516 were henceforth considered to stand good for all parts of the French empire, should be thus determinedly and successfully set aside, by a papal sic volo, in New France. [176]

It was customary for missionaries, on setting out for distant countries, to receive their credentials from the prelate nearest to the place of embarkation; and, as the departures of ours from France took place, almost always, from Normandy, when bound for New France, it followed, as a thing of course, that such should apply to the archbishops of Rouen; in time, therefore, these prelates came to regard Canada as an outlying portion of their diocese. Fortuitous circumstances, operating concurrently, induced Cardinal Richelieu to place the colony, in a civil sense, under the jurisdiction of the supreme court of the same province, by causing the Parliament of Rouen, in 1626, to register the letters patent establishing the Company of the Hundred Partners. The episcopal supervision of Canada, tacitly assented to as a kind of prescriptive right vesting in the chief prelate of Normandy, was never formally recognised; and was even disowned by its clergy refusing to receive [Pg 198] M. de Queylus as vicar-general, when accredited by that metropolitan. It appeared, in fact, that two other French prelates, the bishops of Nantes and La Rochelle, equally laid claim to New France as forming part of their respective dioceses, but, despite the support that M. de Queylus received from the parliament of Rouen,—which began to be apprehensive that its civil jurisdiction should be called in question,—M. de Laval was allowed to start for Canada, and on his arrival was admitted to exercise episcopal functions.

M. de Queylus, who had succeeded, meanwhile, finding acceptance at Quebec as grand-vicar, and who had applied in vain for the mitre obtained by M. de Laval, refused to recognise the latter as his spiritual superior. He conceived that he had all the more right to the new prelacy, as he had now founded the seminary of St. Sulpitius of Montreal, a dependency (succursale) of the famous college of the same name in Paris. [177] The king issued an injunction that M. de Laval should be recognised; and as M. de Queylus still remained recalcitrant, a sealed writ (lettre de cachet) was taken out, recalling him. This not having the desired effect, he was interdicted from exercising his clerical functions. All oppositions having been overcome, the Canadian church establishment passed from the hands of the Jesuits into those of the secular priesthood in 1659. The bishop organised his clergy as we have seen, and made provision for those parishes and missions in which pastors were needed.

The parochial charges (cures) were as yet too poorly sustained by the country, to be able to exist without extraneous aid, and the king had to lend them his support for several years. When M. de Laval went to France to complain against Baron d'Avaugour, he obtained permission to found a seminary in Quebec for the reception of youths in training for the ministry; with right of appropriation [Pg 199] of tithes, levied on all the inhabitants, for its support. This impost was to affect all kinds of produce or realised means, "whether born of the labour of man, or what the soil produces of itself:" the heads of the episcopal seminary, in return, undertaking to pay the stipends of the parish clergy; conditioned, however, that the incumbents (curés) should be removable at discretion by the seminarists and the bishops conjointly. The rate of tithing was fixed at a 1/13th valuation,—an exorbitant tax, which, exciting general opposition, was modified after four years' infliction. The sovereign council, in 1667, took upon itself the duty of reducing it to the 1/26th, and to suspend its operation entirely for six years on lands newly cleared. This modification, which was sanctioned by the edict of 1679, has been adopted as the basis of our jurisprudence upon this matter ever since.

M. de Laval had no selfish motives, of a gross character, for demanding at first so heavy a contribution, as he sacrificed all his personal means for the sustentation of his clergy; but he over-estimated the disposable resources of the inhabitants, and did not consider the crippling effect of an impost which would have swept away a thirteenth part of every product of the earth, or eight per cent. of the income of the cultivator.

The Recollets—whom an occult cause had prevented from returning to Canada before 1669, though their services were desired by the people, sanctioned in an ordinance by the pope, and approved by the "congregation for the propagation of the faith," in 1635—these members of the Franciscan confraternity, we say, coming forward when public discontent at the tithing system was ripe, offered to undertake the cure of souls without any extorted remuneration for their services. This liberality did but augment the alien feeling of the secular clergy for those zealous men, whose general regard for laic interests, in other respects, doubtless helped to discredit them in the eyes of the bishop and a majority of his clergy. The advantageous proffer appears to have been flatly, perhaps contumeliously rejected. Yet worse, M. de St. Vallier (afterwards bishop of Quebec), by way of ending a controversy that he had with the Recollets of Montreal, issued a presentment (mandement) against them, and put their church under an interdict.

In right of the royal sanction for the foundation of a seminary at Quebec, the bishop continued to confer the parochial charges on his priests, whom he transferred or superseded at will. [178] His arbitrary manner of governing the diocese at length excited the jealousy of the civil authorities, and the dislike of the inhabitants in general. Such of the latter and their spiritual directors as were native-born French, had brought with them into Canada, recollections of the privileges and liberties they once enjoyed in the mother country; and in accordance with a principle recognised in all nations having distant dependencies, thought they had a right to expect, after their expatriation, they should continue to enjoy the like advantages in their new homes. Their written complaints reached Paris at an auspicious moment for being attended to with respect, namely, when the French clergy were combating the pretensions of the papal court, and Bossuet was laying down bases for a renovation of the liberties of the Gallican Church. [179] At the demand of these suppliants, Louis XIV ordained that the curacies should be irrevocable in future; and, more important still, by a royal edict dated May 1679, it was decreed that the reduced rate of tithing, as modified by the sovereign council, should be maintained; also that all tithes leviable in future, as well as oblations and other church casualties, should belong to the parish priests; and where these were found not sufficient for their support, then the seigneurs and other resident parishioners were ordered to make good the deficiency. [180] In 1678, twenty-five perpetual curacies (cures fixes) had been already filled with incumbents.

These orders from the court being positive, were not lightly to be gainsaid. The bishop, aware of this, and putting the best face he could upon the matter, agreed to a settlement made by the governor, the intendant, and chief inhabitants, that a yearly payment of 574 livres should be made to each parish priest (curé). In 1680, the king, by special decree, ratified this arrangement, which would have given the recipients, on an average, more than the tithes could have yielded them. But in a public meeting convoked at Quebec, the governor and intendant being present, the seigneurs and inhabitants declared that they could not give, for the support of the clergy, more than 1/26th of their yearly avails; and if that did not reach the required amount, they trusted his Majesty would supply the remainder.

This begrudging spirit in reference to the pecuniary commutation, so acceptable as it seemed to be at first, made the new tithing law difficult of execution; an untoward result, yet more agreeable than otherwise to the bishop and his party. On the other hand, M. de St. Vallier was favourable to the irrevocability of the parish charges, as a part of the new arrangement, which made him be looked on with an evil eye by the seminarists. M. de Laval desired, that, for the easier sustentation of the secular clergy, [181] and [Pg 202] to spiritualize (sanctifier) its members more perfectly, it would be advisable to form all churchmen into a single corps, and put it under the authority of the bishop and the guidance of the seminarists. The directory of their institution had been united, in 1676, to that of the Foreign Missions located at Paris, in terms of a royal order, confirmed by the pope. The body thus accredited, M. de Laval intended should play a leading part in his scheme of church government were it to be realised. That great establishment had been well endowed with lands, bought for its use in the country. Five years after its foundation, M. de Laval founded a minor establishment of a kindred character, intended for students fitting themselves as entrants to the theological classes of the greater institution. The "Little Seminary," which still bears his name, has rendered eminent service to the literature of Canada since the extinction of the olden college of the Jesuits. More than 300 pupils, at the present time, receive a classical education in this valuable academy.

After returning to Canada, in 1688, as its bishop, M. de Saint Vallier domiciled in the episcopal palace, instead of taking up his quarters, as his predecessor had done, in the seminary of the city. This change gave umbrage to the seminarists, which was not lessened when, soon afterwards, he desired to isolate their establishment, by disconnecting it administratively both from the cathedral chapter and the parish of Quebec. Open dissension ensuing between the parties, the seminarists setting the bishop down for a restless and passionate man, their director made a formal complaint to the archbishop of Paris [182] and the Jesuit Père Lachaise, at that time royal confessor, they twain being the usual arbiters then referred to in Canadian Church perplexities; one of the incriminating articles in the seminarist libel attributing to the bishop's arbitrary [Pg 203] and violent temper a recent interdiction of three of his clergy, of which we shall speak anon. In fine, the seminarists prayed that he might be recalled. This was acceded to, and M. de Saint Vallier repaired to Paris. He returned to Canada in 1692, to be recalled again in 1694. It was about the time he first resided in Paris, that the royal decree (arrêt) of 1682 was rendered. This was founded on the conclusions of the Archbishop of Paris and Père Lachaise, and ruled that the Canadian hierarchy should conform to the royal declaration of 1686, which prohibited all nominations to revocable curacies. [183] At length, after several conferences, the erection of the bishopric of Quebec, and the reunion of the curacy with the seminary of that city, were confirmed by Louis XIV in the year 1697.

In 1716, the bishop, possibly conceiving that altered times in France, [184] might be more favourable for realising views which he had long been constrained to postpone, set about putting the church government of Canada on the same footing as that of France, where the subordination of the clergy and seminarist administrations to prelates was better understood and more practised. M. de Saint-Vallier complained that the seminary did not train a sufficient number of young clerics for the wants of the colony; although eighteen Canadians had been inducted to ecclesiastical charges during the previous five years. The directors of the seminary, on their part, accused their detractor of wishing to elude the ordinance making curacies perpetual, by proposing to entrust the Recollets with all parochial duties. The vexed question of the extent of Gallican Church liberties having been once more mooted about this time, and a decision waited for, the attention of the home authorities was little turned to Canadian ecclesiastical affairs; and thus it was that some infraction of the edicts of the former reign decreeing the irrevocability of the parish priests (curés) passed unrebuked, and by degrees these charges [Pg 204] became revocable as before: although the clergy continued to recognise, in theory at least, the edict of 1692 as still good in law.

Ever since the Conquest, the rule of revocability for the parish clergy of Canada has become general, with the tacit consent both of the displaced individuals and their parishioners. To elude the prohibitory terms of the edict of Louis XIV, the bishops reserve to themselves, in every letter of nomination to a parochial benefice, the right of removing the priest whom they have selected to fill it. The charge being accepted after such a stipulation, the contracting parties would seem not to be chargeable with a violation of a positive law; but it is one which our hierarchy would find become vital still, should the inhabitants of a vacant parish choose to demand its application in any given case.

The chapter of the cathedral of Quebec ceased to exist shortly after British domination began. As an episcopal body, it was composed of a dean, a grand chanter, an archdeacon, a theologist, a grand penitentiary, and twelve canons. [185] The members of the chapter of Quebec were not elected to their offices, as they were in France; for the king presented to the two leading charges, while the bishop nominated the rest of the corps. Since cathedral chapters have ceased to exist among us, the bishop administers his diocese without any staff of that kind about him; and, by means of the revocability of the parish priests, he governs with absolute sway: but the virtues and prudence which have hitherto distinguished our Canadian prelates, have prevented their making any improper use of such unlimited authority.

While thus treating of the constitution of church government in Canada, we are naturally induced to take some notice of the modes of its influence upon the religious institutions placed under the supervision of its chiefs.

Christian charity, and a love for letters, have led to the foundation of all the great establishments in our midst, for public [Pg 205] instruction and the succour or solace of suffering and decaying humanity. As we have already seen, the college of Quebec was erected by M. Rohaut, a Jesuit; the Hôtel-Dieu (curative hospital), by the duchess d'Aiguillon, niece of Cardinal Richelieu, which lady sent Hospitalières (nursing nuns) for the service of the house, in 1639; the Hôtel-Dieu of Montreal was erected by Madame de Bullion and Mademoiselle Mance; its Ursuline convent in that city was due to Madame de la Peltrie. The general hospital of Quebec, established in 1693, by M. de Saint-Vallier, replaced the board of relief (bureau des pauvres) in that city, opened four years before, at a time when public begging was first prohibited; and the "Congregation of Notre-Dame" was founded by Sister Bourgeois, a native of Troyes, for the education of girls of humble rank. Sister Bourgeois was a poor nun, of no worldly influence. Having once visited Canada and left it, she returned thither in 1659, and began to found that establishment, now so flourishing. It is said that she possessed only ten francs when she commenced her enterprise; but her zeal and devotedness soon brought to her aid in the good work some rich persons in the colony and many more in France, to which she made several voyages for contributions. The Congregation has at present, both in town and country, extensive female schools: the great utility of which is so manifest, that it is to be regretted we have no similar foundation for educating the male children of the deserving poor; the care of whose schooling was left to the clergy, the only qualified educators, indeed, along with the male religieux, in this country, throughout the era of French domination. As for the successive civil administrations of those days, they paid no attention whatever to that subject, in itself so important.

In 1714, there were 75 students in Quebec Seminary. In 1728, the Jesuits asked permission to found a college at Montreal, and the Frères Charon, of Montreal, proposed to employ school-masters in all the parishes, as in France. In 1737, the brotherhood of the church schools (écoles chrétiennes), who undertook, along with the Charon friars, and a few scattered rural teachers, the task of popular instruction, formed themselves into an educational corps, the members of which followed one system and wore the same distinctive garb. But despite the efforts of the Jesuits [Pg 206] and the Charon Friars, the civil authorities always considered the enlightenment of the people as more perilous than desirable for the state; and Canada was yet more exposed to the baneful operation of such a prejudice, as it lacked the endowment of parish schools, while (a standing reproach to the colonial race of New France) there was not a printing-press within its bounds, till one was set up, in 1764, [186] fully a century-and-half after the date of the colony's foundation!

Scholastic opportunities for the colonists, in fine, were miserably scanty, and necessarily to be had only amidst the urban communities of the colony, wherein they were, in fact, furnished only by the seminaries of Quebec and Montreal, which had some elementary classes; with a few more, served by the Recollets and Charon friars. The Jesuits, of all the religious orders being that most famed for its success in teaching, might have been expected to gain increased credit from taking the lead in the duty of instructing its proselytes in Canada; but it appears that its members never had considerable public classes in any part thereof. The inhabitants, content with such a measure of knowledge as was indispensable to enable them to run the routine of working-day life, thought they had no school-time left, they or their children, after tilling the ground, plying some handicraft, and, upon occasion, defending their persons, houses, and goods, when the Indians made their murdering or predatory incursions; while the government, on its part, looked, before all things else, for perfect submission from its subjects, caring not to strive at ameliorating, in any way, a state of things which renders men least exacting, quite unambitious, and consequently easy to rule. The mother country, however, suffered in the end for this culpable and impolitic neglect of her greatest colonial dependency; as, had the Gallo-Canadians, instead of being habituated to war, the chase, and a roving life, been encouraged to addict themselves to agriculture, to commerce, and the useful arts, the prosperity [Pg 207] thence arising would have attracted increased immigration; and when the fitful border hostilities of previous years ripened into open war in 1755, the colonists would have been found rich in resources, and competent to hold their own against any amount of force likely to be brought against them. [187]

Ecclesiastical organization in the colony of the time of Louis XIV, was maintained in Canada, with little mutation in form or spirit, even in times succeeding that of the Conquest. Although the Canadian church held directly from the papal see, its prelates, and a part of its parish ministers, were selected from the clergy of France. It needs not to mention that the latter body, in other respects so illustrious, having an eminent secular as well as spiritual status in the mother country, would inevitably, as indeed it did, take an active part in all the political revolutions that have agitated the ancient race from which we are descended. Faithful to their country's traditions, therefore, those members of the French clergy, who were sent to Canada, strove to distinguish themselves in a kindred way as leading colonists of New France. They did not foresee, in thus giving to the ardent Gaulish temperament, operating on such elements as those of an American community, that their conduct of affairs could not be prolonged beyond a certain term,—a term which the advent of British domination was destined to precipitate.

The dissensions which arose in our mother country, from time to time, regarding the franchises of the Gallican church, little interested the minds of the scattered populations on the banks of the St. Lawrence. The right principle of that vexed question, as understood by them through the practice of their authorised guides, [Pg 208] sufficed all the Canadians, among whom not even the shadow of any heresy ever seemed likely to darken the firmament of their religious faith. Nevertheless Jansenism, with its rigid dialectics, for a moment penetrated New France, and brought into question certain pre-established dogmata. At first, some theological books, infected with the doctrines of Pascal and Arnault, were clandestinely brought from France; presently a few adepts glided into the colony, having baffled the vigilance of the orthodox clergy. M. Varlet, titular of Babylon, and deposed Archbishop of Utrecht, while passing through Canada on his way to the Mississippi, left behind him proselytes to the Jansenian heresy. M. de Villermaule, M. Thibaut, parish priest, and M. Glandelet, dean of the chapter, began to be of the same mind as the author of the Lettres Provinciales. In 1714 a religieux, of an order not ascertained, landed at Quebec, expressing the intention of erecting a hermitage in which to pass the rest of his days. Although there was an air of mystery about his proceedings, he was allowed to choose a retired spot in the forests of Kamouraska, where he set up a small cabin, formed of the branches of trees. Carefully concealing his name and peculiar religious faith, he led the life of a recluse; and carried his external humility so far as to kneel before any chance wayfarers whom he met, and kissed their feet, uttering pious-sounding words the while. But a six months' winter, with snow four feet deep on the ground, will always put serious obstacles in the way of an intending anchorite who takes to regions near Quebec. Accordingly, the unknown, under the pretext that his cabin had been accidentally consumed, returned to that city, where the hospitalities ready to be extended to him doubtless made his residence agreeable to him. He also was obtaining introductions for himself among the chief families of the place; when a letter from Europe, addressed to the governor, unveiled the hidden antecedents of the stranger. He turned out to be Don George François Paulet, a Benedictine monk, whose mind had been corrupted by the pernicious maxims of the Jansenists, and who, after absenting himself without leave, had been advertised for in vain by the superior of his monastery. From this moment, all doors were closed against him. It was to no purpose that the clergy of the diocese tried to persuade him to submit to the constitution Unigenitus. Firm in his beliefs, as if he had [Pg 209] been the great (grand) Arnault himself, or Father Quesnel, whose disciple he was, he would retract nothing. The bishop was, therefore, obliged to excommunicate him, and procure his banishment from Canada, as a heretic. [188]

"Amid the factious disputings about Calvinism and the quarrels of Jansenism," says Voltaire, "there was yet one more division arose in France, known as 'quietism.' It was an untoward result of the progress of the human mind in the time of this monarch, that efforts were made, in all things, to overpass those bounds which Providence has prescribed for man's inquiries; or rather, [Pg 210] such vain aspirings proved that sufficient progress had not been made in the paths of true knowledge." [189]

The sect of "Quietists," as they were called, originated in the adoption, by its members, of the spiritual day-dreams of Madame Guyon. Without going all lengths into the beliefs of that visionary, the illustrious Fénelon was seduced into sympathy with her mystic notions of religion. It appears that there were several declared Quietists, for a time [even] in Canada. It was asserted that Mme. d'Ailleboust, wife of the governor of that name, had vowed her body to Jesus Christ during her girlhood, under the inspiration of an inward heavenly love, and that, although she had married, she preserved to the end of life her virginal purity; become a widow, and again sought in marriage by a succeeding governor (M. de Courcelles), and also by M. Talon, royal intendant, she, like Mme. Guyon, refused all such offers. This lady, who was very rich, divided her wealth between the General Hospital and the Hôtel-Dieu of Quebec, where she died most edifyingly; "being filled," to adopt the language of her Quietist friends, "with the spirit of prophecy, the gift of tears, discernment of the unseen world, and many other heavenly favours."

The time of the earthquakings in 1663 was a halcyon period of Canadian Quietism. The phenomena then occurring called into active play the exalted imaginations of its votaries; giving rise to accounts of numerous apparitions of a terribly startling character. Prophecies of coming judgments, to be manifested in the land, were also rife during those months of excitement. The lady superintendent of the Hôtel-Dieu of Quebec, and the celebrated "Mary-of-the-Incarnation," chief of the Ursulines' Convent, in the same city, evinced strange manifestations, in their own persons, of the spiritual delirium that possessed some devotional minds. These distinguished exemplars of the Quietistic mania gave it a credit in Canada which it could not else have had; and such pious chimeras continued, for some years, to possess other persons of a romantic turn of mind, among the female colonists. The clergy, meanwhile, viewed with respectful reserve those phenomena; not caring either to commend or to blame demonstrations born of feelings of genuine if misapprehending piety.

The sovereign council; divisions respecting the syndicate.—M. de Mésy suspends the opposition councillors.—Strange means he proposes for replacing them.—Nomination of the new members.—M. de Villeray carries complaints to France against the governor.—The latter superseded; his death.—M. de Courcelles named as his successor.—Arrival of M. de Tracy, as viceroy for M. de Courcelles, and M. Talon, first intendant.—Arrival of a great number of immigrants, with men of Carignan's regiment.—Free trade granted to the colony, with certain reserves.—War against the Iroquois, who are forced to sue for peace.—M. de Tracy returns to France.—Abortive attempt to Frenchify the savages.—The intendant proposes to put restraints on the clergy.—Labours and usefulness of M. Talon for agricultural and trading advancement.—Disbanding of the Carignan regiment on conditions.—Talon goes to France.—The governor appeases the irritated Iroquois, and secures the colonial peltry trade.—Frightful mortality among these savages.—Talon, returned to Canada, opens up a vast plan for extending New France to the far south-west.—Treaty of Sault Sainte-Marie; the western aborigines recognise French supremacy.—Foundation of Cataracoui (Kingston).—Count de Frontenac replaces M. de Courcelles: character of the former.—Numerous administrative ordinances passed.—Suppression of the French West India Company.—Misunderstanding between M. de Frontenac and M. Perrot, governor of Montreal; the latter put in prison.—Perrot is backed by the clergy.—The council takes up the case; the king finally appealed to.—M. Duchesneau replaces M. Talon.—His quarrels with M. de Laval about the liquor traffic.—Dissensions between the governor and M. Duchesneau; both recalled.—Rivalry between the clergy and civil functionaries.—Arrival of M. de la Barre, to replace M. de Frontenac.

The opposition which Messrs. de Charny, de la Ferté and d'Auteuil made to the election of a "deacon (syndic) of habitations," caused [Pg 212] the governor to break with the bishop entirely. The opposition was sustained by M. de Villeray, the attorney (procureur) general Bourdon, and a large majority of the council; wherein the governor had but two partisans, namely Messrs. d'Amours and Legardeur. The people, indeed, were generally on the governor's side, but they had no influence over the council; therefore, M. de Mésy had either to submit to his triumphant adversary, or to create a majority for himself by a forced recomposition of the sovereign council. He chose the latter alternative, and secluded all the partisans of the bishop from their places, under the double pretext that they had been arbitrarily chosen, and were in fact the prelate's creatures; and that they had, in office, "willed to become absolute masters, and sacrificed the interests of king and people alike, to subserve those of certain favourites of their own."

We have already seen that his Majesty had empowered the governor and the bishop, for the time being, to nominate conjointly, every year, the members of council. This arrangement put each of these potentialities on a level, so far; by which, however, the present bishop had become the rival and the censor of the governor in the exercise of one of the most important royal prerogatives. Such a system of critical observation as that thus followed was sure to cause, as in fact it did, a host of obstructions to the regular action of the government.

M. de Mésy, on his side, in suspending a majority of the councillors by his single authority, certainly violated the law; it being plain, that if he could not rightfully place councillors by his own act, neither could he legally displace them. The bishop, indeed, was formally applied to for his previous assent to substitutions proposed to be arbitrarily made; and twice did he flatly refuse to give it, as might have been expected. M. de Laval intimated, at the same time, that he was informed by M. Colbert that M. de Tracy was coming to Canada in the following year, and that he could say nothing positive in the matter till his arrival. Delay seems to have been even less to the governor's taste than denial: for he at once published his ordinance of interdiction, by beat of drum in the public streets, and replaced the vacant seats with new occupants; using a means to effect the change which must [Pg 213] have appeared strange, on account of the constitution of the government, but which showed that M. de Mésy strongly desired to obtain the countenance of the people for his action in the case. He proposed to convoke a public meeting of the inhabitants, and leave to them the choice of the new councillors. His intent also was, by the manner of his present recurrence to a popular election, to intimate that he had been led unwittingly, by want of personal experience of the colony, into an improper choice of parties in the first instance, and that he wished it to be rectified by the citizens themselves. But the proposed assembly was never holden, as the bishop interposed, and found effective means to stop the proceeding; he entering a protest, with cause assigned against it, in the council register. [190]

Matters were left in abeyance till the regular day of election of councillors for the year came round. Then the governor, after calling on the bishop, but in vain, to appear at the council board, replaced the suspended members by Messrs. Denis, de la Tesserie, and Péronne-Démazé. At the same time he expelled the procurator-general, M. Bourdon, from his seat in council; although that high functionary entered his protest against the right to displace him, as he occupied his seat ex officio. This was negatively inferrible, he urged, from the act of creation, when prescribing the annual nomination of members, being silent altogether as to the procurator-general. The governor then appointed M. Chartier de Lotbinière to fill the vacant seat. The chief registrar (M. Peuvret) was next superseded, and his place taken by M. Fillion, a notary. M. de Mésy further strained his authority by compelling Messrs. Bourdon and Villeray to embark for France. Thus was ended, for the present at least, the contestation which began, between governor and bishop, about the "deaconship of habitations."

This quarrel and its results necessarily made a great sensation in the community. The public, while blaming the violence and the doubtfully legal action of M. de Mésy, took part with him in the matter, as a whole, rather than with M. de Laval, whom the tithing question had made very unpopular. The clergy, making common cause with their chief, made the walls of their churches resound with partisan harangues and political disputations. The Jesuits, in particular, became very prominent in the unseemly controversy. They were reputed, in fact, to be at the bottom of the whole quarrel. They brought charges against the governor, of being a violent tempered and avaricious man. Moved by these and other reproaches or insinuations, M. de Mésy addressed some of his pulpit detractors personally, vindicating his good faith in performing his public duties, and plainly asking them in writing to define, conscientiously, what were really his alleged offences against king and country. Messrs. Chartier, de Repentigny, and Charron took the remonstratory missive to the superior of the Jesuits, father Jérome Lalemant, who answered, that "the confessor was the sole judge of the governor's conscience, and that in (worldly) debatings it was not for men of the sacred profession to determine who is right or who is wrong."

By this time, M. de Villeray had reached Paris. The bishop and the ejected councillors, resolving to accuse the governor at court, had charged Villeray to present their accusations to the king in person. They were at once listened to, his Majesty being particularly dissatisfied with M. de Mésy for having appealed to the inhabitants, and invited them to exercise free suffrage on a question of government. It was determined to make an example of this rash governor, as a warning to all others. M. de Mésy's recall had already been agreed on, and M. de Tracy selected to be his successor. It was even resolved to send out orders to arrest the former, put him on his trial, and send him to France; if only to satisfy royal justice, and secure the political quiet of the Canadians in all coming time. In the eyes of the latter, nevertheless, M. de Mésy passed, like his predecessor, for a victim to the vengeance of the twice triumphant bishop; the disgrace, in this instance, of the victimized party, being yet more signal than that of the baron d'Avaugour.

Colbert, however, came to the conclusion, on a review of the angry discussions which had taken place, that the Canadian laity would never contentedly submit to the authority which the bishop arrogated to himself in temporal affairs. "Therefore it was, that he recommended the selection of chiefs who should be of such a stamp as that no fault could fairly be found with their conduct; men of firmness above all, who would brook no interference with an authority which, it was fitting, they alone should exercise."

Pending these discussions, Canada was once more conceded to the West India Company, by a royal edict, dated May 1664. That association thus became mistress of the French outlying possessions in both hemispheres. At its request, the king was complaisant enough to nominate a provincial governor, and viceroy over all New France, present and prospective. Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de Tracy, a lieutenant-general, was chosen to fill the latter high place; with orders to depart, first, for the islands in the bay of Mexico, and thence to proceed to Canada. Colbert directed him to strive at consolidating that province by every means in his power; and above all things to avoid getting into trouble with the Jesuits, as it was they, the minister reminded him, who had been the means of effecting the recall of both d'Avaugour and de Mésy.

Daniel de Rémi, seigneur de Courcelles, was nominated to replace M. de Mésy as provincial governor; and M. Talon, intendant in Hainault, was chosen intendant for Canada, in place of M. Robert, who, as has been already mentioned, never came to America. They were charged, conjointly with the Marquis de Tracy, to procure legal proofs of culpability against M. de Mésy, and bring him to trial. "But God," observes the dean of Quebec, "had already luckily made nugatory, by the death of the culprit in penitence, the intended process to be entered upon;" vengeful words manifesting the animus of the writer, and apprising us how far party spirit could go in its rancour, scarcely sparing the departed.

Before expiring, M. de Mésy wrote a letter to M. de Tracy, part of which was copied into the memorials (procès-verbaux) of the sovereign council, in which he protested that in all he did, he ever had in view the interest of the king and the prosperity of the colony. "You will be able to make plain," added he, "better [Pg 216] than I should have been able to do, those things I wished to communicate to the king regarding the conduct of M. de Laval and the Jesuits in temporal affairs. I am not sure, however, that I did not allow myself to be too easily persuaded to put entire faith in some reports made to their disadvantage. Be this as it may, I consign to your prudence and fairness of examination the entire clearing up of this business."

Taking note of the exterior relations of the colony, the court gave orders to make all needful preparations for carrying on vigorous hostilities against the Iroquois. A war levy of the inhabitants was ordained: and the early dispatch of the Carignan regiment to Canada was announced; a corps which had distinguished itself in Hungary against the Turks.

The Marquis de Tracy reached Canada in June 1665. He came thither from the bay of Mexico, where he retook Cayenne from the Dutch, and brought several islands of the contiguous archipelago under French-domination. When he landed at Quebec, he was received with acclamations, almost the entire population of the city accompanying him and his suite to the cathedral. The bishop went out to him, as soon as he reached the church-close (parvis), at the head of his clergy, and conducted him to the foot of the choir, where had been set a hassock (prie-Dieu) for the use of the viceroy, which convenience he modestly set aside, and knelt, when the service demanded genuflexions, on the bare stone of the cathedral floor. After the chanting of the Te Deum, the prelate and clergy convoyed M. de Tracy with the same observances in leaving as at his entering to the church; after which he received the homage of all the colonial authorities then in Quebec.

By this time, four companies of the Carignan regiment had landed. Twenty more arrived between June and December, with their colonel, M. de Salières. Messrs. de Courcelles, Talon, and a great number of families, artisans, and engaged persons came this year. The passage vessels were also freighted with live stock, including some horses, animals now seen for the first time in Canada[!] The savages were particularly struck with their appearance, and amazed at their docility.

As soon as the viceroy received these reinforcements, he set about checking the Iroquois, whose depredations were increasing; [Pg 217] but he found this task less easy than he supposed. He began by erecting three regular forts on the banks of the Richelieu, where some defensive works had been formed several years before. One of the three new posts was at Sorel, another at Chambly; the third three leagues further up the river. Of the officers first put in command of these forts, the three names came to be the designation of the forts themselves. Others were formed afterwards, at St. Anne's and St. John's. These petty works put a temporary curb to the aggressiveness of the Iroquois, and became a means of allowing cultivators to secure the current year's crops without much molestation.

While M. de Tracy was thus taking measures for the defence of the colony, M. Talon, located at Quebec, occupied himself with the regulation of its civil government; keeping in view, also, the orders he had received from Colbert, to make a close examination of all things, and report to him. Before he left France Talon had received ample instructions how to act. He was chosen for intendant, because, said the king, he had all the qualities requisite for taking an exact estimation of the state of the country; and was able to decide on what reforms might be needed in the administration of justice, police, and finance. He found discontent rife in the colony. People complained that the Jesuits had taken upon themselves governmental authority alien to the nature of the clerical profession; that the bishop was their creature; that they had hitherto been the real nominators of successive governors in place of the king, and at Jesuitic instance were preceding governors displaced, to make way for their virtual nominees. But this was a ticklish matter for M. Talon to handle. His orders regarding it were, to ascertain the truth, without appearing to seek for it; to avoid giving any umbrage to the Jesuitic brotherhood, but, at the same time, to restrain, with all due civility, its alleged usurpation of civil functions, if found to exist, it being absolutely necessary, urged his Majesty, that spiritual authority in the colony should be subordinated to temporal. [191]

The intendant was authorised, with the concurrence of the viceroy and M. de Courcelles, to nominate the members of a new sovereign council, either of better material than the preceding, or else to improve the latter. "It is important," he was reminded, "that an intendant should ever bear in view that strict justice, the great conservator of a people's happiness, ought to prevail without respect of persons; and let him take care that the council render it with integrity, without waiting for beseechings, and at no cost to the seekers of it." He was charged also to join with the council and chief inhabitants in making fixed rules respecting the administration of the finances, and the punishment of peculators; he was also to aid them in fostering agriculture, and in favouring the introduction of manufactures. He was to use every effort to grant concessions of lands as close to others as possible, in order that the holders might be helpful each to each when any of them were attacked by savages: and in order to effect this end, he was empowered to take portions of land from parties who were either unable or neglected to clear them, and transfer the same to immigrants or landless colonists. The duty was imposed upon him, also, of bringing under cultivation and sowing with seed-grain every year, at royal cost, thirty or forty parcels of land, for as many incoming families. Lastly, he was charged with the supervision of the clergy's tithes, which he was admonished to fix at as low a rate as possible. The guidance of the instructions for the intendant were all conceived in a thoughtful and gracious spirit; and the document itself, which bore the king's autograph signature, was countersigned by the minister of state, De Lyonne. How contrasted an aspect Canada would have presented in 1759, if so good a spirit had always inspired the cabinet at Versailles, and how different a winding up would the Seven Years' War have had for France!

M. de Tracy also received other particular directions for his conduct, especially when dealing with the clergy. The king, who [Pg 219] had recently centered in himself all sovereign power in France, informed the viceroy that it was to him (Louis) personally application was in future to be made for orders, and all reports were to be addressed: "for those who hold confidential posts," it was urged, "ought, as a rule, to have their chief official relations with his Majesty; the correspondence that they have with his councillors being only a result of and subordinate to the former."

The death of M. de Mésy having relieved the intendant from the very onerous and distasteful task laid upon him of prosecuting the living man, he was enabled, at once, to turn his attention to other public business, of more import to the colony. M. Talon possessed enlarged views, and an independent mind. He transmitted to Paris, in the summer of 1665, a voluminous report on every subject he was charged to examine. Speaking of the Jesuits, he said, that if they had, at one time, usurped civil powers equal to those of the temporal, they had now quite reformed their conduct in that regard. As for the country itself, he observed, it would be impossible for any one to report too favourably of its natural resources or capabilities for trade. "But if his Majesty," added he, "wishes to turn Canada to account, let him take it out of the hands of the West India Company, and make its commerce free to all but aliens, who ought not to participate therein." [192] If, on the other hand, the king regards the colony only as a suitable region for the peltry traffic, and as a convenient medium for disposing of certain kinds of French exports, he has but to leave the country as it is for a short while, surely to be followed by its loss or ruin at no distant date; for at the first declaration the Company has made of abolishing all free trade, and of preventing the inhabitants to import anything from France (even for their own personal use) every one revolted." And, in effect, if such a monopoly would have enriched its possessors, it would have ruined the colonists, and made the province of no worth as a dependency of France.

Representations so judicious were not lost on the home government. From April next ensuing, the king in council accorded to [Pg 220] the colonists freedom of trade with the aborigines and the mother country. To the Company was reserved, however, the right to a fourth (le quart) on beaver skins, and of a tenth on orignal [193] hides. The Company also was allowed to retain the Tadoussac traffic; obliging it to pay, for this reservation, the ordinary judges, whose allowances (subvention) amounted to 48,950 livres, current money.

The commercial freedom thus accorded was really urgently needed, as every interest of the colony had fallen into decay. The sovereign council had felt constrained to multiply its restrictive regulations, to pacify certain sections of traders and to foster special interests to the injury of others; insomuch that the collective industry of the colony had been reduced to a state of bondage. Thus, for example, the council tried to lower the monopolist prices (become exorbitant indeed) of the Company's merchandise, by issuing a tariff, with lower rates, fixed by law. As a natural consequence, none of the commodities, so depreciated by purblind authority, being brought to market at all, were to be bought at any price. Such a state of things, which, though it did not last long, went nigh to effect the perdition of the colony, ceased at once as soon as trade with the savages and France was declared free: so true is it that prosperous commerce cannot exist where a reasonable amount of competition is not tolerated.

By the end of the year, three out of the five cantons of the Iroquois confederation of tribes, sent deputies, with presents, soliciting peace with the colony. Garakonthié, a chief reputed to be ever friendly to the French, was one of the number deputed on this occasion. M. de Tracy received them kindly. A treaty was soon concluded, and the envoys returned to their several countries, loaded with presents. The Agniers and the Onneyouths, who held back, had now to withstand the shock of all the hostile force which the French might be able to send against them. In effect, two bodies of soldiery, one led by the governor in person, the other commanded by M. Sorel, took the field in mid-winter. At their approach, the Onneyouths hastened to send envoys to Quebec, to crave terms of peace. The Agniers sent no envoys, but empowered [Pg 221] the others to act for them, still continuing their hostile operations the while, and massacred three officers, one of them a nephew of M. de Tracy. The negociation would have probably succeeded, nevertheless, but for a truculent boast of one of the Agniers chiefs, while sitting at dinner with the viceroy, that his was the hand which had killed the relative of his entertainer. This brutal avowal raised the indignation of all present; and the viceroy, saying that he would effectually prevent the savage from doing any more murder, caused him to be seized on the instant, and strangled by the hangman. This summary execution, justifiable under the circumstances and well fitted to inspire fear in times coming of French power, had the untoward effect, for the moment, of breaking off a negociation hopefully commenced.

While matters were in this critical state at head-quarters, M. de Courcelles, unconscious of what was there going on, penetrated to the Agniers country, after an arduous march of 700 miles of forest filled with snow, the governor leading on his men, shod with rackets, bearing a slung musket and knapsack on his back, like a common soldier. The Canadian militia, since so distinguished for bravery, for its patience under privations and fatigues, but above all for its daring spirit of enterprise,—the citizen soldiery of Canada, we say, now began to appear with advantage in the field of war. They were commanded, upon the present occasion, by Messrs. La Vallière, St. Denis, Giffard, and Le Gardeur,—all courageous men of good family (gentilshommes).

M. de Courcelles found all the hordes (bourgades) of the Agniers unoccupied by their owners. Most of the warriors, not expecting an invasion during mid-winter, had either gone a-hunting, or on an expedition against savages of other tribes; while the women and children they left behind fled at first sight of the French, who otherwise found the country completely deserted, and no victory could of course be gained where no enemy appeared: but the daringness of the present invasion of the Agniers country during the most rigorous season of the year, struck terror on becoming known to all the Iroquois, and tended to their defeat in the following summer.

The marquis de Tracy, although now a sexagenarian, commanded the expedition just indicated. It was composed of 600 [Pg 222] men of the Carignan regiment, with almost all the colonists capable of bearing arms (for there were 600 of them enrolled) and 100 savages. But its progress towards the scene of action was much impeded by streams to be crossed, and forest wilds to be traversed, before a foe could be reached. The provisions taken were soon exhausted; and had not a tract of woodland yielding chestnuts fallen in the way of the troops, they would have had to disperse in search of individual subsistence. The Agniers had no mind, however, to face the French, half famished though the latter were, who now marched defyingly through their hordes. Having reached the last of these indeed, the fleeing savages showed signs of making a stand against the invaders; but as soon as battle was offered, the Iroquois took to flight again. The French found good store of maize and other provisions in their cabins and hiding-places (caches) near by. They took as much of these as they could conveniently carry, and burnt the rest, as well as the Indian dwellings.

This heavy stroke abated the confidence of a barbaric people which had been long victorious over all others. It was not long, therefore, before they sent envoys to Quebec, to sue for peace. This was readily granted, as it was for the interest of the colonists that they should live on amicable terms with all the aborigines of the country. A treaty with the Iroquois was signed in 1666, which subsisted for eighteen years; [194] during which halcyon time, the most interesting explorations were made in the interior of the country.

M. de Tracy returned to France in 1667, after putting the West India Company in possession of its reserved rights. On his [Pg 223] arrival, Colbert entered into a conference with him on the feasibility of a project, often proposed at court, of francising the aborigines; that is, of engaging the missionaries resident among them to impart the French language to their children, and to allure the parents into civilised modes of living. M. Talon, who had been charged with this office, made some attempts to realize what was desiderated, but without success; and now the great minister, at the recommendation of De Tracy, on whose sagacity he placed great reliance, gave up the plan as hopeless.

Notwithstanding the reorganisation of the sovereign council, wherein were reinstalled all those members suspended by M. de Mésy; despite the restoration of Messrs. de Peuvret and Bourdon, the former to the office of procurator-general, the latter to that of chief registrar (greffier) of council,—which re-establishment seemed to justify the Laval party in its opposition to the late governor,—Colbert, in his colonial polity, showed no manifestation of allowing the clergy to resume their usurped authority in things temporal; and acted, uniformly, in obedience to the counsels he received from advisers among the Canadian laity, so far as their advice appeared to him to be founded on a due sense of the fitness of things.

Acting in the spirit of his instructions, M. Talon showed much respect for the clergy, but allowed none of them to overstep the boundary separating ecclesiastical from secular functions. The state of peace the colony now enjoyed, also enabled him to labour uninterruptedly at improving its condition. He wrote to the minister, that, although the immigrants to Canada were of various provinces of France, and of diverse character, they lived together in perfect concord. He asked letters of nobility for Messrs. Godefroi, Denis, Lemoine, and Amiot, four of the chief inhabitants of the colony. He requested, also, that more colonists should be sent; but on this point he was considered too exigent. Colbert replied to him personally, that it would not be prudent thus to depopulate the kingdom; that emigration from it ought to be gradual, and that it was not fitting to send more people from the old country than the cleared parts of the new could subsist. Talon, not discouraged, still continued to vaunt the benefits which France might derive from Canada if it were properly colonised. He intimated, [Pg 224] for example, that New France might aid, by her edible produce, in victualling the Antilles, and come in aid of these islands when the mother country might not be able to help them; that these Antilles, as well as France, Canada could supply with pitch, resin, flour, pulse, fish, lumber, and oils. But to do this effectually, it was needful, he urged, to procure the cession of New York territory, in order to have the control of a second outlet, by sea, for the produce of Canada.

"In proportion," said he, "as the colonists increase in number, with warlike and hardy ways of life like theirs, they will ever be able to vindicate French rights in Southern America, should the mother country be in straits; and the colony would be able to come in aid all the more easily, through having ships of its own. But this is not all," added the intendant: "If commerce and population progress, New France will draw from the Old every commodity which the former needs and the latter produces; whereby the colonists' wants will become a means at once of enriching the royal exchequer, and securing a profitable vent for the surplus merchandise of French industrials and traders. Whereas should New France not be properly supported, the country will fall into the hands, or be mastered by the supremacy, of the English, Dutch, or Swedes. And to give some idea what a loss might be incurred, commercially speaking, at the present time," M. Talon continued, "through a stop being put to the trade between the metropolitan kingdom and its chief dependency, it may be mentioned, that, in the article of peltry alone, the Company sent to France, last year, furs worth 550,000 francs. For all the foregoing reasons, therefore, as for others which might easily be urged, and on account of added desiderata whose urgency the future will show, it is manifest that the possession of Canada, which is of advantage to France even now, might yet be made of inestimable value to her."

M. Talon had his attention turned, at first fortuitously, to the mineral resources of the country; for, after landing at Gaspé he discovered iron-stone in that locality. Next year (1666) he sent M. de la Tesserie, an engineer, to the bay of St. Paul, to make geological researches; who reported that he had found abundance of iron-ore thereabout, with some copper, and had seen promising [Pg 225] indications of silver. When the intendant returned to France in 1668, he persuaded Colbert to have those mineralogical explorations continued; he obtained the aid of another engineer, M. de la Potardière, who, on visiting two mines discovered, just before, near Trois-Rivières, declared that nowhere could better iron be found than there, or anywhere in greater abundance. The iron of that locality, still largely worked, is in fact superior to Swedish.

M. Talon originated or fostered many species of industry; he tried novel modes of culture; opened new and extended old relations with France, Madeira, and several other parts of the world on both sides of the Atlantic. He also prompted the establishment of fisheries in the St. Lawrence and its tributary streams. He particularly fostered the pursuit of the seal, from which soon accrued oil enough, not only for home consumption, but for export to France and the Antilles. Between these islands and Canada he encouraged a regular traffic, which soon became brisk; the exports from the latter being chiefly fish, pulse, lumber, and staves. Samples of logs, cut in the Canadian forests for masting, he caused to be sent to La Rochelle for the royal navy-yard. But as fisheries in the Canadian waters were the most likely of all the kinds of colonial industrial enterprise to become important, he projected the formation of a company to carry them out on a grand scale. The oil of the porpoise, he urged, was of great utility in manufactures; and it could be had with small pains, and at little cost, by the colonists. [195]

Besides the usual kinds of grain then cultivated, he encouraged the growth of hemp, in order to supply the wants of the country and yield a surplus for export of that useful fibre. A tannery, the first seen in Quebec, was successfully established during his time. In fine, under his creative hand, the aspect of things changed for the better in a very few years. Nothing, in the form of a material amelioration, was too minute for his attention; he visited [Pg 226] enterprising commercialists and artisans in their places of business, and invited such to his own dwelling, to encourage and help them upon occasion. By the year 1688, about 1100 sail of shipping, laden with every species of merchandise, anchored in the road of Quebec; a much greater number, relatively to the respective populations of that time and the present, when 1200 vessels frequent the port. [196] This increase of trade was certainly due, in great part, to the personal exertions of the intendant, and to greater commercial liberty, obtained through his intervention, for the colonists.

As immigration progressed but slowly, leave was obtained for the officers and men of the fine regiment of Carignan to remain, and settle in the province. Titles to land were distributed among them; with 6000 livres to the former and 12,000 for the latter, to aid them in clearing their lots. Six companies, which had gone to France with M. de Tracy, returned again to America. The officers, who were mostly noblesse (gentilshommes), obtained seigniories, with their late soldiers for vassals. Mutual regard, resulting from military association, is usually of long endurance. Veterans surviving the campaigns of Turenne, naturally chose to share an undivided destiny attending a new career in their adopted country.

The Carignan regiment [197] formed part of a corps of 4000 French infantry, under Counts de Coligni and de la Feuillade, sent as auxiliaries to Leopold I, Emperor of Germany, in a war he waged against the Turks in 1664. They bore the brunt of the day in [Pg 227] the decisive victory of St. Gothard, where the celebrated Montecuculi, as generalissimo of the Imperial army, signally defeated Ahmed Kouprouli, the almost as famous Turkish grand-vizier of that time. This regiment had been engaged, on the royal side, in the civil war of the Fronde, under the orders of Marshal Turenne. There were several protestants in its ranks; but Captain Berthier, one of these, with fifteen more, became catholics in 1695.

Towards the close of 1668, M. Talon asked leave to give up his intendantship, on the plea of failing health. Perhaps differences of opinion between him and the governor may have hastened that step; and, as appears from the letter he sent to France demanding his recall, he found himself in a false position relative to the clergy of the colony: "If I had continued to put them," he said, "on the same footing as I found them, I should have had less vexation, and more approbation." M. de Courcelles, whose glory it was to govern Canada at one of the most interesting periods of its history, had great administrative talents, but he was rather inert occasionally: while the intendant both conceived and acted promptly; yet, tempted to do what was of public urgency without waiting for the tardy concurrence of the governor, umbrage was taken. M. de Courcelles also expressed his disapprobation at the politic complaisances of the intendant for the clergy. Probably Courcelles had complained at court of the former: for in 1668, the minister wrote to M. Talon to deport himself gently to all, to subdue his temper, and not to censure publicly the bishop and the Jesuits; but rather to complain confidentially to him if they were in aught to blame, so that their superiors might be asked to bring them to order.

M. de Bouteroue was appointed to succeed M. Talon. M. de Ressan, Tracy's secretary, applied for the charge; but the animosity he manifested against the bishop and the Jesuits, made the king refuse his request. "What is needful," said the minister, "is to allay heats rather than to excite them, and such is not to be expected of M. de Ressan."

The nominee was a learned, polite, and engaging person, but certainly not more so than his able predecessor. He was especially charged to advise the bishop and the confessors to moderate their great severity, and to keep up good feeling among the clergy. [Pg 228] It might be supposed that all these recommendations were inspired by the memorial which M. Talon sent to court the year before. The king could have wished to keep the latter two or three years longer in Canada; thinking that, under his intendancy, its population might have doubled or tripled in number.

In 1670, it was seen, for the first time, that the Five Nations strove to employ the Ottawa tribes to procure peltry for them, in view of re-selling it to the English in the province of the New Netherlands, taken from the Dutch six years before. This country was first explored in 1609, by Hans Hudson, who ascended the river which still bears his name. The Dutch began to colonise the territory in 1614. Fort Orange, near the site of the present city of Albany, was erected by them. About the same time, the Swedes settled in a region to the westward, afterwards named Pennsylvania, from its English re-founder, a famous Quaker. The Dutch and Swedish settlers were in amity with the English of North America till the year 1654; when their several establishments beginning to touch each other, troubles soon followed. The English, who had long coveted the New Netherlands' territory, sent thither commissaries and an armed force, and superseded the Dutch authorities almost without resistance. The colonists, desirous of a peaceful life on any terms, mostly remained under their new masters; who thus gained a well-conditioned colony, at small cost. They re-christened it New York, for reasons already given; that name applying both to the province and to the chief place in it, previously called New Amsterdam, but even then, as now, the most important city, in all respects, of the Americas. When terms of pacification next took place between the English and the Dutch, the latter resigned rights over the late New Netherlands, and accepted, in exchange, the colony of Surinam in Dutch Guiana. It was this seizure and following cession which made the English our near neighbours towards the valley of the St. Lawrence.

Reverting to the trading manœuvres of the Iroquois, M. de Courcelles, who had vigilantly noted their operations, determined to put a stop to them. In effect, had he allowed the tribes of the Laurentian valley to take their peltry to any other market than the accustomed one, Canadian commerce, the peltry traffic being its chief branch, would have been all but ruined; and, yet worse, the [Pg 229] alliances with the Indians, founded chiefly in the mutual interests of the two contracting parties, would have been imperilled, if not quite broken up. There was no time to lose: he set out for the Iroquois country, braving the rapids between Montreal and Lake Ontario; thus showing, by his high example, that the upper country was attainable by the great water-way, whether with trading or warlike intents. His mission was otherwise successful: but the fatigues he endured so seriously affected his health, that he was fain to ask leave to demit his functions for a time; in order, as he said, to recruit his bodily forces sufficiently in the motherland, "to enable him to die usefully in the service of king and country, as all his brothers had already done." He did not reach France, however, till the year 1672.

The sojourn of M. Talon in France was not barren in beneficial results for the colonists, as he had considerable trading relations with Canada, and was able to exert his influence with the court, which was great, in their favour; especially in urging an extended immigration. [198] The king warranted him to send out 500 families. The Recollets, at his instance, were allowed to return, and to resume possession of the property they possessed in the colony before they were expelled from it. M. Talon, whose continued service as intendant was deemed indispensable, was induced to resume that office; Colbert writing to the governor, to smooth the way to his resumption of its duties, that Talon had not been in reality so submissive to the clergy as was believed. He sailed for Quebec, in 1669, with an armament equipped at a cost of 200,000 livres. There were embarked, at the same time, nearly 700 emigrants, [Pg 230] among whom were 300 soldiers, and fully 30 officers and gentlemen. The vessels containing the emigrants reached their destination in safety, though scatteredly; while that in which was M. Talon, after beating about three months in mid-ocean, was driven on the coast of Portugal and wrecked; so that he could not resume his voyage till the following year.

Up to this time, the selection of emigrants for Canada had been made with scrupulous care, that country having been regarded as a field for missionary labours, rather than a colony. [199] But this system, which deprived the country of many who would have become inhabitants, was ill judged; as experience has shown that the morals of immigrants improve with their worldly circumstances, for extreme poverty is as unfavourable to virtue as great luxury. It was therefore thought fitting to be less particular in testing the antecedents of those who came forward in numbers on the present occasion; but Colbert, still fearing that France might thus be deprived of too many of its people, stepped in, and said that emigration might be constant in future, but must be gradual. He recommended also to the governor, to encourage the people to till the land, and yet more to engage in oceanic trade and deep-sea fishings, and manufactures; "the king being desirous," added he, "that you will use all the means in your power, to engage the colonists to continue to build vessels and transport their produce to the French Antilles."

About this time, the peace subsisting between the colony and the aborigines was jeoparded through the villany of some French pillagers, who killed an Iroquois chief and six of his people in order to obtain their peltry without payment. When news of this foul act reached the cantons, the Iroquois were naturally wroth, and threatened sanguinary reprisals. To ward off the imminent danger, M. de Courcelles started at once for Montreal. On his arrival, luckily finding some men of the injured tribe there assembled, he made an earnest address to them, showing how important it was that they should stand well with the French: then calling forward three of the murderers, who had been taken, he caused them to be felled in presence of the Indians; assuring the latter, that, if others of the party were caught, they should be dealt with in like summary manner. Presents were afterwards given to the savages, to compensate them for the peltry their countrymen had been robbed of. This prompt reparation had the desired effect.

The governor had other affairs, at this time, to regulate with the friendly tribes; his invariable policy being to keep them at peace with each other as well as with the colonists. Then he persuaded the Iroquois and Ottaouais, who were used to make hostile reward on each other's territories, to live in harmony; he also pacified the Tsonnonthouans and the Pouteouatamis, who, in the year 1671, were on the point of going to war. Much of his time was usefully spent in a similar way, so long as his administration lasted. Those among the Iroquois who had been christened by the missionaries, and attended their ministrations, being exposed to annoyance from their pagan neighbours, asked and obtained leave to settle among the colonists; and this was granted all the more readily as it was thought, that, in time, these converts would become valuable auxiliaries in future wars against their idolatrous compatriots. They were located, first, at la Prairie-de-la-Magdelaine, but afterwards transported to Sault St. Louis, where some few of their descendants may still be found.

The times were indeed propitious for exerting a salutary influence over the native populations. The prevalence of small-pox, of a virulent type, was decimating their hordes, and bending their stern natures more readily to the will of those who wished to curb [Pg 232] their predatory and warlike propensities. In that season of mortality and mourning for them, the year 1670, the above destructive malady annihilated entire tribes, in the northern regions of the Canadian wilderness. The Attikamègues, as a nation, ceased to exist. Tadoussac, thitherto regularly frequented, as a seat of traffic in peltry, by from 1000 to 1200 natives, was for a time almost entirely deserted. Nor did the ravages of this plague among the aborigines soon cease. Some years afterwards, small-pox broke out in the horde (bourgade) of Sillery, and ended mortally for most, if not all its people. Fifteen hundred persons, says Charlevoix, were smitten upon this occasion; "and not one of all these savages," he adds (exaggeratingly, of course), "escaped death therefrom."

M. Talon diligently strove, the while, to realise a project he had formed ever since he had become intendant of the colony, and to which we have made incidental allusion already,—to bring the as yet imperfectly known regions of the farther west under the supremacy of France; with an after intent of extending French influence to the whole intermediate expanse of the North American continent. The very conception of so great an enterprise, whether feasible or not, testified the patriotism of an aspiring mind. Louis XIV, to whom Talon communicated his ideas on the subject when last in France, listened to them with much interest; and, as a preliminary step, he offered a handsome reward to the adventurer who should first traverse the continent and reach the north-eastern seaboard of the Pacific. Taking the welcome hint, M. Talon, when he returned to Quebec, engaged La Salle to follow a southern line in the lake country, and M. de St. Lusson to take a north-westerly route of exploration, in hopes of attaining the desired end.

We have stated in a preceding chapter, that the various tribes of the great Algonquin family of aborigines occupied, along with the Hurons, a large part of the continent east of the Mississippi, and that both these races were partial to the French. This friendly feeling, in fact, was invaluable as a counterpoise to the opposite dispositions of other native races, and had been the efficient if not immediate means of maintaining the existing tranquillity enforced upon the latter. Talon, therefore, profiting by the [Pg 233] favourable dispositions of the Hurons and the Algonquins, invited their chiefs to acknowledge the sovereignty of Louis XIV, and bring their people under the protection of his colonial subjects. The missionaries who already laboured among them, and some of whom had gone far into the wilderness, were adjured to lend their aid in obtaining acceptance for this invitation. But a secular intermediator, of skill and tact, was wanted to open the negociation with the native chiefs, to bring about a sure realization of the project. Such a party was found in Nicholas Perrot, a travelling merchant in the western regions; who was withal a man well skilled in the native tongues, and personally acceptable to the natives themselves. Provided with credentials from the authorities, Perrot set forth, with the general direction to make as far and as complete an exploration of the regions of the further west as he possibly could. Accordingly, he traversed a number of extensive countries, visiting many native hordes; but found it impracticable to advance, in the desiderated direction, further than Chicago, at the western side and towards the lower end of Lake Michigan. Here he was received, among the Miâmis, as the honoured envoy of a great king. On his homeward route, he invited the heads of tribes he fell in with, to send deputies, in spring following, to Sault Sainte-Marie, at the foot of Lake Superior,—the usual place for general assemblings of the aborigines of the countries around the great lakes,—whither envoys would be sent from the colony, to treat of matters of importance then to be submitted for their consideration. A rendezvous was promised, by all those to whom it was proposed. It was not, however, till late in May 1671, that M. de St. Lusson, charged with full powers from the king, was able to keep the appointment thus made. On his arrival, he found, waiting to meet him, the deputed chiefs of a great number of tribes from the regions above-noted. Father Allouez made a speech to them in Algonquin, explanatory of the good intentions of the French towards the natives. He adjured the representatives of the tribes then present, to put their people under the august protection of "the great monarch," whose glory and magnificence the father enlarged upon in a figurative style most likely to captivate the Indians, it being modelled on their own [bombastic] vein of oratory. When the harangue was finished, all the chiefs, thus [Pg 234] addressed, exclaimed that they would have no other father than the great Ononthio (sovereign) of France. Whereupon Perrot dug a hole in the ground, and therein set up a cross, bearing the royal arms; as a token that M. de St. Lusson, in His Majesty's name, claimed possession of the territory, and took the people in it under his master's special protection. A formal declaration, also, was made to the same effect, amidst detonations of fire-arms, and the acclamations of a crowd [little conscious of the true nature of what they were thus, impliedly, consenting to].

Talon, encouraged by the success of his project so far, despatched agents to make further explorations, up to the last moment of his stay in Canada. He sent the Jesuit Charles Albanel, with La Couture and M. de St. Simon, a Canadian gentleman, to the Hudson's Bay Territory, overland, to open a traffic with the natives: as also to inquire whether the crews of a few trading vessels could winter in its landlocked seas; in view of establishing an entrepôt which might at a future time furnish provisions for ships passing that way in search of a North-West passage to the Pacific Ocean. The savages had reported that there was a great flood, which they called the Mississippi, to the far west of Canada. M. Talon asked for further information on this point. He pointed out M. Joliet of Quebec, and the Jesuit Marquette, as fit persons to proceed in the direction indicated by the natives: but we shall defer our notices of this mission till we arrive at the next chapter.

We mentioned before, that M. de Courcelles had, previously to the foregoing events, demanded his recall. It was at last granted. The king chose, to succeed him, Louis de Buade, Count de Frontenac; who arrived in Canada A. D. 1672, with a reputation for talent and energy, which made M. Talon think his own post as intendant would become a sinecure, or, worse still, a contentious charge. He too, therefore, demanded letters of recall.

One of the last acts of M. de Courcelles was a convention with the Iroquois, for their assent to the formation of a settlement at Cataracoui (now Kingston), whither he repaired himself. Having assembled the chiefs of the locality, he addressed them in a discourse, in which, disguising the true motive, he said he meant to erect a depot with defences for promoting the security and good order of the peltry traffic. The Indians, either deceived by these [Pg 235] assurances, or thinking that they could expel the French at any time, made little or no objection to the proposal; and the governor, fearing perhaps lest they should change their mind, hastened to order the erection of a fort at the confluence of the river Cataracoui with the St. Lawrence. The departure of the governor, accompanied as it was by the retirement of M. Talon, was really a regrettable event for the country. The qualities of the former, though not so brilliant as those of his successor, were perhaps of a more solid nature: his experience had been extensive; being a man of a decided character, he was firm in his determinations, yet prudent in carrying them out; he had, above all, a quality precious in an administrator, a forecast of coming difficulties, and a rare talent in avoiding or evading them. Thus while, on one hand, keeping a firm but unchafing curb on the pretensions of the clergy, he managed to secure the support of the missionaries to his government,—a reverend body to which the colony in every stage of its progress owed so much as gaining respect for the French name, and often securing national advantages to all who bore it; while in managing the savage races, M. de Courcelles showed a superior dexterity, remembered afterwards to the disadvantage of some of his successors. Great credit was due to him on account of his forbearance for the manifestations of a petulant spirit of self-reliance in his intendant: the governor seemed instinctively to know that what Colbert was for Louis XIV, Talon was, in a lower sphere, viz. the right hand of the Monarch's colonial representative, and a like illustration of the Courcelles' viceroyalty.

The regrets for the loss of two chief functionaries, one of them of rare ability, and both eminently patriotic, had been more poignant but for the fond reliance the colonists had, that the new governor would be able to exert his influence with the king in their favour at least as much as his predecessor had done. M. de Frontenac was grandson to one of the knightly paladins of Henry the Fourth, who had gained great distinction in the wars of the League. Entering the military service, after passing the lower grades he attained the rank of brigadier-general in the armies of France. [200] [Pg 236] He was shrewd, accomplished, fertile in mental resources, and had an ambitious mind. In manners he was rather haughty, especially to those persons nearest to him in rank or importance; while his habitual condescension was remarkable, and remarked to his advantage also, for those who could not compete with him in any way. [Sure evidences, these, of a really proud disposition.] Ever jealous of his power, his tendencies were despotic. He had received ample instructions, before his departure, for his guidance in office. As a general rule, he was directed to aim at the aggrandisement of Canada in all respects; he was to protect its people in every way, and, in order to add to their numbers,—for large emigration, as we have seen, was not approved of,—he was to stimulate early marriages. He was to foster agriculture and planting, the raising of live stock, the fisheries, ship-building, trade with the French Antilles, &c. He was ordered, further, to take early measures for constructing a highway between Canada and Acadia. So far as to secular matters. In dealing with the spiritual department of his functions, he was directed to balance adroitly the pretensions of the Jesuits to consideration,—apt to be exorbitant, it was insinuated if not plainly intimated,—so as to incline the beam in favour of the Seminarists and Recollets; the latter ecclesiastics being less dependent on the royal power for protection. Finally, the new governor-general was solemnly admonished, in the accustomed verbal form, to administer justice to all with the strictest impartiality.

On his arrival at Quebec, the Count seemed to have been much struck with its commanding site and interesting environage. He thus wrote to the minister upon this head: "I have never seen any thing so fair or so grand as the site of Quebec. That city [Pg 237] could not have been better placed, had it been purposely founded as the expected capital of a great empire." Upon assuming the reins of power, he chose to take his seat at the sovereign council-board, as president, in an unusual way: opening the first day's proceedings with an oration vaunting the latest feats of arms achieved by the forces of the great monarch, his master, on land and sea, against the Dutch; [201] his humbling the House of Austria at its [Pg 238] climax of greatness and highest elevation, &c. The discourse finished, all the councillors held up their right hands successively, and each took the oath to serve with fidelity.

Somewhat later, the Count held an assembly of what might be called the members of the States of Canada, or the several orders of men in the community; his aim in this being, as he said, to give a form to it which it had never had before. The convocation took place in the Jesuits' chapel, and was attended by clergymen, noblesse, lawyers, and chiefs of the commonalty (le tiers état). Those present he caused to take the oath of fidelity anew. Like many other Frenchmen, he was attached to old usages, and wished to introduce them to Canada. This solemnity, however, was not liked by the home authorities. Frontenac wrote to the minister, that he had assembled the heads of the different sections of colonial society (les notables), [202] to let them know what undertakings he [Pg 239] had in view; as their right execution would depend partly on the good will of those whose time and money would be employed therefor. And he added, in self-justification, that he "had made the confirmation and destitution of the members of assembly dependent on his own will alone; in order that the absolute principles of French royalty should not suffer in his hands, to whom it had been delegated by the king." To all which Colbert replied, June 13, 1672: "The assembling and the division of the colonists into three several orders or states, to be sworn, may have produced a momentary good effect: but it is right to admonish you, that you ought always, as a French colonial administrator, to do all things in conformity with the principles and ordinary forms of our government here; and as the kings of France have thought it best, during a great number of years, not once to convoke the three estates of the kingdom,—perhaps in view of abolishing in time such assemblings entirely,—you are to give rarely, or rather never, to any public meetings within the limits of your government, the appellation or recognition of an assembly of the collective orders (états généraux) of the inhabitants. And it will become desirable, after a while, and when the colony shall have become stronger than it is now, to suppress gradually the office of syndic, whose function it is to present requests in names of the inhabitants; it being proper that each should apply for himself, and that no individual should ever speak for all others."

The count de Frontenac found the colony at peace with the aborigines; and this tranquillity continued for several years afterwards. The declaration of war against Holland, which the governor announced in his inauguratory discourse, little affected Canadian interests; and as there were no other exterior relations of a disquieting character at the time, the new governor-general had full leisure to attend to the interior interests of the colony. The administration of justice was the great object of his first [Pg 240] solicitudes; but in that particular he only followed the example recently set of law-reforming in France. Louis XIV, a skilful ruler, who had taken into his own hands all the hitherto divided powers of sovereignty, and who had crushed pontifical potency and protestant opposition alike, sought to compensate his usurpations by a more regular and enlightened system of jurisprudence.

M. de Frontenac, acting upon the ministerial advice that had been given him, in the above important regard took the king for his exemplar; but, in effecting such ameliorations as had been acceptable, or safe to effect at least in France, he raised opposition and excited implacable enmity against himself in Canada. On the other hand, while his polity was violently assailed by many, it was zealously defended by others. His most redoubtable opponents were the Jesuits, whom he strove at the outset to deprive of all their accustomed action upon the civil government. In an explanatory passage regarding that confraternity, of a letter sent to Colbert in 1672, he puts his case thus: "After all the pains taken to remove them from the direction of affairs, is it befitting that we should let them in at another door, after closing the first against them? Besides, the Seminarists of Quebec, and the grand vicar of the chapter, are under their guidance. These ecclesiastics doing all things by their order, the result is, that the Jesuits have virtually, if only indirectly, the entire management of spiritual government here; which, I need not tell you, is a machine potent enough to move or to obstruct every other."

The oppositions and intrigues of the count's enemies however do not appear to have slackened his efforts to ameliorate the material interests of the colony, the leading interests of which he had carefully studied, and soon well understood.—After having obtained good assurance of the continued favourable dispositions of the natives, whom he had the art of attaching by his polity, he decided to signalise the commencement of his administration, following the example of his several preceding governors, by a series of ordinances, which were called "rules of police" simply, but were measures of extended administrative operation. Ignoring, for the time, the spirit of forwarded deprecations, from high quarters, of any movement, even the slightest, towards the establishment of [Pg 241] popular or municipal franchises in the colony, he had the hardihood to decree, in one of those ordinances, that three aldermen (échevins) should be elected to office by a plurality of votes of the inhabitants, to exercise the functions of police magistrates in Quebec, and to make vigilant observation for the due execution of the laws generally. Three years afterwards, the collective police rules were revised, and their operation extended to the neighbouring savage tribes; who were now rendered liable to be tried before the ordinary tribunals and subjected to French penality for grave criminal offences. They were also justiciable, in like manner, for infractions of the law against trading with aliens, in any way. One of the regulating decrees ordained that the lieutenant-general (of police) should hold, twice a year, an "assembly of public polity," composed of the chief citizens, to confer on the best and readiest means for improving the colonial interests in general; and thus to supply a convenient opportunity for mutual enlightenment as to the actual state of agriculture, trade, and public works of the country.

In 1674, the king, yielding at last to the often expressed wishes of the Canadians, totally suppressed the West India Company, which had not fulfilled any of its obligations; the home government refunding to the shareholders the money they had paid. We learn, from the edict of revocation, that the total population of the French colonies, at its date, amounted to 45,000 souls; and that their trade employed 100 sail of vessels, not reckoning those engaged in the cod and whale fisheries, the number of which was yet more considerable.—The king recommended at the same time to cultivate, in Canada, the grounds that lay nearest to the St. Lawrence, which great water-way presented the sole reliable means of communication with France.

As the want of a tribunal of first resort for matters civil and criminal was much felt, that of the provostry was re-erected at Quebec, as already mentioned, in 1677. This improvement was followed, in 1678, by the introduction of the famous "royal ordinance of 1677, touching the administration of justice." That law, one of the greatest benefits received under the ancient regime, was for Canadian civil process what the criminal jurisprudence of Britain since has been. Finally, in 1679 appeared the important [Pg 242] edict regarding tithes and perpetual curacies (cures fixes): also an ordinance, no less salutary, for the personal liberty of the inhabitants; namely, that which forbade governors of subordinate localities to imprison any one at their own hands,—that right being restricted to the governor-general, the lieutenant-general civil, and the sovereign council. This measure had probably been suggested by what had just taken place between M. de Frontenac and M. Perrot, governor of Montreal.

In 1673 and afterwards, these two personages had been in constant dissension. The cynical La Hontan was used to say of Perrot, that he cleverly multiplied a yearly salary of 1000 crowns by fifty, through unofficial traffic with the Indians. Rightly or wrongly, the governor-general was persuaded that M. Perrot observed neither the ordinances nor his instructions, and sent a lieutenant of his body guard ordering him to amend his defaults. The messenger was ill received, and even thrown into prison. Upon this outrage coming to his knowledge, the governor-general called a special meeting of the sovereign council, to advise in the case, he regarding the conduct of Perrot as treasonable. It was now ordained, that the sub-procurator-general should draw up a criminal accusation without delay, and send orders to Montreal to bring the governor to Quebec to answer it,—even by force if necessary. The latter, alarmed at the turn affairs had taken, hastened to reply to the citation; and having reached Quebec, hoping to evade the blow aimed at him, was arrested, and, without form of process, incarcerated in the castle of St. Louis, where he remained prisoner fully a year. Irritated, doubtless, at being thus arbitrarily treated, he declined to sue for pardon, set the governor-general at defiance, and denied his right, with or without the concurrence of the sovereign council, to try or to pass judgment upon him.

This difficulty, grave enough before, became yet more complicated, during the winter, through the part taken in it by some seminarists of St. Sulpitius of Montreal; one of whom, the Abbé de Salignac-Fénelon, was parish priest (curé) of that city. This ecclesiastic, in his Easter-day sermon next spring, severely blamed the conduct of the governor-general, which he denounced as violent and tyrannical. Not satisfied with thus delivering himself of his dissatisfaction in spoken words, he drew up a remonstrance in [Pg 243] writing against the count, and passed it round the city for signatures, in view of sending it to the king. This proceeding was treated as a species of lèse-majesté, by the governor-general and council. The abbé was cited before the latter as an accused party; and several other ecclesiastics were summoned, at the same time, to bear evidence against him.

After several times making default, they did compear, but only to decline the council's lawful jurisdiction over clerics. They asserted, that, whether as accused or witnesses, they could be cited only before the tribunal of their bishop. The abbé Fénelon deported himself most arrogantly upon the occasion: claiming the right, possessed by ecclesiastics in old France, of speaking, seated and covered, in presence of a secular council; then, adding act to word, he stalked up to the council-board, and put on his hat in a defiant manner, as if to brave the count himself, in his presidential chair. The latter, after remarking upon this impropriety, caused an usher to lead Fénelon into an anti-chamber, there to remain until it could be debated, in council, what next was to be done. It was soon decided, unanimously, that such unceremonial pretensions were unsustainable; and this the rather, that the abbé stood, not as equal or superior before the members of council, but as a culprit. Being brought into the council-room, and refusing to apologize, or answer further interrogations, he was forthwith put under arrest.

Perrot still persisted with equal obstinacy, though on differing grounds, in denying the right of the governor-general to arrest or the council to try him. The first of his pleas in bar was reasonable enough; others were plausible at least, and had due influence, at a later time, in bringing about an alteration of the law or usages of accusation and arrest. He urged, for instance, that being accused directly by the governor-general, who was his personal enemy, he must decline to trust his cause in the hands of a body presided by that enemy as judge; that several of the councillors had an interest in superseding him (Perrot), the party now replacing him in Montreal being a near relation of theirs, which sufficiently explained (he insinuated) their violent hostility to one who had done them no wrong. For these (and probably other) reasons, he challenged the competency of the governor-general by name, and [Pg 244] all the other councillors indicated above, to try or to condemn him; finally, he appealed, in advance, against any judgment they might pass against him, to the royal council of state.

The abbé Fénelon adopted a similar line of defence; and thus made common cause with Perrot, to whom clerical influence, now become general in his favour, was of great utility. The members of council, challenged as unfit to try the cause, expressed a wish to be excused from attending. The governor-general justified his own presence, so strongly excepted against, by declaring that he was no more interested in the process than the king himself, whose representative he was.

The presidency of the council now raised many disputes. M. Duchesneau was charged, by his official instructions, to preside; and when absent, the oldest councillor was to replace him pro tem. Amidst the confusion then reigning in the council,—which the perplexed minutes of the council, still extant, plainly show,—the governor and the intendant were requested to take neither of them the title of president, till the king could be referred to. This renunciation de Frontenac peremptorily refused to make.

Discord increasing, the count set about intimidating those councillors who had become unconformable to his views. Messrs. d'Auteuil, de Villeray, and de Tilly, received orders to retire to their country-houses. These intemperate acts of the count drew upon him the censure of Colbert. It was his unfounded pretensions, the minister wrote, which caused the troubles of the preceding year, with respect to church ceremonials; and the existing public discontent was mainly due, the minister alleged, to the abuse of his authority by exiling the procurator-general and two other councillors. The king, he added, was astounded at what had happened; for no governor in France would have insisted on filling the double functions of both the governorship and the presidency of the council at once.

The number of the members of council being now reduced below the quorum needed to form a court, it was necessary to nominate others, if the cause were to be proceeded with; and after several sittings, the remanent members, who were glad to avail themselves of any fair occasion to be rid of the business, recognised the legality of the causes of recusation, and voted that [Pg 245] the notes of the process, so far as it had gone, should be referred to the king, with a request that his Majesty would decide whether the presidency of council of right belonged to the governor-general.

The year following Louis included a response, as to the latter moot point, in a declaration which regulated the rights of precedency. In terms of that royal missive, the first and second places in council were reserved for the governor-general and bishop; to the intendant belonged the third place, and along therewith the presidency,—which, in fact, the latter had already begun to fill without contestation, taking care, however, not to assume the title of president, in order to give no umbrage to the count. From this time M. de Laval, who long had discontinued attendance, began to resume his seat at the council-board; for, whenever dissension arose between him and the count, his policy was to reclaim thereby the right of substitution, by sending, in his place, on occasion, some trusty and vigilant ecclesiastic.

As for M. Perrot and the abbé Fénelon, the governor-general sent them, under duress, to France. Upon their arrival at Paris, the former was imprisoned in the Bastile, by way of example, and to vindicate the authority of the king, defied in the person of his deputy; while the abbé was inhibited from ever visiting Canada. Perrot, notwithstanding, soon regained the royal favour; for it was not long before he obtained permission to return, Louis sending on this billet to the count, in his behalf: "Perrot will wait on you; he will make his excuses to you; which done, you are to treat him according to the powers which I have accorded him." Perrot was a nephew of Talon, one of the first valets-de-chambre of the king,—a circumstance which accounts for the pardon he so readily obtained.

Scarcely had matters been arranged as we have just seen, when troubles of a yet more serious nature arose; which ended in the recall of M. de Frontenac and the intendant, as will presently appear. A spirit of quarrelsomeness, unforbearance, and rancour now seemed to possess every high functionary in the colony. [203] In [Pg 246] 1680, the choleric Perrot, once more engaged in the peltry traffic, dealt a fur dealer who offended him a blow. He was cited to answer for this outrage before the governor and intendant, who reported the affair to the king. His Majesty replied personally to de Frontenac: "Cease to vex yourself with those miserable troubles, which you have yourself too easily allowed to gather about your administration. Estimate the nature of the high functions which I have put in your charge, and think not lightly of the credit you enjoy by representing my person; an honour which, of itself, should lift you far above petty considerations, and ought to enable you to bear with complacency many little oppositions from parties entirely obedient, in more important respects, to your will. The great point of general subjection once established, as it is, with you, it is befitting to rule with moderation, and learn to wink at shortcomings of small consequence, in order to attain to that result which ought to be your chief, nay, your only aim: namely, the augmentation of the strength and of the general well-being of the colony; the attractions of which to immigrants are chiefly dependent on the protection and the kind treatment its present inhabitants may report that they receive at your hands. You must be aware that these maxims of government differ greatly from those you have followed lately, while driving away some of the chief inhabitants, and constraining many others, from personal discontent at governmental acts, to return to France. It is indispensable that no undue preference or passionate dislike should be manifested for or against any one."

These severe reprimands, addressed to the governor-general by the king,—evidently pointing at the dissensions between him, the council, the clergy, the intendant, and private individuals,—had very little effect upon his conduct. The liquor traffic, which all now exercised who thought fit, was a subject ever agitated, more or less, so long as the administration of M. de Courcelles lasted. The latter, and M. Talon, were not opposed to it, if limited to supplying the colonists only; and that intendant had even obtained a letter from the minister which sanctioned the trade to that extent. But the bishop had never abated one jot of his opposition to it in any shape; and discontinued not to denounce it in his pastoral charges (mandements), or ceased issuing his threatened excommunications [Pg 247] against those who continued to deal in ardent spirits; occasionally making complaints, also, to the count of the qualified countenance the dealers received from the civil authorities. Latterly, M. Duchesneau, becoming more embroiled with the count, sustained the representations of the bishop and clergy on the subject.

The count, who had got the start of Laval in representations at head-quarters, intimated that the bishop's complaints were ill-founded; that the liquor traffic, kept within due bounds, was necessary as a means of attaching the aborigines to French interests: finally, that the horror the ecclesiastics expressed against it was a not always genuine, "and was a mere pretext with some, to be used as a handle to persecute those who opposed their own domination, in order to drive the latter from office." This allusion referred to governors already recalled, and to the count's own position, which he judged to be in jeopardy through priestly influences. Colbert, utterly tired at last of the mutual accusations and recriminations of the parties, lay and clerical, on the subject, concluded to settle the footing upon which it should be put, by direct authority of the king.

As a preliminary step, he directed M. de Frontenac to cause twenty of the chief colonists to meet and give him their opinion on the liquor traffic, its particular tendencies, and its effects on the general well-being of the country. Accordingly the assembly was holden; and the parties convoked having expressed opinions favorable to the traffic, as it then existed, a report to that effect was drawn up, and transmitted to Paris. M. de Laval, who had set his heart upon abolishing the liquor traffic, went to France for that purpose, in 1678, being in hopes of arresting any legislation which might be founded upon the reports sanctioning the sale of spirits. According to Charlevoix, the king referred the matter to the archbishop of Paris and Père Lachaise, to pass a definitive judgment thereupon. He says these referees, after a conference with the bishop of Quebec, declared that the sale of brandy ought to be prohibited, under severe penalties, among the native tribes; and that an ordinance to that effect was promulgated. But if we may trust the author of "Memoirs of M. de Laval," the court, desirous of terminating the struggle between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of Canada, gave the bishop a very cold reception: the same [Pg 248] author asserting, in addition, that the bishop, after two years' solicitations, was obliged to return without having sped in his errand. The fact seems to be, that Laval had a part of his demand complied with, and that such an inhibition as Charlevoix speaks of really was issued. But a compromise of this kind would be regarded by the bishop and his partisans as a defeat rather than as a triumph. Add to all this, that the king, with his accustomed finesse, observing that the bishop set up independent pretensions trenching on the royal prerogative, in the year 1677 charged Duchesneau to cause the bishop's attendances at sittings of council to be made as unwelcome as possible, in view of causing them to be quite discontinued. "But in carrying out his Majesty's wishes," intimated the minister, "you are to manage this matter with secrecy and reservedly; above all, let no one know that I have written to you on this subject at all." [204] Nevertheless, the bishop had his suspicions that some such occult opposition to him, authorised but not acknowledged by the court, was in operation.

The result of all was, that the governor-general became more than ever alienated in spirit from the intendant. The latter, as we have seen, upheld the sentiments of the bishop in the vexed question of the liquor traffic: and he wrote to Paris, besides, that the country was in a deplorable state; that unceasing intrigues kept up a constant agitation in it; that every artifice was employed to prevent the complaints of the people from reaching France; also that the governor-general trafficked in peltries, which he sold to the English, despite the royal ordinances forbidding traffic with aliens. The intendant farther accused, by name, Messrs. Perrot, La Salle, Du Luth, Boisseau, and others, as being implicated in acts he thus denounced. M. de Frontenac, who suspected what was going on, treated the intendant yet more haughtily than before,—his accustomed mode of overtly setting his enemies at defiance. Upon one occasion, in open council, the count rated him as an audacious man (un téméraire), who ought to be arrested. Notwithstanding repeated monitions from court, the dissensions between the twain rose to such a pitch, that it became needful to recall both, in 1682.

The governor left the colony at a time when his presence would have been especially useful to it. A conflagration, on the 5th of August that year, reduced most of Quebec to ashes, put a stop to trade, and occasioned immense loss to the country. Worse still, at that moment a new war with the Iroquois was imminent. Day by day, the contact of English colonisation was becoming more and more close with the French outlying posts and seats of traffic. Colonel Dongan [205] was unceasing in his efforts to attach the Iroquois to English interests, and means were not wanting to enable him to attain this end. Thus the increase of the trade of the English colonists enabled them to sell their merchandise at lower rates than the Canadian traders; while, on the other hand, the former paid the Indians more than double prices for their peltries. With such a discrepancy, both ways, to the disadvantage of the French, it was plain that the traffic of the latter with the Five Nations must of necessity soon be annihilated.

Besides these commercial advantages, which the English were not slow in turning to account in trafficking with the aborigines, an untoward scuffle between one or more of the French parties at Michilimackinac and savages in the vicinity, in which some of the former were killed, followed up by reprisals against the latter, had detached almost all the tribes of that region from our cause. At such a crisis of affairs, skilful management was needful, not only to preserve trading relations with the various tribes, but even to avoid a total rupture with several of them. Frontenac was constantly careful to maintain unbroken colonial alliances with the natives, which was chiefly effected by sending presents to their head men: but after his departure, the same precautions not being taken, troubles soon ran to an alarming height, especially with the Iroquois; and every thing among the five cantons bore the aspect of open hostility to the French. Courted by the people of both colonies, New York and Canada, these barbarians, naturally proud and ambitious, became unwontedly insolent and exacting. Furthermore, the New Yorkers plied them with flattery, sounding [Pg 250] their praises as the conquerors of all the other tribes, and promising the chief men the support of England in their warrings. The recent conferences the departed governor-general had invited with envoys of the five nations, also the Hurons, the Kikapous, and the Miâmis, had no satisfactory result. He therefore left the country at a time when a continuation of such conciliatory polity as his was most needed; for shortly thereafter, breathings of war against the French arrived, not merely from the southern frontier lines, but also from most regions of the west. In a word, it seemed as if the alliances formed with the aborigines, as important for the progress as or the security of Canada, were about to be renounced in all quarters simultaneously.

In this year of evil augury, M. de Frontenac set sail for France. His departure was a triumph for the Laval party, but it was destined to be the last. The recall of three governors, almost successively, sufficiently manifested the power and the pretensions of the bishop. The reign of the first two of those chiefs lasted in all but four years. That the count's sway lasted ten years, was due, not so much to his great talents, as to the overcoming credit he enjoyed at court throughout all that space of time. He was a relative of Madame de Maintenon; who was then engaged in educating the illegitimate children Louis had through his connexion with Madame de Montespan. The countess de Frontenac, who never set foot in Canada, passed for being one of the greatest ornaments of high life in Paris, in right of her beauty and graces. She was on an intimate footing with De Maintenon,—just beginning to exert an influence at court, which ultimately became supreme. Madame de Frontenac also frequented the distinguished circle which Madame de Sévigné drew around herself. These connexions proved eminently useful to the count; for it was as much to the influence of his wife that he owed his re-appointment to the viceroyalty of New France in 1689, as to that of his family, which yet had always been especially faithful to the Bourbons. His intermediate successors showing few or no requisites equal to his for rightly governing and extending the power of so important a possession, it was ultimately determined that he should resume his functions, and be better sustained than before, in resisting all undue ecclesiastical pretensions.—But before entering upon the [Pg 251] annals of the second Frontenac administration, we shall retrace our steps somewhat, to resume the account, suspended for a time, of some important explorations, entered upon by the French of those days, of the interior regions of the North American continent. These illustrious labours of devoted men had been continued, and taken a wide extension, during the whole time of the first Frontenac viceroyalty; and, in imitation of M. Talon, the count had encouraged the explorers to the utmost of his power. He especially patronised La Salle, whose bold and enterprising spirit he greatly admired. To M. de Frontenac was due also the foundation, on a stable basis, of the factory and stronghold of Cataracoui, already adverted to.

Unfortunately those brilliant explorations, while they were the means of putting our French ancestors in possession, real or nominal, of a vast tract of country, and bringing the colonists into close relation with the aborigines; these great extensions of the limits of New France, we say, of necessity broadened the surface already constantly exposed to the hazards and the mischances of hostilities, active or passive, with the conterminous colonists of alien races.

Explorations, by the French, of the interior of North America.—Travellers and Missionaries.—The Jesuits, their activity and courage.—Travels in a northern direction: Père De Quen discovers Lake St. Jean (Saguenay), 1647; St. Simon et La Couture penetrate, by this route, to Hudson's Bay (1672).—Travels eastward and westward: Père Druillettes passes from the St. Lawrence to the sea, by the rivers Chaudière and Kennebec.—Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan visited in succession.—Two young traders, in 1659, reach the head of lake Superior: the Sioux and other tribes.—Apostolic excursions of Pères Raimbault, Jogues, and Mesnard.—Pères Allouez and Dablon penetrate to the Mississippi valley, and obtain information from the natives regarding the great river.—Pères Marquette and Joliet, upon this report, search for and discover the Mississippi, and descend it to its confluence with the Arkansas river.—La Salle proposes to take up from that point and follow the course of the Mississippi to the sea;—but first he builds a vessel at Niagara; constructs the fort of the Miâmis; also that of Crèvecœur, on the Illinois river.—Père Hennepin ascends the Mississippi to Sault St. Antoine, and is taken by the Sioux.—Great obstacles met and surmounted by La Salle, who finally traces the whole course of the Mississippi; he gives the name of Louisiana to its valley and neighbouring regions.—He sails to France and gives an account of his proceedings to the king, who receives him graciously.

Were we to express, in the briefest of terms, the motives which induced the leading European races of the 15th and 16th centuries who came to the Americas, we should say that the Spaniards went thither in quest of gold, the English for the sake of enjoying civil and religious freedom, the French in view of propagating the gospel among the aborigines. Accordingly we find, from the beginning, in the annals of New France, religious interests overlying all others. The members of the "Society of Jesus," becoming discredited among the nations of Europe for their subserviency to power—usually exalting the rights of kings, but at all times inculcating [Pg 253] submission, both by kings and their subjects, to the Roman Pontiffs—individual Jesuits, we say, whatever may have been their demerits as members of the confraternity in Europe or in South America, did much to redeem these by their apostolic labours in the wilderness of the northern continent; cheerfully encountering, as they did, every form of suffering, braving the crudest tortures, and even welcoming death as the expected seal of their martyrdom for the cause of Christ, and for the advancement of civilization among barbarous nations.

From Quebec as a centre-point, the missionary lines of the Jesuit fathers radiated in all directions through every region inhabited by our savages, from the Laurentian valley to the Hudson's Bay territory, along the great lake countries, and down the valley of the Mississippi. Scantily equipped, as it seemed to the worldly eye, with a breviary around the neck and a crucifix in hand, the missionary set forth, and became a pioneer for the most adventurous secular explorers of the desert. To such our forefathers owed their best earliest knowledge of vast regions, to whose savage inhabitants they imparted the glad tidings of the gospel; and smoothed the way for native alliances with their compatriots of the laity, of the greatest after import to the colony.

The Society of Jesus, or confraternity of Jesuits, was founded at the epoch of the Reformation; in the double view: first, of building up a living dyke against the disorderly tide rushing onward and threatening to overwhelm the established landmarks of authority, spiritual and temporal; secondly, of giving a great extension to religious proselytism, especially in the regions of Heathendom, near and remote. The rules of the Society permitted the admission of no candidates but those supposed to be endowed with great moral energy; of natures willing to submit implicitly to the will of the spiritual "powers that be," whether the general of the order, the reigning pope, or their own immediate superiors. They were sworn, above all, to devote themselves, body and soul, to the cause of catholicity; of which they were recognised for the especial defenders against all heretical assailants.

Yet the absolute obedience pledged by them, upon every occasion and under all circumstances, to an alien domination, caused the order to be distrusted, and finally suppressed in most catholic [Pg 254] states. Meantime, devoted to the duties of the academy, the pulpit, and the confessional—with such potent instruments, moral and religious, as these, they were enabled to make a strong and constant impression on the general spirit of the communities they dwelt among. Within the first century after their foundation, they had organised the best schools known to Europe. Their educational manuals became models for all others of that time, and their merit is recognised by partial imitations even yet. Isolated from the working-day world, the élite of the Jesuits formed, in every sovereignty of Europe, a species of intellectual republic, submitted to the severest self-imposed discipline; one whose every pass-word, authoritatively issued, found an obedient response in all regions of the world. Jesuitic influence soon extended to the most potent and most learned of the civilized earth, as well as to the lowly and the ignorant; while overstepping the bounds of Christendom, troops of Jesuit fathers, inspired by spiritual heroism, penetrated to the extremities of the globe, to convert Pagans and infidels,—not as did the crusaders, by fire and sword, but rather, like the Saviour and his apostles, by the more genial means of reasoning and persuasion. They bore aloft, in the sight of admiring multitudes of their uncivilized fellow-men, the Crucifix, that symbol of human redemption, from the shores of Japan to the furthest capes of America, from the frozen regions of Iceland to the remotest isles of Oceania.

Such devotedness, at once heroic and humble, could not but confound worldly philosophy, while it has gained for the members of the order the admiration of many protestants. Thus we have the candid testimony of Bancroft, the able historian of the English plantations in this continent that "The annals of missionary labours are inseparably connected with the origin of all the establishments of French America. Not a cape was doubled, nor a stream discovered, that a Jesuit did not show the way." [206]

On the other hand, there were instances where secular explorers, seeking to illustrate their names by great discoveries, or to enrich themselves by traffic, opened a way for the after labours of the missionary. The most celebrated of such were Champlain, Nicolet, Perrot, Joliet, La Salle, and La Verendrye.

We have seen that the first-named and also greatest of these discoverers, brought to the knowledge of his contemporaries, lakes Champlain, Ontario, and Nipissing (to the north of Lake Huron); he also visited a great part of the Ottawa. While he was extending geographical knowledge in the west, Père Dolbeau, then on a mission to the Montagnais Indians of Tadoussac, was making excursions of observation among the picturesque highlands of the Saguenay valley; he also visited the Betsiamites and other wandering tribes of regions lying north from the St. Lawrence. In 1647, Lake St. Jean, through which the Saguenay flows, was discovered by Père de Quen. In 1651, the French attained a point fully half way overland to Hudson's Bay; their final aim being to penetrate to a shore of the North Sea, the aborigines thereabouts having asked that a missionary should be sent to them.

In 1661, governor d'Argenson charged M. la Vallière, a Norman of rank, Denis Guyon, Després-Couture, François Pelletier, and Pères Druillettes and Dablon, to journey overland to Hudson's Bay, taking natives for their guides. The party started from [Pg 256] Quebec in May that year, first ascended the Saguenay, despite its rapids, and, attaining to Lake St. Jean, they entered a tributary river, which, ascending, they reached Lake Nekouban; but went no further for the time. The reason was, that the native guides, who had thitherto stuck to the party, learning that the Iroquois had inspired the upper Saguenay tribes with dread, pretended that they (the guides) no longer knew the road; and even the French adventurers, dreading to meet any of those redoubtable savages on the rugged way, were not sorry to call a halt, and to return by the same route they came.

The search for a north-west passage to India had been the means of discovering Hudson's Bay. Cabot led the way in that quest, and he discovered Labrador. Alphonse de Xaintonge, the navigator who accompanied Roberval to Canada, followed in the traces of Cabot. Sir Martin Frobisher came next. Another English adventurer, Captain John Davis, reached the entry of Baffin's Bay. At length Henry Hudson, a skilful mariner employed by an English company, profiting from the experience of his predecessors, in mid summer 1610 penetrated the landlocked sea which still bears his name, and coasted much of its solitary shores. It was on his return, through the straits, that the major number of his mutinous crew put their captain and eight of his staunchest followers into a boat, which was never afterwards heard of. Finally, Jean Bourdon, in a vessel of 30 tons burden only, sailed to the farther end of the bay in 1656, to traffic with the people near its seaboard.

In 1671, governor d'Avaugour, and his intendant Talon, equipped a second expedition to seek a way to Hudson's bay by the Saguenay river. The names of its leaders were St. Simon and La Couture; Père Charles Albanel, too, was of the party, which left Quebec on the 6th of August, 1671, but did not reach its destination till June 28, 1672. It proved a region of desolation; of which they took ceremonial possession, in name of the king, in token of which they buried a plate of brass, graven with the royal armorials.

As the territory around the entry of the Saguenay was the seat of a considerable traffic in peltry, it had long been wished to open up relations with the tribes of its upper wilderness, as also with the tribes nearer to the bay. Here, then, was a step gained, [Pg 257] which might lead to the realisation of that wish. But the English, as we shall see by and by, led by two huguenot exiles, were the first to profit by these explorations made at French cost, or by the relations already formed with the natives to found trading establishments in the Hudson's bay territories. The huguenot guides, however, played a double part afterwards, between French and English employers of their services.

In regions south of the St. Lawrence, Père Druillettes was the first European who passed overland from that river to the eastern Atlantic seaboard, ascending the Chaudière and descending the Kennebec in 1646. He was the first missionary among the Abenaquis, who held him in high esteem. He did good service to the colony by preserving for it the amity of that brave nation, the only one which the Iroquois were slow to attack.

In another direction, the traffickers and missionaries, constantly moving onward, toward the sources of the St. Lawrence, had reached the upper extremity of Lake Huron. Pères Brébeuf, Daniel, Lalemant, Jogues, and Raimbault, founded in the regions around its waters the Christianised settlements (villages) of St. Joseph, St. Michel, St. Ignace, Sainte-Marie, &c. The last-named, seated at the point where Lake Huron communicates with lake Erie, was long the central point of the north-western missions. In 1639, Jean Nicholet, following the course of a river flowing out of Lake Michigan at Green Bay, was led within three days' navigation of "the great water," such was the distinctive name the aborigines gave to the Mississippi. [207] In 1671, the relics of the Huron tribes, tired of wandering from forest to forest, settled down in Michilimackinac, at the end of Lake Superior, under the care of Père Marquette; who thus became the earliest founder of a European settlement in Michigan. The natives of the vicinity were of the Algonquin race; but the French called them Sauteurs, from their being near to Sault Sainte-Marie.

Between the years 1635-1647, these countries were visited by eighteen Jesuit missionaries, besides several laics attached to their ministry. Direct communication with the region was then little attempted, the hostile feeling of the Iroquois making the navigation [Pg 258] of Lake Ontario perilous to adventurers; and obliging them to pass to and from the western mission field by the valley of the Ottawa. The Neuters' territory, visited by Champlain, and the southern lakeboard of Erie beyond Buffalo, being as yet almost unknown, about 1640 it was resolved to send thither Pères Chaumont and Brébeuf, whose exploration thus completed the first survey of the Laurentian basin, from the ocean to the farthest nook of Lake Superior.

Two Jesuits, Charles Raimbault and Isaac Jogues, sent towards that fresh-water sea, after a navigation of seventeen days, and losing their way in the archipelago of Lake Huron, reached the Sault Sainte-Marie; and there found assembled about 2000 savages, who received them with signs of great good-will. Far as French adventurers had advanced, the limits of the continent seemed to be never the nearer; for they learned, at Sault Sainte-Marie, the names, still, of a great number of nations, located beyond to the west and south, whose existence they had never heard of before. Among them were said to be warlike tribes, yet living by culture of the soil, but whose race and language were unknown. "Thus it was," says an American author, "that the religious zeal of the French had transported the Cross to the banks of Sault Sainte-Marie and the confines of Lake Superior; whence it overshadowed already the territory of the Sioux in Mississippi valley, five years before Elliot, the famous missionary of New England, had addressed a word to the savages located within six miles of Boston harbour."

It may fairly be said that the hold Canada had upon the aborigines, far and near, was due to the relations our people owed to the missionaries and fur traders. Both were to be met with, at intervals, everywhere; on the shores of Hudson's Bay, on the margin of the Laurentian Gulf, at the forest outskirts of Lake Superior; and in all places wheresoever found, they tended to give a high, or, yet better, a favourable idea of France and her people. The savages admired the hardihood of individual Frenchmen, who trusted themselves in all confidence amid entire populations of natives, not always of friendly dispositions; and, even passing beyond, visited wildernesses reputed to be full of ferocious men and wild beasts, and consequently shunned by themselves. It seemed to [Pg 259] these naturally superstitious people, that the Europeans bore a charmed life. Their superiority in the art of war, and their knowledge, of which the natives made an exaggerating estimate, made most of the tribes anxious to enter into alliances with the colonists; who, on their part, found such of the natives as most dreaded the Iroquois, valuable auxiliaries against these intractable barbarians.

In 1659, two young traders, [208] led on by personal curiosity and a spirit of adventure, joined some roving bands of Algonquins, and coasted with them the shores of Lake Superior, upon which they passed the succeeding winter. Here they first learned the existence of the Sioux race, of whom thitherto little was known even by their compatriots of the nearer wilds. Our two young Frenchmen determined to visit the Sioux in their own country. On the way, they met with broken and dispirited bands of savages, the survivors of nations vanquished and dispersed by the Iroquois. The Sioux, among whom they at length arrived, appeared to them, on the contrary, to be a potent race, yet of gentler manners than the people of the eastern tribes. They ascertained that there were forty populous hordes of the Sioux, the people in which exercised no such cruelties on prisoners as other native races gloried in; that they had a pretty distinct belief in a Supreme Being; but that their religious notions, in other particulars, were akin to those of the nomade races of Asia.

The two intrepid adventurers returned to Quebec, in 1660, escorted by sixty Algonquin canoes, laden with furs. They confirmed the report of two other Frenchmen who visited Lake Michigan four years previously, as to the multitudinous tribes wandering about those regions; among others the Kristinots, whose wigwams, it was averred, might be found in high latitudes, even as far as the polar seas.

It was during the same year that Père Mesnard set out, along with some Algonquins, to preach the Gospel to the Ottawas and other tribes located near the shores of Lake Superior. He remained eight months in a bay which he named after Sainte-Thérèse (perhaps that of Kiwina), on the southern side of the lake, where [Pg 260] his only food was acorns (or other mast) and pounded bark. At an invitation from the Hurons, he left this inhospitable place for the bay of Chagouïmigong (bay of St. Esprit) at the western end of Lake Huron; a country poor in game, but remote, and for both reasons free from the Hurons, implacable enemies the Iroquois. One day, while his travelling comrade was busy about their canoe, Père Mesnard went into the woods, but returned not again and was never more seen. This venerable missionary had a great reputation for sanctity among the savages, whose rude natures had been almost softened to meekness by his virtuous example, and by the unction of his evangelical discourses. Some years afterwards, his breviary and cassock (soutane) were found among the Sioux, who paid them a kind of worship, as saintly relics. The savages, we may mention here, had a great respect (probably not unmingled with fear) for books, which they looked upon as imbued with spiritual life. Four or five years after the murder of Pères Brébeuf and Gamier by the Iroquois, a missionary among them found a Testament and a prayer-book, that had belonged to these martyrs, and which were preserved with care as things sacred.

Even in those days, the traders and missionaries knew that North America was separated from the old world by a sea. The "Relations of the Jesuits" of 1659-1660 contain these words: "Towards the east, the south, the west, and the north, this continent being surrounded with water, must be disjoined from Greenland by a narrow space (trajet), a good portion of which has been discovered; and all that is wanted is to penetrate a few degrees farther, in order to reach the Japanese seas."

Père Allouez set out for Lake Superior in 1665. He coasted the heaps of sand which wind and water have raised along its shores, and rounded a bend of twelve miles, the base of a cape 300 feet in height, forming the western end of the Laurentides. In this region, the waters of the lake rubbing out by their constant attrition the softer from the hard materials in composite rocks, have produced the most striking forms in some heights rising from the borders of the lake. Père Allouez must have seen and admired these fantastic works of nature, many of them resembling ruined piles of art, to which after travellers assigned the name of Portail and Rocher's Point. He reached Chagouïamigong in [Pg 261] due course, where he found a considerable village of Chippeways, which the Jesuits named Outchibouec. He there erected a chapel and preached in Algonquin to a dozen or more tribes, who understood that language. His reputation spread far. Men of many tribes of the regions around came to see the white man: Poutouatamis, from the depths of Michigan; Outagamis and Saiks, from territories intermediate to Lake Michigan and the Mississippi; the Kristinoles (Creek Indians), from the marshy north; the Illinois, from the prairies, then uncultivated, now covered with crops; and lastly, the Sioux. All these men of many races admired the eloquence of the zealous missionary, and gave him information as to the numbers, power, and the situation of their several countries. The Sioux, armed with bows and arrows, told him that they roofed their huts with deer-skins, and that they occupied vast prairies on the margin of a great river they called the Mississippi. During his sojourn in that country, Allouez, who made a voyage of more than 2000 leagues, penetrated to countries far north, where he met some of the Nipissings, whom their fear of the Iroquois had drive a into a snow-covered region. He strove to console those sufferers, who were then in a very wretched state.

At this time, peace prevailing among the Indian tribes, the traders were able to extend their operations, and the missionaries to spread themselves abroad, in the fertile plains west of Lake Michigan. Père Dablon, who laboured in that region, learnt also from the natives the existence of "the great river," and he intended to set out, in hopes of reaching it, in 1669, [209] but his spiritual duties prevented him from quite realising his desire: yet he made, it seems, a near approach to the Mississippi, after all. Along with Père Allouez, from 1670 to 1672, he reached the Wisconsin and Illinois territories, visiting on his route the tribes called Mascontins, the Kikapous, and the Outagamies, on the river Renard, which takes rise beside the upper Mississippi, and disembogues in Lake Michigan. The indefatigable missionary had even resolved to penetrate, at a future time, to the Polar Sea, [Pg 262] to assure himself of the possibility, or not, of finding a passage that way to the sea of Japan. [210]

The new impulsions which had been given to Canada by Colbert and Talon, began to bear their fruits. Commerce revived, immigration increased, and the aborigines, dominated by the genius of civilization, feared and respected everywhere the power of France. We have already reported what were the motives which prompted the government to send Perrot among the western tribes; we have seen that this famous explorer was the first European who reached the end of Lake Michigan and the Miâmis country, and that deputies from all the native tribes of the regions irrigated by the head waters of the Mississippi, the sources of the Red River and the St. Lawrence, responded to his call to meet him at the Sault Sainte-Marie. From one discovery to another, as so many successive stages in a journey, the French attained a certainty that "the great water" did exist, and they could, in advance, trace its probable course. It appeared certain, from the recent search made for it in northerly and eastern directions, that its waters, so voluminous as the natives asserted, must at last find their sea-vent either in the bay of Mexico or in the Pacific Ocean. Talon, who took a strong interest in the subject, during his intendancy recommended Captain Poulet, a skilful mariner of Dieppe, to verify the passage from sea to sea, through the Straits of Magellan. He induced M. de Frontenac to send M. Joliet [211] into the region where the great stream, yet unseen, must take its rise; and follow its course, if found, till its waters reached the sea. The person thus employed on a mission which interested every one at the time, was a man of talent, educated in the Jesuits' College of Quebec, probably in view of entering the church; but who had gone into the peltry trade. He had travelled much in the countries around Lake Superior, and gained great experience of the natives, especially those of the Ottawa tribes. M. Joliet and Père Marquette set out together, in the year 1673. The latter, who had lived among the Poutowatami Indians as a missionary, and gained their affections, was forewarned by them of the perils, they alleged, [Pg 263] which would beset his steps in so daring an enterprise, admonishing him and his companion, that the people of the farther countries would allow no stranger to pass through them; that travellers were always pillaged at the least; that the great river swarmed with monsters who devoured men, [212] and that the climate was so hot that human flesh could not endure it.

Having progressed to the farthest horde (over the Fox river), where Père Allouez was known, and the extremest point yet touched by any European, the adventurers found the people of the divers tribes living together in harmony; viz., the Kikapous, Mascoutins, and Miâmis. They accorded the strangers a kind reception, and furnished guides to direct the party, which was composed of nine persons in all,—Joliet, Marquette, with five other whites, and two natives. On the 10th of June they set out, bearing two light canoes on their shoulders for crossing the narrow portage which separates the Fox river from that of Wisconsin, where the latter, after following a southerly takes a western course. Here their Indian guides left them, fearing to go farther. Arrived at the lower Wisconsin, they embarked and glided down the stream, which led the travellers through a solitude; the latter remarking, that the levels around them presented an unbroken expanse of luxuriant herbage, or forests of lofty trees. Their progress was slow, for it was not till the tenth day that they attained the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi. But the goal was surely, if tardily, attained. They were now floating on the bosom of the "Father of Waters," a fact they at once felt assured of, and fairly committed themselves to the course of the doubled current. This event constituted an epoch in American annals. "The two canoes," says Bancroft, "with sails outspread under a new sky, sped their way, impelled by favouring breezes, along the surface of the calm and majestic ocean tributary. At one time the French adventurers glided along sand-banks, the resting-places of innumerable aquatic birds; at others they passed around wooded islands in mid-flood; and otherwhiles, again, their course lay through the vast plains of [Pg 264] Illinois and Iowa, covered with magnificent woods, or dotted with clumps of bush scattered about limitless prairie lands."

It was not till the voyagers had descended sixty leagues of the great stream, that they discovered any signs of the presence of man; but at length, observing on the right bank of the river a foot-track, they followed it for six miles, and arrived at a horde (bourgade), situated on a river called by the natives Moïngona; an appellation afterwards corrupted into "rivière des Moines." Seeing no one, the visitors hollowed lustily, and four old men answered the call, bearing in hand the calumet of peace. "We are Illinois," said the Indians: "you are our fellow-men; we bid you welcome." They had never before seen any whites; but had heard mention of the French, and long wished to form an alliance with them against the Iroquois, whose hostile excursions extended even to their country. They were glad to hear from Joliet, that the colonists had lately chastised those whom no others could vanquish; and feasted the visitors, to manifest their gratitude as well as respect. The chief of the tribe, with some hundreds of his warriors, escorted the party to their canoes; and, as a mark of parting esteem, he presented a calumet, ornamented with feathers of various colours; a safe-conduct this, held inviolable among the aborigines.

The voyagers, again on their way, were forewarned of the confluence of the Missouri with the main stream, by the noise of its discharging waters. Forty leagues lower, they reached the influx of the Ohio, in the territory of the Chouanows. By degrees the region they traversed changed its aspect. Instead of vast prairies, the voyagers only saw thick forests around them, inhabited by savages whose language was to them unknown. In quitting the southern line of the Ohio, they left the Algonquin family of aborigines behind, and had come upon a region of nomades, the Chickasaw nation being here denizens of the forest. The Dahcotas, or Sioux, frequented the riverain lands, in the southern region watered by the great flood. Thus interpreters were needed by the natives, who wished to parley from either bank of the Mississippi; each speaking one of two mother-tongues, both distinct from those of the Hurons and Algonquins, much of the latter being familiar to Joliet and others of the party.

Continuing their descent, the confluence of the Arkansas with the Mississippi was attained. The voyagers were now under the 33rd parallel of north latitude, at a point of the river course reported to have been previously reached, from the opposite direction, by the celebrated Spanish mariner, De Soto. [213] Here the Illinois chief's present stood the party in good stead; for on exhibiting his ornate calumet, they were treated with profuse kindness. Bread, made of maize, was offered by the chief of the horde located at the mouth of the Arkansas river. Hatchet-heads of steel, in use by the natives, gave intimation that they traded with Europeans, and that the Spanish settlements on the bay of Mexico were probably not far off. The waxing summer heats, too, gave natural corroboration to the same inferences. The party had now, in fact, attained to a region without a winter, unless as such be reckoned that part of its year known as "the rainy season."

It now became expedient to call a halt, for the stored provisions were beginning to fail, and chance supplies could not be depended upon in such a wilderness as the bold adventurers had already traversed; and they were still more uncertain as to what treatment they might receive from savage populations, if they proceeded further. One thing was made plain to their perceptions: the Mississippi afforded no passage to the East Indian seas. They rightly concluded, also, that it found its sea-outlet in the Bay of Mexico, not the Pacific Ocean. They had therefore now done enough to entitle them to the grateful thanks of their compatriots, and for the names of their two leaders to take a permanent place in the annals of geographical discovery.

The task of ascending the great river must have been arduous, and the return voyage protracted. Arrived at the point where it is joined by the Illinois, they left it for that stream, which, ascending for a part of its lower course, Père Marquette elected to remain with the natives of tribes located near to its banks; [Pg 266] while M. Joliet, with the rest of the party, passed overland to Chicago. Thence he proceeded to Quebec, and reported his proceedings to the governor, M. Talon at that time being in France. This duty he had to perform orally, having lost all his papers when shooting the rapids of the St. Lawrence, above Montreal. He afterwards drew up a written report, with a tracing of his route, from memory.

The encouragement the intendant procured for the enterprise, fairly entitles him to share its glory with, those who so ably carried it out; for we cannot attach too much honour to the memory of statesmen who turn to account their opportunities of patronising useful adventure. M. Joliet received in property the island of Anticosti, as a reward for his western discoveries, and for an exploratory voyage he made to Hudson's Bay. He was also nominated hydrographer-royal, and got enfeoffed in a seignory, near Montreal. Expecting to reap great advantage from Anticosti as a fishing and fur-trading station, he built a fort thereon; but after living some time on the island with his family, he was obliged to abandon it. His patronymic was adopted as the name of a mountain situated near the river des Plaines, a tributary of the Illinois; and Joliet is also the appellation, given in his honour, of a town near Chicago.

Père Marquette proceeded to Green Bay, by Lake Michigan, in 1673; but he returned soon afterwards, and resumed his missionary labours among the Illinois Indians. Being then at war with the Miâmis, they came to him asking for gunpowder: "I have come among you," said the apostolic priest, "not to aid you to destroy your enemies' bodies, but to help you to save your own souls. Gunpowder I cannot give you, but my prayers you can have for your conversion to that religion which gives glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to all men." [214]—Upon one occasion, he preached before two thousand warriors of their nation, besides the women and children present. His bodily powers, however, [Pg 267] were now well-nigh exhausted. He decided to return to Mackinac; but while coasting the lower shores of lake Michigan, feeling that his supreme hour was nigh, he caused the people in his canoe to set him ashore. Having obtained for him the shelter of a hut formed of branches, he there died the death of the righteous. His companions interred his remains near the river which yet bears his name, and set up a crucifix to mark the spot. Thus ended, amid the solitudes of the western wilderness, the valuable existence of one whose name, too little known to his own age, will be remembered when hundreds of those which, however loudly sounded in the present, shall have passed into utter oblivion. [215]

The news of the discovery of the Mississippi made a great sensation in Canada; and eclipsed, for a time, the interest attaching to other explorations of the age, which were becoming more and more rife every year. Every speculative mind was set to work, as was usual on such occasions, to calculate the material advantages which might result, first to the colonists, and next to their mother country, from access being obtained to a second gigantic water-way through the territories of New France; serving, as it virtually might in times to come, as a complement, or completing moiety for the former, enabling the colonists to have the command of two seas.

Still, as the gulf of Mexico had not been reached by the adventurers upon the present occasion, some persons had their doubts about the real course of the lower flood. There was therefore, however, still in store credit for those who should succeed in clearing up whatever uncertainty there might be about a matter so important.

"New France," says Raynal, "had among its people a Norman named Robert Cavelier de la Salle, a man inspired with the double passion of amassing a large fortune and gaining an illustrious name. This person had acquired, under the training of the Jesuits, among whom his youth was passed, activity, enthusiasm, firmness of character, and high-heartedness; qualities which [Pg 268] that celebrated confraternity knew so well to discern and cultivate in promising natures committed to their care. Their most audacious and enterprising pupil, La Salle, was especially impatient to seize every occasion that chance presented for distinguishing himself, and ready to create such opportunities if none occurred." He had been resident some years in Canada, when Joliet returned from his expedition to the Mississippi. The effect of so promising a discovery, upon such a mind as La Salle's, was of the most awakening kind. Joliet's report of what he experienced, and his shrewd conjectures as to what he did not see, but which doubtless existed, well meditated upon by his fellow-genius, inspired the latter to form a vast design of exploration and traffic conjoined, in realising which he determined to hazard both his fortunes and reputation.

Cavalier, sieur de La Salle, was born in Rouen, and the son of respectable parents. While yet a young man, he came to Canada full of a project he had conceived, of seeking a road to Japan and China, by a northern or western passage; but did not bring with him the pecuniary means needful even to make the attempt. He set about making friends for himself in the colony, and succeeded in finding favour with the Count de Frontenac, who discerned in him qualities somewhat akin to his own. With the aid of M. de Courcelles and Talon, he opened a factory for the fur traffic at Lachine near Montreal, a name which (China) he gave to the place, in allusion to the oriental goal towards which his hopes tended as an explorer. [216] In the way of trade, he visited lakes Ontario and Erie. While the Canadians were yet excited about the discovery of the Mississippi, he imparted his aspirations regarding it to the governor-general. He said that, by ascending instead of descending that great stream, a means might be found for reaching the Pacific Ocean; but that the outlay attending the enterprise could only be defrayed by combining with it an extended traffic with the nations of the west; that he would gladly made the attempt [Pg 269] himself, if a trading post were erected for his use at the foot of lake Ontario, as a basis for his operations, with an exclusive license to traffic in the western countries. The governor gave him the command of Fort Frontenac, to begin with. Obtaining, also, his recommendations to the court, La Salle sailed for France in 1675, and gained all he wanted from the Marquis de Seignelai, son and successor of the great Colbert as minister of marine. The king bestowed on La Salle the seignory of Cataracoui (Kingston), and ennobled him. This seignory included Fort Frontenac, of which he was made the proprietor, as well as of Lake Ontario; conditioned, however, that he was to re-construct the fort in stone. His Majesty also invested him with all needful credentials for beginning and continuing his discoveries.

La Salle, on his return to Canada, actively set about aggrandising his new possession. Several colonists and some of the natives repaired to the locality, and settled under protection of his fort. He built in its vicinity three decked vessels—the first ever seen upon lake Ontario. In 1677, he visited France again, in quest of aid to carry out his plans. Colbert and Seignelai got him a royal commission as recognized explorer of north-west America, with permission to erect fortified posts therein at his discretion. He found a potent protector, also, in the Prince de Conti.

La Salle, full of hope, sailed from La Rochelle in summer 1678, with thirty seamen and artisans, his vessel freighted with equipments for his lake craft, and merchandise for barter with the aborigines. A brave officer, Chevalier de Tonti, went with him, proposing to share his fortunes. Arrived at Cataracoui, his energy put all his workpeople in activity. By the 18th of November, he set sail from Fort Frontenac in one of his barks, loaded with goods and materials for constructing a second fort and a brigantine at Niagara. When he reached the head of lake Ontario, his vessel excited the admiration of the savages; while the falls of Niagara no less raised the wonder of the French. Neither had before seen the former so great a triumph of human art; nor the latter, so over-powering a spectacle of nature.

La Salle set about founding his proposed stronghold at Niagara; but the natives, as soon as the defensive works began to take shape, demurred to their being continued. Not caring to dispute [Pg 270] the matter with them, he gave his erections the form of a palisaded store-house merely. During winter following, he laid the keel of a vessel on the stocks, at a place some six miles above the Falls.

His activity redoubled as his operations progressed. He sent on his friend Tonti with the famous Recollet, Père Hennepin, to seek out several men whom he had despatched as forerunners, in autumn preceding, to open up a traffic he intended to carry on with the aborigines of the west. In person he visited the Iroquois and several other nations, with whom he wished to form trading relations. He has the honour of founding the town of Niagara. The vessel he there built he called "the Griffin," because, said he, "the griffin has right of mastery over the ravens:" an allusion, as was said, to his hope of overcoming all his ill-willers, who were numerous. [217] Be this as it may, the Griffin was launched in mid-summer 1679, under a salute of cannon, with a chanting of Te Deum, and shouts from the colonists; the natives present setting up yells of wonder, hailing the French as so many Otkou, or "men of a contriving mind."

On the 7th of August the Griffon, equipped with seven guns and loaded with small arms and goods, entered Lake Erie; when La Sale started for Detroit, which he reached in safety after a few days' sail. He gave to the expansion of the channel between lakes Erie and Huron, the name of Lake Ste. Claire; traversing which, he, on the 23rd August, entered Lake Huron. Five days later, he reached Michilimackinac, after having encountered a violent storm, such as are not unfrequent in that locality. The aborigines of the country were not less moved than those of Niagara had been, at the appearance of the Griffon; an apparition rendered terrible as well as puzzling, when the sound of her cannon boomed along the lake and reverberated from its shores.

On attaining to the chapel of the Ottawa tribe, at the mission [Pg 271] station, he landed and attended mass. Continuing his voyage, some time in September he reached the bay des Puants, on the western lake-board of Michigan, where he cast anchor. So far, the first ship navigation of the great Canadian lakes had been a triumph; but the end was not yet, and it proved to be disastrous, for La Salle, hearing that his creditors had in his absence confiscated his possessions, despatched the Griffon, loaded with peltry, to Niagara, probably in view of redeeming them; but his vessel and goods were totally lost on the way.

Meanwhile, he started, with a trading party of thirty men of different callings, bearing arms and merchandise. Passing to St. Joseph's, at the lower end of Lake Michigan, whither he had ordered that the Griffon should proceed on her proposed second voyage from Niagara, he laid the foundations of a fort on the crest of a steep height, washed on two sides by the river of the Miâmis, and defended on another side by a deep ravine. He set buoys at the entrance of the stream for the direction of the crew of the anxiously expected vessel, upon whose safety depended in part the continuation of his enterprises; sending on some skilful hands to Michilimackinac to pilot her on the lake. The vessel not appearing, and winter being near, he set out for the country of the Illinois Indians, leaving a few men in charge of the fort, and taking with him the missionaries Gabriel, Hennepin, and Zénobe, also some private men; Tonti, who was likewise of the party, having rejoined his principal, but without the men he was sent to seek, as he could not find them. The expedition, thus constituted, arrived towards the close of December at a deserted native village situated near the source of the Illinois river, in the canton which still bears La Salle's name. Without stopping here, he descended that stream as far as lake Peoria, (called by Hennepin Pimiteoui), on the margin of which he found encamped a numerous body of the Illinois. These Indians, though naturally gentle, yet turned unfriendly regards at first on the party; but soon recovering from surprise at the appearance of the French, treated them with great hospitality; one of their attentions to the supposed wants of the visitors being to rub their wearied legs with bears' grease and buffalo fat. These friendly people were glad to learn that La Salle meant to form establishments in their country. Like the Huron savages [Pg 272] of Champlain's time, the Illinois, harassed as they were by the Iroquois, trusted that the French would protect them in future. The visitors remarked that the Illinois formed the sides of their huts with mats of flat reeds, lined and sewed together. All those the party saw were tall, robust in body, and dexterous with the bow. But the nation has been stigmatised by some early reporters as cowardly, lazy, debauched, and without respect for their chiefs.

La Salle's people, hearing no mention of his ship all this while, began first to murmur, and then to leave him: six of them deserted in one night. In other respects, events occurred, ominous of evil for the termination of the enterprise. To occupy the attention of his companions, and prevent them from brooding on apprehended ills, as well as to guard them against a surprise by any hostile natives, he set them on erecting a fort upon an eminence, at a place four days' journey distant from Lake Peoria; which when finished he named Breakheart (Crèvecœur), in allusion to the mental suffering he then endured. To put an end to an intolerable state of suspense, in his own case, he resolved to set out on foot for Frontenac, 400 or 500 leagues distant—hoping there to obtain good news about the Griffon; also in order to obtain equipments for a new bark, then in course of construction at Crèvecœur, in which he meant to embark upon his return thither, intending to descend the Mississippi to its embouchure. He charged Père Hennepin to trace the downward course of the Illinois to its junction with the Mississippi, then to ascend the former as high as possible, and examine the territories through which its upper waters flow. After making Tonti captain of the fort in his absence, he set out, March 2, 1680, armed with a musket, and accompanied by three or four whites and one Indian. [218]

Père Hennepin, who left two days before, descended the Illinois to the Mississippi, made several excursions in the region around their confluence; then ascended the latter to a point beyond the Sault St. Antony, where he was detained for some months by Sioux [Pg 273] Indians, who only let him go on his promise to return to them next year. One of the chiefs traced on a scrap of paper the route he desired to follow; and this rude but correct chart, says Hennepin, "served us truly as a compass. "By following the Wisconsin, which falls into the Mississippi, and Fox River, when running in the opposite direction, he reached lake Michigan mission station, passing through, intermediately, vast and interesting countries.

Such was the famous expedition of Hennepin; who, on his return, was not a little surprised to find a company of fur traders near the Wisconsin river, led by one De Luth, who had probably preceded him in visiting that remote region.

While Hennepin was exploring the upper valley of the Mississippi, La Salle's interests were getting from bad to worse at Crèvecœur. But, for rightly understanding the events which at last obliged him to abandon that post, it is necessary to explain the state of his affairs in Canada; and to advert to the jealousies which other traffickers cherished regarding his monopolising projects in the western regions of the continent. He came to the colony, as we have seen, a fortuneless adventurer—highly recommended, indeed; while the special protection he obtained from the governor, with the titular and more solid favours he obtained at court, made him a competitor to all other commercialists, whom it was impossible to contend with directly. Underhand means of opposition, therefore, and these not always the fairest, were put in play to damage his interests, and, if possible, effect his ruin. For instance, feuds were stirred up against him among the savage tribes; and inducements held out to his own people to desert him. [219] They even [Pg 274] induced the Iroquois and the Miâmis to take up arms against the Illinois, his allies. Besides this hostility to him within New France, he had to face the opposition of the Anglo-American colonists, who resisted the realisation of his projects, for nationally selfish reasons. Thus they encouraged the Iroquois to attack La Sale's Indian allied connexions of the Mississippi valley; a measure which greatly increased the difficulties of a position already almost untenable. In a word, the odds against him became too great; and he was constrained to retire from the high game he wished to play out, which, indeed, was certainly to the disadvantage of individuals, if tending to enhance the importance of the colony as a possession of France.

La Salle's ever trusty lieutenant, the chevalier de Tonti, meanwhile did all he could, at Crèvecœur, to engage the Illinois to stand firm to their engagements with his principal. Having learned that the Miâmis intended to join the Iroquois in opposition to them, he hastened to teach the use of fire-arms to those who remained faithful, to put the latter on a footing of equality with these two nations, who were now furnished with the like implements of war. He also showed them how to fortify their hordes with palisades. But while in the act of erecting Fort Louis, near the sources of the river Illinois, most of the garrison at Crèvecœur mutinied and deserted, after pillaging the stores of provision and ammunition there laid up.

At this crisis of La Salle's affairs (1680), armed bands of the Iroquois suddenly appeared in the Illinois territory, and produced a panic among its timid inhabitants. Tonti, acting with spirit and decision as their ally, now intervened, and enforced upon the Iroquois a truce for the Illinois; but the former, on ascertaining the paucity of his means, recommenced hostilities. Attacking the fort, they murdered Père Gabriel, disinterred the dead, wasted the cultivated land, &c., of the French residents. The Illinois dispersed in all directions, leaving the latter isolated among their enemies. Tonti, who had at last but five men under his orders, also fled the country.

While the chevalier, in his passage from Crèvecœur, was descending the north side of Lake Michigan, La Salle was moving along its southern side with a reinforcement of men, and rigging [Pg 275] for the bark he left in course of construction at the above-named post; where having arrived, he had the mortification to find it devastated and deserted. He made no attempt to refound it, but passed the rest of the year in excursions over the neighbouring territories, in which he visited a great number of tribes; among them the Outagamis and Miâmis, whom he persuaded to renounce an alliance they had formed with the Iroquois.—Soon afterwards, he returned to Montreal, taking Frontenac on his way. Although his pecuniary losses had been great, he was still able to compound with his creditors, to whom he conceded his own sole rights of trade in the western countries, they in return advancing moneys to enable him to prosecute his future explorations.

Having got all things ready for the crowning expedition he had long meditated, he set out with Tonti, Père Mambré, also some French and native followers, and directed his course towards Mississippi, which river he reached on the 6th of February, 1682. The mildness of the climate in that latitude, and the beauties of the country, which increased as he proceeded, seemed to give new life to his hopes of finally obtaining profit and glory. [220] In descending the majestic stream, he recognised the Arkansas and other riverain tribes visited by Marquette; he traversed the territories of many other native nations, including the Chickasaws, the Taensas, the Chactas, and the Natchez,—the last of these rendered so celebrated, [Pg 276] in times near our own, by the genius of Châteaubriand. Halting often in his descent to note the outlets of the many streams tributary to the all-absorbing Mississippi, among others the Missouri and the Ohio,—at the embouchure of the latter erecting a fort,—he did not reach the ocean mouths of the "father of waters," till the fifth of April, that brightest day of his eventful life. With elated heart, he took formal possession of the country,—eminently in name of the reigning sovereign of France; as he gave to it, at the same time, the distinctive appellation of Louisiana.—Thus was completed the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi, from the Sault St. Antony to the sea; a line of more than 600 leagues in length.

La Salle ascended the great river, and, when arrived in its head waters, sent on Père Mambré with an account of his proceedings, who, as soon as he reached Quebec, embarked for France to present it to the king in person. Meanwhile, La Salle resumed his trading labours, during the ensuing winter and that following, among the Illinois Indians and the Michigan tribes.

A change in the administration of the colony, not favourable to the interests of La Salle, supervened by the recall of count de Frontenac, and the nomination of M. de la Barre, to the governor-generalship, in 1682. Soon after his installation, reports brought to him of the proceedings of La Salle in his tradings with the natives, biassed La Barre greatly against the latter. He wrote to the minister that to La Salle's imprudence was due a war then imminent between the French and the Iroquois, which might break out at any moment, the colonists not being then prepared to repel those restless barbarians. At a later date, after the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi, he complained that Père Mambré refused, after passing to Quebec, to communicate to him, as chief of the colony, any account of the proceedings of La Salle; insinuating, at the same time, that the personal verity of that ecclesiastic was doubtful at the best. He intimated that La Salle himself appeared to have even evil designs in his head; that his actions were disorderly, for, with a score of vagrants, French and Indian, located in the depths of a bay of Lake Michigan, he played the part of a petty sovereign, and mulcted or pillaged rival traders; threw open the country to Iroquois depredations; and justified all his irregularities [Pg 277] by pleading the rights of monopoly accorded to him by the king of France for every country he might discover, or chose to say he discovered. These (over-strong) representations, made by the highest official authorities, followed, as they were, by the putting under sequestration of Fort Frontenac and Fort St. Louis in Illinois, brought the loyalty of La Salle into question; and he found it expedient, on advice given, with good or ill intent, by M. de la Barre, to proceed to France in 1683, and defend himself at court. In this he was completely successful. Colbert was now no more; [221] but the regard of that great minister for La Salle survived in his son, the Marquis de Seignelai, who persuaded the king that M. de la Barre had been imposed on by the enemies of the founder of Louisiana. An order was made out and despatched to Quebec, to reinstate La Salle, on his return, in Fort Frontenac, and to repair all damages which his property had sustained in that locality. Finally, the triumphant adventurer was charged to commence the colonisation of Louisiana; the home government engaging to supply him with all necessary means to affirm and extend that recently gained province of New France.

M. de la Barre succeeds to the Count de Frontenac.—His partisan administration; is inimical to La Salle.—War imminent; the "notables" convoked: augmented immigration proposed.—Two hundred men sent.—Colonel Dongan excites the Iroquois against the French.—La Barre lulled into security by those savages for a time: the Iroquois attack Crèvecœur.—Dongan's hostility to the French thwarted.—La Barre takes the field against the Iroquois; famine in his camp; makes a shameful peace with the savages.—He is recalled; and succeeded by the Marquis de Denonville.—Unlucky administration of Denonville: his attempts to exclude the Iroquois and English traders from the southern Laurentian region.—Meeting convoked of Iroquois chiefs, in the English interest, at Albany: to prevent the assembly, the Marquis treacherously seizes several Iroquois chiefs, and sends them as prisoners to France.—Magnanimity of the Iroquois.—The French attack the Isonnonthouans, and burn their villages, to no useful purpose.—Foundation of Niagara.—Negociations for peace with the hostile Indians: perfidy of Le Rat, a Huron chief: the war continues.—Conquest of New York proposed.—Deceitful calm among the Iroquois, followed by the massacre of Lachine.—Denonville recalled.—War between France and England.—M. de Frontenac sent to replace Denonville: vigorous and successful administration of the former.

M. Lefebvre de la Barre, nominated governor-general in place of the count de Frontenac, arrived from France in the summer of 1682. He was accompanied by M. de Meules, appointed intendant of the colony. La Barre was a marine officer, who had distinguished himself in action against the English in the West Indies, from whom he took the islands of Antigua and Montserrat.

On landing at Quebec, he learned that war had broken out between the Iroquois nations and the tribes of Illinois, and that their hostilities must necessarily extend to the French possessions. The instructions he received before leaving France included an order to equip an armed expedition, 500 or 600 strong, and send [Pg 279] it towards lake Ontario, to overcome the Iroquois only in the first instance; but he was enjoined not to come to blows with the natives if it could be properly avoided; or unless a master-stroke could be dealt on those most hostile to the French, and they could be brought to sue for terms at once. M. de la Barre, after having considered the actual position of affairs, mistaking it for an alarming crisis, and taking a step reprehended in the policy of his predecessor, convoked a meeting of the notables or chief governmental officers and spiritual authorities, with some of the principal colonists. Among the two former classes of individuals, assembled on this occasion, were the governor of Trois-Rivières, the colonial intendant, the ordinary members of the sovereign council, the town-major of Quebec and his subalterns, and the chief colonists aforesaid, along with the bishop, the superior of St. Sulpice, and the resident Jesuits.

Deliberations being entered on and concluded, a detailed report on the situation of Canada was drawn up and transmitted to Paris. It was therein stated, inter alia, that the population of the late province of New Netherlands (now New York), in view of monopolising the fur traffic, constantly excited the Iroquois to war against the French and their native allies; that, in particular, the Iroquois (incited, of course, by the New Yorkers) had lately, during a hostile raid in the Illinois territory, killed 300 or 400 of its people, and taken prisoners 900 others. The report intimated, that, while it was expedient the Illinois tribes should be sustained, yet the amount of disposable colonial force which could be spared for distant expeditions was small, owing to the exigencies of urgent duties, in house and field. No mere corps of observation, it was said, would now suffice to bring the Iroquois to reason: their pretensions must be disposed of, and once for all, by main force. And as a preliminary to commencing offensive operations, the fort of Cataracoui (Kingston) ought to be strongly manned and well stored with arms and munitions of war; it being a post whence, in forty-eight hours' time, a force could be directed on the canton of the Tsonnonthouans, a nation which had 1500 warriors, and which, it was important, should be the first to succumb to French superiority. But in order to carry out this enterprise, from 200 to 300 additional regular soldiers would be wanted, part of them [Pg 280] to remain in garrison at Cataracoui, part at La Galette (Prescott), for the protection of the colonial frontier on the west side, while the remaining forces, regulars and militia, marched against the foe. An immigration of a thousand or more farm labourers was requested, to till the lands of such colonists as were summoned to serve in the proposed expedition. And as there were no public funds in Canada for defraying the cost of what was a necessary war, it was intimated that the mother country should supply means for victualling and equipping the troops, also for building three or four barks, to be employed on Lake Ontario in transporting the men and military stores. Lastly, it was hinted that, through past neglect of the colony by the home authorities, the savages had learned to make light of its resources; whereas, if once a body of troops were sent from France, not only would the Iroquois hesitate to attack the colony, but others of the savage nations, seeing that the colonists were thus reinforced, would incline to put themselves under French protection.

The call for a rural immigration, abruptly made as above, received no practical response; yet it came at a time when numbers of the king's huguenot subjects were soliciting leave to settle in French America, and had promised to live peaceably under the protection of a flag which they wished should ever be theirs. But the death of their protector, Colbert, in 1684, [222] left these religionists at the mercy of chancellor Le Tellier and the harsh Louvois; who advised the king to reject their suit. Soon afterwards the dragoonings of the protestant cantons took place, as an ominous prelude to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. [223] The king gloried, it is said, in manifesting his power in opposite directions, by abasing papal pretensions and crushing the huguenots. Madame de Maintenon,—once a calvinist, now a zealous catholic,—who was secretly married to Louis, encouraged the persecution of the sect whose creed she had renounced; and in particular, suggested the unworthy device of tearing the children of huguenots from their parents' arms, to bring them up in the Romish faith: a measure which could be proposed only by a childless woman, such as she was.

Other means, of the harshest kind, even torture and death, were employed, but generally in vain, to cause a renunciation of what was believed to be apostasy, on the unfortunate protestants. They saw at last that their total perdition was intended, and they sought only where best they could find, abroad, a home. But prohibitory decrees, with severe penality attached for infraction, sternly forbade their self-expatriation. Nevertheless several hundred thousands of French protestants [a recent authority reduces that total to 80,000] contrived to leave their native country, though the punishment of the galleys was the infliction prepared for all other persons assisting them in their flight. [224] They chiefly [Pg 282] passed into Holland and Germany, in the first instance; but many of them afterwards took refuge in England or the English plantations of America, where they were received with open arms; [225] as they carried with them their riches, their skill in the useful arts, and their commercial experience: not to mention that a stinging sense of the wrongs they endured, led many to turn a vengeful arm against their compatriots in the fields of war. William III, the ultra Protestant stadtholder of Holland and king of England, more than once charged French regiments, and corps of the allies of France, at the head of brigaded huguenots: the antagonistic ranks of one and the same race, but of diverse religions, fighting against each other with a savage enmity unknown to alien combatants in other parts of the field of action.

What a mighty advantage would have accrued to New France, if a licensed emigration of the Protestant population of Old France had taken place, at this time, to Canada and the newly explored regions of the West! Other inimical and rival countries had not then been enriched and strengthened by what the French nation thus lost, both in contemporary and coming times; nor had WE. [Pg 283] Gallo-Canadians, been reduced to defend foot to foot, against an alien race, our language, our laws, and our nationality.

Louis XIV, the dominator of Europe, who lost through his own fault half a million of his best subjects, could spare only the 200 soldiers sent to Quebec to aid in protecting a country quadruple the size of his own kingdom; a vast region, embracing within its limits the Hudson's Bay territory, Acadia, Canada, great part of Maine, portions of the States of Vermont and New York, with the whole valley of the Mississippi! To be sure, he advertised M. de la Barre that he had applied to the English home government to prevent its American colonists from violating the conditions of the treaties then existing between the two nations, and bid them cease to excite their savage neighbours against the Canadians; he assured La Barre that the king of Great Britain had in consequence given strict orders to the governor of New York, Colonel Dongan, to be careful in maintaining amicable relations between his people and the French colonists; and therefore he (Louis) did not doubt that the British king's desire, in that regard, would be respected. But Dongan, whose people had determined to share with the Canadians the full advantages of the peltry traffic, paid no attention to the orders he received from London. [226] Nay more, he redoubled his former efforts to stir up in the Iroquois hostile feelings, and had persuaded the former to lift the war-hatchet against allies of the French, viz. the Miâmis and Ottawas; news of which having reached M. de la Barre, he despatched a trusty envoy to ward off the blow if possible, who arrived amongst the Onnontaguez on the eve of the day appointed for the departure of the Iroquois warriors for the intended scene of action.

The governor's envoy was well received. The Iroquois, who had no intention to keep their promises, agreed (in words) to exercise the forbearance that was asked of them; and even bound themselves to send a deputation to Montreal in June following. But by the month of May, three out of the five nations (cantons) sent 800 warriors, who fell suddenly upon the Hurons, the Miâmis, and the Ottawas; while, not long afterwards, news arrived that the other two Iroquois nations, in arms, were about to invade Montreal itself. La Barre wrote to Paris an account of the critical state of affairs. He said that Dongan employed French fugitives to conduct his intrigues with the Iroquois; he intimated that if Canada were to be preserved, a grand effort must be made to destroy the Tsonnonthouans and the Groyogouins, who were the most inimical of all the tribes to the French, and that for their extirpation a reinforcement of 400 French troops would be wanted early in spring following. Yet whilst his despatches to the court thus breathed unsparing war, his dealings with hostile natives, whose real character he did not comprehend, were calculated to make them conclude that he feared to encounter them. By courting their friendship or neutrality with undisguised eagerness, he only exalted their self-sufficiency while he drew upon himself their contempt. The delegates who were to have come to Montreal in June (now past) not appearing, he applied to the chief men of the Iroquois cantons to redeem their pledge to that effect. They affected ignorance of having ever promised such a thing; adding, that if he had any thing important to say, he had better put himself to the trouble of coming or sending to them, and they would give it due consideration.

The New Yorkers, in order to secure the feelings of preference the Iroquois already had for trading with them rather than with the French colonists, resorted to a polity,—not unusual in competitive commerce,—that of selling goods under prime cost for a time, in order to ruin or discredit their Canadian rivals: thus practically intimating that the latter charged an exorbitant rate in bartering for peltry. It was known also, that the New York fur traders were instigating the Iroquois to exterminate all the native allies of the French; and that the former were ready, at any time, to commence deadly hostilities against the French themselves. The love [Pg 285] of lucre seemed to petrify all human feeling in the hearts of people come of two civilized nations; who were thus inviting, severally, hordes of cruel barbarians to take part for or against French or English colonists, as the case might be. After all, it was natural to expect that trading rivalry would take such a form as that most denounced by the Canadians,—the giving a factitious value, temporarily, to stock in trade, with a view to ousting competitors; and it would have been easy to combat commercial guile with its own weapons, by doing the like; but this seemed to be the last thing thought of by the complaining fur dealers of Canada.

Although the Iroquois were led on to quarrel with the French by their natural instincts for war, quickened by the incitements of the New Yorkers, who praised, bribed, and menaced them in turn, there were moments of reflection in which they showed evidences of fear if not respect for the growing power of the French in the country. They thought fit at last to send deputies to Montreal, to renew professions of amity, but in reality to lull suspicion, and hoodwink the governor as to their intents, which all others already distrusted. The missionaries, and those who knew the Iroquois nature best, advised La Barre to be on his guard; for some scouts had been seen near Cataracoui, as if watching for a favourable moment to attack the fort and carry it by surprise. But he was not to be awakened from his illusions: he received the deceptious deputies with undue respect, actually caressed and dismissed them with presents!

This high functionary, who affected to discountenance the trading monopoly of others,—even seizing on Forts Frontenac and St. Louis by way of vindicating the principles of free trade,—abused his position to peddle with advantage in the peltry traffic, by his agents. His ignoble trading instincts were not compensated, either, for public well-being, by any of the qualities now wanted in the chief of a colony on the brink of war: and the want of a man equal to the occasion was soon severely felt; for the Iroquois were not slow to drop the pacific-seeming mask they had lately worn.

As soon as their hostilities commenced, the whole colony set up a cry against the ineptitude of its Governor-general. Those who were gentlest in their censures of his palterings with the Iroquois [Pg 286] savages, while he was urging the home authorities to enable him to cut them up root and branch, said that his advanced age made him blindly confiding on one hand, and absurdly distrustful of sound advice tendered him on the other. The intendant wrote to Paris, that the people were discontented at official tardiness in making preparations against a war evidently impending; that but for his own efforts to allay public discontent, there would have been a sedition, perhaps a revolt in the colony; adding, that if the motives of the people were good, in giving vent to complaints against constituted authority, such were to be respected, although it was better that they should be prevented by giving no good cause for them.

The Iroquois, meanwhile, were now fairly in the field or afloat, for they started with 700 canoes to assault Fort St. Louis, then commanded by M. de Baugy, lieutenant of the Governor's bodyguard, and ever since the post was taken out of the hands of La Sale. The attack was made, and repelled. It was incumbent on the Governor-general, now, to deal the savages a heavy and sudden blow; for it was understood that the native enemies of the colony had sent to the tribes of Virginia to renew suspended relations with them, so that an inroad could be made from that side without danger to the assailants from behind. For a moment he showed some signs of acting with vigour, setting out for Montreal, to be nearer the seat of war; but his accustomed indecision got the better of him. The colonists grew impatient, for they had decided, in a general assembly, to run the hazards of war, whatever might betide; yet they found the Governor wasting time, as it seemed to them, in negociating with the lake tribes to join their forces with those of the colony. In this, however, he practically succeeded, thanks to the influence of M. Perrot over the aborigines; for Durantaye, who was sent, along with De Luth, to propose a treaty offensive and defensive, was enabled to start from Michigan with two hundred Canadians and five hundred warriors of a motley kind, including Hurons, Ottawas, Outagamis, &c., for Niagara; where the Governor promised to rendezvous with the forces from Quebec and Montreal. Great was the disappointment of the savages, who had been persuaded with much difficulty to come to the aid of their friends the French—represented to them as being in great [Pg 287] straits, when they found no one to meet them at Niagara, and learned some days afterwards, that a peace had been made with the common enemy, the Iroquois. They now returned to their own country with a discontent while they cared not to conceal, albeit they were assured that their peculiar interests had been well provided for by their French allies in the treaty just concluded.

The colonial forces were to assemble, as has been intimated, at Montreal; but when they rendezvoused there, M. de la Barre, instead of directing them at once on the nearest vulnerable point of the five cantons, or repairing to Niagara to join his forces to the expected auxiliaries, and advancing together with an overwhelming force into the Iroquois territory, amused himself by corresponding with Colonel Dongan, in hopes of the latter sending the armed force of his province to join the French, the two together to bring the Iroquois to reason once for all. Evading the injunctions of the Duke of York (brother and successor of Charles II) to that effect Dongan did his best to baffle, rather than assist, the French in their campaign against the Iroquois. He even offered the latter considerable aid, but with certain conditions attached: yet these caused the negociation to miscarry; for the chiefs of the cantons thinking they would have a formidable French and native force to encounter without direct English aid, sent envoys to treat for peace. The French army was composed of 700 armed Canadians, 130 regulars, and 200 savages; besides the mixed corps 700 strong, expected from the west. The division of Montreal had passed ten or twelve days there, waiting the result of the negociation with Dongan; while two weeks more were wasted at Cataraqui. At length, all delays over, the French were able to cross the lake. All Canada murmured at this tardiness, which might have become fatal to the expedition, had not the Iroquois come to terms. The provisions the army carried were spoiling, and at last failed entirely. Epidemic diseases, the usual concomitant of starvation, broke out, and thinned the ranks of the French. Privations would soon have broken them up entirely, had not the envoys from the Iroquois confederation been met with, on the margin of Lake Ontario, four or five leagues above the river Oswego, near a cave which has since borne the name of Anse de la Famine. The Governor-general was overjoyed on seeing these messengers of [Pg 288] peace: but the wily savages were shrewd enough to perceive, by the marks of satisfaction which La Barre had not tact enough to conceal and by the wretched appearance of his army, that the chances in the game of war were not now on the French side; so they hesitated to proffer the absolute submission which, it is probable, they were previously prepared to render.

"Nevertheless, two of the principal chiefs of the deputation, named Garakonthié and Oureonati, spoke with much good sense and moderation: but the Tsonnonthouan envoy delivered an arrogant harangue; and on the proposition being made to him, for one of the bases of the treaty, that the Illinois tribes, as allies of the French, were to be comprehended in the pacification, the orator replied, that, so far from leaving the latter in peace, war against them was meant, till either their tribes or his should be exterminated. The whole army was indignant at this insolence; but what was the surprise of all on hearing the governor-general suggest a condition, that, whensoever the Iroquois should carry on the hostilities thus threatened, the French in their territories should at least be saved from harm! This was promised, and the peace concluded on that sole condition." [227]

M. de la Barre, whom the Jesuit missionaries, especially Père Jean de Lambertini, confirmed in his opposition to the war, promised the savages, on his part, that the forces should be marched off next day. Leaving orders to that effect, he at once disappeared himself. Thus ignominiously ended an expedition which ought to have had very different results. The Five Nations had the double advantage of at once manifesting their independence of English and vindicating Iroquois pretensions, and to become the virtual dictators of peace to the French, instead of receiving terms from them.

Scarcely had La Barre reached Quebec, when a corps of soldiers, sent from France, entered the port. This reinforcement was still most desirable, for few persons believed that a pacification, such as [Pg 289] that just concluded, would long endure; for the colonists with almost one accord (the governor being the exception) came to the conclusion that their Illinois allies must be defended, at all hazards, against the Iroquois, who might attack them at any moment. The danger was indeed imminent, for it soon appeared that the latter were about to take the field once more.

The first accounts of the storm that was brewing came from the Jesuit missionaries resident in the five cantons. They wrote that the Tsonnonthouans, though prepared for war, had not yet set out, from fear of a surprise. These savages complained that they had been attacked by the Mascoutins and Miâmis, tribes who had gloried in French protection; that all the Iroquois, of every tribe, had lately drawn closer together, for offence and defence; that the Mahingans had promised the confederation the aid of 1200 warriors: above all, that the English were to supply the Iroquois and their allies with arms and ammunition. It appeared even that the Iroquois had already attacked the Miâmis; that the Tsonnonthouans were refusing, under divers pretexts, to deliver 1000 beaver skins, the first instalment of a large number which they had agreed to give the French, by an article of the late treaty: finally, that they invented frivolous excuses for not sending deputies of their nation to Quebec, to regulate debateable points with the colonial authorities.

While the governor-general was chewing the cud of reflection upon those sinister yet natural results of his tardiness in war and eagerness for peace,—qualities well befitting a trader, but not the chief of a high-spirited race of colonists,—M. de La Barre, we say, before he could come to a decision in a very perplexed matter, was superseded in office by the arrival (A. D. 1685) of the Marquis de Denonville, as governor-general of New France. The marquis, who was also a colonel of dragoons, brought with him 600 regular troops. This significant interposition of the home government sufficiently showed how much it disapproved of the polity of his predecessor. The intendant had first written to Paris, in general terms, that M. de la Barre made the recent peace without necessity, and to the great chagrin of the army he had equipped; the officers and soldiers in which, he added, now heartily despised their pusillanimous chief. But when the precise conditions [Pg 290] of the Famine Cove patched-up treaty became known to the council of state, it was determined at once to recall La Barre, and withhold his Majesty's ratification of a "shameful peace,"—to use the official terms of its denunciation,—by which the Illinois tribes were handed over to the untender mercies of their bitterest enemies.

M. de Denonville, now head of the colony, was at once a brave officer, and a man of a religious turn of mind (pieux); also imbued with a lofty sense of honour, and polished in his manners. But, as we shall have soon occasion to see, he was often liable to receive wrong impressions of things; and his imperfect knowledge of the relations subsisting between the French and the savage races, caused him to commit acts which violated every principle of equity; and brought about that retribution which never fails to follow, soon or late, all violations of the laws of nature or of nations.

The marquis brought with him to Canada, like all his predecessors, detailed instructions for his guidance in office. Among the points to which his attention was particularly called, he was informed that dissidences, damaging to the public well-being, had thitherto existed between the governors-general and intendants-royal; and he was admonished to take a conciliatory course, in that regard. With respect to the aborigines, he was directed to sustain the cause of the Illinois and other tribes, allies of the French, who had been left to their fate, unaided, by La Barre. The latter's late polity was to be disowned, and a vigorous course to be pursued with their common enemy, the Iroquois confederation, whose pretensions were to be beaten down, and no peace granted to those tribes till they gave pledges to live in peace with the colony and all its native allies.

The governor-general was fain to pass a few tranquil days at Quebec after his arrival, having undergone much bodily fatigue in a stormy passage across the ocean. As soon as he was recovered, he set out for Cataracoui, to watch the movements of the Iroquois. He first tried his powers of persuasion on their chiefs, to get them to respect the rights of the Illinois and other tribes; who only wished to live, he observed, on terms of equality with their neighbours. His overtures were treated with insolence or silent disdain. He saw plainly, therefore, that to [Pg 291] make these barbarians listen to reason, it was necessary first to humble them effectually. A manifestation of the potency of France was doubly needed, because of the recent discredit brought upon the colony, in the eyes of all the savage tribes, by the trimming and dishonourable conduct of M. de la Barre. But available force was wanting in the country to act on a sudden, with any chance of success, against the Iroquois, flushed as they were with triumphs gained in negociations, without the cost or losses attendant even on successful war.

M. Denonville, noting the sparseness of population in the colony itself, and that, in many of its oldest seigniories, not more than thirty to forty inhabitants could be brought together at any given point, either to repel attack on themselves, or for the protection of their Indian allies, when the Iroquois made their ceaseless inroads—this governor came to the conclusion that he must make up his mind to take the chances of a two years' war against the Five Nations, before a permanent peace could be imposed upon them; and that, before commencing it, yet more reinforcements must be had. He therefore wrote at once to Paris, requesting that they should be sent, with all possible despatch; assigning various reasons, each more cogent than the other, that they were indispensable, and ought not to be delayed.

The perplexities of the situation were greatly aggravated by the trading relations of the Iroquois with the neighbouring English colonies. Commercial interests, the strongest of all bonds, naturally bound the two parties together; and the Five Nations were unjustly and selfishly countenanced, at this very time, even in their most exorbitant pretensions, by the New Yorkers,—despite the orders for the observation of strict neutrality sent by the home government, founded on the remonstrances of M. Barillon, resident French ambassador at the English court. [228] The Anglo-colonial [Pg 292] traders, plying their calling as far as Niagara, and even at Michilimackinac, in regions between Montreal and the near west, did their best and worst, defying all inhibitions from the mother country, to detach the various tribes they fell in with, from their relations with the French. The governor-general, in order to put a material curb upon immediate alien aggressiveness, and to furnish points of support in view of coming hostilities with the Iroquois, caused Montreal to be walled; and proposed that a stone fort should be erected at Niagara, [229] capable of sheltering a garrison of 400 to 500 men. This new stronghold at the head of Ontario, and that of Frontenac at the foot of the same lake, facing the Iroquois northern territories, would enable the French to maintain their supremacy in the lake countries during peace as well as war time, and occasionally place the Iroquois at the discretion of the colonists even for their daily subsistence in seasons when game was scarce with themselves; their practice being, at such times, to cross the valley of the St. Lawrence, and hunt in the regions beyond.

As the previsions of the marquis tended to nothing less than the expulsion of the Iroquois entirely out of the intermediate wilderness separating New France from the north-eastern English plantations, Colonel Dongan, fearing for the ultimate loss thereby of a traffic in peltry valued at 400,000 francs a year carried on by his people, began to remonstrate with the French authorities, on the evident preparations for hostilities making by their orders; demanding to know the purpose of lodging additional troops and laying up munitions of war at Cataracoui; finally, making a formal protest against the erection of a fort at Niagara, on territory which, he alleged, was within the limits of the province of New York.

The marquis replied, in a despatch addressed to the colonel, in which he disposed severally of all the proffered protests: observing, first, that England had no just pretensions to the suzerainty [Pg 293] of Iroquois territories, since its government ought to know that the French had taken possession of that region, long before any of the English had obtained a foothold in the province now called New York; which was true enough. [230]

Not content with this, Dongan convoked an assembly of deputies from all the Iroquois confederation at Albany, and informed them that the French were about to wage war against all their tribes; told them they ought to get the start in hostilities, and attack both them and their allies at once when off their guard; promising, that if they would do so, they would be sure of his countenance. Père Lamberville, a missionary among the Onnontaguez, did all he could to persuade the chiefs of that tribe to reject the advice of Dongan; and, pledging them not to march against the French till they heard from him, set out to inform the marquis de Denonville of what was passing. Dongan, divining the aim of Lamberville, pressed the leaders of the canton yet more strongly to commence a war. He even tried to engage the christened Iroquois of Sault St. Louis, and those of the lake of Two Mountains, to take up arms against their French protectors. He endeavoured to get delivered up to him a brother of Père Lamberville, then detained as a hostage by the Onnontaguez. He succeeded imperfectly, or not at all, in most of these attempts; for, after some faint demonstrations of hostility instigated by him, the invading Iroquois retired without doing much harm. [231]

M. Denonville, on learning that the Iroquois were making new irruptions, resolved to attack the tribe of Tsonnonthouans, the promoters of these troubles, and the worst disposed of the five cantons. To cloak his hostile intents, he sent Père Lamberville back to the Onnontaguez, with presents for the chiefs whom he should be able to secure as friends of the French; and directed the missionary to make an engagement for a deputation from the whole confederation, to meet him (the governor-general) at Cataracoui in spring following. The messenger being a venerable man, in whom the tribe put unbounded confidence, doubted not, for a moment, that in all which had been done and proposed, good faith was intended to be kept: and then it was, they drew off the warriors who had taken the field, as intimated above. Simultaneously, French agents endeavoured to gain the friendship of the lake tribes, [Pg 295] scattered as these had been through the intrigues of the New Yorkers. The summer of 1686 passed in preparations for war, and in (fraudful) negociations for peace. The Iroquois, who could never be long tranquil, resumed their inroads; bands of them attacked the allies of the French, and facilitated the efforts which they made to engage the Miâmis, the Hurons, and the Ottawas to take up arms again. "The five cantons," wrote Denonville to M. de Seignelai, "who like the English only for the low prices they fix on their merchandise in barter for peltry,—otherwise, preferring us to them,—aim at the perdition of all other native nations, intending afterwards to overwhelm the colony and become undisputed masters of the country. Colonel Dongan, who wishes to extend his authority to Niagara, receives our deserters kindly, [232] whom he finds useful for ruining our commerce, and extending his own; and I am obliged to keep measures with them till I be ready to fall on. I learn that the five cantons have marched against the Miâmis, and the savages of the Baie des Puants, and that they ruined one village of those parts; but the hunters of the bay having turned upon the devastators and defeated them, the latter determined to be avenged. They have therefore, since then, killed many of the Illinois. They now keep no terms with us, and pillage our canoes whenever they fall in with them."

The commanders of forts Michilimackinac and Detroit had received orders to put them in a state of defence, to prevent the approaches of the English towards Michilimackinac. Those officers were to collect abundance of provisions, and store them for the use of the army in the ensuing campaign, and to descend afterwards to Niagara with as many Canadians and native warriors as remained at their disposal. They were enjoined, at the same time, to do all with secrecy, as well as diligence.

Meanwhile, the king charged his ambassador at the English court to prefer new complaints against the proceedings of Dongan, and to press for the nomination Of commissioners to settle the respective boundaries of the American colonies of the two nations. His Majesty also sent the reinforcements demanded by the governor-general, with orders to act vigorously, so as to finish the war before the year were out. They arrived at Quebec early in 1687; and were composed of 800 men of a bad class, headed by chevalier de Vaudreuil, who gained distinction at the taking of Valenciennes in 1677; and several descendants of whom afterwards governed the colony. Vaudreuil entered the corps of Mousquetaires when 14 years old; he made several campaigns in Flanders, and had reached the grade of quarter-master. Part of his regiment was forthwith sent on to Montreal, to join a corps then forming in the island of Ste. Helena, opposite that place, under the order of M. de Callières, a veteran who had served for twenty years in the French armies. The corps thus assembled now amounted to 832 regulars, 800 militia, and 400 savages. "With all this superiority of force," says one author, "Denonville was injudicious enough to begin hostilities by an act which dishonoured the French name in the eyes of the aborigines; that name which, amid all their savageries, they had hitherto learned to respect as well as fear." In plainer words, the marquis, desiring to strike the Iroquois with terror, caused the chiefs sent as deputies by the intermediation of Père Lamberville, acting by his own directions, to be seized at Cataracoui, and shipped in chains to France! The news of this violent and treacherous act, which was loudly disapproved by the colonists, naturally inflamed the minds of the Iroquois, and incited them to vow vengeance against the French. [233] The life of Père Lamberville was now in imminent peril, to begin with. [Happily, it was safe; thanks, not to "pious" faith, but to heathen magnanimity.] The elders of the Onnontaguez summoned the missionary who had been the unwilling instrument for the betrayal [Pg 297] of the flower of the five nations into the hands of their oppressor, and thus addressed him:—"We have every right to treat thee as our foe, but we have not the inclination to do so. We know thy nature too well; thine heart has had no share in causing the wrong that has been done to us. We are not so unjust as to punish thee for a crime that thou abhorrest as much as we, and in committing which thou wast made an unconscious instrument. But thou must, perforce, leave us. Every one of our people may not see matters in the same light as we do, and some might wish thee harm. When our young men chant the song of war, they may haply regard thee as a traitor, who has been the means of consigning their chiefs into hard and degrading bondage; they may listen only to the suggestions of their own just indignation; they may take counsel only of their fury; and we, aged and feeble as we are, shall not have the power to snatch thee, in such an hour, from their vengeful grasp." Having thus spoken, these great-hearted "savages" furnished the worthy missionary with guides to lead him, by devious paths, out of the country, with orders not to quit him till assured of his safety.—Another Jesuit, Père Millet, when in extremity, was by a (really pious) native woman, saved from being burnt alive, by adopting him as her son.

Louis XIV had the grace to be ashamed of the violation of the law of nations by his deputy, and censured his conduct. Nevertheless, certain official orders, sent over during the colonial administration of M. de la Barre, and, more recently, to Denonville himself and M. de Champigny, gave a colour of authority for sending the Iroquois to the galleys, as revolted subjects of "the great monarch." [234] But here the sacredness of the ambassadorial [Pg 298] character had been most grossly outraged, as was remarked at that time. The act was too bad to be justified, and was of course disclaimed, even for polity's sake, if for no higher reason. The Iroquois then in France were unchained, [235] and hurried back to Canada, so that their restoration might lessen if it did not quite prevent the commission of such vengeful reprisals as their compatriots were likely to make, on their account, upon the persons of the colonists. Meanwhile the governor-general, repeating his abominable stroke of kidnapping, got together as many of the Iroquois as his emissaries could lay hands on, intending to send them to the galleys at Marseilles; while John Bochart, sieur de Champigny, the intendant, in imitation of his principal, cleverly allured a number of the obnoxious nation to Frontenac, by inviting them to a banquet, and, when arrived there, put them, ironed, into the prison of the fort. A royal order for the release of these and the other victims saved them from the suffering endured by their chiefs in the hold of the transport which bore the latter to and from France.

The corps collected in St. Helen's island, embarked in 400 boats or canoes, ascended the St. Lawrence to the appointed scene of action. The Canadians, divided into four battalions, had for chiefs, Messrs. Lavaltrie, Berthier, Grandville, and Longueuil. To avoid the blame which fell aforetime upon M. de Meules, for his not having followed the expedition of M. de la Barre, the intendant accompanied the troops, who disembarked at the Rivière des Sables, on the margin of Lake Ontario, at the axial point of the territory meant to be invaded, near where the Iroquois in arms were intrenched. The same day, the little army was strengthened [Pg 299] by an additional force of 600 men, led from Detroit by Messrs. La Durantaye, Tonti, and De Luth. These officers had taken prisoner seventeen Englishmen whom they found crossing Lake Huron on their way to Michilimackinac for trafficking purposes, in contravention of the treaty between the two crowns. [236]

After some days' rest, Denonville set out in search of foemen. His men suffered much from the summer heat. The country they had to cross being hilly and marshy, was favourable to ambuscades, and had therefore to be traversed with precaution. The Iroquois had been informed that the French were approaching, by one of their own people, who, after having been captured, had escaped, and hastened to sound the alarm. The Tsonnonthouans set fire to their horde (village) and retreated; but recovering their confidence, they returned, and watched an opportunity to trip up the heels of the invaders. Three hundred of them took post on a brook, which ran between two wooded hills, in front of their town (bourgade); and 500 more ensconced themselves in a reedy morass, at some distance. In this position, they waited the advance of the French. The vanguard of the latter, induced to quicken its march on observing certain indications purposely put in their way to urge them on, got a considerable way ahead of the main body, and soon neared the guarded brook. The 300 Iroquois, had they acted with prudence, would have allowed the French vanguard to pass, got into its rear, and driven the men upon the second ambuscade; but dealing with the van as if it had been the entire army, and observing that it was chiefly composed of natives, they uttered the war-whoop, and discharged their pieces. At this fire from an unseen enemy, most of the savages took to flight, and the panic spread for a moment among the soldiers who were coming behind, who happened to be men unaccustomed to bush fighting. The christened savages present, and the Abenaquis, [Pg 300] on the contrary, held their ground. A few minutes more, and Lavaltrie came up, at the head of some battalions of militia, marching quick step, the drums beating a charge. Fear now passed to the enemy's men, who fled to the marsh, and communicated their own panic to those there posted, when all fled together pell-mell, throwing away their arms as they ran. The loss of the French was small in this skirmish; that of the Iroquois was 45 killed and 60 wounded. The conquerors bivouacked on the spot, fearing a surprise. The native allies took possession of the dead bodies, and, as was their usage, got up a cannibal feast with the human remains.

Next morning, the army advanced to the burnt village of the Tsnonnonthouans, seated on a hill, the summit of which was crowned with several towers, the contour of which stood out picturesquely from the sky behind. These were the granaries of the tribe; and therein were found 400,000 bushels (minots) of maize, which the owners had not had time to destroy. The dwellings were already destroyed; only the tombs of the departed remained erect. The interior of the country was ravaged during ten days; the standing crops were destroyed, and live stock slaughtered. No opponent appeared, the whole population, in fact, having quitted the country: some of the people took refuge with the Goyogouins, others crossed the mountains for Virginia, leaving stragglers to die behind them. This flight reduced the numbers of the Tsonnonthouans by a moiety, and greatly humbled the whole Iroquois confederation. [237]

Denonville took formal possession of the country; but instead of marching against the other cantons, as was expected by all, the allied savages included, the moment being propitious to strike at the heart of the Iroquois confederation, panic-struck for the time—instead of following up the success his soldiers had gained for him, the marquis sent away a part of his forces, and with the rest retired towards the river Niagara, there erecting a fort, in which he placed a garrison of 100 men, who all perished by an epidemic disease which broke out among them.

The results of this campaign were not proportionately important to the cost incurred in its preparation, nor to the expectations it had raised. A skilful leader, with such a force as Denonville had in hand, would assuredly have finished, in a year's time, the war thus happily commenced; but the governor tarried too long in the country he overran when there remained others beyond to conquer; and he staid, in mid-course, to found a stronghold, not immediately useful. He certainly had sound ideas on many points; but he had a speculative rather than an energetic mind, and was not prompt in action. Few governors of Canada ever set down on paper more sage maxims for its proper administration, yet fewer still left it in a sadder plight than he did. It was he who, with the intendant, advised the minister for the colonies "to send sturdy peasants as colonists, men used to handle hatchet and pick-axe," to clear the bush. It was he too, who complained of the over abundance of nobles in the colony. "While upon this subject," wrote he in 1686, "I ought to give an account to Monseigneur of the penury of several many-childed families on the brink of beggary yet all of noble blood, or reputed such. The family of St. Ours I may first mention. He is a worthy esquire (gentilhomme) of Dauphiny (a relation of Marshal d'Estrades), encumbered with a wife and ten children. The parents seem quite depressed with a sense of their poverty. Yet the children disdain no honest means for lessening this evil, for I have seen two of their grown daughters cutting corn and holding the plough." Other good families indicated as in poor circumstances by the governor were the Linctôts, the Aillebousts, the Dugué's, the Bouchers, the d'Arpentignys, the Tillys. The wife and daughter of M. Tilly cultivated the family farm. Denonville expressed his fears lest the sons of such needy parents might pass over to the English, whose traders, he added, "spared no pains to allure our hunters (coureurs de bois) to regions where they pursue their traffic north of the St. Lawrence, and towards the frontiers of New England."

In the same dispatch he recommended that none but the rich should be ennobled; for, wrote he sagely, "to make a noble in this country of one apt neither at trade nor any other useful occupation, is merely adding to the number of idlers (fainéants). [Pg 302] He applied for pilots and mariners, also; and proposed to open up a way of communication overland between Canada and Acadia.

The retreat of Denonville from the promising scene of action, was a signal for the Iroquois to recommence their invasions, which now attained a more sanguinary and devastating character than ever before. Their reprisals on the frontier were terrible, and put the whole colony in a state of consternation. With unappeasable rage in their hearts, these barbarians desolated all western Canada with fire and hatchet. Colonel Dongan, who wrote to London that the French had invaded the English territory, fomented their hostile feelings with much skill, treating them as brotherly allies rather than as savage partisans; he excited their patriotic feelings, and inspired them to defend their country with all the energy of their fiery natures. He promised to succour them, provided they received no French missionary and would not repair to Cataracoui. He made an offer to the residents at the Sault St. Louis, to send them an English Jesuit priest; and strove to bring them nearer to New York by assigning to them lands they would find, he said, superior to those he wanted them to leave. He tried to play the mediator's part between the French and the Iroquois; proposing conditions, however, to the former, which, he knew, they would not accept. He affected the tone of a dictator in name of the Five Nations. He said to Père François Vaillant that no peace could be had with the Iroquois till their kidnapped chiefs were sent back from France; that the christened Iroquois of Sault St. Louis, and of the Mountain, must needs return to their compatriots; that the French ought to raze their forts at Cataracoui and Niagara; finally, that it was their duty to compensate the Isonnonthouans for the damage they had done them. Dongan afterwards assembled the elders of the Five Nations to inform them that the French governor-general was anxious for a pacification, and advised them to insist on obtaining certain conditions which he enumerated for their direction. He added, "I wish you to quit the war-hatchet, it is true, but I desire not that you bury it; content yourself with hiding it under the grass. The king, my master, has forbidden me to supply you with arms or ammunition should you continue the war; but if the French refuse my conditions, you shall want for nothing, even if I pay the cost my [Pg 303] self, rather than you should renounce so good a cause. Stand on your guard ever, lest some new snare of the enemies should be spread for you, and make all ready to fall upon them unawares, either by way of lake Ontario or of lake Champlain, as soon as you find it expedient to recommence the war."

On their part, the aborigines of the lake countries were much cooled in their wonted attachment to French interests, especially the Hurons of Michilimackinac, who kept up underhand relations with the Iroquois, although they had fought against them in the late campaign. These news, conjoined to the epidemic which broke out in Canada after the army's return to quarters, and made great ravages, induced the governor to renounce the project of a second expedition, and gave the Iroquois an opportunity to menace the fort of Frontenac and even that of Chambly. The latter was invested all of a sudden, by the Agniers and Mahingans, and owed its safety to the promptitude with which the people of the country flew to the rescue. The savage bands glided as far as the island of Montreal, where one of them assaulted a block-house, strove to raise its palisades, and were driven off with difficulty; a second band, 200 strong, fell upon another place, killed several people, and burnt some houses, but at last were defeated. These petty attacks, however, were but the forerunners of more terrible irruptions during the following years.

The situation of the colonists at this time was certainly any thing but enviable. They literally "dwelt in the midst of alarms," yet their steady courage in facing perils, and their endurance of privations when unavoidable, were worthy of admiration. A lively idea of what they had to resist or to suffer, may be found by reading the more particular parts of the governor's despatches to Paris. For instance, in one of these, he wrote, in reference to the raids of the Iroquois: "The savages are just so many animals of prey, scattered through a vast forest, whence they are ever ready to issue, to raven and kill in the adjoining countries. After their ravages, to go in pursuit of them is a constant but almost bootless task. They have no settled place, whither they can be traced with any certainty; they must be watched everywhere, and long waited for, with fire-arms ready primed. Many of their lurking places could be reached only by bloodhounds, or by other savages [Pg 304] as our trackers: but those in our service are few, and native allies we have are seldom trustworthy; they fear the enemy more than they love us; and they dread, on their own selfish account, to drive the Iroquois to extremity. It has been resolved, in the present strait, to erect a fortress (fort) in every seignory, as a place of shelter for helpless people and live stock, at times when the open country is overrun with ravagers. As matters now stand, the arable grounds lie wide apart, and are so begirt with bush that every thicket around serves as a point for attack by a savage foe; insomuch that an army, broken up into scattered posts, would be needful, to protect the cultivators of our cleared lands." [238]

Nevertheless, at one time, hopes were entertained that more peaceful times were coming. In effect, negotiations with the Five Nations were recommenced; and the winter of 1687-8 was passed in goings to and fro between the colonial authorities and the leaders of the Iroquois, with whom several conferences were holden. A correspondence, too, was maintained by the governor with Colonel Dongan; the latter intimating, in one of his letters, that he had formed a league of all the Iroquois tribes, and put arms in their hands, to enable them to defend British colonial territory against all comers. [239]

The Iroquois confederation itself sent a deputation to Canada, which was escorted as far as lake St. François by 1200 warriors,—a significant demonstration enough. The envoys, after having put forward their pretensions with much stateliness and yet more address, said that, nevertheless, their people did not mean to press for all the advantages they had the right and the power to demand. They intimated, that they were perfectly aware of the comparative weakness of the colony; that the Iroquois could at any time burn the houses of the inhabitants, pillage their stores, waste their crops, and afterwards easily raze the forts. The governor-general in reply to these (not quite unfounded) boastings and arrogant assumptions, said that Colonel Dongan claimed the Iroquois as English subjects; and admonished the deputies that, if [Pg 305] such were the case, then they must act according to his orders, which would necessarily be pacific, France and England not now being at war: whereupon the deputies responded, as others had done before, that the confederation formed an independent power, that it had always resisted French as well as English supremacy over its subjects; and that the coalesced Iroquois would be neutral, or friends or else enemies to one or both, at discretion, "for we have never been conquered by either of you," they said; adding, that, "as they held their country immediately from God, they acknowledged no other master."

It did not appear, however, that there was a perfect accordance amongst the envoys on all points, for the deputies from Onnontaguez, the Onneyouths, and Goyogouins agreed to a truce, on conditions proposed by M. Denonville; namely, that all the native allies of the French should be comprehended in the treaty. They undertook that deputies [others than some of those present?] should be sent from the Agniers and Tsonnouthouan cantons, who were then to take part in concluding a treaty; that all hostilities should cease on every side, and that the French should be allowed to re-victual, undisturbed, the fort of Cataracoui. The truce having been agreed to on those bases, five of the Iroquois remained (one for each canton), as hostages for its terms being observed faithfully. Notwithstanding this precaution, several roving bands of Iroquois, not advertised, possibly, of what was pending, continued to kill our people, burn their dwellings and slaughter live stock, in different parts of the colony; for example, at St. François, at Sorel, at Contrecœur, and at St. Ours. These outrages, however, it must be owned, did not long continue; and roving corps of savages, either singly or by concert, drew off from the invaded country and allowed its harassed people a short breathing time at least.

The native allies of the French, on the other hand, respected the truce little more than the Iroquois. The Abenaquis invaded the Agniers canton, and even penetrated to the English settlements, scalping several persons. The Iroquois of the Sault and of La Montagne did the like; but the Hurons of Michilimackinac, supposed to be those most averse to the war, did all they could, and most successfully too, to prevent a peace being signed.

While the negociations were in progress, the "Machiavel of the wilderness," as Raynal designates a Huron chief, bearing the native name of Kondiarak, but better known as Le Rat in the colonial annals, arrived at Frontenac (Kingston), with a chosen band of his tribe, and became a means of complicating yet more the difficulties of the crisis. He was the most enterprising, brave, and best informed chief in all North America; and, as such, was one courted by the governor in hopes of his becoming a valuable auxiliary to the French, although at first one of their most formidable enemies. He now came prepared to battle in their favour, and eager to signalize himself in the service of his new masters. The time however, as we may well suppose, was not opportune, and he was informed that a treaty with the Iroquois being far advanced, and their deputies on the way to Montreal to conclude it, he would give umbrage to the governor-general of Canada should he persevere in the hostilities he had been already carrying on.

The Rat was taken aback on hearing this (to him) unwelcome news, but took care to hide his surprise and uttered no complaint. Yet was he mortally offended that the French should have gone so far in the matter without the concert of their native allies; and he at once resolved to punish them, in his own case, for such a marked slight. He set out secretly with his bravos, laid an ambuscade near Famine Cove for the approaching deputation of Iroquois, murdered several and made the others his prisoners. Having so done, he secretly gloried in the act, afterwards saying that he had "killed the peace." Yet in dealing with the captives he put another and a deceptive face on the matter; for, on courteously questioning them as to the object of their journey, being told that they were peaceful envoys, he affected great wonder, seeing that it was Denonville himself who had sent him on purpose to waylay them! To give seeming corroborations to his astounding assertions, he set the survivors at liberty, retaining one only to replace one of his men who was killed by the Iroquois in resisting the Hurons' attack. Leaving the deputies to follow what course they thought fit, he hastened with his men to Michilimackinac, where he presented his prisoner to M. Durantaye, who, not as yet officially informed, perhaps, that a truce existed with the Iroquois, consigned him to death, though he gave Durantaye assurance of who he really [Pg 307] was; but when the victim appealed to the Rat for confirmation of his being an accredited envoy, that unscrupulous personage told him he must be out of his mind to imagine such a thing! This human sacrifice offered up, the Rat called upon an aged Iroquois, then and long previously a Huron captive, to return to his compatriots and inform them, from him, that while the French were making a show of peace-seeking, they were, underhand, killing and making prisoners of their native antagonists.

This artifice, a manifestation of the diabolic nature of its author, had too much of the success intended by it; for, although the governor managed to disculpate himself in the eyes of the more candid-minded Iroquois leaders, yet there were great numbers of the people who could not be disabused; as is usual, in such cases, even among civilized races. Nevertheless the enlightened few, who really were tired of the war, agreed to send a second deputation to Canada; but when it was about to set out, a special messenger arrived, sent by Andros, successor of Dongan, enjoining the chiefs of the Iroquois confederation not to treat with the French without the participation of his master; and announcing, at the same time, that the king of Great Britain had taken the Iroquois nations under his protection. Concurrently with this step, Andros wrote to Denonville that the Iroquois territory was a dependency holden of the British, and that he would not permit its people to treat upon those conditions already proposed by Dongan.

This transaction took place in 1688; but before that year concluded, Andros' "royal master" was himself superseded, and living an exile in France. [240] Whether instructions sent from England previously warranted the polity pursued by Andros or not, his injunctions had the effect of instantly stopping the negociations with the Iroquois, and prompting them to recommence their vengeful hostilities. War between France and Britain being proclaimed next year, the American colonists of the latter adopted [Pg 308] the Iroquois as their especial allies, in the following contests with the people of New France. [241]

Andros, meanwhile, who adopted the policy of his predecessor so far as regarded the aborigines if in no other respect, not only fomented the deadly enmity of the Iroquois for the Canadians, but tried to detach the Abenaquis from their alliance with the French, but without effect in their case; for this people honoured the countrymen of the missionaries who had made the gospel known to them, and their nation became a living barrier to New France on that side, which no force sent from New England could surmount; insomuch that the Abenaquis, some time afterwards, having crossed the borders of the English possessions, and harassed the remoter colonists, the latter were fain to apply to the Iroquois to enable them to hold their own.

The declaration of Andros, and the armings of the Iroquois, now let loose on many parts of Canada, gave rise to a project as politic, perhaps, as it was daring, and such as communities, when in extremity, have adopted with good effect; namely, to divert invasion by directly attacking the enemies' neighbouring territories. The Chevalier de Callières, with whom the idea originated, after having suggested to Denonville a plan for making a conquest of the province of New York, set out for France, to bring it under the consideration of the home government, believing that it was the only means left to save Canada to the mother country. [242]

In an interview he obtained with the king, he represented, that, [Pg 309] judging by the past, it was to be expected that the English, who could supply their merchandise at almost 50 per cent. less price than the Canadians, would, by attracting to themselves the whole fur traffic, ruin the traders of New France; that having secured the whole trade with the aborigines, they would have the latter at their disposal, and, by their means, in conjunction with the English soldiery and militia, they would be able, at any time, to destroy all the French establishments on both sides of the St. Lawrence as far down as Quebec; that the New Yorkers would ever sustain the pretensions of the Iroquois, who would never be at peace with the French colonists so long as they were thus backed: finally, that the only means, therefore, of preventing the perdition of Canada was to take possession of the province of New York.

Then as to the means of effecting this desirable or rather indispensable enterprise, M. de Callières said: "Put at my disposition 1400 French regulars and 600 picked Canadian militia, hunters, &c., and I will penetrate the enemy's territory, by the line of the Richelieu river and Lake Champlain. Orange (Albany) is poorly fortified: the town, with its 300 people, is merely palisaded, with no terraces for great guns; the sole regular defensive work is a petty fort of four bastions, the whole garrison being only 150 men Manhattan (New York) town has eight companies of soldiers, each of 50 men,—400 in all. There, indeed, is a fort, built of stone, with some few cannons. Once in possession of the province, we should be masters of one of the finest ports in America, open at all seasons of the year; and of a fertile country, with a fine climate." His Majesty thought well of the project on first hearing it, but adjourned its further consideration, preferring a solid peace, if it could be obtained; yet if the enterprise were to be undertaken, as he afterwards thought it should be, he doubtless thought that the Marquis de Denonville was not the person to see it carried out his campaign against the Tsonnonthouans having manifested his incapacity as a military leader. For this and other reasons, therefore, his recall was determined on.

It was high time, indeed, that the destinies of Canada were confided to other directors than the late and present; left as the colony had been, since the departure of M. de Frontenac, in the hands of superannuated or incapable chiefs. Any longer persistency [Pg 310] in the policy of its two most recent governors, might have irreparably compromised the future existence of the colony. But worse evils were in store for the latter days of the Denonville administration; a period which, take it altogether, was one of the most calamitous which our forefathers passed through.

At the time we have now reached in this history, an unexpected as well as unwonted calm pervaded the country: yet the governor had been positively informed, that a desolating inroad by the collective Iroquois had been arranged, and that its advent was imminent; but as no precursive signs of it appeared any where to the general eye, it was hoped that the storm, said to be ready to burst, might yet be evaded. None being able to account for the seeming inaction of the Iroquois, the governor applied to the Jesuits for their opinion on the subject. The latter expressed their belief that those who had brought intelligence of the evil intention of the confederacy had been misinformed as to facts, or else exaggerated sinister probabilities. The prevailing calm was therefore dangerous as well as deceitful, for it tended to slacken preparations which ought to have been made to lessen the apprehensions of coming events which threw no shadow before.

The winter and the spring of the year 1688-9 had been passed in an unusually tranquil manner, and the summer was pretty well advanced, when the storm, long pent up, suddenly fell on the beautiful Island of Montreal, the garden of Canada. During the night of the 5th day of August, amid a storm of hail and rain, 1400 Iroquois traversed the Lake St. Louis, and disembarked silently on the upper strand of that Island. Before daybreak next morning, the invaders had taken their station at Lachine, in platoons around every considerable house within a radius of several leagues. The inmates were buried in sleep,—soon to be the dreamless sleep that knows no waking, for too many of them. The Iroquois only waited for the signal from their leaders to fall on. It is given. In short space the doors and the windows of the dwellings are driven in; the sleepers dragged from their beds; men, women, children all struggling in the hands of their butchers. Such houses as the savages cannot force their way into, they fire; and as the flames reach the persons of those within, intolerable pain drives them forth to meet death beyond the threshold, from beings who know [Pg 311] no pity. The more fiendish murderers tore the unborn infants from their mothers' wombs; they even forced parents to throw their children into the flames. Two hundred persons were burnt alive; others died under prolonged tortures. Many were reserved to perish similarly, at a future time. The fair island upon which the sun shone brightly erewhile, was lighted up by fires of woe; houses, plantations, and crops were reduced to ashes, while the ground reeked with blood up to a line a short league apart from Montreal city. The ravagers crossed to the opposite shore, the desolation behind them being complete, and forthwith the parish of Le Chenaie was wasted by fire, and many of its people massacred.

The colonists, for many leagues around the devoted region, seem to have been actually paralysed by the brain-blow thus dealt their compatriots by the relentless savages, as no one seems to have moved a step to arrest their course; for they were left in undisturbed possession of the country during several weeks. On hearing of the invasion, Denonville lost his self-possession altogether. When numbers of the colonists, recovering from their stupor, came up armed desiring to be led against the murderers of their countryfolks, he sent them back, or forbade them to stir! Several opportunities presented themselves for disposing of parties of the barbarians, when reckless from drink after their orgies, or when roving about in scattered parties feeble in number; but the governor-general's positive orders to refrain from attacking them, withheld the uplifted hand from striking. In face of a prohibition so authoritative, the soldiers and the inhabitants alike could only look on, and wait till the savages should find it convenient to retire. Some small skirmishing, indeed, there was at a few distant points, between the people and their invaders. Thus a party of men, partly French and partly natives, led by Larobeyre, an ex-lieutenant, on the way to reinforce fort Roland, where Chevalier de Vaudreuil commanded, were set upon and all killed or dispersed. More than half of the prisoners taken were burnt by their conquerors. Larobeyre being wounded and not able to flee, was led captive by the Iroquois to their country, and roasted at a slow fire in presence of the assembled tribe of his captors. Meantime the resistance to the barbarians being little or none in the regions they overran, they slew most of the inhabitants they met in their passage; while their course was marked, wherever they went, by lines of flame.

Their bands moved rapidly from one devoted tract to another; yet wherever they had to face concerted resistance, which in some cases, at last, put a sitting obstacle in the way of their intended ravagings, they turned aside, and sought an easier prey elsewhere. In brief, during ten entire weeks or more, did they wreak their wrath, almost unchecked, upon the fairest region of Canada, and did not retire thence till about mid-October.

The governor-general having sent a party of observation to assure himself of the enemy having decamped, this detachment observed a canoe on the lake of the Two Mountains, bearing 22 of the retiring Iroquois. The Canadians, who were of about the same number, embarked in two boats, and, nearing the savages, coolly received their fire; but in returning the discharge, each singled out his man, when eighteen of the Iroquois were at once laid low.

However difficult it may have been to put the people of a partially cleared country, surrounded with forests, on their guard against such an irruption as the foregoing, it is difficult to account for their total unpreparedness without imputing serious blame to Denonville and his subalterns in office. That he exercised no proper influence, in the first place, was evident; and the small use he made of the means he had at his disposal when the crisis arrived, was really something to marvel at. He was plainly unequal to the occasion; and his incapacity, in every particular, made it quite impossible for his presence, as chief of the colony, to be endured any longer. There is little doubt, that had he not been soon recalled, by royal order, the colonists themselves would have set him aside.—The latter season of his inglorious administration took the lugubrious name, "The year of the Massacre." [243]

The man appointed, through a happy inspiration, to supersede M. de Denonville, had now reached the lower Canadian waters. He was no other than the count de Frontenac. It appears [Pg 313] that the king, willing to cover, with a handsome pretext, the recall of Denonville, in a letter dated May 31, advertised him, that war having been re-kindled in Europe, his military talents would be of the greatest use in home service. By this time, De Frontenac was called to give counsel regarding the projects of the Chevalier de Callières, and assist in preparing the way for their realisation, if considered feasible. Meanwhile, he undertook to resume his duties as governor-general of New France; but a series of events, to be detailed hereafter, delayed his arrival in Canada till the autumn of 1689.

He landed at Quebec on the 18th of October, at 8 o'clock, p.m., accompanied by De Callières; amid the heartiest demonstrations of popular welcome. The public functionaries and armed citizens in waiting, with torch-bearers, escorted him through the city, which was spontaneously illuminated, to his quarters. His return was hailed by all; but by none more than the Jesuits, who had, in fact, for years before, laboured to obtain his recall. The nobles, the merchants, the business class, gave him so hearty a reception as to convince him that real talent such as his must in the end rise superior to all the conjoined efforts of faction, public prejudices, and the evil passions of inferior minds.

War was declared against Britain in the month of June. M. de Frontenac, on resuming the reins of government, had to contend both against the Anglo-American colonies and the Five Nations. We shall see that his energy and skill overcame all obstacles; that the war was most glorious for the Canadians, so few in number compared with their adversaries; and that, far from succumbing to their enemies, they carried the war into the adversaries' camp, and struck at the heart of their most remote possessions. But, before proceeding further, it is fit we should give a sketch of the British Colonies, with some notices regarding their people,—that race with whom ours contended so long on the battle field, and whose history became daily more and more intermingled with our own. The following summary of their origin, their progress, their institutions, and their resources, will manifest to every one the strength of the enemy we had to encounter, and the peculiar temper of the populations which were growing up at our side; and form at this day, for numerical strength and industry, one of the greatest nations in the world.

Preliminary notices.—To persecutions in the mother country must be attributed the rapid increase of population in the English colonies of America.—Foundation of Virginia, as a royal colony.—The London and Bristol Companies.—Captain John Smith and other early governors of Virginia.—Vicissitudes of that colony; first introduction of female emigrants, and how disposed of, with observations thereon.—Foundation of Maryland, as a proprietary colony, by Roman Catholics.—Fair character of its founder, Lord Baltimore.—Colonisation of New England.—A few notices of the Puritans.—The "Pilgrim Fathers," and their expedition; they land on the "Rock," and found the colony of New Plymouth.—Settlement of Massachusetts Bay.—The ex-persecuted become persecutors in their turn.—Nature of the three forms of government established in the different English colonies.—Account of the early commerce of British America.—The New England plantations lose their chartered rights for a time; but these are renewed, soon after the Revolution of 1688.—Concluding reflections.

The treaty between France and Great Britain signed at St. Germain-en-Laye, restored peace to the colonies of both nations in America; and there was little open war between the colonists of either, even during times when amicable relations of the respective mother countries ceased, once or twice for a few months, till the period of time we have marked at the heading of this chapter. In 1632, our present starting-point, the American dependencies of France and Britain were merely in a nascent state, and almost equally poor in material means, but by the year 1690, a change indeed had taken place in the relative circumstances of their respective colonies!—We have traced the history of New France, and noted its slower progress during the intermediate fifty-eight years; but in [Pg 315] order that the reader may better appreciate the differences, existing and past, between the position of the two parties about to engage in a life-and-death struggle for supremacy on this continent, we shall now give a concise account of the rise and progress of the "American plantations" (as they were long called) of Old England.

After the bootless attempts at colonisation in the regions of the continent near to or forming part of New France on its eastern sides,—as we have mentioned in their place,—the English, as a nation, ceased to covet accretions to their empire in America. Their fishing vessels and whalers, indeed, continued to frequent the waters of those regions, along with the mariners of other nations of Europe, by whom piscatory industry was pursued; but the French, more persistent, constantly endeavoured to establish themselves in Acadia, and secure a firm footing in Canada. A chief, perhaps the sole, reason why the latter had no English rivalry to contend with in solidly founding New France, arose from the attention of the British races being occupied, during much of the space of time referred to, with civil and religious dissensions, ripening into intestine wars, which troubles must also have absorbed such state resources, in men and money, as might have been else disposable for extended colonisation. On the other hand, those civil broils, with a compensatory action, became favourable to English self-expatriation; for to that was due the increase if not the foundation of Virginia, Maryland, &c., and yet more especially the settlement of the provinces of New England. The causes of individual renunciations of the parent country still continuing to operate up to the Revolution of 1688-9, the Anglo-American colonies at that time, if far less extensive than the territories possessed or claimed by France on this continent, were much more solidly established; they exceeded the latter for intrinsic value, and were daily increasing in relative importance. One great cause, too, even of the material prosperity of the British colonists, was the love of civil freedom the later immigrants brought along with them. The political and municipal franchises which they could not fully exercise at home, they claimed and secured for themselves in the land of their adoption.

In the year 1606, king James (first of that name as sovereign [Pg 316] of England, and the earliest king of Great Britain and Ireland), granted letters patent, under the great seal, dated April 10, to Sir Thomas Gates and others, assigning to them the lordship of territories on the continent of America, forming the northern seaboard of the Atlantic, between the 34th and 45th degrees of N. latitude; all which were either recognised for British possessions, by right of discovery or otherwise; or else, were unclaimed by the people of any other European nation. The grant also comprehended all the islands appurtenant to the mainland shores, or within 100 miles thereof; and, consequently, ranged from Cape Fear to Halifax: but did not include the French establishment, previously formed, at Port-Royal, Acadia, in 1603.—The patentees were divided, at their own request, into two associations: the "London," or premier Company, and the other, known as the second, or "Bristol" Company. The former was required to locate itself between the 34th and 41st degrees of north latitude; the latter, to form its settlements between lat. 38° and 45° N. The mid-space, from 38° to 41°, was to be held in common. [244]

These companies were, in right of their patent, free to send out as many native-born British people as they chose, who and with their descendants could reclaim, at all times, the rights enjoyed by the resident subjects of Britain itself. No restrictions were laid on whatever trade they might obtain with foreign nations. The lands of the plantations to be formed were to hold of the crown; and were subject to a regality of one-fifth in valuation of the gold, silver, and copper mined in the country. The right of coining all three, for the uses of the colonists, was conceded to the associators of the two companies.—The administration of affairs in each future colony was to be vested in a local council, the members of which were or might be nominated by the king; but the supervision of the whole colonial system was to belong to a supreme council for the affairs of the American plantations, sitting in London, and being, in effect, a department of the general government of the British empire; while, as originally constituted, its own members, nominated of course by the crown, had the right [Pg 317] to suggest, for royal guidance, the names of parties whom they thought suitable members of the colonial councils: so that, in fact, there was not a shadow of English representative liberty, imperfect as that then was, in the government allowed by James I to the earliest colonists of British North America.

Nor were the rights of religious freedom any better respected in laying the foundations of the new colonies; for the religion of the Anglican church alone being accredited as that of the state, it followed that no other had a right to any endowment. Laws, civil and criminal, were to be, generally, those of England.

The patentees fitted out three vessels, of small capacity, none of them exceeding 100 tons burden, and together having only 105 men besides the crews. The former were mostly gentlemen adventurers, a class badly fitted for the toils, and little able to undergo the privations, sure to attend those who become the pioneers of a new settlement. This ill-composed company left England Dec. 19, 1606; but they did not effect a landing till May 13, 1607, on the banks of a stream called Powhattan by the natives, but which the English named James River in honour of their king; and having chosen the site of a settlement, about fifty miles from its sea-outlet, they called the place Jamestown. Here a few huts were set up, and a stockhaded house, called a fort, raised for protection against apprehended, because provoked, attacks of the natives; yet whose chief was favourably disposed to the strangers. Captain John Smith, one of the patentees, a man of humble birth but of heroic mind, was the soul of the expedition, but from the governing council of which he was excluded, through the jealousy of the aristocratic scions who encumbered the party. In a short time the provisions brought from England were exhausted, or became spoiled; before the summer closed most of the party fell ill, and ere the winter set in, about fifty of them died. John Smith, whom the straits of the colonists obliged to put at the head of their affairs, set out with a party of exploration; but before he had proceeded far, the Indians beset them, and all were killed but their leader, who was saved at the intercession of the daughter of the chief, a girl aged 12, called afterwards "the princess Pocahontas."—He returned in safety to his charge; but found that the survivors at Jamestown were only forty in all; while even [Pg 318] these were in act to desert it, and set out in the pinnace. This he firmly opposed, at the risk of his life.

Soon afterwards, the Company sent a second party of colonists, about 100 in number, and composed of as unsuitable subjects as the preceding; namely gentlemen, and a very few labourers; but there was a number of goldsmiths and refiners, it being understood that the country abounded in the precious metals; there having been discovered, by ill luck, in the bed of a small stream near Jamestown, some shining earth which the ignorance of the observers caused them to mistake for gold dust; in gathering which several months' labour was lost, of course to no purpose. In 1608-9, seventy more immigrants arrived, but mostly of the like good-for-little classes as before. Among them were two females, the first who had come; and no children had been sent as yet. Smith, piqued at the want of judgment of the Company in selecting their recruits, asked for "but thirty carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners, fishermen, blacksmiths, masons, and diggers up of tree roots, rather than a thousand such as they had." Meantime, with such human material as had been put at his disposition, he set all that were fit for it to useful labour. Instruments of husbandry had been sent, but few could use them properly; and the daily subsistence of the colony now chiefly depended on such supplies as the natives furnished; with whom Smith ever carefully maintained amicable relations. The colony was now 200 strong, and the people in a healthy state.

The London company, somewhat discouraged by the frustration of the hopes they had of obtaining gold, but determined to persevere in their enterprise, obtained a new charter, bearing date May 23, 1609. It was of a singular character, and still less favourable to colonial liberty than its predecessor, though it vested in the company powers which the king had denied to himself. The local council was abolished, and a board of absolute control constituted, its members to be always resident in London. The company's territorial possessions, in terms of the same document, were largely extended. The proprietary, also, took a proportional expansion, by the addition of some nobles, many landed gentlemen, merchants, tradesmen, &c., and most of the industrial corporations of London had shares in it. The association now wrote itself [Pg 319] "The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers of the City of London, for the first colony in Virginia."—Lord Delaware was constituted governor and captain-general for life, with provision for a body-guard.

As the enterprise, under such auspices, became popular, nine more ships which the company fitted out were soon supplied with 500 willing emigrants; who were placed under the direction of Captain Newport, Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir George Somers these gentlemen, as a governing triumvirate, were to rule the colony till Lord Delaware should supersede them; but the vessel in which the leaders embarked, with 150 colonists, and most of the colonial stores, &c., being cast on the shore of Bermuda, was lost. The other vessels reached their destination; but the people in them, ill selected as before, turned out to be an idle and disorderly band, many of them "unruly sparks, packed off by their friends, to escape worse destinies at home," to use the words of a contemporary narrator.

The new governors of the colony not having arrived, and the reason of their absence not being known, the "sparks" aforesaid, and their companions the "poor gentlemen, broken tradesmen, footmen, &c.," assumed the powers of government, setting up a "captain" of their own number one day, and replacing him next day with another. When Smith tried to vindicate his authority, he was treated with contempt. He seized their ringleaders and imprisoned them; he also rid the colony of 200 of its most turbulent members, by sending them into the wilderness to found other settlements if they could; but their bad conduct irritated the natives, and little good came of such attempts. Having gone to their succour, in returning Smith was so seriously hurt that he was obliged to repair to England to get cured. He left the colony in a promising state. There were about 500 residents, including 100 soldiers. They had three ships and seven boats, 24 cannons, with small arms and ammunition; much live stock, farming tools, fishing implements, goods for Indian barter, &c. But the colony, left without a capable successor to Smith, fell into a state of anarchy; its resources were soon wasted, and the season of their privations was long afterwards known as the "starving time."

In six months after Smith's departure, the colony was reduced, from various malign influences, to sixty persons; who would soon have perished, but for the arrival (May 24, 1610) of Gates, Somers, and Newport, from Bermuda; and, simultaneously, came Lord Delaware, with a body of emigrants, and abundant supplies. He proved to be a good administrator, and the colonials were induced to apply sedulously to the useful arts; the Indians learned to respect the English character, and the colony really began to thrive; but ill-health forced the governor to seek a warmer climate, leaving one Mr. Percy in charge, under whom the settlement again fell into disorder and want. May 10, 1611, Sir Thomas Dale came as governor from England, with more immigrants and stores; but was fain, at the outset of his rule, to put the people under martial law, to save the colony from utter ruin.—Three months afterwards, Sir Thomas Gates, nominated to supersede Dale, arrived with six ships, 300 immigrants, and large supplies. The number of the people was now 700 in all; detachments of whom were again sent up the James river, and several subordinate settlements founded.

A radical vice in the social relations of the colonists was now corrected. Under the first administrations, the lands laid out for clearing were held in commonty, Captain Smith and other rulers insisting that each cultivator should work six hours a day, not for his own benefit, but the state, which charged itself with his support. The natural effect was, to induce listlessness in the willing, and to encourage idlers to skulk and play. Now, a few acres of ground were allotted to each man as his own, to be turned to the best advantage, he taking the produce, all but a small deduction made, for laying up a reserve in the public store-houses. The good effect of the new system soon appeared, in making the colony self-dependent for its whole food.

In 1613, Captain Argall, with a body of Virginian colonists, made that raid into Acadia, already narrated, which indicated a seeming intent of the companies to assert practically a claim to the whole of the American coasts northward of Virginia. As a further evidence of this, we may mention that Argall, on his return, called at New Amsterdam (New York city), where the Dutch had a small settlement, and compelled the governor to submit himself [Pg 321] and people to the British king and his governor in Virginia, with a promise to pay tribute. But both impositions were afterwards disclaimed, and no attempt was made to enforce either at the time. The regular culture of tobacco began this year in Virginia.

In 1614, Sir Thomas Bale succeeded to Sir Thomas Gates; and he, in turn, was (1616) succeeded by Mr. George Yeardly; who held the reins of power only one year from that time, when Argall took them up; a man who rode rough-shod over all the rights of the colonists. He was certainly a brave officer and an able administrator, but avaricious and tyrannical. His sway at length became intolerable. [245] Upon the complaints of the colonists reaching the company, Mr. Yeardly was sent out again, as captain-general to redress their grievances.

By order of the London Company, the potency of the governor was limited by a council, with power to redress any wrongs he might commit. Nay more, the people were authorised to send deputies to a free legislative assembly, which first met at Jamestown, June 19, 1619. This event formed an epoch in British colonial history.

Hitherto but a small number of females had emigrated to Virginia from England; but in 1620, ninety women and girls, of good character, were sent out as colonists, and sixty more next year. [246] Shortly, thereafter, 100 convicts were transported to the [Pg 322] colony, being the first persons of that class transported, as many thousands were afterwards, to the American plantations. Obliged to labour, they ate honest bread; and by degrees, living away from the haunts of vice, many of them, when their time of service was expired, or shortened, became respectable free colonists.—But the settlement of Virginia as a British dependency, [whose primeval rank is intimated in its familiar name, the "Old Dominion,"] it needs not that we follow its annals any further.

The foundation of Maryland forms but an episode in the history of Virginia; for, by the London Company's second charter, the latter colony included the whole territory which now forms the state of Maryland. It was so called in honour of Henrietta-Maria, daughter of Henry IV of France, queen-consort of Charles I, king of England; and it was founded in 1633 by Sir George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, a Roman Catholic nobleman; whose brother, Leonard Calvert, sailed from England, in November that year, with about two hundred persons of his own creed, who desired to escape the operation of intolerant laws passed to sustain the exclusive domination of the Anglican church in their native country. The charter granted to their patron, vested the suzerainty of the country, holding of the English crown, in Lord Baltimore as absolute proprietor, on feudal payment of a nominal rent, and one fifth of such precious metals as should be mined. The general course of the following annals of Maryland, the future capital of which was named after the founder, are well indicated in the following admirable passage, taken from the work of one of the most eminent of American historians:—"Calvert deserves," says Mr. Bancroft, "to be ranked among the most wise and benevolent lawgivers of all ages. He was the first in the history of the christian world to seek for religious security and peace by the practice of justice, and not by the exercise of power; to plan the [Pg 323] establishment of popular institutions, with the enjoyment of liberty of conscience; to advance the career of civilization, by recognising the rightful equality of all Christian sects. The asylum of Papists was the spot, where, in a remote corner of the world, on the banks of rivers which as yet had hardly been explored, the mild forbearance of a proprietary adopted religious freedom as the basis of state polity."

The first steps towards British colonisation of New England proper, were almost coëval with the settlement of Virginia. In 1607, two ships, with a body of emigrants, under the presidency of Sir George Popham, landed at a place called Sagahadoc, near the mouth of the Kennebec river, on the seaboard of what is now the state of Maine, and there began a settlement, which they called St. George, probably in honour of the patron saint of England, or of their president. Forty-five persons were left here by the ships, which returned to England in December. During the winter these adventurers suffered greatly from the cold and scanty means of existence. Their patron died; and next year, the survivors abandoned the place.

In 1614, Captain John Smith (the Virginian hero) explored the whole range of seaboard, from the Penobscot to Cape Cod, and called the region "New England," in his chart of the country, with a printed description annexed. He persuaded the second or West of England Company of Virginia to solicit a charter for settling the country he had thus surveyed. This was obtained, and the association it re-constituted took the name of "the council established at Plymouth, (Devonshire), for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing New England, in America." The royal letters-patent gave the company the absolute property and unlimited control of the territory between the 40th and 48th degrees of North latitude, and the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. This far-stretching grant included the lands of all the actual eastern and most of the middle States of the American Union, besides the Canadas, and an immense expanse of country beyond, to the westward. The very enormity of the concession made it practically inoperative, and the charter became a dead letter in the hands of the grantees.

The founders of the first province of New England, as yet [Pg 324] a country but in name, was a section of that body of English Protestant dissenters, who, from their strict morals, were tauntingly denominated, by the Anglican high church party, "the puritans." [247] This sect took shape during the reign of Elizabeth, increased greatly during the reigns of James I and Charles I, though laid under persecution by all these three sovereigns; and had a considerable hand, when the tables were turned against the Church of England, in bringing its defender and victim (the monarch last named) to the scaffold. The special name of the section of Puritans who were about to become the precursors of the New England colonists was "Brownists." They were so called after their pastor, who ministered in their meeting-house, at Leyden, in Holland; where a small body of them had taken refuge, to avoid persecution had they remained in England. Wearied of their residence among aliens, they determined to seek a peaceful home in the wilds of America, which their own country's rulers denied them. With some difficulty they obtained an assignment of lands within the limits of the London Virginian Company's territories. Two vessels, the Mayflower, of 180 tons burden, and the Speedwell, of 60 only, were hired in England; but these were not of sufficient capacity to take the entire congregation, the pastor of which was then John Robinson; who remained, for the time, at Leyden with others, while one Brewster, an elder, took charge, civil and spiritual, of the party. The "Pilgrims," as they called themselves, sailed from Delfthaven July 22, 1620; but stress of weather detained them in British waters till the 6th of September when they left Plymouth in the Mayflower only, and stood for [Pg 325] the Atlantic. Their destination was the mouth of the Hudson river, in the New Netherlands; but, by the treachery of their captain (said to have been bribed by the Dutch authorities of that colony), they were conducted to the Massachusetts shores; which they reached Nov. 9. Next day, they anchored in Cape Cod Bay. Before landing, they entered into a solemn compact, or constitution of government, which, being written out, was signed by the heads of families, and other male adults, the whole body numbering 101 souls. Mr. John Carver was then chosen their governor for one year.

They coasted along the shore for a landing-place properly sheltered, and were nearly wrecked in the search. At last they found one; and on the memorable 20th day of December, 1620, landed on the rock beside the harbour they had selected, which they named "New Plymouth."

The government was a republic, of the earliest type; the whole adult male population assembling as its legislators. The governor, with a council of five assistants (seven afterwards) all annually elected, formed the executive. This system was not found inconvenient at first, as there were only 300 souls in the colony ten years after its foundation; but as numbers increased, representation was necessarily resorted to.

In 1622, Gorges and Mason took a patent for colonising a territory they called Laconia, extending from the Atlantic to the St. Lawrence, and from the Merrimac river to the Kennebec. Under this patent, Portsmouth and Dover were settled, in 1623. In 1628, White and Endicott, with a number of other puritans, founded Salem, the earliest permanent town of Massachusetts. A number of the party (about 100) under Thomas Graves, in the same year, founded Charlestown on Charles river. Reinforced by immigration in 1630, a number crossed to the farther bank, called Shawmut by the Indians, by the English Trimountain or Tremont, and founded Boston. [248] As at New Plymouth, the legislation was direct, not by delegation, for three years; but in 1634, the representative form was adopted: the second instance of its [Pg 326] adoption in America. [249] In 1535, persecution of the puritans raging in England, 3,000 of them emigrated to Massachusetts. Among them were Henry Vane and the Rev. Hugh Peters. [250] Shortly afterwards, a party proceeded from the Boston colony, and founded Exeter town. Previously (1633) the Dutch settled at a place they named "Good Hope." On its site stands the city of Hartford. Two years afterwards (1635) John Winthrop founded Saybrook, Connecticut. In 1638, Eaton and Davenport founded Newhaven, in that territory; the proprietary charter recognising which was granted by the Plymouth council in 1631.

A patent was obtained, in 1629, by John Mason, for settling the country between the Merrimac and Piscataqua rivers; since called New Hampshire. The progress of colonisation was so slow that, three years after its foundation, the chief town, Portsmouth, contained but sixty families. In other parts, immigrations from England were increasing constantly, through the impolitic measures of the king, and the intolerance of the Anglican hierarchy. [251] Finding so many of the oppressed thus escaping from Britain a royal proclamation was issued (April 30, 1637) to restrain the puritans from emigrating to New England, or to any other part of America. An order in council was published, at the same time, prohibiting all non-conformist ministers from emigrating, without leave from the Archbishop of Canterbury, (Laud) and the bishop of London. When the news of these restrictive measures reached Boston, coupled with a report that the king was about to send a governor with arbitrary powers, resistance, even by force, was determined upon. Meantime, the English judges pronounced the "Company of Massachusetts Bay" to be an illegal association; [Pg 327] and outlawed the New Plymouth patentees, under whom the Company held its rights. In 1638, a squadron of eight ships bound for New England, was stopped by order of privy council. In a few days, however, the vessels were allowed to go. [252] Numerous others followed; in fact, the times of increasing trouble which weakened the mother country became sources of strength for her American colonies. Twenty-one thousand immigrants had arrived before the Long Parliament assembled (Nov. 3, 1648), and a million of dollars had been expended on the plantations. Next year, the house of commons (then almost entirely puritan) freed all the American colonists from taxation on imports and exports, and intimated its approbation of their enterprises.

In 1641, New Hampshire was annexed to Massachusetts; and in 1643, a general confederation was effected, under the title of "The United Colonies of New England;" comprehending Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. Rhode Island (founded in 1638) stood out; while Maine and Providence (founded in 1635) were refused admission, because of the religious views of their people not being in accord with the creed of the confederation! The colonisation of Maine was the least progressive of all. After a lingering separate existence, the province was formally annexed to Massachusetts in 1652. In 1655, Oliver Cromwell, who had lately made a conquest of Jamaica, offered the New Englanders a settlement in that fertile island; but his proffer was respectfully declined. "They would have considered it a species of sacrilege," says an American historian, "to abandon to the savages the consecrated asylum of their peculiar belief; for religion was with them an affair of state, and to preserve its purity was considered the paramount authority of the civil magistrate." Thus when the "Antinomian controversy" arose, Anne Hutchinson and her disciples, who held dissident opinions on the subject of free grace, were expelled from the [Pg 328] colony; and a Baptist, named Clark, was fined, for preaching at Lynn; while one Holmes, refusing to pay a fine for expressing his peculiar sentiments of religion, was publicly whipped! Absence from public worship was punished by mulcts. Anti-Trinitarian and other opinions considered eminently unorthodox were denounced as blasphemous, and visited with finings, imprisonings, and even death. Ministers not ordained regularly, were forcibly silenced; "and the very men, men who had fled from England to gain an asylum for religious freedom," to repeat a just reflection of the writer cited above, "were refusing the slightest toleration of any religious opinion but their own."

The worst used sectaries, of all those obnoxious to the New England puritans, were the members of the peaceful society of friends, or quakers. Two females of that body having come to Boston in July 1656, were put in prison for five weeks, and banished. To prevent any such intrusion thereafter, a law was passed, prohibiting any more quakers to enter the colony, under severe corporeal penalties; any inhabitants harboring such, to be smartly fined. Some few of the expelled Friends, however, having set at nought the prohibition, a second law was passed, forbidding their return on pain of death; and several persons were actually hanged under this enactment. [253]

Turning with astonishment, and even disgust, from the contemplation of such proceedings as these, we are glad to commemorate, to the honour of the New Englanders, the early efforts and sacrifices made by them in the cause of public instruction. In 1647, a law was passed for the establishment of public schools; requiring one for every township containing fifty householders; and a grammar school, where boys could be fitted for college, in every town containing 100 or more families. A sum equal to a year's rate of the whole colony of Massachusetts had been voted for the erection of a college, in 1636; and in 1638, John Harvard, who died soon after his arrival in America, bequeathed half his estate and all his library to the new institution, which thenceforth took his name. It was supported, with great zeal, not only by the people of the Bay colony, but by the whole confederacy of [Pg 329] New England; and the example of Massachusetts was followed by all the other provinces, in the establishment of public schools.

The years of troubles and civil war in old England, as we have observed, became a halcyon time for the New; and the Commonwealth polity was little less favourable to the interests of the Anglo-American colonies, which, with the exception of the few where royalists abounded, as in Virginia and Maryland (which had to be brought under subjection to the Commonwealth by force), the British American possessions were little disturbed in the enjoyment of their privileges, by the home government. Soon after the Restoration, which was by no means so popular in New as in Old England, Charles II, jealous of the freedom enjoyed by his American subjects, encouraged his subservient ministers to gratify him by calling into question the validity of the several patents upon which the members of the New England confederation had founded their system of almost independent self-government.—Our limits forbid our entering into particulars regarding the difficulties between king and people which ensued; and we prefer to take a rapid glance at the varying forms of government then established in the different sections of the British provinces on this continent.

The earliest in order of time, was the royal government, such as that of Virginia, [254] where all the functionaries were, directly or indirectly, named by the king. Secondly, a constitution founded on charters, granted to companies of adventurers; which formed the basis of the system established in New England, and therein only.

Lastly, the proprietary governments. In the royal governments, while the executive, as we have said, was nominated by the crown, the members of houses of assembly, when such were called into being, were elected by all the free colonists. [255] The governors received their instructions from the cabinet ministers, with whom [Pg 330] they constantly corresponded. They could at discretion veto the bills and resolutions of assembly; as administrators, though their acts might be and often were called in question, yet they were not removable except by royal authority. Hence the discussions between the two branches fill many pages of the annals of the royal governments in times the nearest to that of the American Revolution, of which they were the precursors. From the preceding account of the New England colonies, some idea will have been formed of the nature of the Chartered governments. At the point of time our account refers to, they formed together a confederation, or political league, for mutual support; but each reserved independent action within its own limits. Questions affecting the whole were discussed and determined in a species of congress, to which each province sent two delegates. [256] Within itself, each province had political and municipal institutions similar to those of England in their most liberal form. The "township" was the great feature in both; and all abuses of power by functionaries were prevented or redressed by the correction of annual elections. [257] In a word, in the people, through their representatives, resided every power, legislative, executive, and judicial. The first of these was confined, in the Bay state, to a "general court of the colony of Massachusetts Bay." This court, from the decision of which there was no appeal, was composed of the governor, the sub-governor, ten magistrates and two deputies from each town, all elected to their places annually. The governors and the magistrates sat in one chamber, the deputies in another. There was but one session annually, unless for some special cause extraordinary sittings were called for. Public business was administered by the governor in council, who gave audiences twice a week. The proprietary governments had somewhat of a feudal complexion; being so many suzerainties or lordships, granted for particular considerations, or from pure favour, to certain individuals, and passing to their heirs. Thus the proprietorship of Pennsylvania [Pg 331] (adverted to merely for illustration, as that colony was not founded till the year 1682) was vested in William Penn, son of admiral Penn, and his family. The father had claims against the government, which Charles II, always needy, found it inconvenient to discharge, and a territorial patent was given to the son as a compensation. Maryland, as we have seen, was holden, on a proprietary patent, by the lords Baltimore, peers of Ireland. North Carolina (first founded in 1650) became a proprietary government in 1663; North Carolina also, in 1671-2; New Jersey likewise, in 1682; and Delaware, the same year. Georgia had the latest originated proprietary government, as it become such only in 1733. The proprietors, or their representative trustees, possessed both executive and (virtually) legislative powers; but their action in both cases was liable to revision on appeal to the supreme authorities in Britain. Similarly to the royal, the proprietary history is filled with wranglings between the governors and the assemblies; over whom the fitful exercise of a veto was almost constantly resented, although the assemblies contained a medley of deputies; some elected by the people, the others nominated by the local executive.

As the territories of British America had the advantage of a fertile soil, a mild climate, and fine navigable streams, so had they the further advantage of a long line of seaboard indented with capacious bays, and presenting outlets for trade with all parts of the world. As a consequence, their commerce attained even greater relative importance, than their progression in other respects. The trading operations of the merchants were not clogged by the local restrictions and fiscal burdens so onerous to the commercialists of contemporary times in the countries of Europe and their possessions over sea. We have seen how colonial trade was favoured by the English parliamentarians; but a contrary policy was pursued almost as soon as royalty was restored. The parliament passed a law (12 Car. II, c. 18) enacting, "That all merchandise be imported in British bottoms, except what comes from the place of its growth or manufacture, and that three fourths of the seamen be English; and that ships loading in the plantations bring their merchandise directly to England." [258] In 1672, a [Pg 332] measure was passed, imposing duties on produce sent from one colony to another. These duties, however, were almost constantly evaded; and their attempted collection occasioned warm disputes between the colonists and the home authorities. Mr. Randolph, an active enemy of colonial freedom, was sent over to act as collector at Boston. Remarking to the governor that he had seen ships from Spain, France, the Mediterranean, the Canaries, &c., in the harbour of Boston, and that such trading was an infraction of the British Navigation Laws, the latter replied that those laws were of no effect in New England; and that the charters of foundation of its several colonies empowered the people to regulate their own trade in all times. [259]

The other colonies, however, did not make so firm a stand as Massachusetts in evading payment of fiscal imposts and in resisting restrictive laws of trade, passed by the English parliament. Thus, in 1671, Sir William Berkeley, proprietary governor of Virginia, reported that the colonists had conformed to the Navigation Acts, on demand made; though that had put a stop to ship-building, thitherto the chief branch of industry in the country. This and other instances of a want of concert, encouraged the home government to persist in the course it had adopted; and the result of the controversy with the Massachusetts people, was, that they were compelled to relinquish their charter in 1684; shortly after which Charles II died, before he could complete his intent, which was to abolish the franchises, political and commercial, of New England. His successor appointed Sir Edward Andros, as captain-general and vice-admiral of Massachusetts, &c., with full powers, aided by a crown-nominated council, to make laws and levy taxes at discretion. As soon as he arrived in Boston (in 1685) he revoked the charter of Rhode Island. He demanded that of Connecticut, but the people secreted it. Andros was an avaricious despot. "His object seems to have been to amass a fortune for himself, to break the charters, [Pg 333] and unite the several colonies in one, for the purpose of effectually resisting the encroachments of the French from Canada." [260]

When news of the English Revolution of 1688 arrived, it was hailed with joy in most of the British colonies, but in Massachusetts more especially. The people of Boston imprisoned Andros, with fifty of his adherents, and restored magistrates he had displaced. Connecticut and Rhode Island soon followed the example. A restitution of the old charters was applied for, but long delays arose. At length (1691) the Massachusetts people obtained one but of a less free character than the former. Still there was no reasonable cause of complaint, had the colonists been content with the same species of government as was in force in the mother country, for such the new charter gave them. May 1692, on the arrival of Sir Wm. Phipps as royal governor, a general court was convened, and the charter accepted. It annexed New Plymouth and Acadia to Massachussets, the latter having passed under British domination in 1690, after Port-Royal was attacked and taken. [261]

In the foregoing summary, we have sketched rapidly the rise and progress of the Anglo-American colonies, from their foundation till the tenth decade of the 17th century. Self-expatriated for the most part, to evade political oppression and ecclesiastical persecution, their inhabitants aspired alone to the enjoyment of liberty; which having obtained, they relished it the more from the contrast daily presented among them between present freedom and past subjection. But this liberty, civil and religious, once secured, they looked around them and noted with impatience the proximity of a race of men who seemed to be intruders upon territorial possessions, "which of right belonged to the people of British descent." For some generations before the time we have arrived at, the Anglo-Americans had acted on the principle, that they were the legitimate lords of the northern continent. Their [Pg 334] establishments, solidly founded, and well sustained, were so sure to supersede all others! While those of the French, for example, for want of immigration, seemed destined to die of inanition. But as soon as Colbert set about peopling Canada with disbanded veterans, and erected forts near their frontiers, they took the alarm, and called upon the mother country to interpose between rivals who deranged their inland trading relations and menaced their independence. Witnesses of the ambition and conquests of Louis XIV, the dictator of Europe, they trembled lest, some day, French domination might extend to America, when Canada, with its military organisation, would become a redoubtable neighbour. They longed, then, to destroy in its cradle the colony of New France, which they felt or feigned would be so dangerous if it were allowed to grow; which also they so often attacked, without being able to subjugate. At length they offered men and money to England, if she would essay its conquest, and in 1690 men were put at her disposition for the invasion of Canada. We shall see presently what was the result of the aggressions of those alien colonists, already so ambitious.

The reader must have remarked, ere this time, that the qualities of the British immigration to America, now and formerly, have no resemblance whatever. The immigrant from Britain, who lands on this continent, is not of like type to the political or religious refugee, self-exiled, of the 17th century. He who left his country for the purpose of carrying out principles which he had defended, it may be at the risk of his life, and who, in any case, had made sacrifices to maintain them, still preserved, after defeat, that independent spirit, that republican pride, which inspired him erewhile when contending against arbitrary power. The British immigrant of our day, on the other hand, driven from his native land by penury rather than by persecution, is the superfluous denizen of a community overstocked with consumers whom the vicissitudes of trade, the centralisation of private wealth, and the vices of a servile and complicated organisation of society, has reduced to utter destitution. The pre-occupations of his mind, entirely concentrated in the quest of means for procuring that food his ever-craving appetite demands, leaves no place in his soul for those elevated feelings which distinguished the first colonists. [Pg 335] Crushed under the load of his daily needs, insensible to all things but those which concern his material existence,—even after such animal wants may have been supplied, years must pass before the mind of such a one can rise to the level of that of a republican of olden Massachusetts, or that of a catholic royalist of Maryland.

If we compare, at present, the French colonist and the British colonist of the 17th century, such an ideal approximation suggests another contrast. The British colonist of that age was principally inspired with a love of liberty, a spirit for trading, and a passion for accumulating riches. All sacrifices made in order to satisfy those desires, which ever occupied his mind, seemed light to him, for without freedom and wealth his lot seemed to him a state of abjection and ruin. Therefore it was, that when the traffickers of Acadia crossed his voyagings on the seas, or the Dutch of the New Netherlands inconvenienced him in his progress on land, he strained every nerve to rid himself of such obstacles by taking possession of the lands of those who put them in his way. In Acadia there were but a few hundred fishermen, scattered about its sea-margins; it was therefore no difficult task to appropriate a territory covered with natural forest. The New Netherlands, still more defenceless, for want of aid from Europe, passed under the yoke almost unresistingly. But the Anglo-Americans, after these easy conquests, were suddenly confronted by Canadians,—a population of labourers, hunters, and soldiers: the Canadians, who would have triumphed, although poorer, had they been but half as numerous as their adversaries! Their manner of life, at once careless and agitated, submissive yet independent, was more chivalric, more poetical, than the calculating existence of their antagonists. Ardent catholics all, they had not been driven into America by religious persecution; zealous loyalists, they demanded not a liberty against which they, perhaps, would have combated. They were an adventurous race, ever seeking fresh excitement; including veterans, with complexions bronzed by the sun of Hungary,—men who had seen the Crescent flee before them on the Raab, and taken part in the victories of Turenne and Condé: those were the warriors, in a word, who had seen the British lion crouch and the Austrian eagle quail under the genius of a Luxembourg. Military glory was [Pg 336] their idol; and, proud of marching under the orders of their seigneurs, they followed them everywhere, at the peril of life, to merit their esteem and regard. This it was, which caused a French veteran to say, "I am no ways surprised to find the Canadians so valorous, seeing they are mostly descended from officers and soldiers who belonged to one of the finest regiments in France."

The education which the seigneurs and the people received from the clergy, almost the only instructors in Canada, was not of a kind calculated to extinguish this spirit, thus excited to an enthusiastic degree; a spirit which pleased the government by its loyalty, and the clergy by its devotedness to the progress of the catholic missions. The missionaries feared, above all things, the proselytism of the protestants. Thus the government and the clergy had an interest that the Canadians should all be soldiers. In proportion as population increased, the militia, under such a system, would necessarily become more and more redoubtable. Canada was, in fact, almost a military colony; thus when a census was taken, the number of males fit for service alone was reckoned, as in the muster-rolls of an army. [262]

Such were our ancestors. As immigration, after some efforts, ceased almost wholly, and probably not more than 5000 colonists came to Canada during the entire time of French domination, its peculiar system was, perhaps, the best under the circumstances, in order to strive against the ever-growing force of the British colonies. And thus, for a century, the immense superiority of the latter dashed itself vainly against that veteran militia, till the year 1760, when we had to yield to overpowering numbers brought against us, after an obstinate struggle of six years, during which it illustrated itself by numerous and brilliant victories. Even in our own time, it is owing to us that Canada is not now a part of the United States; it is we who prevent it from becoming American in manners, language, and institutions.

League of Augsburgh formed against Louis XIV: which Britain joining, active war follows between the colonists of New France and the Anglo-Americans.—Disproportion of the belligerent relative forces.—Plan of the French operations against the British possessions.—Intended conquest of New York; it proves unfeasible, and is abandoned.—Miserable state of Canada and Acadia.—Vigorous administration of M. de Frontenac.—First hostilities; two British vessels captured.—Pemaquid taken by the Abenaquis.—Schenectady sacked.—Destruction of Sementels.—Fort Casco taken and razed.—Wavering polity of the Western tribes of Indians.—Raids in Canada by the Iroquois; they are well resisted by the French colonists.—Retrospective Notices of Acadia.—Sir William Phipps captures Port Royal; he attacks Quebec, but is repulsed, and retires.—General Winthrop advancing simultaneously by Lake George to join Phipps, has to retreat also.—Disasters befal the fleet of Phipps.—Humiliation of the Anglo-American colonies; their exhaustion, as well as that of New France, at this time.—The Iroquois and the Abenaquis; their depredations.—Major Schuyler defeated by M. de Varennes.—New project of the British for taking Quebec: it proves abortive.—Expeditions of the French (in 1693 and 1696) into the five Cantons.—The Miâmis and the Iroquois at war.—Canada, now secure within its own limits, the colonists prepare to wage war in their enemy's territories.—Credit for the favourable state of affairs in Canada chiefly due to the wise measures of De Frontenac.—Intrigues of his enemies in France.

France had now been at war with parts of Europe for two or three years. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes had raised against her the Protestant nations, who made it a pretext for arming, in order to avenge their recent defeats. The prince of Orange, the most inveterate enemy of the French, was the chief promoter of the league of Augsburgh, into which most of the continental powers entered against France. James II, king of England, himself a fervent catholic, receiving subsidies from Louis XIV, to make him independent of the English parliament, [Pg 338] remained an ally to France: but he had great difficulty to hold his subjects in leash during a reign of little more than three years' duration; [263] and that finished, France had a redoubtable enemy the more. When dethroned, he was received by Louis with open arms, and a promise given that every effort should be made for his restoration.

France had now to combat five powers at once; namely, Great Britain, the German Empire, Holland, Spain, and Savoy. Her colonists, who had no personal interest in the contest, were yet expected to aid in carrying it on, at least against their British neighbours; who, on their part, were nothing loth to seize the occasion for making aggressions on New France. We have seen what headway the Anglo-Americans had now gained in the race of colonisation on this continent, how considerable was their trade, how numerous their populations; [264] that they enjoyed free institutions, and possessed some of the most fertile regions of the globe. Such were the adversaries a Canadian population of 11,000 souls had to encounter in a mortal struggle, their numbers kept down by constantly recurring losses through the hostilities of the aborigines; and the colonial trade reduced almost to nothing. It seemed to their self-sufficient neighbours that Canada would now be so easy a prey, that they had only to reach out the hand and secure it.

The French, however, were no way afraid to join issue. In conformity with their olden usages, they determined to seek the coming foe, rather than await his assaults, without any regard to the superior forces he might have at his disposition. Accordingly, an agreement was come to, that the British posts in and near [Pg 339] the Hudson's Bay territory should be assailed at once; while the frontier lines of New York and of other British provinces, should be crossed simultaneously. The minister of marine at Paris concerted with M. de Frontenac before leaving for Canada, that each should exert himself to the utmost (the latter secretly) to prepare for the most active hostilities. The king charged the governor-general, on his arrival, to furnish the Northern trading Company with warlike means to drive the English out of the Hudson Bay territory. [265] He was also ordered to communicate with M. de Manneval, governor of Acadia, and aid him to put that province, the most exposed member of New France, in a fit state to resist any attack that might be made upon it.

The plan of De Callières, hitherto in abeyance, was now practically taken up, but with the intent to extend its mode of operation, as suggested by other projectors. Admiral de la Caffinière was, with two ships of war, to scour the Atlantic seaboard from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Bay of New York; then to blockade that port, and there wait the results of an invasion of the province, on the land side, by the Canadians. If, as was expected, the province of New York fell into French hands, its catholic inhabitants were to be allowed to remain, after having sworn fidelity to their new masters; but the chief functionaries and principal colonists were to be kept prisoners till they were ransomed. As for the commonalty, they were to be transported to New England and Pennsylvania. De Callières was then to be installed as governor of the province. As it was considered probable that an attempt would, soon thereafter, be made by the English to repossess themselves of the prize thus made by the French, an order was drawn up and signed (by anticipation) to burn all the dwellings for a certain distance around New York city; as also to levy a heavy contribution on the rural proprietors, to redeem their buildings from sharing the same fate. We may recognise in these directions, the harsh and relentless nature of M. Louvois; but they were, after all, [266] in keeping with the habitudes of war, [Pg 340] as then waged in America. The simultaneous invasions of British territory, on other sides than the New York frontiers, were merely designed for feints, to divide the enemy's forces, and divert the attention of his savage allies.

The first blow was struck in the Hudson's Bay territory; where M. de Ferté captured the fort of New-Severn. Captain d'Iberville, a distinguished naval officer, had reached Ste. Anne's, another post in the same region, when two English war vessels, one carrying 22 the other 14 guns, neared the fort there. Their mission was, to proclaim William III and take possession of the country in his name. Their men having landed, were drawn into ambuscades, many of them killed, and the ships taken by d'Iberville and his people. A third English vessel, which became ice-locked, was cleverly captured by two Canadians whom the crew had taken prisoners.

After these master-strokes, d'Iberville left the country in charge of M. de Maricourt, and set sail for Quebec with his prizes.

The vessels appointed for the maritime part of the expedition against the province of New York, and in one of which was M. de Frontenac, lost a month at La Rochelle, getting repaired; afterwards, becoming a convoy for slow-sailing merchant vessels to America, they did not reach Acadia till mid-September, and de Frontenac remained there some days more. Before sailing for Quebec, he left orders to M. de la Caffinière to cruise before New York bay till December 10, holding himself ready to disembark; and if, by that time, he received no news of what was doing on the land side, then to return to France. He did remain so posted [Pg 341] till beyond the time specified, and made several prizes; when no intelligence yet arriving, he stood out to sea.

M. de Frontenac, on his arrival, found Canada in mourning, and the Iroquois at the gates of Montreal. They defeated a corps he sent against them, and burnt alive a number of the prisoners they took. Both sides of the St. Lawrence had they ravaged, gliding along rapidly in their bark canoes. To crown all, M. de Varennes arrived, to let him know that he had, by order of Denonville, just blown up the works of fort Cataracoui, and deserted the place which de Frontenac was about to succour. Despite these mischances, the governor, with his wonted sagacity, saw that it was only by daring action that Canada could be saved, or the courage of its people raised from present depression, to begin with. If he could not capture a province, he could at least cause much disquiet to its people, by making raids into it with flying parties: the great point was to strike at once. His mere presence had already acted like magic on the public mind, such was its confidence in him, a feeling which extended also to the friendly tribes. The Abenaquis, previously excited in the colonists' favour by Denonville, took up the war-hatchet; and making a descent on fort Pemaquid, on the sea-margin between Penobscot and Kennebec rivers, killed most of the garrison, and razed the works. They took also two sloops, in which they returned themselves, after murdering the crews.

Flushed by this first success, they directly undertook a second and more important expedition. The English had erected on the Abenaquis frontiers a dozen of small forts, to protect the trading posts: these they fell upon suddenly, took them all in succession, renewing upon each occasion the horrors of Lachine. 200 persons in all were thus slaughtered by these savages; who returned loaded with booty. This blow struck terror into the heart of New England, and deprived it of all hope of the Abenaquis adopting its cause.

Meanwhile, M. de Frontenac advertised M. de la Durantaye, in command at Michilimackinac, that as war would soon be carried into the English provinces, it was expedient he should inform the Outaouais and the Hurons that they would be wanted, as France was about to take up a position worthy of herself in Canada. Not waiting till spring, he set afoot three expeditions in the winter [Pg 342] of 1689-90, in order to fall upon the enemy at three points simultaneously. The first, led by Messrs. d'Ailleboust de Mantet and Lemoine de Sainte-Hélène, composed of fully 200 Canadians and savages, was sent against the province of New York. Several gentlemen were in the ranks, including Messrs. d'Iberville and LeBer Duchène, the hero of one of the romances of Le Sage. These intrepid chiefs intended to attack Albany; but the savages, thinking the attempt rash, refused to join in it. It was then agreed to fall on Corlaer (Schenectady), 17 miles west of Albany. This place, which contained 80 houses, they reached Feb. 8, in the evening. The people were found asleep, not having posted any sentinels, though advised to be on the watch previously. They did not believe that Canadians, loaded with arms and provisions, would traverse for hundreds of miles the snowy wilds at such a time, an incredulity which cost them dear! The French, after having recognised the place, which had a four-sided enclosure, with two gates, entered the latter noiselessly, amid a snow-fall, about 11 p.m., and invested all the houses. These men, with frozen locks, burning eye, and vengeance in their hearts, resembled the terrible phantoms described by the Scandinavian bards. A more grisly phantom, the king of terrors himself, it was who now entered at the portals of those silent streets of Schenectady, the indwellers of which were about to be awakened from their last sleep. Orders were given underbreath, and, each soldier muffling the rattle of his arms as agreed on, the fatal signal was given, and every door forced with hatchets. The unfortunate inhabitants, thus taken by surprise, had no thought of resistance. There was indeed a petty fort, with a few soldiers in it, which made a stout defence; but it was taken at length, and M. d'Ailleboust de Mantet put all to the sword who survived the assault. The town was then consumed, all but two houses: one, because a wounded French officer, M. de Montigny, lay there; the other, the governor's dwelling, was spared, out of regard to Mr. Sander, whose wife had in past times kindly treated some French prisoners. A great number perished in this massacre, done in reprisal for that of Lachine, which was attributed to English instigations. [267] Quarter was [Pg 343] granted to sixty old men, women, and children, who had escaped the first fury of the savages; 27 persons were made captive. [268] The rest of the population (of the neighbourhood) fled towards Albany, unclothed, amid snow blown about by a violent wind. Of these fugitives 25 lost their limbs by the frost.

News of this frightful tragedy reached the capital of the province at daybreak next morning. [269] It was carried thither by a fugitive who was nimble enough to mount a horse and start, but was struck by a ball as he rode on, which fractured his knee. The account he gave threw the place into consternation. Some said that [Pg 344] the French, to the number of 1400, were on the way. The alarm-gun was fired; Albany was put in a state of defence, and the militia were set afoot for many miles around.

This expedition made an extraordinary sensation among the aborigines; and it is still spoken of among the old people of the locality with a feeling of terror. The retreat of the French was accompanied by several accidents: provisions failing them, they broke up; several of them were killed or taken, but the rest reached Montreal, exhausted with fatigue and hunger. [270]

The second party, formed at Trois-Rivières, was composed of 52 Canadians and savages. Hertel, a resolute and able man, led them on. After a two months' march, they arrived, late in March, at the post of Salmon Falls, on the river Piscataqua, in New England. This place was defended by a block-house and two palisaded works. Hertel's men fell upon all three, and took them at the sword's point. Part of the people he carried off, and burnt the town. The country, however, was now up; and, the same evening, a corps, 200 strong, gathered to oppose the Canadians. Hertel ranged his men in order, along a stream, over which was a bridge, which had to be crossed before he could be got at. The English, noting his small numbers, advanced to the attack. When Hertel thought they had come far enough in the pass, he charged them in the rearward space, and 18 of the enemy fell, killed or wounded, on the bridge; the rest retreated. The Canadians were thus enabled to retire without further molestation.

The third party was organised at Quebec, under the direction of M. de Portneuf, and was composed of Canadians, a troop of regulars from Acadia, and some Abenaquis. It had as much success in its operations as the two others. It captured Casco, a seaward town, at the mouth of the Kennebec, defended by a fort of 8 guns, which had to be reached in regular form by trenching. The garrison did not hold out long, most of its best men having been killed in a sortie which was repulsed. The works were razed, and the houses of the locality burned, for two leagues around.

These intrepid bands did not merely ravage the open country, as they were directed: they attacked fortified posts also. Heedless of distances, winter rigors, fatigues, and perils of every kind, they made the English colonists practically cognisant of the fact, that a superior genius guided the destinies of New France, and that her military prospects were in the ascendant. In truth, these excursions had the effect of keeping our enemies within their own lines, and caused the Iroquois to break off a negociation they had entered into with the native allies of the French, to induce the latter to adopt the English side; a junction which might have been, if effected, perilous to Canada.

In order to show the western aborigines that these victories were not without solid results, and to enable them to dispense with such supplies as English traders offered them, the Count de Frontenac sent, in spring, a great load of merchandise to Michilimackinac, along with presents. Perrot, always esteemed by the natives, delivered these gifts at the moment their envoys were about to set out for the five cantons to conclude the treaty above mentioned. The news of Canadian exploits, and the sight of the presents, together had a great effect; and the presence of an imposing force, flushed with success, gave them assurance that the French were now on the winning side, to which of course they at once passed over. Soon afterwards, 110 canoes, charged with 1000 crowns' worth of peltry, manned by 300 savages at least, of various tribes, set out for Montreal; where having arrived, they were received with acclamations by the inhabitants. Here they met the governor-general; who might exult at the visible results of his successful policy, which had been the means of thus making friends of those tribes who were about to pass into the enemy's camp. But this change was not brought about without some opposition, as we shall now see.

The celebrated Le Rat, who had succeeded, with perverse sagacity, in "killing" Denonville's treaty with the Iroquois, had changed his polity. He sought now to form a grand alliance of all the savage tribes, comprehending even those of the Five Nations, the implacable enemies of his race. To attain this end, he was not averse to ally himself to the English against the French, if that were expedient; and the Ottawas, who were a cloddish [Pg 346] race, and easy to deceive, became helpful to his designs. Thus the shrewd Le Rat put into their mouth this insolent speech, uttered when the French would have hindered them from sending the Tsonnonthouan prisoners:—"We always thought the French were a warlike race, but we find they are far less so than the Iroquois. We are therefore no longer surprised that they have been so long in undertaking any thing: it is because they are conscious of their impotence. After seeing how they let themselves be slaughtered in the island of Montreal, it is plain to us that there is no help in them. Their protection is become not only useless to us, but hurtful, because of the relations they have induced us to form, to our own detriment; the alliance with them has been contrary to our interests in trade as well as war; it has deprived us of the benefits of traffic with the English, which is far more profitable than that with the French: and the French system is contrary to the laws of protection, which consists in respecting trading rights. The weight of the war is made to fall upon us; whilst our pretended protectors, by a conduct full of duplicity, seek to secure themselves, by suing for peace as needy suppliants; and prefer to subscribe a shameful treaty, and endure the arrogance of an insolent enemy, rather than return to the combat. In brief, we ought to be looked on rather as the protecting than the protected party."—Nothing could more plainly manifest the discredit which Denonville had brought upon the French, in the eyes of the aborigines, than did this discourse.

The Five Nations, who thought they were on the point of taking the lead in a confederation of the tribes, potent enough to avenge all the wrongs the Europeans had done their race, became furious when they saw their cherished hopes frustrated. They promised to lend their aid to the New Yorkers, to make reprisals for the destruction of Schenectady, seized the chevalier d'Eau, then on a mission to the Onnontaguez, burnt alive two persons of his following, and let loose their warriors on the colony: in a word, they breathed fire and slaughter against the French and their allies. But their incursions were now repulsed everywhere. The country, so long the arena of their sanguinary operations, began to be studded with palisaded fastnesses, mounted with cannon, and usually inclosing the manor-house and church [Pg 347] of the seigniory. On the first alarm, the whole inhabitants took refuge therein. Many a Canadian village was now set in order for combat. Thus the precautions for public defence needful during the middle ages in Europe, were revived in America. Canadian annals have preserved the remembrance of several heroic defences of these petty forts, before the outworks of which the indisciplined courage of the savages fell powerless.

The most celebrated of these beleaguerings were those of Madame de Verchères in 1690, and that of her daughter in 1692. Taken unawares both, when alone or almost so, they had barely time to close the gates of their blockhouses. Without losing their presence of mind or courage, they fired the cannon, and handled muskets to such purpose, and seemed so to multiply themselves by shifting from one post to another, that the savages thought they had to do with a numerous garrison, and were fain to draw off, two several times, after investing the place for some hours. The constant presence of danger had inured the population to war; women and children fought as well as men. In one combat, where a party of savages had taken refuge in a house, and defended themselves with desperation, the assailants were seen to rush to the windows and strive to drag the inmates out by the hair of the head.—The worst concomitant of this state of things was, that it was unsafe to venture into the open country to sow, plant, or reap, so that most of the cleared lands lay fallow; and absolute famine became imminent, for a dearth had already set in.

The people of Canada fully expected that the project for invading New York province, by land and sea, would be resumed in early summer 1691. In this they were disappointed; for the king had too many enemies in Europe to contend against. Accordingly, M. de Seignelai advertised the governor, that for the time no such attempt must be made, as his Majesty could not spare the needful forces. He advised, rather, that M. de Frontenac should endeavour to come to an understanding with the Iroquois; and, above all, to concentrate the scattered colonists by forming towns and villages, for the more easily defending themselves against irruptions of the savages.

The former of these requisitions was at once obeyed. The count had gained the friendship of the Iroquois chiefs who had [Pg 348] been sent in bonds to France and restored to their own country. The most important of these was Ouréouharé, by whose advice four other Iroquois returned chiefs were sent into the cantons with Gagniegaton, sent as an envoy to Denonville, whom de Frontenac found at Quebec on his arrival. Ouréhouharé charged them to say to their compatriots, that they would still find in Ononthio all the winning qualities and regard for their nation, that he had shown aforetime; and that they would do well, for their own interest, to come to terms with him.

The five chiefs having reached their destination, and intimated the advices of Ouréouharé an assembly of the heads of all the tribes was convoked, which met in January 1690; fourscore chiefs being present. Their deliberations were much prolonged, as no decision could be come to until the temper of the Ottawas, and other western tribes, could be ascertained; add to this cause for hesitation, the presence of an English agent of the New Yorkers, who did all he could to make the project miscarry. At length, the assembly deputed Gagniegaton to deliver the reply. He reached Montreal, with other chiefs, March 9; but finding no functionary there specially appointed to receive him, he refused to communicate his instructions to M. de Callières, then governor of the place. After some delay, however, he delivered to the latter six wampum-belts (colliers), each symbolic of a particular intent; finally, the party, at the instance of De Callières, proceeded to Quebec.

De Frontenac, who was piqued at the delays which had taken place, and still more (probably) at the Iroquois chiefs for having given a hearing to the English envoy, refused to receive the deputation in person; and required their leader (who had given him personal offence by his free deportment) to communicate only through Ouréouharé, in whose name all further negociation was to be continued; while purposely slightning Gagniegaton, he ostentatiously caressed the subordinate envoys. At length, de Frontenac delivered eight belts (colliers) to Ouréouharé, who set out for the cantons, with directions to present them in such a way as not to pledge him (the governor) to any thing definitive; but still to act as the friend of both parties. This finesse had a favourable effect, as it seemed to belie the eagerness, as imputed by Le Rat, of the French, at all times, for peace at any price.

At this time the people of the English colonies were still on the alert, fearing that the general invasion by the French was postponed only, not abandoned. The determined manner in which the latter had begun hostilities, as we have seen, had raised an ardent desire for making reprisals, by carrying the war, in turn, into their foes' possessions. Extensive preparations, in fact, for this purpose, had been making for some months in New England and New York province, for a general invasion of Canada by land and sea. An expedition against Quebec, under Sir William Phipps, an American by birth, sailed from Boston, and the united forces of Connecticut and New York were about to march on Montreal.

Before invading Canada, it had been arranged that the French establishments in Acadia should be reduced. Ever since the peace of Breda (July 31, 1677), by which France and England restored, each to each, whatever territories had been taken from the other, Acadia had been harassed by warriors, who prowled, at intervals, about the coasts. Inwardly the French establishments were in a stagnant condition; and such was the paucity of the colony's defensive means, that a crew of pirates, 110 strong, captured Pentagöet, where M. Chambly, successor of Grandfontaine as governor, had his head-quarters. The enemy also took Fort Jemset on St. John's river, where M. de Marsan commanded.

The king's ministry did nothing for the country in recent years, but send occasionally a commissioner to inquire and report on its state. In the report of M. de Meules, in 1685, the whole population was stated as 900; and it may have been 100 more at the time we write of. All those commissioners in their reports proposed ameliorations, but which passed unheeded. M. Talon visited the country in 1672, when returning from Europe, whither he had gone to treat with Sir Wm. Temple, then in disfavour at the English court, and who had thought of settling in New France. As that able diplomatist was rich and public-spirited, he would have been a desirable colonist; but being soon restored to court employments, he gave up his self-expatriating whim.

Shortly before the present war-time, the king sent M. Paquine as commissioner, who advised that La Hève (Halifax), Canso, and Pentagöet should be fortified, and Port Royal abandoned, [Pg 350] because the latter had a difficult sea-entry, and was, besides, too distant from Cape Breton, Canada, and Newfoundland, to be succoured from any of these, in case of attack. He also proposed to open a road to connect the latter island and Acadia. Talon had already begun to form one on the Quebec side. [271] The recommendations were approved of by the governor, and means were being devised, when Phipps unexpectedly appeared on the scene with his squadron, which was composed of a frigate of 40 guns, two armed corvettes, and some transports, out of which 700 men disembarked for Port-Royal, on the 17th May. [272]

There were only 72 soldiers in this (so-called) capital of Acadia, and its defensive works were in a ruinous state. [273] Phipps, unaware of its weakness and dilapidation, accorded good terms, which however, he did not keep. As Charnisey had done before, he pillaged the inhabitants. After taking possession of the place he constrained the inhabitants to swear fidelity to their new masters, and nominated six magistrates to maintain the public peace. Having so done, he re-embarked and stood out to sea, taking M. de Manneval, the French governor, along with him.

Arrived at Chedabouctou, he invested the place, which was defended by a petty work, containing fourteen men, commanded by M. de Montorgueil; who, small as his party was, made a stout defence, and Phipps had to burn the garrison out. At l'Isle Percée, he made a total wreck; not even sparing the lowly chapel of the place. After these easy conquests, Phipps returned, loaded with booty, into his own country. [274]

After the departure of its invaders, Acadia was visited by two piratical ships, whose crews burnt Port-Royal, killed some of its inhabitants, and captured, almost before the eyes of chevalier de Villebon, just arrived from France, the ship in which he came, with all its contents, including presents from the king to the aborigines [Pg 351] of the country. Despite this loss, and consequent disappointment to these faithful savages, they still adhered to the French interest; remarking that, although their gifts were lost, the disembarked ammunition intended for them was not, and that they would use it to good purpose against the royal giver's enemies. [275] They were the more likely to keep their word as they disliked the English, who had not behaved honourably to them. The lapse of time since the perfidious Waldron had entrapped 400 Acadian warriors to their perdition, had not lessened their desire to be avenged on him and his countrymen. The moment was come to satisfy it. Waldron himself (now aged 80 and odd years) was the first victim of the savages now. Seizing him on the frontier, near Dover, they seated him, mockingly, in an arm-chair on a table, saying: "Who is going to judge the red man at this time?" Amid whooping and taunts, they slit his nose, cropped his ears, and committed other cruelties upon his person, till, faint from loss of blood, he fell against a sword which transpierced his body. His death was the signal for continued hostilities.

M. de Villebon took repossession peaceably of Acadia, which the Bostonians were not able to retain, and one Nelson, the governor they sent, fell into French power, as also the vessel he arrived in. During their short occupation, the Bostonians, assuming the country was theirs, annexed it to Massachusetts. This measure was commended to the approbation of the home government by its chief fiscal agent in New England. [276]

When a squadron, of thirty-five sail, for the reduction of Quebec, was ready, Sir W. Phipps [277] was nominated to command the [Pg 352] expedition. Two thousand militiamen were embarked in it. The spirit which this enterprise manifested was remarkable, and its warlike array made the Bostonians as exultant, as hopeful of what its captains and crews might perform. The fitting out of such a fleet was a demonstration at once of their loyalty and their means of assisting in resisting royalty, as the case might be; for the subject of their charters was still in abeyance. [278]

M. de Frontenac, on his part, saw the importance of making a stern resistance to the efforts of the Anglo-Americans of New England to gain even a temporary footing in Canada. He could not doubt, that if the fleet of Sir W. Phipps, acting simultaneously with the advance of General Winthrop, could coalesce after gaining a few preliminary successes, however small, they would be difficult to resist with such small and divided forces as he possessed; and one considerable defeat of the French might become fatal to their cause. But courage and fortune on his side were destined to be an overmatch for daring enterprise, misfortunes, and ineptitude, which attended and characterised the other.

The Bostonian land expedition arrived in due course, and encamped on the banks of Lake George, waiting the arrival of Sir W. Phipps, in the middle Laurentian waters, after the expected capture of Quebec, in concert with whom the two expeditions were to ascend, conjointly, to Montreal. But before intelligence of this kind, or any other, could reach Winthrop, an epidemic broke out among his hastily raised corps, partly caused, doubtless, by a deficiency of provisions, which the commissary, Milbourne, had neglected to provide to the proper amount. The disease spread to their savage allies, who died in great numbers, and deserted in yet greater, thinking or pretending that they had been poisoned by the Bostonians. By a neglect, also, on their part, it appeared that there was not a sufficient number of canoes for transporting the soldiers as well as themselves over lakes and streams, which they had undertaken to do. There was nothing for it but to make a retreat, which was effected by Winthrop in an orderly [Pg 353] manner, at least as far as Albany. But upon his arrival in Boston, without his army, the self-appointed governor, Jacob Leisler, put him in ward; though he pleaded, with truth, that the expedition had chiefly miscarried through the fault of Milbourne, son-in-law of Leisler himself. The governor was soon forced to release Winthrop, who was still a public favourite, though unsuccessful as its military champion.

At the first news of the land expedition being on the way to invade Canada, de Frontenac had gathered together a corps of 1200 soldiers, militia, and savages, who were posted at Prairie de-la-Magdelaine, ready to maintain their ground with the enemy on the right bank of the St. Lawrence. Learning the unexpected retreat of Winthrop, knowing that it was meant he and Phipps were to act in concert, and considering that the season was now well advanced, the count began to think that the attack on Quebec would be postponed for another year, if not renounced altogether. In consequence, he was preparing to redescend to Quebec, intending to disband the colonists upon whom he had called in haste to take up arms in the public defence; when he received several messages, each more pressing than the others, from M. Prévost, fortmajor, craving his presence in the capital. The first advertised him that the fleet had left Boston; the others announced the arrival of the fleet in the gulf and river, with the progress of its ascent. The count hastened to respond to the call of his lieutenant, leaving orders with the Messrs. de Callières and de Ramsey, governors of Montreal and Trois-Rivières, to follow him by forced marches with all their forces, except a few companies to do garrison duty at Montreal; as also to impress, on their way, as many valid colonists as they should fall in with. With all the despatch the count could make, before he could reach Quebec the enemy's fleet had attained to the Isle d'Orléans. His presence was indeed an urgent want of the hour; but the deputy he had left had been found equal to the occasion. In the space of five days, he had set so many hands at work, that the place was made secure against the chances of a sudden assault (coup-de-main). The governor, satisfied with what he found already done, had only to add a few additional intrenchments to the existing defences. He also ordered the militia of the country, on both sides of the river below [Pg 354] Quebec, to be in readiness to move at the first signal; and the people thus addressed manifested such warlike impulses, and such a determination to conquer or die, as augured well for the happiest results.

The fortifications of the city extended from the Intendancy to the brink of the river St. Charles, as far as the site of the present citadel, on the crest of the Cape. It was merely a palisaded line, connecting with the castle of St. Louis, which itself formed part of the entire circuit. The enclosure thus palisaded was further defended by three small batteries, one situated in the centre, and one at each extremity. This line protected the upper town. Other works had been erected, in the lower town, on the quays; and three batteries had been constructed under the interspaces not commanded by the batteries above. Besides these defences, the communications from the lower to the upper town had been intersected by intrenchments, garnished with chevaux-de-frise. The landward outlets of the city were barricaded.

The Bostonian fleet appeared in sight of Quebec on the morning of the 16th of October. Sir W. Phipps sent an officer on shore with a summons to surrender. He was met on the shore, and led blindfold through the city, by a long and devious course to the castle; his conductors the while guiding his uncertain steps with feigned precaution, as if his route lay through broken up ground strewed with calthrops and other dangerous obstructions. The cannoneers, and other men on duty at the different posts he passed, took care to make as much clangor with their weapons as possible; so as to impress on his mind the idea of his being in a kind of thicket bristling with implements of war. This manœuvre was not without its effect, for the Bostonians had supposed that the city was in an indefensible state. And when the bandage was taken off his eyes, finding himself in presence of the governor-general, in a hall full of military officers, he stood confounded; presenting his summons to surrender, with an embarrassed mien that did not at all suit the action to the word. He soon recovered his equanimity, however; and showing that his watch marked ten o'clock, A. M., he intimated the desire of his principal, that a definitive answer should be returned at eleven o'clock precisely.

The summons bore, that Phipps would have the people of Canada [Pg 355] surrender at discretion; and if they did so at once, he (Phipps), as a good Christian, would pardon them for their past misconduct. The count, piqued at the arrogant nature of the summons, and at the incivility of its expression, replied in corresponding tenor and manner, "I shall not keep you waiting so long. Tell your general, from me, that I know nothing of the king William you mention: the prince of Orange you wot of is a usurper, who has violated the rights of consanguinity and the laws of God, by dethroning the father of his spouse. Inform those who sent you, that I recognise but one sovereign of Great Britain: his name is James the Second. Your general needs not affect surprise at the hostilities he says have been directed against Boston colony, seeing he might expect that the king my master, (who is about to restore yours to his throne, by force of arms as I am informed) should order me to wage war in those countries, and against their inhabitants, who have revolted against their legitimate monarch. Even were your general to offer me more favourable conditions than he now proposes, does he think—supposing, for a moment, I inclined to accept them—that the brave men you now see around me would consent to such a thing; or that they would advise me to put trust in the promises of a man who could violate his word, solemnly pledged, to the governor of Port-Royal; does he think, I say, that I can confide, any way, in a rebel, who, forgetting all the favours he received erewhile from his royal master, was swift to join the party of a prince who falsely calls himself the Liberator of England, and the Defender of the Faith; while, in fact, he is violating the laws, superseding the usages, and upsetting the religious establishment of that kingdom? This it is, which that Divine justice, adverted to by your general in his missive, will signally avenge in its own fitting time." The count having thus spoken, the messenger asked for a written answer, as objecting to report a parole reply: when the count sternly rejoined, "Retire, sir; and tell your general that the muzzles of my cannon will forthwith bear my answer to the rude summons he has sent me: I am not in the habit of being addressed in the style he has chosen to adopt."

The batteries of the lower town opened upon the enemy's ships soon afterwards. Some of the first shots fired brought down the [Pg 356] flag of Phipps' own vessel. Seeing this, some of the men on shore swam out and fished up the prize, despite a discharge of small arms directed on them by the enemy. This flag, which was afterwards suspended to the ceiling of Quebec cathedral, as a trophy, there remained till that edifice was consumed, during the siege of 1759.

The enemy remained idle two days, although a plan of attack was concerted in the morning of their arrival. According to its tenor, the troops were to disembark to the northward of the river St. Charles, thence to be transported in shallops to the opposite side; that is to say, to the foot (pied) of the city. This operation completed, the fleet was to approach the place, some of the vessels were then to part from the rest, as if to land troops towards Sillery. While this feint was disguising the real attack intended, the corps ordered to take post at the St. Charles river were to climb the city heights, and signal the fleet to land 200 men, who should rush upon the lower town, and, having there secured a footing, ascend to the upper. As the first step in realizing this project, 1300 men, led by Major Walley, [279] were disembarked on the strand at Beauport; when they were immediately attacked by 200 Canadians, who, taking advantage of the broken and marshy ground occupied by the enemy, hovered about their skirts, and caused a loss to them of sixty men. In this skirmish, Messrs. de la Touche and de Clermont were killed, and M. Juchereau (seigneur de Beauport, a sexagenarian) had an arm broken, while leading his censitaires.

Sir W. Phipps, not waiting to see whether Major Walley could carry the heights which he was to occupy behind the city, ranged his fleet in front of the port, to bombard the city. His opening fire was heavy. The city batteries briskly responded till nightfall. Next morning, the cannonade recommenced, on both sides; but, as regarded the enemy, it soon slackened, and toward noon entirely ceased. By this time, the hostile fleet had severely suffered. Phipps' flag-ship had received several shots between wind and water, its rigging was miserably cut up, and the mainmast almost gone by the board. On the other hand, the city was very little [Pg 357] damaged by the fire of the ships' guns. Sir William decided to retreat, no longer aiming at combining his further movements with those of the disembarked troops. Walley, who was not prepared for so sudden a cannonading of the city, viewed the departure of the fleet with some surprise, but would not draw off his troops till he had tried what could be done with them. Having received five field-pieces during the night, Walley's corps moved, early in the morning of the 20th, headed by an advanced guard, and throwing out skirmishers on its flanks, to force the passage of the river St. Charles. There arrived, his men were feeling their way to a practicable ford, when they were encountered by M. de Longueuil and M. de Sainte-Hélène, at the head of 200 volunteers, who suddenly opening a brisk fire upon them, they staggered under the discharge, and sought cover in a wood near by. While this was going on, M. de Frontenac advanced on the opposite side of the river, with three battalions, and drew them up to support the volunteers, in case they had to give way. The enemy's infantry, however, did not persevere as his fleet had done. In this action, M. de Sainte-Hélène was mortally wounded: a great loss to the colony, for he was, says Charlevoix, one of its bravest knights and best citizens.

The retreating corps, to mask its flight, made a show of fighting, which brought them no advantage; and finally they re-embarked, during a dark and stormy night, with great precipitation, although not pursued, leaving their artillery behind. Thus, before the close of October, was Canada delivered from two dangerous invasions; one of which broke up without striking a blow, and the other was repelled courageously by the inhabitants. Two of the victors, Messrs. Juchereau and Hertel, were ennobled. The raising of the siege of Quebec was honoured by striking a commemorative medal, [280] but no attention was paid to a proposal of the governor to follow up the successes gained, by sending a squadron to take Boston and New York; by way of putting in safety the French fisheries in Newfoundland.

Before regaining port, the enemy's fleet had to endure tempestuous weather. One vessel was wrecked on the coast of Anticosti, where most of the crew who reached the shore afterwards died of cold and hunger. Several others foundered at sea; some were chased as far as the Antilles; the rest, but with difficulty, reached Boston at last. More than 1000 in all of the enemy's forces perished by fire and sword, by disease, or in the waves, at this time.

To add to the disappointment of those who expected to return in triumph, they found there was no money provided to discharge arrears of pay; but the difficulty was tided over by an issue of paper notes, the first money of that kind known to America. The nominal value of the bills put out, pledging the resources of the colony, ranged from ten pounds to two shillings currency, and were taken by the government at that rate. But the need for having recourse to such a device, proved that the pecuniary resources of the state were dried up; whereas the Canadians, 11,000 in all, had saved their country, without resorting to any such expedient to defray the cost of its defence.

The season for great operations was now past. The belligerents at the end of the year, had suffered mutual losses indeed: but neither had gained or lost a foot of ground; for Acadia, as we have seen, reverted to its former masters. The worst effect, next to the loss of men they occasioned, that hostilities had in Canada, was the abstraction of its cultivators from their rural labours, which necessarily caused an immediate dearth. The people, beside supplying their own wants, had to subsist the troops employed in their defence. Grain became scarce, and the authorities had to issue pasteboard notes (monnaie de carte). Forthwith, provisions and merchandise rose to a ransom price in specie. Munitions of war were so scarce, too, that the intendant had to order all leaden pipes, &c., to be melted for bullets. [281] Nor was the condition of New England much better. Provisions were dear and scarce. Her trade was completely crippled; for corsairs infested the coasts every where. Privateers sent from St. Malo, in a short time captured sixteen vessels belonging to Boston. It was now the turn [Pg 359] of the Anglo-American cultivators, those of the back settlements in particular, to quit their plantations and take refuge in the towns, owing to the constant inroads of native enemies. During the winter of 1690-91, the Abenaquis devastated more than fifty leagues of British territory, and utterly destroyed York-town.

The Iroquois, whose alliance, as we have seen, was anxiously desired by the French, finding that the latter had been able to hold their own in the country, began seriously to incline to form a treaty with them, intending to stand neuter in the contest going on between Canada and the English colonies; free to offer their services afterwards to either belligerent willing to buy them at the highest rate. Accordingly they sent deputies, by way of a feeler, to M. de Callières, governor of Montreal, who wrote for directions on the subject to M. de Frontenac. The latter advised that their overtures, while they were treated with assumed indifference, should yet not be quite rejected. At the same time he urged the Ottawas to resume their hostilities against the Anglo-Americans; and wrote to Paris, that nothing but the reduction of New York, and the bombardment of Boston, would effectually either secure tranquillity for New France, or detach the Five Nations from their relations with the enemy. He suggested, too, the necessity there was for France to become mistress of the Newfoundland fisheries, by taking possession of that island itself, best part of which the English held; adding, that the conquest of such a seat of industry and riches would be a means of securing for the French kingdom a commerce worth more than 20 millions annually; which would thus be of more value than the trade to the French Indies: for, as he sensibly remarked, the returns from mines will fail at last, from their treasures being worked out, but wealth drawn from the teeming waters is inexhaustible. De Frontenac, at this time, as M. Talon had done before, dwelt much and often in his despatches, on the importance of the North American fisheries. He believed, in fact, that the English colonists coveted Canada not so much for its own sake, as to make its possession a stepping-stone toward securing their own mastery over the Newfoundland and other fisheries in the northern waters; and the mother country would in turn back their efforts therein, because that oceanic industry formed one of the best nurseries of hands for her navy. [Pg 360] Meantime, as matters stood, the Bostonians engaged in the cod fishery had to pay dues to the French Acadians, for liberty to fish near the more productive shores of the peninsula.

The Iroquois deputies at Montreal, already alienated by the over-acted indifference of the French authorities for their proposals, learning that the Ottawas were carrying on active operations against the British possessions, and rightly judging that they were in French pay, returned to their constituents in disgust. Meantime envoys from the English side having been successfully busy in stirring up the hereditary enmity of the Five Nations to the Canadians, the repulsed deputation found all the tribes strongly disposed for resuming the war against the latter. Accordingly a body of warriors, 1000 in number, set out on a hostile expedition, and did not come to a halt till they arrived at the confluence of the Ottawa river and the St. Lawrence; where they encamped, intending, when a favourable opportunity offered, to make a general assault on the French settlements. Till such a time arrived, detachments were sent to carry on predatory hostilities in every quarter where resistance was expected to be weak; and as their movements, whether in advance or retreat, were very rapid, it was often more difficult to bring one of such parties to action, than to defeat it in an engagement. The country being thus harassed at all times when the Iroquois were ranged against the colonists, the latter began to murmur against de Frontenac for not attending more carefully to the injunctions sent from home, "to endeavour to make friends, instead of enemies," of that formidable race of savages.

In a general way, however, neither the French nor Anglo-American authorities were slack in striving to stand well with truculent tribes whom their competitive polity—so discreditable to civilised men, so disgraceful to Christian people—had put into training as so many packs of human bloodhounds, for venal murders and rapine. At this time, the French were anxious to secure the services of the barbarians of the Five Nations, but they were still less able than formerly to pay the price. The English, on the other hand, were lately on the point of detaching the Abenaquis from our cause by proffering greater inducements in the way of trade; for though the French were ever the better diplomatists, [Pg 361] the English were the more liberal purchasers of peltry; and that important difference was well understood by the wily barbarians of the Five Cantons. [282]

At the close of the year 1691, Major Schuyler, of New York, who had acquired, by his courage and courtesy, an extraordinary degree of influence over the Indians of the Five Nations, put himself at the head of a body of militia and Indians, with the intent of taking Montreal. During the night of August 10, he came unawares upon a camp, of 700 to 800 Canadians, whom the governor had assembled to oppose the Americans, at the fort of Prairie de-la-Magdeleine. Schuyler glided along the height whereon the fort was erected, thirty steps distant from the river, and having reached the militia quarters, then vacant, he there lodged his men. M. de St. Cyrque, the commandant, had much ado to dislodge him, as the Americans strove hard to retain the advantage which chance or negligence had afforded them, but Schuyler had perforce to draw them off. He was retiring in good order towards the river, when he was encountered by M. de Varennes, at the head of a corps of inhabitants and savages, sent by [Pg 362] de Frontenac to protect Chambly. Without waiting to be attacked, Schuyler led his men against the French, whom they assailed with great spirit. M. de Varennes caused his people to crouch behind some felled timber, and thus avoid the effect of the first discharges of the American musketry; then rising up, they advanced in good order upon the enemy, who being closely pressed, began to give way. Major Schuyler did his best to rally his men, but at last they were routed, and put to flight. They left a great number of dead on the spot; and lost their colours and baggage. [283] M. Le Ber Duchêne, who acted bravely, was mortally wounded. The savages on the Canadian side fought well. The loss of the French was considerable for so small a corps as theirs; seeing they had six officers killed; but it had to deal with a body of troops twice as numerous as itself.—M. de Varennes and his party, who had undergone great fatigue and much privation before this obstinate struggle, were too much exhausted to follow up their victory.

This defeat did not prevent the Iroquois from keeping the field on both sides of the St. Lawrence; or their warriors from harassing the colonists incessantly in various localities. They fell suddenly on St. Ours, also on Contrecœur, and burnt both. On the other hand, they received severe checks, sometimes, from the armed colonists: as in the Ile Bouchard, where a band of them was exterminated; and another, Aux Chats, was dispersed. The middle country was kept by them in a state of siege; everywhere it was necessary to dwell in barricaded houses, and the fields could be safely tilled only by armed parties. From not taking the latter precaution, the inhabitants of St. François being found unarmed, were fallen upon and nearly all massacred. It was now reported that another Iroquois expedition, of 800 warriors, was on the way. The governor, who had sent a corps into the cantons which did nothing, formed a body 600 strong, as an expedition against the [Pg 363] Agniers, the most inveterate of all the Iroquois in their hostility to the French. Towards the end of January, 1692, this second corps left Montreal, and penetrating the Agniers country, destroyed three of their hordes (bourgades) and took many prisoners. About the same time, in order to break a treaty which the Abenaquis had just made at Pemaquid with the enemy, M. de Villieu, with 250 native allies of the French, made an inroad into the Oyster river settlement, New Hampshire, burnt the place, and killed or made captive a part of its people. [284]

M. de Frontenac had designed to attack Albany in 1691; but, in default of aid from France, had to give up the project. Sir W. Phipps, who had gone to London after his defeat before Quebec, applied to king William's ministers for the assistance of some British ships of war to make a second attempt to capture that city. His fellow colonists, on their part, offered to supply men and money for the proposed expedition. About the same time, M. de Pontehartrain, French minister of marine, wrote to the Count de Frontenac, that the king would have sent a fleet to assail the English colonies had his means permitted; and that he would still keep that measure in view. Meanwhile, a squadron of observation was sent from France to Cape Breton, with orders to intercept any English ships which might be sent against Quebec.

But no assistance was sent to the colonists to enable them to resist the savages, by whom they were virtually dispossessed of their land-holdings. [285] The Iroquois were the means of forcing the cultivators [Pg 364] to forego the labours of seed-time in 1692. The male adults, everywhere, were up in arms, resisting, tracking, or pursuing these implacable foes, who seemed as it were to rise out of the ground in all directions. They appeared in bands, almost simultaneously, at St. Lambert, on the river Yamaska, in Ile-Jesus, and other places, in spite of previous defeats. In vain was it that one band of them was met on lake Champlain and cut to pieces, that another was annihilated at the lake of the Two Mountains, that they were defeated at lake St. François and at Boucherville: the harassing work was never ending, still beginning. It must be admitted, however, that the savages no longer practised the same cruelties on their prisoners that they did before; for, taking example from them, and exercising the right of reprisals, the practice was begun of burning alive the Iroquois when made prisoners. [286]

William the Third, now occupying an uneasy throne, seems to have regarded the subject of colonisation with supreme indifference. Aspiring to be the champion of the Protestant nations of Europe, [Pg 365] as Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden had been in other times, he spent ten years out of the thirteen his reign lasted, in battlings against Louis XIV and his allies, leaving the "balance of power" between the contending parties adjusted at the end no more evenly adjusted than at the commencement; imposing on Britain a funded debt which its people never knew till their representatives were taught by Dutch politicians and native usurers to anticipate the national means, which were forthwith wasted in bootless continental wars. The only great success of the British over the French, during William's reign, was the battle of La Hogue. [287] For the time (and this reflection brings us back to our immediate subject), the maritime power of France was so abased, that it became difficult, if not impossible, for Louis XIV to spare any of his ships for expeditions against the Anglo-American colonies.

At this time the New Englanders were too much occupied in re-founding their governments, and in contention with the home authorities as to the extent of the franchises to be accorded and accepted, to engage in any new invasion, on their own account, of New France. But a corps of the New York militia was sent to act as auxiliaries, in a hostile expedition of the tribes of the Five Nations against the Canadians, in 1693.

Previously, information having reached the French ministry, that a secret expedition was in progress in the marine depots of England, for invading the French insular possessions in the West Indies, and making afterwards a descent on Canada, the king of France wrote to M. de Frontenac that if the latter demonstration took place, all needful aid would be sent to resist it. Meantime, the defensive works of Quebec [288] and Montreal were strengthened; [Pg 366] and the Count sent a request to the chiefs of the Abenaquis tribes to be in readiness to come to the relief of Canada at a given signal, with directions to keep a good look out till then, on the movements of the Bostonians and their Iroquois allies. The leaders of the colonial militia were also adjured to be on the alert, in case the capital should be assailed. He likewise went himself among the inhabitants of the regions below Quebec, and arranged with them that as soon as any invaders came nigh, they were to transport their families, their movables, provisions, and live stock, into the contiguous woods.

The English fleet, commanded by Sir Francis Wheeler, after capturing Martinique, was to repair to Boston for reinforcements, and then proceed to Quebec. It set sail for the Antilles early in 1693. Instead of taking Martinique, the troops landed for that purpose were repulsed, with the loss of 900 of their number. Worse evils followed:—On the way to New England, the yellow fever broke out in the vessels of the squadron; and before they reached Boston, 1,300 out of 2,000 seamen, with 1,800 out of 2,500 soldiers re-embarked at Martinique, died of the malady. Worst of all, the diseased carried infection on shore, and numbers of the Bostonians perished also. Wheeler gave up the project of attacking Quebec, and set out for England; firing some cannon-balls into Plaisance as he passed on. The British colonists, who had expended large sums in aid of the abortive expedition, now implored [Pg 367] the home authorities to bring about a pacification with France. [289]

In 1696, the French ministry, on the suggestion of M. de Villebon, resolved to blow up the town of Pemaquid, and drive the English out of all the ports they occupied in Newfoundland and in the Hudson's Bay territory. At the same time, de Frontenac was directed to abase the Iroquois confederation, whose tribes were still continuing their inroads, in spite of the checks they were always receiving,—the latest being a signal defeat of their best warriors in the island of Montreal; another repulse they had in the west, from the Miâmis, who annihilated the forces they had upon the shores of Lake Huron. Profiting by the depression in the Iroquois' mind raised by these repeated defeats, the governor prepared to dispose the force at his command to strike a blow at the heart of the confederation; and as a preliminary step, he caused Fort Frontenac to be rebuilt, despite the protestations of Governor Fletcher, who offered rich presents to the Iroquois if they would capture it, and raze the place, if it were re-established. The Count persevered in his design, and the work was completed, against the wishes, however, of the French ministry, who in 1695, sent a countermanding order, but it arrived too late.

The struggle France had to maintain in Europe was now rapidly exhausting her resources. The colonial minister, while he adhered to the meditated designs on Newfoundland and the Hudson's Bay territory, and still advising that the Iroquois should be vigorously repressed, yet recommended the most sparing economy in outlay. He notified his opinion, also, that the king could not much longer bear war charges for maintaining the debateable frontier-lines on the southern side. His Majesty desired further, it was announced, that "the colonists should dwell within the limits of their existing settlements;" in other words, that every outlying post, towards [Pg 368] the western wilderness, should be abandoned: that the savages of that outer region should bring their peltry to Montreal and Quebec; this being the only way, it was urged, for putting a stop to the costly wars then maintained against the English and Iroquois. But next year, as we shall see, the home government changed its opinion upon this head.

The aim of the Anglo-American colonists was to possess themselves of the western fur traffic at least, if they failed in conquering New France. The home authorities did not at first perceive that the renunciation they thus desiderated was the very thing the enemy wished should be realised for his own especial profit. The abandonment, so injudiciously proposed, would, of course, have included all the posts on the Mississippi and the lakes, to which the Canadian merchants attached so much importance that they had advanced funds when the war began to defray the cost of maintaining them. The governor-general manifested, upon this occasion, that firmness of character which had always distinguished him. Aware of the dangers of such retrogression, he ventured to disobey the royal order, and to take all risks. "In truth (says Charlevoix), no sooner would the French have left those posts, than the English would have stepped into them; and then we should have had on our hands, as enemies, all the tribes of the west, which, once in triple alliance with the Iroquois and the English, would, after one successful campaign, have driven the French out of Canada."

De Frontenac, having made up his mind on the subject, now prepared for vigorous repression of the Iroquois, and assembled a corps of 2,300 men at Lachine. This force was sent up the St. Lawrence to Cataracoui, where it was to remain till an expected reinforcement came from Michilimackinac. None arriving, the corps crossed Lake Ontario, and reached the mouth of the small river Oswego. There they divided, forming two divisions, one taking the right, the other the left bank of the stream, which they then ascended. As they approached a horde (bourgade) of the Onnontaguez, they observed a great blaze to the westward. This arose from a conflagration of the tribe's dwellings, previous to the inmates taking flight. The Onneyouths, another tribe of the Five Nations, now came and craved peace. The governor said they should have it if they would settle in Canada. They retired, [Pg 369] and, next morning, M. de Vaudreuil was sent to ravage their lands. All the people had left them but one aged man, [290] who was either too feeble, or disdained to flee; and who, to use the words of Charlevoix, awaited his coming fate with the same intrepidity as the Roman senators when their city was taken by the barbarians of Gaul. "It was a strange sight," continues the same historian, "to see more than four hundred men forming a circle of savage tormentors round a decrepit object, from whose agony they could not extort a single cry; and who ceased not, while life remained, to taunt them with being the bond-slaves of the French; of whom he affectedly spoke in terms of profound contempt. The only complaint he uttered was when, either from anger or compassion, one of his butchers dealt him two or three finishing stabs: then, indeed, he said reproachfully: 'Thou shouldst have rather waited till others had done their worst, and then thou wouldst have learned how to die as a man should.'" [291] Throughout the two cantons, now overrun by the French, all was left in ruin.

It was next proposed to chastise the Goyogouins; some expected even that fortified posts should be founded in their country; but when it was believed that the governor was thus about to follow up what he had already done to others, he gave orders for a retreat: whether it were that he could not have subsisted his men in a desolated country; or whether it was, that he acted in obedience to inspirations from the ministry in Paris, as already mentioned: he might also have thought it impolitic to keep hold upon a tract of Iroquois territory, which would have made the confederation the implacable enemy of New France. Besides, his approach to the confines of the province of New York had created a panic in Albany and Schenectady. The colonists in these two settlements, fearing to be assaulted next, had demanded aid from the people of New Jersey and Connecticut.

This campaign resulted in the French regaining all the influence they had lately lost over the other aborigines. A Sioux chief from the Upper Mississippi valley put his tribe under the protection of [Pg 370] the great Ononthio of the French. He clasped hands between the governor's knees, and ranged twenty-two arrows on a beaver-skin, to intimate that as many hordes (bourgades) were his allies. [292] Never, since the war began, did Canada stand so well in native estimation. The Iroquois, indeed, still harassed the colonists at various points, but the damage done by them was nowhere serious.

The credit of this ameliorated condition of the colony was fairly due to M. de Frontenac, whose vigilance and energy were exerted in its behalf to the utmost. The superiority he had found means to maintain only with such means as Canada itself, unaided, could afford, made its savage allies more conformable, and struck fear into the hearts of the people of the British conterminous colonies. Not only had he successfully resisted invasion, but he was now in a way of becoming able to second the enterprises of his royal master, and turn the tide of aggressive war upon the invaders' own territories.

The security which he ensured for the colony did not disarm the envy of those subaltern functionaries and notabilities among the colonists, to whom his superiority in mind and independent bearing gave umbrage. Such persons, who had learned to tremble at the very name of the Iroquois confederation previous to his resumption of the reins of power, now sought to tarnish the lustre of his actions, which had been the means of removing danger from their hearths. The invidious feeling excited by his trading transactions, added to dislike at his lofty bearing and fear of his vindictive nature, operating against him conjointly, gave his enemies a ready handle for accusers to work with to his prejudice. But it was impolitic, even in a selfish point of view, to aim at paralysing the hand of the colony's champion. Among the specific charges brought against him, one was, that he caused the militia to bear the brunt of the operations of war, and let the regulars lie by while others did their appointed work; that he loaded the inhabitants with intolerable burdens (corvées), which pressed upon the springs of industry and impeded the material progress of the [Pg 371] colony. Others of his detractors charged him with openly protecting the pernicious brandy traffic with the aborigines. These accusations, well or ill founded, were not without their effect at head-quarters; still no intention was entertained of taking from him a charge which, in the order of nature, considering his advance, must needs drop from his hands. On the contrary, in recognition of the merits of his late campaign, he was decorated with the order of St. Louis,—a distinction accorded, at that time, only to unusual desert.

Continuation of the war: the French resume the offensive.—D'Iberville captures Pemaquid.—Description of Newfoundland; earliest French establishments there.—The Governor and D'Iberville combine their forces.—Misunderstandings and reconciliation of these functionaries.—they take St. John's, and ravage other English settlements.—Winter campaign.—Notices of the Hudson's Bay Territory.—Departure of D'Iberville; various contests in which he was engaged.—A shipwreck.—Hudson's Bay cleared of the enemy.—Advantageous situation of New France.—Projected conquest of Boston and New York.—M. de Nesmond sails from France with a fleet for that purpose; delays occurring, the project is abandoned.—Peace ensues, by the treaty of Ryswick (1697).—Disputes between France and England concerning their colonial frontiers.—M. de Frontenac refuses the intermediation of Lord Bellamont in settling with the Iroquois.—Death and character of M. de Frontenac.—M. de Callières succeeds him as governor-general. Peace of Montreal (1701) with all the tribes of aborigines.—Discourse of Le Rat, on the ratification of the treaty.—Death and funeral of that chief.—Sketch of his character.

The Acadian peninsula, or Nova Scotia, had re-passed under French domination, and, for the time, the British and their North American colonists laid aside their invasive designs on Canada. Seven years' battlings had left the territorial limits of the belligerent parties just as they were before the contests regarding them began. During most of those years, the Anglo-Americans had been the aggressors; the Canadians were now about to make reprisals upon the possessions of the former on the northern and western sides of New France.

The men of British race occupied several fortified posts in Hudson's Bay territory, as centres for the trade in those valuable furs which are the chief product of that region. They were also masters of the finest portions of Newfoundland, on the sea-margin of which island they had established numerous fishing-stations. [Pg 373] In 1692 they raised Pemaquid from its ruins, in view of having a hold upon the Abenaquis' territory, and thence extend their influence over all the warrior tribes of the country. The French ministry, which had now equipped a large marine force at the instance of M. d'Iberville, whose opinion on American affairs was much respected, determined to employ a part of it in expelling the British both from Newfoundland and the region of Hudson's Bay.

D'Iberville having been appointed to carry out his own suggestions, which if effected (he promised) would ruin the Anglo-American trade, and ultimately rid New France of her troublesome neighbours—D'Iberville, with two ships of war, set sail from Rochefort, and arrived in due course at Cape Breton, where he received advices from M. de Villebon, governor of Acadia, that as three British vessels were cruising before the port of St. John's, he had retired with his people, too few for resistance, to the upper waters of the river, both for safety and in order to be in close communication with the friendly native tribes.

Learning this, D'Iberville took fifty savages on board his vessels, to strengthen his land force, and stood for the mouth of the St. John's, where he found the three vessels in the position indicated. The first which came in sight was the Newport, carrying 24 guns. It was attacked and taken, after an obstinate resistance. The two others, thanks to a fog which enshrouded them during the action probably, escaped capture.

Having repaired and manned his prize, M. d'Iberville embarked fifty men put at his disposal by M. de Villebon, and departed for Pentagoët; where he was further reinforced by a body of 200 savages and a few soldiers, led by the baron de St. Castin, who, having married an Abenaquis female, was become a chief, and respected as much by his compatriots of both races, as his power was feared by the British colonists. These preliminary measures having been taken, the expedition was directed on Pemaquid, the strongest fastness of the British in North America.

This settlement was located on the outer seaboard of the Bay of Fundy. The defensive wall of the town was 22 feet high, and flanked by a tower. The garrison was commanded by Colonel Chubb; who defended his post pretty well for some days; but as [Pg 374] soon as a few bombs were thrown in, he capitulated. This fortress, which had cost New England great sums to erect, was now demolished, in conformity with previous instructions from the home government.

While this operation was in progress, the British also resumed the offensive. Colonel Church, with 500 men, captured and burnt Beaubassin, although Sir W. Phipps had promised to respect its neutrality during the war. After this exploit, on his return to Boston loaded with spoil, he was met by three vessels, having 200 militiamen on board, as a reinforcement, with orders for him to attack the fort of Villebon. Accordingly he turned helm, and steered for Naxoat, where he arrived in October. Villebon, made prisoner while returning from Pemaquid but afterwards released, had just re-entered the fort, and, quickly putting it into a defensive state, successfully resisted the enemy, who were fain to re-embark and leave the place.

D'Iberville, after the reduction of Pemaquid, took the direction of Plaisance, in order to commence hostilities against the British possessions in Newfoundland. This island, situated to the north-east of the Laurentian gulf, is separated from Labrador by Belleisle straits. [293] To the southward of the island are those shallows well known as the fishing-banks of Newfoundland, and ill-famed for the fogs which usually cover them, occasioning obstruction to navigation and peril to shipping, in the rough weather there too prevalent. The island itself is of triangular configuration; it is 140 leagues long, and about 100 broad; and has a superficial area of nearly 12,000 square leagues. The climate is cold, the atmosphere often vapoury. The soil is generally sandy or gravelly; but the country is watered by several fine streams, flowing from numerous hills in the interior—there covered with stunted forest—and winding through moorland tracts. Such a territory was not likely to attract early colonisation; accordingly, the seaboard alone was at first frequented by Europeans, and even that merely because of its proximity to their fishing-grounds. [294] The first French [Pg 375] station for drying fish was near Cape Raze. The British were the first who attempted to colonise the country; but no success attended their attempts till Lord Baltimore in 1623, Lord Falkland in 1633, and Sir David Kertk in 1654, formed settlements.

Although the French had important fisheries in the Newfoundland waters, they turned little of their attention landward till the year 1660. At that time, Louis XIV granted the port of Plaisance to a person named Gargot, with the title of governor; and who, as soon as installed, set about subjecting the fishermen who frequented the place to a monopoly, obliging them to take in barter, for portions of their fish, provisions and merchandise taken from the royal stores. The fishermen appealed against this arrangement to the king, who recalled Gargot, and sent M. de la Poype as his successor. Plaisance was then the chief French factory in Newfoundland. Situated at the bottom of a bay running 60 leagues inland, its port was one of the finest in America, and the town was defended by Fort St. Louis, erected on the crest of a rock at the entry of the bay, about five miles from the sea.—The French had some habitations, also, in the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, likewise at Chapeau-Rouge, Petit-Nord, and other points, on the hither seaboard of the gulf of St. Lawrence.

The French Newfoundlanders, a free as well as hardy race, chafed under the domination of La Poype; but who, nevertheless, kept his charge, though with difficulty, till 1685, when he was superseded by M. de Brouillon. Five several times, during the first few years, was Plaisance captured by buccaneers, and the residents stripped of all their movables.

In 1692 the post was again assailed, this time by an English fleet, of five ships of war, under admiral Williams. M. de Brouillon hastened to throw up a redoubt, and other defensive works; which he used to such purpose, with only fifty men, that after a cannonade of six hours, Williams retired discomfited. Thence he proceeded to Pointe-Verte, distant one league, and burnt the habitations there.—Such are the brief annals of Newfoundland, anterior to the year 1696. At that date the British occupied its best portions; and their colonial preponderance in the island was as great as elsewhere in North America. Their Newfoundland trade was then valued at 17 million francs per annum.

To deprive Great Britain of so valuable a possession, a great effort was worth making; and while its posts were to be attacked both by land and sea, to do this with the more effect, D'Iberville was ordered to act in conjunction with the governor, M. de Brouillon. The latter, however, wishing to secure for himself all the credit attending the enterprise if successful, without waiting the tardy coming of M. d'Iberville, set sail from Plaisance with a flotilla of nine vessels, several of which were St. Malo privateers, intending to lay siege to St. John's. Contrary winds caused him to return; but not till he had taken and sacked several minor British posts, and captured 30 vessels.

Having reached Plaisance with his spoil, he there found D'Iberville, whose arrival had been delayed from want of provisions, but who had just been reinforced by a corps of Canadians, sent from Quebec. The question now arose, Should the expedition against St. John's be resumed, the chances of its success being now much greater? D'Iberville inclined to postpone it, and to reduce the northern settlements of the British, who must now be less on their guard at those distant points. Brouillon, on the other hand, from jealousy of D'Iberville, who was very popular while he was the very reverse, opined that St. John's ought to be attacked at once; and to this proposal D'Iberville, from patriotic motives, acceded with a good grace. It was then arranged that the latter should command the land force, and Brouillon direct the offensive operations by sea. The forces having disembarked, advanced toward the town, cutting down or dispersing all opposers on the way. Arrived under the walls of the fort, the van, led by D'Iberville himself, charged a party of defenders ensconced in the rocks, and put them to flight after a stout resistance; and the victors, closely following them up, entered two of the works along with them, made their footing good. There remained a third fortlet to take: but being in bad condition, it was yielded on summons made; the defenders stipulating that they and the population of the place should have leave to retire in safety to Bonavista or to Britain. This being granted, the town was burnt, and its fortifications demolished. The division of the booty taken occasioned contentions between the two commanders which brought those disputants almost to daggers-drawn.

After this conquest, the French Governor returned to Plaisance; and D'Iberville continued the war with 125 Canadians, who adopted him as a leader. With these devoted followers,—each provided with a musket, a battle-axe, a dagger-knife, and a pair of snow-shoes, [295]—they employed part of mid-winter in the conquest of the island; triumphing over all obstacles presented by the climate, privations, and resistance of enemies. In two months, they captured all the British posts except Bonavista and the island of Carbonnière (both unattainable in winter); killed 200 men, and made prisoners of 600 or 700 others, whom they sent to Plaisance.—D'Iberville was preparing to attack the two remaining British posts, in May, 1697, when a fleet of five ships from France, under the charge of M. de Sérigny, cast anchor in Plaisance bay. M. d'Iberville took command of these vessels, being directed by the minister to execute the second part of the plan projected, by attacking the British posts in the Hudson's Bay territory.

This region, extending to the north pole, and scarcely habitable by man, was coveted both by the French and the English on account of the rich furs of its quadrupeds. Their traders had made it the arena of a constant struggle for supremacy. The British, conducted by two French protestant refugees, in 1677 erected, near the mouth of the river Nemiscan, in the bottom of the Bay, a post called fort Rupert; they had also two factories, one on the Monsonis' river, the other on the St. Anne's river. Colbert, having learnt this, wrote in 1678 to M. Duchesneau, intendant of Canada, to take measures for contesting the right of the British to form these establishments. The two Huguenots, named Desgrozeilliers and Radissan, fearing for themselves, returned to France to crave pardon, and offering their services in the territory by way of amends for serving aliens, to the detriment of their own country. These were accepted; and they were sent to Canada, there to form a company for founding a great trading establishment at Hudson's Bay. This association, called the Northern Company, in 1681 gave them two small armed vessels wherewith to capture the British post they had been the means of erecting. Arrived at the place, they either feared or were ashamed to attack [Pg 378] it; and avoiding the locality, after coasting the western shores of the Bay, as far as the mouth of the river St. Teresa, they halted there and erected a post which they called Fort Bourbon. Returning to Quebec, these men quarrelled with the directors of the Northern Company; and set out for France, the year following, under pretext of demanding justice. Lord Preston, British ambassador at Paris, hearing that they had not succeeded, made overtures to them so advantageous, that they agreed to betray their country a second time, by delivering Fort Bourbon to the British, with the furs in store, to the value of 400,000 francs. The latter, knowing the importance of the site, constructed thereon a regular four-bastioned fort, with a wet-ditch ten feet broad. They also manned it strongly, and stored it with abundant munitions of war. [296]

The French court, informed of this new treason, complained to the British home government, and were promised that the fort should be yielded up; but the English king, then in trouble with his subjects, [297] was not able to keep his word; the company, therefore, had to take the matter into their own hands. Accordingly, the directors obtained from M. de Denville a body of Canadians and regulars, under M. de Troyes, who had orders to dispossess the British of Fort Rupert and their two other fortified posts, already named, on Hudson's Bay. M. de Troyes set out overland, with Messrs. d'Iberville, Ste. Hélène, and Maricourt, in March, 1685, for the Hudson's Bay lower coast, and arrived there June 20, after traversing many streams and heights, and enduring great fatigues. D'Iberville was nearly lost while crossing a river, in a canoe with three others: he saved himself and one man, but two more were drowned in a rapid.

The first fort invested was that of the Monsonis, situated about thirty paces from the river, on a gentle eminence. It was a regular four-bastioned work, mounting fourteen guns. The place was taken by assault, but the lives of the garrison were spared.—Fort Rupert, which lay at a distance, was not invested till June, [Pg 379] but was also taken, and the works dismantled.—While the army was occupied at the latter place, d'Iberville and his brother Maricourt, with nine others, in two bark canoes, assaulted and captured a British vessel in the Bay. The British governor-general of the territory was one of the prisoners then taken.

M. de Troyes and his men, leaving the site of Fort Rupert, set out in quest of fort Ste. Anne, the exact locality of which he did not know. Arrived there, he found that it was situated amidst a marshy country, was a regular four-bastioned work, and mounted with at least 43 pieces of cannon; the settlement it defended being the greatest British factory in the country. Notwithstanding, the governor,—a being unfit for his charge,—after a show of resistance, capitulated, and was sent with his suite to Charleston. The rest of the garrison were kept as prisoners of war. The victors found peltry valued at 50,000 crowns stored at Ste. Anne.—The British had now lost every one of their posts on Hudson's Bay but Fort Bourbon.

When news of these losses arrived in London, the people cried out against the king (James II, an unpopular monarch); and thus the expedition of a handful of Canadians against some trading posts, at the world's end, shook the foundations of the throne of a king of Great Britain! [298]

The two courts, of France and Britain, feeling the necessity of terminating a state of things which was opposed to the dictates of international law, as the two peoples were not otherwise at war, in 1687 signed a pacificatory act, to last for two years, in which it was stipulated, that privateers, British or French, not being licensed by either king, were to be treated as pirates, when found cruising in American waters.

D'Iberville returned to Quebec in autumn, 1687, in the prize he had taken, and which was loaded with the peltry found in the British factories of Hudson's Bay. He returned thither in the following year. He expected that, in terms of the pact lately [Pg 380] signed, hostilities were to cease in that region; yet the British sent three ships to expel the French from the territory. But nothing could be done by them before the winter set in. D'Iberville, who had sent his vessel, loaded with peltries, to Quebec, not knowing the intents of the British, yet as soon as he was made aware of them, stood upon his guard. Although he had but 14 men in garrison, he turned a bold front towards the enemy. When he learned that the British had pointed two cannon grape-shotted to the spot where he was to have an interview with them, and that they were to be fired at him and his suite as soon as they reached the place, he made open-war against them, and, with the exception of those who died of scurvy, killed every one of the British, and took their ships. [299]

In 1689, the British having returned and attacked fort St. Anne, D'Iberville repulsed them and took one of their ships. As his prisoners were now numerous, he embarked them in one of his prizes, with leave to return home; while he returned to Quebec in the largest of them, carrying 24 guns, and loaded with peltry.—He returned to Hudson's Bay, in 1690.

During the war which followed the dethronement of James II, the British re-took fort Ste. Anne, then guarded by five Canadians only, who yet withstood the enemy's first assault. The year following, it fell into French hands again; but, two years afterwards, the British, by means of a large force, possessed themselves of it once more.

D'Iberville passed into France in 1691, and was appointed captain of a frigate. He was employed, that year, to convoy a fleet of merchant ships to America; and directed afterwards to besiege Fort Bourbon, Hudson's Bay; but he could not do so till 1694; in which year, with two frigates, he reduced the place. "While attacking it, his brother M. de Châteauguay, was killed.

Such is a brief account of the hostilities between the French [Pg 381] and British races, in our remoter regions, up till the time when M. d'Iberville took command of the squadron which was brought out for him by M. de Sérigny, in view of bringing the Hudson's Bay territory under the domination of France.

M. d'Iberville set sail for Newfoundland in the month of July. He found the entrance of Hudson's Bay obstructed with ice-floes, amidst which all his vessels, separated from each other and driven awry, were in perilous plight for several days. At length one of the three got crushed so as to be untenable, and the crew had some difficulty to find their way over the ice into one of the others. It was not till the 20th of August that D'Iberville got into the open sea; having, even then, lost sight of his consorts. Sept. 4, he arrived, still alone, in front of fort Nelson. Next morning he perceived, some leagues to windward, three sail, standing off and on in the roads. Thinking at first they were his consorts, he made signals; but these not being answered, he concluded they must be British vessels, and that it was intended to place him betwixt two fires, by manœuvring so as to force him to take a position between them and the fort he intended to besiege. They were British ships of war, one carrying 56 guns, the second 36, and the other 32. When entering the Bay, they had fallen upon one of D'Iberville's ships, and had cannonaded her during ten hours. The latter, fixed in the ice as she was, could only return the fire with two stern-chasers. The enemy, thinking she could not swim much longer, left her and stood towards fort Nelson; before which, as we have seen, D'Iberville had already arrived.

Flight, for the latter, was now impossible; he had to fight, or surrender at once. His ship carried 50 guns; but it was both under-manned (a part of his men being ashore) and several of the people on board were ill. He nevertheless put a bold face on the matter, and stood out to meet the enemy half-way. The combat commenced. The three British ships, named the Hampshire, the Dehring, and the Hudson's Bay, opened fire on the Pélican, D'Iberville's vessel; but after a hot action, the Hampshire was sent to the bottom, all sails standing, by a broadside from the Pélican, and every soul perished. The Hudson's Bay, to avoid being boarded, struck her flag; and the Dehring, though pursued by [Pg 382] the Pélican, contrived to escape. This splendid victory ensured the mastery on Hudson's Bay to the French.

D'Iberville returned to his position before Fort Nelson; but during the succeeding night, a tempest, accompanied by a heavy snow-fall, so maltreated his ship, crippled as she already was, that he found it impossible to keep her much longer afloat. When morning came, and with it improved weather, he was able to get most of his people ashore; but their passage thither being difficult and prolonged, twenty of them died of cold. As no provisions were saved from the wreck, and as the fate of the other ships was not known, it was resolved to assault the fort at once; but when preparations were making for this purpose, the missing vessels came in sight. M. d'Iberville, not liking to risk the loss of his men in a possibly unsuccessful assault, waited till he obtained reinforcements from his consorts, and then invested the place in regular form. After sustaining a bombardment for some time, the garrison surrendered, on condition of being transported to Britain. M. de Martigny was put in charge of the place; and its reduction put France in possession of the whole of Hudson's Bay territory.

Meanwhile, the fleet equipped to take possession of the New England colonies, and that of New York, was making a bootless demonstration in the neighbouring waters. It was commanded by the Marquis de Nesmond, a distinguished officer, and was composed of thirteen ships of war. He had received orders to repair first to Plaisance, assure himself of the conquests made, the year preceding, by the French in Newfoundland, and give battle to the British fleet understood to have been sent to take possession of all that island. M. de Nesmond was to inform the count de Frontenac of his progress, in order that the latter should lead 1500 troops to Pentagoët, there to embark in the fleet and be transported to Boston. This city taken, the conquerors were to ravage the seaboard of New England as far as Pescadoué; and if the season allowed, do the like on the coast of New York: it being arranged that the Canadian troops, in returning through that province to their homes, were to devastate that province by the way.

News of this armament reached the British colonies simultaneously [Pg 383] through several channels, despite the secrecy which had been prescribed and the spreading abroad of a counter rumour in Canada, to account for the levying of forces there, that its invasion by the British was imminent. The New England authorities, not so easily duped, issued orders for the militia to be embodied; Boston citadel was put into a state of defence, and 500 men were sent to the eastern frontiers, to resist any invasion by the Abenaquis. "The state of affairs, at this time," says Hutchinson, "was really critical; perhaps as critical as when the duke d'Anville with his squadron was at Chibouctou."

The enterprise thus meditated failed, either through lack of promptness in the movements of those who were to have superintended its execution, or else for want of money; for the pecuniary exigencies of European wars were exhausting more and more the resources of the kingdom of France. The Marquis did not sail from La Rochelle till the close of May 1697, and two months more elapsed before he reached Newfoundland. Arrived at last, he called a council of war; when it was decided that the season was too far advanced to attack Boston, seeing the Canadian forces could not reach Pentagoët before September 10, and the fleet itself had but fifty days' provisions left. An aviso to this effect was forthwith sent to the governor at Quebec. M. de Nesmond, after having made researches, for some time, regarding the whereabouts of the British fleet said to be at sea, but with no result, he returned to France the baffled commander of a luckless expedition.

A general pacification in Europe was now on the tapis. The powers in alliance against Louis XIV were far more willing to listen to his terms than in 1694, when they refused to treat with him on the conditions then offered; namely, that he would surrender all his conquests. These were not gained without an enormous expenditure of blood and treasure. The pecuniary demands of the last five campaigns of the French had absorbed more than 200 millions in subsidies. Britain had greatly suffered in her commerce, then expanding on all sides; [but chiefly through the system of marine robbery called "privateering"; which was largely patronised by the government of France.]

The quadruple treaty of Ryswick, was signed, Sept. 11, in the village of Ryswick near the Hague, by the plenipotentiaries [Pg 384] of France, Great Britain, Spain, and Holland. By this treaty, the French were to restore all the territories they had seized in the Low Countries, including Mons, Charleroy, &c., also the parts of Spain they had taken into keeping, with other renunciations; including (what is most to our present purpose) the restitution of all places the French had taken from the British in America. Lastly Louis, in a separate document, agreed not to disturb William in the possession of his British dominions; including, of course, all the existent North American plantations. With respect to their rightful limits, and those of New France, it was stipulated that commissioners, of both nations, should be appointed, and endeavour to come to an amicable arrangement on the vexed question of boundaries.

When news of this pacification reached Quebec, public rejoicings took place. Numbers of the colonists, who had taken refuge in the towns and ceased to cultivate their lands,—devastated as these often were by incursions of savages,—now returned to their holdings. The Canadian seigneurs were able to turn to profitable account the chances of the war now ended, by making over to new eensitaires lands which had been aforetime rented to parties who had been killed in recent times of hostility, leaving no heirs.

Messrs. de Tallard and d'Herbault, the French commissaries, met those nominated on the part of Britain in 1698; and an arrangement was made, that the subjects of France should retain, the western coast [in whole or in part] of Newfoundland; all the eastern mainland seaboard, from Hudson's Bay to New England, with the islands adjacent; the valley of the St. Lawrence and the connecting lakes beyond; lastly, the vast basin of the Mississippi. [300] No definitive limitation of the relative bounds of [Pg 385] the region since known as New Brunswick took place at this time; for a separate solution of this difficulty was needed; when it was recognised that, the British being already in possession of the banks of the Kennebec, the river St. George should be the limit, on that side, between New France and New England.

No proper conclusion was come to, during the five years the peace of Ryswick lasted, regarding the relative rights of the French and British fishermen frequenting the banks and coasts of Newfoundland.

As for the Iroquois country, no present attempt at disposing of it was adventured, from fear of irritating a confederation the friendship of which was sought both by the French and British colonists; but their governments strove, by all sorts of subtleties, the former to induce the Five Nations to recognise European supremacy over them, the latter to prevent them from falling into that snare, by advising them to maintain their independence. Earl Bellamont having sent Colonel Schuyler and M. Delius on a mission to M. de Frontenac, to inform him of peace being concluded, also to treat for an exchange of prisoners, and other matters of mutual interest, these envoys were graciously received by the count. They had been charged to claim British supremacy over the Iroquois territories and the regions to the west of them, likewise Michilimackinac, with the wilds to the southward of that post; under the pretext that all these formed part of the colony of the New Netherlands, before it became the province of New York. This pretension being scouted, at a conference with the French colonial authorities, the envoys asked what were the legal grounds for such resistance, when M. de Callières replied, "The rights of discovery and possession are those we hold over the Ottawas and Iroquois countries: our people possessed them before any Dutchman set foot therein; and this right, established by several titles in divers places of the cantons, has never been interrupted but by the war we have been obliged to wage against that nation, on account of its revolts and insults." [301]

When the question of exchanging prisoners came up, Lord Bellamont tried again to have the captived Iroquois recognised for British subjects; but M. de Frontenac replied that he was about to have a conference with the tribes, who had left a hostage in his hands as a pledge for their good faith, and that he would treat directly with them. Despite these divergencies in the views of the two governments, a correspondence between them upon the points in debate, was still kept up after the departure of the envoys for New York.

At an after-time, it was known in Canada that his lordship had holden a grand council, whereat the elders of the cantons had disclaimed all foreign supremacy over their tribes; loudly asserting a savage independence in which they gloried. The details of what passed on the occasion show that the British governor and the Iroquois chiefs were on their guard against recognising the pretensions of each other respectively: the former intending to turn the opportunity to account by obtaining a recognition from the latter of the British as their liege lords; while all that the Iroquois expected, or desired at the time, was that Bellamont would exert his influence to obtain better conditions from the French than they were willing to grant. [302] We cannot help compassionating the fate which menaced the five cantons, the guidance of whose destiny was so ardently coveted by two potent and ambitious nations; nor refrain from admiring, at the same time, the prudence and patriotism of the savage people whom France and Britain claimed for subjects.

The governor-general profited skilfully by the opportunity presented, to induce the confederation to treat with him on his own terms. Recent British impolity greatly contributed to bring about this favourable decision for the colony, despite the trading interests of the Iroquois, which hitherto inclined them to be friendly with the enemy; whereas the religious sympathies of a [Pg 387] part of the tribes naturally inclined them to adopt the French side. Now the legislature of New York passed a bill, in 1700, in view of nullifying the religious influence which France exerted by means of the Jesuits, prohibiting any catholic priest to enter the cantons voluntarily, on pain of death. These legislators forgot that such a Draconian law, besides its barbarity, shocked the spiritual sentiment of a portion of the native population, and, in principle, violated the natural rights of all the tribes. The French envoys to the confederation did not fail to take advantage of this judicial blindness; aggravated as a bad case was, by an arbitrary order from king William, to Lord Bellamont, to demand a cessation of hostilities between the belligerents, and to constrain the cantons to disarm. The royal letter was sent by De Callières to the Onnontaguez canton, in proof that the English king claimed the Iroquois for his subjects; and that, after orders so positive to disarm, they had no further aid to expect in carrying on the war. [303] Thus abandoned by one party, and threatened by the other, they began to have serious thoughts of "burying the war-hatchet."

Accordingly, they sent, during the summer of 1700, ten chiefs "to mourn over the French killed during the war." These envoys were received at Montreal with great ceremony in a grand council, whereat also attended deputations from most of the native allies of the French. The orator of the cantons, while he spoke with a sage reserve, himself cunningly tried to cause M. de Callières to pronounce what he would do, in case war broke out between the tribes and the British. He made known the indignation the menaces and orders from New York had excited; and said, that as the refusal of the Iroquois to submit to such dictation should draw war upon their country, he hoped that those of his compatriots who repaired to Cataracoui, besides purchasing such goods as they could not find at Albany, would buy ammunition also, for they might have need of it. The famous Huron chief, Le Rat, who doubtless had long lost hope of combining all the tribes in a general confederation, spoke afterwards, but briefly; the import of his discourse being, "I have always obeyed my Father, and I place [Pg 388] my hatchet at his feet; I doubt not that the other westerns will do the like. Iroquois, follow our example."

The preliminary articles of the peace between the French together with their allies, on one part, and the Iroquois confederation on the other, were signed Sept. 18th. M. de Callières (now governor-general), the intendant, the governor of Montreal, the military commandant, and the chief ecclesiastics present, attested the treaty by their signatures; as did the chiefs in their way, by tracing on the paper the heraldic symbols of the several tribes represented. Thus a spider stood for the Onnontaguez and the Tsonnonthouans; for the Goyogouins, a calumet; the Onneyouths, a forked stick; the Agniers, a bear; the Hurons, a beaver; the Abenaquis, a roe-buck; the Ottawas, a hare. The whole proceedings were conducted with much gravity, and, as we shall see by and by, the ratification of the treaty was yet more ceremoniously honoured. The success of the long negociation with the Iroquois was due to the war polity of Count de Frontenac, and the high tone he was able to assume when proposing terms of peace. Although he had now been dead two years, the influence he gained over the natives survived for the colony's benefit, as the savages seemed still to fear him, though the tenant of a tomb.

The deceased governor of New France, of whom his contemporaries reported as much evil as good, died Nov. 28, 1698, aged 77 years. He preserved to the last the vigour of temperament he had in his youth; latterly, as much firmness, energy, and talent were manifested in his acts and counsels, as in his first years of manhood. What he did during his latter career (the most critical period of the colony's annals) to raise the country from its depression under the sway of his predecessor, endeared him in remembrance to the Canadians. He found their country vulnerable on all sides, attacked at many points, and on the brink of ruin: he left it more extended than he found it, its security provided for, and its future tranquillity assured, if not quite complete. But, as we have intimated above, his acts and character were diversely estimated, by the different parties which then influenced the general mind of Canada. The clerical body, whom he wished to confine entirely to their spiritual ministrations, and whose interference in secular government he resented, reported most unfavourably [Pg 389] some of his acts, and censured his civil polity generally. Two of the charges they brought against him will be judged variously: namely, a tendency towards Jansenism in his religious belief; and his being an encourager of the pernicious liquor traffic with the Indian tribes. Now-a-days, when Pascal is claimed as one of the glories of our catholicity, we ought to treat lightly such a stigma as the first; the other charge is of a more grave complexion. It was probably the primary cause of his recall, in 1682; as well as that of M. Duchesneau. We have stated, in their place, the particulars of the controversy, not too creditable to de Frontenac, which took place between these two chief civil functionaries of the colony: the former acting for his own gross material interests, and those who profited by an evil trade, on the one hand; and the intendant, properly backed by the clergy, engaged in denouncing the evils attendant on the certain abuse of alcoholic drinks by the savage races. In maintaining a bad cause, too, de Frontenac showed little command of temper; for his intendant related of him to the ministry in one of his official reports, that upon one occasion he was obliged to quit the cabinet, to avoid the injurious language of his principal.

Even during his second administration, the Count soiled his hands by intermingling in the operations of traffic, which every high colonial functionary of olden Canada ought carefully to have eschewed. [304] It is to be urged, however, in abatement of just reprobation, that he was a scion of an impoverished though illustrious house; and that the king had doubtless sent him to Canada for the double purpose of secluding his penury from the observation of his compeers, and enabling him to return among them with improved fortunes. [305]

De Frontenac made enemies, likewise, through a haughty deportment, and his jealousies of those around him; two very great defects in the character of a governmental chief. They were the cause of many of his troubles and mortifications when in office. We need not recapitulate here the particulars of his two administrations of New France: suffice it to say, that he had enlarged and sound ideas of what was needful for the agrandizement of the colony he undertook to rule; but the state of the mother country in his day, and the small attention paid to other than European politics by its monarch and his ministers, prevented their all-competent representative in America from carrying out views, nobly conceived, for the development of the resources of the vast but scattered regions of a forest empire, not too magniloquently perhaps, but yet rather inappropriately, styled New France.

The chevalier de Callières, for a considerable time back governor of Montreal, was nominated successor of the count de Frontenac. He was a man well experienced in the colony's affairs, and liked by the soldiery for his intrepidity. His sound judgment, penetrating spirit, and disinterestedness of character, with a coolness of temperament enabling him to master his passions and temper his prejudices, had long made him acceptable to the Canadians, and the savages pliant to his will. The chevalier de Vaudreuil succeeded [Pg 391] him in the government of Montreal: a subordinate post indeed, yet still important; wherein his activity, his engaging mien, his noble bearing and amiable manners, made him popular with all. Convinced at length of the importance of Cataracoui, the king recommended that a capable and intelligent officer should take charge of that outpost, ready to act, with decision and discretion, if a crisis arose.

Be Callières, with respect to the Iroquois, followed up the policy of his predecessor. The treaty with them—which the British colonists counterworked from first to last—signed Sept. 18, as we have related, was solemnly confirmed Aug. 4, 1701, in a general assembly holden under the walls of Montreal.

A spacious enclosure had been fitted up, with benches for the deputies of the confederation, the public functionaries, and the chief inhabitants, male and female, of the locality; a guard of soldiers encircled the whole. Thirteen hundred savages, of many races, entered, and took their places in prescribed order. Never had so many representatives of native tribes been got together before. Here were assembled Abenaquis, Iroquois, Hurons, Ottawas, Miâmis, Algonquins, Pouteouatamis, Outagamis, Leapers (Sauteurs), Illinois; in a word, representatives of every native race, from the gulf of the St. Lawrence to the lower course of the Mississippi. This numerous assemblage presented a curious aspect, from the variety of the costumes, and fantastic ornaments worn by those present. The governor-general occupied a raised seat, where he could see and be seen by all. Thirty-eight deputies advanced and made their symbolic marks on the document they came to ratify. A Te Deum was then chanted. A banquet, salvos of artillery, and discharges of small arms terminated a solemnity which gave assurance of peace to North America; thitherto banished for years, from all its wide-spread regions, between Hudson's Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

The consummation of this great act was accompanied by an event which made a deep impression on the public mind, and proved the respect in which a true patriot is ever held even by his country's enemies. During a public conference, while one of the Huron chiefs was haranguing, the celebrated chief Le Rat fainted away. Those nearest flew to his assistance with the greater anxiety, as [Pg 392] all knew that his potent influence had been employed to bring into such admirable concert, the representatives of so many rival races and lately contending nations, all met to sanction a universal pacification. As soon as he recovered his self-possession, he intimated a desire to express his sentiments to the assembly. An arm-chair was set for him in the midst, and every one pressed near to hear him speak. He rose, and all was silence, while he recited the efforts he had made to bring about a general and stable peace. He dwelt much upon the necessity as well as desirability of maintaining that peace, now that it had been effected; dilating upon its expediency for the behoof of each nation in particular, and manifesting, with superior address, a wonderful knowledge of the special interests of every one. Then turning towards the governor-general, he adjured him to justify, by the fairness of his future policy, the confidence which the heads of tribes reposed in him. Voice and strength now failed him, and he had to sit down. Applause usually followed the oratorical displays of this Demosthenes of the woods; but never on any previous occasion were the plaudits he received so vehement or prolonged as now. Before the procedings terminated, the chief became seriously ill: his supreme hour was near. He was borne to the Hôtel-Dieu (public hospital) of the city, where he breathed his last about two o'clock next morning. The Hurons were inconsolable for his loss. Never did any denizen of the American wilds evince greater genius, more valour, greater prudence, or a deeper knowledge of the human heart, than he did during an eventful career; in which his successes were constant, from the right adaptation of his means to effect any given end, and the inexhaustible resources of his mind in seasons of difficulty. Enthusiastically devoted to the well-being and glory of his nation, he looked upon all means as fair which tended thereto; an instance of which we have already given in his truculent and cautelous dealings with Denonville and the Iroquois envoys.

Kondiaronk (such was this great Huron chief's native name) shone as much in private society as in public assemblies. He was quick at repartee, and his quaint conceits left any rival wit without the ability to return the like. In this respect he was the only man in Canada that could cope with de Frontenac, who often invited him [Pg 393] to his table. He used to say that he knew but two Frenchmen surpassingly gifted in mind,—the governor-general and Père Carheil. The esteem which he had for this Jesuit, induced him, it was asserted, to become a Christian. [306]

His death caused a general mourning. His body lay in state; and his interment was attended by the new governor-general, the colonial head functionaries, the clergy, and all the native envoys then in Montreal. Military honours were rendered by the soldiery to his remains, which were entombed in the parish church of the city. The influence of this chief over the Hurons, paramount during life, lost little of its force after his decease; for the promises, mutually pledged before him during his dying moments, between De Callières and the other Huron representative chiefs, that the French and their tribes should be ever allied, were maintained unbroken to the last.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] All the Barons who obliged John Lackland, King of England, to sign the great Charter, whether subscribed literally or in latinized form, have the appearance of being French names. Thierry: Histoire de la Conquête de l'Angleterre par les Normands.

[2] The three paragraphs after the above mark are additions, by the author, to the Preface, as it stood at first.—B.

[3] This illustrative allusion seems rather odd: how applicable it may be, we cannot divine.—B.

[4] The historians of this continent have not had to overcome the difficulties which long embarrassed those of Europe, in respect of the origin of races. They can, without difficulty, indicate the point of departure of the waves of emigration from the Old World, and follow their traces onward, even into the obscurest valley of America.

[5] A quaint but expressive compound epithet, borrowed, by the author, from Alexis de Monteil, author of "l'Histoire des Français des divers Etats;" a work of prodigious but thankless research.—B.

[6] Histoire Romaine. We adopt here the data of the above-named learned and ingenious historian; also Niebuhr's.

[7] His book, dedicated to Pope Clement XII, bears the title of "The New Science" (Scienza Nuova). The Biographie Universelle contains a long article on this author and his works.

[8] "The order of St. Benedict gave to the olden world, emasculated by slavery, the first exemplar of labours accomplished by free hands. That great innovation was one of the bases of modern well-being." Michelet. The cloisters of the Benedictine monks, whose order was founded in Italy late in the fifth century, became asylums for those who fled before the tyranny of Goths and Vandals. It was the Benedictines who preserved in their cloisters, for the world's after-use, the small remnants of anterior learning and science surviving among men.

[9] M. Maillefer: De la Puissance et des Institutions de l'Union Américaine.

[10] The ready amalgamation of these races with the Anglo-Saxons of America, was chiefly due to the common Protestantism of all four.—B.

[11] So reported by Aristotle and Theophrastus. This strange as well as cruel proceeding will not appear so improbable, if it be true, as Montesquieu asserts, on credible authority doubtless, that the Punic Council of One Hundred had a singular practice of drowning all aliens who dared to trade in Sardinia or in regions near the Columns of Hercules.

[12] Le Bailli d'Angel: "Essai sur cette question, Quand et comment l'Amérique a-t-elle été peuplée d'hommes et d'animaux?"

[13] Isoard Delisle: "Histoire des Atlantès."

[14] Even in the 17th century, Shakspeare made his Moorish hero accreditingly discourse upon the assured actualities reported by the lying or credulous travellers of the time: for instance,

"Of antres vast and deserts idle,

Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose head touch heaven,

It was my hint to speak, such was the process;

And of the cannibals that each other eat,

The anthropophagi, and men whose heads

Do grow beneath their shoulders. These things to hear

Would Desdemona seriously incline," &c.

Othello, act i. sc. 2.—B.

[15] La Peyrère reports that the Norwegians discovered Greenland, A. D. 770, when voyaging to Iceland.

[16] Pliny gives some account of the Canary Isles, upon the authority of Juba, a contemporary king of Mauritania, calling them Fortunatæ Insulæ ("the Happy Islands"); Nat. Hist. vi. 33. Some of the ancient writers placed the fabled Garden of the Hesperides in the Canaries; others again, located them in Cyrenaica; also at the foot of Mount Atlas, &c.—B.

[17] Called, at first, the "Cape of Storms."—B.

[18] Herrera.

[19] His son Ferdinand reports that it was by mere accident he first came to Lisbon; adding, that after an engagement with some Venetian armed galleys, both the vessel of his father and the enemy's galley took fire, and Columbus, fearing for his life, threw himself into the sea; contriving to reach the Portuguese shore, distant some six miles.—History of the Admiral, ch. 5.

[20] History of the Admiral: Bossi.

[21] We think the author here gives honour where it is scarcely due. Auzout was indeed a passable astronomer and an excellent optician; but a kind of astrolabe was used by Ptolemæus; and that of later times was but a graduated circular rim with sights attached, for taking altitudes at sea. M. Garneau probably means Halley's quadrant (since superseded by the sextant,) and which at first took the name of "octant," from being, in its outline, an eighth of a circle.—B.

[22] Ferdinand II, of Aragon; Isabella, his consort, queen regnant of Castile: the twain afterwards becoming conjoint monarchs of all Spain.—B.

[23] Charles VIII, Henry VII.—B.

[24] Palos de Moguer, a petty seaport of Andalusia, on the river Tinto, and S. W. coast of Spain. At present it is a trading dependency of Seville.—B.

[25] M. Garneau writes 90 only—a mistake. Some of the hands were impressed men, who, for Columbus' sake, had better been absent, few as the rest were.—B.

[26] The natives knew it as "Guanihani." Some doubts have arisen lately as to the first landing-place of the Spaniards; there being reason to suppose that it was in another of the group, now called Turk's Island.—B.

[27] Herrera; Robertson.

[28] "Verazzani's narrative of his voyage in 1524," says Bancroft, "is the earliest original account, now extant, of the coast of the United States. He advanced the knowledge of the country; and he gave to France some claim to an extensive territory, on the pretext of discovery."—Hist. U. States; I, 17.—B.

[29] In the department Ille-et-Vilaine; now containing a population of about 10,000.—B.

[30] Such as "le Cap Royal;" "le Cap d'Orléans," near Miramichi; "le Cap de Montmorenci," &c. See Voyages et Découvertes en Canada. Quebec, 1843.

[31] "There are, between the land, S. and N., about thirty leagues and more of 200 fathoms deep. And the savages have certified this part to be the route and commencement of the great river of Hochelaga, also which, constantly narrowing, leads straight up to Canada; as also have affirmed, that the water of said ocean stream is fresh, saying it comes from such a distance that no man ever traced it to its sources, so far as they had heard: observing, that the passage through it was only by means of bateaux. Hearing all this, and being assured that there was no passage but this, the said captain willed to proceed no farther until after having seen the rest of the coasts to the N. and S."—Contemporary relation of the second Voyage of Cartier.

[32] Documents de Paris, t. 5, published by Lit. and Hist. Soc., Quebec.

[33] Some writers are dubious of the reality of this voyage, the fourth of Cartier; which Lescarbot, alone, as it seems, taking notice of, has been passed over by other reporters. But that author says distinctly, that "the King being engaged in affairs of state of an onerous nature in France itself, was unable to send bodily succour to his colonial subjects; who, besides, ought to have been able by that time to extract from the country itself the means of subsistence.." And again: "Roberval was sent forth to serve the King in those regions; for I find, from the relation of the said Quartier (sic), that he passed eight months seeking him, after Roberval was there (in Canada) seventeen months." The account by Roberval himself confirms what Lescarbot reports about the lack of provisions, viz.: "Roberval sent back to France two of his ships in order to bear advices to His Majesty, afterwards to return to him next year with such provisions and other things as it might please the King to send for his use."

[34] Recherches de M. Cunat sur Jacques Cartier, consigned in a paper annexed to the procès-verbal drawn up by the commissioner named by M. Hovins, knight of the Legion of Honor, mayor of St. Malo, for the recognition and receipt of the remnants of "la petite Hermine," which were sent to him by Joseph Hamel, Esq., Surveyor and Arpenteur of the city of Quebec, who discovered the imbedded hull of that vessel some months before, at the very spot where it was abandoned by Jacques Cartier, in 1536; that is, 307 years previously.

[35] "Justice has not been thus done upon the persons of these men because they were Spanish aliens, but in respect of their character as traitors, thieves, and murderers."

[36] Chief Judge of the Superior Court of Normandy, as President of the Parliament of Rouen.—B.

[37] "The colony of Huguenots at the south sprang from private enterprise. A government which could devise the massacre of St. Bartholomew (begun Aug. 24, 1572), was neither able nor worthy to found new states."—Bancroft, Hist. U. States, i. 24.—B.

[38] M. Pol de Courcy, in 1854, published an article in the Journal de Québec, tending to make appear that it was not in the year 1598, but in 1578 that the marquis de la Roche came to America. "Here we find ourselves in contradiction," writes he, "to the relation of Father Charlevoix (Histoire et Description générale de la Nouvelle France), followed afterwards by the abbé Prévost (Histoire générale des Voyages); and, in our own times, by M. Léon Guérin (Exploits des Navigateurs français); who all say that La Roche did not make use of the first commission of Henry III. We think therefore, that if La Roche made, as is probable, only one voyage to America, it took place in 1578, and not in 1598; and we reject equally, as fabulous, the obstacles Charlevoix affirms, which potent personages, whom the zeal of the marquis for the catholic religion pleased not, found means to raise, in order to paralyze the effect of the good will the king bore towards him." In order to disprove this opinion of M. de Courcy's, Mr. H. E. Chevalier has cited in le Pays journal, published in Montreal, a great number of authorities, and an extract from the letters patent granted by Henry IV, Jan. 12, 1598, to the marquis de La Roche, showing clearly that the latter had not turned to account similar letters accorded him by Henry III in 1576-8.

[39] This passage refers to the famous treaty of Nantes, a royal edict signed April 15, 1598. It was drawn up at the instance of Henry IV by president de Thou, Gaspard de Schambourg, Dominic de Vic, Jeannin, and Soffrein de Calignon, members of the council of State. It was composed of 92 articles, all in favour of the French protestants, and granting to them guarantees, moral and material, for the security of their lives and fortunes, and the free exercise of their religion.—B.

[40] Laët: Histoire de l'Amérique.

[41] Oldys: American Annals.

[42] R. Beverley: History of Virginia.

[43] M. Garneau, in narrating the failure of the earliest of the English colonisations in North America, has put himself in disaccord with the best-accredited accounts of other historians, in several particulars. Here are what we believe to be the facts of the case:—Sir Humphrey Gilbert, authorised by a "patent" (charter) from queen Elizabeth, equipped a small squadron with which he sailed from England in the year 1579, in view of founding a permanent territorial settlement in America, but losing one of his vessels, and experiencing other disasters, he was fain to return home. Gilbert and Raleigh (step-brothers) conjoining their resources, fitted out new vessels, aboard which they went forth, in 1583. Arriving in Newfoundland, they took ceremonial possession of the country, in their queen's name. No attempt at colonisation took place, however, nor even any exploration; unless, indeed, we term as such the falling upon a mineral vein in the territory somewhere, which Raleigh mistakenly believed was silver ore. Shortly thereafter, the vessels set sail for England; but that commanded by Sir Gilbert foundered on the way.

In spring, 1584, Raleigh, again chartered by the queen, despatched two ships of observation, commanded by Amidas and Barlow, master mariners, directing them to coast the seaboard of North America along its southern face. This they did for only about 100 miles; their first landing-place being an island of the Ocracock group. They next coasted Albemarle and Pamlico sounds along with Roanoke Island, in Virginia (not Florida); when, having taken a general view of the country, and tested the dispositions of its people, forming a favourable opinion of both, they returned to England.

Next year (1586), Raleigh, now knighted, did indeed equip an expedition, in view of founding a colony in the region above noted; the country having, at the same time, the name assigned to it of "Virginia," in compliment to the queen. The flotilla now despatched was composed of seven vessels, in which were embarked, besides the crews, 108 intending colonists, under the governorship of Ralph Lane. The adventurers were landed at Roanoke; and forthwith proceeded to lay the foundations of a settlement. The injudicious severity of Sir Richard Grenville, however, who caused an Indian town to be burnt, to punish a petty theft by one of its people, evoked a spirit of enmity, at the outset, which ultimately made the position of the English quite untenable. And thus it was, that the colonists had to leave in the following year.—B.

[44] The French at that time held on to Acadia, because it covered their fisheries; the English coveted it because the peninsula lay in the road of their encroachments. Setting apart Argall's personal motives, he made no scruple of thus attacking a French colony in time of peace, founded on debatable territory, for he knew that his countrymen were willing to solve a moot question of national rights by a preliminary seizure.

[45] The commencement of the reign of Louis XIII was signalised by intestine troubles, which were but indifferently appeased by the pacification of St. Ménehould, in the year 1614.—B.

[46] "The Spanish ambassador, noting the almost general anarchy prevailing in France, advised his master to profit by the occasion to dismember the kingdom, rather than to consolidate it by the marriage of his daughter with Louis."—Anquetil.

[47] "Le Père Cotton, famous for his souplesse and his intrigues," says Dulaure, "was confessor to Henry IV as well as to his successor. His influence over the former was great, though the king liked him little and many of the king's subjects still less." A conceit of the time respecting this Jesuit has come down to ours: Some one remarking that His Majesty always desired to do right, though right was not always done by his agents, a punster exclaimed, "Que voulez-vouz! le roi a les oreilles bourrées tellement de Cotton." (The royal ear is so stuffed with Cotton, that the complaints of his people are shut out.)

In 1611, the first arrival of the Jesuits from France took place in Acadia. Pères Biard and Massé were earliest in this field of missionary labour. In the Relation of the year we find the following passage:—"A great fruit of the mission is the confidence and friendship the Acadian savages have for the French, we being so familiar with them . . . . Some English coming in their way, as we once saw ourselves, they rushed upon them, but success did not crown their assault. And, late in 1611, some Dutch landing to take in water, they fell upon them and killed six with the captain. R. 1611, ch. 24.—B.

[48] The series of years printed at the head of this chapter mark the limits of an epoch in which it may be said that Canada and its dependencies were refounded. The wars of France against foreign powers, and the worse hostilities waged between her own sons, during most of the previous century, had now terminated. The kingdom was prospering under the conciliatory sway of Henry the Fourth; whose deficiencies as a ruler were compensated by the administrative talents, economical spirit, and orderly habits of his prime minister and confidant, Maximilian de Bethune, duke of Sully. There were therefore time, inclination, and pecuniary means ready to be employed in ameliorating the situation of the French settlements in America; which had been allowed, through the troubles and impoverishment of the mother country, to become almost extinct as organised dependencies. [It was, indeed, full time that the vain-glorious title of "New France" should be other than an empty sound; and from this date, the enormous territories which France claimed for herself and called a great colony, though still a huge wilderness merely, should have its skirts at least trimmed with the edgings of civilisation.

M. de Monteil, in his great work, Histoire des Français des divers Etats, writing of early French colonisation, real and unreal, in North America, puts the following words in the mouth of an interlocutor: "The English, for a time, did little more than show themselves in the western seas and touch at various points of their shores. The other nations of Europe remained mere spectators of what was going on. I make an exception of the French, however; their national pride never yet would let them play so simple a part. But still their sea-captains, sent to the scene of action—Verrazano, Cartier, Champlain, Ribou, Villegagnon, Laroque, and several others—did nothing or little more than embark for America, disembark there, build a few wooden forts, leave behind them a handful of miserable wretches (pauvres diables) and return to France forthwith. Nevertheless, you will find, in maps of the time, North America parcelled out with its Terres Neuves, Canada, Florida, &c. There you may see rivers with French names, such as American Seines, Loires, and Garonnes; and new cities (on paper) called Charles-Ville, Henri-Ville, &c. Ah! our geographers have achieved many more conquests than our captains."—B.]

[49] The word Quebec, pronounced Ouabec in the Algonquin vernacular, says Mr. Stanislas Vassal, signifies détroit, a strait. That gentleman (whose mother was an Abenaquis),who speaks several native dialects and has passed most of his life among the aborigines, assures us that the word is purely Indian.—M. Malo, a missionary, in the year 1843, among the tribes of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, also assures us that the word Kébec, in Mic-mac idiom, has the above signification: the rev. gentleman himself had no doubt that the name of Quebec is of native origin. The proper application of the word is adjectival; viz. closed, obstructed.

[It was rather unusual, in any part of colonised North America, English or French, to adopt native names already in use for the sites of settlements. That of Quebec must have been an exception, seeing that Champlain speaks so positively as above: else it were just possible that the name of Caudebec-sur-Seine in Normandy, carelessly pronounced, was transferred by the settlers, many being Normans, to the new town built near a bec de rivière, riverain promontory or bluff.—B.]

[50] Champlain; Lescarbot.

[51] Thus ran the constitutive terms of "instructions" in the early governors' commissions:—" . . . . in times of peace, repose, and tranquillity, to command and govern, both by sea and land; to ordain, decide, and cause to execute all that you shall judge ought to and can be done for maintaining, keeping, and preserving the said places put under your power and authority, in the forms and ways, and by the means, prescribed by Our ordinances. And to enable you to carry out your views, you are authorised to commission, constitute, and establish all offices whatsoever, whether for affairs of war, or of justiciary and police, in the first resort; and, in the second resort, to indicate and present deferred causes before Us, so that these may be finally decided on: such letters, titles, and requisites to be given as may be necessary. And according as affairs occur, you shall in person, with the advice of prudent and capable persons, prescribe—subject to Our good pleasure—all laws, statutes, and ordinances; in so far as they may conform to our own, in regard of such things and concernments as are not provided for by these presents."

[52] Colden: History of the Five Nations of Canada.

[53] Its name, however, is still given to a building, erected late in the 18th century, as an appurtenance to the castle, and which the conflagration spared.

[54] The Recollets exchanged some lands they possessed for others, belonging to M. Hébert, beside the river St. Charles; a stream so named because M. de Ramsay, grand-vicar of Pontoise, wished, if prolonged life permitted, to found a Seminary on its banks, in honour of that Saint, for the instruction of savages.

[55] Authority: Documents collected in France, by M. G. B. A. Ferland, priest in the archdiocese of Quebec.

[56] Father Denis, Jean Dolbeau, Joseph Le Carron (who had been almoner of the King when Dauphin, also to the Duke of Orléans), and brother Pacifique Duplessis, came to Canada in 1615; Fathers Huet and Modeste in 1618.

[57] The material aspect of the towns of olden France was, in those times, quite as ecclesiastical as those of New France. Two-fifths of the entire superficies of Paris were covered with religious establishments or their dependencies: Dulaure. And in the "Mémoires sur le Canada, depuis 1749 jusqu'à 1760," published under the direction of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, we find the following incidental notice of the state of the city of Montreal just 100 years ago: "This city has, properly speaking, but two considerable streets. The domaine of the Sulpicians, and that of the Jesuits, occupy, each of them, a very large space of ground. There are, besides, the convent of the Recollets, that of the Hospitalières, and that of the Sisters of the Congregation. Out of the city bounds there is still another convent, into which are received insane and infirm persons."—B.

[58] In a yearly Relation of the Canadian Jesuits, printed about this time, their superintendent at Quebec thus delivered himself on the subject of suitable and unsuitable modes of dealing with territorial apportionments in the colony:—" .... and for the conversion, &c., of the natives, an Indian colony (peuplade) of converts should be formed, with due means of support;" adding, that "it is a great folly to lay out baronies and I know not what great fiefs besides, for parties able to expend upon their holdings no more than 3000 or 4000 crowns (£150 or £200 sterling) for example; saved from the wreck of their fortunes in France. Such vain personages are not even 'one-eyed leaders of the blind,' but entirely blind, walking themselves and leading others into the slough of despond (fosse de misère): and it will fall out, that, in place of founding a respectable manor (château chrétien), they shall set up a nest of robbers (brigands), a receptacle of gallows-birds, a house of iniquity."—Vol. I. ch. ix. 20.—B.

[59] This is not to be wondered at, seeing that the art of printing was not called into exercise (mirabile dictu!) in Canada during any part of the time of French occupation.—B.

[60] See the astounding details, all well authenticated, regarding this matter given in "l'Histoire des Français des divers Etats, par A. A. de Monteil, siècle 17," passim.—B.

[61] Charlevoix and Raynal say 16,000; but the charter testifies the number stipulated to have been as above.

[62] The translator is answerable for all the above particulars regarding the origin of "baronets of Nova Scotia," substituted for those given by M. Garneau on this point and others immediately following, which are either quite incorrect, or at best inexact.—B.

[63] Champlain: Memoir appended to the edition of 1632. Captain Stuart's ship probably made part of the fleet of admiral Kertk, who, according to the report of Haliburton, subdued Cape-Breton without resistance, and built a fort in the island, before ascending the St. Lawrence.

[64] Henrietta-Maria, youngest daughter of Henry IV and Mary de Medicis.—B.

[65] La Tour, junior, in a memorial (placet) presented to Louis XIII, in the year 1627, had asked for a command in Acadia. How well worthy he was of the charge, we need not say.—B.

[66] Charlevoix.

[67] The translator, on referring to the first edition of l'Histoire du Canada by M. Garneau (that of 1845), vol. I, chap. I, pages 90 and 91, finds three paragraphs most of the sentences in which have been suppressed or greatly modified in the last edition of the work. He has thought it fitting to reproduce them, as they stood at first:—

"In forming establishments of Protestants in the New World, Coligny executed patriotic projects, which England came afterwards to profit by, and of which we daily see the immense results. The admiral desired to open an asylum in America for all his co-separatists from the established religion of the country; whereby, inhabiting a dependency of the kingdom and forming an integral, if distant, part of one extending empire, they might therein enjoy the same advantages as the orthodox people of their common mother-country. That project was one of the most beautiful conceptions of modern times; and since it did not succeed, although at the outset supported by government aid, it was because the Catholic party, which had always predominating influence over French royalty, constantly opposed the realization of Coligny's views; sometimes covertly, sometimes openly. This is especially true of the state of things at the epoch the annals of which are now passing under our review. The long period of time which elapsed from the expedition of Roberval till that of the marquis de la Roche in Acadia, A. D. 1598, was entirely taken up by the struggle France had to maintain against the Powers of the German empire and Spain, or by the prolonged and sanguinary wars of religion, rendered so sadly memorable through the massacre of St. Bartholomew; and which wars were terminated by the treaty of Vervins. During all this space of time, the attention of the chiefs of the state was absorbed by a series of memorable events, the effect of which was to shake the French empire to its very foundations."—B.

[68] Lescarbot gives to New France a still greater extent: "Our Nouvelle France," says he, "is composed of all the western territories on the hither side of the Pacific Ocean; and, downwards, to the tropic of Cancer. To the southward, it reaches as far as the Antilles. Its eastern parts are bordered by the North Sea; and, to the north, it adjoins the glacial region called Terra Incognita, from the Frozen Ocean to the Arctic pole." But these boundaries were more imaginary than real; since, in Lescarbot's time, even the entire valley of the St. Lawrence was not satisfactorily known. It would be hard to say what habitable or uninhabitable portions of North America, whether continental or insular, with the exception of Mexico, were not boldly claimed as sections of "New France."—B.

[69] Keefer. ["If we consider Lake Superior as the true source of the St. Lawrence, the length of the river, including a curved line drawn through the centre of that lake and extending to Cape Rozière at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, is 1859 miles." National Cyclopedia.]—B.

[70] None of the Laurentides attain so high an elevation as to form a bulwark against the freezing gales descending from the arctic regions. Cape Torment, one of the most considerable of our mountains, is, as we have seen, but 2000 feet high; and in the Saguenay country, where the face of the territory is often rugged, the hill summits do not range higher than from 200 to 1000 feet above the sea-level.

[71] For these data the author accredits Mr. Keefer. They differ considerably, as to the superficial area of the five great lakes, from all others we have seen. M. Garneau does not give, it will be observed, the area of lakes Erie and Ontario. The writers of the National Cyclopedia (art. Canada), aver that the waters of lake Superior cover more than 43,000 square miles; lake Huron, 16,500; lake Michigan, 13,500; lake Erie, 10,900; lake Ontario, 12,600. Total, above 96,500 square miles.—B.

[72] The ancient sea-margins observed in the central basin of the St. Lawrence, which in some places are recognisable at a great elevation, form a subject for interesting speculation. The aspect of the country between Montreal and Cape Torment, some 200 miles long and of about 3000 square miles superficial area, says Sir William Logan, "presents a varied surface rising in many places by abrupt steps (the marks of ancient sea-margins) into successive terraces, some of which are from 200 to 300 feet above the level of the river. These terraces are occupied by extensive beds of clay and sand."—B.

[73] Copper ore has been found in abundance near the shores of Lakes Huron and Superior; while, more recently (1860), rich veins of the same have been found at Acton, &c., in the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada.—B.

[74] The Academy of Sciences, in Paris, at an early date, occupied itself with Canadian Natural History. Its members requested Louis XIV, in 1707, to engage Dr. Sarrazin, a French regimental surgeon who had come out with some military twenty years before, to send a collection of plants to the Jardin-du-Roi, and the king complied with their wishes. Sarrazin was a man of great accomplishments. He died at Quebec, in 1734, aged seventy years.

[75] Persons who emigrate to Canada after middle age, from Britain, find its climatic vicissitudes rather trying to their constitutions; and the mortality among children under seven years of age, (even those born of Canadian parents,) is considerably higher than in Great Britain. Authority: Dr. Archibald Hall, Montreal.—B.

[76] None of the Laurentides are of surpassing height. Cape Torment, among the most considerable, rises 2000 feet above the water level. In the highlands of the Saguenay, the eminences range between 200 and 1000 feet only. Captain Bayfield says that the culminating point of the range is near Lake Superior, and rises to a height of 2100 feet.

[77] Just as the Celtic race in the Scots Highlands understand the Erse or Irish language, although it is spoken and printed differently from the Scots Erse or Gaelic; neither being intelligible to the Anglo-Scotian or Hiberno-Saxon people of Britain.—B.

[78] Albert Gallatin. A Synopsis of the Indian Tribes.

[79] The first two forms are French, the second two English. Father Jérome Lallemant, long a missionary among the Hurons, called them Ouendats, as above; but Champlain called them Attigouantants; while Colden denominated them Quatoghiers. "Album Littéraire" of la Revue Canadienne, 1845, p. 14.

[80] A considerable number of Indians, of Micmac descent, still inhabit that peninsula.—B.

[81] Hence, the term "Indians of the Five (also Six) Nations," often occurring during the border wars of the 18th century between the colonists of the British plantations and those of New France.—B.

[82] Raynal. Settlements of the Europeans in the East and West Indies.

[83] "Concerning the savage nations protected by the government of Canada," in 1736.—MS.

[84] Documents de Paris, 2nd series.

[85] Such an anticipation of inflexible contempt for suffering by captives was seldom an idle boast. In the "Relation des Jésuites" lately printed may be found (Vol. I) startling accounts of the tortures remorselessly inflicted by victors, and uncomplainingly, nay exultingly borne by their victims; this, too, occasionally in the presence of one or more of the missionaries. One wonders that the latter had nerve to be present at such shocking scenes, and still more that they could remain to the end; they taking note of all the particulars till the close of the horrid process of prolonged murder, so minutely described by them afterwards.—B.

[86] The translator has taken the liberty to substitute the above paragraph for a long catalogue of negations, encumbering the pages of the original work; it being needless to enumerate the multitudinous things which Savages have not and cannot have.—B.

[87] For the summary of Indian theology in the above paragraph, the editor alone is responsible.—B.

[88] Leclerc:—"The savages cast the remnants of such, after a feast, into the fire or a river, or bury them. . . . As for the bones of beasts easy to take, they throw them contemptuously to the dogs."—Relations des Jésuites—B.

[89] The Iroquois were, unconsciously, Manicheans: if it be certain, as M. Garneau intimates, that they recognised an all-potent demon called Atahensic, for the God of evil; while Youskeka was their good Divinity.—B.

[90] Another kind of imputed belief, of apocryphal nature, due probably to such leading questions as, we before remarked, were put to the Indians by the missionaries.—B.

[91] The statement thus hazarded by the author shocks all probability.—B.

[92] "Relation" of the Jesuit, Père Lalemant; A.D. 1646. [The Indians of the present day, including the far west, seem not to inhume their dead at all, strictly speaking. Vide the published experiences of Paul Kane, during Travels to and from British Columbia. London: Longmans & Co., 1858-59.—B.]

[93] While turning up the soil at a spot six miles distant from Penetanguishene, near lake Huron, there was found, in 1847, under a thick layer of earth covered with trees 18 inches in diameter, a grave twenty feet broad, full of human bones, body wrappings, furs (some of these being beaver-skins), all in good condition; along with more than a score of copper kettles of various sizes, hatchets, conchs, and a quantity of other but smaller shells, of species not found in the lakes of the country; some of which had been formed into ornaments for the neck.

[94] Therein, the Indian women followed the plainest dictates of nature. The established practice, among ourselves, of weaning children at too early an age, violates natural laws, and has been condemned by many of the most eminent of the medical faculty, both in Britain and on the Continent of Europe. See the medical evidence in proof of the above opinion, cited in an able work, "Solution du Problème de la Population et de la Subsistance, par Charles Loudon, M.D." Paris, 1842.—B.

[95] "Call them barbarians as much as you will, they (the savages,) have at least a well-regulated language."—Relation des Jésuites (1633).

[96] Bancroft.

[97] Spencer Smith: History of New York.

[98] Travels of Humboldt and Bonpland.

[99] We read in the second of the Soirées de St. Petersbourg of the Count Le Maistre, that the savage is the descendant of a civilized ancestor; and this supposition is not improbable. "The languages of savages," says the Count, "have been viewed, erroneously, as in an early stage of imperfection; whereas they are, and can only be, the wrecks of antique tongues ruined, if I may so express myself, and as degraded as those who speak them." It is while treating this matter that Le Maistre, giving the rein to his imagination, gets out of all reasonable bounds in his speculations, and expresses his belief that beavers, swallows, and bees are degenerated human beings! [Few British readers will much respect any opinion upon so important a subject as the origin of races or that of human speech, enounced by such a flighty-witted philosopher, "with brain to wrong side leaning," as the titled littérateur above cited.—B.]

[100] Letter from M. de Frontenac to the Minister of State, dated Nov. 13th, 1673: Documents de Paris, série 2e.

[101] Such is the statement of M. Garneau, but it is not quite accurate. Here are the facts:—The stigma affixed to the memory of Brant, in the poem itself, remains as first written; but in the notes of the later editions, Campbell made a species of inadequate amende, in the following terms: "I took the character of Brant from the common histories of England . . . . To Britons and Anglo-Americans it is that we must refer the chief blame in this horrible business [the desolation of Wyoming, Pennsylvania, in 1778], at which Brant was not even present . . . . Some years after the poem appeared, the son of Brant, a most interesting and intelligent youth, came over to England, and I formed an acquaintance with him, on which I still look back with pleasure. He appealed to my sense of honor and justice, on his own part and that of his sister, to retract the aspersions which, unconscious of their unfairness, I had cast on his father's memory . . . . Among other expressions to young Brant, I made use of the following words: 'Had I learned all this [from documents produced] when I was writing my poem, he should not have figured in it as the hero of mischief.' It was but bare justice to say this much of a Mohawk Indian, who spoke English eloquently, and was thought capable of having written a history of the Six Nations. I learned also, that he often strove to mitigate the cruelty of the Indian warfare. The name of Brant, therefore, remains in my poem a pure and declared character of fiction." Illustrated edition of the Poetical Works of T. Campbell. London: Moxon, 1840.—It is to be hoped that the Brant family was quite satisfied with this recantation.—B.

[102] G. P. Muller, Voyages et Découvertes des Russes.

[103] Albert Gallatin.

[104] "Some men have become famous for building large edifices of conclusions upon a knife-edge breadth of facts." Lawrence Sterne—quoted from recollection.—B.

[105] Father Acosta supposed that America had been peopled from the north of Asia or of Europe, or by passing through territories which, he imagined, neighboured the Straits of Magellan.

[106] The Chickmeques, who settled on the Lake of Mexico, and the Mexicans who subjugated them, came from California.—Herrera.

[107] "The condition of the Indian tribes comes next. The Indians! the Indians! Whether subjects of history or heroes of romance, or mixed up in the miserable ephemeral literary trash of the day, they are always exaggerated, disfigured, caricatured. They have been represented, by some, as brave, high-minded, and capable of sustaining extraordinary privations: sometimes as cold, stern, taciturn; sometimes as gay, lively, frolicksome, full of badinage, and excessively given to gambling; sometimes as cruel, and even man-eaters, delighting in the infliction of the most horrible tortures. Some will tell you that they have no religious notions, no conception of a great First Cause; others, that they have a simple natural religion.

"Some of the earlier historians represent the Natchez as worshippers of the sun, or worshippers of fire; as having a temple dedicated to the sun, keeping up a perpetual or vestal fire. They conclude, of course, that these Indians must have been allied at least to the Peruvians or Mexicans, if not descended from the fire-worshippers of the East. The truth probably was, that in some miserable cabin or wigwam, a few chunks were kept burning, as is the case in every Indian encampment, and indeed in every well-regulated kitchen. The fact is, that neither the pen of Cooper, nor the more eloquent and fascinating style of Châteaubriand, can inspire the slightest interest for their Indian heroes and heroines, in the mind of a man who has been much among the aborigines, and knows something of their real character and habits. With respect to those nations which yet exist, we are able to see for ourselves, and correct the false impressions which earlier writers may have produced."—Inaugural Discourse of Henry A. Bullard, Esq., President of the "Historical Society of Louisiana." New York: 1846.—B.

[108] "But as for our habitation," said M. de Caën, "my people have found it utterly consumed, along with 9000 beaver-skins, valued at 40,000 livres."

[109] "Memorial which was written respecting the Recollet Fathers of the province of St. Denis of Paris, and the right they have had, ever since the year 1615, to repair to Quanada [sic], by the authorisation and in virtue of the mission of the sovereign pontiffs; under favour of which they built a convent and church at Quebecq [sic], and have originally celebrated the holy mysteries in divers parts of said country." The document thus intituled was drawn up by Père Potenlan, the supérieur. The Recollets, in effect, asked permission therein to be allowed to resume their labours in Canada; and replied to the objections which were raised against that resumption.

[110] The opinion thus expressed derives negative confirmation at least from the sentence rendered by the provostry of Paris, July 11, 1637, in re "The Jesuits of Quebec versus Jacques Hersaut and Demoiselle [dame] Hélène Boulée, veuve Champlain." Champlain, become paralytic, had by a will, signed at Quebec, bequeathed part of his estate to the Jesuits.

[111] From the 24th of October, 1621, when the Quebec parish register was begun, till 1629, there were but six marriages and two baptisms among the Europeans in the colony. The first marriage, solemnized Aug. 1, 1621, was that between Guillaume Couillard and Guillemette Hébert, whose numerous family extended through the whole Quebec district, but more especially on the southern river-board below Point Lévi. May 12, 1621, the first marriages in New England took place.—Rev. J. B. A. Ferland: Notes sur les Registres de N. D. de Québec.

[112] [We find the following notice of Champlain, in the Relation of the Jesuits, in a paragraph penned by Père LeJeune, regarding the Fête of St. Ignatius, July 1633: "This day, Sieur de Champlain and the ship captains then in Quebec came to gain the Indulgences awarded to those who attended chapel, on occasion of the festival of our holy father, Ignatius Loyola. A number of Hurons were also admitted, after vespers. The chapel being as handsomely ornamented as our small riches allowed, the savages were quite struck, for we had set up the images of our Saint François Xavier on our altar. They thought these were living beings, and asked if they were not ondaquis (divinities), and the tabernacle their house; also, if they used as habiliments the altar ornaments. There were also three images of the Virgin Mary, in as many places. They imagined these images represented three persons. Being told that the Virgin Mary was mother of the Creator, they laughed, and asked how any one could have three mothers? Oh! that we could have the mysteries of our Faith well figured. The images aid us greatly, and speak to the eye of themselves." pp. 37-8.]—B.

[113] A city of France, (dept. Seine-et-Marne, situated on the river Marne, 36 miles N. E. from Paris). Bossuet was bishop of the diocese; hence his eulogiac name "the Eagle of Meaux." His body, interred in a vault of the cathedral, was discoffined a few years ago, and found to be in a wonderful state of preservation.—B.

[114] Relation des Jésuites, an. 1640.

[115] This place still bears the commander's name; but the Indian village has been transferred to St. Ambroise de Lorette, at the foot of the Laurentides.

[116] We are informed, in the Relation of this year, by Père Le Jeune that the Pope (Urban VIII) had just before heaped benedictions on the Canadian Jesuits, and sent them "plenary indulgences for the festival of the Conception, and that of our glorious protector, St. Joseph." We may infer that these donatives were turned to account on the next recurrence of the festival; for, in the Relation of 1637, we are informed that on St. Joseph's day immense rejoicings took place at Quebec. A few fireworks being played off, to the astonishment of some Huron savages present, the Governor bade them observe, as he set light to the chief piece, that "the French were more powerful than the demons; that they were masters of the element of fire, and that they could at any time burn the dwellings of the enemies of France." Relations, ch. 2.—B.

[117] "Histoire de Montréal (1640-1672)," MS. de Paris; a document bearing no author's name, a copy from which was brought to Canada in 1845 by the Hon. L. J. Papineau. This manuscript, attributed to M. François Dollier de Casson, priest of St. Sulpitius of Paris, and third superior in succession of the Seminary of Montreal, is extremely carious.

[118] In 1638, the "Seminary of the Hurons," or of "Notre-Dame-des-Anges," was founded or opened; Père le Jeune observing, upon the occasion, that it had been realized, "despite the powers of hell, banded in full force against it." Rel. 1638, ch. IX, p. 231.—B.

[119] Gallatin; Colden. The latter reports, that, according to a tradition current among the Iroquois, their ancestors once inhabited the environs of Montreal.

[120] Les Servants de Dieu en Canada, par M. de Laroche.

[121] Authority: Father Vimont. 1642-4.

[122] The truth is, that both parties were playing a hypocritical part; for we find, in the Relation of the Jesuits for the year 1643, on page 71, this significant passage: "The use of fire-arms, refused to infidel savages by the governor, but accorded to Christian neophytes, is a powerful means of gaining them (the savages in general). It seems as if our Lord wills to serve himself, by this attraction, to make Christianity acceptable in these regions."—B.

[123] Several of his companions were killed or tortured. He was cruelly beaten with sticks: and was on the point of being burned alive, when he was saved, as if by miracle, by a woman; who got her son to convey him to New Belgium for a ransom, after four months of captivity.—Relation abrégée de quelques Missions des PP. de la Compagnie de Jésus, &c. 1653.

[124] The Ailleboust family was of German descent.—Madame de la Peyrouse, wife of the great navigator of that name, was a Miss d'Ailleboust of Argenteuil. (MS. penes M. de Gaspé, curé of St. Eloi.)

[125] The author's text has been departed from in this paragraph, and the following details we add, as given in the Relation of the Jesuits for the year:—

"After the indiscriminate slaughter was over, the persons whom the Iroquois had set aside for a more cruel death, were tied to stakes fixed in the floors of several huts, so that the victims might have no means of escape when fire was set to the dwellings. This the savages did ere they departed; while, previously, manifesting the diabolical pleasure they felt as they left the place, on hearing the lamentable cries of the victims amid the flames that were consuming them. Mothers might be seen bound together with their children, husbands with wives, suffering a common martyrdom,—for most of them were christians. One aged woman alone escaped. She found means to reach the village of St. Michael, where were, at that time, 700 Huron warriors. These had been on the look out for the Iroquois, but had not been able to find them. Now made aware of their nearness, partly for want of provisions, partly from a fear of not being able to cope with the enemy on equal terms (the Hurons having fewer muskets than the Iroquois), the latter were allowed to retire loaded with booty. Captives they did not care to be encumbered with, so far distant as they were from their own country." See Relations, &c. an. 1649, ch. iii, p. 13 et al.—B.

[126] The Great Manitoulin is the largest and most central of a chain of insular territory stretching S. E. and N. W. across the upper region of Lake Huron. St. Joseph's Island is the most westwardly of the whole archipelago. It is worthy of remark, perhaps, that the Manitoulin or Holy Island of the North American Indians has been selected, in our own day, as a suitable and convenient territorial refuge for the "broken clans" of the aborigines. Previously occupied by the Chippawas and Ottawas, it was, along with many other isles in Lake Huron, surrendered by them, in 1836, into the hands of Sir F. B. Head, then lieutenant-governor of Canada; who proposed to collect upon the Manitoulin, not only the wandering bands of the north shore, but also the tribes settled in all parts of the upper province. The scheme however, proved a failure: the only Indians who availed themselves of the offer, were some from the United States, and others from the shores of Lakes Superior and Huron. To aid in establishing these upon the island, the village of Mahnetooahning was built by the government. The only other settlement then existing in the island was the village of Wikwemikong, founded a short time before, chiefly by Ottawa Indians from Michigan. The soil of the island is generally good, and the waters within and around it productive; yet the settlements are not progressing so well as they did some years ago. Nearly all the families of the island are cultivators or artisans. The whole population, as returned in 1857-8 by Messrs. Hannipeaux and Ferrard, resident catholic missionaries, was 1227 souls, of whom 977 were set down as catholics and 104 as protestants, with 145 "pagans." See Official Report on "Indian Affairs" for 1858, pp. 61-7.—B.

[127] Relation des Jésuites, 1643-44.

[128] The Canadian government functionaries, who in such a case would be passive instruments in the hands of the king and his ministers, had no power of their own to accept or reject such a proposal as was now made; hence the long delay in sending a reply. When it did come, it must have seemed to the New-Englanders an odd way of receiving a peaceful offer, that of making a demand the parties proposing it should embark in war! As to the broad distinction made between Iroquois heathen and Huron (pseudo) christians, it would necessarily be disallowed by the popery-abhorring sects of the English provinces. Neutral parties would have said that the thin varnish of Christianity put upon the minds of the Indians by the Jesuits, might have been as easily rubbed off as the oil from their bodies; and, if so, the appreciable difference between dull surfaced and lustrous savages, could not be, after all, a thing of much account.—B.

[129] In the Relation of the Jesuits for the year 1653, we find the following notice on the penury of the colony:—"The war with the Iroquois has dried up all sources of prosperity. The beaver are allowed to build their dams in peace, none being able or willing to molest them. Crowds of Hurons no longer descend from their country with furs for trading. The Algonquin country is dispeopled; and the nations beyond it are retiring further away still, fearing the musketry of the Iroquois. The keeper of the Company's store here in Montreal has not bought a single beaver-skin for a year past. At Trois-Rivières, the small means in hand have been used in fortifying the place, from fear of an inroad upon it. In the Quebec store-house all is emptiness. And thus every body has reason to be malcontent. There is not wherewithal in the treasury to meet the claims made upon it, or to supply public wants."

[130] According to the writers of the Relations, this was a repetition of a ventral noise something like Ho!—B.

[131] Fathers Lemoine, Chaumonot, Dablon, Lemercier, Mesnard, and Fremin, were the annunciators of the faith in the Iroquois country.

[132] "William's-town;" mistakenly called "Orange" by M. Garneau and others. "Fort Orange" was a fortified outpost near by. Both places were named in honour of the prince of Orange-Nassau. When the British took the New Netherlands, Williamstadt was re-named Albany, in compliment to James II, then "Duke of York and Albany." Fort Orange was erected in 1612-14.—B.

[133] An Iroquois tribe, the Onnontagherounons, had shown a strong desire to be allied with the French, to be christianised, and to have some of the French to live among them; but the Jesuit Pères found out that the real aim of these overtures was to obtain new fire-arms and get French workmen to repair the bad; and this obtained, then to massacre them all! Père Ragueneau escaped, with others, from the country. The Iroquois revenged themselves on the Père's Huron captive neophytes (slaves of the Iroquois), male and female burning alive even their young children. Rel. 1657, pp. 1-6.—B.

[134] On the 10th of July, 1658, M. d'Argenson, a few weeks after his arrival in Canada, ascended the St. Lawrence with an armed flotilla, intending to go as high as Montreal; but reaching Lake St. Pierre, the wind became contrary, and so it continued for some days. Losing patience, he turned helm, and went back to Quebec.—Rel. of Jesuits, sub an. 1658.—B.

[135] Relation des Jésuites.

[136] Histoire de Montréal, by M. Dollier de Casson.

[137] Journal des Jésuites. This manuscript is in the hand-writing of Pères G. Lalemant, Ragueneau, and Lemercier, successively superiors of the Jesuits in Canada, during the years 1645 to 1672.

[138] Etat présent de l'Eglise et de la Colonie dans la Nouvelle France, by the bishop of Quebec (St. Vallier): "The people of Port-Royal (Annapolis) appeared to be desirous, though against their pecuniary interest, to moderate the brandy traffic with the natives, if we thought fit; even desiring I would procure new ordinances regarding it, and asking that those existing should be enforced, in order that the conversion of so many barbarians should not be impeded; the passion for liquor among them seeming to be the only insuperable obstacle to their becoming perfect Christians."

[139] The intercessor for the offender was Père Lallement, says Charlevoix.—B.

[140] Journal des Jésuites.

[141] It was a remark of the great Lord Clarendon, that the clergy in general are, of all men taught to read and write, those least fitted to manage properly the ordinary business of daily life. History of the Grand Rebellion.—B.

[142] Morton and Josselyn.—[M. Bibaud, who treats the story as "a pious fraud," denies that any earthquake occurred in the parts of America above stated, at the time; and certainly the annalists of the conterminous Dutch and English colonies make no mention of any thing of the kind.—B.]

[143] "The Shrove days of this year [the four flesh-days before Lent] were signalised among others by surprising and fearful earthquakings, which began ½ hour before the close of the Salut of Monday 5 February, day of the festival of our Holy [Jesuit] Martyrs of Japan, namely, near 5½ o'clock [p.m.], and continued for the space of about 2 Miserere; and again in the night, and afterwards during the days and nights following at intervals, at one time strongly, at others weakly felt: all which did harm to certain chimneys, and caused other light loss and petty damage; but was of great benefit to souls . . and they continued till 15th March or thereabout pretty perceptibly."—Journal des Jésuites, sub an. 1663.

[144] "This month, a change took place in the Council: Monsieur the governor having, of his own authority, removed those who composed it, and inducted ten others, four and four for each four months of the year; afterwards the syndics were cashiered, and several other novelties set up."—Journal des Jésuites, April 1662.

[145] The translator, being doubtful whether he has caught the meaning of this concluding sentence of the chapter, subjoins the sentence as it stands on page 147: "Quel regret d'avoir perdu un monde qu'il aurait été facile d'acquérir, un monde qui n'aurait coûté que les sueurs qui fertilisent les sillons et qui fondent les empires."—B.

[146] Description de l'Amérique Septentrionale, by M. Denis.

[147] Book the third, chapter first.

[148] Histoire de l'Hôtel-Dieu, (of Quebec.)

[149] Memorial of the King, addressed to M. Talon.

[150] Not a few individuals of these interesting classes still come from Europe, every year, to bestow their uselessness upon the Canadas.—B.

[151] As early as the year 1673, Frontenac wrote that "the King intended that the seigneurs should no longer exist but as engagistes, and as useful lords." Dispatch of Nov. 13th, 1673; Documents de Paris, série 2.

[Perhaps some readers may better comprehend the import of the above sentence if thus expounded:—A Canadian territorial lord, or grantee holding lands in fee, ranked in law as a kind of trustee only for the lord paramount, namely, the king; whose representative, the intendant-royal, was empowered, on being advertised that a seigneur had refused or neglected to concede a vacant farm to a cultivator, to grant the applicant the concession demanded. It appears, therefore, that feudal tenures in New France, were (practically at least) of no stringent character, compared with those in force in the mother country, or in any other feudally-based monarchy of Europe.—B.]

[152] It is hoped that verbal critics will let this useful neologism pass.—B.

[153] Banalité: the right possessed by the holder of a fief to oblige his vassals or tenants to grind their grain at his mills, to bake their bread in his oven, to use his wine or oil press, &c., or else commute the right by giving all or part of the dues exacted by the seigneurs for the use of his mill, oven, or press. This banal right, recognised in all countries of Europe wherein the feudal system prevailed, arose towards the end of the 10th century. It was abolished in France by a vote of the Constituent Assembly in 1790. Dictionnaire des Dates—B.

[154] Vide the summing up of the judgments passed by the seigniorial court, as reported by M. Angers, advocate. [Corvée: in a feudal sense, labour and service exigible by a seigneur from a renter on his lands, or from the peasantry on lands reserved for his own use, or in making and repairing roads leading thereto. Dict. des Gens du Monde.—B.]

[155] In olden French feudality, descent en ligne directe strictly meant, from father to son only.—B.

[156] On his side, the renter was subject to the like obligations quoad the seigneur, which the author has omitted to state.—B.

[157] In Scots feudal law terminology, "power of pit and gallows;" that is, a right to hang, drown, brand, &c. These powers most of the nobles and many landed gentry of North Britain exercised on their estates, from time immemorial, till the bill abolishing "heritable jurisdictions" was passed, in 1748.—B.

[158] De la Tenure Seigneuriale en Canada, by Mr. J. C. Taché. [In the translation from the original of the foregoing summary, the editor, at the risk of offending the eye of the reader, has appended to each of the more important technical terms and phrases contained in it, the literal French words used, for some of which it is difficult, not to say all but impossible, to find exact English equivalents, even by resorting to periphrases.—B.]

[159] "The inhabitants have settled upon the sides of the river," said M. de Meulles, "on account of the ready means of communication by them, and the facility of going everywhere." And thus wrote M. de Champigny, in 1699: "The soldiers newly settled, place their habitations along the banks of the river, in the government of Montreal."

[160] Vol. I, p. 161, lines 1-13. The translator is not sure that he has caught the meaning of the author in the lines cited, which, when literally rendered into English, read unsatisfactorily.

[161] The anomaly here deprecated exists in England and Ireland, where clergymen of the Anglican establishment are (very improperly as we think) allowed to act as justices of the peace.—B.

[162] Talon: Mémoire sur l'état du Canada.

[163] The dates of events cited in the author's text indicate that Baron d'Avaugour, not M. Dupont, is the person meant.—B.

[164] M. Talon had twelve successors. The royal intendancy was maintained till the domination of France ceased.—B.

[165] Blessed state of things! which could not, or rather did not endure, when a multiplicity of words did not darken knowledge; when legal subtlety, unscrupulously exercised, ran no bend sinister across the fair escutcheon of protective jurisprudence. But now, as Figaro says, "les tribunaux, considérant que souvent les parties perdraient une bonne cause par ignorance des moyens, on admet des tiers:" shrewdly adding, however, "mais ils n'ont pas entendu qu'ils deviennent des insolents privilégiés; ce serait dégrader le plus noble institut."—B.

[166] Échevins: officers elected by the inhabitants of a city or town, to manage their corporate affairs, and attend to the wants of the public in regard to the state of the streets, the erection and maintenance of public edifices, the condition of private dwellings, &c. Échevins were known to Paris in Charlemagne's time. The same kind of functionaries were called consuls at Montpellier, capitoules at Toulouse, and jurats at Bordeaux. The office itself was abolished throughout France by a decree of Dec. 14, 1789. Dictionnaire des Dates.—B.

[167] In the original: "il fut répondu (to the members of the opposition) que la convocation des assemblées n'était pas de la compétence du conseil"—meaning that the said power was vested in the governor, acting in his personal capacity?—B.

[168] Some readers perhaps need to be told, (adverting to the word "even" in the text,) that in France, down to the year 1789, neither the nobility, nor the territorial nor titular gentry, nor the clergy, nor the members of religious or educational institutions, nor law corporations, were liable to pay any direct taxation, or forced contribution whatever, however great might be the needs of the state, or the intolerable weight of public burdens laid upon the people. Historical Sketches of Feudalism, (see Library Catalogue of Montreal Mechanics' Institute,) by A. Bell, London, 1852.—B.

[169] Gouvernement des Colonies Françaises, by M. Petit.

[170] "The seignorial justiceships," says M. Garneau, "had power to entertain accusations of every kind of offences, except those of lese-majesty divine and human, coining base money, carrying arms without a licence, illicit assemblings, and assassinations." In Scots law, which was copied chiefly from French, as the court of session and the high court of justiciary were modelled on the parliament of Paris, such flagrant crimes as most of the above (not cognisable, either, in the baron courts of Scotland) were called "the four pleas of the crown."—B.

[171] Grinding tyranny was too often exercised, and the most atrocious acts were perpetrated, under colour of lordly justice, in the courts of nobles having baronial jurisdiction, with almost unlimited power over the persons and goods of their vassals, retainers, and serfs, in all the feudally constituted European monarchies (say rather organised anarchies, such as the "kingdoms" of Poland and Hungary, for example) throughout the Middle Ages, and down to a late period of the 18th century in some of them. The time of abolition of the system in Scotland, only 112 years ago, we have noted already. A considerable part of the income, latterly, of needy or greedy Scots nobles, of the old stamp, was derived from the exorbitant mulcts, as commutations for corporal penalties, they inflicted on those who came within the gripe of their merciless agents, who vigilantly lay or sat in wait to incarcerate their masters' subjects in seignorial dungeons. A fine, more or less exorbitant, according to the luckless party's presumed means, with the alternative of undergoing frightful duress, was the sure penalty for every petty misdemeanor committed within a lordly domain. Vide the Editor's Hist. Sketches, &c., quoted above, and the authorities therein adduced; also the far more copious details on the subject, given in the New Annals of Old Scotland by the same.—B.

[172] Sic in orig. The editor can find no trace, anywhere, of there having been such a title assigned to a law functionary in France. There was indeed once a lieutenant-general de police, a kind of edile, appointed (first in 1667), who attended to the salubrity and out-door manners of the French capital; making reports annually of its state to the parlement (supreme court).—Dict. des Dates. M. Garneau indeed adds, that "the lieutenant-general of the Provost's court was charged with the police of Quebec, which city he caused to be kept clean by his ordinances;" and if so, his duties must have been rather of an incongruous nature.—B.

[173] These observations are rather strong, perhaps, but not unjust. In the habit of relying upon precedents, often of conflicting character, has originated the proverbial saying in England, of "the glorious uncertainty of the law." Precedential awards, as distinguished from statutory, the late Jeremy Bentham aptly styled "judge-made law." A regular code is the greatest of all wants in England, Ireland, and the British dependencies. Scotland is somewhat better off; and this is much owing to her legal procedure, both civil and criminal, having been originally based on olden French foundations.—B.

[174] In the articles of the convention of 1625 between the company of the Hundred Partners and M. de Repentigny, deputy of Canada, by which the inhabitants resumed the peltry traffic, it was stipulated that the latter should be charged with the maintenance of the ecclesiastics then in the colony, and fulfil all the obligations the Company had contracted in favour of the religious bodies.

[175] The confiscation of church property, and the abolition of ecclesiastical dues in France, consequent on its first revolution, must have pressed sorely on the material interests of Monseigneur Hubert, the ninth bishop of Quebec.—B.

[176] The Roman catholic establishment in France had franchises secured to it by pragmatic sanctions, or special contracts, with several of the popes at different epochs. In most cases, if not all, these were extorted from the papal see when its pontiffs were in difficulties. The latest and most important of pacts then first called concordats was signed August 15, 1516, at Bologna, on the part of Leo X, and Francis I; the first article in which abolished the election of bishops, abbots, and priors, theretofore vested in the clergy of cathedral chapters, the members of religious houses, &c., and accorded to the pontiffs the right to fill up vacancies in French dioceses, upon nominations made by the sovereign. That contract ill answered to its name and proved to be a discordat in France, the parliament of Paris long demurring to register it, and the University (a clerical corporation) also refusing its sanction until March 22, 1517, and even then only on "the express command of the king, reiterated several times." Several objections were made in after years, the French clergy vainly trying to obtain its revocation, particularly in 1579, and again in 1585, they as a body demanding the revival of the pragmatic sanction which it superseded. Dictionnaire des Dates.—The (so-called) concordat of 1801-2, sanctioned, under compulsion, by Pius VII, demands no notice here.—B.

[177] The Dictionnaire des Dates seems to indicate that the Montreal Seminary owes its origin to the founder of the Company of Sulpicians (in 1641), Jean-Jacques Olier (nat. 1608, ob. 1657). "Il créa," says the above authority, "au Canada et en France plusieurs séminaires des Sulpiciens." "In 1647, the Sulpicians of Paris acquired, by purchase, all the proprietary rights of the first possessors of the island of Montreal." M. Bibaud.—B.

[178] Mémoires sur M. de Laval. This prelate ruled, that the clergy of his diocese should be directly under the superior of the seminary; who, in turn, was responsible to himself. He continued to the parish charges (cures) the name of "missions."

[179] The "Eagle of Meaux" assumed as a postulate, that "the pope has authority in spiritual things only; and that even as to these, the judgments of general councils are paramount to his: while papal decisions have the character of infallibility only after the [collective] church has accepted them."—B.

[180] We quote the words of the decree textually:—"Nous ayant été rapporté, que divers seigneurs et habitants de notre pays de la Nouvelle-France, désiraient avoir des curés fixes pour leur administrer les sacrements, au lieu de prêtres et curés amovibles qu'ils avaient eu auparavant, nous aurions donné nos ordres et expliqué nos intentions sur ce sujet les années dernières, et étant nécessaire à présent de pourvoir à leur subsistance et aux bâtiments des églises et paroisses.... nous ordonnons ce qui suit:

"Les dîmes, outre les oblations et les droits de l'Eglise, appartiendront entièrement à chacun des curés, dans l'étendue de la paroisse où il est, et où il sera établi perpétuel, au lieu du prêtre amovible qui la desservait auparavant.

"Le règlement du conseil souverain au sujet de la quotité des dîmes est confirmé.

"Si cette dîme ne suffit pas pour l'entretien du curé, le seigneur et les habitants fourniront ce qui manquera.

"Enfin, dans les cas de subdivision de paroisses, les dîmes de la portion distraite appartiendront au nouveau curé, sans que l'ancien puisse prétendre de dédommagement."

[181] It may not be quite supererogatory to intimate here, that the epithet secular used above and often elsewhere, is the verbal antithesis of the counter-epithet regular. The "regular clergy" are the collective orders of religieux, or churchmen bound by monastic rules, whether cloistered or not. By the "secular clergy" is meant the catholic priesthood in general, its prelates, &c. included.—B.

[182] This was François Harlai de Chauvalon, of unsweet memory; upon hearing of whose death, in August 1695, Madame de Sévigné thus wrote to her daughter:—"Il s'agit maintenant de trouver quelqu'un qui se charge de l'oraison funèbre. On prétend qu'il n'y a que deux bagatelles qui rendent cet ouvrage difficile, la vie et la mort [du défunt]."—B.

[183] There seems to be a discordance of dates above, which the translator is unable to rectify or account for. The figures in the original work are exactly reprinted.—B.

[184] Louis XIV, died Sept. 1, 1715, and was succeeded by prince Louis his great-grandchild; Philip, Duke of Orléans, becoming regent.—B.

[185] Grand-chantre, he who led in chanting or singing certain parts of the catholic church service. Theologal, the canon who teaches theology. Grand pénitentier, a canon employed by the bishop to grant or withhold absolution in reserved cases. The hierarchal duties of the other heads of the chapter enumerated above, are nearly similar to those of kindred title and rank in the Anglican establishment.—B.

[186] The date cited in the text refers to the publication of the first number of the "Quebec Gazette," which appeared in the year above mentioned. It was started by Messrs. Brown & Gilmour; was a small sheet, and printed partly in French, partly in English. Its proprietors were the earliest typographers known to Canada, and were doubtless, by birth, men of the intrusive race.—B.

[187] Probably never was a struggle for empire in an extensive country carried on with such small means, as those at the disposition of the heroic few who tried to preserve Canada for France, during six eventful years; and certainly never was so great a territorial acquisition gained with so small an amount of military force, or in so short a space of time, as that led to victory by General Wolfe. His army, which never much exceeded 8,000 men, was further reduced, by antagonistic sword and bullet work, and by guards left at outposts, to hardly 5,000 men in the field. This small band may be said, by its success on the plains of Abraham, Sept. 13, 1759, to have virtually gained Canada for Britain in the first half of ONE DAY.—B.

[188] Histoire de l'Hôtel-Dieu (of Quebec). Mémoires de la Vie de M. Laval. Gazette d'Amsterdam du 14 avril, 1719. [The epithet great, properly affixed above, with whatever meaning by the author, to the name of the wise and good Arnault, will be taken in its rightful sense by all sincere protestant readers at least. For such of them as are not well acquainted with the theological dissidences in the Gallican Church, commencing about the middle of the 17th century, it may be mentioned that the doctrines of "Jansenism," denounced as above, were chiefly derived from a treatise intituled "Augustinus," being an exposition of certain doctrines propounded in the works of St. Augustin, as interpreted by Janssens (latinized Jansenius) bishop of Ypres, in Holland. Jansenism was after all, in substance, a reproduction of much of the theology to be found in the Institutes of Calvin; and the Jansenists were called, by some British writers, the "Protestants of Romanism." Jansenism having found much acceptance among the more independent-minded or speculative members of the several Catholic communities in Europe, but especially those of the French theologians and their adherents who were firmest in maintaining liberties reluctantly accorded to the Gallican church, including the truly great and pious Pascal, author of the immortal work just named by M. Garneau; a redoubtable phalanx, we say, of the most eminent men in the established church of France had openly or covertly adopted Jansenian sentiments, when a bull, known as the "Unigenitus" from its commencing vocable, was launched as a thunderbolt, in the year 1653, by Innocent X, and intended to crush Jansenism for ever, at one blow. In this indignant and minatory document, drawn up in no temperate terms nor with any spirit of conciliation sundry propositions, culled from the Augustinus, were denounced, not merely as heretical, but as "impious" and "blasphemous." A great controversy ensued, obstinate on one side perhaps, and certainly bitter on the other. At times, it seemed likely to split the Gallican church in twain, and, during a century at least, affected the otherwise even tenor of the religious annals of France.]—B.

[189] Siècle de Louis XIV.

[190] "Monseigneur the bishop objects to the nomination of a procurator-general and of the councillors in place of those the governor pretends to be interdicted. Monseigneur further observes, that neither his conscience nor his honour, nor his fidelity to the royal authority, could permit him to approve of the functionaries of the said council being convicted of the crimes laid to their charge in the accusatory interdiction."—Register of the Sovereign Council.

[191] Louis XIV here laid down a principle of state policy which he, with autocratic means at command, could not, at least did not, carry out himself; yet he now imposed the onerous task upon a subordinate. Un-executable or compromising delegation by principals, is not confined to matters of state, or unknown to the co-relations of private life, as in the management of estates, or that of industrial establishments, in domestic charges, &c.—B.

[192] A letter from the sovereign-council to M. Colbert, given at length in the official memorials (procès verbaux) of 1668, contains, inter alia, the same recommendations.

[193] Orignal, or orignac, (Alces Americanus,) the Canadian elk.—B.

[194] "In 1665, a party of French under Courcelles, marching into the Iroquois country, lost their way, and arrived in the greatest distress at Schenectady, where Corlaer, a Dutchman of some consideration, had founded a colony. This man, by a simple artifice, saved them from the Indians, who were met at that village in sufficient numbers to have destroyed their invaders. He gave them refreshments, and sent them away. This circumstance was gratefully remembered by Courcelles; and, in 1667, a treaty of peace was signed between the Five Nations and the French, which lasted many years." Frost's Hist. of the U. States, p. 96, edit. 1838.—B.

[195] At that time, the lower and middle Laurentian waters were largely frequented by this animal (le marsouin blanc); but in our days the greater activity of floating trade, and, more than all, the constant beating and churning of the river by steamers, has caused the porpoise to disappear from the river borders, and made it scarce even on the nethermost shores of the estuary.—B.

[196] In forming a duly balanced estimate of past and present trade, the great difference in the respective tonnage of the vessels employed forms, however, a chief item in the account. As navigation extended and improved, ships ever became larger. The caravels of Columbus and the navires of Cartier were what English sailors would call mere 'cock-boats;' and French trading-vessels, during the 17th century, were not larger than British river craft in our day. Even thirty years ago, there was not one vessel, in the whole French commercial marine, of as many as 700 tons burden!—La Patrie.—B.

[197] This regiment probably owed its name to a prince of the sovereign duchy of Savoy, in the French service. Prince of Carignano is still the title of the heirs-apparent of the kings of Sardinia.—B.

[198] Abridged statement of the contents of the roll of families (census) of the colony, taken from the "Official Correspondence of Paris," vol. I, p. 134:—

Quebec,	555
Beaupré,	678
Beauport,	172
Ile d'Orléans,	471
Saint-Jean, Saint-François, Saint-Michel,	156
Sillery,	217
Notre-Dame-des-Anges, river St. Charles,	118
Côte de Lauzon,	6
Montreal,	584
Trois-Rivières,	461
	——
	3418

—of whom 1344 males fit to bear arms.

[199] For example: a female, of debauched life, having by chance come to Canada, was immediately sent back to France. And, in further proof, here is a citation from the Notes of M. Ferland:—"In support of the testimony rendered to the pure morals of our ancestors, let me adduce evidence from a record not likely to flatter; namely, the register-book of all the christenings which took place in the Quebec jurisdiction, to the year 1672. Of 674 infants who were baptized, from 1621 to 1660 inclusively, only one was of illegitimate birth. It is to be noted, that, during much of this time, every child born of French parents in the entire colony was christened at Quebec. Between 1661 and 1690, only one entry appears of a child of unknown parentage.

"Insomuch that, during a space of sixty-nine years, amidst a population composed of soldiers, mariners, travelling traders, and new colonists of every kind, two children only were born out of wedlock, these returns practically belie the calumnies of La Hontan, and other adventurers of the like stamp."

[200] De Frontenac served at first under Maurice Prince of Orange. He afterwards had military experience in Germany and other European countries. He was entrusted by Ferdinand with the command of a force sent to the relief of Candia, invaded by the Turks. Funeral Oration du Comte de Frontenac, pronounced on the 16th December 1698, by H. Olivier Goyer, Recollet Friar, MS. in the Library of Quebec Seminary. [The grade of maréchal des camps, assigned to de Frontenac, has been Englished as above, as the nearest equivalent grade in the British service. A maréchal de France, as then used in the royal or since under the imperial regimes, is and was a much superior military grade, being now, in fact, the highest of all French distinctions.]—B.

[201] M. Garneau, in his text, gives the Count's bombastic and servile harangue, seemingly in full, as he found it in the council record of the inauguration, September 17, 1672. After enlarging upon the aggressions of the king on neighbouring nations, he observed: "All these prodigies, scarcely ever equalled, ought to increase the love and veneration which we must needs have for that incomparable monarch who, we see, is so visibly the favourite of Heaven, and constrain us to give more and greater proofs of our devotedness and fidelity to him." Taking his cue from the minister's directions about his judicial "integrity," the haranguer made the following moral reflection, certainly out of place in a laudation of "prodigies" of the politically profligate, if most "glorious" part of the reign of Louis. His viceroy thus proceeded: "It is upon justice that the best ordered states are based; and communities which are in a nascent state, have yet more need that their functionaries should observe its conditions with exactitude and promptness."

Let M. Dulaure tell us what followed the prodigies which M. de Frontenac so intensely admired: "The passion for military glory of Louis XIV prompted him to make some conquests, and these conquests raised all Europe against him. This king lighted a vast conflagration, the extent of which he had not foreseen, and the devouring progress of which he could not arrest. He continued from necessity, a struggle which he had begun from pride. Battlings were incessant at every point of the frontiers; on land and sea, the French were everywhere engaged in war." Men and money at length were not to be had, and the vain-glorious king was fain to make peace on such terms as his injured and insulted neighbours were willing to grant. The reign of Louis XIV was of a tripartite character. The first was signalised by the nation-disgracing intrigues and war of the Fronde. The second, that of the king's virile years, says M. Dulaure, "was signalised by continual banquetings, spectacles, masques, ballets, carousels, great hunting parties, &c. To these succeeded castle and palace building, with sumptuous gardens, all constructed and laid out at enormous expense, wars yet more costly, triumphal memorials, venal incensings of his own deeds, accompanied by scandalous relations with mistresses, &c. The third epoch was characterised by national reverses, famines, and other public ills, with persecution of religionists. At court reigned insupportable ennui, resulting from the royal jaded appetite and uncultivated mind, bodily impotence, all accompanied by abject submission to Jesuit Confessors."—Histoire Physique, Civile et Morale de Paris; Période XIII. Par J.-A. Dulaure.—B.

[202] Here the count is made to liken the composition of his unlucky convention to the assemblies of notables in France; yet, below, the minister deals with the allusion as if it referred to another and very different body, viz. the whole estates or assembled orders, high middle and low, secular and ecclesiastical, of the entire French people, appearing by their deputies, named to transact special affairs of state. Assemblings of the latter composition had an existence in France, before monarchy itself; and the kings of all the dynastic races were ever jealous of the powers of the states-general, and convoked them only in times of dire extremity. The notables were composed, to use the words of their chronicler in the 14th century, of "the prelates, barons, and persons of knowledge (gens de savoir) then in Paris, and of certain notables," selected from the presidents of parliament (supreme tribunals), before whom parties had to state facts. Latterly at least, all deputies to the assemblies of notables were nominated by the king in council; whereas those to the states-general were sent by electoral colleges of the three orders. Of the assemblies of the notables—far less redoubtable to royalty—the first took place in 1380; the others, successively, in 1463, 1470, 1526, 1596, 1626-7, and 1787 (opening day, Feb. 13). This last assembly of the notables, after manifesting its impotency to cure the ailments of the state, ended by recommending a convocation of the states-general. The most remarkable assemblies of the latter were those of 1614 and 1789. In that of 1614, the deputies of the third estate were very few; and they were treated with open contempt by the nobles. The states-general which met at Versailles May 5, 1789, in a few days became the "national assembly of France."—B.

[203] The usual and also the natural result of a forced conciliation of clashing interests and pretensions, by the strong hand of authority.—B.

[204] Document in M. Ferland's collection of papers.

[205] Colonel Thomas Dongan was named governor of the province of New York in 1682. His administration became memorable as the era of the commencement of representative government in that colony—B.

[206] It may be convenient to mention here, for memory's sake, that the Jesuits were founded, in 1534, by Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish layman, born in 1491; that he, taking holy orders, was elected their first general by the enrolled members in 1541. The society, having been fully recognized, as a religious confraternity, by pope Paul IV during the previous year, Henry II gave the Jesuits ingress to France in 1551; and soon afterwards they had the chief charge of the scholastic instruction of French youth. They were banished from France in 1596, but restored in 1603. They remained in great credit, with successive rulers of France, till the year 1764, when they were banished. Soon partially recalled, they were finally excluded from France in 1767. A brief of Clement XIV, dated July 21, 1773, suppressed the society, nominally at least, in every part of Christendom. But by a brief of Pius VII, dated 25th April, 1801, the society was re-organized once more. This re-constitution, however, did not find acceptance in all catholic countries: in France, especially, it was ill looked on consequently, when the body overspread the new French Empire in 1804-5, they took the name of "Society of Fathers of the Faith," but, soon after the second Bourbon Restoration, viz. in 1816, they virtually resumed their original name, in the collective appellation "Society of the Faith of Jesus." After the Revolution of 1830, even this name had to be disowned to the French public, and has undergone variations since, into the history of which we do not enter.—Dictionnaire des Dates, and other authorities.—B.

[207] Père Vimont, superior of the Jesuits; Relation, &c., A. D. 1639-1643.

[208] Relations, &c., A. D. 1660.

[209] Relation of the Missions to the Outadoüaks during the years 1665 and 1670.

[210] Letters from Pères Allouez and Dablon.

[211] Official Memorial of M. de Frontenac, dated Nov. 14, 1674.

[212] There was some foundation for this report, as alligators abounded, at that time, in the lower waters of the river.—B.

[213] This famous, or rather infamous personage, who is called by M. Garneau "le célèbre voyageur espagnol," was the conqueror of Florida; and has the credit of having been the discoverer of the embouchure of the Mississippi, in the year 1541.—B.

[214] On perusing this passage, which conveys the sentiment but not the exact words of the original, the memory of the reader will naturally revert to St. Peter's answer to the inopportune request of the cripple for an alms: "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give thee....." Acts iii. 6.—B.

[215] Guérin observes that, according to some authorities, La Salle, some time between the years 1669 and 1671, descended the Mississippi, as far as the Arkansas, by the river Ohio. There can be no doubt that the story is a mere figment.

[216] Others say that the place owed its name to a spirit of mockery in some of La Salle's enemies or enviers, who spoke of the locality as being his "first stage on the road to China;" a country which, they predicted, he was doomed never to reach.—Warburton: Conquest of Canada.—B.

[217] Some authors say that he named his vessel the Griffon in honour of the Frontenacs, the supporters in whose family coat-of-arms were two Griffons. [Where all is so uncertain in an important matter, a third suggestion may be as near the mark as the first two. As the Norse or Norman sea-kings bore the raven for a standard, perhaps La Salle adopted the ravens'-master symbol, in right of a hoped-for sovereignty over the American lakes.—B.]

[218] Charlevoix, by following the relation attributed to Tonti, has fallen into some obvious errors respecting La Salle's expedition to the Illinois river. Hennepin, an ocular witness, is assuredly the best authority; corroborated, as his narration is, by the relation and letters of Père Zénobe Mambré. See Premier établissement de la Foi dans la Nouvelle-France.

[219] "The enterprise, which ought to have been supported by all well disposed persons, for the glory of God and the service of the king, awakened dispositions and produced effects of a contrary kind. Thus adverse feelings to him were aroused in the breasts of the Hurons, the Ottawas of the Isle, and other native nations; while, among these tribes, the sieur de La Salle found fifteen men, whom he had sent out to trade for him, engaged, after misappropriating part of his goods, in serving others, instead of pushing onwards to the Illinois country, as they had been directed; and setting at nought the efforts of the sieur de Tonti, their chief, to persuade them to act faithfully." Leclère and Zénobe Mambré.

[220] "A vessel loaded with merchandise belonging to La Salle, valued at 22,000 livres, had just been lost in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; several canoes, also loaded with his goods, were lost in the rapids of the same river. On learning these new misfortunes, [in addition to others, of his enemies' procuring,] he said it seemed to him that all Canada had risen up against his enterprises, with the single individual exception of the governor-general. He asserted that the subordinates, whom he had brought from France, had been tempted to quit his service by rival traders, and that they had gone to the New Netherlands with the goods he had entrusted to their care; and as for the Canadians in his hire, his enemies had found means to detach them also, from his interests."—Yet, "under the pressure of all his misfortunes," says a missionary, "I have never remarked the least change in him; no ill news seemed to disturb his usual equanimity: they seemed rather to spur him on to fresh efforts to retrieve his fortunes, and to make greater discoveries than he had yet effected."

[221] Jean-Baptiste Colbert, whose father was a draper as is believed, was born at Rheims Aug. 19, 1619; and died Sept. 6, 1683. Become a clerk at Cardinal Mazarin's bankers, that minister noted his talents, and gave him a state appointment; meaning, as was said, that he should succeed him as Prime Minister. Dict. des Dates.—B.

[222] Sic in orig., but an incorrect date. See note, p. 277 supra.—B.

[223] The iniquitous decree for its revocation was signed October 22, 1685.—B.

[224] "Two plans for converting the Protestants were discussed in the council of state: one proposed ways of gentleness and persuasion in dealing with them; the other advocated prompt and violent means. The latter was that of the Jesuits: it was preferred. The Jesuits, though clever rogues (fourbes), had very narrow views. They could plan acts of destruction and crimes, but knew not how to consolidate what they did. Hence it is that they never succeeded in permanently establishing any thing: the usual fate of the authors of projects based on immorality and imposture." Dulaure: Hist. de Paris, période xiii, § 6.

The pious Fénelon opposed, as much as he could, the iniquitous means taken to convert the Protestants. He wrote to Madame de Maintenon to persuade the king to use them less harshly. The Jesuit Lachaise, royal confessor, answered the call by erasing his name from the register where it was inscribed as the future bishop of Poitiers. D'Aguesseau, intendant of Languedoc, demanded his own recall, to avoid persecuting the Protestants abounding in that jurisdiction. He wrote a memoir, also, in their favour; demonstrating that the constraint put upon them to renounce their faith was impious. Marshal de Vauban, the most scientific of soldiers and the most enlightened statesman of his time, had the courage to present a memoir to Louvois, in which he proposed to abrogate all the persecuting ordinances that had been issued against the Protestants during nine years before; advising that their demolished or devastated temples should be restored, and their ministers be recalled from banishment; likewise to offer to all those Protestants who had not yet abjured their religion under compression, as some had done, full liberty of choice between the two religions of their country. In this memoir, he deplores the loss to France of one hundred thousand of her people, and sixty millions of specie they had taken abroad; as also the ruin of French commerce, which had been mostly in Protestant hands. Add to all, the double loss of thousands of hardy mariners and brave soldiers, who had passed into the fleets and armies of France's most redoubtable enemies. As for the conversions, real or pretended, made with much trouble, and great cost in bribes, &c., he said, that "the constraint employed in bringing about these conversions had inspired a general horror against the conduct of some ecclesiastics, who surely put no faith themselves in those sacraments which they thus played with (se font un jeu de profaner); that the project of converting by violent means was execrable, opposed in its nature to every christian grace, contrary to public morality and sound civil polity, yea even perilous to the established religion itself." For a proof that sectarianism is always strengthened by persecution, the marshal cited the fact, that, in a few years from the massacres of St. Bartholomew, begun August 24th 1572, on a new estimation being made of the total population of France, it was found that the number of Protestants in that kingdom had increased by 110,000 souls.—Eclaircissements historiques sur les Causes de la Révocation de l'Edit de Nantes, tome premier, pp. 180, 368, 369, 373.—B.

[225] "1681, Sept. 7, Charles II publishes an order in council for the entertainment and assistance of the French Protestants, who have fled hither for shelter; for which the French church in London return him their thanks." Wade: British History.

[226] It is probable the New Yorkers were perfectly aware that Charles was the bond-slave of the French king, and, as such, not to be blindly obeyed. With the aid of the latter, he was enabled to dispense with parliamentary grants altogether; in other words, to reign despotically, and bring humiliations upon the British empire simultaneously. His latest recorded private agreement with Louis XIV, before the time we have now arrived at, bore date March 14, 1681; by which he agreed, on receiving 200,000 crowns for that year, and 500,000 in the two following, to withdraw gradually from the Spanish alliance, which he had taken a pledge to maintain.—B.

[227] The above passage is taken from M. Bibaud's relation of the circumstances attending a remarkable rendezvous. It has been substituted as telling a plainer story, and being also unencumbered with an inapposite anecdote about Fox and Pitt.—B.

[228] This alleged disobedience of the New York colonists to orders from court is either untrue, or greatly exaggerated:—"A measure of James II (passed in 1685, as soon as he succeeded to the throne), highly injurious to the interests of the province of New York, was a treaty of (colonial) neutrality with France, by which it was stipulated, that neither party should give assistance to the Indian tribes in their wars with each other. This did not prevent the French from exciting hostilities between their Indian allies and the Five Nations, but prohibited the English from assisting their ancient friends." Frost's History of the U. States, p. 97, edit. 1838.—B.

[229] In a letter to the marquis de Seignelai (son of Colbert, and minister for the colonies of France), dated May 8, 1686.—B.

[230] True words in sound, but perhaps unsoothful in signification. If the ground on which stands the French fort of Niagara, formed part of a colony conquered by the English, surely the rights of its former possessors devolved on them, even to its farthest limits? It is upon this principle that Canada asserts its claim to the Hudson's Bay territory, and the western regions ending in British Columbia, as the nationally territorial heir of New France.—B.

[231] There seems to be a black case made out here against the English governor of New York. Let us throw some light upon the subject from other and neutral authorities:—"The administration of colonel Dongan was chiefly distinguished by the attention he bestowed on Indian affairs. The confederation of the Five Nations had long existed in the neighbourhood of the colony; and, by a system of wise and politic measures, it had succeeded in acquiring a degree of power and importance never attained by any other association of the North American tribes. They had adopted, among other practices, that of incorporating numbers of their enemies among themselves; and the consequence was, the acquisition of many hardy warriors, and even distinguished sachems and chiefs. When, subsequently, the Tuscarora tribe was vanquished by the South Carolina troops, it was adopted in entirety by the Iroquois, and thenceforward the confederation was called the Six Nations. Before the arrival of Champlain in Canada, they had driven the Adirondacs to a position near Quebec; but the aid rendered by that adventurer, and the use of fire-arms in several battles, turned the tide of war, and compelled the Five Nations to retreat into their own country in the greatest distress. The arrival of the Dutch in the Hudson river, at this critical juncture, affording them a supply of fire-arms, to which their enemies had been indebted for success, they revived the war with such impetuosity and determination, that the tribe of Adirondacs were completely annihilated. Hence originated their hatred to the French, and their grateful attachment to the people of the New Netherlands, which was inherited by those of the province of New York.

"The French had advanced their settlements along the St. Lawrence, and in 1672 built Fort Frontenac on its north-west bank, near lake Ontario; the Jesuits were then conciliating the neighbouring Indians, and converting many of them to Christianity.—Colonel Dongan, perceiving the danger of these encroachments to the interest of the colonies, entered, in conjunction with Lord Effingham, governor of Virginia, into a definitive treaty with the Five Nations, embracing all the English settlements, and all the tribes in alliance with them. This treaty took place in 1684. It was long and inviolably adhered to."—Frost's Hist. of the U. States, pp. 96-7. Edit. of 1838.—B.

[232] In a long Report addressed to the Board of Trade at London, in 1687, Dongan, after characterising the Five Nations as the most warlike people of America, and serving as a bulwark for the English against the French, added, that he disallowed all parley between the christened savages and the Iroquois except at Albany; that he had recalled several hundred savages who had passed into Canada, and given them lands on the Hudson; that it was needful to erect forts to secure the country as far as to the bay of Mexico, because the French now laid claim to it, without other right than twenty years' of (nominal) possession, &c.

[233] The author, in speaking as to the character of this governor on his arrival in the colony, described him as "un homme pieux," an epithet which we Englished paraphrastically, and in too favourable a sense, as it now seems. See p. 290, supra.—B.

[234] "For a considerable time back, Louis XIV had given orders, that the Iroquois prisoners of war should be sent to France, and chained to the oar in the state penal galleys; because, to use the exact words of the royal missive, 'these savages being strong and robust, will be most useful in our convict vessels (chiourmes).'" M. Bibaud: Hist. du Canada, i. 132. One would be tempted to think that the four copper-coloured male colossi, or chained human figures, now preserved at the Hôtel-des-Invalides, Paris, were cast to commemorate the capture of the Iroquois chiefs by M. Denonville, did we not know that they long ornamented the pedestal of the original equestrian statue of Louis XIV in the Place-des-Victoires of that city; and that they symbolised captives of European populations really or pretendedly conquered by that vain-glorious king.—B.

[235] Smith, in his History of New York, pretends that this capture was an infraction of the treaty of Whitehall, signed in 1686, on the part of Louis XIV, and James II, in which it was stipulated that "the fur trade with the natives should be free to French and English alike." The document itself proves the direct contrary. The Frenchman who served the English traders as a guide was shot by order of Denonville, without form of process; an arbitrary proceeding condemned by Lahontan, but justified by Charlevoix.—B.

[236] It would appear that the Iroquois were more advanced in material civilisation, as well as more brave than the people of other nations of the aborigines. The habit of raising grain and storing it, and keeping domestic animals, which in their case, according to M. Bibaud, were "une quantité immense de pourceaux," put them at the head of all the contemporary native races of the central wilderness of the North American continent.—B.

[237] M. Bibaud says, "The humiliation of the tribe was almost the only fruit of the expedition. The savages returned to their country as soon as the French retired from it." Hist. du Canada, i. 138.—B.

[238] Letter to M. Seignelai, August 10, 1688.

[239] Documents de Paris et de Londres. Documentary History of New York, by E. B. O'Callaghan, vol. i.

[240] "In 1688, Andros was appointed governor of New York and New England. The appointment of this tyrant, and the annexation of the colony to the neighbouring ones, were measures particularly odious to the people." Frost's Hist. of U. States, p. 97.—B.

[241] "May 12, 1689. An alliance against France between the Emperor of Germany, William III of England, and the Dutch States-general, concluded at Vienna." Wade's British History, p. 272.—B.

[242] Such an attempt, successful or not, would have been founded on aggressive, not defensive policy; yet by an inattention to dates, and not reciting events in the order of their occurrence, the text of the original impresses its readers with the mistaken idea that Britain and France were at war, when Des Callières proposed to turn the tide of battle into the plantations of British America. Now James II, the creature of Louis XIV, as his brother had ever been before, was still on the throne. He did not quit England till Dec. 23, 1688, and war was not proclaimed till nearly five months afterwards; while an allowance of nearly two more may be made, before official notification of it could reach the colonial authorities of either nation.—B.

[243] "The Five Nations, being at war with the French, made a sudden descent on Montreal, burned and sacked the town, (?) killed 100 of the inhabitants, carrying away a number of prisoners, whom they burnt alive, and then returned to their own country, with the loss of only two of their number. Had the English followed up the success of their allies, all Canada might have been easily conquered." Frost's Hist. of U. States, p. 97.—B.

[244] The latter figures of the author, in the above sentence, have been altered to suit the probabilities of the case. In the original, they are self-stultifying.—B.

[245] One of Argall's despotic decrees ordained, that every person should go to Church (the Anglican, of course) on Sundays and holidays, under the penalty of slavery during the following week for the first offence, during a month for the second, a year and day for the third.—Judge Marshall's History of the United States.—B.

[246] In the text of the original—which has only been partially followed in the translation of this chapter on the Anglo-American colonies, on account of its inexactness−-it is stated that, in 1613, most of the Virginian colonists received a wife each from the company, whose directors, "faithful to the spirit of speculation which now characterises so profoundly this people [English, or American?], sold these women for a weight of tobacco varying between 100 and 150 lbs." Upon this it is to be observed, that tobacco was not then grown in the colony as an article of trade; while it must be owned that it became afterwards its staple commodity, and represented money in many of the early trading transactions of the Virginian planters. When some marriageable women were sent, at the real time not indicated above, as those females were poor for the most part, and paid no passage money, it was natural that the company's agents, in exchange for the outlay incurred, should hire them out to the colonists for a term, taking in advance for their services so many pounds of tobacco; which was certainly not money, but good money's worth.—B.

[247] "The dogma, most important in its consequences, by which they were distinguished, was the spirit of free inquiry, and the one on which they insisted, in all matters of conscience, of private judgment. 'Will you not leave these things to your bishops?' said archbishop Parker, to the Rev. Peter Wentworth. 'No!' answered he, 'by the faith I bear to God, we will pass nothing, before we understand it; for that were to make you popes.'" Wade's British History, p. 140. Unfortunately, the spiritual rights they claimed for themselves, too few of the rigid puritans were willing to extend to those who carried dissent further than they did; witness the deadly persecutions of the quakers, &c. by the New England puritans.—B.

[248] Charlestown and Boston form one municipality, by an arrangement lately effected.—B.

[249] The first was the assembly convened at Jamestown, Virginia, June 19, 1619.—B.

[250] Both returned to England; both figured as parliamentarians or Commonwealth men; and both were executed as traitors, after the Restoration. Peters was a kind of father confessor to Oliver Cromwell.—B.

[251] "1629-30. During these years were two emigrations to New England... The transatlantic settlements preceding the civil war, are calculated to have drained England of £500,000."—Wade's British History.

[252] There is a figment, dear to most American historians, and repeated for verity with the usual annotating, by M. Garneau, that Hampden and Cromwell were about to embark in this fleet; but Mr. Bancroft has proved conclusively that the story must be untrue. Vide his Hist. of U. States.—B.

[253] Frost's Hist. of the U. States, p. 77; edit. of 1838.

[254] Also in the province of New York; but which was, at that time, still the New Netherlands.—B.

[255] We say "free," advisedly; because there were white bondmen, serving out their time as convicts in several of the "American plantations;" not to mention the coloured inhabitants, who were mostly enslaved with others nominally free.—B.

[256] Report of M. E. Randolph to the Board of Trade and Plantations, London, A. D. 1676; in the Collection of Documents relative to the Affairs of Massachusetts Bay.

[257] De la Démocratie en Amérique, par A. de Tocqueville.

[258] Wade's British History, p. 245.—B.

[259] Report of Randolph to the king, in Col. Orig. Doc. of Mass. Bay. See also Judge Story's Commentaries on U. S. Const. i. 52. [The Navigation Acts were abolished by law, June 26, 1849.]—B.

[260] Frost's Hist. of U. States, p. 82.

[261] In justice to the author, whose text (as the present chapter reads in the third edition of the original work) has been almost quite superseded, it is right to repeat, that the editor is virtually responsible for all its contents, with the exception of the last five paragraphs.—B.

[262] It is easy to make an approximation by comparing the progress of the French population since the year 1764. At that time 65,000, it now reaches nearly a million souls. [Sed quære.—B.]

[263] Scarcely had James ascended the throne, than he claimed the arrears of a pension Louis had long allowed his deceased brother to enable him [Charles II] to govern despotically, without a parliament. 200,000 livres were forthwith sent to London, and paid to His Majesty by Barillon, the French envoy. Yet was James always indignant at the idea of his kingdom being considered a dependent state. Louis sarcastically observed, "My royal brother is proud, but he is very fond of our French pistoles." Lingard's History of England, xiv, 15.—B.

[264] In 1701, our total population was 262,000; in 1749, it was 986,000. Frost's Hist. of U. States, p. 371.—B.

[265] These instructions bore date June 7. War was not declared against England till twenty days afterwards.—B.

[266] The armies of Louis XIV were not unused to indulge in hostilities of the most barbarous character, especially in Protestant countries. Witness his two deliberate and premeditated ravagings of the Palatinate; that of 1674 in particular, where a district of more than 30 English miles in length, with the cities of Heidelberg and Mannheim; the towns of Speyer, Oppenheim, Creutznach, Frankenthal, Ingelheim, Bacharach, Sinzheim, and some places of inferior note; all which were plundered and burnt; under the pretence of forming a barrier between the French and their enemies. Another pretext, assigned by Turenne, was that, the year before, a few peasants of the country had outraged a party of his soldiers! Dict. des Dates.—B.

[267] Several of these details were furnished to me by Mr. O'Callaghan, author of an excellent History of New York under the Dutch domination. They were taken from archives reposited in the locality. [The above account, begun so poetically, may be contrasted advantageously for the reader with the following account of the truly atrocious proceeding, in the plain prose of an American historian of good credit:—"The French governor, old Count de Frontenac, collected a body of French and Indians, and despatched them, in the depth of winter, against New-York. This party having wandered for twenty days through deserts, rendered trackless through the snow, approached the village of Schenectady in so exhausted a state, that they had determined to surrender themselves as prisoners of war. But arriving at a late hour on a stormy night, and finding, by means of their spies, that the inhabitants were asleep, without a guard, they suddenly resolved to refuse the mercy which they had been just on the point of imploring; and dividing themselves in several parties, they set fire to the village in several places, and attacked the inhabitants as they fled from the flames. Men, women, and children, shared the same fate. Sixty persons were massacred, and 27 carried into captivity. Of the fugitives, who escaped," &c. (as above). "The French retired loaded with plunder. This atrocious proceeding roused the indignation of all the colonies." Frost's Hist. U. States, p. 99, edit. 1838. M. Boucher owns that the minister of the place was butchered, along with a number of women and children.—Hist. Can. i. 151.]—B.

[268] According to Colden, "the Indians whom the French took prisoners in the battle (butchery) of Schenectady were cut into pieces and boiled, to make soups for the Indian allies who accompanied them upon the occasion." P. 78.—Elsewhere, he says, for every human scalp delivered into the Canadian department, forty livres were paid; adding, "to our credit be it said, such barbarism was not pursued by the New Englanders."—B.

[269] Albany must be meant; New York city is distant from Schenectady (per New York Central Railroad) 161 miles.—B.

[270] M. Boucher, who reports that two of the party were killed, and one wounded, in assaulting the fort at Schenectady; adds also, that the commander of that place having passed to the other side of the river, with some soldiers and savages, laid down his arms (surrendered to the French) next day.—B.

[271] Documents des Paris.

[272] He had orders to relieve, in passing, the fort of Kaskibay, in Maine, then understood to be invested by the French; but it had surrendered to the French under M. de Portneuf.

[273] Documents des Paris.

[274] The "load" would be of the lightest, we opine.—B.

[275] Belknap: History of New Hampshire.

[276] "This union, besides other advantages, will be terrible to the French, and make them proceed with more caution than they have lately done." Randolph to Mr. Blaithwait, Board of Trade, London, 1686.

[277] This adventurer, born at Pemaquid, was the son of a blacksmith, and tended cattle when a lad. Having learned ship-carpentry, he built and equipped a vessel, became a trader, and thus learned practical navigation. Having obtained command of a war-ship, he undertook to raise a Spanish galleon, sunk in the sea near Cuba, in which was found gold, silver, &c., valued at £300,000. For this feat he was knighted by Charles II.

[278] "There was still a further inducement: they hoped to recommend themselves to the king's favour, and to obtain the establishment of their (self) government." Hutchinson: History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

[279] See the Major's own journal of the expedition, given at length in Smith's History of Canada.

[280] This medal may be seen in one of the cases of the historical collection, arranged, in chronological order, at the Museum of the head Mint, Quai de la Monnaie, Paris. The device is "Kebeka liberata: m. d. c. x. c." Inscription on the exergue (couched in somewhat better literal Latinity at least), "Francia in novo orbe victrix."—B.

[281] Official correspondence of the time.

[282] In one respect, and that not the least creditable, the French were better paymasters than the English, if a statement in M. Garneau's text (which we prefer to give in a note) be authentic; namely, that the state premium paid for the body of a dead Iroquois was ten crowns (dix écus), while the premium allowed for each live Iroquois was twenty crowns; upon which he makes the reflection, that "the latter premium did honour to French humanity, being so rated as to induce the savages not to massacre their prisoners, as they were accustomed to do." But what rather goes against this honourable inference is, that other savages (not red men) were "quick to shed blood" in that way, during these sanguinary colonial wars. Our author then proceeds thus:—"In the English colonies, people were more commercial, and less humane: they allowed no premiums for prisoners. A soldier [French apparently] received ten louis for the scalp of a savage; a volunteer twenty; and if he had to hunt the Indian like any other wild animal, he could claim 50 louis for his scalp. This difference, also, explains the diverse characters of the two nations. The English shunned social intercourse with the aborigines; the French, less speculating than their neighbours, listened more willingly to their missionaries, who recommended a premium for taking live savages, from religious motives." Vol. i. pp. 326-7, 3rd edit.

[283] The North-American colonists, of which ever nation, British, French, or Dutch, had much to answer for, who, to subserve a temporary purpose, first instructed the red man how to use fire-arms. Previously, Indian wars, whether internecine or against the European colonies, were short, decisive, and for the latter not productive of abiding evils.—B.

[284] In a contemporary report, entitled "A true and modest relation" of this affair, in the Broadhead collection of documents, the total number engaged, on the American side, it is written, was 120 militiamen and 146 savages; and that Schuyler's loss of men, during the whole expedition, was only 37. This is probably an under-statement.

[285] This must have been a dreadful season of suffering for the harassed Canadians. The details given above go far to verify the following brief notice of the times given by the writer:—"Although Schuyler was compelled to retreat, the French suffered heavy losses in several encounters; and the spirit and animosity of the Five Nations were excited to such a pitch, that when their allies retired, they continued to wage incessant hostilities on the French during the whole winter." Frost's Hist. U. States, p. 101.—B.

[286] The massacre of Lachine, and other succeeding enormities committed by the Iroquois on the French, were doubtless perpetrated in revenge for the treacherous conduct of M. Denonville. The admission made above induces us to append to this observation, the following relation of what we presume to have been an exercise of "le droit de représailles," by the governor of New France:—During winter 1691-2, "Count Frontenac succeeded in capturing two Iroquois warriors, of the Mohawk nation, whom he condemned to die by torture. One of them despatched himself with a knife, which some Frenchman threw into the prison; but the other, disdaining such pusillanimity, walked boldly to the stake; singing, in his death-chant, that he was a Mohawk warrior, that all the power of man could not extort an impatient expression of suffering from his lips; and that it was ample consolation to reflect, that he had made many a Frenchman suffer the same pangs that he must now himself undergo. When attached to the stake, he looked round on his executioners, their instruments of torture, and the assembled multitude of spectators, with the composure of heroic fortitude; and after enduring, for some hours, a series of barbarities too atrocious to be recited, his sufferings were terminated by the intercession of a French lady, who prevailed with the governor to order the infliction of that mortal blow, to which human cruelty has given the name of coup de grâce, or stroke of favour." Frost's Hist. U. States, p. 101.—B.

[287] Fought May 19, 1692, and two following days. The French fleet consisted of 63 ships. 23 of the largest of these were destroyed, and others taken. The British did not lose one vessel of any kind. There was a considerable body of troops on board the French ships, for the invasion of England; a project which was of course adjourned sine die. That great victory also dealt a brain-blow to Louis' intention of restoring James Stuart to the throne whence he was expelled righteously, if only for his unpatriotic subserviency to alien interests.—B.

[288] A redoubt was erected on Cape Diamond, and an out-work (fort) added to the castle of St. Louis, also the two embattled gates of St. Louis and St. Jean.

In the year 1854, when demolishing the old wall which separated the outwork above mentioned from its dependent garden, a brass plate was found bearing a Latin inscription, of which the following is a translation: "In the year of human redemption 1693, under the reign of the very august, most invincible, and very Christian king of France, Louis the Great, fourteenth of the name, the very excellent Louis de Buade, Count de Frontenac, for the second time governor of New France—the rebellious inhabitants of New England, three years before, having been repulsed, put to rout, and completely vanquished by him, when they besieged this city of Quebec, (the same parties) threatening to renew the siege of it this year, (the Count) has caused construct, at cost of the king, this citadel with the fortifications appurtenant, for the defence of the entire country, for the safety of its people, and to the renewed confusion of that perfidious nation, as untrue to God as to its legitimate king.—Therefore he (Frontenac) has laid this foundation-stone."

[289] Letter from Colonel Fletcher, governor of New York, to the Secretary of State, in the Broadhead collection. [The chief reason for this request probably was that the Atlantic coast might be freed from the presence of French privateers, which then swarmed in North American waters. "During the year 1693 the French had captured 300 sail of English vessels, while we had only taken from France 69 merchant ships]." Wade.—B.

[290] M. Boucher says he was nearly 100 years old.—B.

[291] This seems to be but another version of a relation already given; only, the times of action do not tally.—B.

[292] This mode of doing homage to a suzerain was an imitation of the like usage in European feudalism. Doubtless the Sioux was previously instructed how to behave on the occasion.—B.

[293] This sea-passage is 60 miles long, and has 12 of medium breadth.—B.

[294] "As early as the year 1500, fishermen reached as far as Newfoundland from Europe; but no attempts were made to form a settlement till 1536." Nat. Cycl. viii, 942.—B.

[295] La Potherie.

[296] Guerin's Maritime History of France, vol. iii.

[297] There were no such troubles at this time. Charles II, then living, was popular to the very last.

[298] A fond imagination of the author. Certainly the English people, if the affair reached their knowledge at all, knowing their king was the bond-slave of the French monarch, could have no hope of obtaining redress for it through him.—B.

[299] No place is named, nor any date given, in the original paragraph; all which is rather unsatisfactory, the narrative involving a charge of treachery against men who, having been thus exterminated, could not, of course, repel any thing that might be asserted to their disadvantage.—B.

[300] No provision was made, or perhaps even mentioned, by the British diplomatists in favour of the Iroquois confederation, whose tribes would have been thus left at French discretion entirely, but for the interest taken in them by the conterminous British colonists. "The peace of Ryswick gave repose to the colonies, but left the Five Nations exposed to the hostilities of the French. Count Frontenac prepared to direct his whole force against them; and was only prevented from executing his purpose by the energy and decision of Lord Bellamont, governor of New York. He not only supplied the Iroquois confederation with munitions of war; but notified that if the French should presume to attack them, he would march the whole disposable force of the colony to their aid. This threat was effectual." Frost's Hist. U. States, p. 103.—B.

[301] The adoption of the significant term "revoltés" of course begged the whole question as regarded the Iroquois. The "titres" put forward must have been verbal recognitions of French suzerainty, the bearing of which even Iroquois sagacity could not comprehend; such concessions being attested, probably, by crosses set up, or copperplate inscriptions buried in certain localities.—B.

[302] A gratuitous and improbable assumption.—B.

[303] The existence of any such order, as an authentic document, is apocryphal, to say the least.—B.

[304] The difficulty the Count would have had in maintaining a liberal domestic establishment as governor-general, was probably the cause why his countess, an undowered lady, never came to Canada, although, as appears from data adduced by M. Garneau, the couple lived on friendly terms when both were in France together. They had one child only, who lived till early manhood; he entered the service of the sovereign-bishop of Munster, and was killed at the head of his regiment, while fighting for that ally of France. Madame de Frontenac died very aged, in 1707.—B.

[305] We cannot see that any of the governors-general of New France could fairly be censured for having recourse to every expedient not dishonourable, if even conventionally degrading, to eke out their miserably scanty appointments. We know not exactly what those of de Frontenac were; but "the yearly salary of the Marquis of Vaudreuil, in 1758, was no more than £272 1s. 8d. sterling; out of which he was expected to clothe, maintain, and pay a guard for himself, consisting of two sergeants and 25 soldiers, furnishing them with firing in winter, and other necessary articles." W. H. Smith.—In France, any noble or gentilhomme who engaged in trade, or occupied his time in any form of industry for profit, soiled his escutcheon for ever; but "upon a representation made of the narrow circumstances to which many of the noblesse of the colony were reduced, Louis XIV was induced to permit them to carry on commerce by sea and land without being subject to any inquiry on this account, or an imputation of their having derogated from their rank in society."—Canada; past, present, and future, vol. 1, pp. lxv, lxix.—De Frontenac merely availed himself of the license thus accorded, and no wonder he did so.—B.

[306] This baptized barbarian was quite as respectable a "representative man" as King Clovis, who figures in early French history as "le grand," and in the Middle-Ages church calendars of Frenchified Gaul, as "le saint" likewise. Like Clovis, "Le Rat,"

"A very heathen in the carnal part,"

was still, it seems, like one of Pope's heroines,

".........a right good christian in his heart."

Both the great Clovis of Gaul, and the petty Clovis of Huronia, were monsters of craft and of cruelty; while both died, as we read above, (and of Clovis in the Annals of Gregory of Tours,) in all the odour of sanctity. There was, in fact, much resemblance between the actions and the polity of the twain; one on a large scale, the other in a small way, of wrong-doing and evil-designing.—B.

[The end of History of Canada: from the time of its discovery until the Union year Vol. I by François-Xavier Garneau]

	Page
Editor's Preface	iii
Author's Preface	v
Preliminary Discourse	ix
INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I Discovery of America, &c.—1492-1534.
America, was it known to the Ancients?—The Island of Atlantis.—Discoveries of the Portuguese and the Spaniards.—Christopher Columbus, his birth and life: he repairs to Lisbon, and thence passes into Spain; Ferdinand and Isabella, to whom he had communicated his project of seeking a western passage to India, give him the command of three vessels equipped for that purpose.—He discovers the New World.—He returns to Spain; the distinguished reception accorded to him at the Spanish court.—His second voyage, and further discoveries.—He is sent back, in chains, to Spain by Bovadilla.—Death and character of Columbus.—Continuation of the discoveries of the Spaniards and the Portuguese.—Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian navigator, discovers Florida, Newfoundland, and the coasts of Labrador, for Henry VII, king of England.—Verazzani, a navigator in the pay of Francis I, king of France, coasts the North American Atlantic shores, from Florida to Newfoundland.—The fact noted, that French fishermen, from the Basque, Breton, and Norman provinces, had taken cod on the banks of Newfoundland long previously	1

CHAPTER II Discovery of Canada.—1534-1544.
Projected French establishment in America.—Jacques Cartier appointed to command the first expedition for that purpose; he explores the Gulf of St. Lawrence; his return to France. Second voyage of Jacques Cartier; he discovers the river St. Lawrence.—Visits Stadaconé (site of Quebec).—Aspect of the lands seen by him.—Indian village of Hochelaga (site of Montreal city).—Cartier winters in the country, his vessels being iced up.—Scurvy [Pg 396] attacks his crews.—Advent of spring, 1534-5, and departure of Cartier for France; wherein war being renewed, further expeditions to America are postponed for the time.—Upon the return of peace, Roberval named Governor of Canada.—Third Voyage of Jacques Cartier; he ascends the St. Lawrence as high as Lake St. Louis, and winters at Cape Rouge.—He leaves for Europe, and, meeting Roberval at Newfoundland, on his way to Canada, refuses to attend him thither.—The latter raises a fort; and pursues his way to Canada, reaches Cape Rouge, winters there.—Disease carries off fifty of his men.—Next year, Cartier arrives, and Roberval returns home	18

CHAPTER III Temporary Abandonment of Canada.—1543-1603.
Roberval sets out for America after the war, and perishes with all his followers.—M. Villegagnon attempts to found a French colony in Brazil; the enterprise miscarries, through the disaccord of the adventurers.—Foundation of Carolina, in Florida.—Massacre of its French colonists, by the Spaniards in time of peace; the queen-regent, Catherine de Medicis, demanding no satisfaction therefor, M. de Gourgues avenges the wrong done to his nation by sanguinary reprisals.—Prolonged indifference of the French people to colonisation.—Progress of the fisheries and traffic in peltry.—The marquis de la Roche undertakes to found a French settlement in Acadia; the project fails; of his colonists left in the Isle de Sable, the greater number perish; five years thereafter, the French King causes the survivors to be removed.—M. de la Roche, ruined by his failure, dies broken-hearted.—Concerning the obstacles French colonisation in those times had to encounter	29

BOOK FIRST. PERMANENT ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW FRANCE. CHAPTER I Acadia (Nova Scotia, &c., &c.)—1603-1613.
Observations on the civilisation of Europe at this epoch; importance of Colonies for France.—M. Chauvin appointed Lieutenant-General of Canada and Acadia, with a monopoly of the peltry traffic therein.—Chauvin dying, is succeeded by the Commander de Chastes, who forms a commercio-colonial Society.—Messrs. [Pg 397] Pont-Gravé and Champlain's voyage to Canada.—De Chastes dying, M. de Monts, a Calvinist, succeeds to his functions, and allows French Protestants to settle in the Colony.—Expedition of M. de Monts in Acadia.—Messrs. Champlain and De Monts discover the Bay of Fundy; also the rivers St. John, Penobscot, and Kennebec.—The colonists disembark at the Isle St. Croix.—Champlain explores the coasts.—Messrs. De Monts and Poutrincourt found Port-Royal, which place is conceded to the latter.—Lescarbot.—Progression of Port-Royal.—Withdrawal of the monopoly accorded to M. Monts.—Dissolution of the Company trading in peltry.—Temporary abandonment of Port-Royal.—M. de Poutrincourt, who had left for France on a visit, now returns; after refusing to take Jesuit priests with him.—Assassination of Henry the Fourth.—The Marchioness de Guercheville purchases the rights of the partners of M. De Monts, in order to send Jesuits to Acadia.—Dissensions between the colonists and the Jesuits.—Madame de Guercheville sends them to found an establishment near the Penobscot river.—The English of Virginia destroy St. Sauveur and Port-Royal, in time of peace.—The French Government takes no heed of these hostile proceedings, not considering the Franco-American Colonies in America as national, but private foundations merely	44

CHAPTER II Canada, 1608-1628.
M. de Monts abandons Acadia for Canada.—Foundation of Quebec.—Conspiracy against Champlain punished.—Alliance with the Algonquins, &c.—First expedition against the Iroquois—Second expedition against the same.—M. de Monts retires from Canadian affairs.—The count de Soissons replaces him.—Death of the latter.—The prince de Condé appointed lieutenant-general (viceroi) of Canada.—Champlain forms a Society possessing a monopoly of the peltry traffic.—Opposition made to this Society's exclusive privileges.—The prince de Condé sells his commission to admiral de Montmorency.—Champlain's treaty with the Huron tribes.—He explores the Outaouais (or Ottawa) river, and discovers Lake Ontario and Lake Nipissing.—Third expedition against the Iroquois.—Treaty of peace with the Algonquins and other tribes.—The duke de Ventadour becomes lieutenant-general of New France.−-Arrival of the Jesuits in Canada.—Champlain leaves for France.—Cardinal de Richelieu dissolves Champlain's company, and constitutes the association denominated "Society of the Hundred Partners."	59

CHAPTER III [Pg 398] New France, till the Peace of St. Germain-en-Laye.—1613-1632.
Reflections on political and religious persecutions, as urgent causes of emigrations, with examples adduced.—The Huguenots formally excluded from New France.—Great things expected from the newly constituted Society.—It sends a considerable armament to Quebec, under Roquemont.—Historical Notices of Acadia.—Sir William Alexander obtains a grant of its territory from James I, King of England, by whom part of the peninsula is called Nova Scotia.—A British colonial expedition, sent thither, returns without disembarking.—Creation of a new order of titled men originally called baronets of Nova Scotia.—War between France and Britain.—Kertk advances against Quebec, but soon abandons the enterprise.—Meeting the squadron of Roquemont, he captures it.—Quebec, reduced to famine thereby, surrenders next year; humanity of its captors.—Cape Breton, taken by Kertk, is retaken by Captain Daniel.—Chevalier de La Tour attacks Fort Cape Sable, but is repulsed.—Sir Wm. Alexander cedes all Nova Scotia except Port-Royal.—The French and the English jointly occupy Acadia.—Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye	78

BOOK SECOND. CHAPTER I Description of Canada—The Aboriginal Nations.
Name given to the territories first discovered in North America.—Frontiers of the several colonies imperfectly defined; this indefiniteness the cause of many contestations.—Synopsis of the native populations of North America, particularly of the tribes of Canada.—Estimate of their numbers.—Account of their persons, their dress, their implements of war, &c.—Their modes of hostilities, of hunting, &c.—Their governmental polity.—Nature of their religious notions.—Of their diviners.—Of their regard for the dead; their manner of sepulture; their festivals.—Their figurative oratory.—Formation of the Indian languages; the aborigines were ignorant of letters.−-Synthetic nature of Indian speech.—Intellectual qualities of the race.—Their origin: question discussed, whether they are descendants of nations which had attained to civilisation	92

BOOK THIRD. [Pg 399] CHAPTER I Dispersion of the Hurons.—1632-1663.
Louis Kertk gives up Quebec to the French.—Champlain returns to Canada as governor, and strives to attach the aborigines to the interests of France.—College of the Jesuits built at Quebec.—Death of Champlain (1635).—M. de Châteaufort succeeds him as governor.—M. de Montmagny.—War between the Iroquois confederation and the Hurons.—Father Lejeune founds the native village of Sillery.—Foundation of Montreal by M. de Maisonneuve. Foundation of the Hôtel-Dieu and Ursuline convent.—Peace-time for all the Indian tribes; this is first broken by the Agniers.—M. d'Ailleboust replaces M. de Montmagny as governor.—War between the Iroquois and the Hurons; the latter finally beaten and as a nation broken up (1649-50).—The colonists of New England propose a treaty of perpetual alliance with the inhabitants of New France.—M. de Lauson succeeds to M. d'Ailleboust. The Iroquois, after their victory over the Hurons, fall upon the French establishments.—M. d'Argenson replaces M. de Lauson.—Devotedness of M. Daulac.—Peace made with the Iroquois.—Baron d'Avaugour appointed governor-general: his quarrels with the Bishop.—Earthquake of 1663.—D'Avaugour recalled; M. de Mésy succeeds him.—Dissolution of the Company of 100 Partners; Canada becomes a royal province of France	126

CHAPTER II Civil War in Acadia.—1632-1667.
France, again become mistress of Acadia by the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, divides it into three portions; consigned, respectively, to commander Razilli (governor), to Chevalier de la Tour, and to M. Denis.—These grantees take Pemaquid from the English.—Waging war against each other, La Tour applies for aid to the people of Massachusetts, who, after consulting the Bible, to know whether it would be lawful, send him a favorable answer.—Treaty of peace and commerce signed between the governments of Acadia and New England.—La Tour left to his fate.—Heroism of Madame de La Tour, who twice repulses the troops of Charnisey, successor of Razilli.—She is betrayed by one of her people, and the fort taken; fate of the garrison.—She dies broken-hearted.—Civil war raging throughout Acadia.—Oliver Cromwell [Pg 400] sends an expedition from England; Port-Royal and several other posts seized by the English (1654).—Cromwell grants the province, as an English dependency, to La Tour, to Sir Thomas Temple, and William Crown.—Acadia restored to France by the treaty of Breda, in 1667	166

CHAPTER III Civil Government of Canada.—1663.
M. de Mésy, governor-general; motives for his nomination.—His reception of Iroquois envoys.—Efforts and plan of Colbert to people Canada.—Colonial population in 1663.—Introduction of feudal forms, rights, and dues for land-holding; peculiar nature of the new tenures.—Absolute power of the governor-general.—Administration of justice in 1663.—Arrival of M. Dupont, as royal commissary.—Re-organisation of the government.—Constitution of a supreme council; its functions.—Separation of political, judicial, and administrative powers.—Introduction of the "Coutume de Paris."−-Creation of courts of "royal jurisdiction" at Montreal and Trois-Rivières.—Creation of an Intendancy, and nomination of the first Intendant; functions of that officer.—The intendancy tribunals.—Judge-consuls.—Seigneurial justiceships.—Commissary courts.—Municipal officialities; mayors, échevins, syndics, &c.−-Prevotal courts established.—Measures of precaution taken by successive French kings to restrain the inhabitants of their colonies from resorting to self-government	171

CHAPTER IV Ecclesiastical Government in Canada.—1663.
Of the Missions established in Canada; at first by the Recollets (Franciscans); afterwards by the Jesuits.−-New France becomes an apostolic vicariat, in 1657; and a bishopric, in 1674.−-M. de Laval, first bishop of Quebec; his character.−-Oppositions to his nomination; M. de Queylus refuses to recognise him.—Establishment of the Seminary of Quebec; nature of its endowment.—Arrangements regarding the tribes.—The Recollets offer their services gratuitously.—The parish parsons (curés), their permanent status recognised up till the Conquest, but not since.—Public education little cared for.—Character of the Canadian clergy, under French rule.—Dissidences in the Gallican Church little felt in Canada	194

BOOK FOURTH. [Pg 401] CHAPTER I Struggles between State and Church.—1664-1682.
The sovereign council; divisions respecting the syndicate.—M. de Mésy suspends the opposition councillors.—Strange means he proposes for replacing them.—Nomination of the new members.—M. de Villeray carries complaints to France against the governor.—The latter superseded; his death.—M. de Courcelles named as his successor.—Arrival of M. de Tracy, as viceroy for M. de Courcelles, and M. Talon, first intendant.—Arrival of a great number of immigrants, with men of Carignan's regiment.—Free trade granted to the colony, with certain reserves.—War against the Iroquois, who are forced to sue for peace.—M. de Tracy returns to France.—Abortive attempt to Frenchify the savages.—The intendant proposes to put restraints on the clergy.—Labours and usefulness of M. Talon for agricultural and trading advancement.—Disbanding of the Carignan regiment on conditions.—Talon goes to France.—The governor appeases the irritated Iroquois, and secures the colonial peltry trade.—Frightful mortality among these savages.—Talon, returned to Canada, opens up a vast plan for extending New France to the far south-west.—Treaty of Sault Sainte-Marie; the western aborigines recognise French supremacy. Foundation of Cataracoui (Kingston).—Count de Frontenac replaces M. de Courcelles: character of the former.—Numerous administrative ordinances passed.—Suppression of the French West India Company.—Misunderstanding between M. de Frontenac and M. Perrot, governor of Montreal; the latter put in prison.—Perrot is backed by the clergy.—The council takes up the case; the king finally appealed to.—M. Duchesneau replaces M. Talon.—His quarrels with M. de Laval about the liquor traffic.—Dissensions between the governor and M. Duchesneau; both recalled.—Rivalry between the clergy and civil functionaries.—Arrival of M. de la Barre, to replace M. de Frontenac	209

CHAPTER II Discovery of the Mississippi.—1673.
Explorations, by the French, of the interior of North America.—Travellers and Missionaries.—The Jesuits, their activity and courage.—Travels in a northern direction: Père De Quen discovers lake St. Jean (Saguenay), 1647; St. Simon et La Couture penetrate, by this route, to Hudson's Bay (1672).—Travels eastward and westward: Père Druillettes passes from the St. Lawrence to the sea, by the rivers Chaudière and Kennebec.—Lakes [Pg 402] Erie, Huron, and Michigan visited in succession.—Two young traders, in 1659, reach the head of lake Superior: the Sioux and other tribes.—Apostolic excursions of Pères Raimbault, Jogues, and Mesnard.—Pères Allouez and Dablon penetrate to the Mississippi valley, and obtain information from the natives regarding the great river.—Pères Marquette and Joliet, upon this report, search for and discover the Mississippi, and descend it to its confluence with the Arkansas river.—La Salle proposes to take up from that point and follow the course of the Mississippi to the sea;−-but first he builds a vessel at Niagara; constructs the fort of the Miâmis; also that of Crèvecœur, on the Illinois river.—Père Hennepin ascends the Mississippi to Sault St Antoine, and is taken by the Sioux.—Great obstacles met and surmounted by La Salle, who finally traces the whole course of the Mississippi; he gives the name of Louisiana to its valley and neighbouring regions.—He sails to France and gives an account of his proceedings to the king, who receives him graciously	252

CHAPTER III The Massacre of Lachine.—1682-1689.
M. de la Barre succeeds to the Count de Frontenac.—His partisan administration; is inimical to La Salle.—War imminent; the "notables" convoked: augmented immigration proposed.—Two hundred men sent.—Colonel Dongan excites the Iroquois against the French. La Barre lulled into security by those savages for a time: the Iroquois attack Crèvecœur.—Dongan's hostility to the French thwarted.—La Barre takes the field against the Iroquois; famine in his camp; makes a shameful peace with the savages.—He is recalled; and succeeded by the Marquis de Denonville.—Unlucky administration of Denonville: his attempts to exclude the Iroquois and English traders from the southern Laurentian region.—Meeting convoked of Iroquois chiefs, in the English interest, at Albany: to prevent the assembly, the Marquis treacherously seizes several Iroquois chiefs, and sends them as prisoners to France.−-Magnanimity of the Iroquois.—The French attack the Tsonnonthouans, and burn their villages, to no useful purpose.—Foundation of Niagara.—Negociations for peace with the hostile Indians: perfidy of Le Rat, a Huron chief: the war continues.−-Conquest of New York proposed.—Deceitful calm among the Iroquois, followed by the massacre of Lachine.—Denonville recalled.—War between France and England.—M. de Frontenac sent to replace Denonville: vigorous and successful administration of the former	278

BOOK FIFTH. [Pg 403] CHAPTER I The Anglo-American Colonies.—1690.
Preliminary notices.—To persecutions in the mother country must be attributed the rapid increase of population in the English colonies of America.—Foundation of Virginia, as a royal colony.—The London and Bristol Companies.—Captain John Smith and other early governors of Virginia.—Vicissitudes of that colony; first introduction of female emigrants, and how disposed of, with observations thereon.—Foundation of Maryland, as a proprietary colony, by Roman Catholics.—Fair character of its founder, Lord Baltimore.—Colonisation of New England.—A few notices of the Puritans.—The "Pilgrim Fathers," and their expedition; they land on the "Rock," and found the colony of New Plymouth.—Settlement of Massachusetts Bay.—The ex-persecuted become persecutors in their turn.—Nature of the three forms of government established in the different English colonies.—Account of the early commerce of British America.—The New England plantations lose their chartered rights for a time; but these are renewed, soon after the Revolution of 1688.—Concluding reflections.	314

CHAPTER II The Siege of Quebec.—1689-1696.
League of Augsburgh formed against Louis XIV: which Britain joining, active war follows between the colonists of New France and the Anglo-Americans.—Disproportion of the belligerent relative forces.—Plan of the French operations against the British possessions.—Intended conquest of New York; it proves unfeasible, and is abandoned.—Miserable state of Canada and Acadia.—Vigorous administration of M. de Frontenac.—First hostilities; two British vessels captured.—Pemaquid taken by the Abenaquis.—Schenectady sacked.—Destruction of Sementels.—Fort Casco taken and razed.—Wavering polity of the Western tribes of Indians.—Raids in Canada by the Iroquois; they are well resisted by the French colonists.—Retrospective Notices of Acadia.—Sir William Phipps captures Port Royal; he attacks Quebec, but is repulsed, and retires.—General Winthrop advancing simultaneously by Lake George to join Phipps, has to retreat also.—Disasters befal the fleet of Phipps.—Humiliation of the Anglo-American colonies; their exhaustion, as well as that of New France, at this time.—The Iroquois and the Abenaquis; their depredations.—Major Schuyler defeated by M. de Varennes.—New [Pg 404] project of the British for taking Quebec: it proves abortive.—Expeditions of the French (in 1693 and 1696) into the five Cantons.—The Miâmis and the Iroquois at war.—Canada, now secure within its own limits, the colonists prepare to wage war in their enemy's territories.—Credit for the favourable state of affairs in Canada chiefly due to the wise measures of de Frontenac.—Intrigues of his enemies in France	337

CHAPTER III Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay.—1696-1701.
Continuation of the war: the French resume the offensive.—D'Iberville captures Pemaquid.—Description of Newfoundland; earliest French establishments there.—The Governor and D'Iberville combine their forces.—Misunderstandings and reconciliation of these functionaries.—They take St. John's, and ravage other English settlements.—Winter campaign.—Notices of the Hudson's Bay Territory.—Departure of D'Iberville; various contests in which he was engaged.—A shipwreck.—Hudson's Bay cleared of the enemy.—Advantageous situation of New France.—Projected conquest of Boston and New York.—M. de Nesmond sails from France with a fleet for that purpose; delays occurring, the project is abandoned.—Peace ensues, by the treaty of Ryswick (1697).—Disputes between France and England concerning their colonial frontiers.—M. de Frontenac refuses the intermediation of Lord Bellamont in settling with the Iroquois.—Death and character of M. de Frontenac.—M. de Callières succeeds him as governor-general. Peace of Montreal (1701) with all the tribes of aborigines.—Discourse of Le Rat, on the ratification of the treaty.—Death and funeral of that chief.—Sketch of his character	372

HISTORY OF CANADA,

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE.

INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

BOOK FIRST.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

BOOK SECOND.

CHAPTER I.

BOOK THIRD.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

BOOK THE FOURTH.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

BOOK THE FIFTH.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CONTENTS.

FOOTNOTES:

Transcriber's Note: