Jrancts Parkman'0
NEW LIBRARY EDITION. VOL. IV.
FRANCIS PARKMAN'S WORKS.
Ntto iLtbvarg EUitton.
Pioneer* of France in the Hew World I vol .
The Jesuiu la Worth America I vol.
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great We*t . . I vol.
The Old Regime in Canada I vol.
Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XTV. I vol.
A Half Century of Conflict 2 vote.
M ontcalm and Wolfe 2 vote.
The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after
the Conquest of Canada 2 vote.
The Oregon Trail . . . , I vol.
:tjj ty latlt, Srtran.t C?
THE
OLD REGIME IN CANADA.
FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN NORTH AMERICA.
PART FOURTH.
BY FRANCIS PARKMAN.
LONDON:
MACMILLAN AND CO. 1909.
F
/
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1 874,
BY FRANCIS PARKMAN, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington
Copyright, 1893, BY FRANCIS PARKMAN.
Copyright, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
Copyright, jgo2y BY GRACE P. COFFIN.
All rights ruerved
TO
GEORGE EDWARD ELLIS, D.D.
MY DEAR DR. ELLIS :
When, in my youth, I proposed to write a series of books on the French in America, you encouraged the attempt, and your helpful kindness has followed it from that day to this. Pray accept the dedication of this volume in token of the grateful regard of
Very faithfully yours,
FRANCIS PARKMAN.
NOTE TO REVISED EDITION.
WHEN this book was written, I was unable to gain access to certain indispensable papers relat- ing to the rival claimants to Acadia, — La Tour and D'Aunay, — and therefore deferred all at- tempts to treat that subject. The papers having at length come to hand, the missing chapters are supplied in the present edition, which also con- tains some additional matter of less prominence.
The title of " The Old Regime in Canada "is derived from the third and principal of the three sections into which the book is divided.
JUNE 16, 1893.
PREFACE.
" THE physiognomy of a government," says De Tocqueville, " can best be judged in its colo- nies, for there its characteristic traits usually appear larger and more distinct. When I wish to judge of the spirit and the faults of the ad- ministration of Louis XIV., I must go to Can- ada. Its deformity is there seen as through a microscope."
The monarchical administration of France, at the height of its power and at the moment of its supreme triumph, stretched an arm across the Atlantic and grasped the North American conti- nent. This volume attempts to show bv,wJb.at methods it strove^ to make good its hold,_whv_Jt achieved a certain kind of success, and why it failed at last. The political system which has fallen, and the antagonistic system which has prevailed, seem, at first sight, to offer nothing but contrasts ; yet out of the tomb of Canadian absolutism come voices not without suggestion
X PREFACE.
even to us. Extremes meet, and Autocracy and Democracy often touch hands, at least in their vices.
The means of knowing the Canada of the past are ample. The pen was always busy in this outpost of the old monarchy. The king and the minister demanded to know everything ; and officials of high and low degree, soldiers and civilians, friends and foes, poured letters, de- spatches, and memorials, on both sides of every question, into the lap of government. These masses of paper have in the main survived the perils of revolutions and the incendiary torch of the Commune. Add to them the voluminous records of the Superior Council of Quebec, and numerous other documents preserved in the civil and ecclesiastical depositories of Canada.
The governments of New York and of Canada have caused a large part of the papers in the French archives relating to their early history to be copied and brought to America, and valuable contributions of material from the same quarter have been made by the State of Massachusetts and by private Canadian investigators. Never- theless, a great deal has still remained in France uncopied and unexplored. In the course of sev- eral visits to that country, I have availed myself
PREFACE. XI
of these supplementary papers, as well as of those which had before been copied, sparing neither time nor pains to explore every part of the field. With the help of a system of classi- fied notes, I have collated the evidence of the various writers, and set down without reserve all the results of the examination, whether fav- orable or unfavorable. Some of them are of a character which I regret, since they cannot be agreeable to persons for whom I have a very cordial regard. The conclusions drawn from the facts may be matter of opinion, but it will be remembered that the facts themselves can be overthrown only by overthrowing the evidence on which they rest, or bringing forward counter- evidence of equal or greater strength ; and neither task will be found an easy one.1
I have received most valuable aid in my inqui- ries from the great knowledge and experience of M. Pierre Margry, Chief of the Archives of the Marine and Colonies at Paris. I beg also warmly to acknowledge the kind offices of Abbe* Henri Raymond Casgrain and Grand
1 Those who wish to see the subject from a point of view oppo- site to mine cannot do better than consult the work of the Jesuit Charlevoix, with the excellent annotation of Mr. Shea. (History and General Description of New France, by the Rev. P. F. X. de Charlevoix, S.J., translated with notes by John Gilmary Shea. 6 vols. New York : 1866-1872.)
Xii PREFACE.
Vicar Cazeau, of Quebec j together with those of James Le Moine, Esq., M. Eugene Tache*, Hon. P. J. 0. Chauveau, and other eminent Canadians, and Henry Harrisse, Esq.
The few extracts from original documents which are printed in the Appendix may serve as samples of the material out of which the work lias been constructed. In some instances their testimony might be multiplied twenty-fold. When the place of deposit of the documents cited in the margin is not otherwise indicated, they will, in nearly all cases, be found in the Archives of the Marine and Colonies.
In the present book we examine the political and social machine ; in the next volume of the series we shall see this machine in action.
BOSTON, July 1, 1874.
CONTENTS.
SECTION FIRST. THE FEUDAL CHIEFS OF ACADIA.
CHAPTER I. 1497-1643.
LA TOUR AND D'AUNAY.
PAGE
The Acadian Quarrel. — Biencourt. — Claude and Charles de la Tour. — Sir William Alexander. — Claude de Razilly. — Charles de Menou d'Aunay Charnisay. — Cape Sable. — Port Royal. — The Heretics of Boston and Plymouth. — Madame de la Tour. — War and Litigation. — La Tour worsted : he asks help from the Boston Puritans 3
CHAPTER IL 1643-1645.
LA TOUR AND THE PURITANS.
La Tour at Boston: he meets Winthrop. — Boston in 1643.— Training Day. — An Alarm. — La Tour's Bargain. — Doubts and Disputes. — The Allies sail. — La Tour and Endicott. — D'Aunay's Overture to the Puritans. — Marie's Mission . . 21
CHAPTER IIL 1645-1710.
THE VICTOR VANQUISHED.
D'Aunay's Envoys : their Reception at Boston. — Winthrop and his " Papist " Guests. — Reconciliation. — Treaty. — Be- havior of La Tour. — Royal Favors to D'Aunay : his Hopes; his Death; his Character. — Conduct of the Court
xiv CONTENTS.
PAOI
towards him. — Intrigues of La Tour. — Madame D'Aunay . — La Tour marries her. — Children of D'Aunay. — Descend- ants of La Tour ... 41
SECTION SECOND. CANADA A MISSION.
CHAPTER IV. 1653-1658.
THE JESUITS AT ONOXDAGA.
The Iroquois War. — Father Poncet : his Adventures. — Jesuit Boldness. — Le Moyne's Mission. — Chaumonot and Dablon.
— Iroquois Ferocity. — The Mohawk Kidnappers. — Critical Position. — The Colony of Ouondaga. — Speech of Chau- monot. — Omens of Destruction. — Device of the Jesuits. — The Medicine Feast. — The Escape . 54
CHAPTER V. 1642-1661.
THE HOLT WARS OF MONTREAL.
Dauversiere. — Mauce and Bourgeoys. — Miracle. — A Pious De- faulter.— Jesuit and Sulpitian. — Montreal in 1659. — The Hospital Nuns. — The Nuns and the Iroquois. -sMore Mira- cles.— The Murdered Priests. — Brigeac and Closse. — Sol- diers of the Holy Family 96
CHAPTER VI.
1660, 1661. THE HEROES OF TOE LONG 8AUT.
Suffering and Terror. — Francois Hertel. — The Captire Wolfr
— The Threatened Invasion. — Daulac des Ormeaux. — The Adventurers at the Long Saut. — The Attack. — A Desperate Defence. — A Final Assault. —The Fort taken . .118
CONTENTS. XV
CHAPTER VIL 1657-1668.
THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC.
PAOB
Domestic Strife. — Jesuit and Sulpitian. — Abbe Queylua. — Francois de Laval. — The Zealots of Caen. — Gallican and Ultramontane. — The Rival Claimants. — Storm at Quebec. Laval Triumphant ............... 140
CHAPTER VIIL 1659, 1660. .
LAVAL AND AHGENSOJf.
Francis de Laval: his Position and Character. — Arrival of Argenson. — The Quarrel ...... ....... 161
CHAPTER IX.
1658-1663. LAVAL AND AVAUGOUB.
Reception of Argeasoii: his Difficulties; his Recall. — Duboia d'Avauffour. -C- The Brandy QnarreU— Distress of Laval. — Portents. — The Earthquake ........... 173
CHAPTER X. 1661-1664.
LAVAL AND DDMESNIL.
»=-The Old Council. —Alleged Murder.— Jew Council. — Bourdon and Villeray. -r"Stronp;
scape of Dumeanil. — Views of Colbert ..... 189
CHAPTER XI. 1657-1665.
LAVAL AND MEZY.
The Bishop's Choice. — A Military Zealot. — Hopeful Begin- nings. — Signs of Storm. — The Quarrel. — Distress of Mezy : he refuses to yield ; his Defeat and Death ....... 204
I
xvi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XH.
1662-1680.
LAVAL AND THK 8KMINART.
PACK
Laval's Visit to Court. — The Seminary. — Zeal of the Bishop: his Eulogists. — Church ami State. — Attitude of Laval . . 219
SECTION THIRD.
THE COLONY AND THE KING.
CHAPTER XIII.
1661-1665.
BOTAL INTERYESTIOXv
Fontaineblean. — Louis XIV. — Colbert. — The Company of the West.;— Evil Omens. — Action of the King. — Tracy, Conr- celle, and Talon. — The Regiment of Carignan-Salieres. — Tracy at Quebec. — Miracles. — A Holy War 229
CHAPTER XIV. 1666, 1667.
THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED.
Conrcelle's March : his Failure and Return. — Conrcelle and the Jesuits. — Mohawk Treachery. — Tracy's Expedition. — Burning of the Mohawk Towns. — French and English. — Dollier de Casson at St. Anne. — Peace. — The Jesuits and the Iroquois 246
>
•Mf
CHAPTER XV. 1665-1672.
PATERNAL GOVERNMENT.
v Talon. — Restriction and Monopoly. — Views of Colbert. — Po- litical Galvanism. — A Father of the People 2G8
CONTENTS. xvii
CHAPTER XVI.
1661-1673.
' MARRIAGEVAND POPULATION.
PAGE
Shipment of Emigrants. — Soldier Settlers. — Importation of Wives. — Wedlock. — Summary Methods. — The Mothers of Canada. — Bounties on Marriage. — Celibacy Punished. — Bounties on Children. — Results 276
CHAPTER XVIL
1665-1672.
THE NEW HOME.
Military Frontier. — The Canadian Settler. — Seignior and Vas- sal. — Example of Talon. — Plan of Settlement. — Aspect of Canada. — Quebec. — The River Settlements. — Montreal. — The Pioneers 292
CHAPTER XVIII.
1663-1763. V
CANADIAN FEUDALISM.
Transplantation of Feudalism. — Precautions. — Faith and Hom- age. — The Seignior. — The Censitaire. — Royal Intervention. — The Gentilhomme. — Canadian Noblesse 304
CHAPTER XIX.
1663-1763. (/
THE RULERS OP CANADA.
Nature of the Government. — The Governor. — The Council. — Courts and Judges. — The Intendant : his Grievances. — Strong Government. — Sedition and Blasphemy. — Royal Bounty. — Defects and Abuses 326
CHAPTER XX. 1663-1763.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY.
Trade in Fetters. — The Huguenot Merchants. — Royal Pat- ronage.— The Fisheries. — Cries for Help. — Agriculture.
xviii CONTENTS.
I/
— Manufactures. — Arts of Ornament. — Finance. — Card Money. — Repudiation. — Imposts. — The Beaver Trade. — ^ The Fair at Montreal. — Contraband Trade. — A Fatal Sys- tem. — Trouble and Change. — The Coureurs de Bois. — The \ Forest. — Letter of Carheil 352/
CHAPTER XXL
1663-170-2. THE MISSIONS. — THK BRANDT QUESTION.
The Jesuits and the Iroquois. — -Mission Villages. — Michili- mackiuac. «r- Father Carheil. — ^Igmperance. — Brandy and
380
the Indians — Strong Moasiirfta — Diapnfftg — T.i^pnfft and
Prebttrftion. — Views of the King. — Trade and the Jesuits
CHAPTER XXIL 1663-1733.
(PRIESTS AND PEOPLE.1
Church and State. — The Bishop and the King. — The King t and the Cures. — The New Bishop. — The Canadian CujeX— S Ecclesiastical Rule. — Saint-Vallier and Denonville. •£- Cleri- >k cal RigorA- Jesuit and Snlpitian. — Courcelle and Chatelain. -^The Re"collet8 — Heresy and Witchcraft. — Canadian Nans. — Jeanne Le Ber. — Education. — The Seminary. — Saint Joachim. — Miracles of Saint Anne. — Canadian Schools 396
CHAPTER NUO-1763.
MORALS AND MANNERS.
Social Influence of the Troops. — A Petty Tyrant. —Brawls. — Violence and Outlawry. — State of the Population. — Views of Denooville. — Brandy. — Beggary. — The Past and the Pres- ent. — Inns. — State of Quebec. — Fires. — The Country Par- ishes. — Slayery. — Views of La Hontan, — of Hocquart ; of Bougainville ; of Kalm ; of Charlevoix 434
CONTENTS.
XIX
CHAPTER XXIV.
1663-1763.
CANADIAN ABSOLUTISM.
PACK
Formation of Canadian Character. — The Rival Colonies. — Eng- land and France. — New England. — Characteristics of Race. — Military Qualities. — The Church. — The English Conquest 461
APPENDIX.
A. La Tour and D'Annay 469
B. The Hermitage of Caen 476
C. Laval and Argenson 481
D. Peronne Dumesnil 484
E. Laval and Mesy 488
F. Marriage and Population 493
G. Chateau St. Louis ' 496
H. Trade and Industry 500
I. Letter of Father Carheil 506
J. The Government and the Clergy 512
K. Canadian Cure's. Education. Discipline 520
INDEX 527
&j7Ut^[
Scc^
THE OLD REGIME IN CANADA.
CANADA
AJJTD ADJACENT COUNTRIES
fun-art f.v til' < /./ \-
17" CENTURY.
> — t:
SECTION FIRST. THE FEUDAL CHIEFS OF ACADIA.
CHAPTER I.
1497-1643. LA TOUR AND D'AUNAY.
THB ACADIAN QUARREL. — BIENCOCRT. — CLAUDE AND CHARLES DE LA TOUR. — SIR WILLIAM ALEXANDER. — CLAUDE DE RA- ZILLT. — CHARLES DE MENOU D'AUNAY CHARNISAY. — CAPE SABLE. — PORT ROYAL. — THE HERETICS OF BOSTON AND PLY- MOUTH.— MADAME DE LA TOUR. — WAR AND LITIGATION. — LA TOUR WORSTED: HE ASKS HELP FROM THE BOSTON PURITANS.
WITH the opening of the seventeenth century began that contest for the ownership of North America which was to remain undecided for a century and a half. England claimed the continent through the discovery by the Cabots in J497 and _14_98, and France claimed it through the voyage of Yerrazzanq in 1524. Each resented the claim of the otner; arid each snatched such fragments of the prize as she could reach, and kept them if she could. In 1604, Henry- IV. of France gave to De Monts all America from the 40th to the 46th degree of north latitude,
4 LA TOUR AND D'AUNAY. [1604-29.
including the sites of Pliiladelphia on the one hand and Montreal on the other ; l while, eight years after, Louis XIII. gave to Madame de Guercheville and the Jesuits the whole continent from Florida to the St. Lawrence, — that is, the whole of the future British colonies. Again, in 162L. James I. of Eng- land made over a part of this generous domain to a
subject of his Own, Sir Willian^ A1eYa.mlpr3 — to
whom he gave, under the name of Nova Scotia, the peninsula which is now so called, together with a vast adjacent wilderness, to be held forever as a fief of the Scottish Crown.2 Sir William, not yet satis- fied, soon got an additional grant of the "River and Gulf of Canada/' alon^ with a lx?lt of land three hundred miles wide, reaching across the continent.8 Thus the King of France gave to Frenchmen the sites of Boston, New York, and Washington, and the King of England gave to a Scotchman the sites of Quebec and Montreal. But while the seeds of international war were thus sown broadcast over the continent, an obscure corner of the vast regions in dispute became the scene of an intestine strife like the bloody conflicts of two feudal chiefs in the depths of the Middle Ages.
After the lawless inroads of Argall, the French, with young Biencourt at their head, still kept a
• See " Pioneers of France in the Xew World," 247.
* Charter of New Scotland in favour of Sir William Alexander. ' Charter of the Country and Lordship of Canada in America,
1628-29, in Publication* of the Prince Society, 1873.
1629.] YOUNG LA TOUR. 5
feeble hold on Acadia. After the death of his father, Poutrincourt/'Siencourt) took his name, by which thenceforth he is usually known. In his distress he lived much like an Indian, roaming the woods with a few followers, and subsisting on fish, game, roots, and lichens. He seems, however, to have found means to build a small fort among the rocks and fogs of Cape Sable. He named it Fort Lome'ron, and here he appears to have maintained himself for a time by fishing and the fur-trade.
Many years before, a French boy of fourteen years, Charles Saint-]Stienne^deJa_Tour, was brought to AcacfiaTby his father, Claude de la Tour, where he became attached to the service of Biencourt (Poutrincourt), and, as he himself says, served as his ensign and lieutenant. He says, further, that Biencourt on his death left him all his property in Acadia. It was thus, it seems, that La Tour became owner of Fort Lome'ron and its dependencies at Cape Sable, whereupon he begged the King to give him help against his enemies, especially the English, who, as he thought, meant to seize the country; and he begged also for a commission to command in Acadia for his Majesty.1
In fact, Sir William Alexander soon tried to dis- possess him and seize his fort. Charles de la Tour's father had been captured at sea by the privateer "Kirke," and carried to England. Here, being a widower, he married a lady of honor of the Queen,
1 La Tovr au Roy, 25 July, 1627.
6 LA TOUR AND D'AUNAT. [1629.
and, being a Protestant, renounced his French allegiance.
Alexander made him a baronet of Nova Scotia, a new title which King James had authorized Sir William to confer on persons of consideration aiding him in his work of colonizing Acadia. Alexander now fitted out two ships, with which he sent the elder La Tour to Cape Sable. On arriving, the father, says the story, made the most brilliant offers to his son if he would give up Fort Lome'ron to the English, — to which young La Tour is reported to have answered in a burst of patriotism, that he would take no favors except from his sovereign, the King of France. On this, the English are said to have attacked the fort, and to have been beaten off. As the elder La Tour could not keep his promise to deliver the place to the English, they would have no more to do with him, on which his dutiful son offered him an asylum under condition that he should never enter the fort. A house was built for him outside the ramparts; and here the trader, Nicolas Denys, found him in 1635. It is Denys who tells the above story,1 which he probably got. from the younger La Tour, — and which, as he tells it, is inconsistent with the known character of its pretended hero, who was no model of loyalty to his king, being a chameleon whose principles took the color of his interests. Denys says, further, that the elder La Tour had been invested with the Order of the Garter, and that
1 Denyi, Dtscription geographique et historiyue.
1630.] THE BROTHERS KIRKE. 7
the same dignity was offered to his son; which is absurd. The truth is, that Sir William Alexander, thinking that the two La Tours might be useful to him, made them both baronets of Nova Scotia.1
Young La Tour, while begging Louis XIII. for a commission to command in Acadia, got from Sir William Alexander not only the title of baronet, but also a large grant of land at and near Cape Sable, to be held as a fief of the Scottish Crown.3 Again, he got from the French King a grant of land on the river St. John, and, to make assurance doubly sure, got leave from Sir William Alexander to occupy it.8 This he soon did, and built a fort near the mouth of the river, not far from the present city of St. John.
Meanwhile the French had made a lodgment on the rock of Quebec, and not many years after, all North America from Florida to the Arctic circle, and from Newfoundland to the springs of the St. Lawrence, was given by King Louis to the Company of New France, with Richelieu at its head.4 Sir William Alexander, jealous of this powerful rivalry, caused a private expedition to be fitted out under the brothers Kirke. It succeeded, and the French settle-
1 Grant from Sir William Alexander to Sir Claude de St. Etienne (de la Tour), 30 Nov., 1629. Ibid, to Charles de St. Etienne, Esq., Seigneur de St. Denniscourt and Baigneux, 12 May, 1630. (Hazard, State Papers, i. 294, 298.) The names of both father and son appear on the list of baronets of Nova Scotia.
1 Patent from Sir William Alexander to Claude and Charlet de la Tour, 30 April, 1630.
* Williamson, History of Maine, i. 246.
* See " Pioneers of France," 440.
8 LA TOUR AND D'AUNAY. [1832.
mente in Acadia and Canada were transferred by conquest to England. England soon gave them back by the treaty of St. Germain ; l and Claude de Razilly, a Knight of Malta, was charged to take pos- session of them in the name of King Louis.3 Full powers were given him over the restored domains, together with grants of Acadian lands for himself.3
Razilly reached Port Royal in August, 1632, with three hundred men, and the Scotch colony planted there by Alexander gave up the place in obedience to an order from the King of England. Unfortunately for Charles de la Tour, Razilly brought with him an officer destined to become La Tour's worst enemy. This was Charles de Menou d'Aunay Charnisay, a gentleman of birth and character, who acted as his commander's man of trust, and who, in Razilly's name, presently took possession of such other feeble English and Scotch settlements as had been begun by Alexander or the people of New England along the coasts of Nova Scotia and Maine. This placed the French Crown and the Company of New France in sole possession for a time of the region then called Acadia.
When Acadia was restored to France, La Tour's
1 Traite de St. Germain en Laye, 29 Mart, 1632, Article 3. For reasons of the restitution, see " Pioneers of France," 454.
* Convention avec le Sicur de Razilly pour oiler refevoir la Restitution du Port Royal, etc., 27 Man, 1632. Commission du Sievr de Rasilly, 10 May, 1632.
• Concession de la riviere et baye Saincte Croix d M. de Razilly, 29 May, 1632.
1635.] THE TWO RIVALS. 9
jEnglish title tn his \wfa at Cap^ Sable_.bficaine.. worthless. He hastenedjto Paris to fortify his posi- tion; and, suppressing his dallyings with England and Sir William Alexander, he succeeded not only in getting an extensive grant of lands at Cape Sable, but also the title ^lieutenant-general for the King in Fort Lome'ron and its dependencies,1 and commander at Cape Sable for the Company of New France.
Razilly, who represented the King in Acadia, died in 1635, and left his authority to D'Aunay Charnisay, his relative and second in command. D'Aunay made his headquarters at Port Royal; and nobody dis- puted his authority except La Tour, who pretended to be independent of him in virtue of his commission from the Crown and his grant from the Company. Hence rose dissensions that grew at last into war.
The two rivals differed widely in position and qualities. Charles de Menou, Seigneur
Charniaay, came of an old and distingmsTieTTiamiiy of Touraine,2 and he prided himself above all things
on hisjhjHflnter of ges»*ai*****»* jfrfM^v. Charles
~~"
1 Revocation de la Commission du Sieur Charles de Saint-Etienne, Sieur de la Tour, 23 Fev., 1641.
2 The modern representative of this family, Comte Jules de Menou, is the author of a remarkable manuscript book, written from family papers and official documents, and entitled L'Acadie colonisee par Charles de Menou d'Aunay Charnisay. I have followed Comte de Menou's spelling of the name. It is often written D'Aulnay, and by New England writers D'Aulney. The manu- script just mentioned is in my possession. Comte de Menou is also the author of a printed work called Preuves de I'Histoire de la Afaison de Menou.
10 LA 10UK AND D»AUNAY. [1635.
Saint-fitienne de la Tour was of less conspicuous lineage.1 In fact, his father, Claude de la Tour, is said by his enemies to have been at one time so reduced in circumstances that he carried on the trade of a mason in Rue St. Germain at Paris. The son, however, is called gentUhomme d'une naissance dis- tingute, both in papers of the court and in a legal document drawn up in the interest of his children. As he came to Acadia when a boy he could have had little education, and both he and D'Aunay carried on trade, — which in France would have derogated from their claims as gentlemen, though in America the fur-trade was not held inconsistent with noblesse.
Of La Tour's little kingdom at Cape Sable, with its rocks, fogs, and breakers, its seal-haunted islets and iron-bound shores guarded by Fort Lome'ron, we have but dim and uncertain glimpses. After the death of Biencourt, La Tour is said to have roamed the woods with eighteen or twenty men, "living a vagabond life with no exercise of religion."2 He himself admits that he was forced to live like the Indians, as did Biencourt before him.8 Better times had come, and he was now commander of Fort
1 The true surname of La Tour's family, which belonged to the neighborhood of Evreux, in Normandy, was Turgis. The designa- tion of La Tour was probably derived from the name of some family estate, after a custom common in France under the old regime. The Turgis's arms were " d'or au chevron de table, accoin- pagne' de trois palmes de meine."
3 Menou, L'Acadie coloniiie par Charlei de Afenov d'Aunay Ckarnitay.
• La Tow au Roy, 26 Juillet, 1627.
1641.] PORT ROYAL. 11
Lome'ron, — or, as he called it, Fort La Tour, — witlH a few Frenchmen and abundance of Micmac Indians. His next neighbor was the adventurer Nicolas Denys, who with a view to the timber trade had settled . himself with twelve men on a small river a few leagues distant. Here Razilly had once made him a visit, and was entertained under a tent of boughs with a sylvan feast of wild pigeons, brant, teal, woodcock, snipe, and larks, cheered by profuse white wine and claret, and followed by a dessert of wild raspberries.1
On the other side of the Acadian peninsula D'Aunay reigned at Port Royal like a feudal lord. which in facfr |ie was. Denys, who did not like him, says that he wanted only to rule, and treated his settlers like slaves ; but this, even if true at the time, did not always remain so. D'Aunay went to France in 1041, and brought out, at his own charge, twenty families to people his seigmoryX He had already brought out a wife, having espoused Jeanne Molin (or Motin), daughter of the Seigneur de Courcelles. What with old settlers and new, about forty families were gathered at Port Royal and on the river Annapolis, and over these D'Aunay ruled like a feudal Robinson Crusoe.3 He Jff-xfi . ..fiflfiJL, flfdOBistuft- farm charged with » ..pPTTflt'iaL TfJlt of.,.QJie flOW-nfl-" arpent, or French acre. The houses of the settlers
1 Denys, Description geographique et historique.
* Rameau, Une Colonie feodale en Amerique, i. 93 (ed. 1889).
• Ibid., i. 96, 97.
12 LA TOUR AND D'AUNAY. [1641.
were log cabJBg^and the manor-house of their lord was a larger building of the same kind. The most pressing need was ef^defence,^hd D'Aunay lost no time in repairing and reconstructing the old fort on the point between Allen's River and the Annapolis. He helped his tenants at their work; and his con- fessor describes him as returning to his rough manor- house on a wet day, drenched with rain and bespattered with mud, but in perfect good humor, I after helping some of the inhabitants to mark out a field. The confessor declares that during the eleven^ months of his acquaintance with him he never heard him speak ill of anybody whatever, a statement which must probably be taken with allowance. Yet thia[ proud scion of a noble stock seems to have given himself with good grace to the rough labors of the frontiersman; while Father Ignace, the Capuchin friar, praises him for the merit, transcendent in clerical eyes, of constant attendance at mass and fre- quent confession.1
With his neighbors, the Micmac Indians, he was on the best of terms. He supplied their needs, and
flpy lirnngVii; him, **"» *"~ *^fl|j fipahlflj him in Some
measure to bear, the heavy charges of an establish- ment that could not for many years l>e self-support- ing. In a single year the Indians are said to have brought three thousand moose-skins to Port Royal, besides beaver and other valuable furs. Yet, from a commercial point of view, D'Aunay did not
1 Lettre du Pere Ignace de Parit, Capvcin, 6 Aotat, 1663.
1642.] PORT ROYAL.
prosper. He had sold or mortgaged his estates in France, borrowed large sums, - built ships, bought cam;on, levied soldiejSjjmd brought over immigrants. He Is reported to have had three hundred fighting men at his principal station, and sixty cannon mounted on his ships and forts; for besides Port Royal he had two or three smaller establishments.1
Port Royal was a scene for an artist, with its fort; its soldiers in breastplate and morion, armed with pike, halberd, or matchlock ; its manor-house of logs, and its seminary of like construction; its twelve Capuchin friars, with cowled heads, sandalled feet, and the cord of Saint Francis; the birch canoes of Micmac and Abenaki Indians lying along the strand, and their feathered and painted owners lounging about the place or dozing around their wigwam fires. It. was mftdiflRyaJjpn married to Pr^fiya] fiftYfyfi0^ The friars were_ supported fry f\ f""d supplied by Richelieu, and their chief business was to fconyert the Indians into vassals of France, tbft Cfrujv'.h— a.nd the Chevalier d'Aunay. Hard by was a wooden chapel, where the seignior knelt in dutiful observance of every rite, and where, under a stone chiselled with his ancient scutcheon, one of his children lay buried. In the fort he had not forgotten to provide a dungeon for his enemies.
1 Certificat A Vegard de M. d'Aunay Charnisay, signt Michel Boudrot, Lieutenant General en I'Acadie, et autres, anciens habitans au pays, 6 Oct., 1687. Lettre du Roy de gouverneur et lieutenant general es castes de I'Acadie pour Charles de Menou, Sieur d'Aulnay Charnisay, Fevrier, 1647.
14 LA TOUR AND D'AUNAY. [1642.
The worst of these was Charles de la Tour. Before the time of Razilly and his successor D'Aunay, La Tour had felt himself the chief man in\ Acadia ; but now he was confronted by a rival higher in rank, superior in resources and court influence, proud, ambitious, and masterful.1 He was bitterly jealous of D'Aunay; and, to strengthen himself against so formidable a neighbor, he got from -the Company of New France the grant of a tract of land at the mouth of the river St. John, where he built a
, fort and called it after his own name, though it was better known as Fort St. Jean.2 Thither he removed from his old post at Cape Sable, and Fort St. Jean
f now became his chief station. It confronted its rival, Port Royal, across the intervening Bay of Fundy.
• Now began a bitter feud between the two chief*, each claiming lands occupied by the other. The Court interposed to settle the dispute, but in its ignorance of Acadian geography its definitions were so obscure that the question was more embroiled than ever.8
1 Besides succeeding to the authority of Razilly, D'Aunay had bought of his heirs their land claims in Acadia. Arrets du Conseil, 9 Mars, 1642.
* Concession de la Conpagnie de la Nouvelle France a Charles de Saint-Etienne, Sieur de la Tour, Lieutenant General de I'Acadie, du Fort de la Tovr, dans la Riviere de St. Jean, du 15 Jan., 1635, in Memoires des Commissaires, v. 113 (ed. 1756, 12mo).
• Louis XIII a d'Aunay, 10 Fev., 1638. This seems to be the occasion of Charlevoix's inexact assertion that Acadia was divided into three governments, under D'Aunay, La Tour, and Nicolas Denys, respectively. The title of Denys, such as it was, had no existence till
1633-42.] ENGLISH INTERLOPERS. 15
While the domestic feud of the rivals was gather- ing to a head, foreign heretics .had fastened their clutches on various parts of the Atlantic coast which France and the Church claimed as their own. English heretics had made lodgment in Virginia, and Dutch heretics at the mouth of the Hudson; while other sectaries of the most malignant type had kennelled among the sands and pine-trees of Plymouth; and others still, slightly different, but equally venomous, had ensconced themselves on or near the small penin- sula of Shawmut, at the head of La Grande Baye, or the Bay of Massachusetts. As it was not easy to dislodge them, the French dissembled for the present, yielded to the logic of events, and bided their time. But the interlopers soon began to swarm northward and invade the soil of Acadia, sacred to God and the King. Small parties from T^ymrmth hiiilt trading- houses at Machias and at what is now Castine, on ^the Penobscot. As they were competitors in trade, no less than foes of God and King Louis, and as they were too few to resist, both La Tour and D'Aunay_resolved to expel tfrem: and in 1633 La Tour attacked the Plymouth trading-house at Machias, killed two of the five men he found there, carried off the other three, and seized all the goods.1 Two years later D'Aunay attacked the Plymouth trading- station at Penobscot, the Pentegoet of the French, and took it in the name of King Louis. That he might not appear in the part of a pirate, he set a
1 Hubbard, History of New England, 163.
16 LA TOUR AND D'AUNAY. [1638-42.
price on the goods of the traders, and then, having seized them, gave in return his promise to pay at some convenient time if the owners would come to him for the money.
He had called on La Tour to help him in this raic against Penobscot; but La Tour, unwilling < 3 recog- nize his right to command, had refused, and hac hoped that D'Aunay, becoming disgusted with his Acadian venture, which promised neither honor nor profit, would give it up, go back to France, and st there. About the year 1638 D'Aunay did in fact go"") to France, but not to stay ; for in due time he reap- peared, bringing with him his bride, Jeanne Motin, who had had the courage to share his fortunes, and whom he now installed at Port Royal, — a sure sign, as his rival thought, that he meant to make his home there. Disappointed and angry, La Tour now lost patience, went to Port Royal, and tried to stir D'Aunay's soldiers to mutiny; then set on his Indian friends to attack a boat in which was one of D'Aunay's soldiers and a Capuchin friar, — the soldier being killed, though the friar escaped.1 This was the beginning of a quarrel waged partly at Port 'Royal and St. Jean, and partly before the admiralty court of Guienne and the royal council, partly with bullets and cannon-shot, and partly with edicts, decrees, and proch verbaux. As D'Aunay had taken a wife, so too would La Tour; and he charged his agent Desjardins to bring him one from France.
1 Menou, L'Acadie colonisee par Charles de Menou d'Aunay.
1642.] LA TOUR SURRENDERS. 17
The agent acquitted himself of his delicate mission, and shipped to Acadia one Marie Jacquelin, — • daughter of a barber of Mans, if we may believe the questionable evidence of his rival. Be this as it may, Marie Jacquelin proved a prodigy of mettle and energy, espoused her husband's cause with passionate vehemence, and backed his quarrel like the intrepid Amazon she was. She joined La Tour at Fort St. Jean, and proved the most strenuous of allies.
About this time, D'Aunay heard that the English of Plymouth meant to try to recover Penobscot from his hands. On this he sent nine soldiers thither, with provisions and munitions. La Tour seized them on the way, carried them to Fort St. Jean, and, according to his enemies, treated them like slaves.
D'Aunay heard nothing of this till four months after, when, being told of it by Indians, he sailed in person to Penobscot with two small vessels, reinforced the place, and was on his way back to Port Royal when La Tour met him with two armed pinnaces. A fight took place, and one of D'Aunay's vessels was dismasted. He fought so well, however, that Cap- tain Jamin, his enemy's chief officer, was killed; and the rest, including La Tour, his new wife, and his agent Desjardins, were forced to surrender, and were carried prisoners to Port Royal.
At the request of the Capuchin friars D'Aunay set them all at liberty, after compelling La Tour to sign a promise to keep the peace in future.1 Both parties
1 Menou, L'Acadie colonisfe par Charles de Menou d'Aunay. 2
18 LA TOUR AND D'AUNAY. [1642.
now laid their cases before the French courts, and, whether from the justice of his cause or from superior influence, D'Aunay prevailed. La Tour's commis- sion was revoked, and he was ordered to report him- self in France to receive the King's commands. Trusting to liis remoteness from the seat of power, and knowing that the King was often ill served and worse informed, he did not obey, but remained in Acadia exercising his authority as before. D'Aunay's father, from his house in Rue St. Germain, watched over his son's interests, and took care that La Tour's conduct should not be unknown at court. A decree was thereupon issued directing D'Aunay to seize his rival's forts in the name of the King, and place them in charge of trusty persons. The order was precise^ but D'Aunay had not at the time force enough to execute it, and the frugal King sent him only six soldiers.) Hence he could only show the royal order fo La Tour, and offer him a passage to France in one of his vessels if he had the discretion to obey. La Tour refused, on which D'Aunay returned to France to report his rival's contumacy. At about the same time La Tour's French agent sent him a vessel with succors. The King ordered it to be seized ; but the order came too late, for the vessel had already sailed from Rochelle bound to Fort St. Jean.
When D'Aunay reported the audacious conduct of his enemy, the royal council ordered that the offender should be brought prisoner to France ; 1 and D'Aunay,
i Arr* du Contcil, 21 Fev., 1642.
1643.] LA TOUR ASKS AID OF BOSTON. 19
as the King's lieutenant-general in Acadia, was again required to execute the decree.1 La Tour was now in the position of a rebel, and all legality was on the side of his enemy, who represented royalty itself.
D'Aunay sailed at once for Acadia, and in August, 1642, anchored at the mouth of the St. John, before La Tour's fort, and sent three gentlemen in a boat to read to its owner the decree of the council and the order of the King. La Tour snatched the papers, crushed them between his hands, abused the envoys roundly, put them and their four sailors into prison, and kept them there above a year.2
His position was now desperate, for he had placed himself in open revolt. Alarmed for the conse- quences, he turned for help to the heretics of Boston. True Catholics detested them as foes of God and man ; but La Tour was neither true Catholic nor true Protestant, and would join hands with anybody who could serve his turn. Twice before he had made advances to the Boston malignants, and sent to them first one Rochet, and then one Lestang, with pro- posals of trade and alliance. The envoys were treated with courtesy, but could get no promise of active aid.8
La Tour's agent, Desjardins, had sent him from Rochelle a ship, called the "St. Clement," manned
1 Menou, L'Acadie colonisee.
3 Menou, L'Acadie colonisee. Moreau, Hittoirc de FAcadie, 169, 170.
* Hubbard, History of New England, chap. liv. Winthrop, ii
42,88.
20
LA TOUR AND D'AUNAY.
[1643.
by a hundred and forty Huguenots, laden with stores and munitions, and commanded by Captain Mouron. In due time La Tour at his Fort St. Jean heard that the "St. Clement" lay off the mouth of the river, unable to get in because D'Aunay blockaded the entrance with two armed ships and a pinnace. On this he resolved to appeal in person to the heretics. He ran the blockade in a small boat under cover of night, and, accompanied by his wife, boarded the " St. Clement " and sailed for Boston.1
Menou, L'Acadie colonises.
CHAPTER H.
1643-1645. LA TOUR AND THE PURITANS.
LA TOUR AT BOSTON: HIS MEETING WITH WINTHROP. — BOSTOH IN 1643. — TRAINING DAY. — AN ALARM. — LA TOUR'S BARGAIN. — DOUBTS AND DISPUTES. — THE ALLIES SAIL. — LA TOUR AND ENDICOTT. — D'AUNAY'S OVERTURE TO THE PURITANS. — MARIE'S MISSION.
ON the twelfth of June, 1643, the people of the infant town of Boston saw with some misgiving a French ship entering their harhor. It chanced that the wife 6f Captain Edward Gibbons, with her children, was on her way in a boat to a farm belong- ing to her husband on an island in the harbor. One of La Tour's party, who had before made a visit to Boston, and had been the guest of Gibbons, recog- nized his former hostess ; and he, with La Tour and a few sailors, cast off from the ship and went to speak to her in a boat that was towed at the stern of the "St. Clement." Mrs. Gibbons, seeing herself chased by a crew of outlandish foreigners, took refuge on the island where Fort Winthrop was afterwards built, which was then known as the "Governor's Garden," as it had an orchard, a vineyard, and
22 LA TOUR AND THE PURITANS. [1643.
"many other conveniences."1 The islands in the harbor, most of which were at that time well wooded, seem to have been favorite places of cultivation, as sheep and cattle were there safe from those pests of the mainland, the wolves. La Tour, no doubt to the dismay of Mrs. Gibbons and her children, landed after them, and was presently met by the governor himself, who, with his wife, two sons, and a daughter- in-law, had apparently rowed over to their garden for the unwonted recreation of an afternoon's outing.a La Tour made himself known to the governor, and, after mutual civilities, told him that a ship bringing supplies from France had been stopped by his enemy, D'Aunay, and that he had come to ask for help to raise the blockade and bring her to his fort. Winthrop replied that, before answering, he must consult the magistrates. As Mrs. Gibbons and her children were anxious to get home, the governor sent them to town in his own boat, promising to follow with his party in that of La Tour, who had placed it at his disposal. Meanwhile, the people of Boston had heard of what was taking place, and were in some anxiety, since, in a truly British distrust of all Frenchmen, they feared lest their governor might be kidnapped and held for ransom. Some of them accordingly took arms, and came in three boats to the rescue. In fact, remarks Winthrop, " if La Tour had been ill-minded towards us, he had such an
1 Wood, New England't Prospect, part i., chap. x. * Winthrop. ii. 127.
1643.]
BOSTON IN 1643.
23
opportunity as we hope neither he nor any other shall ever have the like again."1 The castle, or fort, which was on another island hard by, was defenceless, its feeble garrison having been lately withdrawn, and its cannon might easily have been turned on the town.
Boston, now in its thirteenth year, was a straggling village, with houses principally of boards or logs, gathered about a plain wooden meeting-house which formed the heart or vital organ of the place. The rough peninsula on which the infant settlement stood was almost void of trees, and was crowned by a hill split into three summits, — whence the name of Tremont, or Trimount, still retained by a street of the present city. Beyond the narrow neck of the peninsula were several smaller villages with outlying farms; but the mainland was for the most part a primeval forest, possessed by its original owners, — - wolves, bears, and rattlesnakes. These last unde- sirable neighbors made their favorite haunt on a high rocky hill, called Rattlesnake Hill, not far inland, where, down to the present generation, they were often seen, and where good specimens may occasion- ally be found to this day.2
Far worse than wolves or rattlesnakes were the Pequot Indians, — a warlike race who had boasted
i Winthrop, ii. 127.
a Blue Hill in Milton. " Up into the country is a high hill which is called rattlesnake hill, where there is great store of these poysonous creatures." (Wood, New England's Prospect.) "They [the wolves] be the greatest inconreniency the country hath." (Ibid.)
24 LA TOUR AND THE PURITANS. [1643.
that they would wipe the whites from the face of the earth, but who, by hard marching and fighting, had lately been brought to reason.
Worse than wolves, rattlesnakes, and Indians' together were the theological quarrels that threatened1 to kill the colony in its infancy. Children are taught that the Puritans came to New England in search of religious liberty. The liberty they sought was for themselves alone. It was the liberty to worship in their own way, and to prevent all others from doing the like. They imagined that they held a monopoly of religious truth, and were bound in conscience to defend it against all comers. Their mission was to build up a western Canaan, ruled by the law of God ; to keep it pure from error, and, if need were, purge it of heresy by persecution, — to which ends they set up one of the most detestable theocracies on record. Church and State were joined in one. Church- members alone had the right to vote. There was no choice but to remain politically a cipher, or embrace, or pretend to embrace, the extremest dogmas of Calvin. Never was such a premium offered to cant and hypocrisy ; yet in the early days hypocrisy was rare, so intense and pervading was the faith of the founders of New England.
It was in the churches themselves, the appointed sentinels and defenders of orthodoxy, that heresy lifted its head and threatened the State with disrup- tion. Where minds different in complexion and character were continually busied with subtle ques-
1643.] PURITAN TROUBLES. 25
maintained ; and ionnvaJhinn .found a champion in one Mrs. Hutchinsoiv a woman of great controversial ability and inexhaustible fluency of tongue. Persons of a mystical turn of mind, or a natural inclination to contrariety, were drawn to her preachings; and the church of Boston, with three or four exceptions, went over to her in a body. " Sanctification," " justi- fication," "revelations," the "covenant of grace," and the "covenant of works," mixed in furious battle with all the subtleties, sophistries, and venom of theo- logical war ; while the ghastly spectre of Antinomian- ism hovered over the fray, carrying terror to the souls of the faithful. The embers of the strife still burned hot when La Tour appeared to bring another firebrand. As a "papist" or " idolater, " though a mild one, he was sorely prejudiced in Puritan eyes, while his plundering of the Plymouth trading-house some years before, and killing two of its five tenants, did not tend to produce impressions in his favor; but it being explained that all five were drunk, and had begun the fray by firing on the French, the ire against him cooled a little. Landing with Winthrop, he was received under the hospitable roof of Captain Gibbons, whose wife had recovered from her fright at his approach. He went to church on Sunday, and the gravity of his demeanor gave great satisfaction, — a solemn carriage being of itself a virtue in Puritan eyes. Hence he was well treated, and his men were permitted to come ashore daily in small numbers.
26 LA TOUR AND THE PURITANS. [1643.
The stated training-day of the Boston militia fell in the next week, and La Tour asked leave to exer- cise his soldiers with the rest. This was granted; and, escorted by the Boston trained baud, about forty of them marched to the muster-field, which was probably the Common, — a large tract of pasture- land in which was a marshy pool, the former home of a colony of frogs, perhaps not quite exterminated by the sticks and stones of Puritan boys. This pool, cleaned, paved, and curbed with granite, preserves to this day the memory of its ancient inhabitants, and is still the Frog Pond, though bereft of frogs.
The Boston trained band, in steel caps and bufi coats, went through its exercise; and the visitors, we are told, expressed high approval. When the drill was finished, the Boston officers invited La Tour's officers to dine, while his rank and file were entertained in like manner by the Puritan soldiers. There were more exercises in the afternoon, and this time it was the turn of the French, who, says Winthrop, " were very expert in all their postures and motions." A certain "judicious minister," in dread of popish conspiracies, was troubled in spirit at this martial display, and prophesied that " store of blood would be spilled in Boston," — a prediction that was not fulfilled, although an incident took place which startled some of the spectators. The Frenchmen suddenly made a sham charge, sword in hand, which the women took for a real one. The alarm was soon over; and as this demonstration
1643.J LA TOUR'S KEQUEST. 27
ended the performance, La Tour asked leave of the governor to withdraw his men to their ship. The leave being granted, they fired a salute and marched to the wharf where their boat lay, escorted, as before, by the Boston trained band. During the whole of La Tour's visit he and Winthrop went amicably to church together every Sunday, — the governor being attended, on these and all other occasions while the strangers were in town, by a guard of honor of musketeers and halberd men. La Tour and his chief officers had their lodging and meals in the houses of the principal townsmen, and all seemed harmony and good-will.
La Tour, meanwhile, had laid his request before the magistrates, and produced among other papers the commission to Mouron, captain of his ship, dated in the last April, and signed and sealed by the Vice- Admiral of France, authorizing Mouron to bring supplies to La Tour, whom* the paper styled Lieuten- ant-General for the King in Acadia; La Tour also showed a letter, genuine or forged, from the agent of the Company of New France, addressed to him as lieutenant-general, and warning him to beware of D'Aunay: from all which the Boston magistrates inferred that their petitioner was on good terms with the French government,1 notwithstanding a letter
1 Count Jules de Menou, in his remarkable manuscript book now before me, expresses his belief that the commission of the Vice- Admiral was genuine, but that the letter of the agent of the Com- pany was a fabrication.
28 LA TOUR AND THE PURITANS. [1643.
sent them by D'Aunay the year before, assuring them that La Tour was a proclaimed rebel, which in fact he was. Throughout this affair one is perplexed by the French official papers, whose entanglements and contradictions in regard to the Acadian rivals are past unravelling.
La Tour asked only for such help as would enable him to bring his own ship to his own fort; and, as his jfcipers seemed to prove that he was a recognized officer of his King, Winthrop and the magistrates thought that they might permit him to hire such ships and men as were disposed to join him.
La Tour had tried to pass himself as a Protestant; but his professions were distrusted, notwithstanding the patience with which he had listened to the long- winded sermons of the Reverend John Cotton. As to his wife, however, there appears to have been but one opinion. She was approved as a sound Protestant "of excellent virtues ;" and her denunciations of D'Aunay no doubt fortified the prejudice which was already strong against him for his seizure of the Plymouth trading-house at Penobscot, and for his aggressive and masterful character, which made him an inconvenient neighbor.
With the permission of the governor and the approval of most of the magistrates, La Tour now made a bargain with his host, Captain Gibbons, arjjl a merchant named Thomas Hawkins. They agreed' to fmjiishr-Jiim^with _four ^vessels ; to arm each of these with from four to fourteen small cannon, and
1643.] DISPUTES. 29
man them with a certain number of sailors, La Tour himself completing the crews with Englishmen hired at his own charge. | Hawkins was to command the whole. The four vessels were to escort La Tour and his ship, the "St. Clement," to the mouth of the St. John, in spite of D'Aunay and all other opponents. The agreement ran for two months; and La Tour was to pay £250 sterling a month for the use of the four ships, and mortgage to Gibbons and Hawkins his fort and all his Acadian property as security.. Winthrop would give no commissions to Hawkins or any others engaged in the expedition, and they were all forbidden to fight except in self-defence ; but the agreement contained the significant clause that all plunder was to be equally divided according to rule in such enterprises. Hence it seems clear that the contractors had an eye to booty; yet no means were used to hold them to their good behavior.
Now rose a brisk dispute, and the conduct of Winthrop was sharply criticised. Letters poured in upon him concerning "great dangers," "sin upon the conscience," and the like. He himself was clearly in doubt as to the course he was taking, and he soon called another meeting of magistrates, in which the inevitable clergy were invited to join; and they all fell to discussing the matter anew. As every man of them had studied the Bible daily from childhood up, texts were the chief weapons of the debate. Doubts were advanced as to whether Christians could law- fully help idolaters, and Jehoshaphat, Ahab, and
30 LA TOUR AND THE PURITANS. [1643.
Josias were brought forward as cases in point. Then Solomon was cited to the effect that "he that med- dleth with the strife that belongs not to him takes a dog by the ear; " to which it was answered that the quarrel did belong to us, seeing that Providence now offered us the means to weaken our enemy, D'Aunay, without much expense or trouble to ourselves. Besides, we ought to help a neighbor in distress, seeing that Joshua helped the Gibeonites, and Jehoshaphat helped Jehoram against Moab with the approval of Elisha. The opposing party argued that] "by aiding papists we advance and strengthen I popery;" to which it was replied that the opposite effect might follow, since the grateful papist, touched by our charity, might be won to the true faith and turned from his idols.
Then the debate continued on the more worldly grounds of expediency and statecraft, and at last Winthrop's action was approved by the majority. Still, there were many doubters, and the governor was severely blamed. John Endicott wrote to him that La Tour was not to be trusted, and that he and D'Aunay had better be left to fight it out between them, since if we help the former to put down his enemy he will be a bad neighbor to us.
Presently came a joint letter from several chief men of the colony, — Saltonstall, Bradstreet, Nathaniel Ward, John Norton, and others, — saying in sub- stance: We fear international law has been ill observed; the merits of the case are not clear; we
1643.] WINTHROP BLAMED. 81
are not called upon in charity to help La Tour (see 2 Chronicles xix. 2, and Proverbs xxvi. 17); this quarrel is for England and France, and not for us ; if D'Aunay is not completely put down, we shall have endless trouble; and "he that loses his life in an unnecessary quarrel dies the devil's martyr."
This letter, known as the "Ipswich letter," touched Winthrop to the quick. He thought that it trenched on his official dignity, and the asperity of his answer betrays his sensitiveness. He calls the remonstrance "an act of an exorbitant nature," and says that it "blows a trumpet to division and dissension." "If my neighbor is in trouble," he goes on to say, "I must help him." He maintains that "there is great difference between giving permission to hire to guard or transport, and giving commission to fight," and he adds the usual Bible text, " The fear of man bringeth a snare; but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe."1
In spite of Winthrop's reply, the Ipswich letter had great effect; and he and the Boston magistrates were much blamed, especially in the country towns. The governor was too candid not to admit that he had been in fault, though he limits his self -accusation to three points : first, that he had given La Tour an answer too hastily ; next, that he had not sufficiently
1 Winthrop's Answer to the Ipsioich Letter about La Tour (no date), In Hulchinson Papers, 122. Bradstreet writes to him on the 21st of June, " Our ayding of Latour was very grievous to many hereabouts, the design being feared to be unwarrantable by dyrers."
32 LA TOUR AND THE PURITANS. [1643.
consulted the elders or ministers ; and lastly, that he had not opened the discussion with prayer.
The upshot was that La Tour and his allies sailed on the fourteenth of July. D'Aunay's three vessels fled before them to Port Royal. La Tour tried to per- suade his Puritan friends to join him in an attack; but Hawkins, the English commander, would give no order to that effect, on which about thirty of the Boston men volunteered for the adventure. D'Aunay's followers had ensconced themselves in a fortified mill, whence they were driven with some loss. After burning the mill and robbing a pin- nace loaded with furs, the Puritans returned home, i having broken their orders and compromised their colony.
In the next summer, La Tour, expecting a serioua> attack from D'Aunay, — who had lately been to France, and was said to be on his way back with large reinforcements, — turned again to Massachusetts for help. The governor this time was John Endicott, of Salem. To Salem the suppliant repaired; and as Endicott spoke French, the conference was easy. The rugged bigot had before expressed his disap- proval of " having anything to do with these idola- trous French ; " but, according to Hubbard, he was so moved with compassion at the woful tale of his visitor that he called a meeting of magistrates and ministers to consider if anything could be done for him. The magistrates had by this time learned caution, and the meeting would do nothing but write
1643.] D'AUNAY'S ARRIVAL. 83
a letter to D'Aunay, demanding satisfaction for his seizure of Penobscot and other aggressions, and de* taring that the men who escorted La Tour to his foit in the last summer had no commission from Massachusetts, yet that if they had wronged him he should have justice, though if he seized any New England trading vessels they would hold him an- swerable. In short, La Tour's petition was not granted.
D'Aunay, when in France, had pursued his litiga- tion against his rival, and the royal council had ore 3red that the contumacious La Tour should be seined, his goods confiscated, and he himself brought home a prisoner; which decree D'Aunay was empow- ered to execute, if he could. He had returned to Acadia the accredited agent of the royal will. It was reported at Boston that a Biscayan pirate had sunk his ship on the way ; but the wish was father to the thought, and the report proved false. D'Aunay arrived safely, and was justly incensed at the support given by the Puritans in the last year to his enemy. But he too had strong reasons for wishing to be on good terms with his heretic neighbors. King Louis, moreover, had charged him not to offend them, since, when they helped La Tour, they had done so in the belief that he was commissioned as lieutenant-general for the King, and therefore they should be held blameless.
Hence D'Aunay made overtures of peace and friendship to the Boston Puritans. Early in October,
34 LA TOUR AND THE PURITANS. [14.
1644, they were visited by one Monsieur Mae, " supposed, " says the chronicle, " to be a friar, ut habited like a gentleman." He was probably on of the Capuchins who formed an important parlof D'Aunay's establishment at Port Royal. The j>v- ernor and magistrates received him with due corid- eration; and along with credentials from D'Auay he showed them papers under the great seal of France, wherein the decree of the royal council as set forth in full, La Tour condemned as a rebel adu traitor, and orders given to arrest both him and Jus / wife. Henceforth there was no room to doubt wWch of the rival chiefs had the King and the law o&^iis \ side. The envoy, while complaining of the aid'" given to La Tour, offered terms of peace to the gov- ernor and magistrates, — who replied to his com- plaints with their usual subterfuge, that they had given no commission to those who had aided La Tour, declaring at the same time that they could make no treaty without the concurrence of the com- missioners of the United Colonies. They then desired Marie to set down his proposals in writing ; on which he went to the house of one Mr. Fowle, where he lodged, and drew up in French his plan for a treaty, adding the proposal that the Bostonians should join D'Aunay against La Tour. Then he came back to the place of meeting and discussed the subject for half a day, — sometimes in Latin with the magis- trates, and sometimes in French with the governor, that old soldier being probably ill versed in the classic
1644.] MARIE'S MISSION. 35
tongues. In vain they all urged that D'Aunay should come to terms with La Tour. Marie replied, that if La Tour would give himself up his life would be spared, but that if he were caught he would lose his head as a traitor; adding that his wife was worse than he, being the mainspring of his rebellion. Endicott and the magistrates refused active alliance ; but the talk ended in a provisional treaty of peace, duly drawn up in Latin, Marie keeping one copy and the governor the other. The agreement needed rati- fication by the commissioners of the United Colonies on one part, and by D'Aunay on the other. What, is most curious in the affair is the attitude of Massa- f chusetts, which from first to last figures as an inde- pendent State, with no reference to the King under whose charter it was building up its theocratic republic, and consulting none but the infant confed- eracy of the New England colonies, of which it was itself the head. As the commissioners of the confed- eracy were not then in session, Endicott and the magistrates took the matter provisionally into their own hands.
Marie had made good despatch, for he reached Boston on a Friday and left it on the next Tuesday, having finished his business in about three days, or rather two, as one of the three was "the Sabbath." He expressed surprise and gratification at the atten- tion and courtesy with which he had been treated. His hosts supplied him with horses, and some of them accompanied him to Salem, where be bad left
86 LA TOUR AND THE PURITANS. [1644.
his vessel, and whence he sailed for Port Royal, well pleased.
Just before he came to Boston, that town had received a visit from Madame de la Tour, who, soon after her husband's successful negotiation with Winthrop in the past year, had sailed for France in the ship " St. Clement." She had labored strenuously in La Tour's cause; but the influence of D'Aunay's partisans was far too strong, and, being charged with complicity in her husband's misconduct, she was forbidden to leave France on pain of death. She set the royal command at naught, escaped to England, took passage in a ship bound for America, and after long delay landed at Boston. The English ship- master had bargained to carry her to her husband at Fort St. Jean ; but he broke his bond, and was sen- tenced by the Massachusetts courts to pay her £2, 000 as damages. She was permitted to hire three armed vessels then lying in the harbor, to convey her to Fort St. Jean, where she arrived safely and rejoined La Tour.
Meanwhile, D'Aunay was hovering off the coast, armed with the final and conclusive decree of the royal council, which placed both husband and wife under the ban, and enjoined him to execute its sen- tence. But a resort to force was costly and of doubt- ful result, and IXAunay resolved again to try the effect of persuasion. Approaching the mouth of the St. John, he sent to the fort two boats, commanded by his lieutenant, who carried letters from his chief,
1845.] AN ENRAGED AMAZON. 37
promising to La Tour's men pardon for their past conduct and payment of all wages due them if they would return to their duty. An adherent of D'Aunay declares that they received these advances with insults and curses. It was a little before this time that Madame de la Tour arrived from Boston. The same writer says that she fell into a transport of fury, "behaved like one possessed with a devil," and heaped contempt on the Catholic faith in the presence of her husband, who approved everything she did; and he further affirms that she so berated and reviled the Re'collet friars in the fort that they refused to stay, and set out for Port Royal in the depth of winter, taking with them eight soldiers of the fort who were too good Catholics to remain in such a nest of heresy and rebellion. They were permitted to go, and were provided with an old pinnace and two barrels of Indian corn, with which, unfortunately for La Tour, they safely reached their destination.
On her arrival from Boston, Madame de la Tour had given her husband a piece of politic advice. Her enemies say. that she had some time before renounced her faith to gain the favor of the Puritans ; but there is reason to believe that she had been a Huguenot from the first. She now advised La Tour to go to Boston, declare himself a Protestant, ask for a min- ister to preach to his men, and promise that if the Bostonians would help him to master D'Aunay and conquer Acadia, he would share the conquest with them. La Tour admired the sagacious counsels of
38 LA TOUR AND THE ITKITAXS. [1615
his wife, and sailed for Boston to put them in prac- tice just before the friars and the eight deserters sailed for Port Royal, thus leaving their departure unopposed.
At Port Royal both friars and deserters found a •warm welcome. D'Aunay paid the eight soldiers their long arrears of wages, and lodged the friars in the seminary with his Capuchins. Then he ques- tioned them, and was well rewarded. They told him that La Tour had gone to Boston, leaving his wife with only forty-five men to defend the fort. Here was a golden opportunity. D'Aunay called his officers to council. All were of one mind. He mus- tered every man about Port Royal and embarked them in the armed ship of three hundred tons that had brought him from France; he then crossed the Bay of Fundy with all his force, anchored in a small harbor a league from Fort St. Jean, and sent the Rdcollet Pere Andre* to try to seduce more of La Tour's men, — an attempt which proved a failure. D'Aunay lay two months at his anchorage, during which time another ship and a pinnace joined him from Port Royal. Then he resolved to make an attack. Meanwhile, La Tour had persuaded a Boston merchant to send one Grafton to Fort St. Jean in a small vessel loaded with provisions, and bringing also a letter to Madame de la Tour contain- ing a promise from her husband that he would join her in a month. When the Boston vessel appeared at the mouth of the St. John, D'Aunay seized it,
1645.J FORT ST. JEAN ATTACKED. 39
placed Grafton and the few men with him on an island, and finally supplied them with a leaky sail- boat to make their way home as they best could.
D'Aunay now landed two cannon to batter Fort St. Jean on the land side ; and on the seventeenth of April, having brought his largest ship within pistol- shot of the water rampart, he summoned the garrison to surrender.1 They answered with a volley of can- non-shot, then hung out a red flag, and, according to D'Aunay's reporter, shouted "a thousand insults and blasphemies " ! 2 Towards evening a breach was made in the wall, and D'Aunay ordered a general assault. Animated by their intrepid mistress, the defenders fought with desperation, and killed or wounded many of the assailants, not without severe loss on their own side. Numbers prevailed at last;
1 The site of Fort St. Jean, or Fort La Tour, has been matter of question. At Carleton, opposite the present city of St. John, are the remains of an earthen fort, by some supposed to be that of La Tour, but which is no doubt of later date, as the place was occupied by a succession of forts down to the Seven Years' War. On the other hand, it has been assumed that Fort La Tour was at Jemsec, which is about seventy miles up the river. Now, in the second mortgage deed of Fort La Tour to Major Gibbons, May 10, 1646, the fort is described as " situe pres de I'embouchure de la riviere de St. Jean." Moreover, there is a cataract just above the mouth of the river, which, though submerged at high tide, cannot be passed by heavy ships at any time ; and as D'Aunay brought his largest ship of war to within pistol-shot of the fort, it must have been below the cataract. Mr. W. F. Ganong, after careful examination, is con- vinced that Fort La Tour was at Portland Point, on the east side of the St. John, at its mouth. See his paper on the subject in Transac- tions of the Royal Society of Canada, 1891.
* Proves Verbal d' Andre Certain, in Appendix A.
40 LA TOUR AND THE PURITANS. [1645.
all resistance was overcome; the survivors of the garrison were made prisoners, and the fort was pil- laged. Madame de la Tour, her maid, and another woman, who were all of their sex in the place, were among the captives, also Madame de la Tour's son, a mere child. D'Aunay pardoned some of his pris- oners, but hanged the greater part, "to serve as an example to posterity," says his reporter. Nicolas Denys declares that he compelled Madame de la Tour to witness the execution with a halter about her neck ; but the more trustworthy accounts say nothing of this alleged outrage. On the next day, the eigh- teenth of April, the bodies of the dead were decently buried, an inventory was made of the contents of the fort, and D'Aunay set his men to repair it for his own use. These labors occupied three weeks or more, during a part of which Madame de la Tour was left at liberty, till, being detected in an attempt to corre- spond with her husband by means of an Indian, she was put into confinement; on which, according to D'Aunay 's reporter, "she fell ill with spite and rage," and died within three weeks, — after, as he tells us, renouncing her heresy in the chapel of the fort.
CHAPTER in.
1645-1710. THE VICTOR VANQUISHED.
D'AUNAY'S ENVOYS TO THE PURITANS : THEIR RECEPTION AT BOSTON. — WINTHHOP AND HIS " PAPIST " GUESTS. — RECON- CILIATION. — TREATY. — BEHAVIOR OF LA TOUR. — ROYAL FAVORS TO D'AUNAY : HIS HOPES ; HIS DEATH ; HIS CHARACTER. — CONDUCT OF THE COURT TOWARDS HIM. — INTRIGUES OF LA TOUR. — MADAME D'AUNAY. — LA TOUR MARRIES HER. — CHIL- DREN OF D'AUNAY. — DESCENDANTS OF LA TOUR.
HAVING triumphed over his rival, D'Aunay was left free to settle his accounts with the Massachusetts Puritans, who had offended him anew by sending provisions to Fort St. Jean, having always insisted that they were free to trade with either party. They, on their side, were no less indignant with him for his seizure of Grafton's vessel and harsh treatment of him and his men.
After some preliminary negotiation and some rather sharp correspondence, D'Aunay, in September, 1646, sent a pinnace to Boston, bearing his former envoy, Marie, accompanied by his own secretary and by one Monsieur Louis.
It was Sunday, the Puritan Sabbath, when the three envoys arrived; and the pious inhabitants were
42 THE VICTOR VANQUISHED. [1646.
preparing for the afternoon sermon. Marie and his two colleagues were met at the wharf by two militia officers, and conducted through the silent and dreary streets to the house of Captain, now Major, Gibbons, who seems to have taken upon himself in an especial manner the office of entertaining strangers of consequence.
All was done with much civility, but no ceremony; for the Lord's Day must be kept inviolate. Winthrop, who had again been chosen governor, now sent an officer, with a guard of musketeers, to invite the envoys to his own house. Here he regaled them with wine and sweetmeats, and then informed them of "our manner that all men either come to our publick meetings, or keep themselves quiet in their houses."1 He then laid before them such books in Latin and French as he had, and told them that they were free to walk in his garden. Though the diver- sion offered was no doubt of the dullest, — since the literary resources of the colony then included little besides arid theology, and the walk in the garden promised but moderate delights among the bitter pot-herbs provided against days of fasting, — the victims resigned themselves with good grace, and, as the governor tells us, "gave no offence." Sunset came at last, and set the captives free.
On Monday both sides fell to business. The envoys showed their credentials ; but, as the comwis- eioners of the United Colonies were not yeJ in > Winthrop, ii. 273, 276.
1646.] THE ENVOYS. 43
session, nothing conclusive could be done till Tues- day. Then, all being assembled, each party made its complaints of the conduct of the other, and a long discussion followed. Meals were provided for the three visitors at the "ordinary," or inn, where the magistrates dined during the sessions of the General Court. The governor, as their host, always sat with them at the board, and strained his Latin to do honor to his guests. They, on their part, that courtesies should be evenly divided, went every morning at eight o'clock to the governor's house, whence he accompanied them to the place of meet- ing; and at night he, or some of the commissioners in his stead, attended them to their lodging at the house of Major Gibbons.
Serious questions were raised on both sides; but as both wanted peace, explanations were mutually made and accepted. The chief difficulty lay in the undeniable fact, that, in escorting La Tony to his fort in 1643, the Massachusetts volunteers had chased D'Aunay to Port Royal, killed some of his men, burned his mill, and robbed his pinnace, for which wrongs the envoys demanded heavy damages. It was true that the governor and magistrates had forbidden acts of aggression on the part of the volun- teers ; but on the other hand they had had reason to believe that their prohibition would be disregarded, and had taken no measures to enforce it. The envoys clearly had good ground of complaint; and here, says Winthrop, "they did stick two days." At
44 THE VICTOR VANQUISHED. [1646.
last they yielded so far as to declare that what D'Aunay wanted was not so much compensation in money as satisfaction to his honor by an acknowledg- ment of their fault on the part of the Massachusetts authorities ; and they further declared that he would accept a moderate present in token of such acknowl- edgment. The difficulty now was to find such a present. The representatives of Massachusetts pres- ently bethought themselves of a "very fair new sedan " which the Viceroy of Mexico had sent to his sister, and which had been captured in the West Indies by one Captain Cromwell, a corsair, who gave it to "our governor." Winthrop, to whom it was entirely useless, gladly parted with it in such a cause; and the sedan, being graciously accepted, ended the discussion.1 The treaty was signed in duplicate by the commissioners of the United Colonies and the envoys of D'Aunay, and peace was at last concluded.
The conference had been conducted with much courtesy on both sides. One small cloud appeared, but soon passed away. The French envoys displayed the fleur-de-lys at the masthead of their pinnace as she lay in the harbor. The townsmen were incensed ; and Monsieur Marie was told that to fly foreign colors in Boston harbor was not according to custom. He insisted for a time, but at length ordered the offending flag to be lowered.
On the twenty-eighth of September the envoys bade 1 Winthrop, ii. 274.
1647.]
BEHAVIOR OF LA TOUR.
45
farewell to Winthrop, who had accompanied them to their pinnace with a guard of honor. Five cannon saluted them from Boston, five from "the Castle," and three from Charlestown. A supply of mutton and a keg of sherry were sent on board their ves- sel; and then, after firing an answering salute from their swivels, they stood down the bay till their sails disappeared among the islands.
La Tour had now no more to hope from his late supporters. He had lost his fort, and, what was worse, he had lost his indomitable wife. Throughout the winter that followed his disaster he had been entertained by Samuel Maverick, at his house on Noddle's Island. In the spring he begged hard for further help; and, as he begged in vain, he sailed for Newfoundland to make the same petition to Sir David Kirke, who then governed that island. Kirke \ refused, but lent him a pinnace and sent him back to Boston. Here some merchants had the good nature or folly to intrust him with goods for the Indian trade, to the amount of four hundred pounds. Thus equipped, he sailed for Acadia in Kirke's pinnace, manned with his own followers and five New England men. On reaching Cape Sable, he conspired with the master of the pinnace and his own men to seize the vessel and set the New England sailors ashore, — which was done, La Tour, it is said, shooting one of them in the face with a pistol. It was winter, and the outcasts roamed along the shore for a fort- night, half frozen and half starved, till they were
46 THE VICTOR VANQUISHED. [1647.
met by Micmac Indians, who gave them food and a boat, — in which, by rare good fortune, they reached Boston, where their story convinced the most infatu- ated that they had harbored a knave. "Whereby," solemnly observes the pious but much mortified Winthrop, who had been La Tour's best friend, "it appeared (as the Scripture saith) that there is no confidence in an unfaithful or carnal man."1
When the capture of Fort St. Jean was known at court the young King was well pleased, and promised to send D'Aunay the gift of a ship;2 but he forgot to keep his word, and requited his faithful subject with the less costly reward of praises and honors. After a preamble reciting his merits, and especially his "care, courage, and valor" in "taking, by our express order, and reducing again under our authority the fort on the St. John which La Tour had rebel- liously occupied with the aid of foreign sectaries," the King confirms D'Aunay's authority in Acadia, and extends it on paper from the St. Lawrence to Virginia, — empowering nim to keep for himself such parts of this broad domain as he might want, and grant out the rest to others, who were to hold of him as vassals. He could build forts and cities, at his own expense; command by land and sea; make war jx peftoo witl^n the limite nf frfo grant- appoint officers of government, justice, and police; and, in short, exercise sovereign powpr, with the simple
* Winthrop, ii. 266.
» Le Roy d M. d'Aunay Charnisay, 28 Sept., 1645.
1647.] D'AUNAY'S REWARD. 47
reservation of homage to the King, and a tenth part of all gold, silver, and copper to the royal treasury. A full monopoly of the fur-trade throughout his dominion was conferred on him; and any infringe- ment of it was to be punished by confiscation of ships and goods, and thirty thousand livres of damages. On his part he was enjoined to " establish the name, power, and authority of the King ; subject the nations to his rule, and teach them the knowledge of the true God and the light of the Christian faith."1 Acadia, in short, was made an hereditary fief; and D'Aunay and his heirs became lords of a domain as large as a European kingdom.
D'Aunay had spent his substance in the task of civilizing a wilderness.2 The King had not helped him; and though he belonged to a caste which held commerce in contempt, he must be a fur-trader or a bankrupt. La Tour's Fort St. Jean was a better trading-station than Port Royal, and it had wofully algidged D'Aunay's i profits. Hence an ignoble com- petition in beaver-skins had greatly embittered their quarrel. All this was over; Fort St. Jean, the best trading-stand in Acadia, was now in its conqueror's hands ; and his monopoly was no longer a mere name, but a reality.
1 Lettre du Roy de Gouverneur et Lieutenant General es castes de TAcadie pour Charles de Menou d'Aulnay Charnisay, Fevrier, 1647. Lettre de la Reyne regente au meme, 13 Avril, 1647.
2 His heirs estimated his outlays for the colony at 800,000 livres. Memoire des Jilles du feu Seigneur d'Aulnay Charnisay, 1686. Placet de Joseph de Menou d'Aunay Charnisay, Jilt aint du feu Charles de Menou d'Aunay Chamisay, 1658.
48 THE VICTOR VANQUISHED. [105<X
: Everything promised a thriving trade and a growing k colony, when the scene was suddenly changed. On the twenty-fourth of May, 1650, a dark and stormy day, D'Aunay and his valet were in a birch canoe in the basin of Port Royal, not far from the mouth of the Annapolis. Perhaps neither master nor man was skilled in the management of the treacherous craft that bore them. The canoe overset. D'Aunay and the valet clung to it and got astride of it, one at each end. There they sat, sunk to the shoulders, the canoe though under water having buoyancy enough to keep them from sinking farther. So they remained an hour and a half; and at the end of that time D'Aunay was dead, not from drowning but from cold, for the water still retained the chill of winter. The valet remained alive ; and in this con- dition they were found by Indians and brought to the north shore of the Annapolis, whither Father Ignace, the Superior of the Capuchins, went to find the body of his patron, brought it to the fort, and buried it in the chapel, in presence of his wife and all the soldiers and inhabitants.1
The Father Superior highly praises the dead chief, and is astonished that the earth does not gape and devour the slanderers who say that he died in desper- ation, as one abandoned of God. He admits that in former times cavillers might have found wherewith to accuse him, but declares that before his death he had amended all his faults. This is the testimony
1 Lettre du Rev. P. Ignace, Capucin, 6 Aoutt, 1653.
1651.] LA TOUR IN FAVOR. 49
of a Capuchin, whose fraternity he had always favored. The Re'collets, on the other hand, whose patron was La Tour, complained that D'Aunay had ill-used them, and demanded redress.1 He seems to have been a favorable example of his class ; loyal to his faith and his King, tempering pride with cour- tesy, and generally true to his cherished ideal of the gentilhomme Franpais. In his qualities, as in his birth, he was far above his rival; and his death was the ruin of the only French colony in Acadia that deserved the name.
At the news of his enemy's fate a new hope pos- sessed La Tour. He still had agents in France interested to serve him; while the father of D'Aunay, who acted as his attorney, was feeble with age, and his children were too young to defend their interests.
There is an extraordinary document bearing date February, 1651, or less than a year after D'Aunay's death. It is a complete reversal of the decree of 1647 in his favor. La Tour suddenly appears as the favorite of royalty, and all the graces before lavished on his enemy are now heaped upon him. The lately proscribed " rebel and traitor " is confirmed as gover- nor and lieutenant-general in New France. His services to God and the King are rehearsed "as ot our certain knowledge,'* and he is praised with the same emphasis used towards D'Aunay in .the decree
i Papers to this effect are among the many pieces cited in the Arret du Conseil d'Etat a I'egard du Seigneur de la Tour, 6 Mars, 1644.
4
60 THE VICTOR VANQUISHED. [1651.
of 1647, and almost in the same words. The paper goes on to say that he, La Tour, would have con- verted the Indians and conquered Acadia for the King if D'Aunay had not prevented him.1
Unless this document is a fabrication in the inter- est of La Tour, as there is some reason to believe, it suggests strange reflections on colonial administra- tion during the minority of Louis XIV. Genuine or not, La Tour profited by it, and after a visit to France, which proved a successful and fruitful one, he returned to Acadia with revived hopes. The widow of D'Aunay had eight children, all minors; and their grandfather, the octogenarian Rene' de Menou, had been appointed their guardian. He sent an incompetent and faithless person to Port Royal to fulfil the wardship of which he was no longer capable.
The unfortunate widow and her children needed better help. D'Aunay had employed as his agent one Le Borgne, a merchant of Rochelle, who now succeeded in getting the old man under his influence, and induced him to sign an acknowledgment, said to be false, that D'Aunay's heirs owed him 260,000
1 Confirmation de Gonverneur et Lieutenant General pour le Roy de la Nouvelle France, a la Coste de FAcadie, au Sr. Charles de St. Etienne, Chevalier de la Tour, 27 Fev., 1661. A copy of this strange paper is before me. Comte de Menou, and after him, his follower Moreau, doubt the genuineness of the document, which, however, is alluded to without suspicion in the legal paper entitled ^femoire in re Charles de St. Etienne, Seigneur de la Tour (fils) et ses freres et saurs, 1700. This Memoire is in the interest of the heirs of La Tour, and is to be judged accordingly.
1653.] INTRIGUES OF LE-BORGNE. 51
livres.1 Le Borgne next came to Port Royal to push his schemes ; and here he inveigled or frightened the widow into signing a paper to the effect that she and her children owed him 205,286 livres. It was fortu- nate for his unscrupulous plans that he had to do with the soft and tractable Madame d'Aunay, and not with the high-spirited and intelligent Amazon Madame La Tour. Le Borgne now seized on Port Royal as security for the alleged debts; while La Tour on his return from his visit to France induced the perplexed and helpless widow to restore to him Fort St. Jean, conquered by her late husband. Madame d'Aunay, beset with insidious enemies, saw herself and her children in danger of total ruin. She applied to the Due de Vendome, grand-master, chie£ and superintendent of navigation, and offered to share all her Acadian claims with him if he would help her in her distress ; but, from the first, Vendome looked more to his own interests than to hers. La Tour was not satisfied with her concessions to him, and perplexing questions rose between them touching land claims and the fur-trade. To end these troubles she took a desperate step, and on the twenty-fourth of February, 1653, married her tormentor, the foe of her late husband, who had now been dead not quite three years.2 Her chief thought seems to have been for her children, whose rights are guarded, though
1 Memoire in re Charles de St. Etienne (fils de la Tour), etc.
2 Rameau, i. 120. Menou and Moreau think that this marriage took place two or three years later.
62 THE VICTOR VANQUISHED. [1654-1710.
to little purpose, in the marriage contract. She and La Tour took up their abode at Fort St. Jean. Of the children of her first marriage four were boys and four were girls. They were ruined at last by the harpies leagued to plunder them, and sought refuge in France, where the boys were all killed in the wars of Louis XIV., and at least three of the girls became nuns.1
Now follow complicated disputes, without dignity or interest, and turning chiefly on the fur-trade. Le Borgne and his son, in virtue of their claims on the estate of D'Aunay, which were sustained by the French courts, got a lion's share of Acadia; a part fell also to La Tour and his children by his new wife, while Nicolas Denys kept a feeble hold on the shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence as far north as Cape Hosiers.
"*"- War again broke out between France and England, and in 1654 Major Robert Sedgwick of Charlestown, Massachusetts, who had served in the civil war as a major-general of Cromwell, led a small New England force to Acadia under a commission from the Pro- tector, captured Fort St. Jean, Port Royal, and all the other French stations, and conquered the colony for England. It was restored to France by the treaty of Breda, and captured again in 1690 by Sir William Phips. The treaty of Ryswick again restored it to France, till, in 1710, it was finally seized for England by General Nicholson.
1 Menou, L'Acadie colonisee.
1666-1830.] DESCENDANTS OF LA TOUR. 53
When, after Sedgwick's expedition, the English were in possession of Acadia, La Tour, not for the first time, tried to fortify his claims by a British title, and, jointly with Thomas Temple and William Crown, obtained a grant of the colony from Cromwell, — though he soon after sold his share to his copartner, Temple. He seems to have died in 1666. 1 Descendants of his were living in Acadia in 1830, and some may probably still be found there. As for D'Aunay, no trace of his blood is left in the land where he gave wealth and life for France and the Church.
1 Rameau, i. 122.
SECTION SECOND. CANADA A MISSION,
CHAPTER IV.
1653-1658. THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA
THE IBOQUOIS WAR. — FATHER PONCET : HIS ADVENTURES. — JESUIT BOLDNESS. — LE MOTNE'S MISSION. — CHAUMONOT AND DABLON. — IROQCOIS FEROCITY. — THE MOHAWK KIDNAPPERS. — CRITICAL POSITION. — THE COLONY OF ONONDAGA. — SPEECH OF CHAUMONOT. — OMENS OF DESTRUCTION. — DEVICE OF THB JESUITS. — THE MEDICINE FEAST. — THE ESCAPE.
IN the summer of 1653 all Canada turned to fast- ing and penance, processions, vows, and supplica- tions. The saints and the Virgin were beset with unceasing prayer. The wretched little colony was like some puny garrison, starving and sick, com- passed with inveterate foes, supplies cut off, and succor hopeless.
At Montreal — the advance guard of the settle- ments, a sort of Castle Dangerous, held by about fifty Frenchmen, and said by a pious writer of the day to exist only by a continuous miracle — some two
1653.] THE IROQUOIS WAR. 55
hundred Iroquois fell upon twenty-six Frenchmen. The Christians were outmatched, eight to onej but, says the chronicle, the Queen of Heaven was on their 'side, and the Son of Mary refuses nothing to his holy mother.1 Through her intercession, the Iroquois shot so wildly that at their first fire every bullet missed its mark, and they met with a bloody defeat. The palisaded settlement of Three Rivers, though in a position less exposed than that of Montreal, was in no .less jeopardy. A noted war-chief of the Mohawk Iroquois had been captured here the year before, and put to death ; and his tribe swarmed out, like a nest of angry hornets, to revenge him. Not content with defeating and killing the commandant, Du Plessis Bochart, they encamped during the winter in the neighboring forest, watching for an oppor- tunity to surprise the place. Hunger drove them off, but they returned in the spring, infesting every field and pathway; till at length some six hundred of their warriors landed in secret and lay hidden in the depths of the woods, silently biding their time. Having failed, however, in an artifice designed to lure the French out of their defences, they showed themselves on all sides, plundering, burning, and destroying, up to the palisades of the fort.2
Of the three settlements which, with their feeble
1 Le Mercier, Relation, 1653, 3.
* So bent were they on taking the place, that they brought their families, in order to make a permanent settlement. Marie de Ilncarnation, Lettre du 6 Sept., 1653.
56 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1653.
dependencies, then comprised the whole of Canada, Quebec was least exposed to Indian attacks, being partially covered by Montreal and Three Rivera. Nevertheless, there was no safety this year, even under the cannon of Fort St. Louis. At Cap Rouge, a few miles above, the Jesuit Poncet saw a poor woman who had a patch of corn beside her cabin, but could find nobody to harvest it. The father went to seek aid; met one Mathurin Franchetot, whom he persuaded to undertake the charitable task, and was returning with him, when they both fell into an ambuscade of Iroquois, who seized them and dragged them off. Thirty-two men embarked in canoes at Quebec to follow the retreating savages and rescue the prisoners. Pushing rapidly up the St. Lawrence, they approached Three Rivera, found it beset by the Mohawks, and bravely threw them- selves into it, to the great joy of its defenders and discouragement of the assailants.
Meanwhile, the intercession of the Virgin wrought new marvels at Montreal, and a bright ray of hope beamed forth from the darkness and the storm to cheer the hearts of her votaries. It was on the twenty -sixth of June that sixty of the Onondaga Iroquois appeared in sight of the fort, shouting from a distance that they came on an errand of peace, and asking safe- conduct for some of their number. Guns, scalping- knives, tomahawks, were all laid aside; and, with a confidence truly astonishing, a deputation of chiefs, naked and defenceless, came into the midst of those
1653.] PACIFIC OVERTURES. . 57
whom they had betrayed so often. The French had a mind to seize them, and pay them in kind for past treachery; but they refrained, seeing in this won- drous change of heart the manifest hand of Heaven. Nevertheless, it can be explained without a miracle. The Iroquois, or at least the western nations of their league, had just become involved in war with their neighbors the Eries,1 and "one war at a time" was the sage maxim of their policy.
All was smiles and blandishment in the fort at Montreal ; presents were exchanged, and the deputies departed, bearing home golden reports of the French. An Oneida deputation soon followed ; but the enraged Mohawks still infested Montreal and beleaguered Three Rivers, till one of their principal chiefs and four of their best warriors were captured by a party of Christian Hurons. Then, seeing themselves abandoned by the other nations of the league and left to wage the war alone, they too made overtures of peace.
A grand council was held at Quebec. Speeches were made, and wampum-belts exchanged. The Iroquois left some of their chief men as pledges of sincerity, and two young soldiers offered themselves as reciprocal pledges on the part of the French. The war was over; at least Canada had found a moment to take breath for the next struggle. The
1 See " Jesuits in North America," 542. The Iroquois, it will be remembered, consisted of five "nations," or tribes, — the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. For an account of them, see the work just cited, Introduction.
58 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [165*
fur-trade was restored again, with promise of plenty ; for the beaver, profiting by the quarrels of their human foes, had of late greatly multiplied. It was a change from death to life; for Canada lived on the beaver, and robbed of this, her only sustenance, had been dying slowly since the strife began.1
" Yesterday, " writes Father Le Mercier, " all was dejection and gloom ; to-day, all is smiles and gayety. On Wednesday, massacre, burning, and pillage; on Thursday, gifts and visits, as among friends. If the Iroquois have their hidden designs, so too has God.
" On the day of the Visitation of the Holy Virgin, the chief, Aontarisati,8 so regretted by the Iroquois, was taken prisoner by our Indians, instructed by our fathers, and baptized; and on the same day, being put to death, he ascended to heaven. I doubt not that he thanked the Virgin for his misfortune and the blessing that followed, and that he prayed to God for his countrymen.
"The people of Montreal made a solemn vow to celebrate publicly the fete of this mother of all bless- ings ; whereupon the Iroquois came to ask for peace.
"It was on the day of the Assumption of this Queen of angels and of men that the Hurons took at
1 According to Le Mercier, beaver to the value of from 200,000 to 300,000 livres was yearly brought down to the colony before the destruction of the Hurons (164U-60). Three years later, not one beaver-skin was brought to Montreal during a twelvemonth, and Three Rivers and Quebec had barely enough to pay for keeping the fortifications in repair.
* The chief whose death had so enraged the Mohawks.
1653.] THE WOES OF FATHER PONCET. 59
Montreal that other famous Iroquois chief, whose capture caused the Mohawks to seek our alliance.
" On the day when the Church honors the Nativity of the Holy Virgin, the Iroquois granted Father Poncet his life ; and he, or rather the Holy Virgin and the holy angels, labored so well in the work of peace, that on Saint Michael's Day it was resolved in a council of the elders that the father should be con- ducted to Quebec, and a lasting treaty made with the French."1
Happy as was this consummation, Father Poncet's path to it had been a thorny one. He has left us his own rueful story, written in obedience to the com- mand of his superior. He and his companion in misery had been hurried through the forests, from Cap Rouge on the St. Lawrence to the Indian towns on the Mohawk. He tells us how he slept among dank weeds, dropping with the cold dew; how fright- ful colics assailed him as he waded waist-deep through a mountain stream ; how one of his feet was blistered and one of his legs benumbed; how an Indian snatched away his reliquary and lost the precious contents. "I had, "he says, "a picture of Saint Ignatius with our Lord bearing the cross, and another of Our Lady of Pity surrounded by the five wounds of her Son. They were my joy and my consolation; but I hid them in a bush, lest the Indians should laugh at them." He kept, however, a little image of the crown of thorns, in which he found great comfort, i Relation, 1653, 18.
60 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1653.
as well as in communion with his patron saints, Saint Raphael, Saint Martha, and Saint Joseph. On one occasion he asked these celestial friends for some- thing to soothe his thirst, and for a bowl of broth to revive his strength. Scarcely had he framed the petition when an Indian gave him some wild plums ; and in the evening, as he lay fainting on the ground, another brought him the coveted broth. Weary and forlorn, he reached at last the lower Mohawk town, where, after being stripped, and with his companion forced to run the gantlet, he was placed on a scaffold of bark, surrounded by a crowd of grinning and mocking savages. As it began to rain, they took him into one of their lodges, and amused themselves by making him dance, sing, and perform various fantastic tricks for their amusement. He seems to have done his best to please them; "but," adds the chronicler, " I will say in passing, that as he did not succeed to their liking in these buffooneries (singerics), they would have put him to death if a young Huron prisoner had not offered himself to sing, dance, and make wry faces in place of the father, who had never learned the trade."
Having sufficiently amused themselves, they left him for a time in peace ; when an old one-eyed Indian approached, took his hands, examined them, selected the left forefinger, and calling a child four or five years old, gave him a knife, and told him to cut it off, which the imp proceeded to do, his victim mean- while singing the Vexilla Regis. After this prelimi-
1653.] PEACE CONCLUDED. 6l
nary, they would have burned him, like Franchetot, his unfortunate companion, had not a squaw happily adopted him in place, as he says, of a deceased brother. He was installed at once in the lodge of his new relatives, where, bereft of every rag of Christian clothing, and attired in leggins, moccasins, and a greasy shirt, the astonished father saw himself transformed into an Iroquois. But his deliverance was at hand. A special agreement providing for it had formed a part of the treaty concluded at Quebec ; and he now learned that he was to be restored to his countrymen. After a march of almost intolerable hardship, he saw himself once more among Christians, — Heaven, as he modestly thinks, having found him unworthy of martyrdom.
"At last," he writes, "we reached Montreal on the twenty-first of October, the nine weeks of my cap- tivity being accomplished, in honor of Saint Michael and all the holy angels. On the sixth of November the Iroquois who conducted me made their presents to confirm the peace; and thus, on a Sunday evening, eighty-and-one days after my capture, — that is to say, nine times nine days, — this great business of the peace was happily concluded, the holy angels showing by this number nine, which is specially dedicated to them, the part they bore in this holy work."1 This incessant supernaturalism is the key to the early history of New France.
i Poncet in Relation, 1653, 17. On Poncet's captivity see also Morale Pratique des Jesuites, vol. xxxiv. (4to) chap. xii.
62 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1653.
Peace was made ; but would peace endure ? There was little chance of it, and this for several reasons. First, the native fickleness of the Iroquois, who, astute and politic to a surprising degree, were in certain respects, like all savages, mere grown-up children. Next, their total want of control over their fierce and capricious young warriors, any one of whom could break the peace with impunity when- ever he saw fit; and, above all, the strong probability that the Iroquois had made peace in order, under cover of it, to butcher or kidnap the unhappy rem- nant of the Huions who were living, under French protection, on the island of Orleans, immediately below Quebec. I have already told the story of the destruction of this people and of the Jesuit missions established among them.1 The conquerors were eager to complete their bloody triumph by seizing upon the refugees of Orleans, killing the elders, and strengthening their own tribes by the adoption of the women, children, and youths. The Mohawks and the Onondagas were competitors for the prize. Each coveted the Huron colony, and each was jealous lest his rival should pounce upon it first.
When the Mohawks brought home Poncet, they covertly gave wampum-belts to the Huron chiefs, and invited them to remove to their villages. It was the wolf's invitation to the lamb. The Hurons, aghast with terror, went secretly to the Jesuits, and told them that demons had whispered in their ears an 1 See "Jesuits in North America."
1653.] JESUIT BOLDNESS. 63
invitation to destruction. So helpless were both the Hurons and their French supporters, that they saw no recourse but dissimulation. The Hurons promised to go, and only sought excuses to gain time.
The Onondagas had a deeper plan. Their towns were already full of Huron captives, former converts of the Jesuits, cherishing their memory and con- stantly repeating their praises. Hence their tyrants conceived the idea that by planting at Onondaga a colony of Frenchmen under the direction of these beloved fathers, the Hurons of Orleans, disarmed of suspicion, might readily be led to join them. Other motives, as we shall see, tended to the same end, and the Onondaga deputies begged, or rather demanded, that a colony of Frenchmen should be sent among them.
Here was a dilemma. Was not this, like the Mohawk invitation to the Hurons, an invitation to butchery? On the other hand, to refuse would probably kindle the war afresh. The Jesuits had long nursed a project bold to temerity. Their great Huron mission was ruined ; but might not another be built up among the authors of this ruin, and the Iroquois themselves, tamed by the power of the Faith, be annexed to the kingdoms of Heaven and of France ? Thus would peace be restored to Canada, a barrier of fire opposed to the Dutch and English heretics, and the power of the Jesuits vastly increased. Yet the time was hardly ripe for such an attempt. Before thrusting a head into the tiger's jaws, it would be well to try the effect of thrusting in a
64 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1651
hand. They resolved to compromise with the danger, and before risking a colony at Onondaga to send thither an envoy who could soothe the Indians, cohfirm them in pacific designs, and pave the way for more decisive steps. The choice fell on Father Simon Le Moyne.
The errand was mainly a political one; and this sagacious and able priest, versed in Indian languages and customs, was well suited to do it. "On the second day of the month of July, the festival of the Visitation of the Most Holy Virgin, ever favor- able to our enterprises, Father Simon Le Moyne set out from Quebec for the country of the Onondaga Iroquois." In these words does Father Le Mercier chronicle the departure of his brother Jesuit. Scarcely was he gone when a band of Mohawks, under a redoubtable half-breed known as the Flemish Bastard, arrived at Quebec; and when they heard that the envoy was to go to the Onondagas without visiting their tribe, they took the imagined slight in high dudgeon, displaying such jealousy and ire that a letter was sent after Le Moyne, directing him to pro- ceed to the Mohawk towns before his return. But he was already beyond reach, and the angry Mohawks were left to digest their wrath.
At Montreal, Le Moyne took a canoe, a young Frenchman, and two or three Indians, and began the tumultuous journey of the Upper St. Lawrence. Nature, or habit, had taught him to love the wilder- ness life. He and his companions had struggled all
1654.] FATHER LE MOYNE. 65
day against the surges of La Chine, and were biv- ouacked at evening by the Lake of St. Louis, when a cloud of mosquitoes fell upon them, followed by a shower of warm rain. The father, stretched under a tree, seems clearly to have enjoyed himself. " It is a pleasure," he writes, "the sweetest and most innocent imaginable, to have no other shelter than trees planted by Nature since the creation of the world." Sometimes, during their journey, this primitive tent proved insufficient, and they would build a bark hut or find a partial shelter under their inverted canoe. Now they glided smoothly over the sunny bosom of the calm and smiling river, and now strained every nerve to fight their slow way against the rapids, dragging their canoe upward in the shallow water by the shore, as one leads an unwilling horse by the bridle, or shouldering it and bearing it through the forest to the smoother current above. Game abounded; and they saw great herds of elk quietly defiling between the water and the woods, with little heed of men, who in that perilous region found employment enough in hunting one another.
At the entrance of Lake Ontario they met a party of Iroquois fishermen, who proved friendly, and guided them on their way. Ascending the Onondaga, they neared their destination ; and now all misgivings to their reception at the Iroquois capital were dis- jlled. The inhabitants came to meet them, bring- ig roasting ears of the young maize and bread made of its pulp, than which they knew no luxury more
66 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1654.
exquisite. Their faces beamed welcome. Le Moyne was astonished. "I never," he says, "saw the like among Indians before." They were flattered by his visit, and, for the moment, were glad to see him. They hoped for great advantages from the residence of Frenchmen among them; and having the Erie war on their hands, they wished for peace with Canada. "One would call me brother," writes Le Moyne; "another, uncle; another, cousin. I never had so many relations."
He was overjoyed to find that many of the Huron converts, who had long been captives at Onondaga, had not forgotten the teachings of their Jesuit instructors. Such influence as they had with their conquerors was sure to be exerted in behalf of the French. Deputies of the Senecas, Cayugas, and Oneidas at length arrived, and on the tenth of August the criers passed through the town, summoning all to hear the words of Onontio. The naked dignita- ries, sitting, squatting, or lying at full length, thronged the smoky hall of council. The father knelt and prayed in a loud voice, invoking the aid of Heaven, cursing the demons who are spirits of dis- cord, and calling on the tutelar angels of the country to open the ears of his listeners. Then he opened his packet of presents and began his speech. " I was full two hours," he says, "in making it, speaking in the tone of a chief, and walking to and fro, after their fashion, like an actor on a theatre." Not only did he imitate the prolonged accents of the Iroquoia
1654.] LE MOYNE AT ONONDAGA. 67
orators, but he adopted and improved their figures of speech, and addressed them in turn by their respective tribes, bands, and families, calling their men of note by name, as if he had been born among them. They were delighted ; and their ejaculations of approval — hoh-hoh-hoh — came thick and fast at every pause of his harangue. Especially were they pleased with the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh presents, whereby the reverend speaker gave to the four upper nations of the league four hatchets to strike their new ene- mies, the Eries; while by another present he meta- phorically daubed their faces with the war-paint. However it may have suited the character of a Chris- tian priest to hound on these savage hordes to a war of extermination which they had themselves pro- voked, it is certain that, as a politician, Le Moyne did wisely ; since in the war with the Eries lay the best hope of peace for the French.
The reply of the Indian orator was friendly to overflowing. He prayed his French brethren to choose a spot on the lake of Onondaga, where they might dwell in the country of the Iroquois, as they dwelt already in their hearts. Le Moyne promised, and made two presents to confirm the pledge. Then, his mission fulfilled, he set out on his return, attended by a troop of Indians. As he approached the lake, his escort showed him a large spring of water, possessed, as they told him, by a bad spirit. Le Moyne tasted it, then boiled a little of it, and produced a quantity of excellent salt. He had dis-
68 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1654-55.
covered the famous salt-springs of Onondaga. Fish- ing and hunting, the party pursued their way till, at noon of the seventh of September, Le Moyne reached Montreal.1
When he reached Quebec, his tidings cheered for a while the anxious hearts of its tenants ; but an un- wonted incident soon told them how hollow was the ground beneath their feet. Le Moyne, accompanied by two Onondagas and several Hurons and Algonquins, was returning to Montreal, when he and his com- panions were set upon by a war-party of Mohawks. The Hurons and Algonquins were killed. One of the Onondagas shared their fate, and the other, with Le Moyne himself, was seized and bound fast. The captive Onondaga, however, was so loud in his threats and denunciations that the Mohawks released both him and the Jesuit.2 Here was a foreshadow- ing of civil war, — Mohawk against Onondaga, Iroquois against Iroquois. The quarrel was patched up, but fresh provocations were imminent.
The Mohawks took no part in the Erie war, and hence their hands were free to fight the French and the tribes allied with them. Reckless of their promises, they began a series of butcheries, — fell upon the French at Isle aux Oies, killed a lay brother of the Jesuits at Sillery, and attacked Montreal. Here, being roughly handled, they came for a time
1 Journal du Pere Le Maine, Relation, 1664, chaps, vi. vii. 8 Compare Relation, 1664, 33, and Lettre de Marie de f Incarnation^ 18 Oct., 1664,
1655.] ONONDAGA DEPUTATION. 69
to their senses, and offered terms, promising to spare the French, but declaring that they would still wage war against the Hurons and Algonquins. These were allies whom the French were pledged to protect ; but so helpless was the colony that the insolent and humiliating proffer was accepted, and another peace ensued, as hollow as the last. The indefatigable Le Moyne was sent to the Mohawk towns to confirm it, "so far," says the chronicle, "as it is possible to con- firm a peace made by infidels backed by heretics."1 The Mohawks received him with great rejoicing; yet his life was not safe for a moment. A warrior, feigning madness, raved through the town with uplifted hatchet, howling for his blood; but the saints watched over him and balked the machinations of hell. He came off alive and returned to Montreal, spent with famine and fatigue.
Meanwhile a deputation of eighteen Onondaga chiefs arrived at Quebec. There was a grand council. The Onondagas demanded a colony of Frenchmen to dwell among them. Lauson, the governor, dared neither to consent nor to refuse. A middle course .was chosen; and two Jesuits, Chaumonot and Dablon, were sent, like Le Moyne, partly to gain time, partly reconnoitre, and partly to confirm the Onondagas such good intentions as they might entertain. Uhaumonot was a veteran of the Huron mission, who, liraculously as he himself supposed, had acquired a
1 Copie de Deux Lettres envoyees de la Nmivelle France an Pen •Vocwreur des Missions de la Compagnie de Jesus.
70 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1655.
great fluency in the Huron tongue, which is closely allied to that of the Iroquois. Dablon, a new-comer, spoke, as yet, no Indian.
Their voyage up the St. Lawrence was enlivened by an extraordinary bear-hunt, and by the antics of one of their Indian attendants, who, having dreamed that he had swallowed a frog, roused the whole camp by the gymnastics with which he tried to rid himself of the intruder. On approaching Onondaga, they were met by a chief who sang a song of wel- come, a part of which he seasoned with touches of humor, — apostrophizing the fish in the river Onondaga, naming each sort, great or small, and calling on them in turn to come into the nets of the Frenchmen and sacrifice life cheerfully for their behoof. Hereupon there was much laughter among the Indian auditors. An unwonted cleanliness reigned in the town; the streets had been cleared of refuse, and the arched roofs of the long houses of bark were covered with red-skinned children staring at the entry of the "black robes."
Crowds followed behind, and all was jubilation. The dignitaries of the tribe met them on the way, and greeted them with a speech of welcome. A feast of bear's meat awaited them ; but, unhappily, it was Friday, and the fathers were forced to abstain.
" On Monday, the fifteenth of November, at nine in the morning, after having secretly sent to Paradise a dying infant by the waters of baptism, all the elders and the people having assembled, we opened
1655.] REPLY OF THE CHIEFS. 71
the council by public prayer." Thus writes Father Dablon. His colleague, Chaumonot, a Frenchman bred in Italy, now rose, with a long belt of wampum in his hand, and proceeded to make so effective a display of his rhetorical gifts that the Indians were lost in admiration, and their orators put to the blush by his improvements on their own metaphors. "If he had spoken all day," said the delighted auditors, "we should not have had enough of it." "The Dutch," added others, "have neither brains nor tongues; they never tell us about paradise and hell; on the contrary, they lead us into bad ways."
On the next day the chiefs returned their answer. The council opened with a song or chant, which was divided into six parts, and which, according to Dablon, was exceedingly well sung. The burden of the fifth part was as follows : —
"Farewell war! farewell tomahawk! We have been fools till now; henceforth we will be brothers, — yes, we will be brothers."
Then .came four presents, the third of which enraptured the fathers. It was a belt of seven thou- sand beads of wampum. "But this," says Dablon, "was as nothing to the words that accompanied it." "It is the gift of the faith," said the orator. "It is to tell you that we are believers ; it is to beg you not to tire of instructing us. Have patience, seeing that we are so dull in learning prayer; push it into our heads and our hearts." Then he led Chaumonot into the midst of the assembly, clasped him in his
72 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1656.
arms, tied the belt about his waist, and protested, with a suspicious redundancy of words, that as he clasped the father, so would he clasp the faith.
What had wrought this sudden change of heart? The eagerness of the Onondagas that the French should settle among them had, no doubt, a large share in it. For the rest, the two Jesuits saw abund- ant signs of the fierce, uncertain nature of those with whom they were dealing. Erie prisoners were brought in and tortured before their eyes, — one of them being a young stoic of about ten years, who endured his fate without a single outcry. Huron women and children, taken in war and adopted by their captors, were killed on the slightest provoca- tion, and sometimes from mere caprice. For several days the whole town was in an uproar with the crazy follies of the "dream feast," l and one of the Fathers nearly lost his life in this Indian Bedlam.
One point was clear: the French must make a settlement at Onondaga, and that speedily, or, despite their professions of brotherhood, the Onondagas would make war. Their attitude became menacing ; from urgency they passed to threats ; and the two priests felt that the critical posture of affairs must at once be reported at Quebec. But here a difficulty arose. It was the beaver-hunting season; and, eager as were the Indians for a French colony, not one of them would offer to conduct the Jesuita to Quebec in order to fetch one. It was not untU 1 See " Jesuits in North America," 164.
1666.1 DABLON'S JOURNEY 73
nine masses had been said to Saint John the Baptist, that a number of Indians consented to forego their hunting, and escort Father Dablon home. l Chaumonot remained at Onondaga, to watch his dangerous hosts and soothe their rising jealousies.
It was the second of March when Dablon began his journey. His constitution must have been of iron, or he would have succumbed to the appalling hard- ships of the way. It was neither winter nor spring. The lakes and streams were not yet open, but the half-thawed ice gave way beneath the foot. One of the Indians fell through and was drowned. Swamp and forest were clogged with sodden snow, and ceaseless rains drenched them as they toiled on, knee -deep in slush. Happily, the St. Lawrence was open. They found an old wooden canoe by the shore, embarked, and reached Montreal after a jour- ney of four weeks.
Dablon descended to Quebec. There was long and anxious counsel in the chambers of Fort St. Louis. The Jesuits had information that if the demands of the Onondagas were rejected, they would join the Mohawks to destroy Canada. But why were they so eager for a colony of Frenchmen? Did they want them as hostages, that they might attack the Hurons and Algonquins without risk of French interference ; or would they massacre them, and then, like tigers mad with the taste of blood, turn upon
1 De Quen, Relation, 1656, 35. Chaumonot, in his Autobiography, ascribes the miracle to the intercession of the deceased Brebeuf .
74 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1656.
•
the helpless settlements of the St. Lawrence? An abyss yawned on either hand. Lauson, the governor, was in an agony of indecision; but at length he declared for the lesser and remoter peril, and gave his voice for the colony. The Jesuits were of the same mind, though it was they, and not he, who must bear the brunt of danger. " The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church," said one of them; "and if we die by the fires of the Iroquois, we shall have won eternal life by snatching souls from the fires of hell."
Preparation was begun at once. The expense fell on the Jesuits, and the outfit is said to have cost them seven thousand livres, — a heavy sum for Canada at that day. A pious gentleman, Zachary Du Puys, major of the fort of Quebec, joined the expedition with ten soldiers ; and between thirty and forty other Frenchmen also enrolled themselves, impelled by devotion or destitution. Four Jesuits,
— Le Mercier, the superior, with Dablon, Me'nard, and Fre'min, — besides two lay brothers of the order, formed, as it were, the pivot of the enterprise. The governor made them the grant of a hundred square leagues of land in the heart of the Iroquois country,
— a preposterous act, which, had the Iroquois known it, would have rekindled the war; but Lauson had a mania for land-grants, and was himself the proprietor of vast domains which he could have occupied only at the cost of his scalp.
Embarked in two large boats and followed by
1656.] DEPARTURE. 75
twelve canoes filled with Hurons, Onondagas, and a few Senecas lately arrived, they set out on the seven- teenth of May "to attack the demons," as Le Mercier writes, "in their very stronghold." With shouts, tears, and benedictions, priests, soldiers, and inhabit- ants waved farewell from the strand. They passed the bare steeps of Cape Diamond and the mission- house nestled beneath the heights of Sillery, and vanished from the anxious eyes that watched the last gleam of their receding oars.1
Meanwhile three hundred Mohawk warriors had taken the war-path, bent on killing or kidnapping the Hurons of Orleans. When they heard of the departure of the colonists for Onondaga, their rage was unbounded ; for not only were they full of jeal- ousy towards their Onondaga confederates, but they had hitherto derived great profit from the control which their local position gave them over the traffic between this tribe and the Dutch of the Hudson, — upon whom the Onondagas, in common with all the upper Iroquois, had been dependent for their guns, hatchets, scalping-knives, beads, blankets, and brandy. These supplies would now be furnished by the French, and the Mohawk speculators saw their occupation gone. Nevertheless, they had just made peace with the French, and for the moment were not quite in the mood to break it. To wreak their spite, they took a middle course, — crouched in ambush
1 Marie de 1'Incarnation, Lettres, 1656. Le Mercier, Relation, 1667, chap. iv. Chaulmer, Nouveau Monde, ii. 265, 322, 319.
76 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [165d
among the bushes at Point St. Croix, ten or twelve leagues above Quebec, allowed the boats bearing the French to pass unmolested, and fired a volley at the canoes in the rear, filled with Onondagas, Senecas, and Hurons. Then they fell upon them with a yell, and, after wounding a lay brother of the Jesuits who was among them, bound and flogged such of the Indians as they could seize. The astonished Onondagas protested and threatened ; whereupon the Mohawks feigned great surprise, declared that they had mistaken them for Hurons, called them brothers, and suffered the whole party to escape without further injury.1
The three hundred marauders now paddled their large canoes of elm-bark stealthily down the current, passed Quebec undiscovered in the dark night of the nineteenth of May, landed in early morning on the island of Orleans, and ambushed themselves to sur- prise the Hurons as they came to labor in their corn- fields. They were tolerably successful, — killed six, and captured more than eighty, the rest taking refuge in their fort, where the Mohawks dared not attack them.
At noon, the French on the rock of Quebec saw forty canoes approaching from the island of Orleans, and defiling, with insolent parade, in front of the town, all crowded with the Mohawks and their pris- oners, among whom were a great number of Huron
1 Compare Marie de 1'Incarnation, Lettre 14 Aoit, 1656, Le Jeune, Relation, 1667, 9.
1856.] MOHAWK INSOLENCE. 77
girls. Their captors, as they passed, forced them to sing and dance. The Hurons were the allies, or rather the wards, of the French, who were in every way pledged to protect them. Yet the cannon of Fort St. Louis were silent, and the crowd stood gap- ing in bewilderment and fright. Had an attack been made, nothing but a complete success and the capture of many prisoners to serve as hostages could have prevented the enraged Mohawks from taking their revenge on the Onondaga colonists. The emergency demanded a prompt and clear-sighted soldier. The governor, Lauson, was a gray-haired civilian, who, however enterprising as a speculator in wild lands, was in no way matched to the desperate crisis of the hour. Some of the Mohawks landed above and below the town, and plundered the houses from which the scared inhabitants had fled. Not a soldier stirred and not a gun was fired. The French, bullied by a horde of naked savages, became an object of contempt to their own allies.
The Mohawks carried their prisoners home, burned six of them, and adopted or rather enslaved the rest.1
Meanwhile the Onondaga colonists pursued their perilous way. At Montreal they exchanged their heavy boats for canoes, and resumed their journey with a flotilla of twenty of these sylvan vessels. A few days after, the Indians of the party had the satis- faction of pillaging a small band of Mohawk hunters,
1 See authorities just cited, and Perrot, Afaurs des Sauvages, 106.
78 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [165C.
in vicarious reprisal for their own wrongs. On the twenty-sixth of June, as they neared Lake Ontario, they heard a loud and lamentable voice from the edge of the forest; whereupon, having beaten their drum to show that they were Frenchmen, they beheld a spectral figure, lean and covered with scars, which proved to be a pious Huron, — one Joachim Ondakout, captured by the Mohawks in their descent on the island of Orleans, five or six weeks before. They had carried him to their village and begun to torture him ; after which they tied him fast and lay down to sleep, thinking to resume their pleasure on the mor- row. His cuts and burns being only on the surface, he had the good fortune to free himself from his bonds, and, naked as he was, to escape to the woods. He held his course northwestward, through regions even now a wilderness, gathered wild strawberries to sustain life, and in fifteen days reached the St. Lawrence, nearly dead with exhaustion. The French- men gave him food and a canoe, and the living skeleton paddled with a light heart for Quebec.
The colonists themselves soon began to suffer from hunger. Their fishing failed on Lake Ontario, and they were forced to content themselves with cran- berries of the last year, gathered in the meadows. Of their Indians, all but five deserted them. The Father Superior fell ill, and when they reached the mouth of the Oswego many of the starving French- men had completely lost heart. Weary and faint, they dragged their canoes up the rapids, when sud-
1658.] THE ONONDAGAS. 79
denly they were cheered by the sight of a stranger canoe swiftly descending the current. The Onondagas, aware of their approach, had sent it to meet them, laden with Indian corn and fresh salmon. Two more canoes followed, freighted like the first; and now all was abundance till they reached their journey's end, the Lake of Onondaga. It lay before them in the July sun, a glittering mirror, framed in forest verdure.
They knew that Chaumonot with a crowd of Indians was awaiting them at a spot on the margin of the water, which he and Dablon had chosen as the site of their settlement. Landing on the strand, they fired, to give notice of their approach, five small cannon which they had brought in their canoes. Waves, woods, and hills resounded with the thunder of their miniature artillery. Then re-embarking, they advanced in order, four canoes abreast, towards the destined spot. In front floated their banner of white silk, embroidered in large letters with the name of Jesus. Here were Du Puys and his soldiers, with the picturesque uniforms and quaint weapons of their time; Le Mercier and his Jesuits in robes of black; hunters and bush-rangers; Indians painted and feathered for a festal day. As they neared the place where a spring bubbling from the hillside is still known as the "Jesuits' Well," they saw the edge of the forest dark with the muster of savages whose yells of welcome answered the salvo of their guns. Happily for them, a flood of summer rain ived them from the harangues of the Onondaga
80 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [165C.
orators, and forced white men and red alike to seek such shelter as they could find. Their hosts, with hospitable intent, would fain have sung and danced all night; but the Frenchmen pleaded fatigue, and the courteous savages, squatting around their tents, chanted in monotonous tones to lull them to sleep. In the morning they woke refreshed, sang Te Deum, reared an altar, and, with a solemn mass, took pos- session of the country in the name of Jesus.1
Three things, which they saw or heard of in their new home, excited their astonishment. The first was the vast flight of wild pigeons which in spring darkened the air around the Lake of Onondaga ; the second was the salt springs of Salina ; the third was the rattlesnakes, which Le Mercier describes with excellent precision, — adding that, as he learns from the Indians, their tails are good for toothache and their flesh for fever. These reptiles, for reasons best known to themselves, haunted the neighborhood of the salt-springs, but did not intrude their presence into the abode of the French.
On the seventeenth of July, Le Mercier and Chau- monot, escorted by a file of soldiers, set out for Onon- daga, scarcely five leagues distant. They followed the Indian trail, under the leafy arches of the woods, by hill and hollow, still swamp and gurgling brook, till through the opening foliage they saw the Iroquois capital, compassed with cornfields and girt with its rugged palisade. As the Jesuits, like black spectres,
1 Le Mercier, Relation, 1657, 14.
1656.]
THE IROQUOIS CAPITAL.
81
issued from the shadows of the forest, followed by the plumed soldiers with shouldered arquebuses, the red-skinned population swarmed out like bees, and they denied to the town through gazing and admiring throngs. All conspired to welcome them. Feast followed feast throughout the afternoon, till, what with harangues and songs, bear's meat, beaver-tails, and venison, beans, corn, and grease, they were wellnigh killed with kindness. " If, after this, they murder us," writes Le Mercier, "it will be from fickleness, not premeditated treachery." But the Jesuits, it seems, had not sounded the depths of Iroquois dissimulation.1
There was one exception to the real or pretended joy. Some Mohawks were in the town, and their orator was insolent and sarcastic; but the ready tongue of Chaumonot turned the laugh against him and put him to shame.
Here burned the council-fire of the Iroquois, and at this very time the deputies of the five tribes were assembling. The session opened on the twenty-fourth. In the great council-house, on the earthen floor and the broad platforms, beneath the smoke-begrimed concave of the bark roof, stood, sat, or squatted the wisdom and valor of the confederacy, — Mohawks, Oneidas,
i The Jesuits were afterwards told by Hurons, captive among the Mohawks and the Onondagas, that, from the first, it was intended to massacre the French as soon as their presence had attracted the remnant of the Hurons of Orleans into the power of the Onondagas. Lettre du P. Ragueneau au R, P. Provincial, 31 Aout, 1658.
6
82 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [165fl.
Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas; sachems, coun- sellors, orators, warriors fresh from Erie victories; tall, stalwart figures, limbed like Grecian statues.
The pressing business of the council over, it was Chaumonot's turn to speak. But, first, all the Frenchmen, kneeling in a row, with clasped hands, sang the Veni Creator, amid the silent admiration of the auditors. Then Chaumonot rose, with an immense wampum-belt in his hand, and said:
"It is not trade that brings us here. Do you think that your beaver-skins can pay us for all our toils and dangers? Keep them, if you like; or, if any fall into our hands, we shall use them only for your service. We seek not the things that perish. It is for the Faith that we have left our homes to live in your hovels of bark, and eat food which the beasts of our country would scarcely touch. We are the messengers whom God has sent to tell you that his Son became a man for the love of you ; that this man, the Son of God, is the prince and master of men ; that he has prepared in heaven eternal joys for those who obey him, and kindled the fires of hell for those who will not receive his word. If you reject it, whoever you are, — Onondaga, Seneca, Mohawk, Cayuga, or Oneida, — know that Jesus Christ, who inspires my heart and my voice, will plunge you one day into hell. Avert this ruin; be not the authors of your own destruction ; accept the truth ; listen to the voice of the Omnipotent."
Such, in brief, was the pith of the father's exhorta-
1656.] THE NEW MISSION. 83
tion. As he spoke Indian like a native, and as his voice and gestures answered to his words, we may believe what Le Mercier tells us, that his hearers listened with mingled wonder, admiration, and terror. The work was well begun. The Jesuits struck while the iron was hot ; built a small chapel for the mass, installed themselves in the town, and preached and catechised from morning till night.
The Frenchmen at the lake were not idle. The chosen site of their settlement was the crown of a hill commanding a broad view of waters and forests. The axemen fell to their work, and a ghastly wound soon gaped in the green bosom of the woodland. Here, among the stumps and prostrate trees of the unsightly clearing, the blacksmith built his forge, saw and hammer plied their trade; palisades were shaped and beams squared, in spite of heat, mosqui- toes, and fever. At one time twenty men were ill, and lay gasping under a wretched shed of bark ; but they all recovered, and the work went on, till at length a capacious house, large enough to hold the whole colony, rose above the ruin of the forest. A palisade was set around it, and the Mission of Saint Mary of Gannentaa l was begun.
France and the Faith were intrenched on the Lake of Onondaga. How long would they remain there ? The future alone could tell. The mission, it must
1 Gannentaa or Ganuntaah is still the Iroquois name for Lake Onondaga. According to Morgan, it means " Material for Council- Fire."
84 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1656.
not be forgotten, had a double scope, — half ecclesi- astical, half political. The Jesuits had essayed a fearful task, — to convert the Iroquois to God and to the King, thwart the Dutch heretics of the Hudson, save souls from hell, avert ruin from Canada, and thus raise their order to a place of honor and influ- ence both hard-earned and well-earned. The mis- sion at Lake Onondaga was but a base of operations. Long before they were lodged and fortified here, Chaumonot and Me*nard set out for the Cayugas, whence the former proceeded to the Senecas, the most numerous and powerful of the five confederate nations ; and in the following spring another mission was begun among the Oneidas. Their reception was not unfriendly ; but such was the reticence and dis- simulation of these inscrutable savages, that it was impossible to foretell results. The women proved, as might be expected, far more impressible than the men; and in them the fathers placed great hope, since in this, the most savage people of the continent, women held a degree of political influence never per- haps equalled in any civilized nation.1
i Women, among the Iroquois, had a^ council of their own, which, according to Lafitau, who knew this people wen, had the initiative in discussion, subjects presented by them being settled in the council of chiefs nn-1 ciders. In this hitter council the women had an orator, often of their own sex, to represent them. The matrons had a leading voice in determining the succession of chiefs. There were also female chiefs, one of whom, with her attendants, came to Quebec with an embassy in 16o5 (Marie de '' Incarnation). In the torture of prisoners, great deference wa»
1657.] JESUIT COURAGE. 85
But while infants were baptized and squaws con- verted, the crosses of the mission were many and great. The devil bestirred himself with more than his ordinary activity; "for," as one of the fathers writes, "when in sundry nations of the earth men are rising up in strife against us [the Jesuits], then how much more the demons, on whom we continually wage war!" It was these infernal sprites, as the priests believed, who engendered suspicions and calumnies in the dark and superstitious minds of the Iroquois, and prompted them in dreams to destroy the apostles of the Faith. Whether the foe was of earth or hell, the Jesuits were like those who tread the lava-crust that palpitates with the throes of the coming eruption, while the molten death beneath their feet glares white-hot through a thousand crevices. Yet, with a sublime enthusiasm and a glorious constancy, they toiled and they hoped, though the skies around were black with portent.
In the year in which the colony at Onondaga was begun, the Mohawks murdered the Jesuit Garreau on his way up the Ottawa. In the following spring, a hundred Mohawk warriors came to Quebec to carry
paid to the judgment of the women, who, says Champlain, were thought more skilful and subtle than the men.
The learned Lafitau, whose book appeared in 1724, dwells at length on the resemblance of the Iroquois to the ancient Lycians, among whom, according to Grecian writers, women were in the ascendant. " Gynecocracy, or the rule of women," continues Lafitau, "which was the foundation of the Lycian government, was probably common in early times to nearly all the barbarous people of Greece." Maeurs des Sauvages, i 460 (ed. in 4to).
86 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1657.
more of the Hurons into slavery, — though the remnant of that unhappy people, since the catastrophe of the last year, had sought safety in a palisaded camp within the limits of the French town, and immediately under the ramparts of Fort St. Louis. Here, one might think, they would have been safe; but Charny, son and successor of Lauson, seems to have been even more imbecile than his father, and listened meekly to the threats of the insolent strangers who told him that unless he abandoned the Hurons to their mercy, both they and the French should feel the weight of Mohawk tomahawks. They demanded, further, that the French should give them boats to carry their prisoners; but, as there were none at hand, this last humiliation was spared. The Mohawks were forced to make canoes, in which they carried off as many as possible of their victims.
When the Onondagas learned this last exploit of their rivals, their jealousy knew no ^
troop of them descended to Quebec to claim their share in the human plunder. Deserted by the French, the despairing Hurons abandoned themselves to their fate; and about fifty of those whom the Mohawks had left obeyed the behest of their tyrants, and embarked for Onondaga. They reached Montreal in July, and thence proceeded towards their destina- tionjn_jco«f»pany with the Onondaga warriors. The [esuit RagueneauTjbound also for Onondaga, joined them. Five leagues above Montreal, the warriors
1657.] ONONDAGA TREACHERY. 87
left him behind; but he found an old canoe on the bank, in which, after abandoning most of his bag- gage, he contrived to follow with two or three Frenchmen who were with him. There was a rumor that a hundred Mohawk warriors were lying in wait among the Thousand Islands to plunder the Onondagas of their Huron prisoners. It proved a false report. A speedier catastrophe awaited these unfortunates.
Towards evening on the third of August, after the party had landed to encamp, an Onondaga chief made advances to a Christian Huron girl, as he had already done at every encampment since leaving Montreal. Being repulsed for the fourth time, he split her head with his tomahawk. It was the beginning of a massacre. The Onondagas rose upon their prisoners, killed seven men, all Christians, before the eyes of the horrified Jesuit, and plundered the rest of all they had. When Ragueneau pro- tested, they told him with insolent mockery that they were acting by direction of the governor and the superior of the Jesuits. The priest himself was secretly warned that he was to be killed during the night; and he was surprised in the morning to find himself alive.1 On reaching Onondaga, some of the Christian captives were burned, including several women and their infant children.2
The confederacy was a hornet's nest, buzzing with
1 Lettre de Ragueneau au R. P. Provincial,^ Aout,lQbl (Rel, 1657). » Ibid., 21 Aoiit, 1658 (Rel., 1658).
88 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1867
preparation, and fast pouring out its wrathful swarms. The indomitable Le Moyne had gone again to the Mohawks, whence he wrote that two hundred of them had taken the war-path against the Algonquins of Canada ; and, a little later, that all were gone but women, children, and old men. A great war-party of twelve hundred Iroquois from all the five cantons was to advance into Canada in the direction of the Ottawa. TJhe settlements on the St. Lawrence were infested with prowling warriors, who kitted the Indian allies of the French, and phmdemL. the French themselves, whom they treated with an insuf- ferable insolence; for they felt themselves masters of the situation, and knew that the Onondaga colony was in their power. Near Montreal they killed three Frenchmen. "They approach like foxes," writes a Jesuit, "attack like lions, and disappear like birds." Charny, fortunately, had resigned the government in despair in order to turn priest, and the brave soldier d'Ailleboust had taken his place. He caused twelve of the Iroquois to be seized and held as hostages. This seemed to increase their fury. An embassy came to Quebec and demanded the release of the hostages, but were met with a sharp reproof and a flat refusal.
At the mission on Lake Onondaga the crisis was drawing near. The unbridled young warriors, whose capricious lawlessness often set at naught the moni- tions of their crafty elders, killed wantonly at various times thirteen Christian Hurons, captives at
1658.] FRIGHTFUL POSITION. 89
Onondaga. Ominous reports reached the ears of the colonists. They heard of a secret council at which their death was decreed. Again, they heard that they were to be surprised and captured, that the Iroquois in force were then to descend upon Canada, lay waste the outlying settlements, and torture them, the colonists, in sight of their countrymen, by which they hoped to extort what terms they pleased. At length a dying Onondaga, recently converted and baptized, confirmed the rumors, and revealed the .whole plot.
It was to take effect before the spring opened ; but the hostages in the hands of d'Ailleboust embarrassed the conspirators and caused delay. Messengers were sent in haste to call in the priests from the detached missions ; and all the colonists, fifty-three in number, were soon gathered at their fortified house on the lake. Their situation was frightful. Fate hung over them by a hair, and escape seemed hopeless. Of Du Puys's ten soldiers, nine wished to desert; but the attempt would have been fatal. A throng of Onondaga warriors were day and night on the watch, bivouacked around the house. Some of them had built their huts of bark before the gate, and here, with calm, impassive faces, they lounged and smoked their pipes; or, wrapped in their blankets, strolled about the yards and outhouses, attentive to all that passed. Their behavior was very friendly. The Jesuits, themselves adepts in dissimulation, Were amazed at the depth of their duplicity; for the
90 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1658.
conviction had been forced upon them that some of the chiefs had nursed their treachery from the first. In this extremity Du Puys and the Jesuits showed an admirable coolness, and among them devised a plan of escape, critical and full of doubt, but not devoid of hope.
First, they must provide means of transportation ; next, they must contrive to use them undiscovered. They had eight canoes, all of which combined would not hold half their company. Over the mission-house was a large loft or garret, and here the carpenters were secretly set at work to construct two large and light flat-boats, each capable of carrying fifteen men. The task was soon finished. The most difficult part of their plan remained.
There was a beastly superstition prevalent among the Hurons, the Iroquois, and other tribes. It con- sisted of a "medicine" or mystic feast, in which it was essential that the guests should devour every- thing set before them, however inordinate in quantity, unless absolved from duty by the person in whose behalf the solemnity was ordained, — he, on his part, taking no share in the banquet. So grave was the obligation, and so strenuously did the guests fulfil it, that even their ostrich digestion was sometimes ruined past redemption by the excess of this benevo- lent gluttony. These festins a manger tout had been frequently denounced as diabolical by the Jesuits, during their mission among the Hurons; but now, with a pliancy of conscience as excusable in this case
1658.] THE MEDICINE FEAST. 91
as in any other, they resolved to set aside their scruples, although, judged from their point of view, they were exceedingly well founded.
Among the French was a young man who had been adopted by an Iroquois chief, and who spoke the language fluently. He now told his Indian father that it had been revealed to him in a dream that he would soon die unless the spirits were appeased by one of these magic feasts. Dreams were the oracles of the Iroquois, and woe to those who slighted them. A day was named for the sacred festivity. The fathers killed their hogs to meet the occasion, and, that nothing might be wanting, they ransacked their stores for all that might give piquancy to the entertainment. It took place in the evening of the twentieth of March, apparently in a large enclosure outside the palisade surrounding the mission-house. Here, while blazing fires or glaring pine-knots shed their glow on the wild assemblage, Frenchmen and Iroquois joined in the dance, or vied with each other in games of agility and skill. The politic fathers offered prizes to the winners, and the Indians entered with zest into the sport, the better, perhaps, to hide their treachery and hoodwink their intended victims ; for they little suspected that a subtlety, deeper this time than their own, was at work to countermine them. Here too were the French musicians, and drum, trumpet, and cymbal lent their clangor to the din of shouts and laughter. Thus the evening wore on, till at length the serious labors of the feast began.
92 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1658.
The kettles were brought in, and their steaming contents ladled into the wooden bowls which each provident guest had brought with him. Seated gravely in a ring, they fell to their work. It was a point of high conscience not to flinch from duty on these solemn occasions ; and though they might burn the young man to-morrow, they would gorge them- selves like vultures in his behoof to-day.
Meantime, while the musicians strained their lungs and their arms to drown all other sounds, a band of anxious Frenchmen, in the darkness of the cloudy night, with cautious tread and bated breath, carried the boats from the rear of the mission-house down to the border of the lake. It was near eleven o'clock. The miserable guests were choking with repletion. They prayed the young Frenchman to dispense them from further surfeit. " Will you suffer me to die ? " he asked, in piteous tones. They bent to their task again; but Nature soon reached her utmost limit, and they sat helpless as a conventicle of gorged turkey-buzzards, without the power possessed by those unseemly birds to rid themselves of the burden. "That will do," said the young man; "you have eaten enough : my life is saved. Now you can sleep till we come in the morning to waken you for prayers."1 And one of his companions played soft airs on a violin to lull them to repose. Soon all were asleep, or in a lethargy akin to sleep. The few remaining Frenchmen now silently withdrew and
1 Lettre de Marie de F Incarnation a son fils, 4 Oct., 1068.
1658.] PERPLEXITY OF THE IROQUOIS. 93
cautiously descended to the shore, where their com- rades, already embarked, lay on their oars anxiously awaiting them. Snow was falling fast as they pushed out upon the murky waters. The ice of the winter had broken up, but recent frosts had glazed the sur- face with a thin crust. The two boats led the way, and the canoes followed in their wake, while men in the bows of the foremost boat broke the ice with clubs as they advanced. They reached the outlet and rowed swiftly down the dark current of the Oswego. When day broke, Lake Onondaga was far behind, and around them was the leafless, lifeless forest.
When the Indians woke in the morning, dull and stupefied from their nightmare slumbers, they were astonished at the silence that reigned in the mission- house. They looked through the palisade. Nothing was stirring but a bevy of hens clucking and scratch- ing in the snow, and one or two dogs imprisoned in the house and barking to be set free. The Indians waited for some time, then climbed the palisade, burst in the doors, and found the house empty. Their amazement was unbounded. How, without canoes, could the French have escaped by water? And how else could they escape ? The snow which
id fallen during the night completely hid their footsteps. A superstitious awe seized the Iroquois.
icy thought that the " black-robes " and their flock
id flown off through the air.
Meanwhile the fugitives pushed their flight with
94 THE JESUITS AT ONONDAGA. [1658.
the energy of terror, passed in safety the rapids of the Oswego, crossed Lake Ontario, and descended the St. Lawrence with the loss of three men drowned in the rapids. On the third of April they reached Montreal, and on the twenty-third arrived at Quebec. They had saved their lives ; but the mission of Onon- daga was a miserable failure.1
i On the Onomlaga mission, the authorities are Marie de 1'Incarnation, Lettres Historiques, and Relations des Jfsuites, 1657 and 1668, where the story is told at length, accompanied with several interesting letters and journals. Chaumonot, in his Auto- biographic, speaks only of the Seneca mission, and refers to the Relations for the rest. Dollier de Casson, in his Histoire du Mon- tr€al, mentions the arrival of the fugitives at that place, the sight of which, he adds complacently, cured them of their fright. The Journal des Super-ieurs des Jesuites chronicles with its usual brevity the ruin of the mission and the return of the party to Quebec.
The contemporary Jesuits, in their account, say nothing of the superstitious character of the feast. It is Marie de 1'Incarnation who lets out the secret. The later Jesuit Charlevoix, much to his credit, repeats the story without reserve.
Since the above chapter was written, the remarkable narratives of Pierre Esprit Radisson have been rescued from the obscurity where they have lain for more than two centuries. Radisson, a native of St. Malo, was a member of the colony at Onondaga ; but having passed into the service of England, he wrote in a language which, for want of a fitter name, may be called English. He does not say that the feast was of the kind known &sfestin a manger tout, though he asserts that one of the priests pretended to have broken his arm, and that the Indians believed that the " feasting was to be done for the safe recovery of the father's health." Like the other writers, he says that the feasters gorged themselves like wolves and became completely helpless, " making strange kinds of faces that turned their eyes up and downe," till, when almost bursting, they were forced to cry Skenon, which according to Radisson means " enough." Radisson adds that it was proposed that the French, " being three and fifty in number, while th*e Iroquois were but 100 beasts not able to budge," should fall upon the impotent
1658.]
STATEMENT OF ALLET.
95
savages and kill them all, but that the Jesuits would not consent. His account of the embarkation and escape of the colonists agrees with that of the other writers. See Second Voyage made in the Upper Country of the Iroquoits, in Publications of the Prince Society, 1885.
The Sulpitian Allet, in the Morale Pratique des Jesuites, saya that the French placed effigies of soldiers in the fort to deceive the Indiana.
CHAPTER V.
1642-1661. THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL.
DAUVERSIERE. — MANGE AND BOURGEOYS. — MIRACLE. — A Pious DEFAULTER. — JESUIT AND SULFITIAN. — MONTREAL IN 1669. — THE HOSPITAL NUNS. — THE NUNS AND THE IROQUOIS. — MORB MIRACLES. — THE MURDERED PRIESTS. — BHIGEAC AND CLOSSE. — SOLDIERS OF THE HOLT FAMILY.
ON the second of July, 1659, the ship " St. Andre* " lay in the harbor of Rochelle, crowded with passengers for Canada. She had served two years as a hospital for marines, and was infected with a contagious fever. Including the crew, some two hundred persons were on board, more than half of whom were bound for Montreal. Most of these were sturdy laborers, artisans, peasants, and soldiers, together with a troop of young women, their present or future partners ; a portion of the company set down on the old record as "sixty virtuous men and thirty-two pious girls." There were two priests also, Vignal and Le Maitre, both destined to a speedy death at the hands of the Iroquois. But the most conspicuous among these passengers for Montreal were two groups of women in the habit of nuns, under the direction of Marguerite
1659.] BOURGEOYS AND MANCE. 97
Bourgeoys and Jeanne Mance. Marguerite Bourgeoys, whose kind, womanly face bespoke her fitness for the task, was foundress of the school for female children at Montreal; her companion, a tall, austere figure, worn with suffering and care, was directress of the hospital. Both had returned to France for aid, and were now on their way back, each with three recruits, — three being the mystic number, as a type of the Holy Family, to whose worship they were especially devoted.
Amid the bustle of departure, the shouts of sailorSj the rattling of cordage, the flapping of sails, the tears and the embracings, an elderly man, with heavy plebeian features, sallow with disease, and in a sober, half-clerical dress, approached Mademoiselle Mance and her three nuns, and, turning his eyes to heaven, spread his hands over them in benediction. It was Le Royer de la Dauversidre, founder of the sister- hood of St. Joseph, to which the three nuns belonged. "Now, O Lord," he exclaimed, with the look of one whose mission on earth is fulfilled, "permit thou thy servant to depart in peace ! "
Sister Maillet, who had charge of the meagre treasury of the community, thought that something more than a blessing was due from him, and asked where she should apply for payment of the interest of the twenty thousand livres which Mademoiselle Mance had placed in his hands for investment. Dauversiere changed countenance, and replied with a troubled voice: "My daughter, God will provide
98
THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1642-57.
for you. Place your trust in Him." 1 He was bank- rupt, and had used the money of the sisterhood to pay a debt of his own, leaving the nuns penniless.
I have related in another place 2 how an association of devotees, inspired, as they supposed, from heaven, had undertaken to found a religious colony at Montreal in honor of the Holy Family. The essen- tials of the proposed establishment were to be a semi- nary of priests dedicated to the Virgin, a hospital to Saint Joseph, and a school to the Infant Jesus ; while a settlement was to be formed around them simply for their defence and maintenance. This pious pur- pose had in part been accomplished. It was seven- teen years since Mademoiselle Mance had begun her labors in honor of Saint Joseph. Marguerite Bourgeoys had entered upon hers more recently; yet even then the attempt was premature, for she found no white children to teach. In time, however, this want was supplied, and she opened her school in a stable, which answered to the stable of Bethlehem, lodging with her pupils in the loft, and instructing them in Roman Catholic Christianity, with such rudiments of mundane knowledge as she and her advisers thought fit to impart.
Mademoiselle Mance found no lack of hospital work, for blood and blqwa w?rp rife aJLMsntreal, where the woods were full of Iroauois, and not" a
i Faillon, Vte de M'Ue Mance, i. 172. This volume is illustrated with a portrait of Dauversiere.
• "The Jesuit* in North America."
1657-58.] A WONDERFUL EVENT. 99
i moment was without its-Peril. Though years began
to tell upon her, she toiled patiently at her dreary task, till, in the winter of 1657, she fell on the ice of the St. Lawrence, broke her right arm, and dis- O located the wrist. Bonchard, the surgeon of Montreal, \ set the broken bones^but did not discover the dis- location. The arm in consequence became totally useless, and her health wasted away under incessant and violent pain. Maisonneuve, the civil and mili- tary chief of the settlement, advised her to go to France for assistance in the work to which she was no longer equal; and Marguerite Bourgeoys, whose pupils, white and red, had greatly multiplied, resolved to go with her for a similar object. They set out in September, 1658, landed at Rochelle, and went thence to Paris. Here they repaired to the seminary of St. Sulpice; for the priests of this community were joined with them in the work at Montreal, of which they were afterwards to become the feudal proprietors.
Now ensued a wonderful event, if we may trust the evidence of sundry devout persons. Olier, the founder of St. Sulpice, had lately died, and the two pilgrims would fain pay their homage to his heart, which the priests of his community kept as a precious relic, enclosed in a leaden box. The box was brought, when the thought inspired Mademoiselle Mance to try its miraculous efficacy and invoke the intercession of the departed founder. She did so, touching her disabled arm gently with the leaden
100 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [165&-59.
casket. Instantly a grateful warmth pervaded the shrivelled limb, and from that hour its use was restored. It is true that the Jesuits ventured to doubt the Sulpitian miracle, and even to ridicule it ; but the Sulpitians will show to this day the attesta- tion of Mademoiselle Malice herself, written with the fingers once paralyzed and powerless.1 Neverthe- less, the cure was not so thorough as to permit her again to take charge of her patients.
Her next care was to visit Madame de Bullion, a devout lady of great wealth^ who was usually desig- nated at Montreal as "the unknown benefactress," because, though her charities were the mainstay of the feeble colony, and though the source from which they proceeded was well known, she affected, in the 'nterest of humility, the greatest secrecy, and required those who profited by her gifts to pretend ignorance whence they came. Overflowing with zeal for the pious enterprise, she received her visitor with enthusiasm, lent an open ear to her recital, responded graciously to her appeal for aid, and paid over to her the sum, munificent at that day, of twenty-two thousand francs. Thus far successful, Mademoiselle Mance repaired to the town of La Fle'che to visit Le Royer de la Dauversiere.
It was this wretched fanatic who, through visions and revelations, had first conceived the plan of a
1 For an account of this miracle, written in perfect good faith and supported by various attestations, see Faillon, Vie de M'Ue Mance, chap. ir.
1659.] THE HOSPITAL NUN& 101
hospital in honor of Saint Joseph at Montreal.1 H had found in Mademoiselle Mance a zealous and efficient pioneer; but the execution of his scheme required a community of hospital nuns, and therefore he had labored for the last eighteen years to form one at La Fle'che, meaning to despatch its members in due time to Canada. The time at length was come. Three of the nuns were chosen, — Sisters Bre*soles, Mace*, and Maillet, — and sent under the escort of certain pious gentlemen to Rochelle. Their exit from La Fleche was not without its difficulties. Dauversidre was in ill odor, not only from the multi- plicity of his debts, but because, in his character of agent of the association of Montreal, he had at various times sent thither those whom his biographer describes as " the most virtuous girls to be found at La Fle"che," intoxicating them with religious excite- ment, and shipping them for the New World against the will of their parents. It was noised through the town that he had kidnapped and sold them ; and now the report spread abroad that he was about to crown his iniquity by luring away three young nuns. A mob gathered at the convent gate, and the escort were forced to draw their swords to open a way for the terrified sisters.
Of the twenty-two thousand francs which she had received, Mademoiselle Mance kept two thousand for immediate needs, and confided the rest to the hands )f Dauversie're, who, hard pressed by his creditors, > See " The Jesuits in North America."
102 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1659.
used it to pay one of his debts; and then, to his horror, found himself unable to replace it. Racked by the gout and tormented by remorse, he betook himself to his bed in a state of body and mind truly pitiable. One of the miracles, so frequent in the early annals of Montreal, was vouchsafed in answer to his prayer, and he was enabled to journey to Rochelle and bid farewell to his nuns. It was but a brief respite; he returned home to become the prey of a host of maladies, and to die at last a lingering and painful death.
While Mademoiselle Mance was gaining recruits in La Fle'che, Marguerite Bourgeoys was no less success- ful in her native town of Troyes ; and she rejoined her companions at Rochelle, -accompanied by Sisters Chatel, Crolo, and Raisin, her destined assistants in the school at Montreal. Meanwhile, the Sulpitians and others interested in the pious enterprise, had spared no effort to gather men to strengthen the colony, and young women to serve as their wives; and all were now mustered at Rochelle, waiting for embarkation. Their waiting was a long one. Laval,
bishop at Q"'V^^J^0 Jll!lgd-JSl^^ -i1^"1*"? flTvT* looked ou tkc colonists of Mpntrealjwjth more than coldness. Sulpitian writers say that his agents used every effort to discourage them, and that certain persons at Rochelle told the master of the ship in which the emigrants were to sail that they were not to be trusted to pay their passage-money. Hereupon ensued a delay of more than two months befoi
1659.] DELAY AND DIFFICULTY. 103
means could be found to quiet the scruples of the prudent commander. At length the anchor was weighed, and the dreary voyage begun.
The woe-begone company, crowded in the filthy and infected ship, were tossed for two months more on the relentless sea, buffeted by repeated storms and wasted by a contagious fever, which attacked nearly all of them and reduced Mademoiselle Mance to extremity. Eight or ten died and were dropped overboard, after a prayer from the two priests. At length land hove in sight; the piny odors of the forest regaled their languid senses as they sailed up the broad estuary of the St. Lawrence and anchored under the rock of Quebec.
High aloft, on the brink of the cliff, they saw the fleur-de-lis waving above the fort of St. Louis, and, beyond, the cross on the tower of the cathedral traced against the sky, the houses of the merchants on the strand below, and boats and canoes drawn up along the bank. The bishop and the Jesuits greeted them as co-workers in a holy cause, with an unction not wholly sincere. Though a unit against heresy, the pious founders of New France were far from unity among themselves. To the thinking of the Jesuits, Montreal was a government" within a govejnmpnt, ft- wneel within a wheel. This rival Sulpitian settle- ment was in their eyes an element of disorganization adverse to the disciplined harmony of the Canadian Church, which they would fain have seen, with its focus at Quebec, radiating light unrefracted to the
104 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1659,
uttermost parts of the colony. That is to say, they wished to control it unchecked, through their ally the bishop.
The emigrants, then, were received with a studious courtesy, which veiled but thinly a stiff and persist- ent opposition. The bishop and the Jesuits were especially anxious to prevent the La Fle"che nuns from establishing themselves at Montreal, where they would form a separate community under Sulpitian in- fluence ; and in place of the newly arrived sisters they wished to substitute nuns from the H6tel Dieu of Que- bec, who would be under their own control. That which most strikes the non-Catholic reader throughout this affair is the constant reticence and dissimulation practised, not only between Jesuits and Montrealists, but among the Montrealists themselves. Their self- devotion, great as it was, was fairly matched by their disingenuousness. l
All difficulties being overcome, the Montrealists embarked in boats and ascended the St. Lawrence, leaving Quebec infected with the contagion they had brought. The journey now made in a single night cost them fifteen days of hardship and danger. At length they reached their new home. The little settlement lay before them, still gasping betwixt life and death, in a puny, precarious infancy. Some
i See, for example, chapter iv. of Faillon's Life of Mademoiselle Mance. The evidence is unanswerable, the writer being the par- tisan and admirer of most of those whose pieuse tromperie, to use the expression of Dollier de Casson, he describes in apparent uncon- sciousness that anybody will see reason to cavil at it.
1659.] MONTREAL. 105
forty Small, nntnjwrt. TinnspH wp.ra ranged pamllfll tn the river, chiefly along the line of what is now St. PauTs_§iieet. On the left there was a fort, and on a rising ground at the right a massive windmill of stone, enclosed with a wall or palisade pierced for musketry, and answering the purpose of a redoubt or block-house.1 Fields studded with charred and^ blackened stumps, between which crops were grow- ing, stretched away to the edges of the bordering forest; and the green, shaggy back of the mountain towered over all.
There were at this time a hundred and sixty men at Montreal, about fifty of whom had families, or at least wives. They greeted the new-comers with a welcome which, this time, was as sincere as it was warm, and bestirred themselves with alacrity to pro- vide them with shelter for the winter. As for the three nuns from La Fleche, a chamber was hastily made for them over two low rooms which had served is Mademoiselle Mance's hospital. This chamber was twenty-five feet square, with four cells for the luns, and a closet for stores and clothing, which for bhe present was empty, as they had landed in such lestitution that they were forced to sell all their icanty equipment to gain the bare necessaries of jxistence. Little could be hoped from the colonists, 'ho were scarcely less destitute than they'. Such their poverty, — thanks to Dauversiere's breach
1 Lettre du Vicomte d'Argenson, Gouverneur du Canada, 4 1 659, MS.
106 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1657-61.
of trust, — that when their clothes were worn out, they were unable to replace them, and were forced to patch them with such material as came to hand. Maisonneuve the governor, and the pious Madame d'Ailleboust, being once on a visit to the hospital, amused themselves with trying to guess of what stuff the habits of the nuns had originally been made, and were unable to agree on the point in question.1
Their chamber, which they occupied for many years, being hastily built of ill-seasoned planks, let in the piercing cold of the Canadian winter through countless cracks and chinks; and the driving snow sifted through in such quantities that they were sometimes obliged, the morning after a storm, to remove it with shovels. Their food would freeze on the table before them, and their coarse brown bread had to be thawed on the hearth before they could cut it. These women had been nurtured in ease, if not in luxury. One of them, Judith de Bre*soles, had in her youth, by advice of her confessor, run away from parents who were devoted to her, and immured her- self in a convent, leaving them in agonies of doubt as to her fate. She now acted as superior of the little community. One of her nuns records of her that she had a fervent devotion for the Infant Jesus ; and that, along with many more spiritual graces, he inspired her with so transcendent a skill in cookery, that " with a small piece of lean pork and a few herbs
1 Annales det Hospitalilres de Villemarie, par la Sour Marin, — A contemporary record, from which Faillon gives long extract*.
1657-81.] THE SISTERS. 107
she could make soup of a marvellous relish." l Sister Mace* was charged with the care of the pigs and hens, to whose wants she attended in person, though she too had been delicately bred. In course of time, the sisterhood was increased by additions from without, — though more than twenty girls who entered the hospital as novices recoiled from the hardship, and took husbands in the colony. Among a few who took the vows, Sister Jumeau should not pass unnoticed. Such was her humility that, though of a good family and unable to divest herself of the marks of good breeding, she pretended to be the daughter of a poor peasant, and persisted in repeating the pious falsehood till the merchant Le Ber told her flatly that he did not believe her.
The sisters had great need of a man to do the heavy work of the house and garden, but found no means of hiring one, when an incident, in which they saw a special providence, excellently supplied the want. There was a poor colonist named Jouaneaux, to whom a piece of land had been given at some dis- tance from the settlement. Had he built a cabin upon it, his scalp would soon have paid the forfeit; but, being bold and hardy, he devised a plan by which he might hope to sleep in safety without •bandoning the farm which was his only possession.
Among the stumps of his clearing there was one hol- •F
" C'e*tait par son recours a 1'Enfant Jesus qu'elle trouvait tous secrets et d'autres semblables," writes in our own day the :cellent annalist, Faillon.
108 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1657-61.
low with age. Under this he dug a, sort of cave, the entrance of which was a small hole carefully hidden by brushwood. The hollow stump was easily converted into a chimney ; and by creeping into his burrow at night, or when he saw signs of danger, he escaped for some time the notice of the Iroquois. But though he could dispense with a house, lie needed a barn for his hay and corn ; and while he was building one, he fell from the ridge of the roof and was seriously hurt. He was carried to the Hotel Dieu, where the nuns showed him every attention, until, after a long con- finement, he at last recovered. Being of a grateful nature and enthusiastically devout, he was so touched by the kindness of his benefactors, and so moved by the spectacle of their piety, that he conceived the wish of devoting his life to their service. To this end a contract was drawn up, by which he pledged himself to work for them as long as strength remained; and they, on their part, agreed to main- tain him in sickness or old age.
This stout-hearted retainer proved invaluable; though had a guard of soldiers been added, it would have been no more than the case demanded. Montreal was not palisaded, and at first the hospital was as much exposed as the rest. The Iroquois would skulk at night among the houses, like wolves in a camp of sleeping travellers on the prairies; though the human foe was, of the two, incomparably the bolder, fiercer, and more bloodthirsty. More than once one of these prowling savages was known to
1657-61.] PERIL OF THE NUNS. 109
have crouched all night in a rank growth of wild mustard in the garden of the nuns, vainly hoping that one of them would come out within reach of his tomahawk. During summer, a month rarely passed without a fight, sometimes within sight of their windows. A burst of yells from the ambushed marksmen, followed by a clatter of musketry, would announce the opening of the fray, and promise the nuns an addition to their list of patients. On these occasions they bore themselves according to their several natures. Sister Morin, who had joined their number three years after their arrival, relates that Sister Brdsoles and she used to run to the belfry and ring the tocsin to call the inhabitants together. "From our high station," she writes, "we could sometimes see the combat, which terrified us extremely, so that we came down again as soon as we could, trembling with fright, and thinking that our last hour was come. When the tocsin sounded, my Sister Maillet would become faint with excess of fear; and my Sister Mace", as long as the alarm con- tinued, would remain speechless, in a state pitiable to see. They would both get into a corner of the rood- loft, before the Holy Sacrament, so as to be prepared for death, or else go into their cells. As soon as I heard that the Iroquois were gone, I went to tell them, which comforted them and seemed to restore them to life. My Sister Bre'soles was stronger and more courageous; her terror, which she could not help, did not prevent her from attending the sick
110 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1657-61.
and receiving the dead and wounded who were brought in."
The priests of St. Sulpice, who had assumed the entire spiritual charge of the settlement, and who were soon to assume its entire temporal charge also, had for some years no other lodging than a room at the hospital, adjoining those of the patients. They caused_the building to be fortified with palisades, and the houses of some of the chief inhabitants were placed near it, for mutual defence. They also built two fortified houses, called Ste. Marie and St. Gabriel, at the two extremities of the settlement, and lodged in them a considerable number of armed men, whom they employed in clearing and cultivating the surrounding lands, the property of their community. All other outlying houses were also pierced with loopholes, and fortified as well as the slender means of their owners would permit. The laborers always carried their guns to the field, and often had need to use them. A few incidents will show the state of Montreal and the character of its tenants.
In the autumn pflBoT&iere was ajjrace^riith the Iroquois, under cover^olwhich three or four of them came to the settlement. Nicolas Gode* and Jean Saint-Pere were on the roof of their house, laying thatch, when one of the visitors aimed his arquebuse at Saint-Pe're, and brought him to the ground like a wild turkey from a tree. Now ensued a prodigy; for the assassins, having cut off his head and carried it home to their village, were amazed to hear it speak
1657-61.] PRODIGIES. Ill
to them in good Iroquois, scold them for their per- fidy, and threaten them with the vengeance of Heaven; and they continued to hear its voice of admonition even after scalping it and throwing away the skull.1 This story, circulated at Montreal on the alleged authority of the Indians themselves, found be- lievers among the most intelligent men of the colony.
Another miracle, which occurred several years later, deserves to be recorded. Le Maitre, one of the two priests who had sailed from France with Mademoiselle Mance and her nuns, being one day at the fortified house of St. Gabriel, went out with the laborers in order to watch while they were at their work. In view of a possible enemy, he had girded himself with an earthly sword ; but seeing no sign of danger, he presently took out his breviary, and, while reciting his office with eyes bent on the page, walked into an ambuscade of Iroquois, who rose before him with a yell.
He shouted to the laborers, and, drawing his sword, faced the whole savage crew, in order, prob- ably, to give the men time to snatch their guns. Afraid to approach, the Iroquois fired and killed him; then rushed upon the working party, who escaped into the house, after losing several of their number. The victors cut off the head of the heroic priest, and tied it in a white handkerchief which they took from a pocket of his cassock. It is said that on reaching their villages they were astonished i Dollier de Casson, Histoire du Montreal, 1657-1658.
112 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1C57-6L
to find the handkerchief without the slightest stain of blood, but stamped indelibly with the features of its late owner, so plainly marked that none who had known him could fail to recognize them.1 This not very original miracle, though it found eager credence at Montreal, was received coolly, like other Montreal miracles, at Quebec ; and Sulpitian writers complain that the bishop, in a long letter which he wrote to the Pope, made no mention of it whatever.
Le Maitre, on the voyage to Canada, had been accompanied by another priest, Guillaume de Vignal, who met a fate more deplorable than that of his com- panion, though unattended by any recorded miracle. Le Maftre had been killed in August. In the October following, Vignal went with thirteen men, in a flat-boat and several canoes, to Isle a la Pierre, nearly opposite Montreal, to get stone for the semi- nary which the priests had recently begun to build. With him was a pious and valiant gentleman named Claude de Brigeac, who, though but thirty years of age, had come as a soldier to Montreal, in the hope of dying in defence of the true Church, and thus reaping the reward of a martyr. Vignal and three or four men had scarcely landed when they were set upon by a large band of Iroquois who lay among the bushes waiting to receive them. The rest of the
1 This story is told by Sister Morin, Marguerite Bourgeoys, and Dollier de Casson, on the authority of one Lavigne, then a prisoner among the Iroquois, who declared that he had seen the handker- chief in the hands of the returning warriors.
1657-61.] DEATH OF VIGNAL. 113
party, who were still in their boats, with a cowardice rare at Montreal, thought only of saving themselves. Claude de Brigeac alone leaped ashore and ran to aid his comrades. Vignal was soon mortally wounded. Brigeac shot the chief dead with his arquebuse, and then, pistol in hand, held the whole troop for an instant at bay; but his arm was shattered by a gun- shot, and he was seized, along with Vignal, Rend Cuille'rier, and Jacques Dufresne. Crossing to the main shore, immediately opposite Montreal, the Iroquois made, after their custom, a small fort of logs and branches, in which they ensconced them- selves, and then began to dress the wounds of their prisoners. Seeing that Vignal was unable to make the journey to their villages, they killed him, divided his flesh, and roasted it for food.
Brigeac and his fellows in misfortune spent a wo- ful night in this den of wolves ; and in the morning their captors, having breakfasted on the remains of Vignal, took up their homeward march, dragging the Frenchmen with them. On reaching Oneida, Brigeac was tortured to death with the customary atrocities. Cuille'rier, who was present, declared that they could wring from him no cry of pain, but that throughout he ceased not to pray for their conversion. The witness himself expected the same fate, but an old squaw happily adopted him, and thus saved his life. He eventually escaped to Albany, and returned to Canada by the circuitous but comparatively safe
route of New York and Boston.
8
114 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1657-61.
In the following winter, Montreal suffered an irreparable loss in the death of the brave Major Closse, a man whose intrepid coolness was never known to fail in the direst emergency. Going to the aid of a party of laborers attacked by the Iroquois, he was met by a crowd of savages, eager to kill or capture him. His servant ran off. He snapped a pistol at the foremost assailant, but it missed fire. His remaining pistol served him no better, and he was instantly shot down. " He died, " writes Dollier de Casson, "like a brave soldier of Christ and the King." Some of his friends once remonstrating with him on the temerity with which he exposed his life, he replied: "Messieurs, I came here only to die in the service of God; and if I thought I could not die here, I would leave this country to fight the Turks, that I might not be deprived of such a glory." l
The fortified house of Ste. Marie, belonging to the priests of St. Sulpice, was the scene of several hot and bloody fights. Here, too, occurred the follow- ing nocturnal adventure. A man named Lavigne, who had lately returned from captivity among the Iroquois, chancing to rise at night and look out of the window, saw by the bright moonlight a number of naked warriors stealthily gliding round a corner and crouching near the door, in order to kill the first Frenchman who should go out in the morning. He silently woke his comrades ; and, having the rest of the night for consultation, they arranged their plan
»_Dollier de Caison, Hittoire du Montreal, 1661, 1062.
1657-61.] A YEAR OF DISASTER. 115
so well that some of them, sallying from the rear of the house, came cautiously round upon the Iroquois, placed them between two fires, and captured them all.
The summer of 1661 was marked by a series of calamities scarcely paralleled even in the annals of this disastrous epoch. Early in February, thirteen colonists were surprised and captured; next came a fight between a large band of laborers and two hun- dred and sixty Iroquois ; in the following month, ten more Frenchmen were killed or taken; and thence- forth, till wint'er closed, the settlement had scarcely a breathing space. "These hobgoblins," writes the author of the Relation of this year, "sometimes appeared at the edge of the woods, assailing us with abuse; sometimes they glided stealthily into the midst of the fields, to surprise the men at work; sometimes they approached the houses, harassing us without ceasing, and, like importunate harpies or birds of prey, swooping down on us whenever they could take us unawares."1
Speaking of the disasters of this year, the soldier- priest, Dollier de Casson, writes : " God, who afflicts the body only for the good of the soul, made a mar- vellous use of these calamities and terrors to hold the people firm in their duty towards Heaven. Vice was then almost unknown here, and in the midst of war religion flourished on all sides in a manner very different from what we now see in time of peace."2
» Le Jeune, Relation, 1661, p. 3 (ed. 1868). * Histoire du Montreal, 1660, 1661.
116 THE HOLY WARS OF MONTREAL. [1657-61.
The war was, in fact, a war of religion. The small redoubts of logs, scattered about the skirts of the settlement to serve as points of defence in case of attack, bore the names of saints, to whose care they were commended. There was one placed under a higher protection, and called the " Redoubt of the Infant Jesus." Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the pious and valiant governor of Montreal, to whom its successful defence is largely due, resolved, in view of the increasing fury and persistency of the Iroquois attacks, to form among the inhabitants a military fraternity, to be called " Soldiers of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph;" and to this end he issued a proclamation, of which the following is the characteristic beginning : —
"We, Paul de Chomedey, governor of the island of Montreal and lands thereon dependent, on infor- mation given us from divers quarters that the Iroquois have formed the design of seizing upon this settle- ment by surprise or force, have thought it our duty, seeing that this island is the property of the Holy Virgin,1 to invite and exhort those zealous for her service to unite together by squads, each of seven persons ; and after choosing a corporal by a plurality of voices, to report themselves to us for enrolment in our garrison, and, in this capacity, to obey our orders, to the end that the country may be saved."
1 This is no figure of speech. The Associates of Montreal, after receiving a grant of the island from Jean de Lauson, placed it under the protection of the Virgin, and formally 4eclared her to be the proprietor of it from that day forth forever.
1657-61.] A HOLY WAR. 117
Twenty squads, numbering in all one hundred_and forty men", whose names, appended +^ flip prnrlamn tion, may~sfiITT)e seen on the ancient records of Montreal, answered the appeal and enrolled them- selves in the holy_cause.
The whole settlement was in a state of religious exaltation. As the Iroquois were regarded as actual myrmidons of Satan in his malign warfare against Mary and her divine Son, those who died in fighting them were held to merit the reward of martyrs, assured of a seat in paradise.
And now it remains to record one of the most heroic feats of arms ever achieved on this continent. That it may be rated as it merits, it will be well to glance for a moment at the condition of Canada, under the portentous cloud of war which constantly overshadowed it.1
1 In all that relates to Montreal, I cannot be sufficiently grate- ful to the Abbe Faillon, the indefatigable, patient, conscientious chronicler of its early history ; an ardent and prejudiced Sulpitian, a priest who three centuries ago would have passed for credulous, and, withal, a kind-hearted and estimable man. His numerous books on his favorite theme, with the vast and heterogeneous mass of facts which they embody, are invaluable, provided their partisan character be well kept in mind. His recent death leaves his princi- pal work unfinished. His Histoire de la Colonie Franqaise en Canada — it might more fitly be called Histoire du Montreal — is unhappily little more than half complete.
CHAPTER VL
1660, 1661. THE HEROES OP THE LONG SAUT.
BUFFERING AND TERROR. — FRANCOIS HERTEL. — THE CAPTIT* WOLF. — THE THREATENED INVASION. — DACLAC DBS ORXEAUX. — THE ADVENTURERS AT THE LONO SAUT. — THE ATTACK. — A DESPERATE DEFENCE. — A FINAL ASSAULT. — THE FORT TAKEN.
CANADA had writhed for twenty years, with little respite, under the scourge of Iroquois war. During a great part of this dark period the entire French population was less than three thousand. What, then, saved them from destruction? In the first place, the^settlements were grouped around three for- tified p08tBT^Qufth?c- Three Rivera, and fttontrea, — which in time of danger gave asylum to the fugi- tive inhabitants. Again, their assailants were con- tinually distracted by other wars, and never, except at a few spasmodic intervals, were fully in earnest to destroy the French colony. Canada was indis- pensable to them. The four upper nations of the league soon i*>™™«» /igpon/^f, pn ft^r % a^jpliVa. and all the nations alike appear, at a very early period, to have conceived the policy on which they
1660-61.] SUFFERING AND TERROR. 119
afterwards distinctly acted, of balancing the rival settlements of the Hudson and the St. Lawrence, the one against the other. They would torture, but not kill. It was but rarely that, in fits of fury, they struck their hatchets at the brain; and thus the bleeding and gasping colony lingered on in torment.
The seneschal of New France, son of the governor Lauson, was surprised and killed on the island of Orleans, along with seven companions. About the same time, the same fate befell the son of Godefroy, one of the chief inhabitants of Quebec. _Oujtsid*-the'~ fortifications there was no safety for a moment. A universal terror seized the people. A comet appeared above Quebec, and they saw in it a herald of destruc- tion. Their excited imaginations turned natural phenomena into portents and prodigies. A blazing canoe sailed across the sky; confused cries and lamentations were heard in the air; and a voice of thunder sounded from mid-heaven.1 The Jesuits despaired for their scattered and persecuted flocks. "Everywhere," writes their superior, "we see infants to be saved for heaven, sick and dying to be baptized, adults to be instructed; but everywhere we see the Iroquois. They haunt us like persecuting goblins. They kill our new-made Christians in our arms. If they meet us on the river, they kill us. If they find us in the huts of our Indians, they burn us and them together." 2 And he appeals urgently for troops
1 Marie de 1'Incarnation, Lettre, Septembre, 1661. _* Relation, 1660 (anonymous), 3.
120 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1658.
to destroy them, as a holy work inspired by God, and needful for his service.
Canada was still a mission, and the influence of the Church was paramount and pervading. At Quebec, as at Montreal, the war with the Iroquois was regarded as a war with the hosts of Satan. Of the settlers' cabins scattered along the shores above .and below Quebec, many were provided with small iron cannon, made probably by blacksmiths in the colony ; but they had also other protectors. In each was an image of the Virgin or some patron saint; and every morning the pious settler knelt before the shrine to beg the protection of a celestial hand in his perilous labors of the forest or the farm.
When, in the summer of 1658, the young Vicomte d'Argenson came to assume the thankless task of governing the colony, the Iroquois war was at its height. On the day after his arrival, he was wash- ing his hands before seating himself at dinner in the hall of the Chateau St. Louis, when cries of alarm were heard, and he was told that the Iroquois were close at hand. In fact, they were so near that their war-whoops and the screams of their victims could plainly be heard. Argenson left his guests, and, with such a following as he could muster at the moment, hastened to the rescue; but the assailants were too nimble for him. The forests, which grew at that time around Quebec, favored them both in attack and in retreat. After a year or two of experi- ence, he wrote urgently to the court for troops. He
1661.] FRANgOIS HERTEL. 121
adds that, what with the demands of the harvest and the unmilitary character of many of the settlers, the colony could not furnish more than a hundred men for offensive operations. A vigorous, frggT-pasivft war, he insists, is absolutely necessary, and this not only to save the colony, but to save the only true fafth; "lor," to borrow his own words, "it is this colony alone which has the honor to be in the com- munion of the Holy Church. Everywhere else reigns the doctrine of England or Holland, to which I can give no other name, because there are as many creeds as there are subjects who embrace them. They do not care in the least whether the Iroquois and the other savages of this country have or have not a knowl- edge of the true God, or else they are so malicious as to inject the venom of their errors into souls incapable of distinguishing the truth of the gospel from the falsehoods of heresy ; and hence it is plain that religion has its sole support in the French colony, and that,' if this colony is in danger, religion is equally in danger." l Among the most interesting memorials of the time are two letters written by FranQois Hertel, a youth of eighteen, captured at Three Rivers, and carried to the Mohawk towns in the summer of 1661. He belonged to one of the best families of Canada, and was the favorite child of his mother, to whom the second of the two letters is addressed. The first is to the Jesuit Le Moyne, who had gone to Onondaga,
1 Papiers cTArgenson ; Memoire sur le sujet de la guerre det Iroquois, 1659 (1660 ?). MS.
122 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1661.
in July of that year, to effect the release of French prisoners in accordance with the terms of a truce.1 Both letters were written on birch-bark: —
MY REVEREND FATHER, — The very day when you left Three Rivers I was captured, at about three iii the after- noon, by four Iroquois of the Mohawk tribe. I would not have been taken alive, if, to my sorrow, I had not feared that I was not in a fit state to die. If you came here, my Father, I could have the happiness of confessing to you ; and I do not think they would do you any harm ; and I think that I could return home with you. I pray you to pity my poor mother, who is in great trouble. Yo« know, my Father, how fond she is of me. I have heard from a Frenchman, who was taken at Three Rivers on the 1st of August, that she is well, and comforts herself with the hope that I shall see you. There are three of us Frenchmen alive here. I commend myself to your good prayers, and particularly to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I pray you, my Father, to say a mass for me. I pray you give my dutiful love to my poor mother, and console her, if it pleases you.
My Father, I beg your blessing on the hand that writes to you, which has one of the fingers burned in the bowl of an Indian pipe, to satisfy the Majesty of God which I have offended. The thumb of the other hand is cut off ; but do not tell my mother of it.
My Father, I pray you to honor me with a word from your hand in reply, and tell me if you shall come here before winter.
Your most humble and most obedient servant,
FRANCOIS HERTEL. 1 Journal det Jfyuitts, 300.
1661.]
LETTER OF HERTEL.
128
The following is the letter to his mother, sent probably, with the other, to the charge of Le Moyne: —
MY MOST DEAR AND HONORED MOTHER, I know Very
well that my capture must have distressed you very much. I ask you to forgive my disobedience. It is my sins that have placed me where I am. I owe my life to your prayers, and those of M. de Saint-Quentin, and of my sisters. I hope to see you again before winter. I pray you to tell the good brethren of Notre Dame to pray to God and the Holy Virgin for me, my dear mother, and for you and all my sisters.
Your poor
FANCHON.
This, no doubt, was the name by which she had called him familiarly when a child. And who was this "Fanchon," this devout and tender son of a fond mother? New England can answer to her cost. When, twenty-nine years later, a band, of French and Indians issued from the forest and fell upon the fort and settlement of Salmon Falls, it was Francois : Hertel who led the attack; and when the retiring ""Victors were hard pressed by an overwhelming force, it was he who, sword in hand, held the pursuers in check at the bridge of Wooster River, and covered the retreat of his men. He was ennobled for his services, and died at the age of eighty, the founder of one of the most distinguished families of Canada.1
1 His letters of nobility, dated 1716, will be found in Daniel's Sistoire des Grandes Families Francoises du Canada,, 404.
124 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1660.
To the New England of old he was the abhorred chief of Popish malignants and murdering savages. The New England of to-day will be more just to the brave defender of his country and his faith.
In May, 1660, a party of French Algonquins captured a Wolf, or Mohegan, Indian, naturalized among the Iroquois, brought him to Quebec, and burned him there with their usual atrocity of torture. A modern Catholic writer says that the Jesuits could not save him; but this is not so. Their Influence over the consciences of the colonists was at that time unbounded, and their direct political power was very great. A protest on their part, and that of the newly arrived bishop, who was in their interest, could not have failed of effect. The truth was, they did not care to prevent the torture of prisoners of war, — not solely out of that spirit of compliance with the savage humor of Indian allies which stains so often the pages of French American history, but also, and perhaps chiefly, from motives purely religious. Torture, in their eyes, seems to have been a blessing in disguise. They thought it good for the soul, and in case of obduracy the surest way of salvation. " We have very rarely indeed, " writes one of them, "seen the burning of an Iroquois without feeling sure that he was on the path to paradise; and we never knew one of them to be surely on the path to paradise without seeing him pass through this fiery punishment. " 1 So they let the Wolf burn ; but
» Relation, 1060, 31.
I860.] QUEBEC IN DANGER. 125
first, having instructed him after their fashion, thej baptized him, and his savage soul flew to heaven out of the fire. "Is it not," pursues the same writer, "a marvel to see a wolf changed at one stroke into a lamb, and enter into the fold of Christ, which he came to ravage ? " .
Before he died, he requited their spiritual cares with a startling secret. He told them that eight hundred Iroquois warriors were encamped below Montreal ; that four hundred more, who had wintered on the Ottawa, were on the point of joining them; and that the unitedforce would swoop upon Quebec, kill the governor,^ lay waste^
attack Three Rivers and Montreal.1 This time, at least, the Iroquois were in deadly earnest. Quebec was wild with terror. The Ursulines and the nuns of the Hotel Dieu took refuge in the strong and ex- tensive building which the Jesuits had just finished, opposite the Parish Church. Its walls and palisades made it easy of defence; and in its yards and court were lodged the terrified Hurons, as well as the fugitive inhabitants of the neighboring settlements. Others found asylum in the fort, and others in the convent of the Ursulines, which, in place of nuns, was occupied by twenty-four soldiers, who fortified it with redoubts, and barricaded the doors and windows. Similar measures of defence were taken at the Hotel Dieu, and the streets of the Lower Town were strongly barricaded. Everybody was in
1 Marie de 1'Incarnation, Lettre, 25 Juin, 1660.
126 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1660
arms, and the Qui vive of the sentries and patrols resounded all night.1
Several days passed, and no Iroquois appeared. The refugees took heart, and began to return to their deserted farms and dwellings. Among the rest was a family consisting of *an old woman, her daughter, her son-in-law, and four small children, living near St. Anne, some twenty miles below Quebec. On reaching home, the old woman and the man went to their work in the fields, while the mother and chil- dren remained in the house. Here they were pounced upon and captured by eight renegade Hurons, Iroquois by adoption, who placed them in their large canoe, and paddled up the river with their prize. It was Saturday, a day dedicated to the Virgin; and the captive mother prayed to her for aid, "feeling," writes a Jesuit, "a full conviction that, in passing before Quebec on a Saturday, she would be delivered by the power of this Queen of Heaven." In fact, as the marauders and their cap- tives glided in the darkness of night by Point Levi, under the shadow of the shore, they were greeted with a volley of musketry from the bushes, and a band of French and Algonquins dashed into the water to seize them. Five of the eight were taken, and the rest shot or drowned. The governor had heard of the descent at St. Anne, and despatched a
1 On this alarm at Quebec compare Marie de 1'Incarnation, 25 Juin, 1660 ; Relation, 1660, 6 ; Juchereau, Histoirt de I'Hotel-Dieu dt Quebec, 125, and Journal des Jesuites, 282.
1660.] THE CAPTORS CAPTURED. 127
party to lie in ambush for the authors of it. The Jesuits, it is needless to say, saw a miracle in the result. The Virgin had answered the prayer of her votary, — "though it is true," observes the father who records the marvel, "that, in the volley, she received a mortal wound." The same shot struck the infant in her arms. The prisoners were taken to Quebec, where four of them were tortured with even more ferocity than had been shown in the case of the unfortunate Wolf.1 Being questioned, they con- firmed his story, and expressed great surprise that the Iroquois had not come, adding that they must have stopped to attack Montreal or Three Rivers. Again all was terror, and again days passed and no enemy appeared. Had the dying converts, so chari- tably despatched to heaven through fire, sought an unhallowed consolation in scaring the abettors of their torture with a lie ? Not at all. Bating a slight exaggeration, they had told the truth. Where, then, were the Iroquois? As one small point of
i The torturers were Christian Algonquins, converts of the Jesuits. Chaumonot, who was present to give spiritual aid to the sufferers, describes the scene with horrible minuteness. " I could not," he says, " deliver them from their torments." Perhaps not : but it is certain that the Jesuits as a body, with or without the bishop, could have prevented the atrocity, had they seen fit. They sometimes taught their converts to pray for their enemies. It would have been well had they taught them not to torture them. I can recall but one instance in which they did so. The prayers for enemies were always for a spiritual, not a temporal good. The fathers held the body in slight account, and cared little what happened to it.
128 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1660.
steel disarms the lightning of its terrors, so did the heroism of a few intrepid youths divert this storm of war, and save Canada from a possible ruin.
In the preceding April, before the designs of the Iroquois were known, a young officer named Daulac, commandant of the garrison of Montreal, asked leave of MaisonpfiiiYP. *hfl gnvpmnrT^fn lead a party of volunteers against. the enemy. His plan was bold to desperation. It was known that Iroquois warriors in great numbers had wintered among the forests of the Ottawa. (jDaulac proposed to waylay them on their descent of the_nYfir, and fight them without regarfl to disparity of force. The settlers of Montreal had hitherto acted solely on the defensive, for their num- bers had been too small for aggressive war. Of late their strength had been somewhat increased, and Maisonneuve, judging that a display of enterprise and boldness might act as a check on the audacity of the enemy, at length gave his consent.
Adam Daulac, or Dollard, Sieur des Ormeaux, was a young man of good family, who had come to the col- ony three years before, at the age of twenty-two. He had held some military command in France, though in what rank does not appear. It was said that he had been involved in some affair which made him anxious to wipe out the memory of the past by a noteworthy exploit; and he had been busy for some time among the young men of Montreal, inviting them to join him in the enterprise he meditated. Sixteen of them caught his spirit, struck hands with him, and pledged
1660.] DAULAC DES ORMEAUX. 129
their word. They bound themselves by oath to accept no quarter ; and, having gained Maisonneuve's consent, they made their wills, confessed, and received the sacraments. As they knelt for the last time before the altar in the chapel of the Hotel Dieu, that sturdy little population of pious Indian-fighters gazed on them with enthusiasm, not unmixed with an envy which had in it nothing ignoble. Some of the chief men of Montreal, with the brave Charles Le Moyne at their head, begged them to wait till the spring sowing was over, that they might join them ; but Daulac refused. He was jealous of the glory and the danger, and he wished to command, which he could not have done had Le Moyne been present.
The spirit of the enterprise was purely mediaeval. The enthusiasm of honor, the enthusiasm of adven- ture, and the enthusiasm of faith were its motive forces. Daulac was a knight of the early crusades among the forests and savages of the New World. Yet the incidents of this exotic heroism are definite and clear as a tale of yesterday. The names, ages, and occupations of the seventeen young men may still be read on the ancient register of the parish of Montreal; and the notarial acts of that year, pre- served in the records of the city, contain minute accounts of such property as each of them possessed. The three eldest were of twenty-eight, thirty, and thirty-one years respectively. The age of the rest varied from twenty-one to twenty-seven. They were of various callings, — soldiers, armorers, locksmiths,
130 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [I860.
lime-burners, or settlers without trades. The greater number had come to the colony as part of the reinforcement brought by Maisonneuve in 1653.
After a solemn farewell, they embarked in several canoes well supplied with arms and ammunition. They were very indifferent canoe-men; and it is said that they lost a week in vain attempts to pass the swift current of St. Anne, at the head of the island of Montreal. At length they were more successful, and entering the mouth of the Ottawa, crossed the Lake of Two Mountains, and slowly advanced against the current.
Meanwhile, forty warriors of that remnant of the Hurons who, in spite of Iroquois persecutions, still lingered at Quebec, had set out on a war-party, led by the brave and wily Etienne Annahotaha, their most noted chief. They stopped by the way at Three Rivers, where they found a band of Christian Algonquins under a chief named Mituvemeg. Annahotaha challenged him to a trial of courage, and it was agreed that they should meet at Montreal, where they were likely to find a speedy opportunity of putting their mettle to the test. Thither, accord- ingly, they repaired, the Algonquin with three
followers, and the Hiifnn witfr
It was not long before they learned the departure of Daulac and his companions. "For," observes the honest Dollier de Casson, " the principal fault of our Frenchmen is to talk too much." The wish seized them to share the adventure, and to that end the
I860.] INDIAN ALLIES. 131
Huron chief asked the governor for a letter to Daulac, to serve as credentials. Maisonneuve hesi- tated. His faith in Huron valor was not great, and he feared the proposed alliance. Nevertheless, he at length yielded so far as to give Annahotaha a letter, in which Daulac was told to accept or reject the proffered reinforcement as he should see fit. The Hurons and Algonquins now embarked, and paddled in pursuit of the seventeen Frenchmen.
They meanwhile had passed with difficulty the swift current at Carillon, and about the first of May reached the foot of the more formidable rapid called the Long Saut, where a tumult of waters, foaming among ledges and bowlders, barred the onward way. It was needless to go farther. The Iroquois were sure to pass the Saut, and could be fought here as well as elsewhere. Just below the rapid, where the forests sloped gently to the shore, among the bushes and stumps of the rough clearing made in construct- ing it, stood a palisade fort, the work of an Algonquin war-party in the past autumn. It was a mere enclosure of trunks of small trees planted in a circle, and was already ruinous. Such as it was, the Frenchmen took possession of it. Their first care, one would think, should have been to repair and strengthen it; but this they seem not to have done, — possibly, in the exaltation of their minds, they scorned such precaution. They made their fires, and slung their kettles on the neighboring shore; and here they were soon joined by the Hurons and
132 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1660.
Algonquins. Daulac, it seems, made no objection to their company, and they all bivouacked together. Morning and noon and night they prayed in three different tongues ; and when at sunset the long reach of forests on the farther shore basked peacefully in the level rays, the rapids joined their hoarse music to the notes of their evening hymn.
In a day or two their scouts came in with tidings that two Iroquois canoes were coming down the Saut. Daulac had time to set his men in ambush among the bushes at a point where he thought the strangers likely to land. He judged aright. The canoes, bearing five Iroquois, approached, and were met by a volley fired with such precipitation that one or more of them escaped the shot, fled into the forest, and told their mischance to their main body, two hundred in number, on the river above. A fleet of canoes suddenly appeared, bounding down the rapids, filled with warriors eager for revenge. The allies had barely time to escape to their fort, leaving their kettles still slung over the fires. The Iroquois made a hasty and desultory attack, and were quickly repulsed. They next opened a parley, hoping, no doubt, to gain some advantage by surprise. Failing in this, they set themselves, after their custom on such occasions, to building a rude fort of their own in the neighboring forest.
This gave the French a breathing-time, and they used it for strengthening their defences. Being provided with tools, they planted a row of stakes
1680.] THE FORT ATTACKED. 133
within their palisade, to form a double fence, and filled the intervening space with earth and stones to the height of a man, leaving some twenty loop-holes, at each of which three marksmen were stationed. Their work was still unfinished when the Iroquois were upon them again. They had broken to pieces the birch canoes of the French and their allies, and, kindling the bark, rushed up to pile it blazing against the palisade ; but so brisk and steady a fire met them that they recoiled, and at last gave way. They came on again, and again were driven back, leaving many of their number on the ground, — among them the principal chief of the Senecas. Some of the French dashed out, and, covered by the fire of their comrades, hacked off his head, and stuck it on the palisade, while the Iroquois howled in a frenzy of helpless rage. They tried another attack, and were beaten off a third time.
This dashed their spirits, and they sent a canoe to call to their aid five hundred of their warriors who were mustered near the mouth of the Richelieu. These were the allies whom, but for this untoward check, they were on their way to join for a combined attack on Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal. It was maddening to see their grand project thwarted by a few French and Indians ensconced in a paltry redoubt, scarcely better than a cattle-pen; but they were forced to digest the affront as best they might.
Meanwhile, crouched behind trees and logs, they beset the fort, harassing its defenders day and night
134 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1660.
with a spattering fire and a constant menace of attack. Thus five days passed. Hunger, thirst, and want of sleep wrought fatally on the strength of the French and their allies, who, pent up together in their narrow prison, fought and prayed by turns. Deprived as they were of water, they could not swallow the crushed Indian corn, or "hominy," which was their only food. Some of them, under cover of a brisk fire, ran down to the river and filled such small vessels as they had; but this pittance only tantalized their thirst. They dug a hole in the fort, and were rewarded at last by a little muddy water oozing through the clay.
Among the assailants were a number of Hurons, adopted by the Iroquois and fighting on their side. These renegades now shouted to their countrymen in the fort, telling them that a fresh army was close at hand ; that they would soon be attacked by seven or eight hundred warriors; and that their only hope was in joining the Iroquois, who would receive them as friends. Annahotaha's followers, half dead with thirst and famine, listened to their seducers, took the bait, and, one, two, or three at a time, climbed the palisade and ran over to the enemy, amid the hoot- ings and execrations of those whom they deserted. Their chief stood firm ; and when he saw his nephew, La Mouche, join the other fugitives, he fired his pistol at him in a rage. The four Algonquins, who had no mercy to hope for, stood fast, with the cour- age of despair.
1660.] THE REINFORCEMENT. 135
On the fifth day an uproar of unearthly yells from seven hundred savage throats, mingled with a clatter- ing salute of musketry, told the Frenchmen that the expected reinforcement had come; and soon, in the forest and on the clearing, a crowd of warriors mustered for the attack. Knowing from the Huron deserters the weakness of their enemy, they had no doubt of an easy victory. They advanced cautiously, as was usual with the Iroquois before their blood was up, screeching, leaping from side to side, and firing as they came on; but the French were at their posts, and every loophole darted its tongue of fire. Besides muskets, they had heavy musketoons of large calibre, which, scattering scraps of lead and iron among the throng of savages, often maimed several of them at one discharge. The Iroquois, astonished at the per- sistent vigor of the defence, fell back discomfited. The fire of the French, who were themselves com- pletely under cover, had told upon them with deadly effect. Three days more wore away in a series of futile attacks, made with little concert or vigor; and during all this time Daulac and his men, reeling with exhaustion, fought and prayed as before, sure of a martyr's reward.
The uncertain, vacillating temper common to all Indians now began to declare itself. Some of the Iroquois were for going home. Others revolted at the thought, and declared that it would be an eternal disgrace to lose so many men at the hands of so paltry an enemy, and yet fail to take revenge. It
136 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [166<X
was resolved to make a general assault, and volun- teers were called for to lead the attack. After the custom on such occasions, bundles of small sticks were thrown upon the ground, and those picked them up who dared, thus accepting the gage of buttle, and enrolling themselves in the forlorn hope. No precaution was neglected. Large and heavy shields four or five feet high were made by lashing together three split logs with the aid of cross-bars. Covering themselves with these mantelets, the chosen band advanced, followed by the motley throng of warriors. In spite of a brisk fire, they reached the palisade, and, crouching below the range of shot, hewed furiously with their hatchets to cut their way through. The rest followed close, and swarmed like angry hornets around the little fort, hacking and tearing to get in.
Daulac had crammed a large musketoon with powder, and plugged up the muzzle. Lighting the fuse inserted in it, he tried to throw it over the barrier, to burst like a grenade among the crowd of savages without; but it struck the ragged top of one of the palisades, fell back among the Frenchmen and exploded, killing and wounding several of them, and nearly blinding others. In the confusion that fol- lowed, the Iroquois got possession of the loopholes, and, thrusting in their guns, fired on those within. In a moment more they had torn a breach in the palisade; but, nerved with the energy of despera- tion, Daulac and his followers sprang to defend it
1660.] THE FORT TAKEN. 137
Another breach was made, and then another. Daulac was struck dead, but the survivors kept up the fight. With a sword or a hatchet in one hand and a knife in the other, they threw themselves against the throng of enemies, striking and stabbing with the fury of madmen; till the Iroquois, despairing of taking them alive, fired volley after volley and shot them down. All was over, and a burst of triumph- ant yells proclaimed the dear-bought victory.
Searching the pile of corpses, the victors found four Frenchmen still breathing. Three had scarcely a spark of life, and, as no time was to be lost, they burned them on the spot. The fourth, less fortunate, seemed likely to survive, and they reserved him for future torments. As for the Huron deserters, their cowardice profited them little. The Iroquois, regard- less of their promises, fell upon them, burned some at once, and carried the rest to their villages for a similar fate. Five of the number had the good fortune to escape; and it was from them, aided by admissions made long afterwards by the Iroquois themselves, that the French of Canada derived all their knowledge of this glorious disaster.1
When the fugitive Hurons reached Montreal, they were un- rilling to confess their desertion of the French, and declared that ley and some others of their people, to the number of fourteen, ad stood by them to the last. This was the story told by one of lem to the Jesuit Chaumonot, and by him communicated in a stter to his friends at Quebec. The substance of this letter is iven by Marie de 1'Incarnation, in her letter to her son of June 25, 1660. The Jesuit Relation of this year gives another long account the affair, also derived from the Huron deserters, who this time
138 THE HEROES OF THE LONG SAUT. [1660.
To the colony it proved a salvation. The Iroquois had had fighting enough. If seventeen Frenchmen, four Algonquins, and one Huron, behind a picket fence, could hold seven hundred warriors at bay so long, what might they expect from many such, fight-
only pretended that ten of their number remained with the French. They afterwards admitted that all had deserted but Annahotalia, as appears from the account drawn up by Dollier de Casson, in his Histoire du Montreal. Another contemporary, Belmont, who heard the story from an Iroquois, makes the same statement. All these writers, though two of them were not friendly to Montreal, agree that Daulac and his followers saved Canada from a disastrous invasion. The governor, Argenson, in a letter written on the fourth of July following, and in his Memoire tur le tujet de la guerre det Iroquois, expresses the same conviction. Before me is an extract, copied from the Petit Registre de la Cure de Montreal, giving the names and ages of Daulac's men.
Radisson, the famous voyageur, says that, on his way down the Ottawa from Lake Superior, he passed the Long Saut eight days after the destruction of Daulac and his party ; and he gives an account of the fight that answers on the whole to those of the other writers. He adds, however, that the Hurons remained out- side the fort, which was too small to hold them, and that only the seventeen Frenchmen and four Algonquins — or twenty-one in all — were under cover. He also says that the reinforcement which joined the two hundred Iroquois who began the attack consisted of " five hundred and fifty Iroquoits of the lower nation [Mohawks] and fifty Orijonot " (Oneidas?), — making with the original assail- ants eight hundred in all. (Publications of the Prince Society, 1885, 233.) Radisson, whose narratives were not written till some years after the events that they record, forgets the date of the fight at the Long Saut, which would appear from him to have happened three years after it really took place.
Abbe1 Faillon took extreme pains to collect the evidence touch- ing Daulac's heroism, and, though Radisson's writings were unknown to him, his narrative should be consulted by those in- terested in the subject. See his anonymous Histoire de la CWoni* Francaise au Canada, ii. chap. xv.
1660.]
THE IROQUOIS BAFFLED.
139
ing behind walls of stone? For that year they thought no more of capturing Quebec and Montreal, but went home dejected and amazed, to howl over their losses, and nurse their dashed courage for a day of vengeance.
CHAPTER VII.
1657-1668. THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC.
DOMESTIC STRIFE. — JESUIT AND SDLPITIAN. — ABBE QUEYLUB.— . FRAN£OIS DE LAVAL. — THE ZEALOTS OF CAEN. — GALLICAN AND ULTRAMONTANE. — THE RIVAL CLAIMANTS. — STORM AT QUEBEC. — LAVAL TRIUMPHANT.
CANADA, gasping under the Iroquois tomahawk, might, one would suppose, have thought her cup of tribulation full, and, sated with inevitable woe, have sought consolation from the wrath without in a holy calm within. Not so, however; for while the heathen raged at the door, discord rioted at the hearthstone. Her domestic quarrels were wonderful in number, diversity, and bitterness. There was the standing quarrel of Montreal and Quebec, the quarrels of priesta^wrtlr une -another, of prtSsts with the governor, and of the governor with the intendant, besides ceaseless wranglings of rival traders and rival peculators.
Some of these disputes were local and of no special significance; while others are very interesting, because, on a remote and obscure theatre, they repre-
1657.J JESUIT AND SULPITIAN. 141
sent, sometimes in striking forms, the contending passions and principles of a most important epoch of history. To begin with one which even to this day has left a root of bitterness behind it.
The association of pious enthusiasts who had founded Montreal l was reduced in 1651 to a remnant of five or six persons, whose ebbing zeal and over- taxed purses were no longer equal to the devout but arduous enterprise. They begged the priests of the Seminary ;.of__St. Sulpj.ce to take it off their hands. The priests consented; and, though the conveyance of the island of Montreal to these its new proprietors did not take effect till some years ,later, four of the Sulpitian fathers — Queylus, Souart, Galine'e, and Allet — came out to the colony and took it in charge. Thus far^^^a^aliad^had^LC^bis^pp, and the Sulpitians now aspired to give it one from their own brotherhood. Many years before, when the Re'collets had a foothold in the colony, they too, or at least some of them, had cherished the hope of giving Canada a bishop of their own. As for the Jesuits, who for nearly thirty years had of themselves consti- tuted the Canadian church, they had been content thus far to dispense with a bishop; for having no rivals in the field, they had felt no need of episcopal support.
The Sulpitians put forward Queylus as their candi- date for the new bishopric. The assembly of French
1 See " Jesuits in North America," chap. xxii.
142 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1657.
clergy approved, and Cardinal Mazarin himself seemed to sanction, the nomination. The Jesuits saw that their time of action was come. It was they who had borne the heat and burden of the day, the toils, privations, and martyrdoms, while as yet the Sulpitians_ha4_^oneno^ingand endured nothing. iTany body of ecclesiastics was~toTiave^he nomina- tion of a bishop, it clearly belonged to them, the ("Jesuits. Their might, too, matched their right They were strong at court; Mazarin withdrew his assent, and the Jesuits were invited to name a bishop to their liking.
Meanwhile the Sulpitians, despairing of the bishopric, had sought their solace elsewhere. Ships bound for Canada had usually sailed from ports within the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Rouen, and the departing missionaries had received their ecclesiastical powers from him, till he had learned to regard Canada as an outlying section of his diocese. Not unwilling to assert his claims, he now made -^Queylus his vicar-general for all Canada, thus cloth- ing him with episcopal powers, and placing him over the heads of the Jesuits. Queylus, in effect though not in name a bishop, left his companion Souart in the spiritual charge of Montreal, came down to Quebec, announced his new dignity, and assumed the curacy of the parish. The Jesuits received him at first with their usual urbanity, an exercise of self- control rendered more easy by their knowledge that
1657.] ABB£ QUEYLUS. 143
one more potent than Queylus would soon arrive to supplant him.1
The vicar of the Archbishop of Rouen was a man of many virtues, devoted to good works, as he understood them ; rich, for the Sulpitians were under no vow of poverty; generous in almsgiving, bus}', indefatigable, overflowing with zeal, vivacious in temperament and excitable_jn_temper, impatient of opposition^— and, as it seems, incapable, like his destined rival, of seeing jmv_jva.Y of_ doing good but, hjsjywn. Though the Jesuits were outwardly cour- teous, their partisans would not listen to the new curb's sermons, or listened only to find fault; and germs of discord grew vigorously in the parish of Quebec. Prudence was not among the virtues of Queylus. He launched two sermons^ against the Jesuite, in which he likened himself to Christ and them to the Pharisees. "Who," he supposed them to say, " is this Jesus, so beloved of the people, who comes to cast discredit on us, who for thirty or forty years have governed church and state here, with none to dispute us?"2 He denounced such of his
1 A detailed account of the experiences of Queylus at Quebec, immediately after his arrival, as related by himself, will be found in a memoir by the Sulpitian Allet, in Morale Pratique des Jesuites, xxxiv. chap. xii. In chapter ten of the same volume the writer says that he visited Queylus at Mont St. Valerien, after his return from Canada. " II me prit a part ; nous nous promenames asse* longtemps dans le jardin et il m'ouvrit son coeur sur la conduite des Jesuites dans le Canada et partout ailleurs. Messieurs de St. Sulpice savent bien ce qu'il m'en a pu dire, et je suis assure" qu'ils Be diront pas que je 1'ai du prendre pour des mensonges."
8 Journal des Jesuites, Octobre, 1657.
144 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1651
hearers as came to pick flaws in his discourse, and told them it would be better for their souls if they lay in bed at home, sick of a "good quartan fever." His ire was greatly kindled by a letter of the Jesuit Pijart, which fell into his hands through a female adherent, the pious Madame d'Ailleboust, and in which "that father declared that he, Queylus, was waging war on him and his brethren more savagely than the Iroquois.1 "He was as crazy at sight of a Jesuit," writes an adverse biographer, "as a mad dog at sight of water."2 He cooled, however, on being shown certain papers which proved that his position was neither so strong nor so secure as he had supposed; and the governor, Argenson, at length persuaded him to retire to Montreal.8
The queen-mother, Anne of Austria, always in- clined to the Jesuits, had invited Father Le Jeune, who was then in France, to make choice of a bishop for Canada. It was not an easy task. Np^jlesuit was eligible, for the sage policy of Loyola had excluded members of the order from the bishopric. The signs of the times portended trouble for the Canadian church, and .there w_as_jae_e_d of_a bishop who wo4ili-assedLiiex^cJaim^aiid-%htjMlfr battles. Such a man could not be made an instrument of the Jesuits; therefore there was double need that he should be one with them in sympathy and purpose.
* Journal des Jesuites, Octobre, 1667.
* Viger, Notice Historique sur I'Abbtde Queylus.
* Papier s d" Argenson.
1657.] LAVAL. 145
They made a sagacious choice. Le Jeune presented to the queen-mother the name of Francois Xavier de Laval-Montmorency, Abb6 de Montigny.
Lava], for by this name he was thenceforth known, belonged to one of the proudest families of Europe, and, churchman as he was, there is much in his career to remind us that in his veins ran the blood of the stern Constable of France, Anne de Mont- morency. Nevertheless, his thoughts from childhood had turned towards the Church, or, as his biographers will have it, all his aspirations were heavenward. He received the tonsure at the age of nine. The Jesuit Bagot confirmed and moulded his youthful predilections ; and at a later period he was one of a band of young zealots formed under the auspices of Bernieres de Louvigni, royal treasurer at Caen, who, though a layman, was reputed almost a saint. It was Bernieres who had borne the chief part in the pious fraud of the pretended marriage through which Madame de la Peltrie escaped from her father's roof to become foundress of the Ursulines of Quebec.1 He had since renounced the world, and dwelt at Caen in a house attached to an Ursuline convent, and known as the "Hermitage." Here he lived like a monk, in the midst of a community of young priests and devotees, who looked to him as their spiritual director, and whom he trained in the maxims and practices of the most extravagant, or, as
1 See " Jesuits in North America," chap. JQY. 10
146 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1657-62.
his admirers say, the most sublime ultramontane piety.1
The conflict between the Jesuits and the Janseniste was then at its height. The Jansenist doctrines of
V • — ^^ x*- '^v^/^—x-
'by grace, which sapped the power of the priesthood and impugnedtliQjiu^hpjity jv^ tfrp PpjiftJimispTf _rp Ji\g_c.apao.Uy p£-,hr>1dftrjrF the keys of heaven, were to the Jesuits an abomination ; while the rigid morals of the Jansenists stood in stern contrast to the pliancy of Jesuit casuistry. Bernie'res and his disciples were zealous, not to say fanatical, partisans of the Jesuits. There is a long account of the " Hermitage " and its inmates from the pen of the famous Jansenist Nicole, — an oppo- nent, it is true, but one whose qualities of mind and character give weight to his testimony.3
"In this famous Hermitage," says Nicole, "the late Sieur de Bernieres brought up a number of young men, to whom he taught a sort of sublime and transcendental devotion called passivepra^ei\ because in it the mind does not act at all, but merely receives the divine operation; and this devotion is the source of all those visions and revelations in which the Hermitage is so prolific." In short, he and his disciples were rhystics) of the most exalted type. Nicole pursues : " After having thus subtilized
1 La Tour in his Vie de Laval gives his maxims at length.
* Mfmoire pour faire connoistre fesprit et la conduite de la Com- pagnie etailie en la ville de Caen, appellee I' Hermitage (Bibliotheque Nationals. Imprimes. Partie Re'servee). Written in 1660.
1657-62.] THE ZEALOTS AT CAEN. 147
their minds, and almost sublimed them into vapor, he rendered them capable of detecting Jansenists under any disguise, insomuch that some of his fol- lowers said that they knew them by the scent, as dogs know their game; but the aforesaid Sieur de Bernieres denied that they had so subtile a sense of smell, and said that the mark by which he detected Jansenists was their disapproval of his teachings or their opposition to the Jesuits."
The zealous band at the Hermitage was aided in its efforts to extirpate error by a sort of external association in the city of Caen, consisting of mer- chants, priests, officers, petty nobles, and others, alL inspired and guided by Bernieres. They met every week at the Hermitage, or at the houses of one another. Similar associations existed in other cities of France, besides a fraternity in the Rue St. Dominique at Paris, which was formed by the Jesuit Bagot, and seems to have been the parent, in a cer- tain sense, of the others. They all acted together when any important object was in view.
Bernieres and his disciples felt that God had chosen them not only to watch over doctrine and discipline in convents and in families, but also to supply the prevalent deficiency of^zeaHn bishops and
Church. They kept, too, a constant eye on the humbler clergy, and whenever a new preacher appeared in Caen, two of their number were deputed to hear his sermon and report upon it. If he chanced to let fall a word concerning the grace
148 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1657-62.
of God, they denounced him for Jansenistic heresy. Such commotion was once raised in Caen by charges of sedition and Jansenism, brought by the Hermitage against priests and laymen hitherto without attaint, that the Bishop of Bayeux thought it necessary to interpose ; but even he was forced to pause, daunted by the insinuations of Bernieres that he was in secret sympathy with the obnoxious doctrines.
Thus the Herautageja-nd^its affiliated societies con- stituted themselves a sort of inquisition in the interest
\^ 7^-v
o£jthej£S«its ; "for what," asks Nicole, "might not be expected from persons of weak minds and atra- bilious dispositions, dried up by constant fasts, vigils, and other austerities, besides meditations of three or four hours a day, and told continually that the Church is in imminent danger of ruin through the machinations of the Jansenists, who are repre- sented to them as persons who wish to break up the foundations of the Christian faith and subvert the mystery of the Incarnation; who believe neither in transubstantiation, the invocation of saints, nor indulgences ; who wish to abolish the sacrifice of the Mass and the sacrament of Penitence, oppose the worship of the Holy Virgin, deny free-will and sub- stitute predestination in its place, and, in fine, con- spire to overthrow the authority of the Supreme Pontiff?"
Among other anecdotes, Nicole tells the following: One of the young zealots of the Hermitage took it into his head that all Caen was full of Jansenists,
1657-62.] EXTRAVAGANCE. 149
and that the cure's of the place were in league with them. He inoculated four others with this notion, and they resolved to warn the people of their danger. They accordingly made the tour of the streets, with- out hats or collars, and with coats unbuttoned, though it was a cold winter day, stopping every moment to proclaim in a loud voice that all the curds, excepting two, whom they named, were abettors of the Jansenists. A mob was soon following at their heels, and there was great excitement. The magis- trates chanced to be in session, and hearing of the disturbance, they sent constables to arrest the authors of it. Being brought to the bar of justice and ques- tioned by the judge, they answered that they were doing the work of God, and were ready to die in the cause ; that Caen was full of Jansenists, and that the curds had declared in their favor, inasmuch as they denied any knowledge of their existence. Four of the five were locked up for a few days, tried, and sentenced to a fine of a hundred livres, with a promise of further punishment should they again disturb the peace.1
The fifth, being pronounced out of his wits by the physicians, was sent home to his mother, at a village near Argentan, where two or three of his fellow zealots presently joined him. Among them, they persuaded his mother, who had hitherto been devoted
1 Nicole is not the only authority for this story. It is also told by a very different writer. See Notice Historique de I'Abbaye de Ste. Claire d' Argentan, 124.
150 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1657-«2.
to household cares, to exchange them for a life of mystical devotion. "These three or four persons/' says Nicole, "attracted others as imbecile as them- selves." Among these recruits were a number of women, and several priests. After various acts of fanaticism, "two or three days before last Pentecost," proceeds the narrator, "they all set out, men and women, for Argentan. The priests had drawn the skirts of their cassocks over their heads, and tied them about their necks with twisted straw. Some of the women had their heads bare, and their hair streaming loose over their shoulders. They picked up filth on the road, and rubbed their faces with it; and the most zealous ate it, saying that it was neces- sary to mortify the taste. Some held stones in their hands, which they knocked together to draw the attention of the passers-by. They had a leader, whom they were bound to obey; and when this leader saw any mud-hole particularly deep and dirty, he commanded some of the party to roll themselves in it, which they did forthwith.1
"After this fashion, they entered the town of Argentan, and marched, two by two, through all the streets, crying with a loud voice that the Faith was perishing, and that whoever wished to save it must quit the country and go with them to Canada,
1 These proceedings were probably intended to produce the result which was the constant object of the mystics of the Her- mitage ; namely, the " annihilation of self," with a view to a perfect union with God. To become despised of men was an im- portant if not an essential step in this mystical suicide.
1657-62.] EULOGY ON LAVAL.
whither they were soon to repair. It is said that they still hold this purpose, and that their leaders declare it revealed to them that they will find a vessel ready at the first port to which Providence directs them. The reason why they choose Canada for an asylum is, that Monsieur de Montigny (Laval), Bishop of Petraea, who lived at the Hermitage a long time, where he was instructed in mystical theology by Monsieur de Berni^res, exercises episcopal func- tions there; and that the Jesuits, who are their oracles, reign in that country."
This adventure, like the other, ended in a collision with the police. "The priests," adds Nicole, "were arrested, and are now waiting trial; and the rest were treated as mad, and sent back with shame and confusion to the places whence they had come."
Though these pranks took place after Laval had left the Hermitage, they serve to characterize the s. school in which he was formed; or, more juatljp/X speaking, to show its most extravagant side. That others did not share the views of the celebrated Jansenist, may be gathered from the following pas- sage of the funeral oration pronounced over the body of Laval half a century later: —
" The humble abbd was next transported into the terrestrial paradise of Monsieur de Bernieres. It is thus that I call, as it is fitting to call it, that famous Hermitage of Caen, where the seraphic author of the * Christian Interior * [Bernieres] transformed into angels all those who had the happiness to be the
152 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1657-62.
companions of his solitude and of his spiritual exer- cises. It was there that, during four years, the fervent abbe* drank the living and abounding wateia of grace which have since flowed so benignly ove' this land of Canada. In this celestial abode his ordi nary occupations were prayer, mortification, instruc tion of the poor, and spiritual readings or conferences; his recreations were to labor in the hospitals, wait upon the sick and poor, make their beds, dress their wounds, and aid them in their most repulsive needs."1
In truth, Laval's zeal was boundless, and the exploits of self-humiliation recorded of him were unspeakably revolting.2 Bernieres himself regarded him as a light by which to guide his own steps in ways of holiness. He made journeys on foot about the country, disguised, penniless, begging from door to door, and courting scorn and opprobrium, uin order," says his biographer, "that he might suffer for the love of God." Yet, though living at this time in a state of habitual religious exaltation, he was by nature no mere dreamer; and in whatever heights his spirit might wander, his feet were always planted on the solid earth. His flaming zeal had for its servants a hard, practical nature, perfectly fitted for the battle of life, a narrow intellect, a stiff and
1 Elogc funkbre de Messire Francois Xavier de Laval-Montmorency, par Mestire de la Colombiere, llcaire General.
* See La Tour, Vie de Laval, liv. i. Some of them were closely akin to that of the fanatics mentioned above, who ate " immondicet d'animaux" to mortify the taste.
1657.] GALLTCAN AND ULTRAMONTANE. 153
persistent will, and, as his enemies thought, the love of domination native to his blood.
Two great parties divided the Catholics of France, — the Gallican or national party, and the ultramontane or papal party. The first, resting on the Scriptural injunction to give tribute to Cgesar, held that to the King, the Lord's anointed, belonged the temporal, and to the Church the spiritual power. It held also that the laws and customs of the Church of France could not be broken at the bidding of the Pope.1 The ultramontane party, on the other hand, main- tained that the Pope, Christ's vicegerent on earth, was supreme over earthly rulers, and should of right hold jurisdiction over the clergy of all Christendom, with powers of appointment and removal. Hence they claimed for him the right of nominating bishops in France. This had anciently been exercised by assemblies of the French clergy, but in the reign of Francis I. the King and the Pope had combined to wrest it from them by the Concordat of Bologna. Under this compact, which was still in force, the Pope appointed French bishops on the nomination of the King, — a plan which displeased the Gallicans, and did not satisfy the ultramontanes.
The Jesuits, then as now, were the most forcible exponents of ultramontane principles. The Church to rule the world ; the Pope to mlp> fhft f!Tmreli; the* Jesuits_to_^ule_Jiifi_Eope, — such was and is the
1 See the famous Quatre Articles of 1682, in which the liberties of the Gallican Church are asserted.
154 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1857.
simple programme of the Order of Jesus; and to it they have held fast, except on a few rare occasions of misunderstanding with the Vicegerent of Christ.1 In the question of papal supremacy, as in most things else, Laval was of one mind with them.
Those versed in such histories will not be surprised to learn that when he received the royal nomination, humility would not permit him to accept it; nor that, being urged, he at length bowed in resignation, still protesting his unworthiness. Nevertheless, the royal nomination did not take effect. The ultramontanes outflanked both the King and the Gallicans, and by adroit strategy made the new prelate completely a creature of the papacy. Instead of appointing hin Bishop of Quebec, in accordance with the royal initiative, l^ie^^opejnade him his vicar apostolic for
^^"~ ""N"""" "*""•*• "*~»- "- "x. """" "•*
Canada, — thus evading the Kingfs nomination, and affirming that Canada, a country of infidel savages, was excluded from the concordat, and under his (the Pope's) jurisdiction pure and simple. The Gallicans were enraged. The Archbishop of Rouen vainly opposed, and the parliaments of Rouen and of Paris vainly protested. The papal party prevailed. The King, or rather Mazarin, gave his consent, subject to certain conditions, the chief of which was an oath of allegiance; and Laval, grand vicar apostolic, decorated with the title of Bishop of Petrsea, sailed
1 For example, not long after this time, the Jesuits, having a dispute with Innocent XL, threw themselves into the party of opposition.
1657.] LAVAL AND QUEYLUS. 155
for his wilderness diocese in the spring of 1659.1 He was but thirty-six years of age, but even when a boy he could scarcely have seemed young.
Queylus, for a time, seemed to accept the situation, and tacitly -a43M^L>&fi4ii&is^ tical superior; but, stimulated by a letter from the
( -*~ •^-•a "*"''**'>_ -—— v
Archbishop of Rouen, he soon threw himself into an attit»4ejif^op^o^itipn,2 in which the popularity which his generosity to the poor had won for him gave him an advantage very annoying to his adversary. The quarrel, it will be seen, was three-sided, — Gallican against ultramontane, Sulpitian against Jesuit, Montreal against Quebec. To Montreal the recal- citrant abbe", after a brief visit to Quebec, had again retired; but even here, girt with his Sulpitian brethren and compassed with partisans, the arm of the vicar apostolic was long enough to reach him.
By temperament and conviction Laval hated a divided authority, and the very shadow of a schism was an abomination in his sight. The young King, who, though abundantly jealous of his royal power; was forced to conciliate the papal party, had sent instructions to Argenson, the governor, to support Laval, and prevent divisions in the Canadian
1 Compare La Tour, Vie de Laval, with the long statement in Faillon, Colonie Franyaise, ii. 315-335. Faillon gives various docu- ments in full, including the royal letter of nomination and those in which the King gives a reluctant consent to the appointment of the vicar apostolic.
* Journal des Jesuites, Septembre, 1667.
156 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1059.
Church.1 These instructions served as the pretext of a procedure sufficiently summary. A squad of soldiers, commanded, it is said, by the governor him- self, went up to Montreal, brought the indignant Queylus to Quebec, and shipped him thence for France.2 By these means, writes Father Lalemant, order reigned for a season in the Church.
It was but for a season. Queylus was not a man to bide his defeat in tranquillity, nor were his brother Sulpitians disposed to silent acquiescence. Laval, on his part, was not a man of half measures. He had an agent in France, and partisans strong at court. Fearing, to borrow the words of a Catholic writer, that the return of Queylus to Canada would prove "injurious to the glory of God," he bestirred himself to prevent it. The ytmng King, then at Aix, on his famous journey to the frontiers of Spain to many the Infanta, was induced to write to Queylus, ordering him to remain in France.3 Queylus, however, repaired to Rome; but even against this movement provision had been made: accusations of Jansenism had gone before him, and he met a cold welcome. Nevertheless, as he had powerful friends near the Pope, he succeeded in removing these adverse impressions, and even in obtaining certain bulls relating to the establishment
1 Lettre du Roi a d'Argenson, 14 Mai, 1669.
* Belmont, Hittoire du Canada, A.D. 1659. Memoir by Abbfc d'Allet, in Morale Pratique des Je'suites, xxxiv. 725. » Lettre du Roi d Queylus, 27 Fev., 1660.
ANOTHER STORM.
157
1660-61.]
of the parish t>f Montreal, and favorable to the Sulpitians. Provided with these, he set at nought the King's letter, embarked under an assumed name, and sailed to Quebec, where he made his appearance on the third of August, 1661, l to the extreme wrath of Laval.
A ferment ensued. Sulpitians with
A preacher more zealous than the rest denounced them as priests of Antichrist; and as to the bulls in their favor, it was affirmed that Queylus had obtained them by fraud from the Holy Father. Laval at once issi^i^a^ma^ate^oAiddmg him to proceed^ tQ^Montreal ^till jsljjigs ^hQuld^^arriyg with instrucjaons fronx_the King.2 At the same time he demanded of jhe gcateinQr that ha. should L interpose the cJYJl jpowex to prevent Queylus^f roin_i£aving Quebec.3 As Argenson, who wished to act as peace- maker between the belligerent fathers, did not at once take the sharp measures required of him, Laval renewed his demand on the next day, — calling on him, in the name of God and the King, to compel Queylus to yield the obedience due to him, the vicar apostolic.4 At the same time he sent another to the offending abbe", threatening to suspend him from priestly functions if he persisted in his rebellion.6
1 Journal des Jesuites, Aotit, 16C1.
2 Lettre de Laval a Queylus, 4 Aa&t, 1661.
* Lettre de Laval a a" Argenson, Ibid.
* Ibid., 5 Aout, 1661.
* Lettre de Laval d Queylus, Ibid.
168 THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC. [1661
The incorrigible Queylus, who seems to have lived for some months in a simmer of continual indigna- tion, set at nought the vicar apostolic as he had set at nought the King, took a boat that very night, and set out for Montreal under cover of darkness. Great was the ire of Laval when he heard the news in the morning. He despatched a letter after him, declar- ing him suspended ipso facto, if he did not instantly return and make his submission.1 This letter, like the rest, failed of the desired effect; but the gover- nor, who had received a second mandate from the King to support Laval and prevent a schism,2 now reluctantly interposed the secular arm, and Queylus was again compelled to return to France.8
^is^^Sj^ Laval,
always zealous for unity and centralization, had some time before taken steps to repress what he regarded as a tendency to independence at Montreal. In the preceding year he had written to the Pope: "There are some secular priests [Sulpitians] at Montreal, whom the Abbe' de Queylus brought out with him in 1657, and I have named for the functions of cur6 the one among them whom I thought the least disobedient." The bulls which Queylus had obtained from Rome related to this very curacy, and greatly disturbed the mind of the vicar apostolic. He accordingly wrote again to the Pope: "I pray
1 Lettre de Laval a Queylus, 6 Aa&t, 1661.
* Ltttre du Roi a d'Argenson, 13 Mai, 1660.
* For the governor's attitude in this affair, consult the Papitrt fArytmon, containing his despatches.
1661.] VICTORY OF LAVAL. 159
your Holiness to let me know your will concerning the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Rouen. M. 1'Abbe* de Queylus, who has come out this year as vicar of this archbishop, has tried to deceive us by surreptitious letters, and has obeyed neither our prayers nor our repeated commands to desist. But he has received orders from the King to return imme- diately to France, to render an account of his diso- bedience ; and he has been compelled by the governor to conform to the will of his Majesty. What I now fear is that on his return to France, by using every kind of means, employing new artifices, and falsely representing our affairs, he may obtain from the Court of Rome powers which may disturb the peace of our Church; for the priests whom he brought with him from France, and who live at Montreal, are animated with the same spirit of disobedience and division; and I fear, with good reason, that all belonging to the Seminary of St. Sulpice, who may come hereafter to join them, will be of the same dis- position. If what is said is true, that by means of fraudulent letters the right of patronage of the pre- tended parish of Montreal has been granted to the superior of this seminary, and the right of appoint- ment to the Archbishop of Rouen, then is altar reared against altar in our Church of Canada; for the clergy of Montreal will always stand in opposition to me, the vicar apostolic, and to my successors."1
» Lettre de Laval au Pape, 22 Oct., 1661. Printed by Faillon. from the original in the archives of the Propaganda.
160
THE DISPUTED BISHOPRIC.
[1068.
These dismal forebodings were never realized. The Holy See annulled the obnoxious bulls; the Archbishop of Rouen renounced his claims, and Queylus found his position untenable. Seven years later, when Laval was on a visit to France, a recon- ciliation was brought about between them. The former vicar of the Archbishop of Rouen made his submission to the vicar of the Pope, and returned to Canada as a missionary. Laval's triumph was com- plete, to the joy of the Jesuits, — silent, if not idle, spectators of the tedious and complex quarrel.
CHAPTER VIII.
1659, 1660. LAVAL AND ARGENSON.
FRANCOIS DE LAVAL: HIS POSITION AND CHARACTER. — ARRIVAL OF ABGENSON. — THE QUARREL.
WE are touching delicate ground. To many excel- lent Catholics of our own day^J^aYal is an object of veneration. The Catholic university of Quebec glories in bearing his name, and certain modern ecclesiastical writers rarely mention him in terms less reverent than "the virtuous prelate," or "the holy prelate." Nor are some of his contemporaries less emphatic in eulogy. Mother Juchereau de Saint-Denis, Superior of the Hotel Dieu, wrote immediately after his death: "He began in his tenderest years the study of perfection, and we have reason to think that he reached it, since every virtue which Saint Paul demands in a bishop was seen and admired in him ; " and on his first arrival in Canada, Mother Marie de 1'Incarnation, Superior of the Ursulines, wrote to her son that the choice of such a prelate was not of man, but of God. "I will not,"
she adds, "say that he is a saint; but I may say with
11
162 LAVAL AND ARGENSON. [1659
truth that he lives like a saint and an apostle." And she describes his austerity of life ; how he had but two servants, a gardener — whom he lent on occasion to his needy neighbors — and a valet; how he lived in a small hired house, saying that he would not have one of his own if he could build it for only five' sous; and how, in his table, furniture, and bed, lie showed the spirit of poverty, even, as she thinks, to excess. His servant, a lay brother named Houssart, testified, after his death, that he slept on a hard bed, and would not suffer it to be changed even when it became full of fleas; and, what is more to the purpose, that he gave fifteen hundred or two thousand francs to the poor every year.1 Houssart also gives the following specimen of his austerities : " I have seen him keep cooked meat five, six, seven, or eight days in the heat of summer; and when it was all mouldy and wormy he washed it in warm water and ate it, and told me that it was very good." The old servant was so impressed by these and other proofs of his master's sanctity, that "I determined," he says, "to keep everything I could that had belonged to his holy person, and after his death to soak bits of linen in his blood when his body was opened, and take a few bones and cartilages from his breast, cut off his hair, and keep his clothes, and such things, to serve as most precious relics."
1 Lettre du Frlre Houssart, ancien servitetir de ^Cy'r de Laval a M. Tremblay, I Sept., 1708. This letter ia printed, though with on« or two important omissions, in the Abfille, vol. i. (Quebec, 1848.)
1659.] FRANgOIS DE LAVAL. 163
These pious cares were not in vain, for the relics proved greatly in demand.
Several portraits of Laval are extant. A drooping nose of portentous size; a well-formed forehead; a brow strongly arched; a bright, clear eye; scanty hair, half hidden by a black skullcap; thin lips, com- pressed and rigid, betraying a spirit not easy to move or convince ; features of that indescribable cast which marks the priestly type, — such is Laval, as he looks grimly down on us from the dingy canvas of two centuries ago.
He is one of those concerning whom Protestants and Catholics, at least ultramontane Catholics, will lever agree in judgment. The task of eulogizing him may safely be left to those of his own way of thinking. It is for us to regard him from the stand- point of secular history. And, first, let us credit him with sincerity. He believed firmly that the princes andrulers^pi this_^worid__^»u^htjo_^e^siibject to guidance and^ontrolat^the hands of the Pope, the vicar oJLChrist^ on earth. BuTTie Tnmself was the Pope's vicar, and, so far as the bounds of Canada extended, the Holy Father had clothed him with his own authority. The glory of God demanded that this auttioritv^^shpuld suffer no abatement; and he, al, would be guilty before Heaven if he did not uphold the supremacy of the Church over the powers both of earth and of hell.
Of the faults which he owed to nature, the prin- cipal seems to have been an arbitrary and domineer-
164 LAVAL AND ARGENSON. [1659.
ing temper. He was one of those who by nature lean always to the side of authority; and in the English Revolution he would inevitably have stood for the Stuarts ; or, in the American Revolution, for the Crown. But being above all things a Catholic and a priest, he was drawn by a constitutional neces- sity to the ultramontane party, or the party of cen- tralization. He fought lustily, in his way, against the natural man ; and humility was the virtue to the culture of which he gave his chief attention; but soil and climate were not favorable. His life was one long assertion of the authority of the Church, and this authority was lodged in himself. In his stubborn fight for ecclesiastical ascendency, he was aided by the impulses of a nature that loved to rule, and could not endure to yield. His principles and his instinct of domination were acting in perfect unison, and his conscience was the handmaid of his fault. Austerities and mortifications, playing at beggar, sleeping in beds full of fleas, or performing prodigies of gratuitous dirtiness in hospitals, how- ever fatal to self-respect, could avail little against influences working so powerfully and so insidiously to stimulate the most subtle of human vices. The history of the Roman Church is full of Lavals.
The Jesuits, adepts in human nature, had made a sagacious choice when they put forward this con- scientious, zealous, dogged, and pugnacious priest to fight their battles. Nor were they ill pleased that, for the present, he was not Bishop of Canada,
1659.]
165
but only vioar apostolic; for such being the case, fchey ^ouldJmyj^J4m^ce^^
lil^Jjimj while an unacceptable bishop would be an evil past remedy. ^^
Canada was entering a state of transition. \Hitherto ecclesiastical influence had been all in alLj) The Jesuits, by far the most educated and able body of men in the colony, had controlled it, not alone in things spiritual, but virtuall
n thin
also; and the governor may besaidto little else than achieTwpolice, under
^
themselves deej:>].yimbuejl_w^
Champlain was earnest above all things for convert- ing the Indians ; Montmagny was half-monk, for he was a Knight of Malta ; d'Ailleboust was so insanely pious that he lived with his wife like monk and nun. A change was at hand. From a mission and a trad- ing station, Canada was soon to become, in the true sense, a colony; and^d:vil_^govej[nji^^ assert itsejfj3nj^ie__banks^)^^ The
epoch of the martyrs and apostles was passing away, and the man of the sword and the man of the gown — the soldier and the legist — were threatening to supplant the paternal sway of priests ; or, as Laval might have said, the hosts of this world were beleaguering the sanctuary, and he was called of Heaven to defend it. His true antagonist, though three thousand miles away, was the great minister Colbert, as purely a statesman as, the vicar apostolic
166 LAVAL AND ARGENSOX. [1659.
was purely a priest. Laval, no doubt, could see behind the statesman's back another adversary, — the Devil.
Argenson was governor when the crozier and the sword began to clash, which is merely another way of saying that he was governor when Laval arrived. He seems to have been a man of education, modera- tion, and sense, and he was also an earnest Catholic ; but if Laval had his duties to God, so had Argenson his duties to the King, of whose authority he was the representative and guardian. If the first col- lisions seem trivial, they were no less the symptoms of a grave antagonism. Argenson could have pur- chased peace only by becoming an agent of the Church.
The vicar apostolic, or, as he was usually styled, the bishop, being, it may be remembered, titular Bishop of PetrsBa in Arabia, presently fell into a quarrel withj;he__£overnor touching the relative posi- tion of their seatsJn church, — a point which, By the way, was a subject of contention for many years, and under several successive governors. This time the case was referred to the ex-governor, d'Ailleboust, and a temporary settlement took place.1 A few weeks after, on the fete of Saint Francis Xavier, when the Jesuits were accustomed to ask the digni- taries of the colony to dine in their refectory after mass, a fresh difficulty arose, — Should the governor or the bishop have the higher seat at table? The
1 Lalemant, in Journal det Jetuitet, Septembre, 1669.
W59-60.] DISPUTES OF PRECEDENCE. 167
question defied solution; so the fathers invited neither of them.1
Again, on Christmas, at the midnight mass, the dea^n, offered Jncejise to_the bishop,. -an(L then, ia_ obedience ip an order from Mm, sent a subordinate
^" — •**• ^"•^__ — ^^B — - — • ..~-^*— -—
to offer it to the governor, instead of offering it him- self. LavaPfiirther~lnsisted Uiat the priests of the £N^j < choir should receive incense before thegoyernpr received it. Argenson resistec^and a bitter quarrel ensued.2
The late governor, d'Ailleboust, had been church- warden ex officio ; 3 and in this pious community the office was esteemed as an addition to his honors. Argenson had thus far held the same position; but Laval declared that he should hold it no longer. Argenson, to whom the bishop had not spoken on the subject, came soon after to a meeting of the wardens, and, being challenged, denied Laval's right to dismiss him. A dispute ensued, in which the bishop, according to his Jesuit friends, used language not very respectful to the representative of royalty.4
On occasion of the "solemn catechism," the bishop insisted that the children should salute him before saluting the governor. Argenson, hearing of this, t( declined to come. A compromise was contrived. It was agreed that when the rival dignitaries entered,
1 Lalemant, in Journal des J&uites, Decembre, 1659.
3 Ibid. ; Lettre d' Argenson a MM. de la Compagnie de St. Sulpice.
8 Livre des Deliberations de la Fabrique de Quebec.
* Journal des Jesuites, Novembre, 1660.
168 LAVAL AND ARGENSON. [166L
the children should be busied in some manual exer- cise which should prevent their saluting either. Nevertheless, two boys, "enticed and set on by their parents," saluted the governor first, to the great indignation of Laval. They were whipped on the next day for breach of orders.1
Next there was a sharp quarrel about a sentence pronounced by Laval against a heretic, to which the governor, good Catholic as he was, took exception.* Palm Sunday came, and there could be no procession and no distribution of branches, because the gov- ernor and the bishop could not agree on points of precedence.8
On the day of the Fete Dieu, however, there was a grand procession, which stopped from time to time at temporary altars, or reposoirs, placed at intervals along its course. One of these was in the fort, where the soldiers were drawn up, waiting the arrival of the procession. Laval demanded that they should take off their hats. Argenson assented, and! the soldiers stood uncovered. Laval now insisted that they should kneel. The governor replied that it was their duty as soldiers to stand; whereupon the I bishop refused to stop at the altar, and ordered thej procession to move on.4
The above incidents are set down in the privatel journal of the superior of the Jesuits, which was notl i
l Journal det Jfsuitcs, Fivrier, 1661.
* Ibid.
• Rid., Avril, 1661. « Ibid., Juin, 1661.
1661.] APPEAL OF ARGENSON. 169
meant for the public eye. The bishop, it will be seen, was, by the showing of his friends, in most cases the aggressor. The disputes in question, though of a nature to provoke a smile on irreverent lips, were by no means so puerile as they appear. It is difficult in a modern democratic society to con- ceive the s^uJjstantijyMm]:*^^ symbols of dignity and authority at a time and among
•*- — •v^^^— — s* •* — _ — -^ • — -"^^^^^ — — C7
a peop]£_whej*e__thej5^jH[ej^^
scrupulous precision, and accepted by all classes as
exponents of relaHveoegrees in the social and political 'scaleT^Whether the bishop or the governor should sit in the higher seat at table thus became a political question, for i^ defined to the popular under- standing the position of Church and State""nr their relations to government.
Hence it is not surprising to find a memorial, drawn up apparently by Argenson, and a^dressepMio the council of State, asking for instructions when and how a governor — lieutenant-general for the King — ought to receive incense, holy water, and consecrated bread ; whether the said bread should be offered him with sound of drum and fife; what should be the position of his seat at church; and what place he should hold in various religious cere- monies; whether in feasts, assemblies, ceremonies, and councils of "^j^/.^/y riril fJ\nra(^rri he or the bishop was to hold the first place; and, finally, if the bishop could excommunicate the inhabitants or others for acts of a civil and political character,
170 LAVAL AND ARGENSON. [1659-00.
when the said acts were pronounced lawful by the governor.
The reply to the memorial dtemej^tofoebishop the power of_excommunication in civil matters, assigns to^inx-^e^gficjHul^^^^m-nteefiB^'an^r ceremonies of a civil character, and is very reticent as to the rest.1
Argenson had a brother, a counsellor of State, and a fast friend of the Jesuits. Laval was in corre- spondence with him, and, apparently sure of sym- pathy, wrote to him touching his relations with the governor. "Your brother," he begins, "received me on my arrival with extraordinary kindness ; " but he proceeds to say, that, perceiving with sorrow that he entertained a groundless distrust of those good ser vants of God, the Jesuit fathers, he, the bishop, thought it his duty to give him in private a candid warning which ought to have done good, but which, to his surprise, the governor had taken amiss, and had conceived, in consequence, a prejudice against his monitor.2
Argenson, on his part, writes to the same brother, at about the same time. " The Bishop of Petrsea is so stiff in opinion, and so often transported by his zeal beyond the rights of his position, that he makes no difficulty in encroaching on the functions of others; and this with so much heat that he will
1 Advi* et Resolution* demandts tur la Nouvelle France. * Lettre de Laval a M. d'Arytmon, frire du Gouverneur, 20 Ocf, 1660.
1659-60.] CLERICAL VIGOR. 171
listen to nobody. A few days ago he carried off a servant girl of one of the inhabitants here, and placed her by his own authority in the Ursuline convent, on the sole pretext that he wanted to have her instructed, — thus depriving her master of her services, though he had been at great expense in bringing her from France. This inhabitant is M. Denis, who, not knowing who had carried her off, came to me with a petition to get her out of the convent. I kept the petition three days without answering it, to prevent the affair from being noised abroad. The Reverend Father Lalemant, with whom I communicated on the subject, and who greatly blamed the Bishop of Petrsea, did all in his power to have the girl given up quietly, but without the least success, so that I was forced to answer the petition, and permit M. Denis to take his servant wherever he should find her; and if I had not used means to bring about an accommodation, and if M. Denis, on the refusal which was made him to give her up, had brought the matter into court, I should have been compelled to take measures which would have caused great scandal, — and all from the self-will of the Bishop of Petrsea, who says that a bishop can do what he likes, and threatens nothing but excom- munication."1
In another letter he speaks in the same strain of this redundancy of zeal on the part of the bishop,
1 " — Qui diet quun Evesque peult ce qu'il veult et ne menace qu« dexcommunication." — Lettre d'Argenson a son Frere, 1669.
172 LAVAL AND ARGENSON. [1659-60.
which often, he says, takes the shape of obstinacy and encroachment on the rights of others. "It is greatly to be wished," he observes, "that the Bishop of Petraea would give his confidence to the Reverend Father Lalemant instead of Father Ragueneau;"1 and he praises Lalemant as a person of excellent sense. "It would be well," he adds, "if the rest of their community were of the same mind ; for in that case they would not mix themselves up with various matters in the way they do, and would leave the government to those to whom God has given it in charge."2
One of Laval's modern admirers, the worthy Abbe* Ferland, after confessing that his zeal may now and then have savored of excess, adds in his defence that a vigorous hand was needed to compel the infant colony to enter "the good path," — meaning, of course, the straitest path of Roman Catholic ortho- doxy. We may hereafter see more of this stringent system of colonial education, its success, and the results that followed.
1 JLettre d'Argenson a son Frtre, 21 Oct., 1669. « Ibid.. 7 July, 1660.
CHAPTER IX.
1658-1663. LAVAL AND AVAUGOUB.
RECEPTION OF ARGENSON: HIS DIFFICULTIES; HIS RECALL. — DUBOIS D'AVAUGOUR. — THE BRAJTDT QUARREL. — DISTRESS OF LAVAL. — PORTENTS. — THE EARTHQUAKE.
WHEN Argenson arrived to assume the govern- ment, a curious greeting had awaited him. The Jesuits asked him to dine; vespers followed the repast; and then they conducted him into a hall, where the boys of their school— disguised, one as the Genius of New France, one as the Genius of the Forest, and others as Indians of various friendly tribes — made him speeches by turn, in prose and verse. First, Pierre du Quet, who played the Genius of New France, presented his Indian retinue to the governor, in a complimentary harangue. Then four other boys, personating French colonists, made him four flattering addresses, in French verse. Charles Denis, dressed as a Huron, followed, bewail- ing the ruin of his people, and appealing to Argenson for aid. Jean Francois Bourdon, in the character of an Algonquin, next advanced on the platform,
174 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1658.
boasted his courage, and declared that he was ashamed to cry like the Huron. The Genius of the Forest now appeared, with a retinue of wild Indians from the interior, who, being unable to speak French, addressed the governor in their native tongues, which the Genius proceeded to interpret. Two other boys, in the character of prisoners just escaped from the Iroquois, then came forward, imploring aid in piteous accents; and, in conclusion, the whole troop of Indians, from far and near, laid their bows and arrows at the feet of Argenson, and hailed him as their chief.1
Besides these mock Indians, a crowd of genuine savages had gathered at Quebec to greet the new "Onontio." On the next day — at his own cost, as he writes to a friend — he gave them a feast, consist- ing of "seven large kettles full of Indian corn, peas, prunes, sturgeons, eels, and fat, which they devoured, having first sung me a song, after their fashion." *
These festivities over, he entered on the serious business of his government, and soon learned that his path was a thorny one. He could find, he says, but a hundred men to resist the twenty-four hundred warriors of the Iroquois ; 8 and he begs the proprietary
1 -La Reception de Monseigneur le Vicomte d' Argenson par toutes let nations du pais de Canada d ton entr€e au gouvernement de la Nouvelle France ; d Quebecq au College de la Compagnie de Jesus, le 28 de Juillet de I'anne'e 1658. The speeches, in French and Indian, are here given verbatim, with the names of all the boys who took part in the ceremony.
8 Papier* d' Argenson. Kebec, 5 Sept., 1668.
' Mtuwire sur le subject (sic) de la Guerre des Iroquois, 1659,
1658-59.] TROUBLES OF ARGENSON. 175
company which he represented to send him a hundred more, who could serve as soldiers or laborers, accord- ing to the occasion.
The company turned a deaf ear to his appeals. They had lost money in Canada, and were grievously out of humor with it. In their view,
(•overnor was to collect their debts, which, for
more reasons than one, was no easy task. While they did nothing to aid the colony in its distress, they beset Argenson with demands for the thousand poundsjgf_beaver^kins, which the inhabitants had agreed to send them every year in return for the privilege of the fur-trade, — a privilege which the Iroquois war made for the present worthless. The perplexed governor vents his feelings in sarcasm. "They [the company] take no pains to learn the truth ; and when they hear of settlers carried off and burned by the Iroquois, they will think it a punish- ment for not settling old debts, and paying over the beaver-skins."1 "I wish," he adds, "they would send somebody to look after their affairs here. I would gladly give him the same lodging and entertainment as my own."
Another matter gave him great annoyance. This W3s^J^a^ii4iiaiU»depeiid^ ; and here,
if nowhere else, he and the bishop were of the same mind. On one occasion he made a visit to the place in question, where he expected to be received as gov- ernor-general; but the local governor, Maisonneuve,
1 Papiers d' Argenson, 21 Oct., 1659.
176 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. (1658-59.
declined, or at least postponed, to take his orders and give him the keys of the fort. Argenson accord- ingly speaks of Montreal as " a place which makes BO much noise, but which is of such small account."1 He adds that, besides wanting to be independent, the
V^ O*-^^ *^—*^ £ imm
Montrealists want to monopolize the fur-trade, which *•«. — ^^~_-^x__— — x^ J 5--» ..
would cause civTTwar; and that the Kmg~t5ught to interpose to correct their obstinacy.
In another letter he complains of d'Ailleboust, who had preceded him in the government, though himself a Montrealist. Argenson says that, on going out to , v> fight the Iroquois, he left d'Ailleboust at Quebec, to act as his lieutenant; that, instead of doing so, he had assumed to govern in his own right; that he had taken possession of his absent superior's furniture, drawn his pay, and in other respects behaved as if he never expected to see him again. " When I returned, " continues the governor, "I made him director in the council, without pay, as there was none to give him. It was this, I think, that made him remove to Montreal; for which I do not care, pro- vided the glory of our Master suffer no prejudice thereby."2
These extracts may, perhaps, give an unjust! impression of Argenson, who, from the general tenorj of his letters, appears to have been a temperate anc reasonable person. His patience and his nervoi
1 Papier* <F 'Argenson, 4 AoHu, 1669.
* Ibid. Double de la lettre escripte par le Vaisieau du Gaig parti le 6 Septembre (1658).
1658-59.] TROUBLES OF ARGENSON. 177
system seem, however, to have been taxed to the utmost. His pay could not support him. "The costs of living here are horrible," he writes. "I have only two thousand crowns a year for all my expenses, and I have already been forced to run into debt to the company to an equal amount." l Part of his scanty income was derived from a fishery of eels, on which sundry persons had encroached, to his great detriment.2 "I see no reason," he adds, "for staying here any longer. : "When I came to this country, I hoped to enjoy a little repose, but I am doubly deprived of it, — on one hand by enemies without, and incessant patty disputes within; nnd; on the other, by the_diflic.ulty I find^in «TI Voting The profits of the fur- trade have been so reduced that all the inhabitants are in the greatest poverty. They are all insolvent, and cannot pay the merchants their advances."
His disgust at length reached a crisis. "I am resolved to stay here no longer, but to go home next year. My horror of dissension, and the manifest certainty of becoming involved in disputes with certain persons with whom I am unwilling to quarrel, oblige me to anticipate these troubles, and seek some way of living in peace. These excessive fatigues are far too much for my strength. I am writing to Monsieur the President, and to the gentlemen of the Company of New France, to choose some other man
1 Papier s d'Argenson. Lettre a M. de Morangi, 5 Sept., 1658.
2 Deliberations de la Compagnie de la Nouvelle France.
12
178
LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR.
[1661.
for this government." 1 And again, " If you take any interest in this country, see that the person chosen to command here has, besides the true piety necessary to a Qirjgtian in evei^^ojiditioji_£f life, greatfirm- less of chara^jterand strong bodily healthTl assure you niatwithout these quanueTn&Hj«fiiiot succeed. Besides, it is absolutely necessary that he should be a man of property and of some rank, so that he will
^^S "'-'N^S' =• ~ ^~^ — . • "^Vfc.^^
not be despised for humble birth, or suspected of coming here to make his fortune ; for in that case he can do no good whatever."8
His constant friction with the head of the Church distressed the pious governor, and made his recall doubly a relief. According to a contemporary writer, Laval was the means of delivering him from the burden of government, having written to the Presi- dent Lamoignon to urge his removal.8 Be this as it /may, it is certain that the bishop was not sorry to be ^ rid of him.
The Baron Dubois d'Avaugour arrived to take his place. He was an old soldier of forty years' service,4 blunt, imperative, and sometimes obstinate to per- verseness, but full of energy, and of a probity which even his enemies confessed. " He served a long time in Germany while you were there," writes the minis-
1 Papier t d'Argenson. Lettre a son Frlre, 1659.
a Ibid. Lettre (a son Freref), 4 Nov., 1660. The originals of Argenson's letters were destroyed in the burning of the library of the Lourre by the Commune.
* Lachenaye, Mfmoire tur le Canada.
« Ayaugour, Memoire, 4 A<Al, 1663.
1661-62.] THE BRANDY QUARREL. 179
ter Colbert to the Marquis de Tracy, " and you must have known his talents, as well as his bizarre and somewhat impracticable temper." On landing, he would have no reception, being, as Father Lalemant observes, "an enemy of all ceremony." He went, however, to see the Jesuits, and "took a morsel of food in our refectory."1 Laval was prepared to receive him with all solemnity at the Church; but the governor would not go. He soon set out on a tour of observation as far as Montreal, whence he returned delighted with the country, and immediately wrote to Colbert in high praise of it, observing that the St. Lawrence was the most beautiful river he had ever seen.2
It was clear from the first that, while he had a prepossession against the bishop, he wished to be on good terms with the Jesuits. Hebe^aii_by^glacijig som^jj£_JJieaa__onvthecouncil ; but theyand Laval
aH5"iF°Avaugour thought to separate them, he signally failed. A few months only had elapsed when we find it noted in Father Lalemant's private journal that the governor had disj5oJ^e^:lJJi£j}mH^ one, and
that other "changes and troubles" had befallen. The inevitable quarrel had broken out ; it was a com- plex one, but the chief occasion of dispute was fortu- nate for the ecclesiastics, since it placed them, to a certain degree, morally in the right.
1 Lalemant, Journal des Jesuites, Septembre, 1661. 8 Lettre d'Avaugour au Ministre, 1661.
I
180 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1661-62.
The question at issue was not new. It had agi- tated the colony for years, and had been the spring of some of Argenson's many troubles. Nor did it cease with Avaugour, for we shall trace its course hereafter, tumultuous as a tornado. It was simply the temperance question, — not as regards the colonists, though here, too, there was great room for reform, but as regards the Indians.
Their inordinate passion for brandy had long been the source of excessive disorders. They drank expressly to get drunk, and when drunk they were like wild beasts. Crime and violence of all sorts ensued ; the priests saw their teachings despised and their flocks ruined. On the other hand, the sale of bran4yj5B8^^ugf_source_of p^ofit^ direct or indirect, to all those interested in the fur-trade, including the principal persons of the colony. In Argenson's time, Laval launched ^ pY^omrminicajtionagainst those engaged in the abhorred traffic; for nothing less than total prohibition would content the clerical party, and besides ^hejjpjntu^J^ifinalty, they demanded the TJ^unj§hmejit of death against the contumacious offender. Death, in fact, was decreed. Such was the posture of affairs when Avaugour arrived; and, willing as he was to conciliate the Jesuits, he per- mitted the decree to take effect, although, it seems, with great repugnance. A few weeks after his arrival, two men were shot and one whipped, for selling brandy to Indians.1 An extreme though
1 Journal det Jesuites, Octobre, 1661.
1661-62.] THE BRANDY QUARREL. 181
partially suppressed excitement shook the entire settlement; for most of the colonists were, in one degree or another, implicated in the offence thus punished. An explosion soon followed; and the occasion of it was the humanity or good-nature of the Jesuit Lalemant.
A woman had been condemned to imprisonment for the same causey and Lalemant, moved by compas- sion, came to the governor to intercede for her. Avaugour could no longer contain himself, and answered the reverend petitioner with characteristic bluntness. "You and your brethren were the first to cry out against the trade, and now you want to save the traders from punishment. I will no longer be the sport of your contradictions. Since it is not a crime for this woman, it^shall not be a crime for anybody."1 And in this posture he stood fast, with an inflexible stubbornness.
Henceforth there was full license to liquor-dealers. A violent reaction ensued against the past restriction, and brandy flowed freely among French and Indians alike. The ungodly drank to spite the priests and re- venge themselves for the " constraint of consciences, " of which they loudly complained. The utmost con- fusion followed, and the principles on which the pious colony was built seemed upheaved from the founda- tion. Laval was distracted with grief and anger. He outpoured himself from the pulpit in threats of divine wrath, and launched fresh excommunications
1 La Tour, Vie de Laval, liv. v.
182 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1662-63.
against the offenders ; but such was the popular fury that he was forced to yield and revoke them.1
Disorder grew from bad to worse. "Men gave no heed to bishop, preacher, or confessor," writes Father Charlevoix. " The French have despised the remonstrances of our prelate, because they are sup- ported by the civil power," says the superior of the Ursulines. "He is almost dead with grief, and pines away before our eyes."
Laval could bear it no longer, but sailed for France, to lay his complaints before the court, and urge the removal of Avaugour. He had, besides, two other important objects, as will appear hereafter. His absence brought no improvement. Summer and autumn passed, and the commotion did not abate. Winter was drawing to a close, when, at length, outraged Heaven interposed an awful warning to the guilty colony.
Scarcely had the bishop left his flock when the skies grew portentous with signs of the chastisement to come. "We beheld," gravely writes Father Lalemant, "blazing serpents which flew through the air, borne on wings of fire. We beheld above Quebec a great globe of flame, which lighted up the night, and threw out sparks on all sides. This same meteor appeared above Montreal, where it seemed to issue
1 Journal des Jesuiteg, Ffvrler, 1662. The sentence of excom- munication is printed in the Appendix to the Esqui&se de la Vie de Laval. It bears date February 24. It was on this very day that he was forced to revoke it.
1663.] PORTENTS. 183
from the bosom of the moon, with a noise as loud as cannon or thunder; and after sailing three leagues through the air, it disappeared behind the mountain whereof this island bears the name."1
Still greater marvels followed. First, a Christian Algonquin squaw, described as "innocent, simple, and sincere," being seated erect in bed, wide awake, by the side of her husband, in the night between the fourth and fifth of February, distinctly heard a voice saying, "Strange things will happen to-day; the earth will quake I " In great alarm she whispered the prodigy to her husband, who told her that she lied. This silenced her for a time; but when, the next morning, she went into the forest with her hatchet to cut a fagot of wood, the same dread voice resounded through the solitude, and sent her back in terror to her hut.2
These things were as nothing compared with the marvel that befell a nun of the hospital, Mother Catherine de Saint-Augustin, who died five years later, in the odor of sanctity. On the night of the fourth of February, 1663, she beheld in the spirit four furious demons at the four corners of Quebec, shaking it with a violence which plainly showed their purpose of reducing it to ruins; "and this they would have done," says the story, "if a personage of admirable beauty and ravishing majesty [Christ], whom she saw in the midst of them, and who from
1 Lalemant, Relation, 1663, 2.
* ibid., leea 6.
184 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1663
time to time gave rein to their fury, had not restrained them when they were on the point of accomplishing their wicked design. " She also heard the conversa- tion of these demons, to the effect that people were now well frightened, and many would be converted; but this would not last long, and they, the demons, would have them in time. "Let us keep on shak- ing," they cried, encouraging one another, "and do our best to upset everything."1
Now, to pass from visions to facts : " At half-past five o'clock on the morning of the fifth," writes Father Lalemant, " a great roaring sound was heard at the same time through the whole extent of Canada. This sound, which produced an effect as if the houses were on fire, brought everybody out of doors; but instead of seeing smoke and flame, they were amazed to behold the walls shaking, and all the stones moving as if they would drop from their places. The houses seemed to bend first to one side and then to the other. Bells sounded'of themselves; beams, joists, and planks cracked ; the ground heaved, making the pickets of the palisades dance in a way that would have seemed incredible had we not seen it in divers places.
"Everybody was in the streets; animals ran wildly about; children cried; men and women, seized with
1 Ragueneau, Vie de Catherine de St. August in, liv. iv. chap. i. The same story i» told by Juchereau, Lalemant, and Marie de 1'Incarnation, to whom Charlevoix erroneously ascribes the rision. as does also the Abbe La Tour.
1663.] THE EARTHQUAKE. 185
fright, knew not where to take refuge, expecting every moment to be buried under the ruins of the houses, or swallowed up in some abyss opening under their feet. Some, on their knees in the snow, cried for mercy, and others passed the night in prayer; for the earthquake continued without ceasing, with a motion much like that of a ship at sea, insomuch that sundry persons felt the same qualms of stomach which they would feel on the water. In the forests the commotion was far greater. The trees struck one against the other as if there were a battle between them ; and you would have said that not only their branches, but even their trunks, started out of their places and leaped on one another with such noise and confusion that the Indians said that the whole forest was drunk."
Mary of the Incarnation gives a similar account, as does also Frances Juchereau de Saint-Ignace ; and these contemporary records are sustained to some extent by the evidence of geology.1 A remarkable effect was produced on the St. Lawrence, which was so charged with mud and clay that for many weeks the water was unfit to drink. Considerable hills and large tracts of forest slid from their places, some into
1 Professor S terry Hunt, whose intimate knowledge of Canadian geology is well known, tells me that the shores of the St. Lawrence are to a great extent formed of beds of gravel and clay resting on inclined strata of rock, so that earth-slides would be the necessary result of any convulsion like that of 1603. He adds that the evi- dence that such slides have taken place on a great scale is very distinct at various points along the river, especially at Les Eboule- mens, on the north shore.
186 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1663.
the river, and some into adjacent valleys. A number of men in a boat near Tadoussac stared aghast at a large hill covered with trees, which sank into the water before their eyes; streams were turned from their courses ; water-falls were levelled ; springs were dried up in some places, while in others new springs appeared. Nevertheless, the accounts that have come down to us seem a little exaggerated, and some- times ludicrously so ; as when, for example, Mother Mary of the Incarnation tells us of a man who ran all night to escape from a fissure in the earth which opened behind him and chased him as he fled.
It is perhaps needless to say that "spectres and phantoms of fire, bearing torches in their hands," took part in the convulsion. " The fiery figure of a man vomiting flames " also appeared in the air, with many other apparitions too numerous to mention. It is recorded that three young men were on their way through the forest to sell brandy to the Indians, when one of them, a little in advance of the rest, was met by a hideous spectre which nearly killed him with fright. He had scarcely strength enough to rejoin his companions, who, seeing his terror, began to laugh at him. One of them, however, presently came to his senses, and said: "This is no laughing matter; we are going to sell liquor to the Indians against the prohibitions of the Church, and perhaps God means to punish our disobedience." On this they all turned back. That night they had scarcely lain down to sleep when the earthquake roused
1663.] AVAUGOUR RECALLED. 187
them, and they ran out of their hut just in time to escape being swallowed up along with it.1
With every allowance, it is clear that the convul- sion must have been a severe one, and it is remark- able that in all Canada not a life was lost. The writers of the day see in this a proof that God meant to reclaim the guilty and not destroy them. At Quebec there was for the time an^ intesae__rejtiyjl_of. religion. The end of the world was thought to be at hand, and everybody made ready for the last judg- ment. Repentant throngs beset confessionals and altars; enemies were reconciled; fasts, prayers, and penances filled the whole season of Lent. Yet, as we shall see, the Devil could still find wherewith to console himself.
It was midsummer before the shocks wholly ceased and the earth resumed her wonted calm. An extreme drought was followed by floods of rain, and then Nature began her sure work of reparation. It was about this time that the thorn which had plagued the Church was at length plucked out. Ayaugour_was suminoned^ome. He took his recall with magna- nimity, and on his way wrote at Gaspe* a memorial to Colbert, in which he commends New France to the attention of the King. "The St. Lawrence," he says, "is the entrance to what may be made the
1 Marie de 1'Incarnation, Lettre du 20 Aout, 1663. It appear* from Morton, Josselyn, and other writers, that the earthquake extended to New England and New Netherlands, producing similar effects on the imagination of the people.
188 LAVAL AND AVAUGOUR. [1663.
greatest state in the world ; " and, in his purely mili- tary way, he recounts the means of realizing this errand possibility. Three thousand soldiers should
• » ^v_>^ ^_^— -— ~»^_^— --^'
be sent to the colony, to be jjischarged and turned into8ettl$ra_after three years of service. During
these. three_years trj(By]mayjgal«L Quebec an impreg- nable lortress^ubdue tl^ajroquois, build a strong fort on tBjsj river wKere the Dutch have a miserable
wooden redoubt, called Fort Orange (Albany), and
rivef to the sea. Thus
the heretics will be driven out, and the King will be master of America, at a total cost of about four hun- dred thousand francs yearly for ten years. He closes his memorial by a short allusion to the charges against him, and to his forty years of faithful service ; and concludes, speaking of the authors of his recall, Laval and the Jesuits : " By reason of the respec.t I owe their cloth, I will rest content, Monseigneur, with assuring you that I have not only served the King with fidelity, but also, by the grace of God, with very good success, considering the means at my disposal."1 He had, in truth, borne himself as a brave and experienced soldier; and he soon after died a soldier's death, while defending the fortress of Zrin, in Croatia, against the Turks.2
» Avaugour, Memoire, Gaspt, 4 Ao&t, 1663.
8 Lettre de Colbert au Marquis de Tract/, 1664. Mtmoirt du Roy, pour tervir d' instruction au Sieur Talon.
CHAPTER X.
1661-1664. LAVAL AND DUMESNIL.
P^RONNE DUMESNIL. — THE OLD COUNCIL. — ALLEGED MURDER. — THE NEW COUNCIL. — BOURDON AND VILLERAY. — STRONG MEAS- URES. — ESCAPE OF DUMESNIL. — VIEWS OF COLBERT.
THOUGH the proposals of Avaugour's memorial were not adopted, it seems to have produced a strong impression at court. For this impression the minds 01 "tlie King and his minister had already been pre- pared. Two years before, the inha^itajits-oi_X/anada had sent one of their number,^ Pierre Boucher^ to represent their many grievances and ask for aid.1 Boucher had had an audience of the young King, who listened with interest to his statements; and when in the following year he returned to Quebec, he was accompanied by an officer named Dumont, who had under his command a hundred soldiers for the colony, and was commissioned to report its con-
1 To promote the objects of his mission, Boucher wrote a little book, Histoire Veritable et Naturelle des Mceurs et Productions du Pays de la Nouvelle France. He dedicates it to Colbert.
190
LAVAL AND DUMESNIL.
[1660-63.
<j
dition and resources.1 The movement seemed to betoken that the government was wakening at last from its long inaction.
Meanwhile the Company of New France, feudal lord of Canada, had also shown signs of returning life. Its whole history had been one of mishap, followed by discouragement and apathy; and it is difficult to say whether its ownership of Canada had ^|been more hurtful to itself or to the colony. At the eleventh hour it sent out an /(igentjtavested with powerapfcpnJtQller-general, intendant, and supreme
^^ofj
agent, Pe*ronne Ehimesml, arrived early in the autumn of 1660, and set himself with great vigor to his work. He was an advocate of the Parliament of Paris, an active, aggressive, and tenacious person, of a temper well fitted to rip up an old abuse or probe a delinquency to the bottom. His proceedings quickly raised a storm at Quebec.
It may be remembered that, many years before, thejQpm^a^vJ^d^ced^^i^m^opojj_i^£->the fur-trade to ^he inhabitants of the colony, in consideration of tha^K^miaJ^iayiheiitinJjeaver-skins which had been so tardily and so rarely made. The direction of the trade had at that time been placed in the hands of a council composed of the governor, the superior of the Jesuits, and several other members. Various changes had since taken place, and the trade was
1 A long journal of Duniont is printed anonymously in the Relation of 1663.
1660-63.] MONOPOLISTS. 191
now controlled by another council, established with- out the consent of the company,1 and composed of the principal persons_J.n__thej3olony. The members of this counci^jvith certain prominent merchants in V league with them, engrossed all the trade, so that the inhabitants at large profited nothing by the right which the company had ceded ; 2 and as the council- . lors controlled not only the trade, l^ujLalL the financial affaJLrs_Qf_C!anada, while the remoteness of their scene of operations made it difficult to supervise them, they were able, with little risk, to pursue their own profit, to the detriment both of the company and the colony. They and their allies formed a petty trading oligarchy, as pernicious to the prosperity of Canada as the Iroquois war itself.
The company, always anxious for its beaver-skins, made several attempts to controlthe_^roceedings of the councillors and calithem to account, but with little success, till tlie^vigofoTi^' Bumesnil undertook the task; when, to their wrath and consternation, they and their friends found themselves attacked by wholesale accusations of fraud and embezzlement. That these charges were exaggerated there can be little doubt; that they were unfounded is incredible, in view of the effect they produced.
The councillors refused to acknowledge Dumesnil's
1 Registres du Conseil du Roy ; Reponse a la requeste presentfe an Roy.
8 Arret du Conseil d'Etat, 7 Mars, 1657. Also Papiert d'Argen- ion, and Ejctrait des Registres du Conseil d'Etat, 15 Mart, 1656.
192 LAVAL AND DUMESNIL. [1661.
powers as controller, intendant, and judge, and . jeclared^hisjroceedings null. He retorted by char- ging them with usurpation. The excitement in- creased, and Dumesnil's life was threatened.
He had two sons in the colony. One of them, Pdronne de Maze", was secretary to Avaugour, then on his way up the St. Lawrence to assume the government. The other, Pe'ronne des Touches, was with his father at Quebec. Towards the end of August this young man was attacked in the street in broad daylight, and received a kick which proved fatal. He was carried to his father's house, where he died on the twenty-ninth. Dumesnil charge^ four persons, all of whom were among those into whose affairs he had been prying, with having taken part in the outrage; but.it is very uncertain who was the immediate cause of Des Touehes's death. Dumesnil, himself the supreme judicial officer of the colony, niade^aii]3lain£Jp_j!^ t^ie^companyj_butj be_^ajs_^ha^4listi(ifi^w5S_ refused, the cojn^lain^juggres^e^^juililQritjvhis allegations •^orninjiieces, and the whole affair hushed.1
At the time of the murder, Dumesnil was confined
1 Dumesnil, Memoire. Under date August 31 the Journal de* Jesuites makes this brief and guarded mention of the affair : " Le Ills de Mons. du Mesnil . . . fut enterre" le mesme iour, tue. d'vn coup de pie par N." Who is meant by N. it is difficult to say. The register of the parish church records the burial as follows : —
" L'an 1661. Le 30 Aoust a estfe enterre au Cemetiere de Quebec Michel peronne dit Sr. des Touches fils de Mr. du Mesnil decede* le Jour precedent a sa Maison."
1662-63.] THE NEW GOVERNMENT. 193
to his house by illness. An attempt was made to rouse the mob against him, by reports that he had come to the colony for the purpose of laying taxes ; but he sent for some of the excited inhabitants, and succeeded in convincing them that he was their champion rather than their enemy. Some Indians in the neighborhood were also instigated to kill him, and he was forced to conciliate them by presents.
He soon renewed his attacks, and in his quality of intendant called on the councillors and their allies to render theirac^o'mitsT'a^id^ debfdufr-ttfthe cumpariyr TEeyseTEis^Hemands at '
• * r
naught. The war continued month after month. V^
^J
It is more than likely that when in the spring of /* 1662 Ayaugour dissolved and reconstnin^i thg^ i council, his action had reference to these^msputes ;3 XC1 and it is clear that when in the following August Laval sailed for France, one of his objects was to S restore the tranquillity which Dumesnil's proceed- ings had disturbed. There was great need; for, what with these proceedings and the quarrel about brandy, Quebec was a little hell of discord, the earth- v quake not having as yet frightened it into propriety.
The bishop's success at court was triumphant. Not only did he procure the removal of Avaugour, but he was invited to choose a new governor to replace him.1 This was not all; for he succeeded in effecting a complete change in the government of the colony. The Company of New France was called
1 La Tour, Vie de Laval, liy. v. 13
194 LAVAL AND DUMESNIL. [1663.
upon to resign its claims; l and by a royal edict of April, 1663, all power, legislative, judicial, and
executive, Was Vested in a gfiiinr.il pnmpnsprl nf^foft gnvftrnnr_whom Laval had chosen, of Laval himself, and of five councillors, an attorney-general, and a secretary, to be chosen by Laval and the governor jointly.2 Bearing with them blank commissions to be filled with the names of the new functionaries, Laval and his governor sailed for Quebec, where they landed on the fifteenth of September. With them came one Gaudais-Dupont, a royal commissioner instructed to inquire into the state of the colony. No sooner had they arrived than Laval and Me*zy, the new governor, proceeded to construct the new council. Me*zy knew nobody in the colony, and was, at this time, completely under Laval's influence. The nominations, therefore, were virtually made by the bishop alone, in whose hands, and not in those of the governor, the blank commissions had been placed.8 ?Thus for the moment he had complete con- trol of the government; that is to say, the Church was mistress of the civil power.
1 See the deliberations and acts to this end in Edits et Ordon- nancet concernant le Canada, i. 30-32.
* j&dit de Creation du Conseil Superieur de Quebec.
' Commission actroyee an Sieur Gaudais. Memoire pour servir a" Instruction au Sieur Gaudais. A sequel to these instructions, marked " secret," shows that, notwithstanding Laval's extraordinary success in attaining his objects, he and the Jesuits were somewhat dis- trusted. Gaudais is directed to make, with great discretion and caution, careful inquiry into the bishop's conduct, and with equal secrecy to ascertain why the Jesuits had asked for Avaugour's recall.
1663.]
THE COUNCIL.
195
Laval formed his council as follows : Jean Bourdon for attorney-general; Rouer de Villeray, Juchereau de la Forte*, Ruette d'Auteuil, Le Gardeur de Tilly, and Matthieu D'Amours for Councellors; and Peuvret de Mesnu for secretary. The royal commissioner, Gaudais, also took a prominent place at the board.1 This functionary was on the point of marrying his niece to a son of Robert Giffard, who had a strong interest in suppressing Dumesnil's accusations.2 Dumesnil had laid his statements before the commis- sioner, who quickly rejected them, and took part with the accused.
Of those appointed to the new council, their enemy 4^ Dumesnil says that they were " iacapable persons ; " and their associate Gaudais, hi defending them against worse charges, declares that they were "unlettered, of little experience,- and nearly all unable to deal with affairs of importance." This was, perhaps, unavoidable ; sfor^excjepiL among the ecclesiastics, education w^sjtheix_s_carcelyL_known in Canada. But if Laval may be excused for putting
i As substitute for the intendant, an officer who had been ap- pointed but who had not arrived.
3 Dumesnil here makes one of the few mistakes I have been able to detect in his long memorials. He says that the name of the niece of Gaudais was Marie-Nau. It was, in fact, Michelle-Therese Nau, who married Joseph, son of Robert Giffard, on the 22d of October, 1663. Dumesnil had forgotten the bride's first name. The elder Giffard was surety for Repentigny, whom Dumesnil charged with liabilities to the company, amounting to 644,700 livres. Giffard was also father-in-law of Juchereau de la Ferte, one of the accused.
196 LAVAL AND DUMESNIL. [1663.
incompetent men in office, nothing can excuse him for making men charged with gross public offences the prosecutors and judges in their own cause; and his course in doing so gives color to the assertion of
Di^esni^JhaJjJifi^njide^^ to
shield the accused and smother the accusation.1
The two^ers^is^Trfi3eT^the heaviest charges received the two most important appointments, — Bourdon, attorney-general; and Villeray, keeper of the seals. La Fert6 was also one of the accused.8 Of Villeray, the governor Argenson had written in 1659 : " Some of his qualities are good enough, but confidence cannot be placed in him on account of his instability."3. In the same year he had been ordered to France, " to purge himself of sundry crimes where-
1 Dumesnil goes further than this, for he plainly intimates that the removing from power of the company, to whom the accused were responsible, and the placing in power of a council formed of the accused themselves, was a device contrived from the first by Laval and the Jesuits to get their friends out of trouble.
3 Bourdon is charged with not having accounted for an immense quantity of beaver-skins which had passed through his hands during twelve years or more, and which are valued at more than 300,000 livres. Other charges are made against him in connection with large sums borrowed in Lauson's time on account of the colony. In a memorial addressed to the King in council, Dumesnil says that in 1662 Bourdon, according to his own accounts, had in his hands 37,516 livres belonging to the company, which he still retained.
Villeray's liabilities arose out of the unsettled accounts of his father-in-law, Charles Sevestre, and are set down at more than 600,000 livres. La Forte's are of a smaller amount. Others of the council were indirectly involved in the charges.
» Ltttrt, d' Argenson, 20 Nov., 1669.
1663.] VILLERAY AND BOURDON. 197
with he stands charged."1 He was not yet free of suspicion, having returned to Canada under an order to make up and render his accounts, which he had not yet done. Dumesnil says that he first came to the colony in 1651, as valet of the governor Lauson, who had taken him from the jail at Rochelle, where he was imprisoned for a debt of seventy-one francs, "as appears by the record of the jail of date July eleventh in that year." From this modest beginning he became in time the richest man in Canada.2 He was strong in orthodoxy, and an ardent supporter of the bishop and the Jesuits. He is alternately praised and blamed, according to the partisan leanings of the writer.
Bourdon, though of humble origin, was, perhaps, the most intelligent man in the council. He was chiefly known as an engineer, but he had also been a baker, a painter, a syndic of the inhabitants, chief gunner at the fort, and collector of customs for the company. Whether guilty of embezzlement or not, he was a zealous devotee, and would probably have died for his creed. Like Villeray, he was one of Laval's stanchest supporters, while the rest of the council were also_j50jjjQd^JiLjiQC^ in
allegiance.
O \^~ -'
In virtue of their new dignity, the accused now
plaijnpj^pg^rnpt.inp jfrjjm_fl.ry.Qi]Tvhp.t>i1ity ; but this was
not all. The abandonment of Canada by the com-
i Edit du Roy, 13 Mai, 1659.
» Lettre de Colbert d Frontenac, 17 Mai, 1674.
198 LAVAL AND DCMESNIL. [1663.
pany, in leaving Dumesnil without support, and depriving him of official character, had made his charges far less dangerous. Nevertheless, it was thought best to suppress them altogether, and the first act of the new government was to this end.
On the twentieth of September, the second day after the establishment of the council, Bourdon, in his character of attorney-general, rose and demanded that the papers of Jean Pe*ronne Dumesnil should be seized and sequestered. The council consented ; and, to complete the scandal, Villeray was commissioned to make the seizure in the presence of Bourdon. T0 color the proceeding, it was alleged that Dumesnil had obtained certain papers unlawfully from the gre/e, or record office. "As he was thought," says Gaudais, "to be a violent man," Bourdon and Villeray took with them ten soldiers, well armed, together with a locksmith and the secretary of the council. Thus prepared for every contingency, they set out on their errand, and appeared suddenly at Dumesnil's house between seven and eight o'clock in the even- ing. " The aforesaid Sieur Dumesnil," further says Gaudais, " did not refute the opinion entertained of his violence; for he made a great noise, shouted robbers ! and tried to rouse the neighborhood, out- rageously abusing the aforesaid Sieur de Villeraj' and the attorney-general, in great contempt of the authority of the council, which he even refused to recognize."
They tried to silence him by threats, but without
1863.] DESIGNS OF THE COUNCIL. 199
effect; upon which they seized him and held him fast in a chair, — " me," writes the wrathful Dumesnil, "who had lately been their judge." The soldiers stood over him and stopped his mouth, while the others broke open and ransacked his cabinet, drawers, and chest, from which they took all his papers, refusing to give him an inventory, or to permit any witness to enter the house. Some of these papers were private; among the rest were, he says, the charges and specifications, nearly finished, for the trial of Bourdon and Villeray, together with the proofs of their "peculations, extortions, and malver- sations." The papers were enclosed under seal, and deposited in a neighboring house, whence they were afterwards removed to the council-chamber, and Dumesnil never saw them again. It may well be believed that this, the inaugural act of the new council, was not allowed to appear on its records.1
On the twenty-first, Villeray made a formal report of the seizure to his colleagues ; upon which, " by rea- son of the insults, violences, and irreverences therein set forth against the aforesaid Sieur de Villeray, com- missioner, as also against the authority of the council," it was ordered that the offending Dumesnil should be put under arrest; but Gaudais, as he declares, prevented the order from being carried into effect.
1 The above is drawn from the two memorials of Gaudais and of Dumesnil. They do not contradict each other as to the essential facts.
200 LAVAL AND DUMESNIL. [1663.
Dumesnil, who says that during the scene at his house he had expected to be murdered like his son, now, though unsupported and alone, returned to the attack, demanded his papers, and was so" loud in threats of complaint to the King that the council were seriously alarmed. They again decreed his arrest and imprisonment, but resolved to keep the decree secret till the morning of the day when the last of the returning ships was to sail for France. In this ship Dumesnil had taken his passage, and they proposed to arrest him unexpectedly on the point of embarkation, that he might have no time to prepare and despatch a memorial to the court. Thus a full year must elapse before his complaints could reach the minister, and seven or eight months more before a reply could be returned to Canada. During this long delay the affair would have time to cool. Dumesnil received a secret warning of this plan, and accordingly went on board another vessel, which was to sail immediately. The council caused the six cannon of the battery in the Lower Town to be pointed at her, and threatened to sink her if she left the harbor; but she disregarded them, and proceeded on her way.
On reaching France, Dumesnil contrived to draw the attention of the minister Colbert to his accusa- tions, and to the treatment they had brought upon him. On this Colbert demanded of Gaudais, who had also returned in one of the autumn ships, why he had not reported these matters to him. Gaudais
1663.] CHARGES OF DUMESNIL.
made a lame attempt to explain his silence, gave his statement of the seizure of the papers, -answered in vague terms some of Dumesnil's charges against the Canadian financiers, and said that he had nothing to do with the rest. In the following spring Colbert wrote as follows to his relative Terron, intendant of marine : —
" I do not know what report M. Gaudais has made to you, but family interests and the connections which he has at Quebec should cause him to be a little distrusted. On his arrival in that country, having constituted himself chief of the council, he despoiled an agent of the Company of Canada of all his papers, in a manner very violent and extraordi- nary ; and this proceeding leaves no doubt whatever that these papers contained matters the knowledge of which it was wished absolutely to suppress. I think it will be very proper that you should be informed of the statements made by this agent, in order that, through him, an exact knowledge may be acquired of everything that has taken place in the management of affairs."1
Whether Terroh pursued the inquiry does not appear. Meanwhile new quarrels had arisen at
l Lettre de Colbert a Terron RocheUe, 8 Fev., 1664. " II a spolie un agent de la Compagnie de Canada de tous sos papiers d'une maniere fort violente et extraordinaire, et ce precede' ne laisse point a douter que dans ces papiers i\ n'y eflt des choses dont on a voulu absolument supprimer la connaissance." Colbert seems to have received an exaggerated impression of the part borne by GaudaU in the seizure of the papers.
202 LAVAL AND DUMESNIL. [1663.
Quebec, and the questions of the past were obscured in the dust of fresh commotions. Nothing is more noticeable in the whole history of Canada, after it came under the direct control of the Crown, than the helpless manner in which this absolute, government was \forced to ovejlook and ignore the disobedience and rascality of its functionaries in this distant transatlantic dependency.
As regards Dumesnil's charges, the truth seems to be, that the financial managers of the colony, being ignorant and unpractised, had kept imperfect and confused accounts, which they themselves could not always unravel; and that some, if not all of them, had made illicit profits under cover of this confusion. That their stealings approached the enormous sum at which Dumesnil places them is not to be believed. But, even on the grossly improbable assumption of their entire innocence, there can be no apology for the means, subversive of all justice, by which Laval enabled his partisans and supporters to extricate themselves from embarrassment.
NOTE. — Dumesnil's principal memorial, preserved in the ar- chives of the Marine and Colonies, is entitled Memoire concernant let Affaires du Canada, qui montre etjait voir que sous pretexte de la Gloire de Dieu, d' Instruction des Sauvages, de servir le Roy et defaire la nouvelle Colonie., il a etc' pris et diverti trois millions de livres ou environ. It forms in the copy before me thirty-eight pages of manuscript, and bears no address, but seems meant for Colbert, or the council of state. There is a second memorial, which is little else than an abridgment of the first. A third, bearing the address Au Roy et d nos Seigneurs du Conseil (d'Etat), and signed Peronne Dumesnil, is a petition for the payment of 10,132 livres due to him
1663.] DUMESNIL'S PRINCIPAL MEMORIAL. 203
by the company for his services in Canada, " ou il a perdu son fils assassine par les comptables du dit pays, qui n'ont voulu rendre compte au dit suppliant, Intendant, et ont pille sa maison, ses meubles et papiers le 20 du mois de Septembre dernier, dont il y a acte."
Gaudais, in compliance with the demands of Colbert, gives his statement in a long memorial, Le Sieur Gaudais Dupont a Monsei- gneur de Colbert, 1664.
Dumesnil, in his principal memorial, gives a list of the alleged defaulters, with the special charges against each, and the amounts for which he reckons them liable. The accusations cover a period of ten or twelve years, and sometimes more. Some of them are curiously suggestive of more recent " rings." Thus Jean Gloria makes a charge of thirty-one hundred livres (francs) for fireworks to celebrate the King's marriage, when the actual cost is said TO have been about forty livres. Others are alleged to have embezzled the funds of the company, under cover of pretended payments to imaginary creditors ; and Argenson himself is said to have eked out his miserable salary by drawing on the company for the pay of soldiers who did not exist.
The records of the Council preserve a guarded silence about this affair. I find, however, under date 20 Sept., 1663, " Pouvoir a M. de Villeray de faire recherche dans la maison d'un nomine du Mesnil des papiers appartenants au Conseil concernant Sa Ma- jeste ; " and under date 18 March, 1664, " Ordre pour 1'ouverture du coffre contenant les papiers de Dumesnil," and also an " Ordre pour mettre 1'Inventaire des biens du Sr. Dumesnil entre lee mains du Sr. Fillion."
CHAPTER XI.
1657-1666. LAVAL ANDMfcZY.
THE BISHOP'S CHOICE. — A MILITARY ZEALOT. — HOPEFUL BEOIW- NINGS. — SKINS OF STORM. — THE QUARREL. — DISTRESS OF MEZT : HE REFUSES TO YIELD ; HIS DEFEAT AND DEATH.
WE have seen that Laval, when at court, had been invited to choose a governor to his liking. He soon made his selection. There was a pious officer, Saffray deffifcjffyl) major of the town and citadel of Caen, whom he had well known during his long stay with Bernieres at the Hermitage. Mdzy was the principal member of the company of devotees formed at Caen under the influence of Bernieres and his disciples. In his youth he had been headstrong and dissolute. Worse still, he had been, it is said, a Huguenot; but both in life and doctrine his conver- sion had been complete, and the fervid mysticism of Bernieres acting on his vehement nature had trans- formed him into a red-hot zealot. Towards the hermits and their chief he showed a docility in strange contrast with his past history, and followed
1657-59.]
A MILITARY ZEALOT.
205
their inspirations with an ardor which sometimes overleaped its mark.
Thus a Jacobin monk, a doctor of divinity, once came to preach at the church of St. Paul at Caen; on which, according to their custom, the brotherhood of the Hermitage sent two persons to make report concerning his orthodoxy. Me*zy and another mili- tary zealot, "who," says the narrator, "hardly know how to read, and assuredly do not know their catechism," were deputed to hear his first sermon; wherein this Jacobin, having spoken of the necessity of the grace of Jesus Christ in order to the doing of good deeds, these two wiseacres thought that he was preaching Jansenism; and thereupon, after the sermon, the Sieur de Me*zy went to the proctor of the ecclesiastical court and denounced him."1
His zeal, though but moderately tempered with knowledge, sometimes proved more useful than on this occasion. The Jacobin convent at Caen was divided against itself. Some of the monks had embraced the doctrines taught by Bernie'res, while the rest held dogmas which he declared to be contrary to those of the Jesuits, and therefore heterodox. A prior was to be elected, and with the help of Bernieres his partisans gained the victory, choosing one Father Louis, through whom the Hermitage gained a complete control in the convent. But the adverse party presently resisted, and com-
1 Nicole, Memoire pour faire connoistre I'esprit et la conduitc de la lompagnie appellee I' Hermitage.
206 LAVAL AND M^ZY. [1663.
plained to the provincial of their order, who came to Caen to close the dispute by deposing Father Louis. Hearing of his approach, BerniSres asked aid from his military disciple, and De Me*zy sent him a squad of soldiers, who guarded the convent doors and barred out the provincial.1
Among the merits of Me*zy, his humility and charity were especially admired; and the people of Caen had more than once seen the town major stag- gering across the street with a beggar mounted on his back, whom he was bearing dry-shod through the mud in the exercise of those virtues.2 In this he imitated his master Bernieres, of whom similar acts are recorded.8 However dramatic in manifestation, his devotion was not only sincere but intense. Laval imagined that he knew him well. Above all others, Me*zy was the man of his choice ; and so eagerly did he plead for him that the King himself paid certain debts which the pious major had contracted, and thus left him free to sail for Canada.
His deportment on the voyage was edifying, and the first days of his accession were passed in harmony. _^ council, and
sojcjieipJtor th& seizure of Pumesnirs papers. A question arose concerning Montreal, a subject on which the governors and the bishop rarely
1 Nicole, Memolre pourfaire connoistre fetprit et la conduite de la Compagnie appellee F 'Hermitage.
• Juchereau, Histoire de l'H6tel-Dieu, 149.
* See the laudatory notice of Bernieres de Louvigny in the ffouvelle Biographic Universelle.
1663.J SIGNS OF STORM. 207
differed in opinion. The present instance was no exception to the rule. ^l|^j^3»o^e^jy!ais^n^eji¥ef the local governor, and immediately replaced him, — • the effect being, that wherea£_he_ had J?ef Qifi^flerixed
his authority from the seigniors of the island, he now irom tKe governor-general. It was a
Jj> tba jjptflrflgfr x^nftflftraligfrd pnwPT^ and
as such was cordially approved by Laval.
The first indication to the bishop and the Jesuits that the new governor was not likely to prove in their hands as clay in the hands of the potter, is said to have been given on occasion of an interview with an embassy of Iroquois chiefs, to whom Me"zy, aware of their duplicity, spoke with a decision and haughti- ness that awed the savages and astonished the eccle- siastics. He seems to have been one of those natures that run with an engrossing vehemence along any channel into which they may have been turned. At the Hermitage he was all devotee; but climate and conditions had changed, and he or his symptoms changed with them. He found himself raised sud- denly to a post of command, or one which was meant to be such. The town major of Caen was set to rule over a region far larger than France. The royal authority was trusted to his keeping, and his honor and duty forbade him to break the trust. But when he found that those who had procured for him his new dignities had done so that he might be an instru- ment of their will, his ancient pride started again into life, and his headstrong temper broke out like a
208 LAVAL AND MfiZY. [1664.
long-smothered fire. Laval stood aghast at the transformation. His lamb had turned wolf.
What especially stirred the governor's dudgeon was the conduct of Bourdon, Villeray^jtnd^Auteuil, those faithful allies wnom Laval had placed on the council, and who, as Me"zy soon found, were wholly in the bishop's interest. On the thirteenth of February- he sent his friend Angoville, major of the fort, to Laval, with a -writtxgn^dec^
he had ordered them to absent themselves from the co>trn"c"il,because, having^tfeen appointed"7' on the persuasion of the aforesaid Bishop of Petrsea, who knew them to be wholly his creatures, they wish to make themselves masters in the aforesaid council, and have acted in divers ways against the interests of the King and the public for the promotion of personal and private ends, and have formed and fomented cabals, contrary to their duty and their oath of fidelity to his aforesaid Majesty." 1 He further declares that advantage had been taken of the facility of his disposition and his ignorance of the country to surprise him into assenting to their nomi- nation ; and he asks the bishop to acquiesce in their expulsion, and joip him in calling an assembly of the people to choose othevfrin tliou'-pUoor — Laval refused ; on which Me*zy caused his declaration to be placarded about Quebec and proclaimed by sound of drum.
1 Ordre de M. de Mezy de faire tommation a VEveque de Petree, 13 Fev., 1664. Notification du dit Ordre, mime date. (Registre da Conseil Superieur.)
1664.] DISTRESS OF M^ZY. 209
The proposal of a public election, contrary as it was to the spirit of the government, opposed to the edict establishing the council, and utterly odious to the young autocrat who ruled over France, gave Laval a great advantage. "I reply," he wrote, "to the request which Monsieur the Governor makes me to consent to the interdiction of the persons named in his declaration, and proceed to the choice. of other councillors or officers by an assembly of the people, that neither my conscience nor my honor, nor the respect and obedience which I owe to the will and commands of the King, nor my fidelity and affection to his service, will by any means permit me to do so."1
Me'zy was dealing with an adversary armed with redoubtable weapons. It was intimatfid-tf> him that the sacraments would be refused^ and tfre .churches closed against him. This threw him into an agony of doubt and perturbation ; for the emotional religion which had become a part of his nature, though overborne by gusts of passionate irritation, was still full of life within him. Tossing between the old feeling and the new, he took a course which reveals the trouble and confusion of his mind. He threw himself for counsel and comfort on the Jesuits, though he knew them to be one with Laval against him, and though, under cover of denouncing sin in general, they had lashed him sharply in their sermons. There is something pathetic in the appeal
» Rfponse de I'Evique de Petree, 16 Fev., 1664. 14
210 LAVAL AND MtfZY. [1664.
he makes to them. For the glory of God and the service of the King, he had come, he says, on Laval's solicitation, to seek salvation in Canada; and being under obligation to the bishop, who had recommended him to the King, he felt bound to show proofs of his gratitude on every occasion. Yet neither gratitude to a benefactor nor the respect due to his character and person should be permitted to interfere with duty to the King, "since neither conscience nor honor permit us to neglect the requirements of our office and betray the interests of his Majesty, after receiving orders from his lips, and making oath of fidelity between his hands." He proceeds to say that, having discovered practices of which he felt obliged to prevent the continuance, he had made a declaration expelling the offenders from office; that the bishop and all the ecclesiastics had taken this declaration as an offence; that, regardless of the King's service, they had denounced him as a calum- niator, an unjust judge, without gratitude, and per- verted in conscience ; and that one of the chief among them had come to warn him that the sacraments would be refused and the churches closed against him. "This," writes the unhappy governor, "has agitated our soul with scruples; and we have none from whom to seek light save those who are our declared opponents, pronouncing judgment on us without knowledge of cause. Yet as our salvation and the duty we owe the King are the things most important to us on earth, and as we hold them to be
1664.] ADVICE OF THE JESUITS. 211
inseparable the one from the other; and as nothing is so certain as death, and nothing so uncertain as the hour thereof; and as there is no time to inform his Majesty of what is passing and to receive his commands; and as our soul, though conscious of innocence, is always in fear, — we feel obliged, despite their opposition, to have recourse to the reverend father casuists of the House of Jesus, to tell us in conscience what we can do for the fulfilment of our 'duty at once to God and to the King." l
The Jesuits gave him little comfort. Lalemant, their superior, replied by advising him to follow the directions of his confessor, a Jesuit, so far as the question concerned spiritual matters, adding that in temporal matters he had no advice to give.2 The distinction was illusory. The quarrel turned wholly on temporal matters, but it was a quarrel with a bishop. To separate in such a case the spiritual obligation from the temporal was beyond the skill of Mdzy, nor would the confessor have helped him.
Perplexed and troubled as he was, he would not reinstate Bourdon and the two councillors. The people began to clamor at the interruption of justice, for which they blamed Laval, whom a recent impo-
•^•^•••H
^-^—^
sition of tithes had made unpopular. Me"zy there- upon issued a proclamation, in which, after mentioning his opponents as the most subtle and artful persons
1 Mezy aux PP. Jesuites, Fait au Chdteau de Quebec ce derniei jour de Fevrier, 1664.
8 Lettre du P. H. Lalemant d Mr. le Gouverneur.
212 LAVAL AND M^ZY. [1664
in Canada, he declares that, in consequence of peti- tions sent him from Quebec and the neighboring settlements, he had called the people to the council- chamber, and by their advice had appointed the Sieur de Chartier as attorney-general in place of Bourdon.1
Bourdon replied by a violent appeal from the gov- ernor to the remaining members of the council;3 on which Me*zy declared him excluded from all public functions whatever, till the King's pleasure should be known.8 Thus Church and State still frowned on each other, and new disputes soon arose to widen the breach between them. On the first establish- ment of the council, an orderhajLt>een passed for the election of a mayor and two aldermen (echevins) for Quebec, which it was proposed to erect into a city, though it had only seventy houses and less than a thousand inhabitants. Repentigny was chosen mayor, and Madry and Charron aldermen; but the choice was not agreeable to the bishop, and the three func- tionj,ries._declinfid_to act, influence having probably been brought to bear on them to that end. The council now resolved that a mayor \v;us needless, and the people were permitted to choose a syndic in his stead. These municipal elections were always so controlled by the authorities that the element of liberty which they seemed to represent was little but
1 Declaration du Sieur de Mezy, 10 Mars, 1664.
* Bourdon au Conseil, 13 Mars, 1664.
• Ordre du Gouverneur, 13 Mars, 1664.
1664.] M^ZY REFUSES TO YIELD. 213
a mockery. On the present occasion, after an unac- countable delay of ten months, twenty-two persons cast their votes in presence of the council, and the choice fell on Charrpn. The real question was whether the new syndic should belong to the go v- ernor or to the bishop. Charron leaned to the governor's party. The ecclesiastics insisted that the people were dissatisfied, and a new election was ordered, but the voters did not come. The governor now sent messages to such of the inhabitants as he knew to be in his interest, who gathered in the council-chamber, voted under his eye, and again chose a syndic agreeable to him. Laval's party protested in vain.1
The councillors held office for a year, and the year had now expired. The. goverjior_and the bishop^jj;
will be remembered, had a joint power of
them was impossible.
ava wasorreplacing his partisans, Bourdon, Villeray, Auteuil, and La Forte*. M^y refused; and on the eighteenth of September he reconstructed the council by his sole authority, retaining of the old councillors only"Amours and Tilly, and replacing the rest by Denis, La Tesserie, and Pe*ronne de Maze*, the surviving son of Dumesnil. Again Laval pro- tested ; but Me*zy proclaimed his choice by sound of drum, and caused placards to be posted, full, accord- ing to Father Lalemant, of abuse against the bishop. On this he was excluded from confession and abso^u*
1 Registre du Conseil Superieur.
214 LAVAL AND MfiZY. [1664.
tion. He complained loudly; "but our reply was," says the father, "that God knew eveiy thing." l
This unanswerable but somewhat irrelevant re- sponse failed to satisfy him, and it was possibly on this occasion that an incident occurred which is recounted by the bishop's eulogist, La Tour. He says that Me*zy, with some unknown design, appeared before the church at the head of a band of soldiers, while Laval was saying mass. The service over, the bishop presented himself at the door, on which, to the governor's confusion, all the soldiers respect- fully saluted him.2 The story may have some foun- dation, but it is not supported by contemporary evidence.
On the Sunday after Me*zy's coup d'etat, the pulpits resounded with denunciations. The people listened, doubtless, with becoming respect; but their sympa- thies were with the governor; and he, on his part, had made appeals to them at more than one crisis of the quarrel. He now fell into another indiscretion. He banished Bourdon and Villeray, and ordered them home to France.
They carried with them the instruments of their revenge, — the accusations of Laval and the Jesuits against the author of their woes. Of these accusa- tions one alone would have sufficed. Me*zy had appealed to the people. It is true that he did so
> Journal det Jf suites, Octobre, 1664.
* La Tour, Vie de Laval, liv. vii. It is charitable to ascribe this writer's many errors to carelessness.
1664.] MfiZY'S DEFEAT. 215
from no love of popular liberty, but simply to make head against an opponent; yet the act alone was enough, and he received a peremptory recaji. Again Laval had triumphed. He had made one governor and unmade two, if not three. The modest Levite, as one of his biographers calls him in his earlier days, had become the foremost power in Canada.
Laval had a threefold strength at court, — his high birth, his -reputed sanctity, and the support, of the Jesuits. This was not all, for the permanency of his position in the colony gave him another advan- tage. The governors were named for three years, and could be recalled at any time ; but the vicar apostolic owed his appointment to the Pope, and the Pope alone could revoke it. Thus he was beyond reach of the royal aulfliQrifcy, and the court was in a certain sense obliged to conciliate him. As for Me*zy, a man of no rank or influence, he could expect no mercy. Yet, though irritable and violent, he seems to have tried conscientiously to reconcile conflicting duties, or what he regarded as such. The governors and intendants, his successors, received, during many years, secret instructions from the court to watch Laval, and cautiously prevent him from assuming powers which did not belong to him. It is likely that similar instructions had been given to Me'zy,1
1 The royal commissioner, Gaudais, who came to Canada with Me'zy, had, as before mentioned, orders to inquire with great secrecy into the conduct of Laval. The intendant, Talon, who followed immediately after, had similar instructions.
216 LAVAL AND MtiZY. [1«65.
and that the attempt to fulfil them had aided to embroil him with one who was probably the last man on earth with whom he would willingly have quarrelled.
An inquiry was ordered into his conduct; but a voice more potent than the voice of the King had called him to another tribunal. A disease, the result perhaps of mental agitation, seized upon him and soon brought him to extremity. As he lay gasping between life and death, fear and horror took posses- sion of his soul. Hell yawned before his fevered vision, peopled with phantoms which long and lonely meditations, after the discipline of Loyola, made real and palpable to his thought. He smelt the fumes of infernal brimstone, and heard the bowlings of the damned. He saw the frown of the angry Judge, and the fiery swords of avenging angels, hurling wretches like himself, writhing in anguish and despair, into the gulf of unutterable woe. He listened to the ghostly counsellors who besieged his bed, bowed his head in penitence, made his peace with the Church, asked pardon of Laval, confessed to him, and received absolution at his hands; and his late adversaries, now benign and bland, soothed him with promises of pardon, and hopes of eternal bliss.
Before he died, he wrote to the Marquis de Tracy, newly appointed viceroy, a letter which indicates that even in his penitence he could not feel himself wholly in the wrong.1 He also left a will in which the
1 Lettrt de Afixy au Marquit de Tracy, 26 Avril, 1665.
1665.] DEATH OF M^ZY. 217
pathetic and the quaint are curiously mingled. After praying his patron, Saint Augustine, with Saint John, Saint Peter, and all the other saints, to intercede for the pardon of his sins, he directs that his body shall be buried in the cemetery of the poor at the hospital, as being unworthy of more honored sepulture. He then makes various legacies of piety and charity. Other bequests follow, — one of which is to his friend Major Angoville, to whom he leaves two hundred francs, his coat of English cloth, his camlet mantle, a pair of new shoes, eight shirts with sleeve-buttons, his sword and belt, and a new blanket for the major's servant. Felix Aubert is to have fifty francs, with a gray jacket, a small coat of gray serge, "which," says the testator, "has been worn for a while," and a pair of long white stockings. And in a codicil he further leaves to Angoville his best black coat, in order that he may wear mourning for him.1
His earthly troubles closed on the night of the sixth of May. He went to his rest among the paupers ; and the priests, serenely triumphant, sang requiems over his grave.
NOTE. — Mezy sent home charges against the bishop and the Jesuits which seem to have existed in Charlevoix's time, but for which, as well as for those made by Laval, I have sought in vain.
The substance of these mutual accusations is given thus by the minister Colbert, in a memorial addressed to the Marquis de Tracy, in 1665 : " Les Jesuites 1'accusent d'avarice et de violences ; et lui
1 Testament du Sieur de Mezy. This will, as well as the letter, is engrossed in the registers of the council.
218 LAVAL AND MfiZY. [1666.
qu'ili roul&ient entreprendre sur 1'autorite qui lui a fete commise par le Roy, en sorte que n'ayant que de leurs creatures dans le Conseil Souverain, toutes les resolutions s'y prenaient selon leurt sentiment*."
The papers cited are drawn partly from the Regittret du Conseil Superieur, still preserved at Quebec, and partly from the Archives of the Marine and Colonies. Laval's admirer, the Abbe' La Tour, in his eagerness to justify the bishop, says that the quarrel arose from a dispute about precedence between Mezy and the intendant, and from the ill-humor of the governor because the intendant shared the profits of his office. The truth is, that there was ^ iuU'lidunt iu. Cauada during the term of Me'zy's goverjuuuuiL <>ne Robert had been appointed to the office, bat he never came to the colony. The commissioner Gaudais, during the two or three months of his stay at Quebec, took the intendant's place at the council- board; but harmony between Laval and Me'zy was unbroken till after his departure. Other writers say that the dispute arose from the old question about brandy. Towards the end of the quarrel there was some disorder from this source, but even then the brand/ question was subordinate to other subjects of strife.
CHAPTER XH.
1662-1680. LAVAL AND THE SEMINARY.
LAVAL'S VISIT TO COURT. — THE SEMINARY. — ZEAL OF THE BISHOP ; HIS EULOGISTS. — CHURCH AND STATE. — ATTITUDE OF LAVAL.
THAT memorable journey of Laval to court, which caused the dissolution of the Company of New France, the establishment of the Supreme Council, the recall of Avaugour, and the appointment of Me*zy, had yet other objects and other results. Laval, vicar apostolic and titular Bishop of Petraea, wished to become in title, as in fact, Bishop of Quebec. Thus he would gain an increase of dignity and authority, necessary, as he thought, in his con- flicts with the civil power; "for," he wrote to the cardinals of the Propaganda, "I have learned from long experience how little security my character of vicar apostolic gives me against those charged with political affairs: I mean the officers of the Crown, perpetual rivals and contemners of the authority of the Church."1
1 For a long extract from this letter, copied from the original in the archives of the Propaganda at Rome, see Faillon, Colonit Fran^ais, iii, 432.
220 LAVAL AND THE SEMINARY. [1662-80.
This reason was for the Pope and the cardinals. It may well be believed that he held a different language to the King. To him he urged that the bishopric was nee^M fr> ^nf^r^ order, suppress sin, and "crush heresy. Both Louis XIV. and the Quern Mother favored his wishes;1 but difficulties arose, and interminable disputes ensued on the question whether the proposed bishopric should depend imme- diately on the Pope or on the Archbishop of Rouen. It was a revival of the old quarrel of Gallican and ultramontane. Laval, weary of hope deferred, at length declared that he would leave the colony if he could not be its bishop in title; and in 1674, after eleven years of delay, the King yielded to the Pope's demands, and the vicar apostolic became firstjiishop of Quebec.
lF~Laval had to wait for his mitre, he found no delay and no difficulty in attaining another object no less dear to him. He wished to provide priests for Canada, drawn from the Canadian population, fed with sound and wholesome doctrine, reared under his eye, and moulded by his hand. To this end he ^proCQsed to establish a seminary at Quebec. The plan found favor with the pious King, and a decree signed by his hand sanctioned and confirmed it The new seminary was to be a corporation of priests under a superior chosen by the bishop ; and, besides
l Anne d'Autriche d Laval, 23 Avril, 1662; Louit XIV. au Pape, 28 Jan. 1664; Louit XIV. au Due de Crequy, Ambassadeur d Rome, 28 June, 1664.
1662-80.]
THE PARISH PRIEST.
221
its functions of instruction, it was vested with dis- tinct and extraordinary powers. Laval, an organizer and a disciplinarian by nature and training, would fain subject the priests of his diocese to a control as complete as that of monks in a convent. In France, the curd or parish priest was, with rare exceptions, a fixture in his parish, whence he could be removed only for grave reasons, and through prescribed forms of procedure. Hence he was to a certain degree independent of the bishop. Laval, on the contrary, demanded that the Canadian cure should be remoY-
will, mid-*1""
tihfi
missionary, to come and go at the order of his superior. In fact, the Canadian parishes were for a long time so widely scattered, so feeble in popula- tion, and so miserably poor, that, besides the disciplin- ary advantages of this plan, its adoption was at first almost a matter of necessity. Itaddedgreath the power__pX^fag**^rurch ; and, as the coony increase^, tne King and the minister conceived an increasing distrust of it. Instructions for the " fixa- tion " of the curds were repeatedly sent to the colony, and the bishop, while professing to obey, repeatedly evaded them. Various fluctuations and changes took place; but Laval had built on strong founda- tions, and at this day the system of removablejmrgs prevails in most of the Canadian parishes.1
1 On the establishment of the seminary. Mandemtnt de FEveque de Petre~e,pour I'Etablissement du Sfminaire de Quebec; Approbation du Roy (Edits et Ordonnances, i. 33, 35) ; La Tour, Vie de Laval, lir.
222 LAVAL AND THE SEMINARY. [1662-80
Thus he formed his clergy into a family with him- self at its head. His seminary, the mother who had reared them, was further charged to maintain them, nurse them in sickness, and support them in old age. Under her maternal roof the tired priest found repose among his brethren ; and thither every year he repaired from the charge of his flock in the wilderness, to freshen his devotion and animate his zeal by a season of meditation and prayer.
The difficult task remained to provide the neces- sary funds. Laval imposed a tithe of one-thirteenth on all pirirlni tn (if llic noil. III, nn nffrpwui'dn nilttled.
engrains alone. This flr.VtA WM j^d to the seminary, and Tvy 016 seminary to the priests. THe people, unused to such a burden, clamored and resisted; and Me*zy, in his disputes with the bishop, had taken advantage of their discontent. It became necessary to reduce the tithe to a twenty ^ixthr- which, as there was little or no money among the inhabitants, was paict_-in kind. Nevertheless, the scattered and impoverished settlers grudged even this contribution to the support of a priest whom many_of
saw; and the collection of it became a matter of the greatest difficulty and uncertainty. How the King came to the rescue, we shall hereafter see.
v Besides the great seminary where young men were trained for the priesthood, there was the lesser semi-
ri. ; Esquisse de la Vie de Laval, Appendix. Various papers bear- ing on the subject are printed in the Canadian Abeille, from origi- nals in the archives of the seminary.
1662-80.] ENDOWMENTS OF LAVAL. 223
nary where boys were educated in the hope that they would one day take orders. This school began in 1668, with eight French and six Indian pupils, in the old house of Madame Couillard; but so far as the Indians were concerned it was a failure. Sooner or later they all ran wild in the woods, carrying with them as fruits of their studies a sufficiency of prayers, offices, and chants learned by rote, along with a feeble smattering of Latin and rhetoric, which they soon dropped by the way. There was also a sort of farm-school attached to the seminary, for the training oJlThumbler class of pupils. It was established at the parish of St. Joachim, below Quebec, where the children of artisans and peasants were taught farming and various mechanical arts, and thoroughly grounded in the doctrine and discipline of the Church.1 The Great and Lesser Seminary still subsist, and f r>n^ QJJ^
M in . — __^^_»— — ^--JM'fT''"*''**^"*'**'*
of the r most important K0man~ Uatnolic institutions on this continent. To them has recently been added the Laval University, resting on the same foundation, and supported by the same funds.
Whence were these funds derived? Laval, in order to imitate the poverty of the apostles, had divested himself of his property before he came to Canada; otherwise there is little doubt that in the fulness of his zeal he would have devoted it to his
1 Annales du Petit Se'minaire de Quebec, see Abeille, vol. i. ; Notice Historique sur le Petit Seminaire de Quebec, Ibid., vol. ii. ; Notice Historicfue sur la Paroisse de St. Joachim, Ibid. , vol. i. The Abeillt is a journal published by the seminary.
224
LAVAL AND THE SEMINARY. [1662-80.
favorite object. But if he had no property he had influence, and his family had both influence and wealth. He acquired vast grants of land in the best parts of Cana^q iSnrnfj.Qf these, ne goifl others he retained till the year-l££Q, whea-ha gave them, with nearly all else that he flfaffl possessed, to his seminary at (Quebec. The lands with which he thus endowed it included the seigniories of the Petite Nation, the Island of Jesus, and Beaupre*. The last is of great extent, and at the present day of immense value. Beginning a few miles below Quebec, it borders the St. Lawrence for a distance of sixteen leagues, and is six leagues in depth, measured from the river. From these sources the seminary still draws an abundant revenue, though its seigniorial rights were commuted on the recent extinction of the feudal tenure in Canada.
Well did Laval deserve that his name should live in that of the university which a century and a half after his death owed its existence to his bounty. This father of the Canadian Church, who has left so deep an impress on one of the communities which form the vast population of North America, belonged to a type of character to which an even justice is rarely done. With the exception of the Canadian Garneau, a liberal Catholic, those who have treated of him have seen him through a medium intensely Romanist, coloring, hiding, and exaggerating by turns both his actions and the traits of his character. Tried by the Romanist standard, his merits were
1662-80.] LAVAL'S POSITION. 225
great; though the extraordinary influence which he exercised in the affairs of the colony were, as already observed, by no means due to his spiritual graces alone. To a saint sprung from the haute noblesse, Earth and Heaven were alike propitious. When the vicar-general Colombiesre pronounced his funeral eulogy in the sounding periods of Bossuet, he did not fail to exhibit him on the ancestral pedestal where his virtues would shine with redoubled lustre. " The exploits of the heroes of the House of Mont- morency," exclaims the reverend orator, "form one of the fairest chapters in the annals of Old France ; the heroic acts of charity, humility, and faith achieved by a Montmorency form one of the fairest in the annals of New France. The combats, victories, and conquests of the Montmorency in Europe would fill whole volumes; and so, too, would the triumphs won by a Montmorency in America over sin, passion, and the Devil." Then he crowns the high-born prelate with a halo of fourfold saintship: "It was with good reason that Providence permitted him to be called Francis, for the virtues of all the saints of that name were combined in him, — the zeal of Saint Francis Xavier, the charity of Saint Francis of Sales, the poverty of Saint Francis of Assisi, the self- mortification of Saint Francis Borgia; but poverty was the mistress of his heart, and he loved her with incontrollable transports."
The stories which Colombiere proceeds to tell of
Laval's asceticism are confirmed by other evidence,
15
226 LAVAL AND THE SEMINARY. [1682-80.
and are, no doubt, true. Nor is there any reasonable doubt that, had the bishop stood in the place of Bre*beuf or Charles Lalcmant, he would have suffered torture and death like them. But it was his lot to strive, not against infidel savages, but against country- men and Catholics, who had no disposition to burn him, and would rather have done him reverence than wrong.
To comprehend his actions and motives, it is neces- sary to know hiq ijifojtf i" rfigarfl to the relations of
^"^^^'^^^••••^••^'^"'^^•••••••v
Church and State. They were those of the extreme ultramontanes, which a recent Jesuit preacher has expressed with tolerable distinctness. In a sermon uttered in the Church of Notre Dame, at Montreal, on the first of November, 1872, he thus announced them: " The~supfcmacy and-iafajlibility of the_Jiope ; the independence and liberty of the Church ; the subordination aiuL .. submission of the Slate to the Church^ ; in case of conflict between them, the Church to decujpt tVm-StatAjip submit; for whoever follows and defends these principles, life and a bless- ing; for whoever rejects and combats them, death and a curse."1
These were the principles which Laval and the
1 This sermon was preached by Father Braun, S. J., on occasion of the " Golden Wedding," or fiftieth anniversary of Bishop Bourget of Montreal. A large body of the Canadian clergy were present, some of whom thought his expressions too emphatic. A translation by another Jesuit is published in the "Montreal Weekly Herald " of Nov. 2, 1872 ; and the above extract is copied verbatim.
1662-80.] MENTAL CONDITION OF LAVAL. 227
Jesuits strove to make good. Christ was to rule in Canada through his deputy the bishop, and God's law was to triumph over the laws of man. As in the halcyon days of Champlain and Montmagny, the governor was to be the right hand of the Church, to wield the earthly sword at her bidding; and the council was to be the agent of her high behests.
France was drifting toward the triumph of the parti devot, the sinister reign of petticoat and cas- sock, the era of Maintenon and Tellier, and the fatal atrocities of the dragonnades. Yet the advancing tide of priestly domination did not flow smoothly. The unparalleled prestige which surrounded the throne of the young King, joined to his quarrels with the Pope and divisions in the Church itself, dis- turbed, though they could not check, its progress. In Canada it was otherwise. The colony had been
ruled bv pl-i^fa from tha T^nnincr. and it. remained to nnntinnft Jn.Jbfi
past. She was the fold of Christ; the wolf of civil
government was among the flock, and Laval and the Jesuits, watchful shepherds, were doing their best to chain and muzzle him.
According to Argenson, Laval had said, " A bishop can do what he likes ; " and his action answered rea- sonably well to his words. He thought himself above human law. In vindicating the assumed rights of the Church, he invaded the rights of others, and used means from which a healthy conscience would have shrunk. All his thoughts and sympathies had
228 LAVAL AND THE SEMINARY.: [1662-80.
run from childhood in ecclesiastical channels, and he cared for nothing outside the Church. Prayer, medi- tation, and asceticism had leavened and moulded him. During four years he had been steeped in the mysticism of the Hermitage, which had for its aim the annihilation of self, and through self-annihilation the absorption into God.1 He had passed from a life of visions to a life of action. Earnest to fanaticism, he saw but one great object, — the glory of God on earth. He was penetrated by the poisonous casuistry of the Jesuits, based on '* the assumption that all means are permitted when the end is the service of God ; and as Laval, in his own opinion, was always doing the service of God, while his opponents were always doing that of the Devil, he enjoyed, in the use of means, a latitude of which we have seen him avail himself.
1 See the maxims of Bernieres published by La Tour.
SECTION THIRD. THE COLONY AND THE KING.
CHAPTER XHL
1661-1665. ROYAL INTERVENTION.
JTONTAINEBLEAU. — LOUIS XIV. — COLBEBT. — THE COMPAITT OF THE WEST. — EVIL OMENS. — ACTION OF THE KING. — TRACT, CotJRCELLE, AND TALON. — THE REGIMENT OF CARIGNAN-SALI- ERES. — TRACT AT QUEBEC. — MIRACLES. — A HOLT WAR.
LEAVE Canada behind; cross the sea, and stand, on an evening in June, by the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau. Beyond the broad gardens, above the long ranges of moonlit trees, rise the walls and pinnacles of the vast chateau, — a shrine of history, the gorgeous monument of lines of vanished kings, haunted with memories of Capet, Valois, and Bourbon.
There was little thought of the past at Fontainebleau in June, 1661. The present was too dazzling and too intoxicating; the future, too radiant with hope and promise. It was the morning of a new reign ;
230 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1661.
the sun of LouJa.X^i^ was rising in splendor, and the rank and beauty of France were gathered to pay it homage. A youthful court, a youthful king; a pomp and magnificence such as Europe had never aeen; a delirium of ambition, pleasure, and love, — all this wrought in many a young heart an enchant- ment destined to be cruelly broken. Even old cour- tiers felt the fascination of the scene, and tell us of the music at evening by the borders of the lake ; of the gay groups that strolled under the shadowing trees, floated in gilded barges on the still water, or moved slowly in open carriages around its borders. Here was Anne of Austria, the King's mother, and Marie The'rese, his tender and jealous queen; his brother, the Duke of Orleans, with his bride of six- teen, Henriette of England; and his favorite, that vicious butterfly of the court, the Count de Quiche. Here, too, were the humbled chiefs of the civil war, Beaufort and Conde", obsequious before their triumph- ant master. Louis XIV., the centre of all eyes, in the flush of health and vigor, and the pride of new- fledged royalty, stood, as he . still stands on the canvas of Philippe de Champagne, attired in a splendor which would have been effeminate but for the stately port of the youth who wore it.1
Fortune had been strangely bountiful to Louis *»*•
1 On the visit of the court at Fontainebleau in the summer of 1661, see Mi moires de Madame de Motteville, Memoires de Madame dt La Fayette, Memoires de I'Abbf de Choisy, and Walckenaer'a J/£ moires sur Madame de Stvignt'.
1661.] LOUIS XIV. 231
XIV. The nations of Europe, exhausted by wars and dissensions, looked upon him with respect and fear. Among weak and weary neighbors, he alone was strong. The death of Mazarin had released him from tutelage ; feudalism in the person of Cond^ was abject before him ; he had reduced his parliaments to submission ; and in the arrest of the ambitious prodi- gal Fouquet, he was preparing a crushing blow to the financial corruption which had devoured France.
Nature had formed him to act the part of King. Even his critics and enemies praise the grace and majesty of his presence, and he impressed his cour- tiers with an admiration which seems to have been to an astonishing degree genuine. He carried airs of royalty even into his pleasures; and while his example corrupted all France, he proceeded to the apartments of Montespan or Fontanges with the majestic gravity of Olympian Jove. He was a devout observer of the forms of religion; and as the buoyancy of youth passed away, his zeal was stimu- lated by a profound fear of the Devil. Mazarin had reared him in ignorance ; but his faculties were excel- lent in their way, and in a private station would have made him an efficient man of business. The vivacity of his passions and his inordinate love of pleasure were joined to a persistent will and a rare power of labor. The vigorous mediocrity of his understanding delighted in grappling with details. His astonished courtiers saw him take on himself the burden of administration, and work at it without
232 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1661.
relenting for more than half a century. Great as was his energy, his pride was far greater. As king by divine right, he felt himself raised immeasurably above the highest of his subjects; but while vindi- cating with unparalleled haughtiness his claims to supreme authority, he was, at the outset, filled with a sense of the duties of his high place, and fired by an ambition to make his reign beneficent to France as well as glorious to himself.
Above all rulers of modern times, Louis XIV. was the embodiment of the monarchical idea. The famous words ascribed to him, "I am the State,'* were probably never uttered; but they perfectly express his spirit. "It is God's will," he wrote in 1666, "that whoever is born a subject should not reason, but obey ; " l and those around him were of his mind. "The State is in the King," said Bossuet, the great mouthpiece of monarchy ; " the will of the people is merged in his will. O Kings! put forth your power boldly, for it is divine and salutary to humankind."2
For a few brief years, this King's reign was indeed salutary to France. His judgment of men, when not obscured by his pride and his passion for flattery, was good ; and he had at his service the generals and statesmen formed in the freer and bolder epoch that had ended with his accession. Among them was Jean Baptiste Colbert, formerly the intendant of
l (Euvres de Louis XIV., ii. 283.
1 BoBSuet, Politique tirte de l'£criture iainte, 670 (1843).
1664.J COLBERT. 233
Mazarin's household, — a man whose energies matched his talents, and who had preserved his rectitude in the midst of corruption. It was a hard task that Colbert imposed on his proud and violent nature to serve the imperious King, morbidly jealous of his authority, and resolved to accept no initiative but his own. He must counsel wfoilft seeming to
receive counsel, .j'gjLr^Std^wJ^fe^Sfiff'iffS ,to..fo]l(W- The new minister bent himself to the task, and the nation reaped the profit. A vast system of reform was set in action amid the outcries of nobles, finan- ciers, churchmen, and all who profited by abuses. The methods of this reform were trenchant and some- times violent, and its principles were not always in accord with those of modern economic science; but the good that resulted was incalculable. The burdens of the laboring classes were lightened, the public revenues increased, and the wholesale plunder of the public money was arrested with a strong hand. Laws were reformed and codified; feudal tyranny, which still subsisted in many quarters, was repressed ; agriculture and productive industry of all kinds were encouraged, roads and canals opened, trade was stimulated, a commercial marine created, and a powerful navy formed as if by magic.1
It is in his commercial, industrial, and colonial policy that the profound defects of the great minis-
1 On Colbert, see Cle*ment, Histoire de Colbert ; Cle"ment, Lettret et Memoires de Colbert; Cheruel, Administration monarchique en France, ii. chap. vi. ; Henri Martin, Histoire de France, xiii., etc.
234 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1664.
v i ter's system are most apparent. It was a system of
I nnrt>«trfi~^mm^pjt ami .axclliain, in which the
governme"^ fflflj nnt thn ^ividllftli flftH th«^forempst part. Upright, incorruptible, ardent for the public good, inflexible, arrogant, and domineer- ing, he sought to drive France into paths of prosper- ity, and create colonies by the energy of an imperial will. He feared, and with reason, that the want of
•+^s^^s~**~~^*^ ^
enterprise and capital among the merchants wouTcI prevent the broaaanailnm^Ga^jS^tB^twlikTi he- aimed; an^tosecuretHese results he established a series of great trading corporations, in which the
C?>-^SrXAO2<L--'>nSsP--- --
* principles ofprivilege and exclusion were pushed to their utmost limits. Prominent among them was
'/the Company of the West. The King signed the edict creating it on the twenty-fourth of May, 1664. Any person in the kingdom or out of it might become a partner by subscribing, within a certain time, not less than three thousand francs. France was a mere patch on the map, compared to the vast domains of the new association. Western Africa from Cape Verd to the Cape of Good Hope, South America between the Amazon and the Orinoco, Cayenne, the Antilles, and all New France, from Hudson's Bay to Virginia and Florida, were bestowed on it forever, to be held of the Crown on the simple condition of faith and jiomage. As, according to the edict, the glory of God was the chief object in view, the com- pany-was required^o^^JJPPJyiJa^gpQgejsipns with a sufficient^^mbwsof priests, and diligently to exclude
1664-68.] MONOPOLY. 235
^ all teachers of false doctrine. It was empowered to
build forts and war-ships, cast cannon, wage war,
/
make ]^a^ jj^taj^isj^w^te,^^^ othfijwis^^to-acJt-afi-^Dxej*^^
A monopoly of trade was granted it for forty years.1 Sugar from the Antilles and furs from Canada were the chief source of expected profit; and Africa was to supply the slaves to raise the sugar. Scarcely was the grand machine set in motion, when its directors betrayed a narrowness and blindness of policy which boded the enterprise no good. Canada was a chier sufferer. Once more, bound hand and foot, she was handed over to a selfish league of merchants, —
in
iii^government. rightJiO,^!!!^!^ but the comjaajiy^ia^ajig^ which ^onecoujdsgiv§__her the^.me^is_jo{_payiiig for these necessaries. Moreover, the supplies which it brought were insufficient, and the prices which it demanded were exorbitant. It was throttling its / wretched victim. The Canadian merchants remon- strated.2 It was clear that if the colony was to live, the system must be changed? and a change was accordingly ordered. The company gave up its mgjnopoljL^f. the fu.r-trafjp, bnf ^served tha right to levy a duty of one-fourth of the beaver-skins, and
one-tenth of the moose-skins; and it also reserved
•
1 Edit d'Etablissement de la Compagnie des Indes Occidentals. 1 Lettre du Conseil Souverawd Colbert, 1668.
236 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1664-86.
the entire trade of Tadoussac, — that is to say, the trade of all the tribes between the lower St. Lawrence and Hudson's Bay. It retained, besides,
^the exclusive right of tra^p^-ing1 f""» in its own ships, — thus controlling the commerce of Canada, and discouraging, or rather extinguishing, the enter- prise of Canadian merchants. On its part, it was required to pay governors, judges, and all the colonial officials out of the duties which it levied.1
Yet the King had the prosperity of Canada at heart; and he proceeded to show his interest in her after a manner hardly consistent with his late action in handing her over to a mercenary guardian. In fact, he acted as if she had still remained under Jus paternal case. He had just conferred the right of -naming a governor and intendant upon the new company ; but he now assumed it himself, the com- pany, with a just sense of its own unfitness, readily consenting to this suspension of one of its most important privileges. Daniel de R£my? Sieur de Gpurcelle, was appointed f*™7*1"^, *">^ Jean_Baptiste
i Talon intendant. a The nature of this duplicate
1 Arrtt du Conseil du Roy qui accorde a la Compagnie le quart de» castor*, le dixicme des orignaux et la traite de Tadoussac : Instruction de Monseigneur de Tracy et d Messieurs le Gottverneur et P Intendant.
This company prospered as little as the rest of Colbert's trad- ing companies. Within ten years it lost 8,623,000 livres, besides blighting the colonies placed under its control. (Recherches sur let Finances, cited by Cle*ment, Histoire de Colbert.)
3 Commission de Lieutenant General en Canada, etc., pour M. de Courcelle, 23 Mars, 1665; Commission d'Intendant de la Justice^ Police, et Finances en Canada, etc., pour M. Talon, 23 Mars, 1666.
1665.] ARRIVAL OF TRACY. 237
government will appear hereafter. But before appointing rulers for Canada, the King had appointed a representative of the Crown for all hig A
domains. The Mare"chal d'Estrades had for some time held the title of viceroy for America ; and as he could not fulfil the duties of that office, being at the time ambassador in Holland, the Marquis de Tracy was sent in his place, with the title of lj]p\'itemn*'- general.1
~ Canada at this time was an object of very consid- erable attention at court, and especially in what was known as the parti devot. The Relations of the Jesuits, appealing equally to the spirit of religion and the spirit of romantic adventure, had for more than a quarter of a century been the favorite reading of the devout, and the visit of Laval at court had greatly stimulated the interest they had kindled.
/" 4f^^* r<
The letters of Argenson, and especially of Avaugour,
had shown the vast political possibilities of the young colony, and opened a vista of future glories alike for Church and for King.
So, when Tracy set sail he found no lack of fol- lowers. A throng of young nobles embarked with him, eager to explore the marvels and mysteries of the western world. The King gave him two hun- v/j/^ dred soldiers of the regiment of j^arignaBrSalLeres, ^ and promised that a thousand more should follow. After spending more than a year in the West Indies,
1 Commission de Lieutenant General de FAmerique Meridionale et Septentrionale pour M. Prouville de Tracy, 19 Nov., 1663.
ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1065.
where* as Mother Mary of the Incarnation expresses it, "he performed marvels and reduced everybody to obedience," he at length sailed up the St. Law- rence, and on the thirtieth of June, 1665, anchored in the basin of Quebec. The broad, white standard, blazoned with the arms of France, proclaimed the representative of royalty; and Point Levi and Cape Diamond and the distant Cape Tourmente roared back the sound of the saluting cannon. All Quebec was on the ramparts or at the landing-place, and all eyes were strained at the two vessels as they slowly emptied their crowded decks into the boats along- side. The boats at length drew near, and the lieutenant-general and his suite landed on the quay with a pomp such as Quebec had never seen before.
Tracy was a veteran of sixty-two, portly and tall, "one of the largest men I ever saw," writes Mother Mary; but he was sallow with disease, for fever had seized him, and it had fared ill with him on the long voyage. The Chevalier de Chaumont walked at his side, and young nobles surrounded him, gorgeous in lace and ribbons and majestic in leonine wigs. Twenty-four guards in the King's livery led the way, followed by four pages and six valets;1 and thus, while the Frenchmen shouted and the Indians stared, the august procession threaded the streets of the Lower Town, and climbed the steep pathway that scaled the cliffs above. Breathing hard, they reached
1 Juchereau says that this was his constant attendance when he went abroad.
1665.] THE REINFORCEMENT. 239
the top, passed on the left the dilapidated walls of the fort and the shed of mingled wood and masonry which then bore the name of the Castle of St. Louis ; passed on the right the old house of Couillard and the site of Laval's new seminary, and soon reached the square betwixt the Jesuit college and the cathe- dral. The bells were ringing in a frenzy of wel- come. Laval in pontificals, surrounded by priests and _'
Jesuits, stood waiting to receive the deputy of the
— ° _. •• •-•!. ,„._ »' — v
King ; and as he greeted Tracy and offered him the
holy water, he looked with anxious curiosity to sel what manner of man he was. The signs were auspi- cious. The deportment of the lieutenant-general left nothing to desire. A prie-dieu had been placed for him. He declined it. They offered him a cushion, but he would not have it; and, fevered as he was, he knelt on the bare pavement with a devotion that edified every beholder. Te Deum was sung, and a day of rejoicing followed.
There was good cause. Canada, it was plain, was not to be wholly abandoned to a trading company. Louis XIV. was resolved Jfcat-a-jipw France should- be added to the Old. SnlrHqrS,, SPt^1prsr hnrsps, she^ ^ £0
cattle71roun|^ women for wives, wer« aj] fffin* *"it, jm abundance by his paternal Jffijfliggity. Before the season was over, about two
lande^_at_Quebec aLJ&fiJoyal charge. " At length, " writes Mother Juchereau, " our joy was completed by the arrival of two vessels with Monsieur de Courcelle, our governor; Monsieur Talon, our intendant, and
240 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1665.
the last companies of the regiment of Carignan." More state and splendor, more young nobles, more guards and valets : for Courcelle, too, says the same chronicler, "had a superb train; and Monsieur Talon, who naturally loves glory, forgot nothing which could do honor to the King." Thus a sun- beam from the court fell for a moment on the rock of Quebec. Yet all was not sunshine; for the voyage had been a tedious one, and disease had broken out in the ships. That which bore Talon had been a hundred and seventeen days at sea,1 and others were hardly more fortunate. The hospital was crowded with the sick; so, too, were the Church and the neighboring houses ; and the nuns were so spent with their labors that seven of them were brought to the point of death. The priests were busied in convert ' j ing the Huguenots, a number of whom were defected among the soldiers and emigrants. One of them proved refractory, declaring with oaths that he would never renounce his faith. Falling dangerously ill, he was carried to the hospital, where Mother Catherine de Saint- Augustin bethought her of a plan of conversion. She ground to powder a small piece of a bone of Father Bre*beuf, the Jesuit martyr, and secretly mixed the sacred dust with the patient's gruel; whereupon, says Mother Juchereau, "this intractable man forthwith became gentle as an angel, begged to be instructed, embraced the faith, and
1 Talon au Minittrt, 4 Oct., 1666.
1665.] TRACY'S DEVOTION. 241
abjured his errors publicly with an admirable fervor."1
Two or three years before, the Church of Quebec had received as a gift from the Pope the bodies or bones of two saints, — Saint Flavian and Saint Felicite*. They were enclosed in four large coffers or reliquaries, and a grand procession was now ordered in their honor. Tracy, Courcelle, Talon, and the agent of the company bore the canopy of the Host. Then came the four coffers on four decorated litters, carried by the principal ecclesiastics. Laval followed in pontificals. Forty-seven priests, and a long file of officers, nobles, soldiers, and inhabitants, followed the precious relics amid the sound of music and the roar of cannon.2
" It is a ravishing thing, " says Mother Mary, " to see how marvellously exact is Monsieur de Tracy at all these holy ceremonies, where he is always the first to come, for he would not lose a single moment of them. He has been seen in church for six hours together, without once going out." But while the lieutenant-general thus edified the colony, he betrayed no lack of qualities equally needful in his position. In Canada, as in the West Indies, he showed both vigor and conduct. First of all, he had been ordered to subdue or destroy the Iroquois ; and the regiment of Carignan-Salidres was the weapon
1 Le Mercier tells the same story in the Relation of 1666.
2 Compare Marie de 1'Incarnation, Lettre 16 Oct., 1666, with La Tour, Vie de Laval, chap. x.
16
242 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1665.
placed in his hands for this end. Four companies of this corps had arrived early in the season; four more came with Tracy, more yet with Salidres, their colonel, — and now the number was complete. As with slouched hat and plume, bandoleer, and shouldered firelock, these bronzed veterans of the Turkish wars marched at the tap of drum through the narrow street, or mounted the rugged way that led up to the fort, the inhabitants gazed with a sense of profound relief. Tame Indians from the neigh- boring missions, wild Indians from the woods, stared in silent wonder at their new defenders. Their numbers, their discipline, their uniform, and their martial bearing filled the savage beholders with admiration.
Carignan-Salieres was the first regiment of regular troops ever sent to America by the French govern- ment. It was raised in Savoy by the Prince of Carignan in 1644, but was soon employed in the service of France; where, in 1652, it took a con- spicuous part, on the side of the King, in the battle with Conde* and the Fronde at the Porte St. Antoine. After the peace of the Pyrenees, the Prince of Carignan, unable to support the regiment, gave it to the King, and it was, for the first time, incorporated into the French armies. In 1664 it distinguished itself, as part of the allied force of France, in the Austrian war against the Turks. In the next year it was ordered to America, along with the fragment of a regiment formed of Germans, the whole being
1665.] A HOLY WAR. 243
placed under the command of Colonel de Salie'res. Hence its double name.1
Fiftejej^jejgj^^ and
quickly concerted.2 Then the new crusade ^watf "prSacIied, — the crusade against the Iroquois, enemies of God and tools of the Devil. The soldiers and the people were filled with a zeal half warlike and half religious. "They are made to understand," writes Mother Mary, " that this is a holy war, all for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The fathers are doing wonders in inspiring them with true sentiments of piety and devotion. Fully five hundred soldiers have taken the scapulary of the Holy Virgin. It is we [the Ursulines], who make them; it is a real pleasure to do such work;" and she proceeds to relate a "beau miracle," by which God made known his satisfaction at the fervor of his military servants.
1 For a long notice of the regiment of Carignan-Salieres (Lorraine), see Susane, Ancienne Infanterie Franfaise, v. 236. The portion of it which returned to France from Canada formed a nucleus for the reconstruction of the regiment, which, under the name of the regiment of Lorraine, did not cease to exist as a sepa- rate organization till 1794. When it came to Canada it consisted, says Susane, of about a thousand men, besides about two hundred of the other regiment incorporated with it. Compare Memoire du Roy pour servir d'instruction au Sieur Talon, which corresponds verj nearly with Susane's statement.
2 Besides these, there was Berthier, a captain. " Voilk," writes Talon to the King, " le 16me converti ; ainsi votre Majeste" mois- sonne dejh, a pleines mains de la gloire pour Dieu, et pour elle bien de la renomme'e dans toute l'e"tendue de la Chre"tientfc." (Lettre du 7 Oct., 1666.)
244 ROYAL INTERVENTION. [1065.
The secular motives for the war were in themselves strong enough; for tiiegrpj^tti^Q^thecolpny abso- lutely demanded the cessation of Iri><juoi*i raids, and the French had begun to learn the lesson that in the case of hostile Indians no good can come of attempts to conciliate, unless respect is first imposed by a sufficient castigation. It is true that the writers of the time paint Iroquois hostilities in their worst colors. In the innumerable letters which Mother Mary of the Incarnation sent home every autumn, by the returning ships, she spared no means to gain the sympathy and aid of the devout; and, with similar motives, the Jesuits in their printed Relations took care to extenuate nothing of the miseries which the pious colony endured. Avaugour too, in urg- ing the sending out of a strong force to fortify and hold the country, had advised that, in order to furnish a pretext and disarm the jealousy of the English and Dutch, exaggerated accounts should be given of danger from the side of the savage confederates. Yet, with every allowance, these dangers and suffer- ings were sufficiently great.
The three upper nations of the Iroquois were com- paratively pacific; but the two lower nations, the Mohawks and Oneidas, were persistently hostile; making inroads into the colony by way of Lake Champlain and the Richelieu, murdering and scalp- ing, and then vanishing like ghosts. Tracy's first step was to send a strong detachment to the Richelieu to build a picket fort below the rapids of Chambly,
1665.] PACIFIC OVERTURES. 245
which take their name from that of the officer in command. An officer named Sorel soon afterwards built a second fort on the site of the abandoned palisade work built by Montmagny, at the mouth of the river, where the town of Sorel now stands ; and Salieres, colonel of the regiment, added a third fort, two or three leagues above Chambly.1 These forts could not wholly bar the passage against the nimble and wily warriors who might pass them in the night, shouldering their canoes through the woods. A blow, direct and hard, was needed, and Tracy prepared to strike it.
Late in the season an embassy from the three upper nations — the Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas — arrived at Quebec, led by Garacontie*, a famous chief whom the Jesuits had won over, and who proved ever after a stanch friend of the French. They brought back the brave Charles Le Moyne of Montreal, whom they had captured some three months before, and now restored as a peace-offering, taking credit to themselves that " not even one of his nails had been torn out, nor any part of his body burnt."2 Garacontie made a peace speech, which, as rendered by the Jesuits, was an admirable specimen of Iroquois eloquence ; but while joining hands with him and his companions, the French still urged on their preparations to chastise the contumacious Mohawks.
1 See the map in the Relation of 1665. The accompanying text of the Relation is incorrect.
* Explanation of the eleven Presents of the Iroquois Ambassadors, N. Y. Colonial Does., ix. 37.
CHAPTER XIV.
1666, 1667. THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED.
COURCELLE'S MARCH : HIS FAILURE AND RETURN. — COURCELLH AND THE JESUITS. — MOHAWK TREACHERY. — TRACY'S EXPED* TION. — BURNING OF THE MOHAWK TOWNS. — FRENCH AND ENO«
LISH. — DOLLIER DE CA8SON AT ST. ANNE. — PEACE. — THB
JESUITS AND THE IROQUOIS.
THE governor, Courcelle, says Father Le Mercier, "breathed nothing but war," and was bent on imme- diate action. He was for the present subordinate to Tracy, who, however, forbore to cool his ardor, and allowed him to proceed. The result was an enter- prise bold to rashness. Courcelle, with about five hundred men, prepared to march in the depth of a Canadian winter to the Mohawk towns, — a distance estimated at three hundred leagues. Those who knew the country vainly urged the risks and diffi- culties of the attempt. The adventurous governor held fast to his purpose, and only waited till the St. Lawrence should be well frozen. Early in January, it was a solid floor; and on the ninth the march began. Officers and men stopped at Sillery, and knelt in the little mission chapel before the shrine of
1666.] COURCELLE'S MARCH. 247
Saint Michael, to ask the protection and aid of the warlike archangel; then they resumed their course, and, with their snow-shoes tied at their backs, walked with difficulty and toil over the bare and slippery ice. A keen wind swept the river, and the fierce cold gnawed them to the bone. Ears, noses, fingers, hands, and knees were frozen; some fell in torpor, and were dragged on by their comrades to the shivering bivouac. When, after a march of ninety miles, they reached Three Rivers, a consid- erable number were disabled, and had to be left behind; but others joined them from the garrison, and they set out again. Ascending the Richelieu, and passing the new forts at Sorel and Chambly, they reached at the end of the month the third fort, called Ste. The'rese. On the thirtieth they left it, and continued their march up the frozen stream. About two hundred of them were Canadians, and of these seventy were old Indian-fighters from Montreal, versed in wood-craft, seasoned to the climate, and trained among dangers and alarms. Courcelle quickly learned their value, and his " Blue Coats," as he called them, were always placed in the van.1 Here, wrapped in their coarse blue capotes, with blankets and provisions strapped at their backs, they strode along on snow-shoes, which recent storms had made indispensable. The regulars followed as they could. They were not yet the tough and experienced woodsmen that they and their descend- 1 Dollier de Casson, Histoire du Montreal, A. D. 1665, 1666.
248 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666.
ante afterwards became ; and their snow-shoes embar- rassed them, burdened as they were with the heavy loads which all earned alike, from Courcelle to the lowest private.
Lake Champlain lay glaring in the winter sun, a sheet of spotless snow; and the wavy ridges of the Adirondacks bordered the dazzling landscape with the cold gray of their denuded forests. The long procession of weary men crept slowly on under the lee of the shore ; and when night came they bivouacked by squads among the trees, dug away the snow with their snow-shoes, piled it in a bank around them, built their fire in the middle, and crouched about it on beds of spruce or hemlock,1 — while, as they lay close packed for mutual warmth, the winter sky arched them like a vault of burnished steel, sparkling with the cold diamond lustre of its myriads of stars. This arctic serenity of the elements was varied at times by heavy snow-storms, and before they reached their journey's end the earth and the ice were buried to the unusual depth of four feet. From Lake Champlain they passed to Lake George2 and the frigid glories of its snow-wrapped mountains, thence crossed to the Hudson, and groped their way through the woods in search of the Mohawk towns. They
1 One of the men, telling the story of their sufferings to Daniel Gookin, of Massachusetts, indicated this as their mode of encamp- ing. See Mass. Hist. Coll. first series, i. 161.
1 Carte des grands lacs, Ontario et autres . . . et del pay* traverse* par MM. de Tracy et C our celle pour oiler attaquer lesagnies [Mohawki], 1666.
166(5.] FAILURE OF COURCELLE. 249
soon went astray; for thirty Algonquins, whom they had taken as guides, had found the means of a grand debauch at Fort Ste. The*rese, drunk themselves into helplessness, and lingered behind. Thus Courcelle and his men mistook the path, and, marching by way of Saratoga Lake and Long Lake,1 found themselves, on Saturday the twentieth of February, close to the little Dutch hamlet of Corlaer, or Schenectady. Here the chief man in authority told them that most of the Mohawks and Oneidas had gone to war with another tribe. They however caught a few strag- glers, and had a smart skirmish with a party of warriors, losing an officer and several men. Half frozen and half starved, they encamped in the neigh- boring woods, where, on Sunday, three envoys appeared from Albany, to demand why they had invaded the territories of his Royal Highness the Duke of York. It was now that they learned for the first time that the New Netherlands had passed into English hands, a change which boded no good to Canada. The envoys seemed to take their explana- tions in good part, made them a present of wine and provisions, and allowed them to buy further supplies from the Dutch of Schenectady. They even invited them to enter the village, but Courcelle declined, — partly because the place could not hold them all, and partly because he feared that his men, once seated in a chimney-corner, could never be induced to leave it. Their position was cheerless enough ; for the vast
* Carte . . . des pays trdversez pat MM. de Tracy et Courcelle, etc
250 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666.
beds of snow around them were soaking slowly under a sullen rain, and there was danger that the lakes might thaw and cut off their retreat. " Ye Mohaukes, " says the old English report of the affair, "were all gone to their Castles with resolution to fight it out against the french, who, being refresht and supplyed w"1 the aforesaid provisions, made a shew of marching towards the Mohaukes Castles, but with faces about, and great sylence and dilligence, return'd towards Cannada." "Surely," observes the narrator, "so bould and hardy an attempt hath not hapned in any age."1 The end hardly answered to the beginning. The retreat, which began on Sunday night, was rather precipitate. The Mohawks hovered about their rear, and took a few prisoners , but famine and cold proved more deadly foes, and sixty men perished before they reached the shelter of Fort Ste. The're'se. On the eighth of March, Courcelle came to the neighboring fort of St. Louis or Chambly. Here he found the Jesuit Albanel acting as chaplain; and, being in great ill humor, he charged him with caus- ing the failure of the expedition by detaining the Algonquin guides. This singular notion took such possession of him, that, when a few days after he met the Jesuit Fre*mm at Three Rivers, he embraced him ironically, saying, at the same time, " My father, I am the unluckiest gentleman in the world; and
1 A Relation of the Governr. of Cannada, hi$ March with 600 Volun- teirs into y* Territoryes of His Royall Iliyhnesse the Duke of Yorke in America. See Doc. Hist. N. Y. i. 71.
1666.] MOHAWK TREACHERY. 251
you, and the rest of you, are the cause of it."1 The pious Tracy and the prudent Talon tried to disarm his suspicions, and with such success that he gave up an intention he had entertained of discarding his Jesuit confessor, and forgot or forgave the imagined wrong.
Unfortunate as this expedition was, it produced a strong effect on the Iroquois by convincing them that their forest homes were no safe asylum from French attacks. InJVIaj£»Jlie_Sejjei^ui£fi^^ of_^ea5fij_ and tlje^iithej^^natimjg^Jn^u^ijj^ ^the_ Mohj,w^s,__soon_fo]lowed. Tracy, on his part, sent the Jesuit Bechefer to learn on the spot the real temper of the savages, and ascertain whether peace could safely be made with them. The Jesuit was scarcely gone when news came that a party of officers hunting near the outlet of Lake Champlain had been set upon by the Mohawks, and that seven of them had been captured or killed. Among the captured was Leroles, a cousin of Tracy; and among the killed was a young gentleman named Chasy, his nephew.
On this the Jesuit envoy was recalled; twenty- four Iroquois deputies were seized and imprisoned; and Sorel, captain in the regiment of Carignan, was sent with three hundred men to chastise the per- fidious Mohawks. If, as it seems, he was expected to attack their fortified towns or "castles," as the English call them, his force was too small. This
1 Journal des Jesuites, Mars, 1666,
252 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666.
time, however, there was no fighting. At two days from his journey's end, Sorel met the famous chief called the Flemish Bastard, bringing back Leroles and his fellow-captives, and charged, as he alleged, to offer full satisfaction for the murder of Chasy. Sorel believed him, retraced his course, and with the Bastard in his train returned to Quebec.
Quebec was full of Iroquois deputies, all bent on peace or pretending to be so. On the last day of August there was a grand council in the garden of the Jesuits. Some days later, Tracy invited the Flemish Bastard and a Mohawk chief named Agariata to his table, when allusion was made to the murder of Chasy. On this the Mohawk, stretching out his arm, exclaimed in a braggart tone, "This is the hand that split the head of that young man." The indig- nation of the company may be imagined. Tracy told his insolent guest that he should never kill anybody else ; and he was led out and hanged in presence of the Bastard.1 There was no more talk of peace. Tracy prepared to march in person against the Mohawks with all the force of Canada.
On the day of the Exaltation of the Cross, "for whose glory," says the chronicler, "this expedition
1 This story rests chiefly on the authority of Nicholas Perrot, Mceurt des Sauvages, 113. La Potherie also tells it, with the ad- dition of the chief's name. Golden follows him. The Journal <let Jesuitet mentions that the chief who led the murderers of Chasy arrived at Quebec on the sixth of September. Marie de 1'Incarna- tion mentions the hanging of an Iroquois at Quebec, late in the autumn, for violating the peace.
1666.] MARCH OF TRACY. 253
is undertaken," Tracy and Courcelle left Quebec with thirteen hundred men. They crossed Lake Champlain, and launched their boats again on the waters of St. Sacrament, now Lake George. It was the first of the warlike pageants that have made that fair scene historic. October had begun, and the romantic wilds breathed the buoyant life of the most inspiring of American seasons, when the blue-jay screams from the woods, the wild duck splashes along the lake, and the echoes of distant mountains prolong the quavering cry of the loon ; when weather- stained rocks are plumed with the fiery crimson of the sumach, the claret hues of young oaks, the amber and scarlet of the maple, and the sober purple of the ash ; or when gleams of sunlight, shot aslant through the rents of cool autumnal clouds, chase fitfully along the glowing sides of painted mountains. Amid this gorgeous euthanasia of the dying season, the three hundred boats and canoes trailed in long procession up the lake, threaded the labyrinth of the Narrows, — that sylvan fairy-land of tufted islets and quiet waters, — and landed at length where Fort William Heniy was afterwards built.1
About a hundred miles of forests, swamps, rivers, and mountains still lay between them and the Mohawk towns. There seems to have been an Indian path, for this was the ordinary route of the Mohawk and Oneida war-parties; but the path was narrow, broken, full of gullies and pitfalls, crossed
1 Carte . . . des pays traversez par MM. de Tracy et Courcelle, etc
254 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666.
by streams, and in one place interrupted by a lake which they passed on rafts. A hundred and ten "Blue Coats," of Montreal, led the way, under Charles Le Moyne; Repentigny commanded the levies from Quebec. In all there were six hundred Canadians, six hundred regulars, and a hundred Indians from the missions, who ranged the woods in front, flank, and rear, like hounds on the scent. Red or white, Canadians or regulars, all were full of zeal. "It seems to them," writes Mother Mary, " that they are going to lay siege to Paradise, and win it and enter in, because they are fighting for religion and the faith."1 Their ardor was rudely tried. Officers as well as men carried loads at their backs, whence ensued a large blister on the shoulders of the Chevalier de Chaumont, in no way used to such burdens. Tracy, old, heavy, and infirm, was inop- portunely seized with the gout. A Swiss soldier tried to carry him on his shoulders across a rapid stream ; but midway his strength failed, and he was barely able to deposit his ponderous load on a rock. A Huron came to his aid, and bore Tracy safely to the farther bank. Courcelle was attacked with cramps, and had to be carried for a time like his commander. Provisions gave out, and ' men and officers grew faint with hunger. The Montreal soldiers had for chaplain a sturdy priest, Dollier de Casson, as large as Tracy and far stronger; for the incredible story is told of him that when in good 1 Marie de 1'Incarnation, Lettre du 16 Oct., 1666.
1666.] THE MOHAWK TOWNS. 255
condition he could hold two men seated on his extended hands.1 Now, however, he was equal to no such exploit, being not only deprived of food, but also of sleep, by the necessity of listening at night to the confessions of his pious flock; and his shoes, too, had failed him, nothing remaining but the upper leather, which gave him little comfort among the sharp stones. He bore up manfully, being by nature brave and light-hearted; and when a servant of the Jesuits fell into the water, he threw off his cassock and leaped after him. His strength gave out, and the man was drowned; but a grateful Jesuit led him aside, and requited his efforts with a morsel of bread.2 A wood of chestnut-trees full of nuts at length stayed the hunger of the famished troops.
It was Saint Theresa's day when they approached the lower Mohawk town. A storm of wind and rain set in; but, anxious to surprise the enemy, they pushed on all night amid the moan and roar of the forest, — over slippery logs, tangled roots, and oozy mosses, under dripping boughs and through saturated bushes. This time there was no want of good guides; and when in the morning they issued from the forest, they saw, amid its cornfields, the palisades of the Indian stronghold. They had two small pieces of cannon brought from the lake by relays of men, but they did not stop to use them. Their twenty
1 Grandet, Notice manuscrite sur Dollier de Casson, extract given by J. Viger in appendix to Histoire du Montreal (Montreal, 1868). 8 Dollier de Casson, Histoire du Montreal, A. D. 1665, 1666.
256 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666.
drums beat the charge, and they advanced to seize the place by coup-de-main. Luckily for them, a panic had seized the Indians: not that they were taken by surprise, for they had discovered the approaching French, and, two days before, had sent away their women and children in preparation for a desperate fight; but the din of the drums, which they took for so many devils in the French service, and the armed men advancing from the rocks and thickets in files that seemed interminable, so wrought on the scared imagination of the warriors that they fled in terror to their next town, a short distance above. Tracy lost no time, but hastened in pursuit. A few Mohawks were seen on the hills, yelling and firing too far for effect. Repentigny, at the risk of his scalp, climbed a neighboring height, and looked down on the little army, which seemed so numerous as it passed beneath, "that," writes the superior of the Ur- sulines, " he told me that he thought the good angels must have joined with it: whereat he stood amazed." The second town or fort was taken as easily as the first; so, too, were the third and the fourth. The Indians yelled, and fled without killing a man ; and still the troops pursued, following the broad trail which led from town to town along the valley of the Mohawk. It was late in the afternoon when the fourth town was entered,1 and Tracy thought
1 Marie de 1'Incarnatlon says that there were four towns in all. I follow the Acte de prise de possession, made on the spot Fire are here mentioned.
1666.] VICTORY. 257
that his work was done; but an Algonquin squaw who had followed her husband to the war, and who had once been a prisoner among the Mohawks, told him that there was still another above. The sun was near its setting, and the men were tired with their pitiless marching; but again the order was given to advance. The eager squaw showed the way, holding a pistol in one hand and leading Courcelle with the other; and they soon came in sight of Andaraque", the largest and strongest of the Mohawk forts. The drums beat with fury, and the troops prepared to attack; but there were none to oppose them. The scouts sent forward reported that the warriors had fled. The last of the savage strong- holds was in the hands of the French.
"God has done for us," says Mother Mary, "what he did in ancient days for his chosen people, — strik- ing terror into our enemies, insomuch that we were victors without a blow. Certain it is that there is miracle in all this ; for if the Iroquois had stood fast, they would have given us a great deal of trouble and caused our army great loss, seeing how they were fortified and armed, and how haughty and bold they are."
The French were astonished as they looked about them. These Iroquois forts were very different from those that Jogues had seen here twenty years before, or from that which in earlier times set Champlain and his Hurons at defiance. The Mohawks had had counsel and aid from their Dutch friends,
17
258 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666.
and nrliiptod t.hftir nAVftgQ_jfofanflflft fa ftie HllcS OJ^
Europeanjirt^ Andaraqud was a quadrangleformed of a triple palisade, twenty feet high, and flanked by four bastions. Large vessels of bark filled with water were placed on the platforms of the palisade for defence against fire. The dwellings which these fortifications enclosed were in many cases built of wood, though the form and arrangement of the primitive bark-lodge of the Iroquois seems to have been preserved. Some of the wooden houses were a hundred and twenty feet long, with fires for eight or nine families. Here, and in subterranean caches, was stored a prodigious quantity of Indian-corn and other provisions; and all the dwellings were sup- plied with carpenters' tools, domestic utensils, and many other appliances of comfort.
The only living things in Andaraque*, when the French entered, were two old women, a small boy, and a decrepit old man, who, being frightened by the noise of the drums, had hidden himself under a canoe. From them the victors learned that the Mohawks, retreating from the other towns, had gathered here, resolved to fight to the last: but at sight of the troops their courage failed, and the chief was first to run, crying out, "Let us save ourselves, brothers! the whole world is coming against us ! "
A cross was planted, and at its side the royal arms. The troops were drawn up in battle array, when Jean Baptiste du Bois, an officer deputed by
1666.] ENGLISH JEALOUSY. 259
Tracy, advancing sword in hand to the front, pro- claimed in a loud voice that he took possession in the name of the King of all the country of the Mohawks; and the troops shouted three times, Vive le fioi.1
That night a mighty bonfire illumined the Mohawk forests; and the scared savages from their hiding- places among the rocks saw their palisades, their dwellings, their stores of food, and all their posses- sions turned to cinders and ashes. The two old squaws captured in the town threw themselves in despair into the flames of their blazing homes. When morning came, there was nothing left of Andaraqu6 but smouldering embers, rolling their pale smoke against the painted background of the October woods. Te Deum was sung and mass said ; and then the victors began their backward march, — burning, as they went, all the remaining forts, with all their hoarded stores of corn, except such as they needed for themselves. If they had failed to destroy their enemies in battle, they hoped that winter and famine would do the work of shot and steel.
While there was distress among the Mohawks, there was trouble among their English neighbors, wbo^claimed as their own the country which Tracy_ frad invaded. The English authorities were" the more disquieted, because they feared that the lately conquered Dutch might join hands with the French
1 Acte de prise de possession, 17 Oct., 1666,
260 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1«66.
against them. When Nicolls, governor of New York, heard of Tracy's advance, he wrote to the governors of the New England colonies, begging rtipjn j^~^mTT-4vW-»^T]ftkj,he FrenclFinvaders, and urging that if Tracy's force were destroyed or captured", the conquest of Canada would be an easy task. There was" war at the time between the Trwo Crowns; and the British court had already enter- tained this project of conquest, and sent orders to its colonies to that effect. But the New England governors — ill prepared for war, and fearing that
their Indian neighbors*. .whoTjseie^ enemies of the Mohawks, might take part with the French — hesi- tated to act, and the affair ended in a correspondence, ciyjl_if_jiQt_sincere, between Nicolls and Tracy.1 The trpaty n^ Rr-^dRy in the following year, secured peace for a time between the rival colonies.
The return of Tracy was less fortunate than his advance. The rivers, swollen by autumn rains, were difficult to pass; and in crossing Lake Cham- plain two canoes were overset in a storm, and eight men were drowned. From St. Anne, a new fort built early in the summer on Isle La Motte, near the northern end of the lake, he sent news of his success to Quebec, where there was great rejoicing and a solemn thanksgiving. Signs and prodigies had not been wanting to attest the interest of the upper and nether powers in the crusade against the myrmidons
1 See the correspondence in N. Y. Col. Doci.t iii. 118-156. Com- pare ffutchiruon Collection, 407 and Matt. Hist. Coll., xyiii. 102.
1666.] THE CURE OF ST. ANNE. 261
of hell. At one of the forts on the Richelieu, " the soldiers," says Mother Mary, "were near dying of fright. They saw a great fiery cavern in the sky, and from this cavern came plaintive voices mixed with frightful howlings. Perhaps it was the demons, enraged because we had depopulated a country where they had been masters so long, and had said mass and sung the praises of God in a place where there had never before been anything but foulness and abomination."
Tracy had at first meant to abandon Fort St. Anne; but he changed his mind after returning to Quebec. Meanwhile the season had grown so late that there was no time to send proper supplies to the garrison. Winter closed, and the place was not only ill-provisioned, but was left without a priest. Tracy wrote to the superior of the Sulpitians at Montreal to send one without delay ; but the request was more easily made than fulfilled, for he forgot to order an escort, and the way was long and dangerous. The stout-hearted Dollier de Casson was told, how- ever, to hold himself ready to go at the first oppor- tunity. His recent campaigning had left him in no condition for braving fresh hardships, for he was nearly disabled by a swelling on one of his knees. By way of cure he resolved to try a severe bleeding, and the Sangrado of Montreal did his work so thoroughly that his patient fainted under his hands. As he returned to consciousness, he became aware that two soldiers had entered the room. They told
262 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1666.
him that they were going in the morning to Chambly, which was on the way to St. Anne ; and they invited him to go with them. "Wait till the day after to-morrow," replied the priest, "and I will try." The delay was obtained; and on the day fixed the party set out by the forest path to Chambly, a dis- tance of about four leagues. When they reached it, Dollier de Casson was nearly spent; but he concealed his plight from the commanding officer, and begged an escort to St. Anne, some twenty leagues farther. As the officer would not give him one, he threatened to go alone, on which ten men and an ensign were at last ordered to conduct him. Thus attended, he resumed his journey after a day's rest. One of the soldiers fell through the ice, and none of his com- rades dared help him. Dollier de Casson, making the sign of the cross, went to his aid, and, more successful than on the former occasion, caught him and pulled him out. The snow was deep; and the priest, having arrived in the preceding summer, had never before worn snow-shoes, while a sack of cloth- ing, and his portable chapel which he carried at his back, joined to the pain of his knee and the effects of his late bleeding, made the march a purgatory.
He was sorely needed at Fort St Anne. There was pestilence in the garrison. Two men had just died without absolution, while more were at the point of death, and praying for a priest. Thus it happened that when the sentinel descried far off, on the ice of Lake Champlain, a squad of soldiers
1866.] THE CURfi OF ST. ANNE. 263
approaching, and among them a black cassock, every officer and man not sick or on duty came out with one accord to meet the new-comer. They over- whelmed him with welcome and with thanks. One took his sack, another his portable chapel, and they led him in triumph to the fort. First he made a short prayer, then went his rounds among the sick, and then came to refresh himself with the officers. Here was La Motte de la Lucie"re, the commandant; La Durantaye, a name destined to be famous in Canadian annals ; and a number of young subalterns. The scene was no strange one to Dollier de Casson, for he had been an officer of cavalry in his time, and fought under Turenne;1 a good soldier, without doubt, at the mess table or in the field, and none the worse a priest that he had once followed the wars. He was of a lively humor, given to jests and mirth; as pleasant a father as ever said Benedicite. The soldier and the gentleman still lived under the cas- sock of the priest. He was greatly respected and beloved; and his influence as a peace-maker, which he often had occasion to exercise, is said to have been remarkable. When the time demanded it, he could use arguments more cogent than those of moral suasion. Once, in a camp of Algonquins, when, as he was kneeling in prayer, an insolent savage came to interrupt him, the father, without rising, knocked the intruder flat by a blow of his fist; and the other
1 Grandet, Notice manuscrite sur Dollier de Casson, extracts from copy in possession of the late Jacques Viger.
264 THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED. [1866.
Indians, far from being displeased, were filled with admiration at the exploit.1
His cheery temper now stood him in good stead; for there was dreary work before him, and he was not the man to flinch from it. The garrison of St. Anne had nothing to live on but salt pork and half- spoiled flour. Their hogshead of vinegar had sprung a leak, and the contents had all oozed out. They had rejoiced in the supposed possession of a reason- able stock of brandy ; but they soon discovered that the sailors, on the voyage from France, had emptied the casks and filled them again with salt-water. The scurvy broke out with fury. In a short time, forty out of the sixty men became victims of the loathsome malady. Day or night, Dollier de Casson and Forestier, the equally devoted young surgeon, had no rest. The surgeon's strength failed, and the priest was himself slightly attacked with the disease. Eleven men died ; and others languished for want of help, for their comrades shrank from entering the infected dens where they lay. In their extremity some of them devised an ingenious expedient. Though they had nothing to bequeath, they made wills in which they left imaginary sums of money to those who had befriended them; and thenceforth they found no lack of nursing.
In the intervals of his labors, Dollier de Casson would run to and fro for warmth and exercise on a
1 Grandet, Notice manutcrite sur Dollier de Cation, cited by Fail- Ion, Colonie Franeaite, in. 395, 396.
1666-67.] JESUITS AND IROQUOIS. 265
certain track of beaten snow, between two of the bastions, reciting his breviary as he went, so that those who saw him might have thought him out of his wits. One day La Motte called out to him as he was thus engaged, "Eh, Monsieur le cure", if the Iroquois should come, you must defend that bastion. My men are all deserting me, and going over to you and the doctor." To which the father replied, "Get me some litters with wheels, and I will bring them out to man my bastion. They are brave enough now; no fear of their running away." With banter like this, they sought to beguile their miseries ; and thus the winter wore on at Fort St. Anne.1
Early in spring they saw a troop of Iroquois approaching, and prepared as well as they could to make fight ; but the strangers proved to be ambassa- dors of peace. The destruction of the Mohawk towns had produced a deep effect, not on that nation alone, but also on the other four members of the league. They were disposed to confirm the promises of peace which they had already made; and Tracy had spurred their good intentions by sending them a message that unless they quickly presented them- selves at Quebec, he would hang all the chiefs whom he had kept prisoners after discovering their treach-
1 The above curious incidents are told by Dollier de Casson, in his ffistoire du Montreal, preserved in manuscript in the Mazarin Library at Paris. He gives no hint that the person in question was himself, but speaks of him as un ecclesiastique. His identity is, however, made certain by internal evidence, by a passage in the Notice of Grandet, and by other contemporary allusions.
266
THE MOHAWKS CHASTISED.
[1607.
ery in the preceding summer. The threat had i effect : deputies of the One^da^Piimidagas, Cayugas, s^ancl^Senecaspresently arrived in a tempeToTlBgfitting h^m^jty.^^tHIIHQ^s5iIjKec$__at^fir8t _afraid to come, but in April they sent the Flemish Bastard with overtures of peace, and in July a large deputed tion of their chiefs appeared at Quebec. They and the j-estUeit 8<^5_ofthe^fan4ilies_ as hostages, anc £-a«yta>Qf_Jl^hfc^^}ei)ple---slteu^d>Jtill £
Frenchman, they wouH givft
They begged, too, for blacksmiths, surgeons, ane Jesuits to live among them. The presence of thi Jesuits in their towns was in many ways an advan tage to them; while to the colony it was of th greatest importance. Not only was conversion
regarded as the besVmeans o attaching the Indians
tjiem fromjjie EnglisH>J)ut the^Jesuits living in th mids^tof thejncould influence^eyeii^hose whom the1 _CQuhl not convert, soothe rising jealousies, counter act English intrigues, and keep the rulers of th colony informed of all that was passing in th Iroquois towns. Thus, half Christian missionaries half political agents, the Jesuits prepared to resum the hazardous mission of the Iroquois. Fre'min an Pierron were ordered to the Mohawks, Bruyas t the Oneidas, and three others were named for th
* iMtrt du Pere Jean Pierron, de la Compagnie de Jesus, escrlpK de la Motte [Fort Ste. Anne] tur le lac Champlain, le 12m« J'aotu 1667.
1667.]
TRACY'S EXPEDITION.
267
remaining three nations of the league. The troops had made the peace ; the Jesuits were the rivets to hold it fast, — and peace endured without absolute rupture for nearly twenty years. Of all the French
I expeditions against the Iroquois, that of Tracy was
.jthe most productive of good.
NOTE. — On Tracy's expedition against the Mohawks compare I Faillon, Histoire de la Colonie Franfaise au Canada, iii.
CHAPTER XV.
1665-1672. PATERNAL GOVERNMENT.
TALON. — RESTRICTION AND MONOPOLY. — VIEWS OF COLBERT.— POLITICAL GALVANISM. — A FATHER OF THE PEOPLE.
TRACY'S work was done, and he left Canada with the glittering noblesse in his train. Courcelle and Talon remained to rule alone; and now the great experiment was begun. Paternal royalty would try its hand at building up a colony, and Talon was its chosen agent. His appearance did him no justice. The regular contour of his oval face, about which fell to his shoulders a cataract of curls, natural or supposititious; the smooth lines of his well-formed features, brows delicately arched, and a mouth more suggestive of feminine sensibility than of masculine force, — would certainly have misled the disciple of Lavater.1 Yet there was no want of manhood in him. He was most happily chosen for the task placed in his hands, and from first to last approved himself a vigorous executive officer. He was a true
1 His portrait is at the Hotel Dieu of Quebec. An engraving from it will be found in the third volume of Shea's Charlevoix.
1665-72.] RESTRICTION ANQ JvJ>NOPOLY. 269
disciple of Colbert, formed h^ hi? •school and animated by his spirit. >u . '»> ;^
Being on the spot, lie tfasv better able tlian bis master to judge the workhi^-of'-tfre new order of things. With regard to the company, he writes that "" it will profit by impoverishing the colony; that its monopolies ^^Epar'tffrr-ffrH jjHiipliJ and paraTyze"enter- prise; that it is thwarting the intentions of the King, who wishes trade to be encouraged; and that if its exclusive privileges are maintained, Canada in ten years will be less populous than now.1 But Colbert clung to his plan, though he wrote in reply that to satisfy the colonists he had persuaded the company to forego the monopolies for a year.2 As this proved, insufficient, the company wan n,t length forcejLlo give up j lormanently its right of exclusive trade^-still exacting its share of beaver and moose skills. .This' 'wad its chief source of profit; it beg] vory sou deducted from it for charges of
governmt I the King was constantly obliged to
do at his oxvn cost that which the company should . £r have done. In one point it showed a ceaseless activ- &? -^-.^f ity; and this- WAS the levying of duties, in which it fj was ne-V'3^ k»9wn to fail.
Tra4]e,<^^^Bkfter its exercise was permitted, was continually v.-.v <1 l>y tlic Land of authority. One of TracyV' first measures had been to issue a decree redtUii'j.g the juice of wheat one half. The council
f l Talon a Colbert, 4 Oct., 1665. I * Colbert a Talon, 5 Avrll, 1666,
270 PATERNAL GOVERNMENT. [1665-7a
took up the work oa . regulation, and fixed the price of all imported goods in three several tariffs, — one for Queltec, one for TJfhree Rivers, and one for Montreal.1 It rifcy TvHl IK- In-lieved that there was in Canada little capital and little enterprise. Indus- trially and commercially, the colony was almost dead. Talon set himself to galvanize it; and if one man could have supplied the intelligence and energy of a whole community, the results would have been triumphant.
He had received elaborate instructions, and they indicate an ardent wish for the prosperity of Canada. Colbert had written to him that the true means to strengthen the colony was to " cause justice to reign, establish a good police, protect the iukiLUants, dis- cipline them against enemies, and j for them peace, repose, and plenty. " 2 " A nd a*. '•*> ttfft minister further says, "the King regards hi», Oatiftdian sub- jects, from the highest Co the lnwMtf>«]nfott ;IS l»i» own children, and wishes them utlly with the people of France the mildness and Jiapptiess of his reign, the Sieur Talon will study 40 sotae them in all things, .and encouragp tln-ni to ' "ifcH- and^ industry. And, seeing that nothing «fatf lieljter j»n>- mote this end than. entering into tin- details 01 their households and of all their little affaiittk tfill not be amiss that he visit all their settlements ( other in order to learn their true condii .riile
xv l Tarifif of Prices, in A'. Y. Colonial D^s. ix. 36.
, • Colbert a Talon, 6 Avril, 1666.
1665-72.] ACTIVITY OF TALON. 271
as much as possible for their wants, and, performing the duty of a good head of a family, put them in the way of making some profit." The intendant was also told to encourage fathers to inspire their children with piety, together with " profound love and respect for the royal person of his Majesty. " 1
Talon entered on his work with admirable zeal. fo/
•**¥%>**'
Sometimes he used authority, sometimeg_persuasion, sometimes promises of reward. Sometimes, again, he tried the force of example. Thus he built a ship to show the people how to do it, and rouse them to imitation.2 Three or four years later, the experi- ment was repeated. This time it was at the cost of the King, who applied the sum of forty thousand livres 3 to the double purpose of promoting the art of
/ ship-building, and saving the colonists from vagrant
habits by giving them employment. Talon wrote
that three hundred and fifty men had been supplied
that summer with work at the charge of government.*
He despatched two engineers to search for coal,
/lead, iron, copper, and other minerals. Important discoveries of iron were made; but three generations were destined to pass before the mines were success- fully worked.5 The copper of Lake Superior raised
i Instruction au Sieur Talon, 27 Mars, 1665.
a Talon a Colbert, Octobre, 1067 ; Colbert a Talon, 20 Ftv., 1668.
» Dfj&he de Colbert, 11 Ffv., 1671.
* Talon a Colbert, 2 Nov., 1671.
' Charleroix speaks of these mines as having been forgotten for seventy years, and rediscovered in his time. After passing through various hands, they were finally worked on the King's account.
272 PATERNAL GOVERNMENT. [1666-72.
the intendant's hopes for a time, but he was soon forced to the conclusion that it was too remote to be of practical value. He labored vigorously to develop ^rts and manufactures; made a barrel of tar, and sent" it to Inciting as a specimen; caused some of the colonists to make cloth of the wool of the sheep which the King had sent out; encouraged others to establish a tannery, and also a factory of hats and of shoes. The Sieur FoilaT was induced by the grant ~of~a monopoly to' begin the making of soap and <}T potash.1 Tfae^egplewere^ onterod In gruw iremp,* and urged to gather the 'nettles of the country as material for cordage; and the Ursulines were sup- plied with flax and wool, in order that they might teach_girls _tg__\K£ave_and spin.
Talon was especially anxious to establish trade between Canada and the West Indies ; and, to make a beginning, he freighted the vessel he had built with f> salted cod, salmon, eels, pease, fish-oil, staves, and j planks, and sent her thither to exchange her cargo for i SJigar, which she wasun^turn_Ja_jBX£^iajige_ig_-Erance
f* **\
jjjr fpj goods suited for the Canadian market.8 Another favorite object with him was the fishery jof-seals and ^j white porpoises for the sake of their oil; and some oftne^diief merchants were urged to undertake it, as well as the establishment of stationary_£od-fisheries along the Lower St. Lawrence. But, witJi every
1 Registre du Coriseil Souverain. * Marie de 1'Incarnation, Choix det Lettres de, 371 V ' Le Merrier, Rd. 1607, 3; Dtpechet de Talon.
1665-72.] POLICY OF TALON. 273
encouragement, many years passed before this valu- able industry was placed on a firm basis. Talon saw with concern
wine and brandy^among the settlers, costing them, as he wrote to Colbert, a hundred thousand livres a year; and to keep this money in the colony, he declared his intention of_buildmg-_aJbr£W£rvJ. The minister ' approved the plan, not only on economic grounds, but because " the vice of drunkenness would thereafter cause no more scandal by reason of the cold nature of beer, the vapors whereof rarely deprive men of the use of judgment."1 The brewery was accordingly i built, to the great satisfaction of the poorer colonists. Nor did the active intendant fail to acquit himself of the duty of domiciliary visits, enjoined upon him by the royal instructions, — a point on which he was of one mind with his superiors, for he writes that god in LhiA tuunhij »,ilh hia Mujtalji's '
^affairs are under a strict obligation to an for
Hp.fo.il f)f , jfc,fl||j||f»a-"» AftnmvKngty 'WA loam from
Mother Juchereau that "he studied with the affec- tion of a father how to succor the poor and cause the colony to grow; entered into the minutest particu- lars; visited the houses of the inhabitants, and caused them to visit him; learned what crops each one was raising ; taught those whd had wheat to sell it at a profit, helped those who had none, and encouraged everybody." And Dollier de Casson
» Colbert a Talon, 20 Ffv., 1668. * Mfmoire de 1667. 18
274 PATERNAL GOVERNMENT. [1665-72.
represents him as visiting in turn every house at Montreal, and giving aid from the King to such as needed it.1 Horses, cattle, sheep, and other domestic animals were sent out at the roa
able numbers, and distributed gratuitously, with an order that none of the young should be killed till the country was sufficiently stocked. Large quantities of goods were also sent from the same high quarter. Some of these were distributed as gifts, and the rest bartered for corn to supply the troops. As the intendant perceived that the farmers lost much time
, in coming from their distant clearings to buy neces- saries at Quebec, he caused his agents to furnish them with the King's goods at their own houses, — to the great annoyance of the merchants of Quebec, who complained that their accustomed trade was thus forestalled.2
These were not the only cares which occupied the mind of Talon. He tried to open a road across the country to "Acadia, — an almost impossible task, in which he and his successors completely failed. Under his auspices, Albanel penetrated to Hudson's Bay, and Saint-Lusson took possession in the King's name of the country of the Upper Lakes. It was
| Talon, in short, who prepared the way for the remarkable series of explorations described in another work.8 Again and again he urged upon Colbert and
1 Hittoirr. dn Montreal, A.D. 1666, 1667.
a Talon a Colbert, 10 Nov., 1670.
• " L* Salic, and the Discovery of the Great West"
1665-72.] TALON'S FIDELITY. 275
the King a measure from which, had it taken effect, mo- mentous consequences must have sprung. This was the purchase or seizure of New York, — involving the isolation of New England, the subjection of the Iroquois, and the undisputed control of half the continent.
Great as were his opportunities of abusing his trust, it does not appear that he took advantage of them. He held lands and houses in Canada,1 owned the brewery which he had established, and embarked in various enterprises of productive industry; but, so far as I can discover, he is nowhere accused of making illicit gains, and there is reason to believe that he acquitted himself of his charge with entire fidelity.2 His health failed in 1668, and for this and other causes he asked for his recall. Colbert granted it with strong expressions of regret; and when, two years later, he resumed the intendancy, the colony seems to have welcomed his return.
1 In 1682, the Intendant Meules, in a despatch to the minister, makes a statement of Talon's property in Quebec. The chief itenu are the brewery and a house of some value on the descent of Mountain Street. He owned, also, the valuable seigniory, after- wards barony, Des Islets, in the immediate neighborhood.
8 Some imputations against him, not of much weight, are, how- ever, made in a memorial of Ajbert de la Chesnaye, a merchant of Quebec.
CHAPTER XVI.
1661-1673. MARRIAGE AND POPULATION.
SHIPMENT OF EMIGRANTS. — SOLDIER SETTLERS. — IMPORTATION OF WIVES. — WEDLOCK. — SUMMARY METHODS. — THE MOTHERS OF CANADA. — BOUNTIES ON MARRIAGE. — CELIBACY PUNISHED. — BOUNTIES ON CHILDREN. — RESULTS.
. JK THE peopling of Canada was due in the main to
v the King. Before the accession of Louis XIV. the
yPc°' entire population — priests, nuns, traders, and settlers
— did not exceed twenty-five hundred ; 1 but scarcely
had he reached his majority when the shipment of
^t men to the colony was systematically begun. Even
in Argenson's time, loads of emigrants sent out by
the Crown were landed every yearinr"Quebec. The
Sulpitiiins of Montivnl also brought ovt-r colonists to
I>eople their_seigniprial estate ; the same was true on a
small scale of one or two other proprietors, and once
at least the company sent a considerable number: yet
«xthe government was the chief agent of emigration.
^ Colbert did the work, and the King paid for it.
In 1661, Laval wrote to the cardinals of the Propa- ganda that during the past two years the King luul spent two hundred thousand livres on the colony;
1 Le Clerc, titablissement de la J-'oy, ii. 4.
1661-65-] EMIGRANTS. 277
that since 1659 he had sent out three hundre^ man a. year; and that he had promised to send an equal number every summer during ten years.1 These men , were sent by squads in merchant-ships, each
** •*• ^eMMM'.^BMMMMMMMMVMT
one of which was required to carry a certain number. In many instances, emigrants~were bound QJLJtfieir arrival to enter into the service of colonists already .established? In this case the employer paid them wages, and af ter_ate^nn>tic^<^hiea*ye»g»' • 4hey became X settlers themselves.2
The destined emigrants were collected by agents in the provinces, conducted to Dieppe or Rochelle, and thence embarked. At first men were sent from Rochelle itself, and its neighborhood; but Laval
remonstrated, fWlarjflg t,hat, >m win tod rmng--frnm
that, ancient stronghold of heresy.3 The people of Rochelle, indeed, found no favor in Canada. Another writer describes them as " persons of little conscience, and almost no religion," — adding that the Normans, Percherons, Picards, and peasants of the neighbor- hood of Paris are docile, industrious, and far more pious. "It is important," he concludes, "in begin- ning a new colony, to sow good seed."4 It was, accordingly, from the northwestern provinces thafr A. most of the emigrants were drawn.6 They seem in
1 Leitretfe Lural tnrvi/6 <; ROUU-, 21 Oct., 1661 (extract in Faillon from Archives of the Propaganda).
2 Marie de 1'Incarnation, 18 Aout, 1664. These engages were sometimes also brought over by private persons.
8 Colbert a Laval, 18 Mars, 1664. 4 Mfmoire de 1664 (anonymous). ' See a paper by Garneau in Le National of Quebec, 28 Oct,
278 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1665-72.
the main to have been a decent peasantry, though writers who from their position should have been well informed have denounced them in unmeasured terms.1 Some of them could read and write, and some brought with them a little money.
Talon WM nonstanfly lagging fnr ™qrf» Tnf>p| **]]
Louis XIV. at. length took alarm. ColLert replied to the over-zealous " intendant that the- King did not think it ^expedient to depojpulate i France in order to people Canada ; that he wanted men for his armies ; and that the colony must rely chiefly on increase from within. Still the shipments did not cease; and, even while tempering the ardor of his agent, the
1866, embodying the results of research among the papers of the early notaries of Quebec. The chief emigration was from Paris, Normandy, Poitou, Pays d'Aunis, Brittany, and Picardy. Nearly all those from Paris were sent by the King from houses of charity.
1 " Une f oule d'aventuriers, ramasse's au hazard en France, presque tous de la lie du peuple, la plupart obere's de dettes ou charges de crimes," etc. (La Tour, Vie de Laval, liv. iv.) "Levice a oblige' la plupart de chercher ce pays comme un asile pour se mettre a couvert de leurs crimes." (Meules, De'jxche de 1682.) Meules was intendant in that year. Marie de 1'Incarnation, after speaking of the emigrants as of a very mixed character, says that it would have been far better to send a few who were good Christians, rather than so many who give so much trouble. Lettre du — Octobre, 1669.
Le Clerc, on the other hand, is emphatic in praise, calling the early colonists " tres honnetes gens, ayant de la probite, de la droiture, et de la religion. . . . L'on a examine et choisi lea habi- tants, et renvoye* en France les personnes vicieuses." If, he adds, any such were left, " ils effar-aient glorieusement par leur penitence les taches de leur premiere condition." Chancvoix is almost as strong in praise as La Tour in censure. Both of them wrote in the next century. We shall have means hereafter of judging between these conflicting statement*.
1665-72.] SOLDIER SETTLERS. 279
King gave another proof how much he had the growth of Canada at heart.1
The regiment of Carignan-Sali^res had been ordered home, with the exception of four companies kept in garrison,2 and a considerable number discharged in order to become settlers. Of those who returned, six companles~we^e a year or two later sent back, . discharged in their turn, and converted into colonists. \ Neither men nor officers were positively constrained to remain in Canada; but the officers were told that if they wished to please his Majesty this was the way to do so ; and both they and the men were stimulated by promises and rewards. Fifteen hundred livres were given to La MotteV because he had married in le country and meant to remain there. Six thou- ind livres were assigned to other officers because icy had followed, or were about to follow, La [otte's example; and twelve thousand were set ipart to be distributed to the soldiers under similar conditions.3 Each soldier who consented to remain ^— ^ and settle was promised a grajit_oj_lajid and a huns dred livres in money; or, if he preferred it, fifty livres with provisions for a year. Thig^jmlitaiy « I/ colonization had a strong and lasting influence on '/ the character of ~th"e~~Omadiau people,
1 The King had sent out more emigrants than he had promised, to judge from the census reports during the years 1666, 1667, and 1668. The total population for those years is 3418, 4312, and 5870, respectively. A small part of this growth may be set down to emigration not under government auspices, and a large part to natural increase, — which was enormous at this time, from causes
I Inch will soon appear, a Colbert a Talon, 20 Ftv., 1668. • Ibid.
280 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1665-72
But if the colony was to grow from within, the new settlers must have wives. For some years past the Sulpitians had sent out young women for the supply of Montreal ; and the King, on a larger scale, contin- ued the benevolent work. Girls for the colony were taken from the hospitals of Paris and of Lyons, which were not so much hospitals for the sick as houses of refuge for the poor. Mother Mary writes in 1665 that a hundred had come that summer, and were nearly all provided with husbands, and that two hundred more were to come next year. The case was urgent, for the demand was great. Complaints, however, were soon heard that women from cities made indifferent partners ; and peasant girls, healthy, strong, and accustomed to field-work, were demanded in their place. Peasant girls were therefore sent ; but this was not all. Officers as well as men wanted wives ; and Talon asked for a consignment of young ladies. His request was promptly answered. In 1667, he writes : " They send us eighty-four girls from Dieppe and twenty-five from Rochelle ; among them are fifteen or twenty of pretty good birth ; several of them are really demoiselles, and tolerably well brought up." They complained of neglect and hardship during the voyage. " I shall do what I can to soothe their discon- tent," adds the intendant; "for if they write to their correspondents at home how ill they have been treated, it would be an obstacle to your plan of sending us next year a number of select young ladies." 1
» "Des demoisellei bien choisies." — Talon a Colbert, 27 Oct., 1667.
1685-72.] ASPERSIONS OF LA HONTAN. 281
Three years later we find him asking for three 01 four more in behalf of certain bachelor officers. The response surpassed his utmost wishes ; and he wrote again : " It is not expedient to send more demoiselles. I have had this year fifteen of them, instead of the four I asked for."1
As regards peasant girls, the supply rarely equalled the demand. Count Frontenac, Courcelle's succes- sor, complained of the scarcity: "If a hundred and fifty girls and as many servants," he says, "had been sent out this year, they would all have found hus- bands and masters within a month."2
The character of these candidates for matrimony has not escaped the pen of slander. The caustic La Hontan, writing fifteen or twenty years after, draws the following sketch of the mothers of Canada: "After the regiment of Carignan was disbanded, ships were sent out freighted with girls of indiffer- ent virtue, under the direction of a few pious old duennas, who divided them into three classes. These vestals were, so to speak, piled one on the other in three different halls, where the bridegrooms
1 Talon a Colbert, 2 Nov., 1671.
2 Frontenac a Colbert, 2 Nov., 1672. This year only eleven girls had been sent. The scarcity was due to the indiscretion of Talon, who had written to the minister, that, as many of the old settlers had daughters just becoming marriageable, it would be well, in order that they might find husbands, to send no more girls from France at present.
The next year, 1673, the King writes, that, though he is involved in a great war, which needs all his resources, he has nevertheless sent sixty more girls.
282 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1665-71'.
chose their brides as a butcher chooses his sheep out of the midst of the flock. There was wherewith to content the most fantastical in these three harems; for here were to be seen the tall and the short, the blond and the brown, the plump and the lean ; every- body, in short, found a shoe to fit him. At the end of a fortnight not one was left. I am told that the plumpest were taken first, because it was thought that, being less active, they were more likely to keep at home, and that they could resist the winter cold better. Those who wanted a wife applied to the directresses, to whom they were obliged to make known their possessions and means of livelihood before taking from one of the three classes the girl whom they found most to their liking. The mar- riage was concluded forthwith, with the help of a priest and a notary; and the next day the governor- general caused the couple to be presented with an ox, a cow, a pair of swine, a pair of fowls, two barrels of salted meat, and eleven crowns in money.**1 As regards the character of the girls, there can be no doubt that this amusing sketch is, in the main, maliciously untrue. Since the colony began, it had been the practice to send back to France women of the class alluded to by La Hontan, as soon as they became notorious.1 Those who were not taken from
1 La Hontan, Nouveaux Voyages, i. 11 (1709). In some of the other editions the same account is given in different words, equally lirely and scandalous.
1 This is the statement of Boucher, a good authority. A case of the sort in 1658 it mentioned in the correspondence of Argenson.
1665-72.] THE MOTHERS OF CANADA.
283
institutions of charity usually belonged to the families of peasants overburdened with children, and glad to find the chance of establishing them.1 How some of them were obtained appears from a letter of Colbert to Harlay, Archbishop of Rouen. "As in the parishes about Rouen," he writes, "fifty or sixty girls might be found who would be very glad to go to Canada to be married, I beg you to employ your credit and authority with the cure's of thirty or forty of these parishes, to try to find in each of them one or two girls disposed to go voluntarily for the sake of a settlement in life."2
Mistakes nevertheless occurred. "Along with
Boucher says further, that an assurance of good character wa« raquired from the rel-*'™- nr f— *° nf thr rlrl whn WinhFfl T" "™-
bark. This refers to a period anterior to 1663, when Boucher wrote his book. Colbert evidently cared for no qualification except the capacity of maternity.
1 Temoignage de la Mere du Plessis de Sainte-Helene (extract in Faillon).
2 Colbert a I'Archeveque de Rouen, 27 F&., 1670.
That they were not always destitute may be gathered from a passage in one of Talon's letters : " Entre les filles qu'on fait passer ici il y en a qui ont de legitimes et considerables pre'tentions aux successions de leurs parents, meme entre celles qui sont tirees de 1'Hopital General." The General Hospital of Paris had recently been established (1650) as a house of refuge for the "Bohemians," or vagrants of Paris. The royal edict creating it says that " les pauvres mendiants et invalides des deux sexes y seraient enfermes pour estre employes aux manufactures et aultres travaux selon leur pouvoir." They were gathered by force in the streets by a body of special police, called "Archers de 1'Hopital." They resisted at first, and serious riots ensued. In 1662, the General Hospital of Paris contained 6262 paupers. See Clement, Histoire de Colbert, 113. Mother de Sainte-Helene says that the girls sent from this asylum had been there from childhood in charge of nuns.
284 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1065-72,
the honest people," complains Mother Mary, "comes a great deal of canaille of both sexes, who cause a great deal of scandal."1 After some of the young women had been married at Quebec, it was found that they had husbands at home. The priests became cautious in tying the matrimonial knot, and Colbert thereupon ordered that each girl should provide her- self with a certificate from the cur6 or magistrate of her parish to the effect that she was free to marry. Nor was the practical intendant unmindful of other precautions to smooth the path to the desired goal. "The girls destined for this country," he writes, "besides being strong and healthy, ought to be entirely free from any natural blemish or anything personally repulsive."2
Thus qualified canonically and physically, the annual consignment of young women was shipped to Quebec, in charge of a matron employed and paid by the King. Her task was not an easy one, for the troop under her care was apt to consist of what Mother Mary in a moment of unwonted levity calls "mixed goods."3 On one occasion the office was
1 " Beaucoup de canaille de 1'nn et 1'autre sexe qui causent beau- coup de scandale." — Lettre du — Octobre, 1609.
2 Talon a Colbert, 10 Nov., 1670.
* "Une marchandise mele"e." — Lettre du — 1668. In that year, 1668, the King spent 40,000 livres in the shipment of men and girls. In 10W), a hundred and fifty girls wi-n- si-nt ; in 1670, a hundred and sixty-five ; and Talon asks for a hundred and fifty or two hundred more to supply the soldiers who had got ready their houses and clearings, and were now prepared to marry. The total number of girls sent from 1666 to 1673, inclusive, was about a thousand.
1865-72.] THE MOTHERS OF CANADA. 285
undertaken by the pious widow of Jean Bourdon. Her flock of a hundred and fifty girls, says Mother Mary, " gave her no little trouble on the voyage ; for they are of all sorts, and some of them are very rude and hard to manage." Madame Bourdon was not daunted. She not only saw her charge distributed and married, but she continued to receive and care for the subsequent ship-loads as they arrived summer after summer. She was indeed chief among the pious duennas of whom La Hontan irreverently speaks. Marguerite Bonrgeoys did the same good offices for tne young women sent to Montreal. Here the "King's girls," as they were called, were all lodged together in a house to which the suitors repaired to make their selection. " I was obliged to live there myself," writes the excellent nun, "because families were to be formed; "J that is to say, because it was she who superintended these extemporized unions. Meanwhile she taught the girls their cate- chism, and, more fortunate than Madame Bourdon, inspired them with a confidence and affection which they retained long after.
At Quebec, where the matrimonial market was on a larger scale, a more ample bazaar was needed. That the girls were assorted into three classes, each penned up for selection in a separate hall, is a state- ment probable enough in itself, but resting on no better authority than that of La Hontan. Be this as it may, they were submitted together to the inspec-
1 Extract in Faillon, Colonie Fran$aise, iii. 214.
286 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1665-72.
tion of the suitor; and the awkward young peasant or the rugged soldier of Carignan was required to choose a bride without delay from among the anxious candidates. They, on their part, were permitted to reject any applicant who displeased them; and the first question, we are told, which most of them asked was whether the suitor had a house and a farm.
Great as was the call for wives, it was thought prudent to stimulate it. The new settler was at once enticed and driven into wedlock. Bounties were offered on early marriages. Twenty livres were given to each youth wjio paajripd before the age of t \\vnty, and to each girl who married before the age of sixteen.1 This, which was called the "King's gift," was exclusive of the dowry given by him. to every^ girl brought over by his orders. The dowry varied greatly inlorm an3 value ; but, according to Mother Mary, it was sometimes a house with pro- visions for eight months. More often it was fifty livres in household supplies, besides a barrel or two of salted meat. The royal solicitude extended also to the children of colonists already established. " I pray you," writes Colbert to Talon, "to commend it to the consideration of the whole people, that their prosperity, their subsistence, and all that is dear to them depend on a general resolution, never to be departed from, to marry youths at eighteen or nine- teen years and girls at fourteen or fifteen; since abundance can never come to them except through
1 Arrft du Conttil fEtat du Roy (see Edit* et Ordinances, i. 07)
1665-72.] CELIBACY PUNISHED. 287
the abundance of men." * This counsel was followed by appropriate action. Any father of a family who, without showing good cause, neglected to marry his children when they had reached the ages of twenty y and sixteen was fined ; 2 and each father thus delin- quent was required to present himself every six months to the local authorities to declare what reason, if any, he had for such delay.3 Orders were issued, a little before the arrival of the yearly ships from France, that all single men should marry within a fortnight after the landing of the prospective brides. No mercy was shown to the obdurate bachelor. Talon issued an order forbidding unmar- > ried men to hunt, fish, trade with the Indians, or go into the woods under any pretence whatsoever.4 In
> CMerfa Talon, 20 Ftv., 1668T~"
2 Arrets du Conseil d'tftat, 1669 (cited by Faillon) ; Arrtt du Conseil d'etat, 1670 (see fidits et Ordonnances, i. 67) ; Ordonnance du Roy, 6 Avril, 1669. See Clement, Instructions, etc. de Colbert, iii. 2me Partie, 657.
8 Registre du Conseil Souverain.
4 Talon au Ministre, 10 Oct., 1670. Colbert highly approves this order. Faillon found a case of its enforcement among the ancient records of Montreal. In December, 1670, Fra^ois Le Noir, an inhabitant of La Chine, was summoned before the judge, because, though a single man, he had traded with Indians at his own house He confessed the fact, but protested that he would marry within three weeks after the arrival of the vessels from France, or, failing to do so, that he would give a hundred and fifty livres to the church of Montreal, and an equal sum to the hospital. On this condition he was allowed to trade, but was still forbidden to go into the woods. The next year he kept his word, and married Marie Magde- leine Charbonnier, late of Paris.
The prohibition to go into the woods was probably intended to prevent the bachelor from finding a temporary Indian substitute for a French wife.
288 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1665-72.
short, they were made as miserable as possible. Colbert goes further. He writes to the intendant, " Those who may seem to have absolutely renounced marriage should be made to bear additional burdens, and be excluded from all honors; it would be well even to add some marks of infamy."1 The success of these measures was complete. "No sooner," says Mother Mary, "have the vessels arrived than the young men go to get wives; and, by reason of the great number, they are married by thirties at a time." Throughout the length and breadth of Canada, Hy- men, if not Cupid, was whipped into a frenzy of activ- ity. Dollier de Casson tells us of a widow who was married afresh before her late husband was buried.8
Nor was the fatherly care of the King confined to the humbler classes of his colonists. He wished to -i^oTm a Canadian noblesse, to which end early mar- riages were thought needful among officers and others of the better sort. The progress of such marriages was carefully watched and reported by the intendant. We have seen, the reward bestowed upon La Motte for taking to himself a wife, and the money set apart for the brother officers who imitated him. In his despatch of October, 1667, the intendant announces that two captains are already married to two damsels of the country; that a lieutenant has espoused a daughter of the governor of Three Rivers ; and that
1 " II serait a propos de leur augmenter lea charges, de les priver de toue honneurs, tneme d'y ajouter quelque marque d'infamie.** Lettre du 20 Ffv., 1068.
« Hiftoire du Montreal, A.D. 1671, 1672.
1665-72.] BOUNTIES ON CHILDREN. 289
" four ensigns are in treaty with their mistresses, and are already half engaged. " 1 The paternal care of gov- firnnripnt,., one, would tfajnk. nnnld ap.aro.p.ly gn forth p.p.
It did, however, go further. Bounties wore offered^- on children. » .The King, in council, passed a SeGTeff1" " that in future all inhabitants of the said country of Canada who shall have living children to the number of ten, born in lawful wedlock, not being priests, monks, or nuns, shall each be paid out of the moneys sent by his Majesty to the said country a pension of thrp.p. hnnr(rpf| ]jvrp.s a. ypR^ and those who shall have twelve children, a pension of Jour hundred livres; and that, to this effect, they shall be requirecT to declare the number of their children every year in the months of June or July to the intendant of justice, police, and finance, established in the said country, who, having verified the same, shall order the payment of said pensions^one-half in cash, and the other half at the end of each year."2 This was
1 "Quatre ensefghes sonTerfpb'OTpailSf avec leurs mattresses et gont dcja a demi engage's." (Depeche du 27 Oct., 1667.) The lieutenant was Rene Gaultier de Varennes, who on the 26th September, 1667, married Marie Bochart, daughter of the governor of Three Rivers, aged twelve years. One of the children of this marriage was Varennes de la Verendrye, whose son discovered the Rocky Mountains.
- Edit* et Ordonnances, i. 67. It was thought at this time that the Indians, mingled with the French, might become a valuable part of the population. The reproductive qualities of Indian women, there- fore, became an object of Talon's attention, and he reports that they impair their fertility by nursing their children longer than is necessary ; " but," he adds, " this obstacle to the speedy building up of the colony can be overcome by a police regulation." Mtmoirt tur I'titat Prisent du Canada, 1667.
Ill
290 MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. [1665-72.
applicable to all. Colbert had before offered a reward, intended specially for the better class, of twelve hundred livres to those who had fifteen children, and eight hundred to those who had ten. These wise encouragements, as the worthy Faillon calls them, were crowned with the desired result. A despatch of Talon in 1670 informs the minister that most of the young women sent out last summer are pregnant already; and in 1671 he announces that
/«~N\ X** — ^N
from 615) hundred to <sey_ejn hundred children have been born in the colony during the year, — a pro- digious number in view of the small population. The climate was supposed to be particularly favorable to the health of women, which is somewhat surpris- ing in view of recent American experience. "The first reflection I have to make," says. Dollier de Casson, "is on the advantage that women have in this place [Montreal] over men ; for though the cold is very wholesome to both sexes, it is incomparably more so to the female, who is almost immortal here." Her fecundity matched her longevity, and was the admiration of Talon and his successors, accustomed as they were to the scanty families of France.
Why with this great natural increase joined to an im- migration which, though greatly diminishing, did not entirely cease, was there not a corresponding increase n the population of the colony? Why, more than half a century after the King took Canada in charge, did the census show a total of less than twenty-five thousand souls ? The reasons will appear hereafter.
1665-72.] DECREASE OF EMIGRATION. 291
It is a peculiarity of Canadian immigration, at this its most flourishing epoch, that it was mainly an immigration of s\ngle men andjsingle women. The , < cases in whj.cjh_entire_ families najne--over -were com- paratively few.1 The new settler was found by the King, sent over by the King, and supplied by the King with a wife, a farm, and sometimes with a house. Well did Louis XIV. earn the title of Fnthfj nf Now Franca.- But the royal zeal was spas- )£ modic. The King was diverted to other cares ; ancj soon flfto^jj^jmijj^^^oj thft Piifoh ™flJ-iH-4-67fl the regular despatch of eniigiajits^jg^-Canada -3%ell nigh ceased, — though the practice ofdisbanding • soldiers in the colony, .giving them lands, and turn- » ing them into settlers, was continued in some degree, even to the last.
1 The principal emigration of families seems to have been U 1669, when, at the urgency of Talon, then in France, a considerable number were sent out. In the earlier period the emigration of families was, relatively, much greater. Thus, in 1634, the physician Giffard brought over seven to people his seigniory of Beauport. Before 1663, when the King took the colony in hand, the emigrants were for the most part apprenticed laborers.
The zeal with which the King entered into the work of stocking his colony is shown by numberless passages in his letters, and those of his minister. " The end and the rule of all your conduct," says Colbert to the intendant Bouteroue, " should be the increase of the colony ; and on this point you should never be satisfied, but labor without ceasing to find every imaginable expedient for pre- serving the inhabitants, attracting new ones, and multiplying them by marriage." — Instruction pour M . Boutcroue, 1668.
I
CHAPTER XVII.
1665-1672. THE NEW HOME.
MILITARY FaoxngK. — THE CANADIAN SETTLER. — SEIGNIOR AMD VASSAL. — EXAMPLE OF TALON. —PLAN OF SETTLEMENT. — A*- PECT OF CANADA. — QDEBEC. — THE RIVER SETTLEMENTS. — MONTREAL. — THE PIONEERS.
WE have seen the settler landed and married ; let us follow him to his new home. At the end of Talon's administration, the head of the colony — that is to say, the island of Montreal and the borders of the Richelieu — was the seat of a peculiar coloni- zation, the chief object of which was to protect the rest of Canada against Iroquois incursions. The lands along the Richelieu, from its mouth to a point above Chambly, were divided in^large seigniorial grants among several officers of the regiment 7>F Carignan, who in their turn granted out the land to the naoldjejs4. reserving a sufficient portion astiEeir own. The officer thus became aland of^femJaTchlef, } and the whole settlement a permanent military can- tonment admirably suited to the object in view. The disbanded soldier was practically a soldier still, but he was also a farmer and a landholder.
1665-72.] MILITARY FRONTIER. 293
Talon had rannmmflndp.^ thifi plflfl *tf !*^nS *n ac- cordance with the example oI~tha-Jiomans. "The practice of that politic and martial people," he wrote, " may, in my opinion, be wisely adopted in a country a thousand leagues distant from its monarch. And as the peace and harmony of peoples depend above all things on their fidelity to their sovereign, our first kings, better statesmen than is commonly supposed, introduced into newly conquered_countries^men of war, of approved trust, in order at once to hold t inhabitants to their dut}- within, and repel the enemy from without."1
The troops were accordingly discharged, and settled not alone on the Richelieu, but also along the St. Lawrence, between Lake St. Pater and IMnntrpa well as at some other points. The Sulpitians, feudal owners of Montreal, adopted a similar policy, and suirouncted their island with a border of fiefs large and small, granted partly to officers and partly to humbler settlers, bold, hardy, and practised in bush- fightmg. Tims a line of sentinels was posted around Jc their entire shore, ready to give the alarm whenever an enemy appeared. About Quebec the settlements, covered as they were by those above, were for the most part of a more pacific character.
To return to the Richelieu. The towns and vil- lages which have since grown upon its banks and along the adjacent shores of the St. Lawrence owe their names to these officers of Carignan, ancient
* Projets de Reglemens, 1667 (see Edits et Ordonnances, ii. 29).
294 THE NEW HOMi:. [1665-72.
lords of the soil, — Sorel, Chambly, Saint Ours, Contrecreur, Varennes, Verche'res. Yet let it not be supposed that villages sprang up at once. The military seignior, valiant and poor as Walter the Penniless, was in no condition to work such magic, His personal possessions usually consisted of little but his sword and the money which the King had paid him for marrying a wife. A domain varying from half a league to six leagues in front on the river, and from half a league to two leagues in depth, had been freely given him. When he had distributed a part of it in allotments to the soldiers, a variety of tasks awaited him, — to clear and, cultivate his land ; to build his seigniorial mansidnv often a l°g nut> to build a fort ;^ to build a chapel £' and to build a mill. To do all this at once was impossible. Chambly, the chief proprietor on the Richelieu, was better able than the others to meet the exigency. He built himself a good house, where, with cattle and sheep furnished by the King, he lived in reasonable com- fort.1 The King's fort, close at hand, spared him and his tenants the necessity of building one for themselves, and furnished, no doubt, a mill, a chapel, and a chaplain. His brother officers, Sorel excepted, were less fortunate. They and their tenants were forced to provide jlefence ad well as shelteT Their houses were all built together, and surrounded by a palisade, so as to form a little fortified village. The
1 Frontenac au Ministre, 2 Nov., 1672. Marie de 1'Incarnation speaks of these officers on the Richelieu as (rex honnetcs gent,
1665-72.] /THE CANADIAN SETTLER. 295
ever-active benevolence of the King had aided them in tKe task, for the soldiers were still maintained by him while clearing the lands and building the houses destined to be their own ; nor was it till this work was done that thej^rQjidfiJit government despatched them to Quebec with orders to bring back wives. The settler, thus lodged and wedded, was required X on his part to aid in clearing lands for those who should come after him.1
It was chiefly in the more exposed parts of the colony that the houses were gathered together in palisaded villages, thus forcing the settler to walk or paddle some distance to his farm. He naturally preferred to build when he couldjpji Jkh§L frpjotjQLJiis farm itself, near the river, which supplied the place of a road. As the grants. of land-ffiere very narrow, his house was not far from that of his next neighbor; ( L and thus a line of dwellings was ranged along the / I shore, forming what in local language was called a <c$#, — a use of the word peculiar to Canada, where it still prevails.
The impoverished seignior rarely built a chapel. Most of the early Canadian churches were built with
1 "Sa Majeste semble pretendre faire la depense entiere pour former le commencement des habitations par 1'abattis du bois, la culture et semence de deux arpens de terre, 1'avance de quelques farines aux families venantes," etc. (Projets de Reglemens, 1607.) This applied to civil and military settlers alike. The established settler was allowed four years to clear two arpents of land for a new-comer. The soldiers were maintained by the King during a year, while preparing their farms and houses. Talon asks that two years more be given them. Talon au Roy, 10 Nov., 1670.
>
[ (
JfTw
THE NEW HOME. [1665-72.
ds furnished by the seminaries of Quebec or of Montreal, aided by contributions of material and labor from the parishioners.1 Meanwhile mass was said in some house of the neighborhood by a missionary, priest, paddling his canoe from village to village, or from cdte to cote.
The milLwas an object of the last importance. It ) was built of stone and pierced with loopholes, to ] serve as a blockhouse in case of attack. The great / mill at Montreal was one of the chief defences of the place. It was at once the duty and the right of the seignior to supply his tenants, or rather vassals, with this essential requisite ; and they on their pail were required to grind their grain at his mill, leaving the fourteenth part in payment. But^for many years there wa^-natii seigniory in. Canada _wjiere_Jhis frac- tion would pay the wages of a miller; and, except the ecclesiastical corporations, there were few «gig"- iors who cdnid pay the ros.t of luiilding. The first settlers were usually forced to grind for themselves after the tedious fashion of the Indians.
Talon, in his capacity of counsellor, friend, and father to all Canada, arranged Jbhe new settlements near Quejjec in the manner which he judged Ix'st, and which he meant to serve as an example to the rest of the colony. It was his aim to concentrate population around this point, so that, should an enemy appear, the sound of a cannon-shot from the Chateau St. Louis might summon a numerous body
1 La Tour, Vie de Laval, chap. x.
1665-72.] MODEL SEIGNIORY. ; 297
of defenders to this the common point of rendezvous.1 He bought a tract of land near Quebec, laid it out, and settled it as a model seigniory, hoping, as he says, to kindle a spirit of emulation amqng the new- made seigniors to whom he had grantee-land^ from the King. He also laid out^gtrtneroyal cc villages in the immediate neighborhood, planning them with great care, and peopling them partly with families newly arrived, partly with soldiers, and partly with old settlers, in order that the new-comers might take lessons from the experience of these veterans. That each village might be complete in itself, he furnished it as well as he could with the needful p.g.rppntpr3 rrxaaoiL,-, blacksmithL and jshpe- maker. These inland villages, called respectively Bourg Royal, Bourg la Reine, and Bourg Talon, did not prove very thrifty.2 Wherever the settlers were allowed to choose for themselves, they ranged their dwellings along the watercourses. With the excep- tion of Talon's villages, one could have seen nearly every house in Canada, by paddling a canoe up the St. Lawrence and the Richelieu. The settlements formed long thin lines on the edges of the rivers, — a convenient arrangement, but one Ygry unfavorable . to defence, to ecclesiastical^control, ana icp strong I government. The King soon discovered this; and repeated orders were sent to concentrate the inhab-
* Projet* de Reglemens, 1667.
2 In 1672 th&King, as a mark of honor, attached these villages to Talon's seigjfllhr. See Documents on Seigniorial Tenure.
298 THE NEW HOME. [1665-72.
-7 itants and form Canada into villages, instead of ctitcs. To do so would have involved a general revocation of grants and abandonment of houses and clearings, — a measure too arbitrary and too wasteful, even for Louis XIV., and one extremely difficult to enforce. Canada persisted in attenuating herself, and the royal will was foiled.
As you ascended the St. Lawrence, the first har- boring place of civilization was Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay, where the company had its trading station, where its agents ruled supreme, and where, in early summer, all was alive with canoes and wigwams, and troops of Montagnais savages, bringing their furs to market. Leave Tadoussac behind, and, embarked in a sail-boat or a canoe, follow the northern coast. Far on the left, twenty miles away, the southern shore" lies pale and dim, and mountain ranges wave their faint outline along the sky. You pass the beetling rocks of Mai Bay, a solitude but for the bark hut of some wandering Indian beneath the cliff, the Eboulements with their wild romantic gorge and foaming waterfalls, and the Bay of St. Paul with its broad valley and its woody mountains, rich with hidden stores of iron. Vast piles of savage verdure border the mighty stream, till at length the mountain of Cape Tourmente upheaves its huge bulk from the bosom of the water, shadowed by lowering clouds, and dark with forests. Just
_iwyoT"Beaupre', which had not been forgotten in the
1665-72.] QUEBEC. 299
distribution of emigrants, and which, in 1667, con- tained more inhabitants than Quebec itself.1 The ribbon of rich meadow land that borders that beauti- ful shore was yellow with wheat in harvest time; and on the woody slopes behind, the frequent clear- ings and the solid little dwellings of logs continued for a long distance to relieve the sameness of the forest. After passing the cataract of Montmorenci, there was another settlement, much smaller, at Beauport, the seigniory of the ex-physician Giffard, one of the earliest proprietors in Canada. The neigh- boring shores of the Island of Orleans were also edged with houses and clearings. The promontory of Quebec now towered full in sight, crowned with church, fort, chateau, convents, and seminary. There was little else on the rock. Priests, nuns,' government officials, and soldiers were the denizens of the Upper Town; jvyhile commerce and the trades were cabined along the strand beneath.3 From the / gallery of the chateau, you might toss a pebble far down on their shingled roofs. In the midst of them was the magazine of the company, with its two round towers and two projecting wings. It was here that
1 The census of 1667 gives to Quebec only 448 souls ; Cote de Beaupre, 656 ; Beauport, 123 ; Island of Orleans, 529 ; other settle- ments included under the government of Quebec, 1,011 ; Cote de Lauzon (south shore), 113; Trois Rivieres and its dependencies, 666 ; Montreal, 766. Both Beaupre and Isle d'Orleans belonged at this time to the bishop.
2 According to Juchereau, there were seventy houses at Quebec about the time of Tracy's arrival.
THE NEW HOME. [1665-72.
the beaver-skins of the colony were collected,, assorted, and shipped for France. The so-called Chateau St. Louis was an indifferent wooden struc- ture planted on a site truly superb, — above the Lower Town, above the river, above the ships, gaz- ing abroad on a majestic panorama of waters, forests, and mountains.1 Behind it was the area of the fort, of which it formed one side. The governor lived in the chateau, and soldiers were on guard night and day in the fort. At some little distance was the convent of the Ursulines, ugly but substantial,2 where Mother Mary of the Incarnation ruled her pupils and her nuns ; and a little farther on, towards the right, was the Hotel Dieu. Between them were the massive buildings of the Jesuits, then as now facing the principal square. At one side was their church, newly finished; and opposite, across the square, stood and still stands the great church of Notre Dame. Behind the church was ^aval's semi- nary with the extensive enclosures belonging to it. The stnechaussee or court-house, the tavern of one Jacques Boisdon on the square near the church, and a few houses along the line of what is now St. Louis Street comprised nearly all the civil part of the Upper Town. The ecclesiastical buildings were of stone, and the church of Notre Dame and the Jesuit
1 In 1660, an exact inventory was taken of the contents of the fort and chateau, — a beggarly account of rubbish. The chateau was then a long low building roofed with shingles.
2 There is an engraving of it in Abbe Caagrain's interesting Vit de Marie de V Incarnation. It was burned in 1686.
1665-72.] THE RIVER SETTLEMENTS 301
College were marvels of size and solidity in view of the poverty and weakness of the colony.1
Proceeding upward along the north shore of the St. Lawrence, one found a cluster of houses at Cap Rouge, and, farther on, the frequent rude begin- nings of a seigniory. The settlements thickened on approaching Three Rivers, a fur-trading hamlet enclosed with a square palisade. Above this place, a line of incipient seigniories bordered the river, most of them granted to officers, — Laubia, a captain ; Labadie, a sergeant; Moras, an ensign; Berthier, a captain; Raudin, an ensign; La Valterie, a lieuten- ant.2 Under their auspices, settlers, military and civilian, were ranging themselves along the shore, and ugly gaps in the forest thickly set with stumps bore witness to their toils. These settlements rapidly extended, till in a few years a chain of houses and clearings reacHejd with little interruption from Quebec to Montreal. Such was the fruit of Tracy's chastisement of the Mohawks, and the influx of immigrants that followed.
As you approached Montreal, the fortified mill
1 The first stone of Notre Dame de Quebec was laid in Sep- tember, 1647, and the first mass was said in it on the 24th of December, 1650. The side walls still remain as part of the present structure. The Jesuit College was also begun in 1647. The walla and roof were finished in 1649. The church connected with it, since destroyed, was begun in 1666. See Journal des Je'suites.
2 See Documents on the Seigniorial Tenure ; Abstracts of Titles. Most of these grants, like those on the Richelieu, were made by Talon in 1672 ; but the land had, in many cases, been occupied and
eared in anticipation of the title.
302 THE NEW HOME. [1665-72.
built by the Sulpitians at Point aux Trembles towered above the woods; and soon after the newly built chapel of the Infant Jesus. More settleniEiitfiL fol- lowed, till at length theCjgreat fortified mill of Montreal rose in sight; then the long row~Tjf com- pact wooden houses, the Hotel Dieu, and the rough masonry of the Seminary of St. Sulpice. Beyond the town, the clearings continued at intervals till you reached Lake St. Louis, where young Cavelier de la Salle had laid out his seigniory of La Chine, and abandoned it to begin his hard career of western exploration. Above the island of Montreal, the wilderness was broken only by a solitary trading station on the neighboring Isle Pe*rot.
Now cross Lake St. Louis, shoot the rapids of La Chine, and follow the southern shore downward. Here the seigniories of Longueuil, Boucherville, Varennes, Verche"res, and Contrecoeur were already begun. From the fort of Sorel one could visit the military seigniories along the Richelieu or descend towards Quebec, passing on the way those of Lussaudiere, Becancour, Lotbinidre, and others still in a shapeless infancy. Even far below Quebec, at St. Anne de la Pocati£re, River Ouelle, and other points, cabins and clearings greeted the eye of the passing canoeman.
For a year or two the settler's initiation was a rough one ; but when he had a few acres under til- lage he could support himself and his family on the produce, aided by bunting, if he knew how to use
tr —
1665-72.] THE PIONEERS. 303
a gun, and by the bountiful profusion q£jje]s/which the St. Lawrence never failed to yield in their season, and which, smoked or salted, supplied his larder for months. In winter he hewed timberr.sawed..planksv _ or split shingles for the market of Quebec, obtaining in return such necessaries as hg" ic^uiieit. With thrift and hard work he was sure of comfort at last; but the former habits of the military settlers and of , many of the others were not favorable to a routine of dogged industry. The sameness and solitude of their new life often became insufferable ; nor, married as they had been, was the domestic hearth likely to supply much consolation. Yet, thrifty or not, they multiplied apace. "A poor man," says Mother i/ Mary, ."will have eight children and more, who run about in winter with bare heads and bare feet, and a little jacket on their backs, live on nothing but bread and eels, and on that grow fat and stout." With such treatment the weaker sort died, but the strong survived; and out of this rugged nursing sprang the hardy Canadian race of bush-rangers and bush- fighters.
CHAPTER XVIII.
1663-1763. CANADIAN FEUDALISM.
TEAtTBPLA^NTATIONOFFgUDALISM. — PRECAUTIONS. — FAITH AN1»
HOMAGE. — ^"HB SEIGNIOR. — THE CENSITAIRE. — ROTAL INTER- VENTION.— THE GENTILHOMME. — CANADIAN NOBLESSE.
CANADIAN society was beginning to form itself, and / at its base was thft^fciiflgT tenureA European feu- dalism was the indigenous and natural growth of political and social conditions which preceded it. Canadian feudalism was^an offshoot of the feudalism
I of France, modified by tne lapse of centuries, and
I further mndififtd by the royal will.
In France, as in the rest of Europe, the system had lost its vitality. The warrior-nobles who placed Hugh Capet on the throne, and began the feudal monarchy, formed an aristocratic republic; and the King was one of their number, whom they chose to be their chief. But through the struggles and vicis- situdes of many succeeding reigns royalty had waxed and oligarch}' had waned. The fact had changed, and the theory had changed with it. The King, once powerless among a host of turbulent nobles,
1863-1763.] TRIUMPH OF ROYALTY. 305
was now a king indeed. Once a chief, because his equals had made him so, he was now the anointed of the Lord. This triumph of royalty had culminated in Louis XIV. The stormy energies and bold indi- vidualism of the old feudal nobles had ceased to exist. They who had held his predecessors in awe had become his obsequious servants. He no longer feared his nobles : he prized them as gorgeous decora- tions of his court and satellites of his royal person.
It was Richelieu who first planted feudalism in 1
- -
Canada.1 The King would preserve it there, because * with its teeth drawn he was fond of it ; and because, as the feudal tenure prevailed in Old France, it was natural that it should prevail also in the New. But -^ }' he continued as Richelieu had begun, and moulded it to the form that pleased him. Nothing was left which could threaten his absolute and undivided authority over the colony. In France, a multitude of privileges and prescriptions still clung, despite its fall, about the ancient ruling class. Fewof these were allowed to crnss , jhp^Jh]jmji£^_wnilp the old lingering abuses, which hadjnacte the system odious, were at the same time lopped away. Thus retrenched, Canadian feudalism was made to serve a double end, — to produce a faint and harmless reflection of French aristocracy, and simply and practically to supply agencies for distributing land among the settlers.
1 By the charter of the Company of the Hundred Associates, 1627.
20
306 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763.
The nature of the precautions which it was held to require appear in the plan of administration which Talon and Tracy laid before the minister. They urge that, in view of the distance from France, special care ought to be taken to prevent changes and revolutions, aristocratic or otherwise, in the colony, whereby in time sovereign jurisdictions might grow up, as formerly occurred in various parts of in respect to grants already made an
inquiry was ordered, to ascertain "if seigniors in distributing lands to their vassals have exacted any conditions injurious, to^the rights of the Crown, and the subjection due solely to the King." In the same view the seignior was denied any voice whatever in the direction of government; and it is scarcely neces- sary to say that the essential feature of feudalism in fthe day of its vitality, the requirement of military [service by the lord from the vassal, was utterly unknown in Canada. The royal governor called out the militia whenever he saw fit, and set over it what officers he pleased.
The seignior was usually the immediate vassal of the Crown, from which he had received his land gratuitously. In a few cases he made grants to other seigniors inferior in the feudal scale, and they, his vassals, granted in turn to their vassals, — the habi- tants, or cultivators of the soil.2 Sometimes the
1 Projet de Reglement fait par AfJ/. dt Tracy et Talon pour la jus- tice et la distribution des terret du Canada, Jan. 24, 1667.
* Mot t of the seigniories of Canada were simple fiefs ; but there Were some exceptions. In 1671, the King, as a mark of honor to
1663-1763.] FAITH AND HOMAGE. 307
habitant held directly of the Crown, in which case . there was no step between the highest and lowest degrees of the feudal scale. The seignior held by t i the tenure of_ faith, and homage, the habitant by the A <j inferior tenure en censivc. Faith and homage were • rendered to the Crown or other feudal superior when- ever the seigniory changed hands, or, in the case of seigniories held by corporations, after long stated intervals. The following is an example, drawn from the early days of the colony, of jtkfi- performance jtf. this ceremony by the owner of a iiei to-the-ssignior who had granted it to him. It is that of Jean Guion, vassal of Giffard, seignior of Beauport.
The act recounts how, in presence of a notary Guion presented himself at the principal door of the manor-house of Beauport; how, having knocked, one Boulle", farmer of Giffard, opened the door, and in reply to Guion's question if the seignior was at home, replied that he was not, but that he, Boulle*, was empowered to receive acknowledgments of faith and homage from the vassals in his name. "After the which reply," proceeds the act, "the said Guion, being at the principal door, placed himself on his
Talon, erected his seigniory Des Islets into a barony ; and it was soon afterwards made an earldom, comti. In 1676, the seigniory of Laurent, on the island of Orleans, once the property of Laval, d then belonging to Fra^ois Berthelot, councillor of the King, erected into an earldom. In 1681, the seigniory of Portneuf, longing to Rene' Robineau, chevalier, was made a barony. In 1700, three seigniories 'on the south side of the St. Lawrence were u nited into the barony of Longueuil. (See Papers on the Feudal Tenure in Canada, Abstract of Titles.)
308 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1683-1763,
knees on the ground, with head bare, and without sword or spurs, and said three times these words: 4 Monsieur de Beauport, Monsieur de Beauport, Monsieur de Beauport! I bring you the faith and homage which I am bound to bring you on account of my fief Du Buisson, which I hold as a man of faith of your seigniory of Beauport, declaring that I offer to pay my seigniorial and feudal dues in their season, and demanding of you to accept me in faith and homage as aforesaid. ' " l
The following instance is the more common one of a seignior holding directly of tin- Crown. It is widely separated from the first in point of time, having oc- curred a year after the army of Wolfe entered Quebec.
Philippe Noel had lately died, and Jean Noel, his son, inherited his seigniory of Tilly and Bonsecoure. To make the title good, faith and homage must be renewed. Jean Noel was under the bitter necessity of rendering this duty to General Murray, governor for the King of Great Britain. The form is the same as in the case of Guion, more than a century before. Noel repairs to the Government House at Quebec, and knocks at the door. A servant opens it. Noel asks if the governor is there. The servant replies that he is. Murray, informed of the visi- tor's object, comes to the door, and Noel then and there, "without sword or spurs, with bare head,
1 Ferland, Notei sur let Regittres de Notre Dame de Quebec, 06. Thii wa« *fief en roture, as distinguished from &fief noble, to which Judicial powers and other privileges were attached.
Jean Guion before Boulle.
Drawn by Orson Lowell.
THB OLD RiciME IN CANADA, 308.
1663-1763.] THE SEIGNIOR. 309
and one knee on the ground," repeate the acknowl- edgment of faith and homage for his seigniory. He was compelled, however, to add a detested innova- tion, — the oath of fidelity to his Britannic Majesty, i coupled with a pledge to keep his vassals in obedi- ence to the new sovereign.1
The seijmior^a^^j^ojarjdbor JioJ^ij^^hat^eJation to ^heje^uda^^uperior which, in its pristine character, has been truly described as servile jn^
andjbqld in^s^irit^ ^But in Canada this bold spirit was very far from being strengthened by the changes which the policy of the Crown had introduced into the system. The reservation of mines and minerals, oaks for the royal navy, roadways, and a site (if needed) for royal forts and magazines, had in it nothing extraordinary. The grea^Jilfeuence between the position of the Ca>na4ia^jifiignipr. and that of the \ vassjXjjmprjetor of the Middle Ages layj^^he e3tent \ and n^tuje- of foft controljyhich the^ Crown^and^ its officecuJifild-Pver him. A decree of the ^jCing, an^ edict-pf Bthe council^ or an_ordinanc£^of j^e inleadanjU
thema.nor
/
.es, an^mo^ifyj^^inuLhisJbargainsT .,
past or present. Qle was never sure whether or not \
t.h^goyprn^^^^ -tirmilrl Ipf. In'm alqnA ; njid against its, -4^
most arbitrary intervention he had no remedy.
One condition was imposed on him which may be
1 See the act in Observations de Sir L. H. Lafontaine, Bart., tvr la Tenure Seigneuriale, 217, note.
810 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763.
said to form . the distinctive feature of Canadian feudalism, — that of clearing his land within a 4 limited time on pain of forfeiting it. The object was the excellent one of preventing the lands of the colony from lying waste. As the seignior was often the penniless owner of a domain three or four leagues wide and proportionably deep, he could not clear it all himself, and was therefore under the necessity of placing the greater part in the hands of those who could. Bu^Jt^i^asforbi^den to sell any part of it
which he had not cleared. _ He_jnust grant it without _^ ..I*,, -» ... .. — —-•*—*•* ^ * „ ^ „,
price, on^^onaition of a small peretual rent; and
. this brings us to the cultivator of the soil, the ccn- * sitaire* thej)road base of the feudal pyramid.1
TheCtenure en censiw&loy which the censitaire held jof the seignior, consisted in the .obligation
1 The greater part of the grants made by the old Company of New France were resumed by the Crown for neglect to occupy and improve the land, which was granted out anew under the adminis- tration of Talon. The most remarkable of these forfeited grants is that of the vast domain of La Citiere, large enough for a kingdom. Lauson, afterwards governor, had obtained it from the company, but had failed to improve it. Two or three sub-grants which he had made from it were held valid; the rest was reuniu-<l to the royal domain. On repeated occasions at later dates, negli- gent seigniors were threatened with the loss of half or the whole of their land, and various cases are recorded in wliich the threat took effect. In 1741, an ordinance of the governor and intendant reunited to the royal domain seventeen seigniories at one stroke ; « but the former owners were told that if within a year they cleared and settled a reasonable part of the forfeited estates, the titles should be restored to them. (Edits et Ordonnancet, ii. 655.) In the case of the habitant or centitaire, forfeitures for neglect to improve the land and live on it are very numerous.
1663-1763.] THE CENSITAIRE. 311
annual payments in money, produce, or both. In Canaaathese payments, known as cens et rente, were strangely diverse in amount and kind; but in all the early period of the colony they were almost ludicrously small. A common charge at Montreal was half a sou and half a pint of wheat for each arpent. The rate usually fluctuated in the early times between half a sou and two sous; so that a farm of a hundred and sixty arpents would pay from four to sixteen francs, of which a part would be in money and the rest in live capons, wheat, eggs, or all three together, in pursuance of contracts as amus- ing in their precision as they are bewildering in thei variety. Live capons, estimated at twenty som each, though sometimes not worth ten, form a con- spicuous feature in these agreements ; so that on pay- day the seignior's barnyard presented an animated scene. Later in the history of the colony grants were at somewhat higher rates. Payment was com- monly made on St. Ma^^fojfety, when there was a general muster of tenants at the seigniorial mansion, with a prodigious consumption of tobacco and a cor- responding retail of neighborhood gossip, joined to the outcries of the captive fowls bundled together for delivery, with legs tied, but throats at full liberty.
A more considerable but a very uncertain source of income to the seignior were the lods etyentes^ or mutation fines. The land of the censitaire passed freelytphis heirs ; but-Jf he sold it, a twelfth part
CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763.
the .pur^h^et^i^YJiUigtJ^^^to the. seignior. The seignior, on his part, was equally liable to pay ^TTjrifct feign ^finft to his feudal superior if he sold his seigniory; and for him the amount was larger, — being a quint, or a fifth of_the^price received, of which, however, the greater part was deducted for immediate payment. This heavy charge, constitut- ing as it did a tax on all improvements, was a prin- •cipal cause of the abolition of the feudal tenure V 1854.
The obligation of clearing his land and living on it was laid on seignior and censfeaiye aHjcej but the latter was under a variety of otherobliffations to the
<»*• •***>»— i»*^^<*S«x»fc.
former, partly imposed by custom and partly estab- lished by agreement when the grant was made. To
. grind jns^ grain in the seignior's oveiy^wor days in the year, and give^ elejteja^Joj^tlje
his farm, — these were the most annoying of the conditions to which the censitaire was liable. Few of them were enforced with much regularity. That of baking in the seignior's oven was rarely carried into effect, though occasionally used for purposes of extortion. It is here that the^ipval government
. appeaj«i£^U8^ue__cMracter, so far as concerns its relations with Canada, — that of ^ ^well-meaning desjgotism. It continually intervened between censi- on ^ne principle that "as his
Majesty gives the land for nothing, he can make
1663-1763.] KOYAL INTERVENTION. 313
what conditions he pleases, and change them when he pleases."1
These intermi^ionsj ^r^jsually favorable to _the^ censitaire. On one occasion an intendant reported to the minister, that in his opinion all rents ought to be reduced to one sou and one live capon for every arpeut of front, equal in most cases to forty superfi- cial arpents.2 Everything, he remarks, ought to be brought down to the level of the first grants " made in days of innocence," — a happy period which he does not attempt to define. The minister replies that the diversity of the rent is, in fact, vexatious, and that for his part he is disposed to abolish it altogether.3 Neitbgr^J^j^JJ^^
Though these radical measures were not executed,
' f\_ ....... _ «"^HI^ '»_ ..... S.i *i '»«i'^» V "V •»
many changes were decreed from time to time in the relations between seignior and censitaire, — sometimes -^
as a simple act of sovereign power, and sometimes rVV^v/ on the ground that the grants had been made with conditions not recognized by the Coutume de Paris. This was the prtfl? of ^w •mig^H tn rianafiiv but most of the contracts between seignior and censitaire had been agreed upon in good faith by men who knew as much of the Coutume de Paris as of the Capitularies of Charlemagne, and their conditions
1 This doctrine is laid down in a letter of the Marquis de Beau- harnois, governor, to the minister, 1734.
* Lettre de Raudot,pere, au Mimstre, 10 Nov., 1707. 3 Lettre de Ponchartrain a Raudottpere, 13 luin, 1708.
314 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-176a
had remained in force unchallenged for generations. Th^se interventions^ of governmentjsometimes contra-
dead letter.
They are more or less active through the whole period of the French rule.
> The aftigninrjhad pulinjftl pnwers, which, however, were carefully ctrrfeed__ajid_cojitr01led. His jurisdic- tion, when exercised at all, extended in most cases only to ^jjjjai^ causes. He vgiry, jarelj^ha/1 ajmsqn. and seems lie ver to have abused it. The dignity of a seigniorial gallows with high justice or jurisdiction over heinous offences was granted only in three or four instances.1
Four arpents in front by forty in depth were the ordinary dimensions of a grant en censive. These ribbons of land, nearly a mile and a half long, with one end on the river and the other on the uplands behind, usually combined the advantages of meadows for cultivation, and forests for timber and firewood. Sa long. as Jhe^censitaire brought in on Saint Martin's day his yearly capons and his yearly handful of copper, his tltlfi_against the sejjjninr wnti pnrfrrt There are farms in Canada which have passed from father to son for two hundred years. The condition of the cultivator was incomparably better than that of the French peasant, crushed by taxes, and oppressed by feudal burdens far heavier than those of Canada.
1 Baronies and comtfs \t£re^enmogfii'ed to->aet~4Hii-gallow8 and pillories, to which the arms of the owner were affixed. See, for example, the edict creating the Barony des Islets.
1663-1763.J THE HABITANT. 315
In fact, the Canadian settler scorned the name of peasant, and then, as now, was always called the || JyaJtttgjit. The government held him in wardship, \, watched over him, interfered with himT Jm^ (jid,. nflt )
oppress him or allow otherstt^opTj^es^JMjn^ Canada \fyyfr * was not governed to the profit of a class ; and if the 1 -i**^ King wished to create a Canadian noblesse, he took ' care that it should not bear hard on the country.1
Under a genuine feudalism, the ownership of land conferred nobility; but all this was changed. The King and not the soil was now the parent of honor. France swarmed with landless nobler, while roturier land-holders grew daily more numerous. In Canada half the seigniories were in roturier or plebeian hands, and in course of time some of them came into possession of persons on very humble degrees of the social scale. A seigniory could be bought ancL^ sold, and a ^tra,der^ or a thrifty^ hj^itjin^^img^ _and often didjbecomeJ^ieJiu^er.2 If the Canadian noble
1 On the seigniorial tenure, I have examined the entire mass of papers printed at the time when the question of its abolition was under discussion. A great deal of legal research and learning was then devoted to the subject. The argument of Q/Lr. Dunkin)in behalf of the seigniors, and the observations of Judge Lafontaine are especially instructive, as is also the collected correspondence of the governors and intendants with the central government on matters relating to the seigniorial system.
2 In 1712, the engineer Catalogue made a very long and elaborate report on the condition of Canada, with a full account of all the seigniorial estates. Of ninety-one seigniories, fiefs, and baronies, described by him, ten belonged to merchants, twelve to husband- men, and two to masters of small river craft. The rest belonged to religious corporations, members of the council, judges, officials of the Crown, widows, and discharged officers or their sons.
316 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [166&-1763.
was always a seignior, it is far from being true that the Canadian seignior was always a noble.
In France, it will be remembered, nobility did not in itself imply a title. Besides its titled leaders, it had its rank and file, numerous enough to form a considerable army. Under the later Bourbons, the penniless young nobles were, in fact, enrolled into regiments, — turbulent, difficult to control, obeying officers of high rank, but scorning all others, and conspicuous by a fiery and impetuous valor which on more than one occasion turned the tide of victory. The gentilhomme, or untitled noble, had a distinctive character of his own, — gallant, punctilious, vain ; skilled in social and sometimes in literary and artistic accomplishments, but usually ignorant of most things except the handling of his rapier. Yet there were striking exceptions; and to say of him, as has been said, that " he knew nothing but how to get himself killed," is hardly just to a body which has produced some of the best writers and thinkers of France. Sometimes the origin of his nobility was lost in the mists of time ; sometimes he owed it to a patent from the King. In either case, the line of demarcation between him and the classes below him was perfectly distinct; and in this lies an essential difference between the French noblesse and the English gentry, a class not separated from others by a definite barrier. The French noblesse, unlike the English gentry, 1 constituted a caste. i The gentilhomme had no vocation for emigrating.
1663-1763.] CANADIAN NOBLESSE. 317
He liked the army and he liked the court. If he could not be of it, it was something to live in its shadow. The life of a backwoods settler had no charm for him. He was not used to labor; and he could not trade, at least in retail, without becoming liable to forfeit his nobility. When Talon came to Canada, there were but four noble families in the colony.1 Young nobles in abundance came out with Tracy; -but they went home with him. Where, i then, should be found the material of a Canadian ' noblesse ? First, in the regiment of Carignan. of
which most of the officers were gentilshommes ; secondly, in^the issue of patents nf ^/v^my to a few { of the more prominent colonists. Tracy asked for four such patents ; Talon asked for five more ; 2 and such requests were repeated at intervals by succeed- ing governors and intendants, in behalf of those who had gained -their favor by merit or otherwise. Money smoothed the path to advancement, so far had noblesse already fallen from its old estate. Thus Jacques Le Ber, the merchant, who had long kept a shop at Montreal, got himself made a "gentleman" for six thousand livres.3
All Canada soon became infatuated with noblesse ;
1 Talon, MSmoire sur I'Etat present du Canada, 1667. The fami- lies of Repentigny, Tilly, Potherie, and Ailleboust appear to be meant.
2 Tracy's request was in behalf of Bourdon, Boucher, Auteuil, and Juchereau. Talon's was in behalf of Godefroy, Le Moyne, Denis, Amiot, and Couillard.
• Faillon, Vie de Mademoiselle Le Ber, 325.
:
318 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-176a
and country and town, merchant and seignior, vied with each other for the quality of gentilhonime. If they could not get it, they often pretended to have it, and aped its ways with the zeal of Monsieur Jourdain himself. "Everybody here," writes the intendant Meules, "calls himself Esquire, and ends with thinking himself a gentleman." Successive intendants repeat this complaint. The case was worst with roturiers who had acquired seigniories. Thus Noel Langlois was a good carpenter till he became owner of a seigniory, on which he grew lazy and affected to play the gentleman. The real gentilshommes, as well as the spurious, had their full share of official stricture. The governor Denon- ville speaks of them thus: "Several of them have come out this year with their wives, who are very much cast down ; but they play the fine lady, never- theless. I had much rather see good peasants; it would be a pleasure to me to give aid to such, knowing, as I should, that within two years their families would have the means of living at ease ; for it is certain that a peasant who can and will work is well off in this country, while our nobles with noth- ing to do can never be anything but beggars. Still they ought not to be driven off or abandoned. The question is how to maintain them."1
The intendant Duchesneau writes to the same effect: "Many of our gentilshommcs, officers, and other owners of seigniories, lead what in France is
1 Lettre de Dcnonville an Ministre, 10 Nov., 1686.
1663-1763.] CANADIAN NOBLESSE. 319
called the life of a country gentieman, and spend most of their time in hunting and fishing. As their requirements in food and clothing are greater than those of the simple habitants, and as they do not devote themselves to improving their land, they mix themselves up in trade, run in debt on all hands, incite Jiheir young liaUlaiits to range the woods, and send their own children there to trade for furs in the Indian villages and in the depths of the forest, in spite of the prohibition of his Majesty. Yet, with all this, they are in miserable poverty."1
Their condition, indeed, was often deplorable.\ "It is pitiful," says the intendant Champigny, "to see their children, of which they have great numbers, passing all summer with nothing on them but a shirt, and their wives and daughters working in the fields." 2 In another letter he asks aid from the King for feepentigny with his thirteen children, and for Tilly with his fifteen. "We must give them some corn at once," he says, "or they will starve."8 These were two of the original four noble families of Canada. The family of Ailleboust, another of the four, is described as equally destitute. " Pride and \y sloth," says the same intendant, "are the great faults of the people of Canada, and especially of the nobles and those who pretend to be such. I pray you grant
i ' Lettre de Duchesneau au Ministre, 10 Nov., 1679. * Lettre de Champigny au Ministre, 26 Aout, 1687. * » Ibi d., 6 Nov., 1687.
820 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [i663-1768.
no more letters of nobility, unless you want to multiply beggai?.." 1
The governor Denonville is still more emphatic: "Above all things, Monseigneur, permit me to say that the nofeles^ of tins ne^vvn£Q4in^ry_a£e e^very^lu'ng that is moat Jjegga.rly. and that to increase their
, number is to increase the number of do-nothings.
[A new country requires hard workers,, who will
'handle the axe and mattock. The sons of our coun- cillors are no more industrious than the nobles ; and their only resource is to take to the woods, trade a
, little with the Indians, and, for the most part, fall into the disorders of which I have had the honor to inform you. I shall use all possible means to induce them to engage in regular commerce; but as our nobles and councillors are all very poor and weighed down with debt, they could not get credit for a single crown piece."2 "Two days ago," he writes in another letter, "Monsieur de Saint-Ours, a gentle- man of Dauphiny, came to me to ask leave to go back to France in search of bread. He says that he will put his ten children into the charge of any who will give them a living, and that he himself will go into the army again. His wife and he are in despair; and yet they do what they can. I have seen two of his girls reaping grain and holding the plough. Other families are in the same condition. They
1 Mf moire instruct!/ tvr le Canada, joint a la lettre de if. dt Cham- pigny du 10 Mai, 1691. k * Lettre de Denonville au Ministre, 13 Xov., 1686.
1663-1763.] CANADIAN NOBLESSE. 321
come to me with tears in their eyes. All our married officers are beggars ; and I entreat you to send them aid. There is need that the King should provide support for their children, or else they will be tempted to go over to the English."1 Again he writes that the sons of the councillor D' Amours have been arrested as coureurs de bois, or outlaws in the
- -- •* -^ v_^-~ "* '^~*~^^^'
bush ; and that if the minister does not do something to help them, there is danger that all the sons of the noblesse, real or pretended, will turn bandits, since have ,no other means of living.
King, dispenser of charity for all Canada, came promptly to the rescue. He granted an alms of aj^mdred crowns to each family, coupled with a warning to the recipients oihisbounty that "their misery proceeds from their ambition to live as persons of quality and without labor." 2 At the same time, the minister announced
nobility would be granted in Canada; adding, "to relieve the country of some of the children of those who are really noble, I send you [the governor] six commissions of Gardes de la Marine, and recommend you to take care not to give them to any who are not actually gentilshommes." The Garde de la Marine answered to the midshipman of the English or American service. As the six commissions could
' J Lettre de Denonville au Ministre, 10 Nov., 1686. (Condensed in the translation.)
a Abstract of Denonville's Letters, and of the Minister's Answers, in N. Y. Colonial Docs., ix. 317, 318.
21
322 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1761
bring little relief to the crowd of needy youths, it
was further ordained that sons of nobles or persons
living as such should be enrolled into companies at
eight sous a day for those who should best conduct
themselves, and six sous a day for the others.
, Nobles in Canada were also TH^uL^^lp^^ulq^ven
'•at retail, without derogating from their rank.1
waiting for the loyal license; but thus tar it had profited them little. The gentilhomme was not a good shopkeeper, nor, as a rule, was the shopkeeper's vocation very lucrative in Canada. The domestic trade of the colony was small; and all trade was exposed to such vicissitudes from the intervention of intendants, ministers, and councils, that at one time it was almost banished. At best, it was carried on under conditions auspicious to a favored few and withering to the rest. Even when most willing to work, the position of the gentilhomme, was a painful one. Unless he could gain a post under the Crown, \ which was rarely the case, he was as complete a ^ political cipher as the meanest habitant. His rents | were practically nothing, and he had no capital to ^improve his seigniorial estate. By a peasant's work he could gain a peasant's living, and this was all. The prospect was not inspiring. His long initia- tion of misery was the natural result of his position and surroundings; and it is no matter of wonder that he threw himself into the only field of action
* * Lettre de Meulcs au Ministret 1686.
1663-1763.] CANADIAN NOBLESSE. 328
which in time of peace was open to him. It was trade, but trade seasoned by adventure and ennobled by danger, defiant of edict and ordinance, outlawed, conducted in arms among forests and savages ; in L. short, it was the Western fur-trjtde. The tyro was ' likely to fail in it at first, but time and experience formed him to the work. On the Great Lakes, in the wastes of the Northwest, on the Mississippi and the plains beyond, we find the roving gentilhommef chief of a gang of bush-rangers, often his own hdbi* tants, — sometimes proscribed by the government,*" sometimes leagued in contraband traffic with its highest officials; a hardy vidette of civilization, tracing unknown streams, piercing unknown forests, trading, fighting, negotiating, and building forts. Again we find him on the shores of Acadia or Maine, surrounded by Indian retainers, a menace and a terror to the neighboring English colonist. Saint- Castin, Du Lhut, La Durantaye, La Salle, La Mothe- Cadillac, Iberville, Bienville, La Ve*rendrye, are names that stand conspicuous on the page of half- savage romance that refreshes the hard and practical annals of American colonization. But a more sub- stantial debt is due to their memory. It was they, 1 and such as they, who discovered the Ohio, explored If the Mississippi to its mouth, discovered the Rocky j Mountains, and founded Detroit, St. Louis, and New' Orleans.
Even in his earliest day, the gentilhomme was not always in the evil plight where we have found him,
324 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. [1663-1763.
There were a few exceptions to the general miser}', and the chief among them is that of the Le Moynes of Montreal. Charles Le Moyne, son of an inn- keeper of Dieppe and founder of a family the most truly eminent in Canada, was a man of sterling qualities who had been long enough in the colony to learn how to live there.1 Others learned the same lesson at a later day, adapted themselves to soil and situation, took root, grew, and became more Canadian than French. As population increased, their seign- iories began to yield appreciable returns, and their
^^^^•Va/*? /V-^»^»^^XS^^<f -.^•- ^^^^S^*^- ^-35^
reserveddomai^ became worth cultivating. A future dawned upon them; they saw in hope their names, their seigniorial estates, their manor-houses, their tenantry, passing to their children and their children's children. The beggared noble of the early / time became a sturdy country gentleman, — poor, but not wretched ; ignorant of books, except possibly a few scraps of rusty Latin picked up in a Jesuit schoQfL hardy as the hardiest woodsman, yet never forgetting his quality of gentilhomme ; scrupulously wearing its badge, the sword, and copying as well as he could the fashions of the court, which glowed on his vision across the sea in all the effulgence of
1 Berthelot, proprietor of the comte of St. Laurent, and Robineau, of the barony of Portneuf, may also be mentioned cs exceptionally prosperous. Of the younger Charles Le Moyne, afterwards Baron de Longucuil, Frontenac the governor says, " son fort et sa maison nous donnent une ide'e des chateaux de France fortifiez." His fort was of stone and flanked with four towers. It was nearly opposite Montreal, on the south shore
1663-1763.] CANADIAN NOBLESSE. 325
Versailles, and beamed with reflected ray from the Chateau of Quebec. He was at home among his tenants, at home among the Indians, and never more at home than when, agun in his hand and a crucifix, on his breast, he took the ,war-pa£h with a crew of
^^^^^^&^r^
painted savages and Frenchmen almost as wild, and pounced like a lynx from the forest on some lonely farm or outlying hamlet of New England. How New England hated him, let her records tell. The reddest blood-streaks on her old annals mark the track of the Canadian gentilhomme.
CHAPTER XIX.
1663-1763. THE RULERS OF CANADA.
NATURE or THE GOVERNMENT. — THE GOVERNOR. — THE COUNCIL. — COURTS AND JUDGES. — TUB INTENDANT: HIS GRIEVANCES.— STRONG GOVERNMENT. — SEDITION AND BLASPHEM T. — ROTAI BOUNTT. — DEFECTS AND ABUSES.
i THE government of Canada was formed in its chief I features^ jfteAJhe^pvamment of aJFrench province. Throughout France the past and the present stood side by side. The kingdom had a double adminis- tration ; or, rather, the shadow of the old administra- tion and the substance of the new. The government of provinces had long been held by the high nobles, often kindred to the Crown; and hence, in former times, great perils had arisen, amounting during the civil wars to the danger of dismemberment. The
I high noblgs, were still governors of provinces; but here, as elsewhere, they had ceased to be dangerous. Titles, honors, and ceremonial they had in abundance ; but they were ^egrj^ed, of, real powar. Close beside | them was the rjp^aLlntejMia*& an obscure figure, lost amid the vainglories of the feudal sunset, but in the name of the King holding the reins of government, —
1663-1763.] THE COUNCIL. 329
desire their perfect accord; nor, on the other hand, did it wish them to quarrel : it aimed to keep them on such terms that, without deranging the machinery of I administration, each should be a check on the other.1 f The governor, the intendant. and the sutjreme i
'
under the pleasure of the King. LjBprisJaJiyet
, -,u.tf3iir\n,J;hftni. We
have seen already the very unpromising beginnings of the supreme council. It had consisted at first of the governor, the bishop,' and fiyft r.nnnp.illors p.hnsftn- l^^^gm. The intendant was soon added, to form the ruling triumvirate ; but the appointment of the conn- cillors, the occasion of so many quarrels, was after- wards fiYprp.isAd fry fop ^'ng V»iyTrigoTf -? Even the name of the council underwent a change in the interest of his autocracy, and he commanded that it should no longer be called the Supreme, but only the Superior Council. The same change had just been imposed on all the high tribunals of France.3 Under the shadow of the fleur-de-lis, the King alone was to be supreme.
1 The governor and intendant made frequent appeals to tli££gujt to settle quffitinna afjuinp ^hgtwoon them. Several of these appeals are preserved. The King wrote replies on the margin of the paper, but they were usually too curt and general to satisfy either party.
* D&laration du Roi du 16 Juin, 1703. Appointments were made by the King many years earlier. As they were always made on the recommendation of the gnvpfpn*- QT»^ jnffnflnn* the practical effect of the change was merely to exclude the bishop from a share in them. The West India Company made the nominations during tht .ten years of its ascendancy.
* Cheruel, Administration Monarchies en France, ii 100.
830 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1M3-17G3.
In Ifflfi the number of councillors was increased to seven, and in 1703. it was again increased to_twelve ;. but the character of the council or court remained the same. It issued decrees for the qjyjk cQmn\pr- ciaj, and finanp(jfl.l government of the colony, and
gave judgment ia civil and criininn-1 rjiijspa.iu'.p.nrdinpr
to the royal ordinances and the Cuutume de Paris. It exercised also the function of ™ffrjfltfrQfwn borrowed from the parliament of Paris. That body, it will be remembered, had no analogy whatever with the English parliament. Its ordinary functions were not legislative, but judicial ; and it was composed of judges hereditary under certain conditions. Never- theless, it had long acted as a check on the royal power through its right of registration. No royjil edir.fr hafl the force of law till entered upon its books, and this custom had so deep a root in the monarchical constitution of France, that even Louis XIV., in the flush of his power, did not attempt to abolish it He did better; he ordered his decrees to be regis- tered, and the humbled parliament submissively obeyed. In like manner all edicts, ordinances, or J dftnlju-afrjf^s p-l^fT fro foji'Mte wf re qpfrrpd *>" the J Wftfrfp nf-fjhft HiignQr council^ .at_J^uebec. The order of registration was commonly affixed to the edict or other mandate, and nobody dreamed of dis- obeying it.1
1 Many general edicts relating to the whole kingdom are abo registered on the books of the council; bat the practice in thi» respect was by no means uniform.
1663-1763.] INFERIOR COURTS. 331
The council or QQiyrj; had its attorney-general. who heard complaints, and brought them before the tribunal if he thought necessary; its secretary, who kept its registers, and its huissiers or attendant officers. It sat once a week ; and, though it was the highest court of appeal, it exercised at first original , jurisdiction in very trivial cases.1 Itjvvas^ empowerejL , to estajriish su^grjjjn^ ,
the colony. Besides these, there was a judge appointed bv thfi— K-Lon— for_each of the three districts into which Canada was divided, — those of Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal. To each of the three royal judges were joined a clerk and an attorney- general, under the supervision and control of the attorney-general of the superior court, to which tribunal appeal lay from all the subordinate jurisdic- tions. The jurisdiction of the seigniors within their \ own limits has already been mentioned. They were >
entitled by the terms of their grants to the exercise of "hipft. middle, and low justice ;" but most of them were practically restricted to the last of the three, — that is, to petty disputes between the habi- tants, involving not more than gij[tiy «guj, ox offences fnr whiPrh 1foA ^nn flifl not ftYnpfif^ tifjTl iS^Wi ^ Thus limited, their' judgments were often useful in saving
1 See the Registres du Conseil Supfrieur, preserved at Quebec. Between 1063 and 1073 are a multitude of judgments on matters great and small, — from murder, rape, and infanticide, down to petty nuisances, misbehavior of servants, and disputes about th« price of a sow.
Doutre et Lareau, Histoire du Droit Canadien, 136.
332 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763.
time, trouble, and money to the disputant. The corporate seigniors of Montreal long continued to hold a feudal court in form, with attorney-general, clerk, and huissicr ; but very few other seigniors were in a condition to imitate them. Added to all these tribunals was theQushop'a court)iat Quebec, to try
The office of judge in Canada was no sinecure. The people were of a litigious disposition, — partly from their Norman blood ; partly, perhaps, from the idleness of the long and tedious winter, which gave full leis- ure for gossip and quarrel ; and partly from the very imperfect manner in which titles had been drawn and the boundaries of grants marked out, whence ensued disputes without end between neighbor and neighbor.
"I will not say," writes the satirical La Hontan, " that Justice is more chaste and disinterested here than in France ; but, at Jpasfr. if she, |s sold, shg is sold cheaper. We do not pass through the clutches of ad- vocates, the talons of attorneys, and the claws of clerks. These vermin do not infest Canada yet. Everybody pleads his own cause. Our Themis is prompt, and she does not bristle with fees, costs, and charges. The judges have only four hundred francs a year, — a great temptation to look for law in the bottom of the suitor's purse. Four hundred francs ! Not enough to buy a cap and gown; so these gentry never wear them."
Thus far La Hontan. Now let us hear the King
i La Hontan, i. 21 (ed. 1705). In some editions, the aboye U ex- pressed in different language.
1663-1763.] THE COUNCILLORS. 383.
himself. " The greatest disorder which has hitherto existed in Canada," writes Louis XIV. to the intendant Meules, "has come from the small degree of liberty which the officers of justice have had in the discharge of their duties, by reason of the violence to which they have been subjected, and the art they have been obliged to take in the continual uarrels between the governor and the intendant; nsomuch that justice having been administered by abal and animosity, the inhabitants have hitherto )een far from the tranquillity and repose which can- ot be found in a place where everybody is compelled o take side with one party or another." l Nevertheless, on ordinary local questions between J
16 llClbitantS, V]^\£f\ sPPrns fr>Vinvp V>ppr| flfjfpjm'gtm-ftrl v<AU
n the wr^ nip, fairly: and judges of all grades often ^^
ed \\\
an agreement without a trifll. From head to foot,!
tie P'overnn'iftnt kept its atti^]]Hp nf pn.tprr^ty. Beyond and above all the regular tribunals, beyond 1
nd above the council itself, was the independent ( urisdiction lodged in the person of the King's man, ' lie intendant. His commission empowered him, if
e saw fit, tpjjaU anv^ c^use wliateyer before jrimsel,f or judgment ; and he ;a4g;ed exclusively jtlie cases vhich concerned the King, and those involving the
jlationsoiseigmorand vassal/8 He appointed sub-
1 Instruction du Rot/ poui le Sieur de Mettles, 1682. . * See the commission! if rarious intendants, in iZdits et Ordon- \nces iii.
334 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1863-1763.
ordinate judges, from whom there was appeal to him ; but from his decisions, as well as from those of » the superior council, there was no appeal but to the King in *"° "^infiil nf ^fot"
On any Monday morning one would have found the superior council in session in the antechamber of the governor's apartment, at the Chateau St. Louis. The members sat at a round table. At the head was the governor, with the bishop on his right, and the intendant on his left. The councillors sat in the order of their appointment, and the attorney-general also had his place at the board. As La Hontan says, they were not in judicial robes, but in their ordinary dress, and all but the bishop wore swords.1 The want of the cap and gown greatly disturbed the intendant Meules ; and he begs the minister to con- sider how important it is that the councillors, in order to inspire respect, should appear in public in long black robes, which on occasions of ceremony they should exchange for robes of red. He thinks that the principal persons of the colony would thus be induced to train up their children to so enviable a dignity; "and," he concludes, "as none of the coun- cillors can afford to buy red robes, I hope that the I King will vouchsafe to send out nine such. As for the black robes, they can furniah those themselves."1 The King did not respond, and the nine robes never arrived.
» Compare LaPotherie,i.260; and La .'our, Vie de Laval, liy. rii « Meules au Ministre, 28 Sept., 1686.
1663-1763.] THE COUNCILLORS. 335
The official dignity of the council was sometimes exposed to trials against which even red gowns might have proved an insufficient protection. The same intendant urges that the tribunal ought to be provided immediately with a house of its own. " It is not decent," he says, "that it should sit in the governor's antechamber any longer. His guards and valets make such a noise that we cannot hear one another speak. I have continually to tell them to keep quiet, which causes them to make a thousand jokes at the councillors as they pass in and out."1 As the governor and the council were often on ill terms, the official head of the colony could not. always be trusted to keep his attendants on their good behavior. The minister listened to the com- Dlaint of Meules, and adopted his suggestion that the government should buy the old brewery of Talon, —
large structure of mingled timber and masonry on the banks of the St. Charles. It was at an easy distance from the chateau; passing the H6tel Dieu and descending the rock, one reached it by a walk of
few minutes. It was accordingly repaired, partly rebuilt, and fitted up to serve the double purpose of a lodging for the intendant and a court-house. Henceforth the transformed brewery was known as die Palace of the Intendant, or the Palace of Justice ; and here the council ,and inferior courts long con- anued to hold their sessions.
Some of these inferior courts appear to have needed
1 Meules au Ministre, 12 Nov., 1684.
336 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763.
a lodging quite as much as the council. The watch- ful Meules informs the minister that the royal judge for the district of Quebec was accustomed in winter, with a view to saving fuel, to hear causes and pro- nounce judgment by his own fireside, in the midst of his children, whose gambols disturbed the even distribution of justice.1
The superior council was not a very harmonious body. As its three chiefs — the man of the sword, the man of the church, and the man of the law — were often a,t yarjai^ce. the CQiu^llors^tjacjie^thfim- 'selvestoone party or theother, and hot disputes sometimes ensued. 1'Iie liitendant. though but third in rank, presided at the sessions, tookvotgs, pro-^ nounced judgment^ signed papers, and cajlpd Mppflifll meetings. This matter of the presidency was for some time a source of contention between him and the governor, till the question was set at rest by a decree of the King.
The intendants in their reports to the minister do not paint the council in flattering colors. One of them complains that the councillors, being busy with their farms, neglect their official duties. Another says that they are all more or less in trade. A third calls them uneducated persons of slight account, allied to the chief families and chief merchants in Canada, in whose interest they make laws; and he adds, that, as a year and a half or even two years usually elapse before the answer to a complaint is
1 Mtvles au Ministre, 12 Nov., 1684.
1663-1763.] THE INTENDANT. 337
received from France, they take advantage of this long interval to the injury of the King's service.1 These and other similar charges betray the con- tinual friction between the several branches of the government.
The councillors were rarely changed, and they usually held office for life. In a few cases the King" granted to the son of a councillor yet living the right of suRCftfldinp' his f^f-hpr y/Vipn t.Vip> pharirp sVmnlfl
become vacant.2 It was a post of honor and not of I profit, at least of direct profit. The salaries were very small, and coupled with a prohibition to receive fees.
Judging solely by the terms of his commission, the h j mte^Ja^t^s.^h^^ He 7
controlled all expenditure of public money, and not /
v*i^<''*<'
.
only presidedat^tlj^cjc^micu^but was^
own person vnti^jn£%p£n£<^^ judicial power. He was a
nances having the force of lawjyhfineyer he thought i*^«*^ •+~-^~*
necessary, and, in the words of his commission, "to order everything as he shall see just and proper."* He was directed to be
though war was the special province of his colleague,
l Meules au Ministre, 12 Nov., 1684.
1 A son of Amours was named in his father's lifetime to succeed him, as was also a son of the attorney-general Auteuil. There are several other cases. A son of Tilly, to whom the right of succeed- ing his father had been granted, asks leave to sell it to the merchant La Chesnaye.
1 Commissions of Bouteroue, Diichesneau, Meules, etc.
22
338 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763.
and tc^^rgt^^t -a^jt^Mv^d^al] i othere^fipm official that is, to protect tliem from
the governor. Yet there were practical difficulties in the way of his appwanj; power. The King, his master, was far away ; but official jealousy was busy around him, and his patience was sometimes put to the proof. Thus the royal judge of Quebec had fallen into irregularities. "I can do nothing with him," writes the intendant; "he keeps on good terms with the governor and council, and sets me at naught." The governor had, as he thought, treated him amiss. "You have told me," he writes to the minister, " to bear everything from him and report to youj" and he proceeds to recount his grievances. Again, " the attorney-general is bold to insolence, * and needs to be repressed. The King's interposition is necessary." He modestly adds that the intendant is the only man in Canada whom his Majesty can trust, and that he ought to have more power.1 These were far from being his only troubles. The
1 enormous powers with which his commission clothed him were sometimes jftjjejcjre^ fry- ^ntrftdictory instri]cfi'ofla from the King;2 for this government, I not of laws but of arbitrary will, is marked l>y fre- quent inconsistencies. When he quarrelled with the \ governor, and the governor chanced to have strong
\ i Meults au Zfinittre, 12 Nov., 1684.
.) 2 Thus, Meules is flatly forbidden to compel litigants to bring
Vcauses before him (Instruction pour le Sieur dc Meules, 1682) ; and this
prohibition is nearly of the same date with the commission in
which the power to do so is expressly given him.
1663-1763.] THE INTENDANT. 339
friends at court, his position became truly pitiable. He was berated as an imperious master berates an offending servant. " Your last letter is full of noth- ing but complaints." "You have exceeded your authority." "Study to know yourself, and to under- stand clearly the difference there is between a gov- ernor and an intendant." "Since you failed to comprehend the difference between you and the officer who represents the King's person, you are in danger of being often condemned, or rather of being recalled; for his Majesty cannot endure so many petty complaints, founded on nothing but a certain quasi equality between the governor and you, which you assume, but which does not exist." "Meddle •with nothing beyond your functions." "Take good care to tell me nothing but the truth." "You ask too many favors for your adherents." "You must not spend more than you have authority to spend, or it will be taken out of your pay." In short, there are several letters from the minister Colbert to his colonial man- of-all- work, which, from beginning to end, are one continued scold.1
The luckless intendant wasHabje^ texfekj^l tfo account for the actipnofnatural laws. "If the populaTionaoes not increase in proportion to the pains I take," writes the King to Duchesneau, "you are to lay the blame on yourself for not having exe-
1 The above examples are all taken from the letters of Colbert to the intendant Duchesneau. It is an extreme case, but other in- ulants are occasionally treated with scarcely more ceremony.
340 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763.
cuted my principal order [to promote marriages], and for having failed in the principal object for which I sent you to Canada."1
A great number of ordinances of intendants are preserved. They were usually read to the people at the doors of churches after mass, or sometimes by the ems' from his pulpit. They relate to a great variety of subjects, — regulation of inns and markets, poaching, preservation of game, sale of brandy, rent of pews, stray hogs, mad dogs, tithes, matrimonial quarrels, fast driving, wards and guardians, weights and measures, nuisances, value of coinage, trespass on lands, building churches, observance of Sunday, preservation of timber, seignior and vassal, settle- ment of boundaries, and many other matters. If ariU cure* with some of his parishioners reported that his shurch or his house needed repair or rebuilding, the -i mtendantissuqd ^a^^r^linancp. requiring all the inhabitants of the parish, "both those who have rnnseated and those whCLj'n-ye ngt
contribute materials and laDor, on pain of fine or
-m — m*^-wr^tm --- *'~**~^^'^l>^*^«»_-*^^«>- ' "** * **v in f*
otherpenalty.2 The miima captain of trie eo?*rwas
^^^^^61^^^^
to direct the work and see that each parishioner did his due part, which was determined by the extent of his farm; so, too, if the grand voyer, an officer charged with the superintendence of highways, reported that a new road was wanted or that an old
* Le Roi a Duchesneau, 11 Juin, 1680.
* See, among many examples, the ordinance of 24th December, 1715. Edit* et Ordonnances, ii. 443.
1663-1763.] ABSOLUTISM. 341
one needed mending, an ordinance of the intendant I set the whole neighborhood at work upon it, directed, as in the other case, by the captain of militia. If children were left fatherless, the intendant ordered the curd of the parish to assemble their relations or friends for the choice of a guardian. K did noiclsnda live oni
took it from him and
Chimney-sweeping having been neglected at Quebec, the intendant commands all householders promptly to do their duty in this respect, and at the same time fixes the pay of the sweep at six sous a chimney. Another order forbids quarrelling in church. Another assigns pews in due order of pre- cedence to the seignior, the captain of militia, and the wardens. The intendant Raudot, who seems to have j^ftjo^i^d'^y^1^ PVPrp than the others with the spirit of paternal intervention, issued a mandate to the effect, that, whereas the people of Montreal raise too many horses, which prevents them from raising cattle and sheep, " being therein ignorant of their true interest. . . . Now, therefore, we com- mand that each inhabitant of the cotes of this govern- ment shall hereafter own no more than two horses, or mares, and one foal, — the same to take effect after the sowing-season of the ensuing year, 1710, giving them time to rid themselves of their horses in excess of said number, after which they will be required to
1 Compare the numerous ordinances printed in the second and third volumes of Edits et Ordonnances.
342 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763.
j^»7 kill any of such excess that may remain in their
y«*r possession."1 Many other ordinances, if not equally
k rP preposterous, are equally stringent ; such, for
ff example, as that of the intendant Bigot, in which,
with a view of promoting agriculture, and protecting
the morals of the farmers by saving them from the
temptations of cities, he proclaims to them : " We
prohibit and forbid you to remove to this town
* [Quebec] under any pretext whatever, without our
0* jJ permission in writing, on pain of being expelled and
X* r^ sen^ ^)ac^: *° vour farms» Jour furniture and goods * ^ confiscated, and a fine of fifty livres laid on you for r^ the benefit of the hospitals. And, furthermore, we
forbid all inhabitants of the city to let houses or rooms to persons coming from the country, on pain of a fine of a hundred livres, also applicable to the hospitals. " a At about the same time a royal edict, designed to prevent the undue subdivision of farms, £ forbade the country people, except such as were authorized to live in villages, to build a house or ? barn on any piece of land less than one and a half
arpents wide and thirty arpents long ; 8 while a sub- sequent ordinance of the intendant commands the immediate demolition of certain houses built in con- i^ travention' of the edict.4
; The spirit of absolutism ia everywhere apparent.
^^j^^^^—^^^j^^^^j^^^^^^^^^^^^^i^^g^^^^^^^^^^^*^^*^^ ^— ^*^^ ^S
'^It is of very great consequence," wrii&Sthem'tend- ant Meules, "that the people should not be left at
1 £d\t» et Ordonnancet, ii. 273. « Ibid., ii. 309.
3 Ibid., i. 686. * Ibid., ii. 400.
1663-1763.] ABSOLUTISM. 343
liberty to speak their minds."1 HejiGg, ^gublic^meet- y ings^wei'e jealousj^j^tqfited. Even those held by parishioners under the eye of the cure" to estimate the cost of a new church seem to have required a special license from the intendant. During a number of years a meeting of the principal inhabitants of Quebec was called in spring and autumn by the council to discuss the price and quality of bread, the supply of firewood, and other similar matters. The council commissioned two of its members to preside at these meetings, and on hearing their report took what action it thought best. Thus, after the meet- ing held in February, 1686, it issued a decree, in which, after a long and formal preamble, it solemnly ordained " that besides white-bread and light brown- bread, all bakers shall hereafter make dark brown- bread whenever the same shall be required." 2 ^jSucl} j^ontEDJ.le4, could scarcely, one would
think, wound the tenderest susceptibilities of author- ity ; yet there was evident distrust of them, and after a few years this modest shred of self-government is seen no more. The syndic, too, that functionary whom the people of the towns were at first allowed to choose, under the eye of the authorities, was con- jured out of existence by a word from the King. Seignior, censitaire, and citizen were prostrate alike
1 "II ne laisse pas d'etre de trfes grande consequence de ne pas laisser la liberte' au peuple de dire son sentiment." — Meules av Mintttre, 1686.
8 £dits et Ordonnances, ii. 112.
844 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1761
in flat subjection to the royal will. They were not
of
\
Canada, man or woman, could do so without leave ; and several intendants express their belief that with- out this precaution there would soon be a falling off in the population.
In 1671 the council issued a curious decree. One Paul Dupuy had been heard to say that there is noth- ing like righting one's self, and that when the English cut off the head of Charles I. they did a good thing, with other discourse to the like effect. The council declared him guilty of speaking ill of royalty in the person of the King of England, and ottering words tending to sedition. He was con- demned to be dragged from prison by the public exe- cutioner, and led in his shirt, with a rope about his neck and a torch in his hand, to the gate of the Chateau St. Louis, there to beg pardon of the King; thence to the pillory of the Lower Town to be branded with a fleur-de-lis on the cheek, and set in the stocks for half an hour; then to be led back to prison, and put in irons " till the information against him shall be completed." 1
o
tised, Jrreverence to God was threatened with still
>^->**"^» *»l **^. •*»! .. «^. -X^^^fc^-^"^ -^^— "-^— ~+^***
tjbiVCBej: penalties. Louis XIV., ever haunted with the fear of the Devil, sought protection against him by his famous edict against swearing, duly registered on the books of the council at Quebec. " It is our
1 Juyements et Deliberations du Conseil Suptricur.
1663-1763.] CANADIAN JUSTICE. 845
will and pleasure," says this pious mandate, "that all persons convicted of profane swearing or blaspheming the name of God, the most Holy Virgin his mother, or the saints, be condemned for the first offence to a pecuniary fine according to their possessions and the greatness and enormity of the oath and blasphemy; and if those thus punished repeat the said oaths, then for the second, third, and fourth time they shall be condemned to a double, triple, and quadruple fine ; and for the fifth |ame. they shall be set in_thn pilloiy on Sunday or other festival days, there to remain from eight in the morning till one in the afternoon, exposed to all sorts of opprobrium and abuse, and be condemned besides to a frpnvy finp • and for the sixth time, they shall be led to the pillory, and there have the upper lip cut with a hot iron ; and for the seventh time, they shall be led to the pillory and have the lower lip cut; and if, by reason of obstinacy and inveterate bad habit, they continue after all these* punishments to utter the said oaths and blasphemies, it is our will and command that they have the ton£-i|g completely c,ut miA. so that thereafter they cannot utter them again."1 All those who should hear anybody swear were further required to report the fact to the nearest judge within twenty-four hours, on pain of fine.
This is far from being the only instance in which the temporal power lends aid to the spiritual.
1 Edit du Roy contre les Jureurs et Blasph&mateurs, du 30me Juilh{ 1666. See Edits et Ordonnances, i. 62.
346 THE RULERS OF CANADA. f!603-1763.
Among other cases, the following is worth mention- ing: Louis Gaboury, an inhabitant of the island of Orleans, charged with eating meat in Lent without asking leave of the priest, was condemned by the local judge to be tied three hours to a stake in public, and then led to the door of the chapel, there on his knees, with head bare and hands clasped, to ask pardon of God and the King. The culprit appealed to the council, which revoked the sentence and imposed only a fine.1
The due subordination of households had its share of attention. Servants who deserted their masters were to be set in the pillory for the first offence, and whipped and branded for the second; while any person harboring them was to pay a fine of twenty francs.3 On the other hand, nobody was allowed to employ a servant without a license.8
torture of the accused
•was permitted under the, French law; and it was ~J sometimes practised in Canada. Condemned mur- derers and felons were occasionally tortured before being strangled; and the dead body, enclosed in a kind of iron cage, was left hanging for months at the top of Cape Diamond, a terror to children and a warning to evil-doers. Yet, on the whole, Canadian justice, tried by the standard of the time, was neithej vindictive nor cruel.
1 Doutre et Lareau, Histolre d* Droit Canadien, 163. « Rtglement de Police, 1676. Ordonnances, ii. 63.
1663-1763.] ABUSES. 347
In reading the voluminous correspondence of gov- ernors and intendants, the minister and the King, nothing is more apparent than the interest with which, in the early part of his reign, Louis XIV. regarded his colony. One of the faults of fafo rnlp is/ the excess of his benevolence; for not only did he give money to support parish priests, build churches. and aid the seminary, the Ursulines, the missions, and the hospitals ; but he established a fund destined, among other objects, to relieve indigent persons, sub- sidized nearly every branch
and in other instances did for the colonists what they would far better have learned to do for themselves.
Meanwhile, the officers of government were far. from suffering from an excess of royal beneficence. La Hontan says that the local governor of Three Rivers would die of hunger if, besides his pay, he did not gain something by trade with the Indians ; and that Perrot, local governor of Montreal, with one thousand crowns of salary, traded to such purpose that in a few years he made fifty thousand crowns. This trade, it may be observed, was in violation of the^ royal edicts. The pay of the governor-general vajjedfrom time to time. When La Potherie wrote, it was twelve thousand francs a year, besides three thousand which he received in his capacity of local governor of Quebec.1 This would hardly tempt a
1 In 1674, the governor-general received 20,718 francs, out of which he was to pay 8,718 to his guard of twenty men and officer &
348 THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763.
Frenchman of rank to expatriate himself; and yet some at least of the governors came out to the colony for the express purpose of mending their fortunes. Indeed, the higher nobility could scarcely, in time of peace, have other motives for going there ; the court and the army were their element, and to be else- where was banishment. We shall see hereafter by what means they sought compensation for their exile in Canadian forests.
Loud complaints sometimes found their way to Versailles. A memorial addressed to the regent duke of Orleans, immediately after the King's death, declares that the ministers of state, who have been the real managers of the colony, have made their creatures and relations governors and intendants, and set them free from all responsibility. High colonial officers, pursues the writer, come home rich, while the colony languishes almost to perishing.1 As for lesser offices, they were multiplied to satisfy needy retainers, till lean and starving Canada was covered
(Ordonnnance du Roy, 1675.) Yet in 1677, in the £tat de la Defense que le Roy veut et ordonne estre faite, etc., the total pay of the gover- nor-general is set down at 3,000 francs, and so also in 1081, 1682, and 1687. The local governor of Montreal was to have 1,800 francs, and the governor of Three Rivers 1,200. It is clear, how- ever, that this Etat de depense is not complete, as there is no pro- vision for the intendant. The first councillor received 600 francs, and the rest 300 francs each, equal in Canadian money to 400. An ordinance of 1676 gives the intendant 12,000 francs. It is tolerably clear that the provision of 3,000 francs for the governor-general wai meant only to apply to his capacity of local governor of Quebec. 1 Memolre addresse au Regent, 1715.
1663-1763.] THE. KING AND THE MINISTER. 34$
with official' leeches, sucking, in famished despera- tion, at her bloodless veins.
The whole system ojf1 aduiimstefttion centred in the King, who, to borrow tile- fcvmula of his edicts, "in
•••*•
the fulness of our power an<-l 1-111* certain 'knowledge,"
was supposed to direct tffifc9Wh<flje ma6hirie, from its ^*v*w *"<• *>• •=*..••%• • ' *
highest functions to its pettiest iivyrverition in private affairs. That this theory, like #& 'extreme theories of government, was au illusion, i.-* no fault of Louis XIV. Hard-working monarch as he wait; he spared no pains toguide^ hisj^li^tant^cpl^h^rii {he, paths, of prosperity. The prolix letters 'of governors and intendants were carefully studied; and many of the replies, signed by the royal hand. ewtefkinto' details of surprising minuteness. Thai Uu,g -himself
wrote these letters is incredible; buVlfr [thfe early part of his reign he certainly directed >iitrolled
them. At a later time, when m >rt>mgvinter-
ests engrossed him, he could no ' longer ^tudy in person the long-winded despatches of hfe- Canadian officers. They were usually addressed to the ririhrster of state, who caused abstracts to be made fro"ni 'thihn for the King's use, and perhaps for his owni1' ' The minister, or the minister's secretary, could sup]< or color as he or those who influenced him saww^ff* In the latter half of his-too-long. r-eign, when Sares, calamities, and humiliations were thickening around I the King, another influence was added to make the
1 Many of these abstracts are still preserved in the Archives of the Marine and Colonies.
350
THE RULERS OF CANADA. [1663-1763.
'
theoretical supremacy of his royal will more than ever a mockery. That prince of annalist*, Saint-Simon, has painted Louis XIV, ruling his realm from the bedchamber of Mad:umple Maintenon, — seated with his minister at a smajjfetpfcte beside the fire, the King in an arm-chair, on ;i stool, with his bay
of papers on a, sejoi n<-ar him. In another
arm-chair, at another table XMJ the other side of the fire, sat the. seriate • busy to all appearance
with a book or u piece of ..tapestry, but listening to everything thfi91jHR£' '' Sh*- rarely spoke," says Saint-Simon, "except,. 'wlirn the King asked her opinion, which he Q^teiif did ; and then she answered with greatttltiil)|M'8tipn and gravity. She never, or very rarelj(£dfc<>'Siipk.%ipartiality for any measure, still less for .anjr'jpBlBout but she had an understanding with thf» mAftMfter, • who never dared do otherwise than sher 4*shed. Whenever any favor or appoint- ment was in question, the business was settled between them beforehand. She would send to the minister that she wanted to speak to him, and he did not dare bring the matter on the carpet till he had •i ved. her orders. " Saint-Simon next recounts the subtle methods by which Maintenon arid the minister, her tool, beguiled the King to do their will, while never doubting that he was doing his own. "He thought," concludes the annalist, "that it was he alone who disposed of all appointments; while in reality he disposed of very few indeed, except on the rare occasions when be had taken a fancy to some-
1663-1763.] CANADA NEGLECTED. 351
body, or when somebody whom he wanted to fav had spoken to him in behalf of somebody else." 1
Add to all this the rarity of communication wife the distant colony. The ships from France arrived at Quebec in July, August, or September, and returned in November. The machine of Canadian government, wound up once a year, was expected tr> run unaided at least a twelvemonth. Indeed, it T»vas oftenlefttoitself for two years, such was some-'tiines the tardiness of tneL overoumeneogovernrdtent in
V 1 1 ">, w "^"^ ~"~^ ^^^^i n "~> ~»>i » * i>*ii i > ^^
answering the despatches of its colonial agents. It is no matter of surprise that a writer well versed in its affairs calls Canada the "country i>f abuses."2
1 Mfmoires du Due de Saint-Simon, xii i.38, 39 (Cheruel, 1857). Saint-Simon, notwithstanding tlie independence of his character and his violent prejudices, held a high pos'aion at court ; and his acute and careful observation, joined to 'nil faimiliar acquaintance with ministers and other 1ui.ctioiur.:ivo, both in and out of office, gives a rare value to hi ^ matchless portraitures, and makes him indispen- 4S£Mfc> vPfr.nalist of his time. du Canada, 175&
CHAPTER XX.
1663-1763. TRADE AND INDUSTRY.
^-THE HUGUENOT MERCHANTS. — ROYAL PAT- EMERIES. — CRIES FOR HELP. — AGRICULTURE.
— ^^^^H^^^^^AuTs OF ORNAMENT. — FINANCE. — CARD tttDK. — IMPOSTS. — THE BEAVER TRADE. —
THE FAT^^^^^^^ML. — CONTRABAND TRADE. — A FATAL
SYSTEM.— ^^^MB^BfclHANGE.— THE COUREURS DK liuis.
—THE FORE!
WE have seer? intellect and will: of nutrition. Whate^^^H a different treatment, ^H enfeebled by the regime™ subjected.
The spirit of rustrietkm and r .imjioly ha»f
from the beginning. The old ^ovcrnor seignior for a while of a great part of th' held that Montrealjiad noj-ight to trade directly ^rjpce, but miisjt_ draw till liei- sujplj^s Jj'< >m ( and this preposterous claim was revived in of Me"zy. The successive companies to the colony was consigned had a baneful ^H
Faillon, Colonie Franfaite, ii. 244.
16G3-1763.]
TRADE IN FETTERS.
353
individual enterprise. In 1674 Jthe charter of the West India Company was revoked, and jgacje,
declared open to all subjects of the King: yet com-
+*~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^**'^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^'^^^^f^*^
merce was still conoemned to wear the ball and chain. New r.e.a^rj^lio.ng^ ^ej^jmposed. meant for good, but resulting in evil. ]^Ietrc^a^^oJ>jrgsidgnt in the colony were^ f orbi^dej^ _jill^ tra^le^ direct or indirect, with ithq Indians. l They were also for- bidden tosellany goods at retad^ccept^jn^ <^uJ^u&L^ September, and October \* Canada above Quebec, anTtos
n
"was
This last restriction designed to develop colonial industry. No person^
^^^MVM^Mi ^^
resident or not, could trade with the English colonies. or go thither without a special passport, and rigid examination by the military authorities.3 Foreign- _ lf_aJiy Vin^ was stiffly prohibited.
after a new company had engrossed the beaver-trade, its agents ^were empowered to ent-ff all h^11gog -J>r> Canada, whether ecclesiastic] nr Sppnlar1 and search them frtr frrpH An^g which when found were
publicly burned.4 In the next year the royal council ordered that vessels engaged in foreign trade should be captured by force of arms, like pirates, and con- fiscated along with their cargoes ; 6 while anybody having an article of foreign manufacture in his pos- session was subjected to a heavy fine.6
1 Rtglement de Police, 1676. Art. xl.
* Edits et Ordonnances, ii. 100. » Ibid., i. 489.
Ibid., i. 402. 6 Rid., i. 425. * Ibid., I 605.
23
854 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763.
^ Attempts were made to fix the exact amount of ^profit which merchants from France should be allowed to make in the colony; one of the first acts of the superior council was to order them to bring their invoices immediately before that body, which there- upon affixed prices to each article. The merchant who sold and the purchaser who bought above this tariff were alike condemned to heavy penalties ; and so, too, was the merchant who chose to keep his goods rather than sell them at the price ordained.1
->- Resident^merchants, on the other hand, were favored
%^ y^^^r^^^^^^l^^^^^^^^^^^__ ^^»^^ ^^ *-~^^ ^ — ••
to the utmost: they could seir at w^at7j)rice they sawfit; and, according to La Hontan, they made great profit by the sale of laces, ribbons, watches, jewels, and similar superfluities to the poor but extravagant colonists.
A considerable number of the non-resident mer- chants were Huguenots, for most of the importations were from the old Huguenot city of Rochelle. No favor was shown them ; they were held under rigid Y- restraint, and forbidden to exercise their religion, or "to remain in the colony during winter without special license.2 This sometimes bore very hard upon them. The governor, Denonville, an ardent Catholic, states the case of one Bernon, who had done great service to the colony, and whom La Hontan mentions as the principal French merchant in the Canadian trade. "It is a pity," says Denonville, "that he
Ordonnanccs, ii. 17, 19. » Rtglement d« Police, 1676. Art. xxxvii
1663-1763.] ROYAL PATRONAGE. 355
cannot be converted. As he is a Huguenot, the bishop wants me to order him home this autumn, — which I have done, though he carries on a large busi- ness, and a great deal of money remains due to him here."1
For a long time the ships from France went home empty, except a favored few which carried furs, or occasionally a load of dried pease or of timber. Pay- ment was made in money when there was any in Canada, or in bills of exchange. The colony, draw-
\^
ing everything from France and returning little besides beaver-skins, remained under a loac French merchants were discouraged, ana shipments * from France languished. As for the trade with the West Indies, which Talon had tried by precept and example to build up, the intendant reports in 1680 that it had nearly ceased ; though six years later it grew again to the modest proportions of three vessels loaded with wheat.2
The besetting evil of trade and industry in Canada | was the habit they contracted, and were encouraged /• to contract, of depending on the direct aid of govern-J,
ment. Not a n<vw fmterprisft was sqf. nn font with-
out a petition ^ thA yi>ng *n lAnrl a helping hand. Sometimes the petition was sent through the gov- ernor, sometimes through the intendant ; and it was rarely refused. Denonville writes that the merchants
1 Denonville au Ministre, 1685.
a Ibid., 1686. The year before, about 18,000 minots of grain were •ent hither. In 1736 the shipments reached 80,000 minors.
856 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1703.
of Quebec, by a combined effort, had sent a vessel of sixty tons to France with colonial produce; and he asks that the royal commissaries at Rochefort be instructed to buy the whole cargo, in order to encourage so deserving an enterprise. One Hazeur set up a s^v-m^lj^at Mai Bay. Finding a large stock o^ plonks ajid timber on his hands, he begs the King to send two vessels to cajry them to France; and the King accordingly did so. A similar request was made in behalf of another saw-mill at St. Paul's Bay. Denonville announces that one Riverin wishes to embark in the wjiale anfl flQJ .fisfcpry^ and that though strong in zeal he is weak in resources. The minister replies thatiie is to be encouraged, and that Jus Majesty will favorably consider his enterprise.1 Various gifts were soon after made him. He now cook to himself a partner, the Sieur Chalons ; where- upon the governor writes to ask the minister's pro- tection for them. " The Basques, " he says, " formerly carried on this fishery, but some monopoly or other put a stop to it." The remedy he proposes is homoeo- pathic. He asks another monopoly for the twc partners. Louis Joliet, the discoverer of the Missis-
1 The interest felt by the King in these matters is shown in a letter signed by his hand in which he enters with considerable detail into the plans of Riverin. (Le Roy a DenrmriU?. ft Chnmpitjn'/, Mai, 1689.) He afterwards ordered boats, harpooners, and cordage to be sent him, for which he was to pay at his convenience. Four years later he complains that, though Riverin had been often helped, his fisheries were of slight account. " Let him take care," pursues the King, " that he does not use his enterprises as a pretext to obtain favors." Mtnoire du Roy a Frontenac et Vhampigny, 1693.
1663-1763.] THE FISHERIES. 357
sippi, made a fishing-station on the island of Anticosti; and he begs help from the King, on the ground that his fishery will furnish a good and useful employment to young men. The Sieur Vitry wished to begin a fishery of white porpoises, and he begs the King to give him two thousand pounds of cod-line and two thousand pounds of one and two inch rope. His request was granted, on which he asked for five hundred livres. The money was given him ; and the next year he asked to have the gift renewed.1
The King was very anxious to develop the fisheries X of the colony. "His Majesty," writes the minister, "wishes you to induce the inhabitants to unite with the merchants for this object, and to incite them by all sorts of means to overcome their natural laziness, snce there is no other way of saving them from the ••nisery in which they now are."2 "I wish," says the jealous Denonville, "that fisheries could be well established to give employment to our young men, and prevent them from running wild in the woods;" * and he adds mournfully, "they [^ie fisheries] are
1 All the above examples are drawn from the correspondence of the governor and intendant with the minister, between 1680 and 1690, together with a memorial of Hazeur and another of Riverin, addressed to the minister.
Vitry's porpoise-fishing appears to have ended in failure. In 1707 the intendant Raudot granted the porpoise- fishery of the seigniory of Riviere Ouelle to six of the habitants. This fishery is carried on here successfully at the present day. A very interesting account of it was published in the Opinion Publique, 1873, by my friend Abbe Casgrain, whose family residence is the seigniorial mansion of Riviere Ouelle.
8 Mfmoire pour Denonville et Champigny, 8 Mars, 1688.
f
358 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1063-1703.
enriching_Jipston at our expense." "They are our
true mines," urges the intendant Meules; "but the
English of Boston have got possession of those of
Acadia, which belong to us, and we ought to prevent
(it." It was not prevented; and the Canadian
j fisheries, like other branches of Canadian industry,
'remained in a state of almost hopeless languor.1
The government applied various stimulants. One
of these, proposed by the intendant Duchesneau, is
' characteristic. He advises
pany which should have <•>»<»
; but which on its part should be required to take, at a fixed price, all that the inhabitants should bring them. This notable plan did not find favor with the King.2 It was practised, however, in the case of beaver-skins, and also in that of wood-ashes. The farmers of the revenue were required to take this last commodity at a fixed price, on their own risk, and in any quantity offered. They remonstrated, saying that it was unsalable, — adding, that, if the inhabitants would but take the trouble to turn it into
i The Canadian fisheries must not be confounded with the French fisheries of Newfoundland, which were prosperous, but were carried on wholly from French ports.
In a memorial addressed by the partners Chalons and Riverin to the minister Seignelay, they say : " Baston [Boston] et toute sa colonie nous donne un exemple qui fait honte a nostre nation, puisqu'elle s'augmente tous les jours par cette pesche (de la morue) qu'elle fait la plus grande partie sur nos costes pendant que lea Franfois ne s'occupent a ricn." Meules urges that the King should undertake the fishing business himself, since his subjects cannot or will not.
* Ministre a Duchtsneau, 15 Mai, 1678.
1663-1763.] APPEALS FOR HELP. 369
potash, it might be possible to find a market for it. The King released them entirely, coupling his order to that effect with a eulogy of free-trade.1
In all departments of industry the appeals for help are endless. . Governors and intendants are so many sturdy beggars for the languishing colony. "Send us money to build storehouses, to which the habitants can bring their produce and receive goods from the government in exchange." "Send us a teacher to make sailors of our young men: it is a pity the colony should remain in such a state for want of instruction for youth."2 " We want a surgeon : there is none in Canada who can set a bone."3 " Send us some tilers, brick-makers, and potters."4 "Send us iron- workers to work our mines."5 "It is to be wished that his Majesty would send us all sorts of artisans, especially potters and glass-workers."6 "Our Canadians need aid and instruction in their fisheries; they need pilots. "7
In 1688 the intend ant reported that Canada was entirely without either_pilojs or sailprs ; and as late as 1712 the engineer Catalogue informed the govern- ment, that, though the St. Lawrence was dangerous, a pilot was rarely to be had. " There ought to be
1 Le Roy a Duchesneau, 11 Juin, 1680.
2 Memoire a Monseigneur le Marquis de Scignelay, prisente par es Sieurs Chalons et Riverin, 1686.
8 Champigny au Ministre, 1688. < Ibid.
' Denonville au Ministre, 1686. ' Memoire de Catalogne, 1712. * Denonville au Ministre, 1686.
360 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763
trade with the West Indies and other places," urges another writer. "Everybody says it is best, but nobody will undertake it. Our merchants are too j poor, or. else are engrossed by the fur-trade."1
The languor of commerce made agriculture languish. "It is of no use now," writes Meules, in 1682^ "to ; raise any crops except what each family wants for itself." In vain the government sent out seeds for ; distribution; in vain intendants lectured the farmers, ] and lavished well-meant advice. Tillage remained i careless and slovenly. "If," says the all-observing Catalogue, "the soil were not better cultivated in Europe than here, three-fourths of the people would starve." He complains that the festivals of the Church are so numerous that not ninety working- days are left during the whole working season. The people, he says, ought to be compelled to build granaries to store their crops, instead of selling them in autumn for almost nothing, and every habitant should be required to keep two or three sheep. The intendant Champigny calls for seed of hemp and flax, and promises to visit the farms, and show the people the lands best suited for their culture. He thinks that favors should be granted to those who raise hemp and flax as well as to those who marry. Denonville is of opinion that each habitant should compelled to raise a little hemp every year, and that the King should then buy it of him at a high price.1
I Mf moire de Chalons et Riverin pre'tente' an Marquis de Seiynelay. » Denonville au ^finittre, 13 Nov., 1686.
1663-1763.] MANUFACTURES. 361
It will be well, he says, to make use of severity, while at the same time holding out a hope of gain ; and he begs that weavers be sent out to teach the women and girls, who spend the winter in idleness, how to weave and spin. Weaving and spinning,^ however, as well as the culture of hemp and flax, were neglected till 1705, when the loss of a ship laden with goods for the colony gave the spur to home industry ; and Madame de Repentigny set the example of making a kind of coarse blanket of nettle and linden bark.1
The jealousy of colonial manufactures shown by England, appears but rarely in the relations of France frith Canada^ According to its light, the French government usually did its besttostimulate Canadian industry, with what results we have just seen. There was afterwards some improvement. In 1714 the tntendant Bdgon reported that coarse fabrics of wool and linen were made ; that the sisters of the congre- gation wove cloth for their own habits as good as the same stuffs in France ; that black cloth was made for priests, and blue cloth for the pupils of the colleges. The inhabitants, he says, have been taught these arts by necessity. They were naturally adroit at handi- work of all kinds ; and during the last half-century
the French rule, when the population had settled .nto comparative stability, many of the mechanic arts were practised with success, notwithstanding the issertion of the Abb£ La Tour that everything but
1 Beauharnois et Raudot au Ministre, 1705.
362 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763.
bread and meat had still to be brought from France. I This change may be said to date from the peace of Utrecht, or a few years before it. At that time one Duplessis had a new vessel on the stocks. Catalogue, j who states the fact, calls it the beginning of ship- building in Canada, — evidently ignorant that Talon • had made a fruitless beginning more than forty years i before.
Of the arts of ornament not much could have been ] expected ; but, strangely enough, they were in some- what better condition than the useful arts. Thi nuns of the Hotel-Dieu made artificial flowers for altars and shrines, under the direction of Mother Juchereau ; l and the boys of the seminary were taught to make carvings in wood for the decoration j of churches.2 Pierre, son of the merchant Le Ber, ' had a turn for painting, and made religious pictures, 1 described as very indifferent.8 His sister Jeanne, an i enthusiastic devotee, made embroideries for vest- ments and altars, and her work was much admired.
The colonial finances were not prosperous. In the absence of coin, beaver-skins long served as currency. In 1669 the council declared wheata legal tender, at four francs the minot or three French' bushels ; 4 and, five years later, all creditors were ordered to receive moose-skins in payment at the market rate.6 Coin would not remain in the colony: if the company or
1 Juchereau, H!st. de rHdtel-Dieu, 244. * Abeille, ii. 13.
• Faillon, Vie de Mile. Le Ber, 331. « tidits et Ord., ii 47.
' Ibid., ii. 66.
1663-1763.] FINANCE. 363
the King sent any thither, it went back in the return- ing ships. The government devised a remedy. A , coinage was ordered for Canada on£-jquJrttfo^qgftjD
value than that of France. Thus the Canadian livre
•>. -^_%_i%. «.. -\ r"W. .it. cy_ <-*,
or franc was worth, in reality, fifteen sous instead of twenty.1 This shallow expedient produced only a nominal rise of prices, and coin fled the colony as before. Trade was carried on for a time by means of negotiable notes, payable in furs, goods, or farm produce. In 1685 the intendant Meules issued a card currency. He had no money to pay the soldiers, "and not knowing," he informs the minister, "to what saint to make my vows, the idea occurred to me of putting in 'emulation notes made of cards, each cut into four pieces ; and I have issued an ordinance commanding the inhabitants to receive them in payment."2 The cards were common playing-cards, and each piece was stamped with & fleur-de-lis and a xown, and signed by the governor, the intendant, and the clerk of the treasury at Quebec.3 The example of Meules found ready imitation. Governors ind intendants made card-money whenever they saw fit; and, being worthless everywhere but in Canada, x t showed no disposition to escape the colony. It aras declared convertible not into coin, but into bills exchange; and this conversion could only take }lace at brief specified periods. " The currency used
This device was of very early date. See Boucher, Hi$t. Vfrv able, chap. xiv.
f Meules au Ministre, 24 Sept., 1G85. • Me'molre address^ au Rtfyent, 1715.
864 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763.
in Canada," says a writer in the last years of the French rule, "has no value as a representative of money. It is the sign of a sign."1 It was card 1 representing paper, and this paper was very often dishonored. In 1714 the amount of card rubbish had risen to two million livres. Confidence was lost, and trade was half dead. The minister Ponchartrain came to the rescue, and promised to redeem it at half its nominal value. The holders preferred to lose half rather than the whole, and accepted the terms. A few of the cards were redeemed at the rate named ; then the government broke faith, and payment ceased. "This afflicting news," says a wri^r of the time, uwas brought out by the vessel which sailed from France last July."
In 1717 the government made another proposal, and the cards were converted into bills of exchange. At the same time a new issue was made, which it was declared should be the last.2 This issue was promptly redeemed; but twelve years later another followed it. In the interval, a certain quantity of coin circulated in the colony; but it underwent fluctuations through the intervention of government, and within eight years at least four edicts were issued affecting its value.8 Then came more promises to pay, till, in the last bitter years of its existence, the colony floundered in drifts of worthless paper. ' One characteristic grievance was added to the
» Considerations sur rfitat du Canada, 1758.
* Edit s et Ordonnances, i. 370. » Ibid., 400, 432, 436, 484.
1663-1763.] IMPOSTS. 365
countless woes of Canadian commerce. The govern- ment was so jealous of popular meetings of all kinds. that for a long tim^4t forbade merchants to meet together for discussing their affairs ; and it was not . till 1717 that the establishment of a bourse, or ' exchange, was permitted at Q.uebqp,
In respect of ta^aiifln^ Canada, as compared with France, had no reason to complain. If the King permitted governors and intendants to make card- money, he_permitted nobody to impose taxes but himself. The Canadians paid no direct civil tax, except in a few instances where temporary and local assessments were ordered for special objects. It was the fur-trade on which the chief burden fell. One- fourth of the braver-skins, and one -tenth of the moose-hides belonged to the King; and wiae^ -brandy, and tobacco contributed a duty of ten per cent. During a long course of years these were the only imposts. The King also retained the exclusive right of the fur-trade at Tadoussac. A vast tract of wilder- ness extending from St. Paul's Bay to a point eighty leagues down the St. Lawrence, and stretching indefi- nitely northward towards Hudson's Bay, formed a. sort of royal preserve, whence every settler was rigidly excluded. The farmers of the revenue had their trading-houses at Tadoussac, whither the northern tribes, until war, pestilence, and 'brandy consumed them, brought every summer a krge quantity of furs.
1 Doutre et Lareau, Hist, da Droit Canadien, 254.
V debility, ~T "insr fur-t
866 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763.
When, in 1674, the West India Company, to whom these imposts had been granted, was extin- guished, the King resumed possession of them. The various duties, along with the trade of Tadoussac, were now farmed out to one Oudiette and his asso- ciates, who paid the Crown three hundred and fifty thousand livres for their privilege.1
We come now to a trade far more important than all the others together, one which absorbed the enter- prise of the colony, drained the life-sap from other branches of commerce, and, even more than a vicious system of government, kept them in a state of^chronfc debility, — the hardy, adventurous, lawless, fascinat- ing fur-trade. In the eighteenth century, Canada exported a moderate quantity of timber, wheat, the herb called ginseng, and a few other commodities; but from first to last she^jiyje^fibieflj on U-;iver- skins. The government tried without ceasing to control and regulate this traffic; but it never suc- ceeded. It aimed, above all things, to bring the trade home to the colonists; to prevent them from
1 The annual return to the King from the ferme du Canada was, for some years, 119,000 francs (livres). Out of this were paid from 35,000 to 40,000 francs a year for " ordinary charges." The gover- nor, intendant, and all troops, except the small garrisons of Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers, were paid from other sources. There was a time when the balance must have been in the King's favor ; but profit soon changed to loss, owing partly to wars, partly to the confusion into which the beaver-trade soon fell. " His Majesty," writes the minister to the governor in 1698, " may soon grow tired of a colony which, far from yielding him any profit, costs him immense sums every year."
1663-1763.]
THE BEAVER-TRADE.
367
going to the Indians, and induce the Indians to com a
to them. To this end a great annual fair was estab- v
lished by order of the King at Montreal. Thither
every summer a host of savages came down from the
lakes in their bark canoes. A place was assigned
them at a little distance from the town. They
landed, drew up their canoes in a line on the bank,
took out their packs of beaver-skins, set up their
wigwams, slung their kettles, and encamped for the
inight. On the next day there was a grand council
on the common, between St. Paul Street and t the
river. Speeches of compliment were made amid a
[solemn smoking of pipes. The governor-general was
[usually present, seated in an arm-chair, while the
[visitors formed a ring about him, ranged in the order
lof their tribes. On the next day the trade began in
Ithe same place. Merchants of high and low degree
[brought up their goods from Quebec, and every
inhabitant of Montreal, of any substance, sought a
hhare in the profit. Their booths were se*t along the
palisades of the town, and each had an interpreter,
j» whom he usually promised a certain portion of his
Ijains. The scene abounded in those contrasts — not
Always edifying, but always picturesque — which
mark the whole course of French-Canadian history.
llere was a throng of Indians armed with bows and
rrows, war-clubs, or the cheap guns of the trade,
— some of them being completely naked, except for
Ihe feathers on their heads and the paint on their
U&es; French bush-rangers tricked out with savage
3C8
TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1603-176a
finery; merchants and habitants in their coarse and plain attire, and the grave priests of St. Sulpice robed in black. Order and sobriety were their watchwords ; but the wild gathering was beyond their control. The prohibition to sell brandy could rarely be enforced ; and the fair ended at times in a pandemo- nium of drunken frenzy. The rapacity of trade, and the license of savages and coureurs de 6ou, had completely transformed the pious settlement.
A similar fair was established at Three Rivers, for the Algonquin tribes north of that place. These yearly markets did not fully answer the desired object. There Wcus a_£ojis^aji£__teiiiifiQ£3L-iimong the i nhabitants of Canada to form settlements above Montreal, in nrtjpr t,n intercept thq India/is on their way down, drench them with brandy, and get their furs from them at low rates in advance of the fair. Such settlements were forbidden, but not prevented. The audacious "squatter" defied edict and ordinance and the fury of drunken savages, and boldly planted himself in the path of the descending trade. Nor is \Y this a matter of surprise; for he was usually the ( secret agent of some high colonial officer, — an j intendant, the local governor, or the governor- ] general, who often used his power to enforce the law against others, and to violate it himself.
This was not all; for the more youthful and vigorous part of the male population soon began to escape into the woods, and trade with the Indians far beyond the limits of the remotest settlements.
1663-1763.] THE FOREST-TRADE. 369
Here, too, many of them were in league with the X authorities, who denounced the abuse while secretly favoring the portion of it in which they themselves were interested. The home government, unable to prevent the evil, tried to regulate it. Licenses were issued for the forest- trade.1 Their number was limited to twentv^ive, and the privileges which they conferred varied at different periods. In La Hontan's time, eacji license authorized the departure of two canoes loaded with goods. One canoe only was after- wards allowed, bearing three men with about four hundred pounds of freight. The licenses were some- times sold for the profit of government; but many were given to widows of officers and other needy persons, to the hospitals, or to favorites and retainers of the governor. Those who could not themselves 5e them sold them to merchants or voyageurs, at a rice varying from a thousand to eighteen hundred francs. They were valid for a year and a. half; and canoeman had a share in the profits, which, if 10 accident happened, were very large. The license
stem was several times suppressed and renewed
lin; but, like the fair at Montreal, it failed com- pletely to answer its purpose, and restrain the young len of Canada from a general exodus into the
Iderness.2
The most characteristic features of the Canadian
1 Ordres du Roy au sujet de la Traite du Canada, 1681.
2 Before me is one of these licenses, signed by the governor enonville. A condition of carrying no brandy is appended to it
24
370 TRADE AND INDI.'STIIY. [1663-1763.
fur-trade still remain to be seen. Oudiette and his associates were not only charged with collecting the revenue, but were also vested with QI\ cvi'liisivp ricAt of transporting all the beaver-skins of the colony to France. On their part they were compelled to receive all beaver-skins brought to their magazines, and, after deducting the fourth belonging to the King, to pay for the rest at a fixed price. This price was graduated to the different qualities of the fur; but the average cost to the collectors was a little more than three francs a pound. The inhabitants could barter their furs with merchants; but the mer- chants must bring them all to the magazines of Oudiette, who paid in receipts convertible into bills of exchange. He soon found himself burdened with such a mass of beaver-skins that the market was completely glutted. The French hatters refused to take them all ; and for the part which they consented to take they paid chiefly in hats, which Oudiette was not allowed to sell in France, but only in the French West Indies, where few people wanted them. An unlucjry^ fashion of small hats diminished tflft r •""- sumption of fur and increased his embarrassments, as did also a practice common among the hatters of mixing rabbit fur with the beaver. In his extremity he bethought him of setting up a hat factory for him- self, under the name of a certain licensed hatter, thinking thereby to alarm his customers into buying his ^tock.1 The other hatters rose in wrath, and
1 Mf moire touchant le Commerce du Canada, 1087.
1663-1763.] TROUBLE AND CHANGE. 371
petitioned the minister. The new factory was suppressed, and Oudiette soon became bankrupt. Another company of farmers of the revenue took his place with similar results. The action of the law of / supply and demand was completely arrested by the/ peremptory edict which, with a view to the prosper- ity of the colony and the profit of the King, required the company to take every beaver-skin offered. x
All Canada, thinking itself sure of its price, rushed into the beaver-trade, and the accumulation of unsal- . able furs became more and more suffocating. The farmers of the revenue could not meet their engage* ments. Their bills of exchange were unpaid, and Canada was filled with distress and consternation. In 1700 a change of system was ordered. The monopoly of exporting beaver was placed in the •* hands of a company formed of the chief inhabitants of Canada. Some of them hesitated to take the risk; but the government was not to be trifled with, and the minister, Ponchartrain, wrote in terms so per- emptory, and so menacing to the recusants, that, in the words of a writer of the time, he "shut every- body's mouth." About a hundred and fifty mer- chants accordingly subscribed to the stock of the new company, and immediately petitioned the King for a ship and a loan of seven hundred thousand francs. They were required to take off the hands of the farmers of the revenue an accumulation of more than six hundred thousand pounds of beaver, for which, owever, they were to pay but half its usual price.
372 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1603-1763.
f
The market of France absolutely refused it, and the
directors of the new company saw no better course than to burn three-fourths of the troublesome and perishable commodity; nor was this the first resort to this strange expedient. One cannot repress a feel' ing of indignation at the fate of the interesting and unfortunate animals uselessly sacrificed to a false economic system. In order to rid themselves of what remained, the directors begged the King to issue a decree, requiring all hatters to put at least three ounces of genuine beaver-fur into each hat.
All was in vain. The affairs of the company fell into a confusion which was aggravated by the bad faith of some of its chief members. In 1707 it was succeeded by another company, to whose magazines every habitant or merchant was ordered to bring every beaver-skin in his possession within forty-eight hours; and the company, like its predecessors, was required to receive it, and pay for it in written promises. Again the market was overwhelmed with a surfeit of beaver. Again the bills of exchange were unpaid, and all was confusion and distress. Among the memorials and petitions to which this state of things gave birth, there is one conspicuous by the presence of good sense and the absence of self-interest. The writer proposes that there should be no more monopoly, but that everybody should be free to buy beaver-skins and send them to France, subject only to a moderate duty of entry. The pro- posal was not accepted. In 1721 the monopoly of
1663-1763.] THE COUREURS DE BOIS.
373
exporting beaver-skins was given to the new West India Company; but this time it was provided that the government should direct from time to time, according to the capacities of the market, the quan- tity of furs which the company should be forced to receive.1
Out of the beaver-trade rose a huge evil, baneful to the growth and the morals of Canada. All that was most active and vigorous in the colony took to the woods, and escaped from the control of intend- ants, councils, and priests, to the savage freedom of the wilderness. Not only were the possible profits great; but, in the pursuit of them, there was a fasci- nating element of adventure and danger. The bush- rangers, or coureurs de bois, were to the King an object of horror. They defeated his plans for the increase of the population, and shocked his native instinct of discipline and order. Edict after edict was directed against them; and more than once the colony presented the extraordinary spectacle of the greater part of its young men turned into forest out-
1 On the fur-trade the documents consulted are very numerous. The following are the most important : Me'moire sur ce qui concerns le Commerce du Castor et ses de'pendances, 1715 ; Me'moire concernant le Commerce de Traite entre les Francois et les Sauvages, 1691 ; Me~- moire sur le Canada addresse~ au Regent, 1715 ; Me'moire sur les Affaires de Canada dans leur Estat present, 1696 ; Me'moire des Negotiants de la Rochelle qui font Commerce en Canada sur la Proposition de ne plus recevoir les Castors et d'engager les Habitants a la Culture des Terres et Pesche de la Molue, 1696 ; Me'moire du Sr. Riverin sur la Traite et ia Ferme du Castor , 1696 ; Me'moire touchant le Commerce du Canada 1687, etc.
374 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763.
laws. But severity was dangerous. The offenders might be driven over to the English, or converted into a lawless banditti, — renegades of civilization and the faith. Therefore, clemency alternated with rigor, and declarations of amnesty with edicts of pro- scription. Neither threats nor blandishments were of much avail. We hear of seigniories abandoned; farms turning again into forests ; wives and children left in destitution. The exodus of the coureurs de bois would take, at times, the character of an organ- ized movement. The famous Du Lhut is said to have made a general combination of the young men of Canada to follow him into the woods. Their plan was to be absent four years, in order that the edicts against them might have time to relent. The intend- ant Duchesneau reported that eight hundred men out of a population of less than ten thousand souls had vanished from sight in the immensity of a bound- less wilderness. Whereupon the King ordered that any person going into the woods without a license should be whipped and branded for the first offence, and sent for life to the galleys for the second.1 The order was more easily given than enforced. " I must not conceal from you, Monseigneur, " again writes Duchesneau, "that the disobedience of the coureurs de bois has reached such a point that everybody boldly contravenes the King's interdictions; that there is no longer any concealment; and that parties
1 Le Roy a Frontenac, 30 Avril, 1681. On another occasion, it waa ordered that any person thus offending should suffer death.
1663-1763.] THE COUREURS DE BOIS. 375
are collected with astonishing insolence to go and trade in the Indian country. I have done all in my power to prevent this evil, which may cause the ruin of the colony. I have enacted ordinances against the coureurs de bois ; against the merchants who furnish them with goods; against the gentlemen and others who harbor them; and even against those who have any knowledge <rf them, and will not inform the local judges.^^^HBs been in vain; inasmuch as some of the jM^Lpgpsiderable families are interested with tlienij^^^HI governor lets them go on ano! even sharMW^^Wprofits. " 1 "You are aware, Mon» seigneuiy"^fl$es Denonville, some years later, "that * de bois are a great evil, but you are not a war. how great this evil is. It deprives the country of it$ effective men ; makes them indocile, debauched,
'
and incapable of discipline, and turns them into pre- tended no! >les, — wearing the sword and decked out \wirh lace, both they and their relations, who all affect to be gentlemen and ladies. As for cultivat- ing the soil, they will not hear of it. This, along with the scattered condition of the settlements, causes their children to be as unruly as Indians, being brought up in the same manner. Not that there are not some very good people here, but they are in a minority." 2 In another despatch he enlarges on their vagabond and lawless ways, their indiffer-
1 N. Y. Colonial Docs., ix. 131.
2 Denonville, Memoir e sur I'Estat des Affaires de la Nouvelle France.
376 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [1663-1763.
ence to marriage, and the mischief caused by their example; describes how, on their return from the woods, they swagger like lords, spend all their gains in dress and drunken revelry, and despise the peas- ants, whose daughters they will not deign to marry, though they are peasants themselves.
It was a curious scene when a party of coureurs de bois returned from their roving*. Montreal was their harboring place, and tl: itoted themselves
much like the crew of a man-oftifeftjftd off after a long voyage. As long as their Wtwf^kins lasted, they set no bounds to their riot. EVetfr Htvjse in the place, we are told, was turned into JMfr; mp.
The new-comers were bedizened with IT.-'* uix-
ture of French and Indian finery; whlP me of them, with instincts more thoroughly sa'^^^Hflked about the streets as naked as a Potta\\ or a
Sioux. The clamor of tongues was prodiqious, ami gambling and drinking filled the day and the ni^lit. When at last they were sober again, they sought absolution for their sins; nor could the priests ven- ture to bear too hard on their unruly penitents, lest they should jffeak wholly with the Church and dis- pense thenceforth with her sacraments.
Under such leaders as Du Lhut, the coureurs de lois built forts of palisades at various points through- out the West and Northwest. They had a post of this sort at Detroit some time before its permanent settle- ment, as well as others on Lake Superior and in the valley of the Mississippi. They occupied them as
1663-1763.] THE COUREURS DE BOIS. 377
long as it suited their purposes, and then abandoned them to the next comer. Michilimackinac was, however, their chief resort; and thence they would set out, two or three together, to roam for hundreds of miles through the endless mesh-work of inter- locking lakes and rivers which seams the northern
wilderness.
jgji
No wonder that a year or two of bush-ranging spoiled them for civilization. Though not a very valuable member of society, and though a thorn in the side of princes and rulers, the coureur de bois had his uses, at least from an artistic point of view; and his strange figure, sometimes brutally savage, but oftener marked with the lines of a dare-devil cour- age, and a reckless, thoughtless gayety, will always be joined to the memories of that grand world of woods which the nineteenth century is fast civilizing out of existence. At least, he is picturesque, and with his red-skin companion serves to animate forest scenery. Perhaps he could sometimes feel, without knowing that he felt them, the charms of the savage nature that had adopted him. Rude as he was, her voice may not always have been meaningless for one who knew her haunts so well, — deep recesses where, veiled in foliage, some wild shy rivulet steals with timid music through breathless caves of verdure; gulfs where feathered crags rise like castle walls, where the noonday sun pierces with keen rays athwart the torrent, and the mossed arms of fallen pines cast wavering shadows on the illumined foam;
378 TRADE AND INDUSTRY. [166&-17G3.
pools of liquid crystal turned emerald in the reflected green of impending woods; rocks on whose rugged front the gleam of sunlit waters dances in quivering light ; ancient trees hurled headlong by the storm, to dam the raging stream with their forlorn and savage ruin ; or the stern depths of immemorial forests, dim and silent as a cavern, columned with innumerable trunks, each like an Atlas upholding its world of leaves, and sweating perpetual moisture down its dark and channelled rind, — some strong in youth, some grisly with decrepit age, nightmares of strange distortion, gnarled and knotted with wens and goitres; roots intertwined beneath like serpents petrified iq an agony of contorted strife; green and glistening mosses carpeting the rough ground, mantling the rocks, turning pulpy stumps to mounds of verdure, and swathing fallen trunks as, bent in the impotence of rottenness, they lie outstretched over knoll and hollow, like mouldering reptiles of the primeval world, while around, and on and through them, springs the young growth that battens on their decay, — the forest devouring its own dead ; or, to turn from its funereal shade to the light and life of the open woodland, the sheen of sparkling lakes, and moun- tains basking in the glory of the summer noon, flecked by the shadows of passing clouds that sail on snowy wings across the transparent azure.1
1 An adverse French critic gives as hia opinion that the sketch of the primeval wilderness on the preceding page is drawn from fancy, and not from observation. It is, however, copied in evcrv
1663-1763.] LETTER OF CARHEIL. 379
Yet it would be false coloring to paint the half- savage coureur de bois as a romantic lover of Nature. He liked the woods because they emancipated him_ from restraint. He liked the lounging ease of the camp-lire, and the license of Indian villages. His life has a dark and ugly side, which is nowhere drawn more strongly than in a letter written by the Jesuit Carheil to the intendant Champigny. It was at a time when some of the outlying forest posts, originally either missions or transient stations of coureurs de bois, had received regular garrisons. Carheil writes from Michilimackinac, and describes the state of things around him like one whom long familiarity with them had stripped of every illusion.1
But Ijere, for the present, we pause ; for the father touches on other matters than the coureurs de bois, and we reserve him and his letter for the next chapter.
particular, without exception, from a virgin forest in a deep moist valley by the upper waters of the little river Pemigewasset in northern New Hampshire, where I spent a summer afternoon a few days before the passage was written. 1 See the letter in Appendix I.
CHAPTER XXI.
1663-1702. THE MISSIONS. — THE BRANDY QUESTION.
TUB JESUITS AND THE IROQUOIS. — MISSION VILLAGES. — MICHILI- MACKINAC. — FATHER CABHEIL. — TEMPERANCE. — BRANDY AND THE INDIANS. — STRONG MEASURES. — DISPUTES. — LICENSE AND PROHIBITION. — VIEWS OP THE KING. — TRADE AND THE JESUITS.
FOB a year or two after De Tracy had chastised the Mohawks, and humbled the other Iroquois na- tions, all was rose-color on the side of that dreaded confederacy. The Jesuits, defiant as usual of hard- ship and death, had begun their ruined missions anew. Bruyas took the Mission of the Martyrs among the Mohawks; Milet, that of Saint Francis Xavier, among the Oneidas; Lamberville, that of Saint John the Baptist among the Onondagas; Carheil, that of Saint Joseph among the Cayugas; and Raffeix and Julien Gamier shared between them the three missions of the Senecas. The Iroquois, after their punishment, were in a frame of mind so hopeful that the fathers imagined for a moment that they were all on the point of accepting the faith. This was a consummation earnestly to be wished, not
1663-1702.] THE JESUITS AND THE IROQUOIS. 381
only from a religious, but also from apolitical, point of view. The complete conversion of the Iroquoia «x meant theisvestrangement from the heretic English /^ and Dutch, and their firm alliance with the French. It meant safety for Canada, and it ensured for her j^ the fur-trade of the interior freed from English rivalry. Hence the importance of tlies and hence their double character, "while the Jesuit toiled to convert his savage hosts, he watched them at the same time with the eye of a shrewd •political agent; reported at Quebec the result of his observa- tions, and by every means in his power sought to alienate them from England, and attach them to France.
Their simple conversion, by placing them wholly under his influence, would have outweighed in political value all other agencies combined; but the flattering hopes of the earlier years soon vanished. Some petty successes against other tribes so elated the Iroquois that they ceased to care for French alliance or French priests. Then a few petty reverses would dash their spirits, and dispose them again to listen to Jesuit counsels. Eveiy success of a war- party was a loss to the faith, and every reverse was a gain. Meanwhile a more repulsive or a more criti- cal existence than that of a Jesuit father in an Iroquois town is scarcely conceivable. The torture of prisoners turned into a horrible festivity for the whole tribe ; foul and crazy orgies in which, as the priest thought, the powers of darkness took a special
882 MISSIONS. — BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-1702.
delight; drunken riots, the work of Dutch brandy, when he was forced to seek refuge from death in his chapel, — a sanctuary which superstitious fear with- held the Indians from violating, — these, and a thou- sand disgusts and miseries, filled the record of his days; and he bore them all in patience. Not only were the early Canadian Jesuits men of an intense religious zeal, but they were also men who lived not for themselves but for their Order. Their faults were many and great, but the grandeur of their self- devotion towers conspicuous over all.
At Caughnawaga, near Montreal, may still be seen the remnants of a mission of converted Iroquois, whom the Jesuits induced to leave the temptations of their native towns and settle here, under the wing of the Church. They served as a bulwark against the English, and sometimes did good service in time of war. At Sillery, near Quebec, a band of Abenakis, escaping from the neighborhood of the English towards the close of Philip's War, formed another mission of similar character. The Sulpitians had a third at the foot of the mountain of Montreal, where two massive stone-towers of the fortified Indian town are standing to this day. All these converted savages, as well as those of Lorette and other missions far and near, were used as allies in war, and launched in scalping-parties against the border settlements of New England.
Not only the Sulpitians, but also the seminary priests of Quebec, the Re*collets, and even the
1663-1702.] MICHILIMACKINAC. 383
Capuchins, had missions more or less important, and more or less permanent. But the Jesuits stood V, always in the van of religions and political propa- j gandism ; and all the forest tribes felt their influence, from Acadia^and Maine to the plains beyond the Mississippi. Next in importance to their Iroquois missions were those among the^Algonq uins of the northern lakes. Here was the grand domain of the beaver-trade; and the chief woes of the missionary sprang not from the Indians, but from his own countrymen. Beaver^akins had produced an effect akin to that of gold in our own day, and the deep- est recesses of the wilderness were invaded by eager seekers after gain.
The focus of the evil was at Father Marquette's old mission of Michilimackinac. First, year after year came a riotous invasion of coureurs de Jot's, and then a garrison followed to crown the mischief. Discipline was very weak at these advanced posts, and, to eke out their pay, t
, — brandy, whether permitted or interdicted, being the chief article of barter. Father fitienne Car- heil was driven almost to despair ; and he wrote to the intendant, his fast friend and former pupil, the long letter already mentioned. "Our missions," he says, " are reduced to such extremity that we can no longer maintain them against the infinity of disorder, brutal- ity, violence, injustice, impiety, impurity, insolence, scorn, and insult, which the deplorable and infamous traffic in brandy has spread universally among the
384 MISSIONS. — BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-1702.
Indians of these parts. ... In the despair in which we are plunged, nothing remains for us but to abandon them to the brandy-sellers as a domain of drunken- ness and debauchery." He complains bitterly of the officers in command of the fort, who, he says, far from repressing disorders, encourage them by their example, and are even worse than their subordinates, " insomuch that all our Indian villages are so many taverns for drunkenness and Sodoms for iniquity, which we shall be forced to leave to the just wrath and vengeance of God." He insists that the garri- sons are entirely useless, as they have only four occu- pations, — first, to keep open liquor-shops for crowds of drunken Indians ; secondly, to roam from place to place, carrying goods and brandy under the orders of the commandant, who shares their profits; thirdly, to gamble day and night; fourthly, to "turn the fort into a place which I am ashamed to call by its right name ; " and he describes, with a curious amplitude of detail, the swarms of Indian girls who are hired to make it their resort. "Such, Monseigneur, are the only employments of the soldiers maintained here so many years. If this can be called doing the King service, I admit that such service is done for him here now, and has always been done for him here ; but I never saw any other done in my life." He further declares that the commandants oppose and malign the missionaries, while of the presents which the King sends up the country for distribution to the Indians, they, the Indians, get nothing but a
1663-1702.] MICHILIMACKINAC. 385
little tobacco, and the officer keeps the rest for him- self.1
From the misconduct of officers and soldiers, the father passes to that of the coureurs de bois and licensed traders ; and here he is equally severe. He dilates on the evils which result from permitting the colonists to go to the Indians instead nf re^m'ring the Indians to come_tp the settlements. "It serves only to rob the country of all its young men, weaken families, deprive wives of their husbands, sisters of their brothers, and parents of their children ; expose the voyagers to a hundred dangers of body and soul ; involve them in a multitude of expenses, some neces- sary, some useless, and some criminal; accustom them to do no work, and at last disgust them with it forever; make them live in constant idleness, unfit them completely for any trade, and render them use- less to themselves, their families, and the public. But it is less as regards the body than as regards the soul that this traffic of the French among the savages is infinitely hurtful. It carries them far away from churches, separates them from priests and nuns, and severs them from all instruction, all exercise of
1 Of the officers in command at Michilimackinac while Carheil was there, he partially excepts La Durantaye from his strictures, but bears very hard on La Mothe-Cadillac, who hated the Jesuits and was hated by them in turn. La Mothe, on his part, writes that " the missionaries wish to be masters wherever they are, and cannot tolerate anybody above themselves." (N. Y. Colonial Docs., ix. 587.) For much more emphatic expressions of his views concerning them, see two letters from him, translated in Sheldon's Early History oj Michigan.
25
386 MISSIONS. — BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-1702.
religion, and all spiritual aid. It sends them into places wild and almost inaccessible, through a thou- sand perils by land and water, to carry on by base, abject, and shameful means a trade which would much better be carried on at Montreal."
But in the complete transfer of the trade to Montreal, Father Carheil sees insuperable difficulties ; and he proceeds to suggest, as the last and best resort, that garrisons and officers should be with- drawn, and licenses abolished, that discreet and virtuous persons should be chosen to take charge of all the trade of the upper country ; that these persons should be in perfect sympathy and correspondence with the Jesuits ; and that the trade should be car- ried on at the missions of the Jesuits and in their presence.1
This letter brings us again face to face with the brandy question, of which we have seen something already in the quarrel between Avaugour and the bishop. In the summer of 1648 there was held at the mission of Sillery a temperance meeting, — the first in all probability on this continent. The drum beat after mass, and the Indians gathered at the summons. Then an Algonquin chief, a zealous con- vert of the Jesuits, proclaimed to the crowd a late edict of the governor imposing penalties for drunken- ness, and, in his own name and that of the other
1 T^ettre du Pere £!tienne Carheil de la Compagnie de J&us a I' In- ttndant Champiyny, Michilimackinac, 30 Aout, 1702 (Archive* iVo- liona/es),_Appendix I.
1663-1702.] BRANDY AND THE INDIANS. 387
chiefs, exhorted them to abstinence, declaring that all drunkards should be handed over to the French for punishment. Father Jerome Lalemant looked on delighted. "It was," he says, "the finest public act of jurisdiction exercised among the Indians since I have been in this country. From the beginning of the world they have all thought themselves as great lords, the one as the other, and never before sub- mitted to their chiefs any further than they chose to do so."1
There was great need of reform ; for a demon jj( drunkenness seemed to possess these unhappy tribes Nevertheless, with all their rage for brandy, thej* sometimes showed in regard to it a self-control quite admirable in its way. When at a fair, a council, or a friendly visit, their entertainers regaled them with rations of the coveted liquor, so prudently measured out that they could not be the worse for it, they would unite their several portions in a common stock, which they would then divide among a few of their number, — thus enabling them to attain that complete intoxication which, in their view, was the true end of all drinking. The objects of this singular benevolence were expected to requite it in kind on some future occasion.
A drunken Indian, with weapons within reach, was very dangerous, and all prudent persons kept out of his way. This greatly pleased him ; for, seeing every- body run before him, he fancied himself a great chief, » Lalemant, Relation, 1648, p. 43.
388 MISSIONS. — BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-1702.
and howled and swung his tomahawk with redoubled fury. If, as often happened, he maimed or murdered Borne wretch not nimble enough to escape, his country- men absolved him from all guilt, and blamed only the brandy. Hence, if an Indian wished to take a safe revenge on some personal enemy, he would pretend to be drunk ; and not only murders but other crimes were often committed by false claimants to the bacchanalian privilege.
In the eyes of the missionaries, brandy was a fiend with all crimes and miseries in his train; and, in fact, nothing earthly could better deserve the epithet infernal than an Indian town in the height of a drunken debauch. The orgies never ceased till the bottom of the barrel was reached. Then came repentance, despair, wailing, and bitter invective against the white men, the cause of all the woe. In the name of the public good, of humanity, and above ) all of religion, the bishop and the Jesuits denounced the fatal traffic.
Their case was a strong one ; but so was the case of their opponents. There was real and imminent danger that the thirsty savages, if refused brandyJby jtKe French, would seek It from the Dutch and English ot JMew i"orT£ it was the most potent lure
and the most killing bait. Wherever it was found, thither the Indians and their beaver-skins were sure to go, and the interests of the fur-trade, vital to the colony, were bound up with it. Nor was this all, for the merchants and the civil powers insisted that
1663-1702 J STRONG MEASURES. 389
religion and the saving of souls were bound up with it no less; since, to repel the Indians from tht> Catholic French, and attract them to the heretic English, was to turn them from ways of grace to ways or perdition.1 The argument, no doubt, was dashed largely with hypocrisy in those who used it; but it was one which the priests were greatly per- plexed to answer.
In former days, when Canada was not yet trans- formed from a mission to a colony, the Jesuits entered with a high hand on the work of reform. It fared hard with the culprit caught in the act of selling brandy to Indians. They led him, after the sermon, to the door of the church; where, kneeling on the pavement, partially stript and bearing in his hand the penitential torch, he underwent a vigorous flagel- lation, laid on by Father Le Mercier himself, after the fashion formerly practised in the case of refractory school-boys.2 Bishop Laval not only discharged against the offenders volleys of wholesale excommu- nication, but he made of the offence a "reserved case ; " that is, a case in which the power of granting absolution was reserved to himself alone. This pro- duced great commotion, and a violent conflict between religious scruples and a passion for gain. The bishop and the Jesuits stood inflexible; while their
1 " Ce commerce est absolument necessaire pour attirer les sauvages dans les colonies frar^oises, et par ce moyen leur donner les premieres teintures de la foy." — Mtmoire de Colbert, joint a *a lettre a Duchesneau du 24 Mai, 1678.
8 Mfmoire de Dumesnil, 1671.
390 MISSIONS. — BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-1702.
opponents added bitterness to the quarrel by charging them with permitting certain favored persons to sell brandy, unpunished, and even covertly selling it themselves.1
Appeal was made to the King, who — with his Jesuit confessor, guardian of his conscience on. one side, and Colbert, guardian of his worldly interests on the other — stood in some perplexity. The case was referred to the fathers of the Sorbonne; and they, after solemn discussion, pronounced the selling of brandy to Indians a mortal sin.2 It was next referred to an assembly of the chief merchants and inhabitants of Canada, held under the eye of the governor, intendant, and council, in the Chateau St.
1 Lettre de Charlet Aubert de la Chesnaye, 24 Oct., 1693. After speaking of the excessive rigor of the bishop, he adds : " L'on dit, et il est vrai, que dans ces temps si f&cheux, sous pretexte de pauvrete dans lea families, certaines gens avoient permission d'en trailer, je crois toujours avec la reserve de ne pas enivrer." Du- mesnil, M r€moire dr 1671, says that Laval excommunicated all brandy- sellers, " a 1'exception, ne'anmoins, de quelques particuliers qu'il voulait favoriser." He says further that the bishop and the Jesuit Kagueneau had a clerk whom they employed at 500 francs a year to trade with the Indians, paying them in liquors for their furs ; and that for a time the ecclesiastics had this trade to them- selves, their severities having deterred most others from venturing into it. La Salle, Mfmoire de 1678, declares that, " Us [les J&uites] refusent 1'absolution a ceux qui ne veulent pas promettre de n'en plus vendre, et s'ils meurent en cet c'tat, ils les privent de la sepulture ecclcsiastique : au contraire, ils se permettent a eux mesmes sans aucune difficulte' ce mesme trafic, quoyque toute sorte de trafic soit interdite a tous les ecclesiastiques par les ordonnances du Roy et par une bulle expresse du Pape." I give these asser- tions as I find them, and for what they are worth.
8 Deliberation de la Sorbonne tur la Traite de* Boi**on$, 8 J/ar«, 1675.
1663-1702.] VIEWS OF THE KING, 391
Louis. Each was directed to state his views in writing. The great majority were for unrestricted trade in brandy ; a few were for a limited and guarded trade; and two or three declared for prohibition.1 Decrees of prohibition were passed from time to time, i but they were unavailing. They were revoked, renewed, and revoked again. They were, in fact, worse than useless ; for their chief effect was to turn traders and coureurs de bois into troops of audacious contrabandists. Attempts' Were made to limit the brandy^trade to the settlements, and exclude it from the forest country, where its regulation was impossible; but these attempts, like the others, were of little avail It is worthy of notice that when brandy was forbid* den everywhere else, it was permitted in the trade oi Tadoussac, carried on for the profit of government.2
In spite of the Sorbonne, in spite of Pdre La Chaise, and of the Archbishop of Paris, whom he also consulted, the^jy.qg-^s^never^ aj^heajt a. Tpljfcj hibitionist.3 His Canadian revenue was drawn from X the fur-trade; and the singular argument of the partisans of brandy, that its attractions were needed
1 Proces-verbal de I' Assemble tenue au Chateau de St. Louis de Quebec, le 26 Oct., 1676, et jours suivants.
2 Lettre de Charles Aubert de la Chesnaye, 24 Oct., 1693. In the course of the quarrel, a severe law passed by the General Court of Massachusetts against the sale of liquors to Indians was several times urged as an example to be imitated. A copy of it was sent to the minister, and is still preserved in the Archives of the Marine and Colonies.
* See, among other evidence, M^moire sur la Traite des Boissons, 1678.
892 MISSIONS.— BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-1702.
to keep the Indians from contact with heresy, served admirably to salve his conscience. Bigot as he was, he -flKfltfji^ffil ,the Bishop^ of Quebec^ the great champion of the anti-liquor movement. His own letters, as well as those of his minister, prove that he saw, or thought that he saw, motives for the crusade very different from those inscribed on its banners. He wrote to Saint- Vallier, Laval's suc- cessor in the bishopric, that the brandy -trade was very useful to, tfrg ^jngdnm of Jfr^nce^thafc it should lated, but not prevented ; that the consciences
of his subjects must not be disturbed by denuncia- tions of it as a sin ; and that " it is well that you [the bishop] should take care that the zeal of the eccle- siastics is not excited by personal interests and passions."1 Perhaps he alludes to the spirit of encroachment and domination which he and his minister in secret instructions to their officers often impute to the bishop and the clergy; or perhaps he may have in mind other accusations which had reached him from time to time during many years, and of which the following from the pen of the most noted of Canadian governors will serve as an example. Count Frontenac declares that the Jesuits greatly exaggerate the disorders caused by brandy, and that they easily convince persons " who do not know the interested motives which have led them to harp con- tinually on this string for more than forty years. . . They have long wished to have the fur-trade entirely
1 Le Roy a Saint-VaUier, 7 Avril, 1691.
1663-1702.] TRADE OF THE JESUITS. 393
to themselves, and to keep out of sight the trade which they have always carried on in the woods, and which they are carrying on there now. " 1
TRADE OF THE JESUITS. — As I have observed in a former volume, the charge, against JJie_Jesuits of trading in b^airefc skins dates from^t,h^i>pgini^r^jvf tEe colony. ~In the private journal of Father Jerome Lalemant^theTr superior, occurs the following curious passage, under date of November, 1645: Pour la traite des castors, Le 15 de Nov. le bruit estant qu'on s'en alloit icy publier la defense qui auoit estd publie*e aux Trois Riuieres que pas vn n'eut a traiter auec les sauuages, le P. Vimont demanda h Mons. des Chastelets commis general si nous serions de pire condition soubs eux que soubs Messieurs de la Compagnie. La conclusion fut que non et que cela iroit pour nous a I'ordinaire, mais que nous le fissions doucement." (Journal des Jesuites.) Two years after, on the request of Lalemant, the governor Montmagny. and his destined successor Ailleboust, gave the Jesuits a certificate to the effect that " les peres de la compagnie de Jesus sont innocents de la calomnie qui leur a e*td imputee, et ce qu'ils en ont fait a tti pour le bien de la communaute et pour un bon sujet." This leaves it to be iuferrecLthat they actually traded. thouffL-yith_ e;ood~ inten^ tions. In 1664, in reply to similar " calumnies," the Jesuits made by proxy a declaration before the council, stating, " que les dits Re've'rends Peres Je"suites n'ont fait jamais aucune profession de vendre et n'ont jamais rien vendu, mais seulement que les marchandises qu'ils donnent aux particuliers ne sont que pour avoir leurs ne'cessites." This is an admission in a thin disguise. The word ne'cessite's is of very elastic interpretation. In a memoir of Talon, 1667, he mentions, " la traite de pelle- teries qu'on assure qu'ils [les Jesuites] font aux Outaouacks et au Cap de la Madeleine; ce que je ne sais pas de science certaine."
That which Talon did not know with certainty is made reasonably clear for us by a line in the private journal of
1 Frontenac au Ministre, 29 Oct., 1676.
394 MISSIONS. — BRANDY QUESTION. [1663-1702,
Father Le Mercier, who writes under date of 17 August, 1005, " Le Pere Frdmin remonte supdrieur au Cap de la Magdeleine, ou le temporel eat en boil eatat. Comme U eat delicre de tout sain d'aucune traite, il doit s'appliquer a 1'instruction tant des Montagnets que des Algonquins." Father Charles Albanel was charged, under Fre'min, with the affairs of the mission, including doubtless the temporal int«rests, to the prosperity of which Father Le Mercier alludes, and the cares of trade from which Father Fre'min was delivered. Cavelier de la Salle declared in 1678, " Le pere Arbanelle [Albanel] jesuite a traite" au Cap [de la Madeleine] pour 700 pistoles de peaux d'orignaux et de castors ; luy mesme me 1'a dit en 1607. II vend le pain, le vin, le bled, le lard, et il tient magazin au Cap aussi bien que le frere Joseph h Quebec. Ce frere gagne 500 pour 100 sur tous les peuples. Us [les Je'suites] ont bati leur col- lege en partie de leur traite et eu partie de 1'empruut." La Salle further says that Frumin, being reported to have made enonnom profits, "ce pere re"pondit au gouverneur (qui lui en avail fait det plaintes) par un billet que luy a conserve*, que c'estoit une calomnie que ce grand gain prdtendu ; puisque tout ce qui se passoit par ses mains ne pouvoit produire par an que quatre mille de revenant bon, tous frais faits, sans comprendre les gages des domestiques." La Salle gives also many other particulars, especially relating to Michilimackinac, where, as he says, the Jesuits had a large stock of beaver-skins. Accord- ing to Pdronne Dumesnil, Me'moire de 1071, the Jesuits had at that time more than 20,000 francs a year, — partly from trade and partly from charitable contributions of their friends in France.
TheKing repi^"j|v forbjyfc f>"? ilesuijajiu^ pther astjcs in_Canada to carry pn trade. On one occasion he
threatened strong" measures should they ouitiiiue^to disobey
» *^ — ~*
him. (Le Roi a Frojifenac, 28 Avril, 1077.) In the same year tne minister wrote to the intendant Duchesneau : " Vous ne sauriez apporter trop de precautions pour abolir entierement la coustume que les Ecclesiastiques seculiers et reguliers avaient pris de traitter ou de faire traitter leurs valets," 18 Avril, 1077. The Jesuits entered also int^ other bjajichfiaof traite and
1663-1702.] TRADE OF THE JESUITS. 395
with q^YJgor and ad^res^wl^ich J^ie inhabitant^ of Canada might have emulated with advantage. T^hey were ^^pgsl^^tr^b^j^f^^ig In 1646 their eel-pots at Sillery are said to have yielded no less than forty thousand eels, some of which they sold at the modest price of thirty sous a hundred. (Ferland, Notes sur les Eeglstres de N. D. de Quebec, 82.) The members of the Order were exempted from payment of duties, and in 1674 they were specially empowered to construct mills, including sugar-mills, and keep slaves, apprentices, and hired servants. Droit Canadien, 180.
CHAPTER XXII.
1663-1763. PRIESTS AND PEOPLE.
CHURCH AND STATE. — THE BISHOP AND THE KINO. — THE KINO AND THE CURES. — THE NEW BISHOP. — THE CANADIAN CURB.— ECCLESIASTICAL RULE. — SAINT- VALLIER AND DENONVILLE.— CLERICAL RIOOR. — JESUIT AND SDLPITIAN. — COURCELLE AND CUATELAIN. — THE RECOLLETS. — HEREST AND WITCHCRAFT.— CANADIAN NUNS. — JEANNE LE BEH. — EDUCATION. — THE SEM- INARY.— SAIXT JOACHIM. — MIRACLES OF SAINT ANNE. — CANA- DIAN SCHOOLS.
WHEN Laval and the Jesuits procured the recall of Me'zy, they achieved a seeming triumph ; yet it was but a defeat in disguise. While ordering home the obnoxious governor, the King and Colbert made a practicalassertipn,^^^
resisted., A vice-regal officer, a governor, an intend- ant, and a regiment of soldiers were silent but con- vincing proofs that the mission days of Canada were over, and the dream of a theocracy dispelled forever. The ecclesiastics read the signs of the times, and for a while seemed to accept the situation.
The King on his part, in vindicating the civil power, had shown a studious regard to the sensibili- ties of the bishop and his allies. The lieutenant-
1665^70.] COURCELLE AND THE JESUITS. 397
general Tracy, a zealous devotee, and the intendant Talon, who at least professed to be one, were not men to offend the clerical party needlessly. In the choice of Courcelle, the governor, a little less caution had been shown. His chief business was to fight the Iroquois, for which he was well fitted; but he ^resently showed signs of a willingness to fight the fesuits also. The colonists liked him for his lively md impulsive speech; but the priests were of a different mind, and so, too, was his colleague Talon, — a prudent person, who studied the amenities of life, and knew how to pursue his ends with temper and moderation. On the subject of the clergy he and the governor substantially agreed, but the ebulli- tions of the one and the smooth discretion of the other were mutually repugnant to both. Talon complained of his colleague's impetuosity; and Colbert directed him to use his best efforts to keep Courcelle within bounds, and prevent him from publicly finding fault with the bishop and the Jesuits.1 Next we find the minister writing to Courcelle himself to soothe his ruined temper, and enjoining him to act discreetly, "because," said Colbert, " as the colony grows, the Kind's ajatJioritY
authority oL ihe priests bounds. " *
Meanwhile, Talon had been ordered to observe carefully the conduct of the bishop and the Jesuits,
1 Colbert a Talon, 20 Ftv., 1668. a Colbert a Courcelle, 19 Mai, 166ft
398 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1665-7(X
" who, " says the minister, " have hitherto nominated governors for the King, and used every means to procure the recall of those chosen without their participation ; l filled offices with their adherents, and tolerated no secular priests except those of one mind with them."2 Talon, therefore, under the veil of a reverent courtesy, sharply watched them. They paid courtesy with courtesy, and the intendaut wrote home to his master that he saw nothing amiss in them. He quickly changed his mind. "I should have had less trouble and more praise," he writes in the next year, "if I had been willing to leave the power of the Church where I found it."8 "It is easy," he says again, "to incur the ill- will- of the Jesuits if one does not accept all their opinions and abandon one's self to their direction even in temj^ocal matters ; for their encroachments extend to affairs of police, which concern only the civil magistrate," — and he recommends that one or two of them be sent home as disturbers of the peace.4 They, on their part, changed attitude towards both him and the governor. One of them, Father Bardy, less discreet than the rest, is said to .have preached a sermon against them at Quebec, in which he likened them to a pair of toadstools springing up in a night, adding that a good remedy would soon be found, and
1 Instruction au Sieur Talon.
* Mtmolrt pour M. de Tracy.
* Talon an Ministre, 13 Nov., 1666. « Talon, Memoire de 1607.
16G5-1700.] THE BISHOP AND THE KING. 399
that Courcelle would have to run home like other governors before him.1
Tracy escaped clerical attacks. He was extremely careful not to provoke them ; and one of his first acts was to restore to the council the bishop's adherents whom Me"zy had expelled.2 And if, on the one hand, he was too pious to quarrel with the bishop, so, on the other, the bishop was too prudent to invite col- lision with a man of his rank and influence.
After all, the dispute between the civil and eccle- siastical powers was not fundamental. Each had need of the other; both rested on authority, and they differed only as to the boundary lines of their respective shares in it. Yet the dispute of bounda- ries was a serious one, and it remained a source of bitterness for many years. The King, though rigidly Catholic, was not yet sunk in the slough of bigotry nto which Maintenon and the Jesuits succeeded at ast in plunging him. He had conceived a distrust f Laval, and his jealousy of his royal authority isposed him to listen to the a.nti-clftrio.fl.1 connspls of lis minister. How needful they both thought it to me the exuberant growth of clerical power, and low cautiously they set themselves to do so, their stters attest again and again. "The bishop,1' writes Oolbert, "assumes a domination far beyond that of
1 La Salle, Me'moire de 1678. This sermon was preached on the 2th of March, 16(57.
2 A curious account of his relations with Laval is given in a 3tter of La Mothe-Carlillac, 28 September, 1694.
400 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1605-1700.
other bishops throughout the Christian world, and particularly in the kingdom of France."1 "It is the will of his Majesty that you confine him and the Jesuits within just bounds, and let none of them overstep these bounds in any manner whatsoever. Consider this as a matter of the greatest importance, and one to which you cannot give too much atten- tion."2 "But," the prudent minister elsewhere writes, "it is of the greatest consequence that the bishop and the Jesuits do not perceive that the intendant blames their conduct."8
It was to the same intendant that Colbert wrote, "it is necessary to diminish as much as possible the excessive number of priests, monks, and nuns in Canada." Yet in the very next year, and on the advice of Talon, he himself sent four more to the colony. Ij^is^Qti^^vvas plain. Hqjneant that they should seryeasa counterpoise to the Jesuits.4 They were mendicant marsy belonging tcTtKe branch of the Franciscans known as the Recollets; and they were supposed to be free from the ambition for the aggran- dizement of their Order which was imputed, and with reason, to the Jesuits. Whether the Rdcollets were free from it or not, no danger was to be f eared j from them; for Laval and the Jesuits were sure oppose them, and they would need the support of
1 Colbert a Duchesneau, 1 Mai, 1677. * Ibid., 28 Avril, 1677. 8 Instruction pour M. Bouteroue, 1668.
4 Mtmoire succinct des principaux point! des intentions du Roy sur < pays de Canada, 18 Mai, 1669.
1665-1700.] THE KING AND THE CHURCH. 401
government too much to set themselves in opposition to it. "The more Re'collets we have," says Talon, "the better will the too firmly rooted authority of
the others be balanced."1 V •
"\ t&*
While Louis Xiy.^ tried to confine the priests jfcp >-» ]*"
tj^iyx_S£fil£-^&§-fe^ ..fofl^iflflSr ne was at the same
time, whether from religion, policy, or both com- /• i ...
bined, very^i^r^^to ^1^ Canadian Church^ of
which, indeed, he was the main-stay. In the yearly
estimate of " ordinary charges " of the colony, the
Church holds the most prominent place; and the
appropriations for religious purposes often exceed all
the rest together. Thus, in 1667, out of a total of
36,360 francs, 28,000 are assigned to Church uses.2
The amount fluctuated, but was always relatively
large. The Canadian cure's were paid ingreat part
by the King, who for many years gave eight thousand
francs annually towards their support. Such was the poverty of the country that, though in 1685 there were only twenty-five cure's,3 each costing about five hundred francs a year, the tithes utterly failed to meet the expense. As late as 1700, the intendant declared that Canada without the King's help could
1 Talon au Ministre, 10 Oct., 1670.
2 Of this, 6,000 francs were given to the Jesuits, 6,000 to the Ursulines, 9,000 to the cathedral, 4,000 to the seminary, and 3,000 to the Hotel-Dieu. (l£tat de de'pense, etc., 1677.) The rest went to pay civil officers and garrisons. In 1682 the amount for Church uses was only 12,000 francs. In 1687 it was 13,500. In 1689 it rose to 34,000, including Acadia.
8 Increased soon after to thirty-six by Saint- Vallier, Laval's successor.
26
402 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1665-1700.
not maintain more than eight or nine curds. Louis XIV. winced under these steady demands, and reminded the bishop that more than four thousand curds in France lived on less than two hundred francs a year.1 "You say," he wrote to the intendant, " that it is impossible for a Canadian curd to live on five hundred francs. Then you must do the impos- sible to accomplish my intentions, which are always that the curds should live on the tithes alone." a Yet the head of the Church still begged for money, and the King still paid it. " We are in the midst of a costly war," wrote the minister to the bishop, "yet in consequence of your urgency the gifts to ecclesi- astics will be continued as before."8 And they did continue. More than half a century later, the King was still making them, and during the last years of the colony he gave twenty thousand francs annually to support Canadian curds.4
The maintenance of curds was but a part of his bounty. He endovved the bishopric with the revenues of twoFrejicIijiLkbeY&i to wHicn 'fie afterwards added a third w^ The vast tracts of land which Laval had acquired were freed from feudal burdens, and emi- grants were sent to them by the government in such numbers that, in 1667, the bishop's seigniory of Beauprd and Orleans contained more than a fourth
1 M< moire a Duchesneau, 16 Mai, 1678 ; Le Roy a Duchemeau, 11 Juin, 1680.
* Le Roy it Duchesneau, 30 Avril, 1681.
* Le Minittre a Ftiveque, 8 Mai, 1694.
* Bougainville, Mtmoire, 1757.
1665-1700.] THE KING AND THE CHURCH. 403
of the entire population of Canada.1 He had emerged / from his condition of apostolic poverty to find him- self the richest land-owner in the colony.
If by favors like these the King expected to lead the ecclesiastics into compliance with his wishes, he was doomed to disappointment. The system of movable cure's, by which tJ^g hi shop like a military chief could compel each member of his nlerinal army to come and go at his bidding, was from the first repugnant to Lnni° VTV Qn the other hand, the bishop clung to it with his usual tenacity. Colbert denounced it as contrary to the laws of the kingdom.2 "His Majesty has reason to believe," he writes, "that the chief source of the difficulty which the bishop makes on this point is his wish to preserve a greater authority over the cure's."3 The inflexible prelate, whose heart was bound up in the system he had established, opposed evasion and delay to each expression of the royal will ; and even a royal edict failed to produce the desired effect. In the height of the dispute, Laval went to court, and, on the ground of failing health, asked for a successor in the bishopric. The King readily granted his prayer. The successor was appointed; but when Laval pre-
1 Entire population, 4,312 ; Beaupre* and Orleans, 1185. (Recense~ ment de 1667.) Laval, it will be remembered, afterwards gave his lands to the seminary of Quebec. He previously exchanged the Island of Orleans with the Sieur Berthelot for the Island of Jesus. Berthelot gave him a large sum of money in addition. '
2 Le Ministre a Duchesneau, 16 Mai, 1678. * Instruction a M. de Afeules, 1682.
404 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1665-1700.
pared to embark again for Canada, he was given to understand that he was to remain in France. In vain he promised to make no trouble ; l and it was not till after an absence of four years that he was permitted to return, no longer as its chief, to his beloved Canadian Church.3
Meanwhile Saint- Vallier, the new bishop, had raised a new tempest. He attacked that organization of the seminary of Quebec by which Laval had endeavored to unite the secular priests of Canada into an attached and obedient family, with the bishop as its head and the seminary as its home, — a plan of which the system of movable cure's was an essential part. The Canadian priests, devoted to Laval, met the innovations of Saint- Vallier with an opposition which seemed only to confirm his purpose. Laval, old and worn with toil and asceticism, was driven almost to despair. The seminary of Quebec was the cherished work of his life, and, to his think- ing, the citadel of the Canadian Church ; and now he beheld it battered and breached before his eyes. ' His successor, in fact, was trying to place the Church of Canada on the footing of the Church of France. The conflict lasted for years, with the rancor that marks the quarrels of non-combatants of both sexes. " He
1 Laval au Pert la Chaise, 1687. This forms part of a curious correspondence printed in the Foyer Canadien for 1866, from origi- nals in the ArchevSche" of Quebec.
3 From a mtmoire of 18 Feb., 1685 (Archives de Versailles), it is plain that the court, in giving a successor to Laval, thought that it had ended the vexed question of movable cure's.
1683.] THE NEW BISHOP. 405
[Saint- Vallier], says one of his opponents, " has made himself contemptible to almost everybody, and par- ticularly odious to the priests born in Canada; for there is between them and him a mutual antipathy difficult to overcome." 1 He is described by the same writer as a person " without reflection and judgment, extreme in all things, secret and artful, passionate when opposed, and a flatterer when he wishes to gain his point." This amiable critic adds that Saint- Vallier believes a bishop to be inspired, in virtue of his office, with a wisdom that needs no human aid; and that whatever thought comes to him in prayer is a divine inspiration to be carried into effect at all costs and in spite of all opposition.
The new bishop, notwithstanding the tempest he had raised, did not fully accomplish that establish- ment of the cure's in their respective parishes which the King and the minister so much desired. The Canadian cure* was more a missionary than a, pa,risfr > priest; and Nature as well as Bishop Laval threw difficulties in the way of settling him quietly over his charge.
On the Lower St. Lawrence, where it widens to an estuary, six leagues across, a ship from France, the last of the season, holds her way for Quebec, laden with stores and clothing, household utensils, goods for Indian trade, the newest court fashions, wine, brandy, tobacco, and the King's orders from Ver-
1 The above is from an anonymous paper, written apparently in 1695, and entitled Me'moire pour le Canada
406 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1683.
sallies. Swelling her patched and dingy sails, she glides through the wUdness and the solitude where there is nothing but her to remind you of the great troubled world behind and the little troubled world before. On the far verge of the ocean-like river, clouds and mountains mingle in dim confusion ; fresh gusts from the north dash waves against the ledges, sweep through the quivering spires of stiff and stunted fir-trees, and ruffle the feathers of the crow, perched on the dead bough after his feast of mussels among the sea-weed. You are not so solitary as you think. A small birch-canoe rounds the point of rocks, and it bears two men, — one in an old black cassock, and the other in a buckskin coat, — both working hard at the paddle to keep their slender craft off the shingle and the breakers. The man in the cassock is Father Morel, aged forty-eight, — the oldest country cure* in Canada, most of his brethren being in the ^igor of youth, as they had need to be. His parochial charge embraces a string of incipient parishes extending along the south shore from Riviere du Loup to Riviere du Sud, a distance reckoned at twenty-seven leagues, and his parishioners number in all three hundred and twenty-eight souls. He has administered spiritual consolation to the one inhabi- tant of Kamouraska; visited the eight families. of La Bouteillerie and the five families of La Combe; and now he is on his way to the seigniory of St. Denis with its two houses and eleven souls.1
1 These particulars are from the Plan general de Festal present des mission* du Canada, fait en I'anne'e 1683. It is a list and description
166M700.] THE CANADIAN CURfc 407
The father lands where a shattered eel-pot high and dry on the pebbles betrays the neighborhood of man. His servant shoulders his portable chapel, and fo'ilwwftfhim through the belt of firs and the taller woods beyond, till the sunlight of a desolate clear- ing shines upon them. Charred trunks and limbs cucumber the ground; dead trees, branchless, bark- Less, pie«eed by the woodpeckers, in part black with t ire, in part bleached by sun and frost, tower ghastly HI 'd weiid above the labyrinth of forest ruins, through w aich the priest and his follower wind their way, the c .it-bird mewing, and the blue-jay screaming as they ipass. Now the golden-rod and the aster, harbingers of autumn, fringe with yellow and purple the edge of the older clearing, ^ where wheat and maize, the .settler's meagre harvest, are growing among the stumps.
Wild-looking women, with sunburnt faces and neglected hair, run from their work to meet the curd ; a niaaa or two follow with soberer steps and less exuberant zeal; while half-savage children, the iavtrevrs dc bois of the future, bareheaded, barefooted, and .jhalf -clad, come to wonder and stare. To set up his , altar in a room of the rugged log-cabin; say hear confessions, impose penance, grant abso- k-repeat the office of the dead over a grave ide weeks before; baptize, perhaps, the last infant;
of the parishes with the names and ages of the cure's, and other detail*. (See Abeille, i.) This paper was drawn up by order of Laval.
|
408 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE.
marry, possibly, sonic pair who may in- waited for his coming ; catechise as well aa ttl circumstance would allow the shy In it Mrb brood of some former wedlock, — such v of the parish priest in the remoter districts* It seldom that his charge was quite so scattcn^HjHH far extended as that of Father Morel ; but t have wewe fifteen or twenty others whose labors kind, and in some cases no less arduous. A ' they paddled their canoes from settlement ment; and in winter they toiled on sno the drifts, while the servant carried the chapel on his back, or dragged it on a sledge. at least, in the year the ^refrpaid his visit to Quebec,
where, under the maternal roof of the semowtv. y
made his retreat of meditation and prayer,
returned to his work. He rarely had a , own, but boarded in that of the seignior
the habitants. Many parishes or
parishes had no other church than a room
for the purpose in the house of some pi 011.4 setUer.
In the larger settlements there were chim-
chapels of wood, thatched with straw, often
poor to the last degree, without ornamei
sometimes without the sacred vessels neces
the service.1 In 1683 there were but
churches in all the colony. The population M-ae.ao thin and scattered that many of the settle: s
1 Saint- Vallier, Estat prftent de I'Eglise. et de la Colonie ^^^^H 22 (ed. 1866).
1665-1700.] THE CANADIAN CURE. 409
mass only three or four times a year, and some of them not so often. The sick frequently died with- out absolution, and infants without baptism.
The splendid self-devotion of the early Jesuit missions has its record; so, too, have the unseemly bickerings of bishops and governors. But the patient toils of the missionary curd rest in the obscurity where the best of human virtues are buried from age to age. What we find set down concerning him is,
that LoilJS XIV- was nnnLlA fr> gg>p -yvhy he aVmnld
nQi^ live on two hundred francs a year as well as a village cure" by the banks of the Garonne. The King did not know that his cassock and all his clothing X cost him twice as much and lasted half as long; that he must have a canoe and a man to paddle it ; and that when on his annual visit the seminary paid him five or six hundred francs, partly in clothes, partly in stores, and partly in money, the end of the year found him as poor as before except only in his conscience.
The Canadian priests held the manners of the colony under a rule as rigid as that of the Puritan churches of New England, — but with the difference that in 'Canada a large part of the population was restive under their control, while some of foe .civil authorities, often with the governor at their head, supported the opposition. This was due partly to an excess of clerical severity, and partly to the con- tinued friction between the secular and ecclesiastical ^ ^ powers. It sometimes happened, however, that a
410 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1685.
new governor arrived, who was so pious that the clerical party felt that they could rely on him. Of these rare instances the principal is that of De- nonville, who, with a wife as pious as himself, and a young daughter, landed at Quebec in 1685. On this, Bishop Saint- Vallier, anxious to turn his good dispositions to the best account, addressed to him a series of suggestions or rather directions for the guidance of his conduct, with a view to the spiritual profit of those over whom he was appointed to rule. The document was put on file, and the following are some of the points in it. It is divided into five different heads, — "Touching feasts," "touching balls and dances," "touching comedies and other declamations," "touching dress," "touching irrever- ence in church." The governor and madame his wife are desired to accept no invitations to suppers, — that is to say, late dinners, — as tending to noc- turnal hours and dangerous pastimes; and they are further enjoined to express dissatisfaction, and refuse to come again, should any entertainment offered them be too sumptuous. "Although," continues the bishop under the second head of his address, " balls and dances are not sinful in their nature, neverthe- less they are so dangerous by reason of the circum- stances that attend them and the evil results that almost inevitably follow, that, in the opinion of Saint Francis of Sales, it should be said of them as physi- cians say of mushrooms, that at best they are good for nothing;" and, after enlarging on their perils, he
1685.] SAINT-VALLIER AND DENONVILLE. 411
declares it to be of great importance to the glory of God and the sanctification of the colony, that the governor and his wife neither give such entertain- ments nor countenance them by their presence. "Nevertheless," adds the mentor, "since the youth and vivacity of mademoiselle their 'daughter requires some diversion, it is permitted to relent somewhat, and indulge her in a little moderate and proper dan- cing, provided that it be solely with persons of her own sex, and in the presence of madame her mother ; but by no means in the presence of men or youths, since it is this mingling of sexes which causes the disorders that spring from balls and dances." Private theatricals in any form are next interdicted to the young lady. The bishop then passes to the subject of her dress, and exposes the abuses against which she is to be guarded. "The luxury of dress," he says, "appears in the rich and dazzling fabrics wherein the women and girls of Canada attire them- selves, and which are far beyond their condition and their means , in the excess of ornaments which they put on ; in the extraordinary head-dresses which they affect, their heads being uncovered and full of strange trinkets; and in the immodest curls so expressly forbidden in the epistles of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, as well as by all the fathers and doctors of the Church, and which God has often severely punished, — as may be seen by the example of the unhappy Pretextata, a lady of high quality, who, as we learn from Saint Jerome, who knew herf
412 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [168&
had her hands withered, and died suddenly five months after, and was precipitated into hell, as God had threatened her by an angel; because, by order of her husband, she had curled the hair of her niece, and attired her after a worldly fashion."1
Whether the Marquis and Marchioness Denonville profited by so apt and terrible a warning, or whether their patience and good-nature survived the episcopal onslaught, does not appear on record. The subject of feminine apparel received great attention, both from Saint- Vallier and his predecessor, each of whom issued a number of pastoral mandates concerning it. Their severest denunciations were aimed at low- necked dresses, which they regarded as favorite devices of the enemy for the snaring of souls; and they also used strong language against certain knots of ribbons called fontanges, with which the belles of Quebec adorned their heads. Laval launches strenu- ous invectives against "the luxury and vanity of women and girls, who, forgetting the promises of their baptism, decorate themselves with the pomp of
1 " Te"moin entr'autres 1'exemple de la malheureuse Prctextate, dame de grande condition, laquelle au rapport de S. Jerome, dont elle c*toit connue, eut les mains dessechees et cinq mois apres mourut subitement et f ut pre'cipite'e en enfer, ainsi que Dieu Ten a voi t menaced par un Ange pour avoir par le commandement de •on mari f rise* et habillo mondainement sa niece." (Divert pointt a repre~tenter a Mr. le Gouverneur et a Madame la Gouvernante, signe" Jean, euesque de Quebec. Registre de VEceche" de Quebec.) The bishop on another occasion holds up the sad fate of Pretextata as a warning to Canadian mothers ; but in the present case he slightly changes the incidents to make the story more applicable to the governor and his wife.
1663-1700.] CLERICAL SEVERITY. 413
Satan, whom they have so solemnly renounced ; and, in their wish to please the eyes of men, make them- selves the instruments and the captives of the fiend. " 1
In the journal of the superior of the Jesuits we find, under date of February 4, 1667^ a record of the first ball in Canada, along with the pious wish, " God grant that nothing further come of it." Neverthe- less more balls were not long in following; and, worse yet, sundry comedies were enacted under no less distinguished patronage than that of . Frontenac. the governor. Laval denounced them vigorously, the Jesuit Dablon attacked them in a violent sermon ; and such excitement followed that the affair was brought before the royal council, which declined to interfere.2 This flurry, however, was nothing to the storm raised ten or twelve years later by other dramatic aggressions, an account of which will appear in the sequel of this volume.
The morals of families were watched with unre-/ lenting vigilance. Frontenac writes in a mood " They [the priests] are full of
virtue and piety, and if thmr real wm-ft leas vehement and more moderate, they would perhaps succeed better in their efforts for the conversionjpf souls ; but
1 Mandement contre le luxe et la vanitf desfemmes et desfilles, 1682. (Registres de I'Eveche' de Quebec.) A still more vigorous denuncia- tion is contained in Ordonnance contre les vices de luxe et d'impurete', 1690. This was followed in the next year by a stringent list of rules called Rtglement pour la conduite desfideles de ce dioc&e.
2 Arrets du 24 et 28juin par lesquels cette affaire (des come'des) est renvoyfe a Sa Majeste', 1681. (?) Registre du Conseil Souverain.
414 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [16b3-1700.
they often use means so extraordinary, and in France so unusual, that they repel most people instead of persuading them. I sometimes tell them my views frankly and as gently as I can, as I know the mur- murs that their conduct excites, and often receive complaints of the constraint under which they place consciences. This is above all the case with the ecclesiastics at Montreal, where there is a cure* from Franche Cerate" who wants to establish a sort of in- quisition worse than that of Spain, and all out of an excess of zeal." 1 _^
It was this cure", no doubt, of whom (La Hontan complains. That unsanctified young officer was quartered at Montreal, in the house of one of the inhabitants. "During a part of the winter I was hunting with the Algonquins ; the rest of it I spent here very disagreeably. One can neither go on a
, pleasure party, nor play a game of cards, nor visit the ladies, without the cure* knowing it and preach- ing about it publicly from his pulpit. The priests excommunicate masqueraders, and even go in search of them to pull off their masks and overwhelm them with abuse. They watch more closely over the women and girls than their husbands and fathers.
. TViAy pmV.jfrjff flflri burn all books but books of devo- tion. I cannot think of this tyranny without cursing the indiscreet zeal of the cure" of this town. He came to the house where I lived, and, finding some books on my table, presently pounced on the romance
l Frontenac au Minittre. 20 Oct., 1691.
1663-1700.] LA MOTHE AND THE PRIESTS. 415
of Petronius, which I valued more than my life because it was not mutilated. He tore out almost all the leaves, so that if my host had not restrained me when I came in and saw the miserable wreck, I should have run after this rampant shepherd and torn out every hair of his beard."1
La Mothe-Cadillac, the founder of Detroit, seems to have had equal difficulty in keeping his temper. " Neither men of honor nor men of parts are endured in Canada ; nobody can live here but simpletons and slaves of the ecclesiastical domination. The count [Frontenac] would not have so many troublesome affairs on his hands if he had not abolished a Jericho in the shape of a house built by messieurs of the seminary of Montreal, to shut up, as they said, girls who caused scandal; if he had allowed them to take officers and soldiers to go into houses at midnight and carry off women from their husbands and whip them till the blood flowed because they had been at a ball or worn a mask ; if he had said nothing against the cure's who went the rounds with the soldiers, and compelled women and girls to shut themselves up in their houses at nine o'clock of summer evenings ; if he had forbidden the wearing of lace, and made no objection to the refusal of the communion to women of quality because they wore a fontange ; if he had not opposed excommunications flung about without sense or reason, — if I say, the count had been of this
1 La Hontan, i. 60 (ed. 1709). Other editions contain the same story in different words.
416 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1663-1700.
way of thinking, he would have stood as a nonpareil, and have been put very soon on the list of saints, for saint-making is cheap in this country."1
While the Sulpitians were thus rigorous at Montreal, the bishop and his Jesuit allies were scarcely less so at Quebec. There was little good-will between them and the Sulpitians, and some of the sharpest charges against the followers of Loyola are brought by their brother priests at Montreal. The Sulpitian Allet writes : " The Jesuits hold such domination over the people of this country that they go into the houses and see everything that passes there. They then tell what they have learned to each other at their meet- ings, and on this information they govern their policy. The Jesuit, Father Ragueneau, used to go every day down to the Lower Town, where the merchants live, to find out all that was going on in their families ; and he often made people get up from table to confess to him." Allet goes on to say that Father Chatelain also went continually to the Lower Town with the same object, and that some of the inhabitants complained of him to Courcelle, the gov- ernor. One day Courcelle saw the Jesuit, who was old and somewhat infirm, slowly walking by the chateau, cane in hand, on his usual errand, — on which he sent a sergeant after him to request that he would not go so often to the Lower Town, as the people were annoyed by the frequency of his visits. The father replied in wrath, " Go and teil Monsieur
i La Afothe-Cadillac a , 28 Sept., 1694.
1663-1700.] JESUIT ACTIVITY. 417
de Courcelle that I have been there ever since he was governor, and that I shall go there after he has ceased to be governor;" and he kept on his way as before^ Courcelle reported his answer to the superior, Le Mercier, and demanded to have him sent home as a punishment; but the superior effected a compromise. On the following Thursday, after mass in the cathe- dral, he invited Courcelle into the sacristy, where Father Chatelain was awaiting them; and here, at Le Mercier's order, the old priest begged pardon of the offended governor on his knees.1
The Jesuits derived great power from the confes- sional; and, if their accusers are to be believed, they employed unusual means to make it effective. Cavelier^de la Salle says : " They will confess nobody till he tells his name, and no servant till he tells the name of his master. When a crime is confessed, they insist on knowing the name of the accomplice, as well as all the circumstances, with the greatest particularity. Father Chatelain especially never fails to do this. They enter as it were by force into the secretg^jif^iiuiilifis, and t]ius make themselves for- midable ; for what cannot be done by a clever man devoted to his work, who knows all the secrets of every family ; above all, when he permits himself to tell them when it is for his interest to do so ? " 2
1 Mtmoire d'Allet. The author was at one time secretary to Abbe Quclus. The paper is printed in the Morale pratique des Jesuites. The above is one of many curious statements which it contains.
2 La Salle, Mtmoire, 1678.
27
418 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1663-1700.
The association of women and girls known as the Congregation of the Holy Family, which was formed under Jesuit auspices, and which met every Thursday with closed doors in the cathedral, is said to have been very useful to the fathers in their social investi- gations.1 The members are, aflirmed to J'-^yfi |WAH. under a vow to tell one anQ^.biir_£ir£iry frqf"! nr *>vil dee'd thcv kiiew of every pejsoj3.Ji£_thfiir_aciiuaintance; so that this pioug gossip became a cot»'""« hfflirQA of information to those in a position to draw upon it. In Talon's time the Congregation of the Holy Family caused such commotion in Quebec that he asked the council to appoint a commission to inquire into its proceedings. He was touching dangerous ground. The affair was presently hushed, and the application cancelled on the register of the council.2
The Jesuits had long exercised solely the function of confessors in the colony, and a number of curious anecdotes are on record showing the reluctance with which they admitted the secular priests, and above all the Re"collets, to share in it. The Re*eollets, of whom a considerable number had arrived from time to time, were on excellent terms with the civil powers, and were popular with the colonists; but with the bishop and the Jesuits they were not in
1 See " La Salle, and the Discovery of the Great West," 111.
a Representation faite au conseil au sujet de certaines assemblers de femmes oujilles sous le nom de la Sainte Famille, 1667. (Registre du Conseil Souverain.) The paper is cancelled by lines drawn over it ; and the following minute, duly attested, is appended to it : " Kaye du consentement de M. Talon."
1663-1700.] THE R^COLLETS. 419
favor, and one or two sharp collisions took place. The bishop was naturally annoyed when, while he was trying to persuade the King that a cure* needed at least six hundred francs a year, these mendicant friars came forward with an offer to serve the parishes for nothing ; nor was he, it is likely, better pleased when, having asked the hospital nuns eight hundred francs annually for two masses a day in their chapel, the Rdcollets underbid him, and offered to say the masses for three hundred.1 They, on their part, complain bitterly of the bishop, who, they say, would gladly have ordered them out of the colony, but, being unable to do this, trifid to shut diem UP in their con- vent, and prevent them from officiating as priests among the people. " We have as little liberty, " says the Re*collet writer, "as if we were in a country of heretics." He adds that the inhabitants ask earnestly for the ministrations of the friars, but that the bishop replies with invectives and calumnies against the Order; and that when the Re*collets absolve a peni- tent, he often annuls the absolution.2
In .one respect this Canadian Church militant achieved a complete success. Heresy was scoure|l
1 " Mon dit sieur 1'evesque leur fait payer (aux hospitalieres 800 /. par an pour deux messes qu'il leur fait dire par ses Seminaristes que les Recollets leurs voisins leur offrent pour 300 I." — La Barre au Ministre, 1682.
2 Mf moire instructif contenant laconduite des PP. Recollets de Paris en leurs missions de Canada, 1684. This paper, of which only a fragment is preserved, was written in connection with a dispute of the Re'collets with the bishop who opposed their attempt to establish a church in Quebec.
9
420 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1662-1700.
r y ^out of the colony. When Maintenon and her ghostly Jr prompters overcame the better nature of the King,
^ and wrought on his bigotry and his vanity to launch him into the dragonnades; when violence and lust bore the crucifix into thousands of Huguenot homes, and the land reeked with naraeless infamies ; when churches rang with Te Deums, and the heart of France withered in anguish, — when, in short, this hideous triumph of the faith was won, the royal tool of priestly ferocity sent orders that heresy should be / treated in Canada as it had been treated in France.1 The orders were needless. The pious Denonville replies, "Praised be God! there is not a heretic here." He adds that a few abjured last year, and that he should be very glad if the King would make them a present. The Jesuits, he further says, go every day on board the ships in the harbor to look after the new converts from France.2 Now and then at a later day a real or suspected Jansenist found his way to Canada, and sometimes an esprit fort, like La Hontan, came over with the troops ; but on the whole a community more free from positive heterodoxy per- haps never existed on earth. This exemption cost , ^ no bloodshed. What it did cost we may better judge hereafter.
If Canada escaped the dragonnades, so also she
1 Mfmoire du Roy a Denonville, 31 Mai, 1686. The King here orders the imprisonment of heretics who refuse to abjure^ or the quartering, oT* 15n them. What this meant, the history of
the dragonnades will snow.
• Denonville au Minittre, 10 Nov., 1686.
1662-1700.] THE NUNS. 421
escaped another infliction from which a neighboring colony suffered deplorably. Her peace was never much troubled by witches. They were held to exist, it is true ; but they wrought no jpanic. Mother Mary of the Incarnation reports on one occasion the dis- covery of a magician in the person of a converted Huguenot miller, who, being refused in marriage by a girl of Quebec, bewitched her, and filled the house where she lived with demons, which the bishop tried in vain to exorcise. The miller was thrown into prison, and the girl sent to the Hotel-Dieu, where not a demon dared enter. The infernal crew took their revenge by creating a severe influenza among the citizens.1
If there are no Canadian names on the calendar of saints, it is not because in byways and obscure places Canada had not virtues worthy of canonization. Not alone her male martyrs and female devotees, whose merits have found a chronicle and a recog- nition; not the fantastic devotion of Madame d'Ailleboust, who, lest she should not suffer enough, took to herself a vicious and refractory servant girl, as an exercise of patience: and not certainly the mediaeval pietism of Jeanne Le Ber, the venerated recluse of Montreal, — there are others quite as worthy of honor, whose names have died from memory. It is difficult to conceive a self-abnegation more complete than that of the hospital nuns of Quebec and Montreal. In the almost total absence
1 Marie de 1'Incarnation, Lettre de — Septembre, 1661.
c
/
422 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1662-1714.
of trained and skilled physicians, the burden of the sick and wounded fell upon them. Of the two communities, that of Montreal was the more wretch- edly destitute, while that of Quebec was exposed, perhaps, to greater dangers. Nearly every ship from France brought some form of infection, and all infec- tion found its way to the HQtel-Dieu of Quebec. T\ie nuns rlipd. but, they neypr rniflplainpd. Removed . from the arena of ecclesiastical strife, too busy for the morbidness of the cloister, too much absorbed in practical benevolence to become the prey of illusions, they and their sister community were models of that benign and tender charity of which the Roman Catholic Church is so rich in examples. Nor should the Ursulines and the nuns of the Congregation be forgotten among those who, in another field of labor, have toiled patiently according to their light.
Mademoiselle Jejmne__Le_JJgr belonged to none of these sisterhoods. She was the favorite daughter of the chief merchant of Montreal, — the same who, with the help of his money, got himself ennobled. She seems to have been a girl of a fine and sensitive nature; ardent, affectionate, and extremely suscep- tible to religious impressions. Religion at last gained absolute sway over her. Nothing could appease her longings or content the demands of her excited con- science but an entire consecration of herself to Heaven. Constituted as she was, the resolution must have cost her an agony of mental conflict Her story is a strange, and, as many will think, a
1662-1714.] JEANNE LE BER. 423
very sad one. She renounced her suitors, and wished to renounce her inheritance ; but her spiritual directors, too far-sighted to permit such a sacrifice, persuaded her to hold fast to her claims, and content herself with what they called "poverty of heart." Her mother died, and her father, left with a family of young children, greatly needed her help; but she refused to leave her chamber where she had immured herself. Here she remained ten years, seeing nobody but her confessor and the girl who brought her food. Once only she emerged, and this was when her brother lay dead in the adjacent room, killed in a fight with the English. She suddenly appeared before her astonished sisters, stood for a moment in silent prayer by the body, and then vanished without uttering a word. "Such," says her modern biogra- pher, "was the sublimity of her virtue and the grandeur of her soul." Not content with this domestic seclusion, she caused a cell to be made behind the altar in the newly built church of the Congregation, and here we will permit ourselves to cast a stolen glance at her through the narrow opening through which food was passed in to her. Her bed, a pile of straw which she never moved, lest it should become too soft, was so placed that her head could touch the partition which alone separated it from the Host on the altar. Here she lay wrapped in a garment of coarse gray serge, worn, tattered, and unwashed. An old blanket, a stool, a spinning- wheel, a belt and shirt of haircloth, a scourge, and a
424 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1662-1714.
pair of shoes made by herself of the husks of Indian- corn, appear to have formed the sum of her furniture and her wardrobe. Her employments were spinning and working embroidery for churches. She remained in this voluntary prison about twenty years ; and the nun who brought her food testifies that she never omitted a mortification or a prayer, though commonly in a state of profound depression, and what her biographer calls "complete spiritual aridity." When her mother died, she had refused to see her; and, long after, no prayer of her dying father could draw her from her cell. "In the person of this modest virgin," writes her reverend eulogist, "we see, with astonishment, the love of God triumphant over earthly affection for parents, and a complete victory of faith over reason and of grace over nature."
In 1711, Canada was threatened with an attack by the English; and Mademoiselle Le Ber gave the nuns of the Congregation an image of the Virgin on which she had written a prayer to protect their granary from the invaders. Other persons, anxious for a similar protection, sent her images to write upon ; but she declined the request. One of the disappointed applicants then stole the inscribed image from the granary of the Congregation, intending to place it on his own when the danger drew near. The English, however, did not come, their fleet having suffered a ruinous shipwreck ascribed to t^e prayers of Jeanne Le Ber. "It was," writes the Sulpitian Belmont, "the greatest miracle that ever happened since the
J662-1714.]
JEANNE LE BER.
425
days of Moses." Nor was this the only miracle of which she was the occasion. She herself declared that once when she had broken her spinning-wheel, an angel came and mended it for her. Angels also assisted in her embroider}', "no doubt," says Mother Juchereau, "taking great pleasure in the society of this angelic creature." In the church where she had secluded herself, an image of the Virgin continued after her death to heal the lame and cure the sick.1
Though Jeanne rarely permitted herself to speak, yet some oracular utterance of the sainted recluse would now and then escape to the outer world. One of theee was to the effect that teaching poor girls to read, unless they wanted to be nuns, was robbing them of their time. Nor was she far wrong, for in Canada there was very little to read except formulas of devotion and lives of saints. The dangerous innovation of a printing-press had not invaded the colony,2 and the first Canadian news- paper dates from the British conquest.
All education was controlled by
The ablest teachers Their college of
in Canada
Harvard. We hear at an putations by the pupils,
1 Faillon, L'I/:roine chre'lie This is a most elaborate aad shorter account of her wi1*"* - * died in 1714, at the agi
1 A printing-proM^ eoon Bent back agaia
those
TJ- «i— Mile. Le Der. vog/tlie recluse. A --u, Hdtel-Dleu. She
•ght to Canada, but wai
426 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1663-1763.
tournaments of barren logic which preceded the reign of inductive reason in Europe, and of which the archetype is to be found in the scholastic duels of the Sorbonne. The boys were sometimes permitted to act certain approved dramatic_pieces of a religious character, like the Sage Visionnaire. On one occa- sion they were allowed to play the Cid of Corneille, which, though remarkable as a literary work, con- tained nothing threatening to orthodoxy. " They were taught a little Latin, a little rhetoric, and a little logic; but against all that might rouse the faculties to independent" aclloir; — Lhu Ciuilldlali schools "pru- dently closed their doors. There was then no rival population, of a different origin and a different faith, tocompel competition in the
and knowledge. The Church stood sole mistress of
_ »~w^^«*^>vy»_<V,,l_ |L ,if^i'i— i _ ar>i_ •*- •-
t^ie^ejd. Un^jer the old rfc"gimethe~rea.l ^jgcLof educajioii_jn Canada was a rel gious ;md; iti farj^ss
schools was : fir^r j^jmLkp^prj^.s ; and, secondly, to servants of^tlie^Ql^ur^ljLang^ the^ King. extraneous ami of
•111;ltt'l'ri tlie King and the bishop
v
"As I have been informed,"
Louis 2|J %iHSRiq -» ^L^val, "of your continued care to hold the people In ^^ ^uty towards God and towards me^^^^J^vjjpgation yOU give or cause to be given to Jne^ij ,b^ rite tili8 letter to
express my sasw>wluct so salutary, and to exhort you
iLc Roy * Laval.* AurO. "«^ in Faillon)
363-1763.] THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. 427
The bishop did not fail to persevere. The school r boys attached to his seminary became the most
nportant educational instituting in r.anorla It regulated by thirty-four rules, " in honor of the lirty-four years which Jesus lived on earth." The ualities commended to the boys as those which they lould labor diligently to acquire were " humility, bedience, purity, meekness, modesty, simplicity, iastity,*'charity, and an ardent love of Jesus and is Holy Mother."1 Here is a goodly roll of Chris- an virtues. What is chiefly noticeable in it is, that
"PTn isallowed no plft^ That manly 'but unaccom-
odating virtue was not, it seems, thought important i forming the mind of youth. Humility and obedi- nce lead the list; for in unquestioning submission :> the spiritual director lay the guaranty of all other lerits.
We have seen already, that, besides this seminary / boys, Laval established another for educating
e humbler colonists. It was a sort of farm-school ; X lough besides farming, various mechanical trades rere also taught in it. It was well adapted to the rants of a great majority of Canadians, whose ten- encies were anything but bookish; but here, as Isewhere, the real object was rpligrlmis. . It enabled le Church to extend her influence oyer classes •hich the ordinary schools could not reach. Besides r.imal training, the pupils were taught to read and
1 Ancien rfylement du Petit Sfminaire de Quebec, see Abeille, viii 0.32.
428 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1663-1763.
write; and for a time a certain number of them received some instruction in Latin. When, in 1686, Saint- Vallier visited the school, he found in all thirty-one boys under the charge of two priests; but the number was afterwards greatly reduced, and the place served, as it still serves, chiefly as a retreat during vacations for the priests and pupils of the seminary of Quebec. A spot better suited for such a purpose cannot be conceived.
From the vast meadows of the parish of St. Joachim, which here border the St. Lawrence, there rises like an island a low flat hill, hedged round with forests like the tonsured head of a monk. It was here that Laval planted his school. Across the meadows, a mile or more distant, towers the moun- tain promontory of Cape Tourmente. You may climb its woody steeps, and from the top, waist-deep in blueberry-bushes, survey, from Kamouraska to Quebec, the grand Canadian world outstretched below; or mount the neighboring heights of St. Anne, where, athwart the gaunt arms of ancienl pines, the river lies shimmering in summer haze, the cottages of the habitants are strung like beads of a rosary along the meadows of Beaupre", the shores oi Orleans bask in warm light, and far on the horizon the rock of Quebec rests like a faint gray cloud ; or traverse the forest till the roar of the torrent guides you to the rocky solitude where it holds its sava ^e revels. High on the cliffs above, young birch-trees stand smiling in the morning sun ; while in the abyss
1663-1763.] SAINT ANNE. 429
beneath the snowy waters plunge from depth to depth, and, halfway down, the slender harebell hangs from its mossy nook, quivering in the steady thunder of the cataract. Game on the river; trout in lakes, brooks, and pools ; wild fruits and flowers on meadows and mountains, — a thousand resources of honest and wholesome recreation here wait the \^ student emancipated from books, but not parted for a ^ moment from the pious influence which hangs about the old walls embosomed in the woods of St. Joachim. Around on plains and hills stand the dwellings of a peaceful peasantry, as different from the restless population of the neighboring States as the denizens of some Norman or Breton village.
Above all, do not fail to make your pilgrimage to X the shrine of St. Anne. You may see her chapel four or five miles away, nestled under the heights of the Petit Cap. Here, when Ailleboust was governor, he began with his own hands the pious work, and a habitant of Beaupre", Louis Guimont, sorely afflicted with rheumatism, came grinning with pain to lay three stones in the foundation, in honor probably of Saint Anne, Saint Joachim, and their daughter the Virgin. Instantly he was cured. It was but the beginning of a long course of miracles continued more than two centuries, and continuing still. Their fame spread far and wide. The devotion to Saint >^ Anne became a distinguishing feature of Canadian Catholicity, till at the present day at least thirteen parishes bear her name. But of all her shrines, none
430 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1663-1763.
can match the fame of St. Anne du Petit Cap. Crowds flocked thither on the week of her festival, and marvellous cures were wrought unceasingly, as the sticks and crutches hanging on the walls and columns still attest. Sometimes the whole shore was covered with the wigwams of Indian converts who had paddled their birch canoes from the farthest wilds of Canada. The more fervent among them would crawl on their knees from the shore to the altar. And, in our own day, every summer a far greater concourse of pilgrims — not in paint and feathers, but in cloth and millinery, and not in canoes, but in steamboats — bring their offerings and their vows to the "Bonne Sainte Anne."1 i To return to Laval's industrial school. Judging from repeated complaints of governors and intendants of the dearth of skilled workmen, the priests in charge of it were more successful in making good ,. Catholics than in making good masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, and weavers ; and the number of pupils, even if well trained, was at no time sufficient to meet the wants of^iha colony,2 for, though the Canadians
1 For an interesting account of the shrine at the Petit Cap, see Casgrain, Le Peltrinage de la Bonne Sainte Anne, a little manual of devotion printed at Quebec. I chanced to visit the old chapfl in 1871, dnring a meeting of the parish to consider the question of re- constructing it, as it was in a ruinous state. Passing that way again two years later, I found the old chapel still standing, and a new one. much larger, half finished.
a Most of them were moreover retained, after leaving the school, by the seminary, as servants, farmers, or vassals. (La Tour, Vie c/« Laval, liv. yi.)
1663-1763.] RESULTS. 431
showed an aptitude for mechanical trades, they pre- ferred above all things the savage liberty of the backwoods.
The education of girls was in the hands of the ^ Ursulines and the nuns of the Congregation, of whom the former, besides careful instruction in religious duties, taught their pupils " all that a girl ought to know."1 This meant exceedingly little besides the X manual arts suited to their sex ; and, in the case of the aims uf thu Congregation, who taught girls of the poorer class, it meant still less. It was on nuns DA as well as on priests that the charge fell, not only of spiritual and mental, but also of industrial, training. Thus we find the King giving to a sisterhood of Montreal a thousand francs to &iy wooL and a thou- sand more for teaching girls to kmt.2 The King also maintained a teacher of navigation and surveying at Quebec on the modest salary of four hundred francs.
During the \iiflhteenth centurvjsome improvement is perceptible in the mental state of the population. As it became more numerous and more stable, it also became less ignorant ; and the Canadian habitat nf th
better taught, so far as concerned religion, than the mass of French peasants. Yet secular instruction was still extremely meagre, even in the noblesse.
1 " A lire, a ecrire, les prieres, les moeurs chretiennes, et tout ce qu'une fille doit savoir." — Marie de 1'Incarnation, Lettre du 9 Ao&t, 1608.
' Denot.t-iUe au Ministre, 13 Nov., 1686.
432 PRIESTS AND PEOPLE. [1663-17C3.
"In spite of this defective education," says the famous navigator, Bougainville, who knew the colony well in its last years, " the Canadians are naturally intelligent. They do not know how to write, hut they speak with ease, and with an accent as good as the Parisian."1 He means, of course, the better class. "Even the children of officers and gentle- men," says another writer, "scarcely know how to read and write; they are ignorant of the first ele- ments of geography and history."2 And evidence like this might be extended.
When France was heaving with the throes that prepared the Revolution; when new hopes, new dreams, new thoughts — good and evil, false and tme — tossed the troubled waters of French society, — Canada caught something of its social corruption, but not the faintest impulsion of its roused mental life. The torrent surged on its way; while, in the deep nook beside it, the sticks and dry leaves floated their usual round, and the unruffled pool slept in the placidity of intellectual torpor.8
1 Bougainville, Mfmoire de 1767 (see Margry, Relations infdiies).
1 Mtfmmre de 1736 ; Detail de tovte la Colonie (published by the Hist. Soc. of Quebec).
* Several Frenchmen of a certain intellectual eminence made their abode in Canada from time to time. The chief among them are the Jesuit Lafltau, author of Mamrt des Sauvagei Amtfricaint ; the Jesuit Charlevoix, traveller and historian ; the physician Sarra- zin ; and the Marquis de la Galisonniere, the most enlightened of the French governors of Canada. Sarrazin, a naturalist as well a« a physician, has left his name to the botanical genus Sarracenia, of which the curious American species, S. purpurea, the " pitcher-
1663-1763.] MICHEL SARRAZIN. 433
plant." was described by him. His position in the colony was sin- gular and characteristic. He got little or no pay from his patients ; and though at one time the only genuine physician in Canada ( Callieres et Beauharnois au Ministre, 3 Nov., 1702), he was dependent on the King for support. In 1699 we find him thanking his Majesty for 300 francs a year, and asking at the same time for more, as he has nothing else to live on. ( Callieres et Champigny au Ministre, 20 Oct., 1699.) Two years later the governor writes, that, as he serves almost everybody without fees, he ought to have another 300 francs. (Ibid., 6 Oct., 1701.) The additional 300 francs was given him ; but, finding it insufficient, he wanted to leave the colony. " He is too useful," writes the governor again ; " we cannot let him go." His yearly pittance of 600 francs, French money, wan at one time rein- forced by his salary as member of the Superior Council. He died at Quebec in 1734.
CHAPTER XXIII.
1640-1763. MORALS AND MANNERS.
SOCIAL INFLUENCE OF THE TROOPS. — A PETTT TYRANT. — BRAWLS. — VIOLENCE AND OUTLAWRY. — STATE or THE POPULATION. — VIEWS OF DENONVILLE. — BRANDT. — BEOGART. — THE PAST AND THE PRESENT. — INNS. — STATE OF QUEBEC. — FIRES. — TH« COUNTRY PARISHES. — SLAVERY. — VIEWS OF LA HONTAN, — OF HOCQUART; OF BOUGAINVILLE; OF KALM; OF CHARLKVOIX.
THE mission period of Canada, or the period anterior to the year 1663, when the King took the colony in charge, has a character of its own. The Y whole population did not exceed that of a large French village. Its extreme poverty, the mnshmt. danger that surrounded it. and, above all, the con-
ftll£"mis 7pa1 nf *hfl ™i«""'™iariMJ sav^l it", from m^jry^
vices, and inspired it with an extraordinary religious
J fervor. Without doubt an ideal picture has been
drawn of this early epoch. Trade as well as propa-
gandism was the business of the colony, and the
colonists were far from being all in a state of grace ;
yet it is certain that zeal was higher, devotion mo
> constant, and popularjpocals more pure, thanjit any
later period of the French rule.
1663-73.] CHANGE OF MANNERS. 435-
The intervention of the King wrought a change, The annual shipments of emigrants made by him were, in the most favorable view, of a very mixed character, and the portion which Mother Mary calls canaille was but too conspicuous. Along with them came a regiment of soldiers fresh from the license of y ^ camps and the excitements of Turkish wars, accus- tomed to obey their officers and to obey nothing else, and more ready to wear the scapulary of the Virgin in campaigns against the Mohawks than to square their lives by the rules of Christian ethics. "Our good King," writes Sister Morin, of Montreal, "has sent troops to defend us from the Iroquois, and the soldiers and officers have ruined the Lord's vineyard, and planted wickedness and sin and. crime in our soil of Canada."1 Few, indeed, among the officers fol- lowed the example of one of their number, — Paul Dupuy, who, in his settlement of Isle aux Oies, below Quebec, lived, it is said, like a saint, and on Sundays and fete days exhorted his servants and habitants with such unction that their eyes rilled with tears.2 Nor, let us hope, were there many imitators of Major La -Fr^di^re. who, with a company of the regiment, was sent to garrison Montreal, where he ruled with absolute sway over settlers and soldiers alike. His countenance naturally repulsive was made more so by the loss of an eye ; yet he was irre- pressible in gallantry, and women and girls fled in
1 Annales de l'H6tel-Dieu St. Joseph, cited by Faillon. * Juchereau, H6tel-Dieu de Qutbec, 611.
436 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1663-73
terror from the military Polyphemus. The men, too, feared and hated him, not without reason. One morning a settler named Demers was hoeing his field, when he saw a sportsman gun in hand striding through his half-grown wheat. "Steady there, steady ! " he shouted in a tone of remonstrance ; but the sportsman gave no heed. " Why do you spoil a poor man's wheat?" cried the outraged cultivator. "If I knew who you were, I would go and com- plain of you." "Whom would you complain to?" demanded the sportsman, who then proceeded to walk back into the middle of the wheat, and called out to Demers, "You are a rascal, and I'll thrash you." " Look at home for rascals," retorted Demers, " and keep your thrashing for your dogs. " The sports- man came towards him in a rage to execute his threat. Demers picked up his gun, which, after the custom of the time, he had brought to the field with him, and, advancing to meet his adversary, recognized La Fredie"re, the commandant. On this he ran off. La Frediere sent soldiers to arrest him, threw him into prison, put him in irons, and the next day mounted him on the wooden horse, with a weight of sixty pounds tied to each foot. He repeated the torture a day or two after, and then let his victim go, saying "If I could have caught you when I was in your wheat, I would have beaten you well."
The commandant next turned his quarters into a dram-shop for Indians, to whom he sold brandy in large quantities, but so diluted that his customers,
1663-73.] BRAWLS. 437
finding themselves partially defrauded of their right of intoxication, complained grievously. About this time the intendant Talon made one of his domiciliary visits to Montreal, and when, in his character of father of the people, he inquired if they had any complaints to make, every tongue was loud in accusa- tion against La Fredie're. Talon caused full deposi- tions to be made out from the statements of Demers and other witnesses. Copies were deposited in the hands of the notary, and it is from these that the above story is drawn. The tyrant was removed, and ordered home to France.1
Many other officers embarked in the profitable trade of selling brandy .to Tnrlia.ns. and several garri- ' son posts became centres of disorder. Others of the regiment became notorious brawlers. A lieu~ tenant of the garrison of Montreal named Carion, and an ensign named Morel, had for some reason conceived a violent grudge against another ensign named Lormeau. On Pentecost day, just after vespers, Lormeau was walking by the river with his wife. They had passed the common and the semi- nary wall, and were in front of the house of the younger Charles Le Moyne, when they saw Carion coming towards them. He stopped before Lormeau, looked him full in the face, and exclaimed, " Coward ! " "Coward yourself," returned Lormeau; "takeyour-
1 Information centre La Frediere. (See Faillon, Colonie Franfaise, iii. 386.) The dialogue, as here given from the depositions, it translated as closely as possible.
438 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1663-73.
self off!" Canon drew his sword, and Lormeau followed his example. They exchanged a few passes, then closed, and fell to the ground grappled together. Lormeau's wig fell off; and Carion, getting the uppermost, hammered his bare head with the hilt of his sword. Lormeau's wife, in a frenzy of terror, screamed murder. One of the neighbors, Monsieur Beletre, was at table with Charles Le Moyne and a Rochelle merchant named Baston. He ran out with his two guests, and they tried to separate the com- batants, who still lay on the ground foaming like a pair of enraged bull-dogs. All their efforts were useless. "Very well," said Le Moyne in disgust, "if you won't let go, then kill each other if you like." A former military servant of Carion now ran up, and began to brandish his sword in behalf of his late master. Carion's comrade, Morel, also arrived, and, regardless of the angry protest of Le Moyne, stabbed repeatedly at Lormeau as he lay. Lormeau had received two or three wounds in the hand and arm with which he parried the thrusts, and was besides severely mauled by the sword-hilt of Carion, when two Sulpitian priests, drawn by the noise, appeared on the scene. One was Frdmont, the cur6 ; the other was Dollier de Casson. That herculean father, whose past soldier life had made him at home in a fray, and who cared nothing for drawn swords, set himself at once to restore peace, — upon which, whether from the strength of his arm, or the mere effect of his presence, the two champions released
1663-73.] THE OUTLAW OF MONTREAL. 439
their gripe on each other's throats, rose, sheathed their weapons, and left the field.1
Montreal, a frontier town at the head of the colony, \ was the natural resort of desperadoes, offering, as we ; have seen, a singular contrast between the rigor of its clerical seigniors and the riotous license of the lawless crew which infested it. Dollier de Casson tells the story of an outlaw who broke prison ten or twelve times, and whom no walls, locks, or fetters could hold. "A few months ago," he says, "he was caught again, and put into the keeping of six or seven men, each with a good gun. They stacked their arms to play a game of cards, which then prisoner saw fit to interrupt to play a game of his own. He made a jump at the guns, took them under his arm like so many feathers, aimed at these fellows with one of them, swearing that he would kill the first who came near him, and so, falling back step by step, at last bade them good-by, and carried off all their guns. Since then he has not been caught, and is roaming the woods. Very likely he will become chief of our banditti, and make great trouble in the country when it pleases him to come back from the Dutch settlements, whither they say he is gone along with another rascal, and a French woman so depraved that she is said to have given or sold two of her children to the Indians." 2
1 Requete de Lormeau a M. d'Aillebout. Depositions de MM. de Longueuil [Le Moyne] de Baston, de Beletre, et ant ret. Cited by Faillon, Colonie Franfaise, iii. 393.
* Dollier de Casson. Histoire de Montreal. 1671-72.
440
MORALS AND MANNERS.
[1670-90.
When the governor, La Barre, visited Montreal, he found there some two hundred reprobates gam- bling, drinking, and stealing. If^hard pressed by justice, they had piily; to crosjL the
themselves Iffyondj tjie, S£i^mojji^4ur|s(lic t^oii • military settlements of the Richelieu were in a condi- tion somewhat similar, and La Barre complains of a prevailing spirit of disobedience and lawlessness. 1 The most orderly and thrifty part of Canada appears to have been at this time the cdte of Beaupre", belong- ing to the seminary of Quebec. Here the settlers had religious instruction from their cure's, and indus- trial instruction also if they wanted it. Domestic spinning and weaving were practised at Beaupr6 sooner than in any other part of the colony.
When it is remembered that a population which in La Barre's time did not exceed ten thousand, and which forty years later did not much exceed twice that number, was scjatt^redalong both sj^es^ of a great river for three hundred miles or more ; that large part of this population was in isolate^jj of two, three, five, ten, or twenty houses at the edge of a savage wilderness ; that between them there w?
; that the
settlers were disbanded aold^rs, or others whose lives had been equally jid vgrse ^ habits of^ reflection or-^jej^pentrol ; that they rar^^saji^a^priest, ant that a govemmenjiomnmotejji^n^j^ arms
them, — we may listen without
La Barre au Minittre, 4 Nov.. 1683.
1670-90.] SOCIAL DISORDER. 441
surprise to the lamentations of order-loving officials £ over the unruly condition of a great part of the colony. ,~J
^V .1 •• 11 !• ^i \J^*
the
Another dwells sorrowfully on the "terrible disper- sion" of the settlements where the inhabitants "live in a savage independence." But it is better tjiat each should speak for himself, and among the rest let us hear the pious Denonville.
"This, Monseigneur," he says, "seems to me the place for rendering you an account of the disorders which prevail not only in the woods, but also in the settlements. They arise from the idleness of young persons, and the great liberty which fathers, mothers, and guardians have for a long time given them, or allowed them to assume, of going into the forest under pretence of hunting or trading. This has come to such a pass, that, from the moment a boy can carry a gun, the father cannot restrain him and dares not offend him. You can judge the mischief that follows. These disorders are always greatest in the families of those who are gentilshommes, or who through laziness or vanity pass themselves off as such. Having no resource but hunting, they must spend their lives in the woods, where they have no curds to trouble them, and no fathers or guardians to constrain them. I think, Monseigneur, that martial law would suit their case better than any judicial sentence. Monsieur de la Barre suppressed a certain
1 Catalogne, Mtmoire address? an Ministre, 1712.
442 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1670-9U
order of knighthood which had sprung up here, but he did not abolish the usages belonging to it. It was thought a fine thing and a good joke to go about naked and tricked out like Indians, not only on carnival days, but on all other days of feasting and debauchery. These practices tend to encourage the disposition of our young men to live like savages, frequent their company, and be forever unruly and lawless like them. I cannot tell you, Monseigneur, how attractive this Indian life is to all our youth. It consists in doing nothing, caring for nothing, follm^- ing every inclination, and getting out of the way of alTcorrection. ^
He goes on to say that the mission villages ff"v- erned by the .Tqsnits ami Snlpitiam fl™? ™™J?ln M Cftnd nrdfir, and that drunkards are never seen there except when they come from the neighboring French settlements ; but that the other Indians, who roam at large about the colony, do prodigious mischief, because the children of the seigniors not only copy their way of life, but also run off with their women into the woods. 1 " Nothing, " he continues, " can be finer or better conceived than the regulations framed for the government of this country; but nothing, I assure you, is so ill observed as regards both the fur-trade
1 Baudot, who was intondant early in the eighteenth century, ia a little less gloomy in his coloring, but says that Canadian children were without discipline or education, had no respect for parents or cure's, and owned no superiors. This, he thinks, is owing to " la folle tendresse des parents qui les empeche dc lea corriger et de K-ur former le caractere qu'ils ont dur et feroce."
1670-90.] SOCIAL DISORDER. 443
and the general discipline of the colony. One great evil is the infinite number of drjnking-shojjs, which makes it almost impossible to remedy tl|Q djsprffcrs A resulting from them. All the rascals and idlers of <• the country are attracted into this business of tavern- keeping. They never dream of tilling the soil ; but, on the contrary, they deter the other inhabitants""^)^ from it and end with mining fT^™ I know seign- iories where there are but twenty houses, and more than half of them dram-shops. At Three Rivers there are twenty-five houses, and liquor may be had at eighteen or twenty of them. Villemarie [Montreal] and Quebec are on the same footing."
The governor next dwells on the necessity of find; ing occupation for children and youths. — a matter which he regards as of the last importance. " It is sad to see the ignorance of the population at a dis- tance from the abodes of the cure's, who are put to the greatest trouble to remedy the evil by travelling from place to "place through the parishes in their charge."1
La Barre, Champigny, and Duchesneau write in a similar strain. Bishop Saint- Vallier, in an epistolary journal which he printed of a tour through the colony made on his first arrival, gives a favorable account of the disposition of the people, especially as regards religion. He afterwards changed his views. An abstract made from his letters for the use of the King states that he "represents, like M. Denonville,
1 Denonville au Ministre 13 Nov., 1686.
444 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1670-90
that the Canadian youth are for the most part wholly demoralized."1
" The bishop was very sorry, " says a correspondent of the minister at Quebec, " to have so much exag- gerated in the letter he printed at Paris the morality of the people here."3 He preached a sermon on the sins of the inhabitants and issued a pastoral mandate, in which, he says, "Before we knew our flock we thought that the English and the Iroquois were the only wolves we had to fear ; but God having opened our eyes to the disorders of this diocese, and made us feel more than ever the weight of our charge, we are forced to confess that our most dangerous foes are '1DinL"jt""fr°. luxury, impurity, and slander."8
Drnnkenn,ess waff at this time the most destructive vice in the colony. One writer declares that most oTtEe" Canadians drink so much brandy in the morn- ing that they are unfit for work all day.4 Another says that a canoe-man when he is tired will lift a keg of brandy to his lips and drink the raw liquor from the bung-hole, after which, having spoiled his appe- tite, he goes to bed supperless; and that, what with drink and hardship, he is an old man at forty. Nevertheless the race did not deteriorate. The pre- valence of early marriages, and the birth of numer- ous offspring before the vigor of the father had been
» N. Y. Colonial Documentt, ix. 278. • Ibid., ix. 388.
1 Ordonnance centre let vicet de I'ivrognerie, luxe, et impuretf, 31 Oct^ 1090.
« N. Y. Colonial Documents, ix. 39&
1670-1715.] IMPROVEMENT. 445
wasted, insured the strength and hardihood which characterized the Canadians. As Denonville describes them, so they long remained. "The Canadians are tall, well-made, and well set on their legs [bien plantes sur leurs jambes], robust, vigorous, and accus-^ tomed in time of need to live on little. They have intelligence and vivacity, but are wayward, light- minded, and inclined to debauchery."
As the population increased,__as_the rage for bush-
began to abate, and, above all, as the^ cures multiplied, a change took place for the better. More
charge, oj
reduced within reasonable bounds.^ and a greater
Xgr>^%_i»Jv_i'"V-.<J'X- :"V^t_J'J">u- -^ — ^"^ +3+*.**-^
proportioned the^j^aT^^ Theywere bettej^ajghed,
the Church.^. The^ ^desi^stical
had. a_hglcl?_ wa^exercised, as we have seen, wj^lyin,
was e ani
its wild and wandering flock fairly within its fold. In this, however, its success was but relative. It is true that in 1715 a well-informed writer says that the people were "perfectly instructed in religion ;" J but at that time the statement was only partially true.
During the seventeenth century, and some time after its close, Canada swatmgd with beggars, — a singular feature in a new country where a good farm could be had for the asking. In countries intensely
1 Mfmoire address? au Regent.
446 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1670-1700.
Roman Catholic begging is not regarded as an unmixed evil, being supposed to promote two cardinal virtues, — charityin J^he gjver^ and humility in^the receiver. The Canadian officiate jievert^gle^s _tried to restrain it. Vagabonds of both sexes were ordered to leave Quebec, and nobody was allowed to beg without a certificate of poverty from the cur6 or the
-»_f^i ->_ - ^ ~ •*• -*• HI\_I-»IIIIWI ->,_ r>_ -i -^j-^j-— — i 1^1 t
local judge.1 These orders were not always observed. Jishop Saint- Vallier writes that he is overwhelmed by beggars,2 and the intendant echoes his complaint. Almshouses were established at Montreal, Three Rivers, and Quebec ; 8 and when Saint- Vallier founded the General Hospital, its chief purpose was to serve, not as a hospital in the ordinary sense of the word, but as a house of refuge, after the plan of the General Hospital of Paris.4 Appeal, as usual, was made to the King. Denonville asks his aid for two destitute families, and says that many others need it. Louis XIV. did not fail to respond, and from time to time he sent considerable sums for the relief of the Cana- dian poor.6
Denonville says, "The principal reason of the
i Reglement de Police, 1676.
8 JV. Y. Colonial Documents, ix. 279.
8 Edits et Ordonnances, ii. 119.
4 On the General Hospital of Quebec, see Juchereau, 366. In 1692, the minister writes to Frontenac and Champigny that they should consider well whether this house of refuge will not " aug- menter la faine'antise parmi les habitans," by giving them a sure support in poverty.
6 As late as 1701 six thousand livres were granted. Callieres an | Ministre, 4 Nov., 1701.
1670-1700.] POVERTY. 447
poverty of this country is the idleness and bad con- duct of most of the people. The greater part of the women, including all the demoiselles* are very lazy."1 Meules proposes as a remedy that the King should establish a general workshop in the colony, and pay the 'workmen himself during the first .five or six years.2 "The persons here," he says, "who have wished to make a figure are nearly all so overwhelmed with debt that they may be considered as in the last necessity."3 He adds that many of the people go half -naked even in winter. " The merchants of this country," says the intendant Duchesneau, "are all plunged in poverty, except five or six at the most ; it is the same with the artisans, except a small number, because the vanity of the women and the debauchery of the men consume all their gains. As for such of the laboring class as apply themselves steadily to cultivating the soil, they not only live very well, but are incomparably better off than the better sort of peasants in France."4 ^
All the writers lament the extravagant habits of the people; and even La Hontan joins hands with ' the priests in wishing that the supply of ribbons, laces, brocades, jewelry, and the like might be cut off by act of law. Mother Juchereau tells us, that, when the English invasion was impending, the belles of
1 Denonville et Champigny au Ministre, 6 Nov., 1687.
2 Meules au Ministre, 12 Nov., 1682.
8 Meules, Mtmoire touchant le Canada et I'Acadie, 1684. * Duchesneau au Ministre, 10 Nov., 1679.
448 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1645-63,
Canada were scared for a while into modesty in order to gain the favor of Heaven ; but, as may be imagined, the effect was short, and Father La Tour declares that in his time all the fashions except rouge came over regularly in the annual ships.
The manners of the mission period, on the other hand, were extremely simple. The old governor, Lauzon, lived on pease and bacon like a laborer, and kept no man-servant. He was regarded, it is true, as a miser, and held in slight account.1 Magdeleine Bochart, sister of the governor of Three Rivers, brought her husband two hundred francs in money, four sheets, two table-cloths, six napkins of linen and hemp, a mattress, a blanket, two dishes, six spoons and six tin plates, a pot and a kettle, a table and two benches, a kneading-trough, a chest with lock and key, a cow, and a pair of hogs.2 But the Bocharts were a family of distinction, and the bride's dowry answered to her station. By another marriage contract, at about the same time, the parents of the bride, being of humble degree, bind themselves to present the bridegroom with a barrel of bacon, deliver- able on the arrival of the ships from France.8
Some curious traits of this early day appear in the license of Jean Boisdon as innkeeper. He is required to-establish himself on the great square of Quebec, close to the church, so that the parishioners may con-
1 Mtmoire (PAubert de la Chesnaye, 1676. 8 Control de mariagt, cited by Ferland, Notes, 78. 8 Control de mariage, cited by Benjamin Suite in Revue Canadi- enne, ix. lit
1672-1701.] STATE OF QUEBEC. 449
veniently warm and refresh themselves between the services; but he is forbidden to entertain anybody during high mass, sermon, catechism, or vespers.1 Matters soon changed; Jean Boisdon lost his monopoly, and inns sprang up on all hands. They did not want for patrons, and we find some of their proprietors mentioned as among the few thriving men in Canada. Talon tried to regulate them, and, among:
i4-J^aJVjt_J_lV>Jr'> ~».£Li "•*•!. ~>_ ''
other rules, orj^^n^jhat no jnr^keejqr shoul^ ^urji jgfo food or drink to RITE, i]tf,^ laborer whatever, or to
in was
situated. An innkeeper of Montreal was fined for allowing the syndic of the town to dine under his roof.2
One gets glimpses of the pristine state of Quebec V through theyarlv pp/liV-p rpgrn1a.f.in|^\ Each inhabi- tant was required to jn^kg^^g^tter along the middle of the street before his house, and also to remove refuse and throw it into the river. All dogs, without exception. WPTP ordered home at nine o'clock. _ jOn ^ Tuesdays and Fridays there was a market in the public square, whither the neighboring habitants, male and female, brought their produce for sale, as they still continue to do. Snip_lqng_in_ thq s^ree^t .was. ^
against Jfirp, : householders
were required to provide themselves withj.ad.det8, and when the fire alarm was rung all able-bodied
1 Acte officielle, 1648, cited by Ferland, Cours d'Hittoire du Canada, 1.365.
2 Faillon, Colonie Francaise, iii. 405.
x 29
450 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1672-1701.
ywrsnngjygrp Q^liggrl ^ ri]p- 1.^ tfrft scene of danger with buckets a^ kffrtlcs_ full of wajcr.1 This did not prevent the Lower Town from burning to the ground in 1682. It was soon rebuilt, but a repetition of the catastrophe seemed very likely. "This place, "says Denonville, " is in a fearful state as regards fire ; for the houses are crowded together out of all reason, and so surrounded with piles of cord-wood that it is pitiful to see."2 Add to this the stores of hay for the cows kept by many of the inhabitants for the benefit of their swarming progeny. The houses were > at this time low, compact buildings, with gables of masonry, as required by law; but many had wooden fronts, and all had roofs covered with cedar shingles. The anxious governor begs, that, as the town has not a sou of revenue, his Majesty will be pleased to make
it the gift nf^t.wn ]niiw1i-orl— aj^mrnu* y^ffill, °f Igtlther
fire-buckets.3 Six or seven years after, certain citi- zens were authorized by the council to import from France, at their own cost, "a pump alter the Dutch fashion, for throwing water on Houses in case of fire."*
How a fire was managed at Quebec appears from a letter of the engineer, Vasseur, describing the burn- ing of Laval's seminary in 1701. Vasseur was then at Quebec, directing the new fortifications. On a Monday in November, all the pupils of the seminary
1 Rtglement de Police, 1672. Ibid., 1676.
* Denonville au Ministre, 20 Aout, 1685. « Ibid.
* Rtglement de 1601, extract in Ferland.
1701.] BURNING OF THE SEMINARY. 451
and most of the priests went, according to their weekly custom, to recreate themselves at a house and garden at St. Michel, a short distance from town. The few priests who remained went after dinner to say vespers at the church. Only one, Father Petit, was left in the seminary, and he presently repaired to the great hall to rekindle the fire in the stove and warm the place against the return of his brethren. His success surpassed his wishes. A firebrand snapped out in his absence and set the pine floor in a blaze. Father Boucher, cur£ of Point Levi, chanced to come in, and was half choked by the smoke. He cried. fire ! the servants ran for water ; but the flames soon mastered them; they screamed the alarm, and the bells began to ring. Vasseur was dining with the intendant at his palace by the St. Charles, when he heard a frightened voice crying out, " Monsieur, you are wanted! you are wanted!" He sprang from table, saw the smoke rolling in volumes from the top of the rock, ran up the steep ascent, reached the seminary, and found an excited crowd making a prodigious outcry. He shouted for carpenters. Four men came to him, and he set them at work with such tools as they had to tear away planks and beams, and prevent the fire from spreading to the adjacent parts of the building ; but when he went to find others to help them, they ran off. He sent new men in their place, and these too ran off the moment his back was turned. A cry was raised that the building was to be blown up, on which the crowd scattered for their
452 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1700-63.
lives. Vasseur now gave up the seminary for lost, and thought only of cutting off the fire from the rear of the church, which was not far distant. In this he succeeded, by tearing down an intervening wing or gallery. The walls of the burning building were of massive stone, and by seven o'clock the fire had spent itself. We hear nothing of the Dutch pump, nor does it appear that the soldiers of the garrison made any effort to keep order. Under cover of the con- fusion, property was stolen from the seminary to the amount of about two thousand livres, — which is remarkable, considering the religious character of the building, and the supposed piety of the people. " There were more than three hundred persons at the fire," says Vasseur; "but thirty picked men would have been worth more than the whole of them."1
August, September, and October were the busy months at Quebec. Then the ships from France discharged their lading, the shops and warehouses of the Lower Town were filled with goods, and the habitants came to town to make their purchases. When the frosts began, the vessels sailed away, the harbor was deserted, the streets were silent again, and like ants or squirrels the people set at work to lay in their winter stores. Fathers of families packed their cellars with beets, carrots, potatoes, and cab- bages ; and, at the end of autumn, with meat, fowls, game, fish, and eels, all frozen to stony hardness.
1 Vcutevr au Minittrt, 24 Nov., 1701. Like Denonyille before him. he urges the need of fire-buckets.
1700-63.] THE COUNTRY PARISHES. 453
Most of the shops closed, and the long season of leisure and amusement began. New Year's day brought visits and mutual gifts. Thence till Lent dinner-parties were frequent, sometimes familiar and Romfttimp.s cerp.monmus. The governor's little court at the chateau was a standing example to all the aspir- ing spirits of Quebec, and forms anfj prrlprs ^f p™>-
cedence were in some houses pnpp.filinnaly There were dinners to the military and civic digni- * . taries and their wives, and others, quite distinct, to ^^ prominent citizens. The wives and daughters of the burghers of Quebec are said to have been superior in manners to women of the corresponding class in France. "They have wit," says La Potherie, "deli- cacy, good voices, and a great fondness for dancing. They are discreet, and not much given to flirting; but when they undertake to catch a lover, it is not easy for him to escape, the bands of Hymen."1
So much for the town. In the country parishes. there was the same autumnal stowing away of frozen v vegetables, meat, fish, and eels, and unfortunately the same surfeit of leisure through five months of the year. During the seventeenth century, many of the people were so poor that women were forced to keep at home from sheer want of winter clothing. Noth- ing, however, could prevent their running from house to house to exchange gossip with the neighbors, who all knew one another, and, having nothing else to do, discussed each other's affairs with an industry i La Potherie, i. 279.
454 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1685-1781
which often bred bitter quarrels. At a later period, a more general introduction of family weaving and spinning served at once to furnish clothing and to promote domestic peace.
most important persons in a parish were the curd, the ^eignic/r, and the militia captain. The seignior had his bench of honor in the church. Immediately behind it was the bench of the ^njllti^ captain^whose duty it was to drill the able-bodied men of the neighborhood, direct ro:ul milking and other public works, and sprvp ^ flcpntj- t.n ^IP in,tendant|. whosft nrflina.r||fpa he was required to enforce. Next in honor came the local jucige. if any there was, and the church-wardens.
The existence of slavery in Canada dates from the end of jpb seventeenth century. In 1688 the attorney- general made a visit to Paris, and urged upon the King the expediency of importing negroes from the West Indies as a remedy for the scarcity and dearness of labor. The King consented, but advised caution, on the ground that the rigor of the climate would make the venture a critical one.1 A number oi slaves were brought into the colony; but the system never flourished, the climate and other circumstances jjeingr hostile to it. Many of the colonists, especially at Detroit and other outlying posts, owned slaves of a remote Indian tribe, the Pawnees. The fact is
1 Instruction au Sr. de Frontenac, 1689. On Canadian slavery, see a long paper, L'Esclavage en Canada, published by the Historical Society of Montreal,
1736.] CANADIAN LIFE. 455
remarkable, since it would be difficult to find another of the wild tribes of the continent capable of subjec- tion to domestic servitude. The Pawnee slaves were captives taken in war and sold at low prices to the Canadians. Their market value was much impaired by their propensity to run off.
It is curious to observe the views of the Canadians taken at different times by different writers. La Hontan says : " They are vigorous, enterprising, and indefatigable, and need nothing but education. They are presumptuous and full of self-conceit, regard themselves as above all the nations of the earth, and, unfortunately, have not the veneration for {hair parents that they ought to have. The women are generally pretty ; few of them are brunettes ; many of them are discreet, and a good number are lazy* They are fond to the last degree of dress and show, and each tries to outdo the rest in the art of catching a husband."1
Fifty years later, the intendant Hocquart writes: " The Canadians are fond of distinctions and atten- tions, plume themselves on their courage, and are extremely sensitive to slights or the smallest correc- tions. They are sftlf-inferRsted. vindictive,, prnnp—to drunkenness, use a great deal of brandy, and pass for nnf. >>pjppc at a.11 truthful. This portrait is true of many of them, particularly the country people : those of the towns are less vicious. They are all attached to religion, and criminals are rareyV They are vola- i La Hontan, ii. 81 (ed. 1709).
456 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1749.
tile, and think too well of themselves, which prevents their succeeding as they might in farming and trade. They have not the rude and rustic air of our French peasants. If they are put on their honor and gov- erned with justice, they are tractable enough; but their natural disposition is indocile."1
The navigator Bougainville, in the last years of the French rule, describes the Canadian habitant as essentially superior to the French peasant, and adds, •^Ilft is IbUd. boastful.rmendacious^obliging, civil, and honest; indefatigable in hunting, travelling, and bnah-ranflrfng. but lazy in tilling th^snil." «
The Swedish botanist, Kalm, an excellent observer, was in Canada a few years before Bougainville, and sketches from life the following traits of Canadian manners. The language is that of the old English translation: "The men here [at Montreal] are extremely u^^, and take their hats off to every person indifferently whom they meet in the streets. The women in general are handsome ; they are well bred and virtuous, with an innocent and becoming freedom. They dress out very fine on Sundays, and though on the other days they do not take much pains with the other parts of their dress, yet they are very fond of adorning their heads, the hair of which is always curled and powdered and ornamented with glittering bodkins and aigrettes. They are not averse to taking part in all the business of housekeeping-
» Mtmoire de 1736.
• Mfmoire de 1757, printed in Margry, Relation* Infditei.
1749.] CANADIAN LIFE. 457
and I have with pleasure seen the daughters of the better sort of people, and of the governor [of Montreal] himself, not too finely dressed, and going into kitchens and cellars to look that everything be done as it ought. What I have mentioned above of their dressing their heads too assiduously is the case with all the ladies throughout Canada. Their hair is always curled, even when they are at home in a dirty jacket and short coarse petticoat that does not reach to the middle of their legs. On those days when they pay or receive visits, they dress so gayly that one is almost induced to think their parents possess the greatest honors in the state. They are no less attentive to have the newest fashions, and they laugh at one another when they are not dressed to one another's fancy. One of the first questions they propose to a stranger is, whether he is married ;
the next, how he liV^s thfl Ta.f]ipg nf f.hp nnnntiy, and
whether he thinks them handsomer than those of his own country; and the third, whether he will take one home with him. The behavior of the ladies seemed to me somewhat too free at Quebec, and of a more becoming modesty at Montreal. Those of Quebec are notvervin^sjtjioji§, The young ladies, especially those of a higher rank, get up at seven and dress till nine, drinking their coffee at the same time. When they are dressed, they place themselves near a window that opens into the street, take up some needlework and sew a stitch now and then, but turn their eyes into the street most of the time. When a
458 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1749.
young fellow comes in, whether they are acquainted with him or not, they immediately lay aside their work, sit down by him, and begin to chat, laugh, joke, and invent double-entendres ; and this is reckoned being very witty. ' In this manner they frequently pass the whole day, leaving their mothers to do the business of the house. They are likewise cheerful and content, and nobody can say that they want either wit or charms. Their fault is that they think too well of t,hftmsftlvp.s^ However, the daughters of people of all ranks without exception go to market and carry home what they have bought. The girls at Montreal are very much displeased that those at Quebec get husbands sooner than they. The reason of this is that many young gentlemen who come over from France with the ships are captivated by the ladies at Quebec and many them; but as these gentlemen seldom go up to Montreal, the girls there are not often so happy as those of the former place." J Long before Kalm's visit, the Jesuit Charlevoix, a traveller and a man of the world, wrote thus of Quebec in a letter to the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres : "There is a select little society here which wants nothing to make it agreeable. In the salons of the wives of the governor and of the intendant, one finds circles as brilliant as in other countries." These circles were formed partly of the principal inhabi- tants, but chiefly of military officers and government;
* Kalm, Travel* into North America, translated into English John Reinold Forster (London, 1771), 66, 282, etc.
1720.] CANADIAN LIFE. 459
officials, with their families. Charlevoix continues: "Everybody does his part to make the time pass pleasantly, with games and parties of pleasure, — drives and canoe excursions in summer, sleighing and skating in winter. There is a great deal of hunting and shooting, for many Canadian gentlemen are almost destitute of any other means of living at their ease. The news of the day amounts to very little indeed, as the country furnishes scarcely any, while that from Europe comes all at once. Science and the fine arts have their turn, and conversation does not fail. The Canadians breathe from their birth an air of liberty, which makes them very pleas- ant in the intercourse of life, and our language is nowhere more purely spoken. One finds here no rich persons whatever, and this is a great pity; for the Canadians like to get the credit of their money, and scarcely anybody amuses himself with hoarding it. They say it is very different with our neighbors the English; and one who knew the two colonies only by the way of living, acting, and speaking of the colonists would not hesitate to judge ours the more flourishing. In New England and the other British colonies there reigns an opulence by which the people seem not to know how to profit; while in New France poverty is hidden under an air of ease which appears entirely natural. The English colonist keeps as much and spends as little as possible ; the French colonist enjoys what he has got, and often makes a display of what he has not got. The one labors for
460 MORALS AND MANNERS. [1720
his heirs; the other leaves them to get on as they can, like himself. I could push the comparison further, but I must close here; the King's ship is about to sail, and the merchant vessels are getting ready to follow. In three days, perhaps, not one will be left in the harbor."1
And now we, too, will leave Canada. Winter draws near, and the first patch of snow lies gleaming on the distant mountain of Cape Tourmente. The sun has set in cliill autumnal beauty, and the sharp spires of fir-trees on the heights of Sillery stand stiff and black against the pure cold amber of the fading west. The ship sails in the morning ; and before the old towers of Rochelle rise in sight there will be time to smoke many a pipe, and ponder what we have seen on the banks of the St. Lawrence.
1 Charlevoix, Journal Historique, 80 (ed. 1744).
CHAPTER XXIV.
1663-1763. CANADIAN ABSOLUTISM.
FORMATION OF CANADIAN CHARACTER. — THE RIVAL COLONIES.— ENGLAND AND FRANCE. — NEW ENGLAND. — CHARACTERISTICS OF RACE. — MILITARY QUALITIES. — THE CHURCH. — THE ENGLISH CONQUEST.
NOT institutions alone, but .geographical position.
nyp.ta. and many other conditions unite to form the educational influences that, acting through succes- sive generations, shape the character of nations and communities.
It is easy to see the nature of the education, past and present, which wrought on the Canadians and made them what they were. An ignorant popula- tion, sprung from a brave and active race, but trained to subjection ami dftppriflftnp.ft through centuries
inrla.1 n.nr] fpnntvrpTn'nal ^P«pqt[iftITU waa planted in
the wilderness by the hand of authority, and told to grow and flourish. Artificial stimulants were applied, bat freedom was withheld. Perpetual intervention of government, — regulations, restrictions, encourage- ments sometimes more mischievous man restrictions, ft constant uncertainty what the authorities would do
462 CANADIAN ABSOLUTISM. [1663-1763.
next, the fate of each man resting less with himself than with another, volition enfeebled, self-reliance paralyzed, — the condition, in short, of a child held always under the rule of a father, in the main well- meaning and kind, sometimes generous, sometimes neglectful, often capricious, and rarely very wise, — such were the influences under which Canada grew up. If she had prospered, it would have been sheer miracle. A man, to be a man, must feel that he holds Ms fate, in some good measure, in his own hands.
But this was not all. ^Against absolute authority was a counter influence, nujflly amf
antagonistic. Canada^ was at the very portal j)f the great interior wilderness. The ISt: Lawrence and the Lakes were the highway to that domain of savage freedom; and thither the disfranchised, half-starved seignior, and the discouraged habitant who could find no market for his produce naturally enough betook themselves. Their lesson of savagery was well learned, and for many a year a boumjless license and a stiff-handed authority battled for the control of Canada. Nor, to the last, jwere^ Church and Jjta.te
^^^ta^^^^^^tei^^^^^*^^^^*^^^^^*^^^^^***^^^^^^^^^^^^^™
fairly mastejs j)l Jhe_fie.ld- The French rule was lira wing towards its close when the mtendant com- plained that though twenty-eight companies of regular troops were quartered in the colony, there were not soldiers enough to keep the people in order.1 One cannot but remember that in a neighboring colony,
1 Mtmoirt de 1730 (printed by the Historical Society of Quebec),
1663-1763.] THE RIVAL COLONIES. 463
far more populous, perfect order prevailed, with no other guardians than a few constables chosen by the people themselves. •Whence arose this difference, and
equally striking, between the rival colojiies ? It is easy to ascribe them to a difference of DoliticaJ and but the explanation does not
cover the ground. The institutions of New England were utterly inapplicable to the population of New France, and the attempt to apply them would have wrought nothing but mischief. There are no political panaceas, except in the imagination of political
1 quacks. To each degree and each variety of public
: development there are corresponding institutions, best answering the public needs; and what is meat
>to one is poison to another. Freedom is for those who are fit for it; the rest will lose it, or turn it to corruption. Church and State were rifyht, JTJ p.-gp.rp.is- ing authority over a people which had not 1p.fl.rnpd the first rudiments of spflf frnrrrnnrumt Their fault was not that they exercised authority, but that they exercised too much of Jt. and, instead of weaning the 3hild to go alone, kept him in perpetual leading- strings, making him, if possible, more and more lependent, and less and less fit for freedom.
In the building up of colonies, England succeeded ind France failed. The cause lies chiefly in the vast idvantage drawn by England from the historical .raining of her people in habits of reflection, forecast,
> ndustry, and self-reliance, — a training which enabled
464 CANADIAN ABSOLUTISM. [1663-1768,
them to adopt and maintain an invigorating system of self-rule, totally inapplicable to their rivals.
The New England colonists were far less fugitive! from oppression than voluntary exiles seeking the realization of an idea. They were neither peasants nor soldiers, but a substantial Puritan yeomanry, led Y- f> by Puritan gentlemen and divines in thorough sym- >r pathy with them. They were neither sent out by the ^^ King, governed by him, nor helped by him. They grew up in utter neglect, and continued neglect waa the only boon they asked. Till their increasing strength roused the jealousy of the Crown, they were virtually independent, — a republic, but by no means a democracy. They chose their governor and all their rulers from among themselves, made their own government and paid for it, supported their own clergy, defended themselves, and educated them- selves. Under the hard and repellent surface New England society lay the true foundations a stabler-freedom, — conscience, reflection, fait) patience, and public spirit. The cement of commo interests, hopes, and duties compacted the who people like a rock of conglomerate ; while the poop
f T^- T-1 1 • i I P Vf* 1 Of\
ox _^[_e^jj^ij^jy^^m^Mjha^u^j^^fc^4g^g***^^^^*a**'**^^*™^^***|"^""*'*^^»<^iLj jTfttinn^ likft a basket of pebbles held together by thi enclosure that surrounds them.
It may be that the difference of historical ante- cedents would alone explain the difference of charac ter between the rival colonies ; but there are deepec causes, the influence of which went far to determini
/
1663-1763.] MILITARY QUALITIES. 465
the antecedents themselves. The Germanic race, and especially the Anglo-Saxon branch of it, is pecu- liarly masculine, and, therefore, peculiarly fitted for self-government. It submits its action habitually to the guidance of reason, and has the judicial faculty of seeing both sides of a question. The French Celt is cast in a different mould. He sees the end dis- tinctly, and reasons about it with an admirable clear- ness; but his own impulses and passions continually turn him away from it. Opposition excites him ; he is impatient of delay, is impelled always to extremes, and does not readily sacrifice a present inclination to an ultimate good. He delights in abstractions a generalizations, cuts loose from unpleasing facts, and roams through an ocean of desires and theories.
While New England prospered and Canada did not prosper, the French system had at least one great advantage. I^^avorec^imlitary^efficiencv. The Canadian population sprang in great part from soldiers, and was :to the last systematically reinforced by disbanded soldiers. Its chief nnp.npafirm wa.a_n. continual training for forest war; it had little or nothing to lose, and little to do but fight and range the woods. This was not all. The Canadian gov- ernment was essentially military. At its head was_ a soldTer nobleman, often an old and able commander ; and those beneath him caught his spirit and emulated his example. In spite of iteDoliticalnothinPTiggs^. in spite of poverty and |iardship, and in spjf.p, p/wia of trade, the upper stratum of Canadian society was
30
466 CANADIAN ABSOLUTISM. [1663-1763.
animated by the pride and fire of that gallant noblesse which held war as its only worthy calling, and prized
honor more than life. As for the habitant, the forest,
— ^zs*^ lake, and river were his true scnool;, and here, at
least, he was an apt scholar. A skilful woodsman, a bold and adroit canoe-man, a willing fighter in time of need, often serving without pay, and receiving from government only his provisions and his canoe, he was more thag ready at any time for any hardy enterprise ; and in the forest warfare of skirmish and surprise there were few to match him. An absolute government used him at will, and experienced leaders guided his rugged valor to the best account.
The New England man was precisely the same material with that of which Cromwell formed his invincible " Ironsides ; " but he had very little forest experience. His geographical position cut him off completely from the great wilderness of the interior. The sea was his field of action. Without the aid of government, and in spite of its restrictions, he built up a prosperous commerce, and enriched himself by distant fisheries, neglected by the rivals before whose doors they lay. He knew every ocean from Green- land to Cape Horn, and the whales of the north and of the south had no more dangerous foe. But he was too busy to fight without good cause ; and when he turned his hand to soldiering, it was only to meet some pressing need of the hour. The New England troops in the early wars were bands of raw fishermen and farmers, led by civilians, decorated with military
1663-1763.] THE ENGLISH CONQUEST. 467
titles, and subject to the slow and uncertain action of legislative bodies. The officers had not learned to command, nor the men to obey. The remarkable exploit of the capture of Louisburg, the strongest fortress in America, was the result of mere audacity and hardihood, backed by the rarest good luck.
One great fact stands out conspicuous in Canadian history, — the Church of Rome. More even foan the royal power, oV>^fihQpH ttlfi f^™^^ and the desti- nies of the colony. She was its nurse and almos its mother ; and, wayward and headstrong as it was, iiL-never broke the ties of ffljtih f^af ^p1^ if ff> har> It was these ties which, in the absence of political chises. formed under the old re*gime_the coherence in the population. The royal government,? was transient ; _ the Church was permanent. The English conquest shattered the whole apparatus of civil administration at a blow, but it left her untouched. Governors, intendants, councils, and A A> commandants, all were gone ; the principal seigniors ey fled the colony; and a people who had never learned to control themselves or help themselves were sud- denly left to their own devices. Confusion, if not anarchy, would have followed but Jor the parisli priests, who, in a character of double paternity, half spiritual and half temporal, became more than^ver the guardians of order throughout Canada.
This English conquest was the grand crisis of Canadian history. It was the beginning of a new life. With England came Protestantism, and the
toJber. It ,f j itical fran- jT^ only vitally
468 CANADIAN ABSOLUTISM. [1663-1763.
Canadian Church grew purer and better in the presence of an adverse faithT Material growth; an increased mentajjagtivity ; an education^real though fenced and guarded ; a warm and genuine patriotism,
— all date from the peace of 1763. England imposed by the sword on reluctant Canada the boon of rational and ordered liberty. Through centuries of striving she had advanced from stage to stage of progress, deliberate and calm, — never breaking with her past, but making each fresh gain the base of a new success,
— enlarging popular liberties while bating nothing of that height and force of individual development which is the brain and heart of civilization ; and now, through a hard-earned victory, she taught the con- quered colony to share the blessings she had won. A happier calamity never befell a people than the conquest ol (Janada by the British arms.
APPENDIX.
SECTION FIRST.
LA. TOUR AND D'AUNAY.
FROCKS VERBAL D'ANDRE CERTAIN.
[Literatim.] Collection de M. Margry.
L'AN mil six cent quarante quatre le vint cinq jour d'octobre deux mois apres la signification faits de 1'arrest du conseil en date du 5 mai de la rnesme annee au Sieur de la Tour et a tous ceux qui estoient avec luy dans le fort de la Riviere St. Jean par la Montjoie le 15 8bre 1644 Mr Charles de Menou chevalier Seigneur d'Aunay Charni- say, gouverneur et Lieutenant general pour le Roy dans toute 1'Etendue descostes d'Acadie pais de la Nouvelle France, veu le refus du d. de la Tour et 1'obstination dans laquelle estoient ses gens, equipa de rechef deux de ses chaloupes pour tenter par les voies de douceur de ramener ces esprits rebelles a 1'obeissance qu'ils doivent a sa Majeste pour lequel effet mon dit Sieur deputa un lieutenant de son vaisseau pour commander une d'icelles et son sergent pour 1'autre auec commandement de sa part d'aller a la riviere
470 APPENDIX.
St. Jean faire tout effort pour adroitement remonter quel- qu'uns de ces esprits rebelles, les emboucher et leur donner lettres pour leur camarndes signe's de mon dit Sieur avec assurance d'abolition de leurs crimes et payements de leurs gages s'ils se rangeoient a leur devoir de veritables sujets, leur devant raontrer com rue les arrets du conseil obligeoient mou dit Sieur a pareils traitemens. Ce qu'ayant fidellement execute ils ne receureut pour toute reponse qu'injurcs et imprecations de ces malheureux et huit jours apres la femme du dit Sieur de la Tour arrivant ii la riviere de St. Jean conduite par un vaisseau anglois obligea son mary d'aller a Boston vers les Anglois se declarer de leur religion, comme elle venoit de faire et leur demander un ministre pour son habitation et par la obliger tout le corps des Anglois a les maintenir dans leurs biens avec offre qu'ils partageroient toute la coste d'Acadie apres qu'ils s'en seroient rendus maistres: Et le 28 de Janvier 1645 la dite dame parla si insolemment aux reverends peres Recollects qui pour lors estoient dans son habitation que faisant la Ddmoniaque et mepris scandaleux de la religion Catholique, apostolique et Koma'ine son mary present, qui adherent a toutes ses actions, ils furent contraints de sortir et chercher moyen de se retirer quoyque dans ces contrees 1'Hiver soit trcs rigoureux, ce que le dit Sieur de la Tour et sa femme leur octroierent avec derision et injures leur donnant pour cet effet une vieille pinasse qui couloid quasy bas d'eau avec deux bariques de bled d'Inde pour toutes vitailles, ce qui sera justifie par une attestation de ceux mesmes qui estoient dans le service du Sr de la Tour et sa femme et une lettre d'un des susdits peres Recollects superieur dans le d. lieu et huit ou neuf des gens du d. Sr de la Tour counoissant le deplorable estat de cette habitation ed la formelle rebellion du Sr de la Tour sa femme et du reste de leurs camarades contre le devoir qu'ils doivent a dieu et au Roy se retirerent
APPENDIX.
471
semblablement et accompagnerent les clits reverends peres Recollects, lesquels avec beaucoup de perils se vinrent rendre dans le Port Royal demeure ordinaire du Sr. d'Aunay, lequel apres avoir est6 imbu de tout ce que dessus les recent tous humainement envoiant les deux religieux Recollects dans la maison des Reverends peres Capucins missionaries qui les receurent avec tant d'affection et les firent tant de charite" et saints offices qu'ils en demeurent tous confus aussy bien que les huid personnes qui les accorapagnoient voyant le favorable accueil que leur fit mon dit Sieur qui ne se con- tenta pas de les loger et nourrir comme les siens propres mais les paya leurs gages que le dit La Tour de tant d'anndes qu'ils 1'avoient servy leur avoid ref us& Ce qui est prouve par une reconnoissance de ces mesmes personnes pour les sommes qui leur ont est£ mises entre les mains, signee de leurs mains. Ce regalement ayant est^ donne comme dessus est dit, Mon dit sieur s'informant plus particulierement de 1'estat au quel estoient ces miserables esprits, 1'obstination du reste de ceux qui estoient demeurez avec le dit la Tour, et qu'il estoit party pour aller vers les Anglois dans Boston pour tascher de renvoyer comme ja cy dessus est dit le traitte de paix fait avec les dits Anglois et le sieur Marie confident de Mon d. Sieur D'Aunay et engager par mesme moyen quelque marchand pour amener quelques vitailles dans la riviere de Saint Jean dans la quelle il n'avoit laisse* que quarante cinq personnes, ce que mon dit sieur considerant fit assemblies de tous les officiers qui pour lors estoient aupres de sa personne, ou il fut conclud de prendre cette occasion aux cheveux. Et quoyque ne le peut quasy permettre et qu'il falloit risquer pour une affaire de telle consequence, ce qui obligea mon dit sieur de monter le plus grand de ces navires du port de trois cents tonneaux, equipe* en guerre, pour se mettre en garde a 1'entree de la Rivi&re St. Jean afin de surprendre le dit La Tour avec une partie de son monde, qui pensoit & la favour
472 APPENDIX.
de la rigueur de 1'Hiver faire son voyage sans qu'il en fust aucune nouvelle, ce que mon dit sieur ayant execute et pris rade a une lieue du fort de la Rivi&re St. Jean assist^ d'un religieux Capucin missionnaire et des deux susdits Recol- lects, envoya de rechef vers la dite femme La Tour et tous ceux qui pour lors estoient avec elle le Reverend P&re Andrd Recollect par une de ses chaloupes, le quel se pro- mettoit d'attirer peutestre quelquuns a resipiscence, leur faisant connoitre le bon accueil que luy et leurs camarades avoient receu de raon dit Sieur, ce qui ne reussit non plus que les autres fois du pass£. Deux mois s'ecouterent dans semblable attente, apr&s quoy mon dit Sieur prid resolution de battre le fer pendant qu'il estoit chaud, voyant un de ses navires aussy equipeS en guerre qui 1'estoit venu trouver du Port Royal selon qu'il 1'avoit ainsy ordonnd accompagne* d'une pinasse aussi charg^e de monde et apr&s avoir reallie" de toutes ses Habitations les personnes capables de porter mousquets, il fit descendre une bonne partie de ses homines a terre ed mettre deux pieces de canon avec ordre de les mettre promptement en batterie le plus proche du fort de la Riviere de St. Jean qu'ils pourroieut avec assurance qu'aus- sytost qu'ils avoieut effectu^ son commandement ils appro- cheroient ce navire a la port^e du pistolet, afin que sans donner jour aux assieges de se reconnoistre on pust faire un tonnerre et par mer et par terre, donner a mesme temps qu'il y auroit breche faite, pendant rexe*cution de ces ordres un petit navire Anglois se pr&enta pour entrer dans la dite riviere charge de vitailles et munitions de guerre, dans lequel il y avoit un des domestiques du d. La Tour qui estoit "charge" de Lettres de son maistre pour la ditte dame sa femme qui 1'assuroit dans un mois ou deux venir la trouver en meilleur estat et posture qu'il pourroit. Le dit domestique avoit outre plus une lettre du gouverneur de la grande baye des anglois addressante a la dite dame par
APPENDIX 473
laquelle il 1'exhortoit a faire son profit des instructions qu'elle avoit recues pendant sa residence. Le dit navire fut pris et arreste par mon dit Sieur et 1'equipage renvoye* au lieu d'oii il estoit party, avec une chaloupe que mon dit sieur leur donna pour cet effet, lequel estant une fois de retour fit rapport a Messieurs les magistrats du gouvernement des Anglois que leur navire avoid este pris en negotiant avec les francois et que le traite de paix quils avoient fait avec le Sieur Marie nestoit garde avec mil autres plaintes dont ils vouloient couvrir le sujet de leur voyage, ce qui obligea ces Messieurs de deputer un expres vers mon dit Sieur pour luy demander raison du bien pris par luy sur un de leurs mar- chands centre les articles de paix que le Sieur Marie, confi- dent, leur avoit laisse signer de sa part — A quoy mon dit Sienr leur fit response et declara a leur depute la fourbe de leur dit marchand, le quel par un desir de lucre abusoit de leur commission et au lieu d'aller negotiant dans les Habita- tions des veritables Francois, II alloit rompant par luy mesmes ce traite de paix passe entre ses magistrats et le Sieur Marie, confident, portant ainsi frauduleusement des munitions de vivres et de guerre pour maintenir des re- belles dans leur desobeissance et centre le devoir qu'ils doivent a leur prince naturel. Toutes les quelles raisons payerent entitlement et le depute et Messieurs les Magis- trats de la Grande Baie le susdit depute* estant party et mon dit Sieur D'Aunay ayant recue nouvelle que la batterie estoit en estat et ses gens qui estoient a terre disposes a faire ce quil leur ordonneroit, se resolut de haster le pas et avant que le d. Sieur De la Tour en eust le vent faire tout son effort, ce qui luy arriva si Heureuse- ment qu'apres avoir encore une fois somme' ces malheureux, lesquels lui envoierent pour response une voll^e de canon a balle, aborant le pavilion rouge sur leurs bastions avec mil injures et blasphemes et avoir fait battre le dit fort de la
474 APPENDIX.
Rivi&re de St Jean tant par terre que par son grand navire, qu'il avoit einmene a portee de pistolet d'iceluy ce qui rasa une partie de leur parapets 11 s'en rendit maistre par un assaut general qu'il tit donner sur le soir de la inesnie tli'iinit'.- le Lendemain Pasques ce qui fut accompagne d'une si grande benediction de Dieu, que quoyque la perte des Homines que mon dit sieur a fait soit grande elle eut este encore plus sanglante. Une partie des assieg^z furent tuez dans la chaleur du combat et 1'autre fait prisonniers entre autres la femme du dit La Tour, son tils et sa fille de Chambre et une autre fenime qui est tout cequ'il y avoit dans le dit fort de sexe feminin toutes lesquelles ne recurent aucun tort ny 4 leur Honneur ny a leurs personnes. Une partie des prisonniers recut grace de mon dit Sieur et le reste des plus seditieux fut pendu et etrangl^ pour servir de memoire et d'exemple, & la posterity d'une si obstin^e r& bellion ce qui est prouve par 1'nttestation qu'en ont rendue et signde une bonne partie de ceux qui ont recue la vie et pareille gratification. Le Lendemain 18 Avril 1645 mon dit sieur fit inhumer tous les morts tant de part que d'autre avec la distinction pour tant requise en telle rencontre du party faisant prier Dieu et faire un service solemnel & tous ceux que deux reverends p&res Capucins missionnaires qui avoient esi6 presens £ tout jugement estre deu, ce qui est prouve aussi bien que tout ce que dessus par une attestation authentique des mesmes susd. reverends pe.res Capucins missionnaires apres quoy mon dit Sieur fit travailler pour combler les travaux de dehors faits par les assiegeans et re- parer ceux de la place mettre ordre aux deffauts d'icelle par luy reconnus et faire inventaire de tout ce qui se trouva de reste dans icelle apr&s le pillage fait par les compagnons que mon dit sieur leur avoit donne et faire ensuite reuvituailler le dit lieu de toutes choses necessaires pour la conservation d'iceluy et enfin poser une personne capable et fidele pour
APPENDIX. 475
le service du Roi ce que dura 1'espace de trois semaines on uu mois pendant le quel la femme du dit La Tour qui estoit dans le Commencement en Liberte" fut resserree par une Lettre qu'on trouva qu'elle ecrivoit a son mary et pratique qu'elle faisoit de lui faire tenir par le moyen des Sauvages afin de la pouvoir par la premiere occasion envoyer en France a nos Seigneurs du Conseil eu bonne sauve garde, ce qui 1'alarma de telle sorte que de depit et de rage elle tomba malade et nonobstant tons les bons traitemens et Charites que L'on exer<ja en son endroit mourut le 15 Juin apres avoir abjured publiquement dans le chapelle du mesme fort L'Heresie qu'elle avoit professee parmy les Anglois ala grande Baye. Ce qui est justifie par 1'attestation desja cy dessus alleguee des deux reverends peres Capucins Missionaires.
Le present proems verbal a este fait par nous, Andre* Certain prevost et garde du Seel Royal de La Coste d'Acadie pays de la Nouvelle france a la requeste de Monsieur d'Aunay Charnisay Gouverneur et Lieutenant general pour le Roy en toute PEtendue de la Coste d'Acadie pays de la Nouvelle France le 10e jour de may 1645 et rendu et des le mesme jour et an que dessus pour lui servir et valoir aussi que de raison. Le tout en presence de tesmoins et principaux chefs des Francois qui sont dans la dite coste signe Longvilliers Poincy, Bernard Marot, Dubreuil Vismes, Javille, Jean Laurent, Henry Dans- martin, Barthelemy Aubert, Leclerc et Certain prevost et Garde du Sceau Royal.
476 APPENDIX.
[The following extracts are printed, letter for letter, from copies of the original documents.]
SECTION SECOND.
B.
THE HERMITAGE OF CAEN.
MEMOIKK POUR FAIKE CONNOISTRE L'ESPRIT ET LA CONDUITE DE LA COMPAGNIE ESTABLIE EN LA YILLB DE CAEN, APPEL£E L'HERMITAGE.
(Extrait.) l Billiotheque Nationals
C'EST en ce fameux Hermitage que le dit feu Sieur de Bernieres a esleve plusieurs jeunes gens auxquels il eu- seignoit une esp&ce d'oraison sublime et transcendante que Ton appelle 1'oraison purement passive, parceque 1'esprit n'y agit point, mais reqoit seulement la divine operation; c'est cette esp&ce d'oraison qui est la source de tant de visions et de revelations, dont 1'Hermitage est si fecond; et apr&s qu'il leur avoit subtiliz^ et presque fait dvaporer 1'esprit par cette oraison rafinee, il les rendoit capables de reconnoistre les Jansenistes les plus cacbez; en sorte que quelqnes uns de ces disciples ont dit qu'ils le connoissoient au flairer, comme les chiens font leur gibier, pour ensuite leur faire la chasse, ndantmoins le dit Sieur de Berni&res disoit qu'il n'avoit pas 1'odorat si subtil, mais que la marque & laquelle il connoissoit les Jansenistes estoit quand
1 This me'moire forms 110 pages in the copy in my possession.
APPENDIX. 477
on improuvoit sa conduite ou que Fon estoit oppose aux Jesuites. . . . Au commencement les personnes de cette cotnpagnie ne se mesloient que de 1'assistance des pauvres, mais depuis que le feu Sieur de Bernieres qui estoit un simple lai'que, qui n'avoit point d'estude, s'en estaiit rendu le maistre, il persuada a ceux qui en sont qu'elle n'estoit pas seulement establie pour prendre soin des pauvres, mais de toutes les autres bonnes ceuvres, publiques ou parti- culieres, qui regardent la Piete et la Religion et que Dieu les avoit suscitez, principalement pour suppleer aux defauts et negligences des Prelats, des Pasteurs, des Magistrats, des Juges et autres Superieurs Ecclesiastiques et Politiques qui faute de s'appliquer assez aux devoirs de leurs cbarges, ob- mettent dans les occasions beaucoup de bien qu'ils pour- roient procurer, et negligent de resister a beaucoup de maux, d'abus et d'erreurs qu'ils pourroient empecher; et que pour remedier a ces manquements, il estoit expedient que Dieu suscitat plusieurs gens de bien de toutes sortes de conditions qui s'unissent ensemble pour travailler a 1'avancement du bien qui se peut faire en chaque profession, et pour extirper les erreurs, les abus et les vices qui s'y glissent souvent, par la negligence ou connivence mesme de ceux qui sont le plus obligez par leur ministere d'y donner ordre.
Et c'est dans cette pensee que ces messieurs croyent avoir droit a se mesler de toutes choses, de s'ingerer de toutes les factions un peu eclantes qui regardent la Religion, de s'ingerer en censeurs publics, pour corriger et controller tout ce qui leur deplaist, d'entrer et de penetrer dans les icrets des maisons et des families particulieres, comme '•"laussi dans la conduite des comrnunautez Religieuses pour y gouverner toutes choses a leur gre ; et bien que ces messieurs soient fort ignorans, bien qu'ils n'ayent aucune experience les affaires et qu'ils passent dans le jugement de tous ceux les connoissent pour personnes qui n'ont qu'un Zele
478 APPENDIX.
iinpetueux et violent, sans luinieres et sans discretion, neant- moins ils presument avoir assez de capacite pour reformer la vie, les mceurs, les sentimens et la doctrine de tous les autres. Et ce qu'il y a de plus fascheux et de plus dange- reux en cela, c'est que si on ne de'fere aveugle'ment a tous leurs sentimens, si on improuve leur couduite et si Ton op- pose la moindre resistance a leurs entreprises, quoyqu'in- justes et violentes, ils unissent toutes leur forces pour les faire reussir et pour cet effet ils reclament les secours de tous ceux qui leur sont unis, a Paris, a Rouen et ailleurs, pour de'crier, pour diflamer et pour perdre ceux qui leur insistent et qui veulent s'opposer au cours de leurs violences et de leurs injustice, de sorte qu'on peut assurer avec ve'rite que cette compagnie a degenere en une cabale et en une faction dangereuse et pernicieuse, taut a FEglise qu'a la Patrie, estant certant que depuis peu d'annees ils ont excite" beau- coup de troubles et de divisions dans toute la ville de Caen, et notamment dans le clerge et mesme en plusieurs autres lieux de la Basse-Xormandie ainsi qu'il paroistra par les articles suivants de ce im-moire.
II est arrive" quelques fois qu'ayant eu de faux avis que des maris maltroitoient leurs femmes ou que des ferames n'estoient pas fideles a leurs maris ou que des filles ne se gouvernoient pas bien, ils se sont ingerez sur le rapport qui en estoit fait en leur assemblee de chercber les moyens de remedier a ces maux, et ils en ont clioisi de si impertinenta et de si indiscrets que cela a este capable de causer bien du desordre et de la division dans les families et dans toute la ville ; car souvent voulant empescher une legere faute, on en fait naistre de grands scandales, lorsque Ton agit par em- portement plustost que par prudence.
Ce n'est pas seulement dans les families particulieres qu'ils s'introduisent pour en fureter les secrets, pour en connoitre les defauts et pour en usurper la direction et le gouverne-
APPENDIX. 479
ment, mais encore dans les maisons Religieuses, dont les unes se sont soumises a leur domination, comme les Ursu- lines de Caen, les raoynes de 1'Abbaye d'Ardenne de 1'ordre de Premontre, proche de cette ville et depuis peu les filles de Sainte-Marie ; et les autres leur ayant tesmoigne quelque resistance, ils ont employe" toute leur industrie pour en venir k bout; et ou Fartifice a manque", ils y out adjoute les violences et les menaces. . . .
Mais il ne faut point chercher de marques plus visibles de la perseverance, pour mieux dire du progres de ces faux ermites dans leurs emportemens que ce qu'ont fait cet hiver passe* cinq jeunes hommes nourris en 1'Hermitage et eleves sous la direction et discipline du feu Sieur de Bernieres. On leur avoit si bien imprime dans 1'esprit que tout estoit renipli de Jansenistes dans la ville de Caen, et que les curez en estoient les fauteurs et protecteurs, qu'un d'entre eux s'imagina que Dieu 1'inspiroit fortement advertir le peuple de Caen que les curez estoient des fauteurs d'Heretiques et par consequent des excomuniez; et ayant persuade" a ses compagnons d'annoncer publiquement a toute la ville ce crime pretendu des Curez d'une maniere qui touchast le peuple et qui fut capable de 1'exciter contre ces Pasteurs, ils resolurent de faire cette publication le mercredi qua- trieme du mois de Febvrier dernier, et jugerent que pour se disposer a executer dignement ce que Dieu leur avoit in- , J spire, il falloit faire ensemble une communion extraordinaire, imme'diatement avant que de 1'entreprendre. Ils assisterent done pour cet eifet et dans la paroisse de Saint-Ouen a la messe d'un prestre qu'on dit estre de leur cabale, et conmu- nierent tous cinq de sa main; et apres leur communion, le plus zele* mit bas son pourpoint et le laissa avec son chapeau Allans 1'Eglise; et accompagne" des quatre autres qui le sui- ,:.„ jroient sans chapeaux, sans colets et le pourpoint deboutonne", jjjion-obstant la rigueur extreme du froid ; ils marcherent en
480 APPENDIX.
cet Equipage par toute la ville, annoncant 4 haute voix que les curez de Caen a 1'exception de deux qu'ils nommoient dtoient fauteurs de Jans^nistes et excommuniez, parce qu'ils avoient signe un acte devaut 1'official de Caen,ou ils attestcnt qu'ils ue counoissent point de Jansenistes dans la dite ville et n:i>i'-t<>i.-nt cet advertissement de dix pas en dix pas, ce qui emeut toute la ville et attira a leur suite une grande multitude de populace qui se persuadant que ces gens es- toient envoye*s de Dieu pour leur donner cet advertissement, t^moignoient desja de 1'emotion centre les curez. Mais les magistrate qui estoient alors au si&ge en ay ant est£ advertis, ils envoyerent leurs huissiers pour les arrester et les emme- ner, et ayant este interrogez par le juge sur le sujet d'une action si extraordinaire, ils respondirent hardimcnt qu'ils 1'avoient entreprise pour le service de Dieu et qu'ils estoient prests de souffrir la mort pour soustenir la verit^ de ce qu'ils annomjoient, qu'ils avoient connoissance certaine qu'il y avoit grand nombre de Jansenistes en la ville de Caen, et que les curez s'en estoient declarez les fauteurs, par la declaration qu'ils avoient donnee qu'ils n'en connoissoient point ; ensuitte de quoy quatre d'entre eux furent renvoyez en prison et le cinqui&me fut mis entre les mains de ses parents sur une attestation que donnerent les m&lecins qu'il estoit hypo- condriaque et peu de jours apres le lieutenant criminel ayant instruit le procez, les quatre prisonniers furent condamnez a cent livres d'amende ; il leur fut defiendu et a tous autres de s'assembler ni d'exciter aucun scandale, il fut ordonn^ qu'ils seroient mis entre les mains de leur parents pour s'en charger et en faire bonne et seure garde, avec deffense de les laisser entrer dans la ville et aux fauxbourgs, sur peines au cas appartenantes. . . .
Car de quelles entreprises ne sont pas capables des per-s sonnes d'esprit faible et d'humeur atrabilaire que d'ailleuraj on a dessechees par des jeunes, des veilles et d'auti
APPENDIX.
481
austeritez continuelles et par des meditations de trois on quatre heures par jour, lorsque Ton ne les entretient presque d'autre chose, si non que leur Religion et 1'Eglise sont en un tres grand danger de se perdre, par la faction et la con- spiration des Jansenistes lesquels on leur represente dans les livres, dans les sermons et dans les conferences, comme des gens qui veulent renverser les fondements de la Religion et de la Piete Chrestienne, qui veulent detruire le mystere de 1' Incarnation, qui ne croyent point a la Transubstantation ni 1'Invocation des Saints, ni les Indulgences, qui veulent abolir le sacrifice de la messe et le sacrement de la Peni- tence, qui combattent la devotion et la culte de la Sainte- Vierge, qui nient le franc arbitre et qui substituent en sa place le destin et la fatalite des Turcs, et enfin qui ma- chinent la ruine de Pauthorite des Souverains Poutifes. Qu'y a-t^il de plus aise que d'animer les esprits imbeciles d'eux mesmes et prevenus de ces fausses imaginations contre des Evesques, des Docteurs, des Curez, et contre d'autres per- sonnes tres vertueuses et tres catholiques, lorsqu'on leur failt croire que toutes ces personnes conspirent a establir une heresie abominable !
c.
LAVAL AND ARGENSON.
LETTRE DE I/EVESQUE DE PETR£E A M. D'ARGENSON, FRERE DU GOUVERNEUR.
(Extrait.') Papier s d'Argenson.
JAI reqeu dans mon entree dans le pays de Monsieur votre Ifrere toutes les marques d'une bienveillance extraordinaire; I iay fait mon possible pour la recongnoistre et luy ay rendu
31
482 APPENDIX.
tous les respects que je dois 4 une personne de sa vertu et de son mdrite joint & la qualit^ qu'il porte ; corame son plus veritable amy et fidelle serviteur iay cm estre oblige" de luy donner un advis important pour le bien de 1'Eglise et qui luy devoit estre utile s'il 1'eust pris dans la mesme disposi- tion que ie suis asseure que vous 1'auries receu ; cestoit seul a seul a coaur ouvert avec marques assez evidentes que ce que ie luy disois estoit vray veu qu'il estoit fonde* sur des sentimens que i'avois veu moy mesme paroistre en diverses assemblies publiques; cependant il ne fist que trop cong- noistre qu'il ne trouvoit auqunnement bon que ie luy don- naisses cet advertissement et me voullut faire embrasser le party de ceux qui avaient tout subject de se plaindre de son precede envers eux, mais que je ne pretendois auqunne- ment justifier n'en ayant auqunne plainte de leur part pour luy faire et d'ailleurs estans asses desinteresses ; vous pouvez bien iuger quels sont ceux dont ie veux parler sans vous les nommer puisque vous mesme qui avez une affection sincere et bien re'gle'e pour ces dignes ouvriers e'vange'liques m'avez avoud que vous aviez doulleur de le voir partir dans les sentiments ou il estoit & leur esgard sans beaucoup de fonde- ment du moins suffisamment recougneu pour lors ; ce que ie luy dis avoir sceu de vous pour ne rien omettre de ce que je me persuadois qui estoit capable de lui faire avouer une ve*rit<5 qui nestoit que trop apparente, ce qui devoit un peu le calmer son esprit sembla 1'aigrir et se fascha de ce que vous m'aviez faict cette ouverture, ie ne scais depuis ce qu'il a pense de moy, mais il semble que je luy sois suspect et qu'il aye cru que i'embrasse la cause de ces bons serviteurs de Dieu a son preiudice, mais ie puis bien asseurer qu'ils n'ont pour luy que des sentimens de respect et que la plus forte passion que iaye est de le voir dans une parfaite union et intelligence avec eux.
QUEBEC, ce 20 Octobre 1650.
APPENDIX. 483
LETTRK DE M. D'ARGENSON, 1660. (Extrait.) Papiers d'Argenson.
Monsieur de Petree a une telle adherence a ses sentiments et un zele qui le porte souvent hors du droict de sa charge qu'il ne faict aucune difficulte d'empieter sur le pouvoir des aultres et avec tant de chaleur qu'il n'ecoute personne. II enleva ces jours derniers une fille servente d'un habitant d'icy, et la mit de son autorite dans les Hursulines sur le seul pretexte qu'il vouloit la faire instruire, et par la il priva cet habitant du service qu'il pretendoit de sa servente qui luy avoit faict beaucoup de depense a amener de France. Cet habitant est Mf Denis lequel ne cognoissant pas qui 1'avoit soubstret me presenta requeste pour 1'avoir. Je garde [sic] la requeste sans la re'pondre trois jours pour empescher 1'eclat de cette affaire. Le R. P. Lalement avec lequel j'en communiqud et lequel blasma fort le procede de M' de Petre'e s'employa de tout son pouvoir pour la faire rendre sans bruit et n'y gaigna rien, si bien que je fus oblige de repondre la requeste et de permettre a cet habitant de reprendre sa servente ou il la trouveroit, et si je n'eusse insinue soubs main d'accommoder cette affaire et que 1'habi- tant a qui on refusa de la rendre 1'eut poursuivi en justice j'eusse este oblige de la luy rendre et de pousser tout avec beaucoup de scandal et cela (a cause de) la volonte" de Mr de Petree qui diet qu'un evesque peult se qu'il veult, et ne menace que dexcommunication.
•
LETTRE DE M. D'ARGENSON. (Extraits.) Papiers d'Argenson.
KBBIC LX 7 JCILLKT, 1660.
Mr de Petree a faist naistre cette contestation et ie puis •dire miec verite" que sou »61e en plusieurs rencontres approcbe
484 APPENDIX.
fort d'une grande atache & son sentiment et d'empietement sur la charge des aultres comme vous le verrez par un billet icy joint. . . . De toutes ces contestations que i'ay eu auec MT de Petre'e i'ay tonsjours faist le R. P. Lalemand mediateur ; c'est une personne d'un si grand merite et d'un sens si achev^ que ie pense qu'on ne peult rien y adjouter; il seroit bien a souhaiter que touts ceux de sa maisou suivissent ses sentiments; ils ne se mcsleroient pas de censurer plusieurs choses comme ils font et laisseroient le gouvernement des affaires a ceux que Dieu a ordonne* pour cela.
D.
PERONNE DUMESNTL. LB SIEUR GAUDAIS DU PONT k MONSEIGNEUB
DE COLBEKT. 1664.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
QUELQUE 7 ou 8 jours apres 1'etablissement du Conseil Souverain, en consequence des lettres patentes de Sa majest^, le Procureur General du dit Conseil jugeant qu'il e*tait de sa charge de reprendre les (papiers) de cette plainte pour ne pas laisser un tel attentat impuni, fit sa requete verbale au dit Conseil tendante a ce qu'il lui fut donne* commission pour informer centre le dit Sieur Du Mesnil ; et que si le dit Sieur Du Mesnil, avait avis de la dite commia sion qu'il ne manquerait pas de detourner ces dits papiersj demandant qu'il lui fut permis de saisir et de sequestrer ic et apposer le sceau au coifre ou armoire en laquelle trouveraient les dits papiers, et pour ce faire qu'il plut at dit Conseil nommer tel Commissaire qu'il jugerait a proj
APPENDIX. 485
Le dit Conseil enterinant la requete du dit Procureur General, nomma le Siour de Villeray, pour, en la presence du dit Procureur General et assistance de son Greffier vaquer a la dite information, &c.
Et d'autant que le dit Sieur Du Mesnil etait estime horn me violent et qu'il pourrait faire quelque boutade, pour donuer main forte a la justice, Mr. le Gouverneur fut prie par les dits Conseillers de faire escorter le dit Sieur Com- missaire par quelque nombre de soldats.
Le dit Sieur de Villeray assists, comme dit est pour ['execution de sa commission, se transporta au logis du dit Sieur Du Mesnil, laissant a quartier 1'escorte de soldats pour s'en servir en cas de besoin.
Le dit Sieur Du Mesnil ne trompa pas 1'opinion que Ton avait eue de sa violence, fit grand bruit, cria aux voleurs, voulant emouvoir son voisinage, outrageant d'injures les dits Sieurs de Villeray et Procureur General au grand mepris de I'autorite' du Conseil, refusant m§me de le reconnaitre. Ce qui n'empe'cha pas le dit Sieur de Villeray d'executer sa commission de saisir les papiers du dit Sieur Du Mesnil, qui en donna la clef, y fit apposer le sceau et icelui sequestrer es mains d'un voisin du dit Sieur Du Mesnil et de son consentement.
Le lendemain le dit Sieur de Villeray rapporta son proces verbal au dit conseil, attests du dit Procureur General, et signe du Greffier du dit Conseil et sur les in- jures, violences et irreverences y contenues tant contre le dit Sieur Commissaire que 1'autorite du Conseil, fit decerner uii decret de prise de corps contre le dit Sieur Du Mesnil, tlout j'empechai 1'exe'cution.
486 APPENDIX.
MEMOIRE DK DUMESNIL CONCEBNANT LES AFFAIRES DU CANADA.
(JExtraif.) Archives de la Marine.
10 SKPTKMBRK, 1671.
Les dits Sieurs de Mesy, Gouverneur, de Pe'tree, Ev&que, et Dupont Gaudais, arrives au dit Quebec le 16* jour de Septembre 1663, furent le lendemain salues et visiles par le dit Du Mesnil precedent juge, lequel par devoir et civilitd leur dit par forme d'avis que par des arrSts du conseil du Koi, qu'il leur representa en date du 27 Mars 1647 et 13 Mai 1659 tons lea coramis et receveurs des dits deniers publics etaient exclus de toutes charges publiques, jnsqu'a ce qu'ils eussent rendu et assure leurs comptes, et le nomme Villeray chasse" du conseil de la traite pour y avoir entre* par voies et moyens illicites; et ordoune1 qu'il viendrait en France pour le purger de ses crimes ; ce qu'il n'a pas fait, et pour nom- mer les autres commis, roceveurs, auxquels il aurait com- mence £ faire le proces pendant qn'il e"tait juge.
"Nonobstant lesquels dires, actes et arrSts repre'sente's, les dits Sieurs de Mesy, EvSque de Petre'e, et Dupont Gaudais, n'ont de'laisse' de prendre et admettre avec eux au dit Conseil Souverain les dits comptables; lesquels par ce moyen se pr^tendent £ couvert et exempts de rendre les dits comptes. Le dit etablissement de conseil fait et arret^ par les dits Commissaires le 18 du mois de Septembre, deux jours apres leur arrivee; et pour Procureur General prennent un nomme Jean Bourdon, boulanger et cannonier au fort et aussi comptable de 8 & 900,000 livres, comme il sera montre et qu'il a pret4 son nom.
Le 20 du mois de Septerabre, deux jours apres l'e*tablisse- ment du dit conseil, les dits Villeray soi-disant conseiller et commissaire et Bourdon, Procureur Ge'ne'ral accompagnes de deux sergents, d'un serrurier et de dix soldats du fort, bieij
APPENDIX. 487
arme's vont en la maison du dit Du Mesnil, Intendant et Controleur General, et peu auparavant leur jugo souverain, sur les 7 a 8 heures du soir pour piller sa maison ; ce qu'ils firent; ayant fait rompre la porte de son cabinet, ses armoires et un coffret; pris et emporte ce qu'ils ont trouve' dedans et notamment tous ses papiers dans lesquels etaient leurs proces presque faits, et les preuves de leurs peculats. concussions et malversations, sans aucun inventaire ni forme de justice, etant le dit Du Mesnil, lors des dites violences, tenu et arrgte sur un siege et rudement traite* par les soldats jusques a 1'empe'cher d'appeler du secours et des temoins pour voir ce qui se passait en sa maison et comme il etait lie et arrete.
Cette action violente ainsi faite et le dit Du Mesnil se voyant delivre du massacre de sa personne dont il e'tait menace", et d'etre assassine comme son fils s'en va trouver le dit Sieur Dupont Gaudais prenant qualite d'Intendant pouT lui en faire plainte, qu'il ne voulut entendre, disant que c'etait de son ordonnance et du dit Conseil que la dite action et prise de papiers avait ete faite ; a quoi le dit Du Mesnil repartit qu'il s'en plaindrait au Hoi, et lui en demanderait justice, ce qui obligea le dit Dupont Gaudais de dire au dit Du Mesnil qu'il donnat sa requete ; ce qui fut fait, et sur laquelle fut par le dit Conseil ordonne le 22 du dit mois de Septembre, deux jours apres cette violence que le dit Dupont Gaudais serait commissaire pour verifier les faits d'icelle requete; ce que poursuivant le dit Du Mesnil, il eut ordre verbal du dit Sr. Gaudais de mettre au Greffe ses causes et moyens de recusation, de nullite* de prise 4 partie et de demandes ; ce que le dit Du Mesnil fit comme appert par 1'acte signe" du Greffier du dit Conseil du 28 du dit mois de Septembre sur lesquelles recusations, prises a partie et demandes, le dit Conseil n'a rien voulu ordonner, comme appert par autre acte du dit Greffier du21 Octobre ensuivant.
488 APPENDIX.
jour ordonne' pour 1'embarquement et depart des vaisseaux du dit Quebec pour retourner en France.
Mais au lieu de statuer et onlonner pur les faits, moyeni et conclusions du dit Du Mesnil, le dit Conseil sans plainte, sans partie et sans information a dresse emprisonnement du dit Du Mesnil et cache le decret sans le mettre au Greffe dans 1'intention de le faire paraitre et executer du memo temps que le dit Du Mesnil se voudrait embarquer pour revenir en France, afin qu'il n'eut pas le temps de donner avis des violences qu'on lui faisait: de quoi averti il s'embarqua quelques jours auparavant les autres et fut re$u par le Capitaine Gardeur dans son navire, nonobstant les defenses qui lui en avaient ete faites par le dit nouveau Conseil et que six pieces de canon de la plate forme d'en bas fussent pointees centre son navire pour le faire obe*ir a leurs ordonnances.
Tous ces massacres, assassins et pillages n'ont e*te faits au dit Du Mesnil, Intendant, par les dits comptables, ordonna- teurs et preneurs de bien public et leurs parents et allies que pour tacher & couvrir et s'exempter de compter, payer et reiidre ce qu'ils ont pille, savoir. . . .
E.
LAVAL AND MF,SY.
ORDRE DE M* DE M£SY DE FAIRE SOMMATIOX A L'EVEQUE DE P£TR£E.
(Extrait.) Registre du Conseil Supfrieur.
13 FKVEIEB, 1664.
LE Sieur d'Angoville, Major de la Garnison entretenx par le Roi dans le Fort de S? Louis £ Quebec pays de Nouvelle France, est commande par nous Sieur de Me"sy,
APPENDIX. 489
Lieutenant General et Gouverneur pour Sa Majeste dans toute 1'etendue du dit pays, aller dire et avertir Monsieur l'Ev§que de Petre'e etant presentement dans la chambre qui servait ci-devant aux Assemblies du Conseil au dit pays, que les Sieurs nommes pour Conseillers et le Sieur Bourdon pour Procureur du Roi au dit conseil a la persuasion du dit Sieur de Petree qui les connaissait eiitierement ses crea- tures s'etant voulu rendre les maitres declares et portes en diverses manieres dans le dit Conseil contre les Interets du Roi et du public pour appuyer et autoriser les interets d'autrui en particulier, il leur a ete commando par notre ordre pour la conservation des inte're'ts du Roi en ce pays, de s'absenter du dit Conseil jusqu'a ce que a notre diligence par le retour des premiers vaisseaux qui viendront. Sa Majeste ait ete informee de leur conduite, et qu'ils se soient justifies des cabales qu'ils ont formees, fomentees et entrete- nues contre leur devoir et le serment de fide'lite qu'ils (Staient obliges de garder k Sa dite Majeste.
Priant le dit Sieur Eveque acquiescer a la dite interdic- tion pour le bien du service du Roi, et vouloir proceder par L'avis d'une Assemblee publique a nouvelle nomination des Conseillers en la place des dits Sieurs Interdits pour pouvoir rendre la justice aux peuples et habitants de ce pays, Declarant que nous Sieur de Mesy ne pouvons en nomraer aucun de notre part en la facon en laquelle nous avons ete surpris par notre facilite lors de la premiere nomination manque d'une parfaite connaissance, et que s'il est fait quelque chose au prejudice de cet avertissement par aucun des dits Conseillers interdits, ils seront traite's cornme ddsobeissants, fomenteurs de rebellions et contraires au repos public.
(Sign<$)
490 APPENDIX.
REPONSE DE L'EVEQUE DE P£TR£E.
Registry du Conseil Superieur.
16 FET. 1664.
Laissant a part les paroles offensives et accusations injuri- euses qui me regardent dans 1'athche raise au son du tambour le treizieme de ce mois de Fevrier, au poteau public, dont je pretends me justitier devaut Sa Majeste je re'ponds a la pri&re que Monsieur le Gouverneur m'y fait d'agr^er 1'in- terdictiou des personnes qui y sont comprises, et de vouloir proc&ler a la nomination d'autres Conseillers ou Officiera et ce par 1'avis d'une assemble publique, que ni ma con- science ni mon honneur, ni le respect et obeissance que je dois aux volontes et commandements du Koi, ni la fide'lite' et 1'affection que je dois a son service ne me le permettent aucunement jusques a ce que dans un jugement legitime les desnommes dans la susdite affiche soient convaincus del crimes dont on les y accuse.
A Quebec ce seizi&me Fe*vrier mil-six-cent-soixante- quatre.
(Signs') FRANCOIS, EVEQUE DE QUEBEC.
Enr^gistr^ a la requ§te de Mgr. I'EvSque de Pe*tree ce 16 Fevrier 1664 par moi Secretaire au Conseil Souverain soussign^.
(Signe^ PEUVBET, Secret"
avec paraphe.
LETTRE DE MEST AUX JESUITBS. (Extrait.) Collection de FAbbe Ferland.
Comme ainsi soit que la gloire de Dieu, le service da Roi et le service du public nous aient engages de venir en ce pays pour y rencontrer notre salut par la solicitation
APPENDIX. 491
M. 1'EvSque de Petree qui nous a fait agre"er au Roi pour avoir 1'honneur d'etre son Lieutenant General et Gou- verneur de toute la Nouvelle France, representer sa personne dans le Conseil Souverain qu'il a etabli dans ce dit pays pour exercer la justice, police et finance, ce qui nous tient lieu d'obligation vers mon dit Sieur 1'Eveque pour lui donner des marques de reconnaissance en toutes rencontres. A quoi nous sommes aussi obliges par son merite particulier et par le respect qui est du a son caractere, mais qui ne doit entrer en nulle consideration pour le regard du service et de la fidelite que nous somraes oblige" de rendre a S. M. ; n'etant pas ni de notre conscience ni de notre honneur d'avoir accepte la comniission dont il nous a honore, pour n'en pas faire le deub de notre charge et de trahir les intere'ts de Sa dite Majeste; lui en ayant fait le serment de fidelite entre ses mains et d'en avoir requ le commande- ment par sa bouche. Pourquoi ayant rencontre plusieurs pratiques que nous avons cru en conscience par devoir etre oblige d'en empecher la suite, nous aurions fait publier notre declaration du 13e jour de Fevrier dernier, et ne 1'ayant pu faire faire sans y interesser le Sr Eveque, notre dite declaration nous fait passer dans son esprit et de tons Messieurs les Ecclesiastiques qui considerent ce point d'une pretendue offense sans avoir egard aucunement aux inte're'ts du Koy pour un calomniateur, mauvais juge, un ingrat et conscience erronnee et plusieurs autres termes injurieux qui se publient journellement contre 1'autorite du Roy, en faisant un point de reprobation de la dite pretendue offense, un des principaux nous etant venu avertir que 1'on nous pourrait faire fermer la porte des Eglises et nous empecher de recevoir les Su Sacrements, si nous ne re'parions la dite pre'tendue offense, ce qui nous donne un scrupule en 1'ame ; et de plus ne pouvant nous adresser pour nous en e*claircir qu'a des personnes qui se declarent nos parties et qui jugent
492
APPENDIX.
du fait sans en savoir la cause ; mais n'y ayant rien de si important au monde que le salut et la fid elite que nous devons garder pour les inte'rSts du Roi que nous tenons in- separables 1'un de 1'autre, et reconnaissant qu'il n'y a rieu de si certain que la mort et rien de si inconnu que 1'heure, et que le temps est long pour informer Sa Majeste* de ce qui se passe, pour en recevoir ses ordres, et qu'en attendant, une ame est toujours dans la crainte quoiqu'elle se connaisse dans 1'innocence, nous sommes oblige" avoir n&uimoins recours aux Reverends Peres Casuistes de la maison de Jesus pour nous dire en leur conscience ce que nous pouvons pour la de'charge de la notre et pour garder la tidelite que nous devons avoir pour le'service du Roi, les priaat qu'ils aient agreable signer ce qu'ils jugerout au has de cet ecrit, afin de nous servir de garantie vers sa Majeste'.
Fait au Chateau de Quebec, ce dernier jour de Fevrier, 1664.
APPENDIX. 493
SECTION THIRD.
F.
MARRIAGE AND POPULATION. LETTRE DE COLBERT A TALON. (Extrait.) Archives de la Marine. '
PAKIS, 20 FBVRIER, 1668.
SA Majeste a fait une gratification de 1500 livres a Mr de Lamotte, ler Capitaine au Regiment de Carignan-Salieres, tant en consideration du service qu'il rend en Canada, de la construction des forts et de ses expeditions qui ont et^ faites centre les Iroquois, que du manage qu'il a contract^ dans le pays, et de la resolution qu'il a prise de s'y habituer. Elle a ordonne de plus la somme de 6000 livres pour etre distributes aux omciers des memes troupes, ou qui s'y sont deja maries ou qui s'y marieront afin de leur donner des moyens de s'etablir et de mieux s'affermir dans la pense"e ou ils sont de ne pas revenir en France. Elle fait un autre fond de 12,000 livres pour gtre distribiie' aux soldats qui resteront aux pays et qui s'y marieront, autres que ceux des quatre compagnies qu'elle y laisse, ees derniers etant entre- tenus par le paiement de leur solde. ... 1200 livres pour celui des meilleurs habitants qui a 15 enfants, et 800 livres pour 1'autre qui en a dix. Elle a aussi gratifie M. FEvSque de Petre'e d'une somme de 6000 livres pour continuer a
494 APPENDIX.
1'assister pour soutenir sa dignite', fournir aux besoins d« son Eglise et de son seminaire, et enfin 40,000 livres pour etre employees a la levee de 150 homines et de 50 filles depuis 16 jusqu'a 30 ans et non au dela; outre 235 que la Compagnie y fait passer cette aunee, et qui devaient y @tre passees 1'annee deruiere ; 12 Ca vales, 2 e talons, 2 gros anes de Mirbelais et 50 brebis; a quo! Ton travaille dans les provinces du royaume, et 1'on n'oublie rien pour 1'embarque- ment partant de la Rochelle vers la fin du mois prochain.
. . . Je vous prie de bien faire considered a tout le pays que leur bien, leur subsistance, et tout ce qui peut les regarder de plus pres depend d'une resolution publique a laquelle il ne soit jaiuais contrevenu de marier les gardens a 18 ou 19 ans, et les filles a 14 ou 15 ans ; que les opposi- tions de n'avoir pas suffisamment pour vivre doivent Stre rejete"es, parceque dans ces pays et le Canada premierement ou tout le monde travaille, il se produit pour tous la sub- sistance et que 1'abondance ne peut jamais leur venir que par 1'abondance des homines. ... II serait boix de rendre les charges et servitudes doubles a 1'egard des garqons qui ne se marieraient point a cet age . . . et a 1'egard de ceux qui sembleraient avoir absolumeut renonce' au mariage, il serait a propos de leur augin enter les charges, de les priver de tous honneurs, meme d'y ajouter quelque marque d'infamie.
. . . Bien que le Koyaume de France soit autant peuple qu'aucuu pays du monde, il est certain qu'il serait difficile d'entretenir de grandes aruiees et de faire passer en m§me temps de grandes Colonies dans les pays e'loigne's. II faut done se re\luire a tirer seulement chaque avec precaution un nombre d'habitants de Fun et de Fautre sexe, pour les envoycr au Canada, et fonder principalement 1'augmentation de la colonie sur Faugmentation des mariagea, a mesure que le uombre des colons augmentera.
APPENDIX. 495
LETTRE DE TALON A COLBERT. (Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
10 Novembre, 1670.
. . . De toutes les filles venues cette annee au noiubre de 165, il n'en reste pas 30 a marier. Apres que les soldats venus cette annee auront travaille a faire une habitation, il se porteront au manage ; pour quoi il serait bon qu'il plut a Sa Majeste d'envoyer encore 150 a 200 filles.
... II serait bon de recomiuander que les filles des- tinees a ce pays ne soient nullement disgraciees de la nature, qu'elles n'aient rien de rebuttant a 1'exterieur; qu'elles soient saines et fortes pour le travail de campagne, ou du- moins qu'elles aient quelqu'industrie pour les ouvrages de main.
. . . Trois ou quatre filles de naissance et distinguees par la qualite serviraient peut-etre utilement a Her par le manage des officiers qui ne tiennent au pays que par les appointements et remolument de leurs terres, et qui par la disproportion des conditions ne s'engagent pas davantage. Si le Roi fait passer d'autres filles ou femmes veuves de 1'Ancienne a la Nouvelle-France, il est bon de les faire accorapagner d'un certificat de leur Cure ou du juge du lieu qui fasse connaitre qu'elles sont libres et en etat d'gtre mariees, sans quoi les Ecclesiastiques d'ici font difficulte de leur conferer ce sacrement; a la ve*rite ce n'est pas sans raison, 2 ou 3 doubles mariages s'etant reconnus ici; on pourrait prendre la m§me precaution pour les hommes veufg.
496 APPENDIX.
LETTRE DE TALON A COLBERT. (Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
2 Novembre, 1671.
. . . Le nombre des enfants nds cette anndc est de 6 «\ 700. . . . J'estime qu'il n'est plus ndcessaire dc faire passer des demoiselles, en ayant re£u cette annde quinze ainsi qualifiers au lieu de quatre que je demandais pour faire des alliances avec les olticiers ou lea principaux habitant* d'ici. . . .
G.
CHiTEAU ST. LOUIS.
THIS structure, destined to be famous in Canadian history, was originally built by Samuel de Champlain. • The cellar still remains, under the wooden platform of the present Durham Terrace. Behind the chateau was the area of the fort, now an open square. In the most famous epoch of its history, the time of Frontenac, the ch&teau was old and dilapidated, and the fort was in a sad condition. " The walls are all down, " writes Frontenac in 1681 ; " there are neither gates nor guard-house; the whole place is open.1 On this the new intendant, Meules, was ordered to report what repairs were needed. Meanwhile La Barre had come to replace Frontenac, whose complaints he repeats. He says that the wall is in ruin for a distance of a hundred and eighty toises. " The workmen ask 6,000 francs to repair it I could get it done in France for 2,000. The cost frighter me. I have done nothing." (La Barre au Ministi 1682.) Meules, however, received orders to do what
APPENDIX. 497
necessary ; and, two years later, he reports that he has re^ built the wall, repaired the fort, and erected a building, intended at first for the council, within the area. This building stood near the entrance of the present St. Louis Street, and was enclosed by an extension of the fort wall.
Denonville next appears on the scene, with his usual dis- position to fault-finding. The so-called chateau, he says (1685), is built of wood, " and is dry as a match. There is a place where with a bundle of straw it could be set on fire at any time ; . . . some of the gates will not close ; there is no watch-tower, and no place to shoot from. " (Denonville au Ministre, 20 Aout, 1685.)
When Frontenac resumed the government, he was much disturbed at the condition of the chateau, and begged for slate to cover the roof, as the rain was coming in everywhere. At the same time the intendant, Champigny, reports it to be rotten and ruinous. This was in the year made famous by the English attack and the dramatic scene in the hall of the old building, when Frontenac defied the envoy of Admiral Phipps, whose fleet lay in the river below. In the next summer, 1691, Frontenac again asks for slate to cover the roof, and for 15,000 or 20,000 francs to repair his mansion. In the next year the King promises to send him 12,000 francs, in instalments. Frontenac acknowledges the favor; and says that he will erect a new building, and try in the mean time not to be buried under the old one, as he expects to be every time the wind blows hard. (Frontenac au Minutre, 15 Sept., 1692.) A misunderstanding with the intendant, who had control of the money, interrupted the work. Frontenac writes the next year that he had been obliged to send for carpenters, during the night, to prop up the chateau, lest he should be crushed under the ruins. The wall of the fort was however strengthened, and partly
32
498 APPENDIX.
rebuilt to the height of sixteen feet, at a cost of 13,629 francs. It was a time of war, and a fresh attack was ex- pected from the English. (Frontenac et Champigny au Ministre, 4 Nov. , 1693.) In the year 1854, the workmen employed in demolishing a part of this wall, adjoining the garden of the chateau, found a copper plate bearing an in- scription in Latin as follows : " In the year of Redemption 1693, under the reign of the most august, most invincible, and most Christian King of France, Louis the Great, four- teenth of that name, the most excellent Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac, governor for the second time of all New France, seeing that the rebellious inhabitants of New England, who three years ago were repulsed, routed, and completely vanquished by him when they besieged this town of Quebec, are threatening to renew the siege this very year, has caused to be built, at the expense of the king, this cit- adel, with the fortifications adjoining thereto, for the defence of the country, for the security of the people, and for con- founding yet again that nation perfidious alike towards its God and its lawful king. And he [Frontenac] has placed here this first stone."
A year later, the rebuilding of the chateau was begun in earnest. Frontenac says that nothing but a miracle has saved him from being buried under its ruins; that he has pulled everything down, and begun again from the founda- tion, but that the money has given out. (Frontenac au Ministre, 4 Nov., 1694.) Accordingly, he and the intend- ant sold six licenses for the fur trade ; but at a rate unusually low, for they brought only 4,400 francs. The King, hear- ing of this, sent 6,000 more. Frontenac is profuse in thanks; and at the same time begs for another 6,000 francs, " to complete a work which is the ornament and beauty of the city " (1696). The minister sent 8,000 more, which was soon gone ; and Frontenac drew on the royal treasurer
APPENDIX. 499
for 5,047 in addition. The intendant complains of his extravagance, and says that he will have nothing but per- fection ; and that, besides the chateau, he has insisted on building two guard-houses, with Mansard roofs, at the two sides of the gate. " I must do as he says," adds the intend- ant, " or there will be a quarrel." (Champigny au Mi- nistre, 13 Oct., 1697. ) In a letter written two days after, Frontenac speaks with great complacency of his chateau, and asks for another 6,000 francs to finish it. As the case was urgent, he sold six more licenses, at 1,000 francs each; but he died too soon to see the completion of his favorite work (1698). The new chateau was not finished before 1700; and even then it had no cistern. In a pen-sketch ot Quebec on a manuscript map of 1699, preserved in the Depo: des Cartes de la Marine, the new chateau is dis- tinctly represented. In front is a gallery or balcony, rest- ing on a wall and buttresses at the edge of the cliff. Above the gallery is a range of high windows along the face of the building, and over these a range of small windows and a Mansard roof. In the middle is a porch opening on the gallery ; and on the left extends a battery, on the ground now occupied by a garden along the brink of the cliff. A water-color sketch of the chateau taken in 1804, from the land-side, by AVilliam Morrison, Jr., is in my possession. The building appears to have been completely remodelled in the interval. It is two stories in height; the Mansard roof is gone, and a row of attic windows surmounts the second story. In 1809 it was again remodelled, at a cost of ten thousand pounds sterling. A third story was added; and the building, resting on the buttresses which still remain under the balustrade of Durham Terrace, had an imposing effect when seen from the river. It was destroyed by fire 1834.
600 APPENDIX.
H.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
LETTEE DE DENONVILLE AU MINTSTRE.
A QUEBEC LE 13 NOVEMBRE, 1686.
. . . J'AI remarque*, Monseigneur que les femraes et filles, y sont assez paresseuses par le manque de menus ouvrages a se donner, il y a un peu trop de luxe dans la pauvrete generale des demoiselles ou sol disantes ; les menus ouvrages de capots et de chemises de traite les occupent un peu, pendant 1'hiver, et leur font gagner quelque chose, mais cela ne dure pas, 1'endroit de pauvrete* de ce pays, est le manque de toilles et de serges ou draps, cependant c'est ici le pays du monde le plus propre & faire des chanvres, et du fil, et par consequent de la toille, si on s'en voulait donner la peine. Mr. Talon s'y est donne du soin pour cela, aussi y a-t-il une cote qui est celle de Beaupre, ou on en fait, mais ce n'est que chez quelques habitans. J'ai fort exorte la dessus tous les peuples d'y travailler, pour y reussir, il faut y apporter de la se've'rite et de 1'utilite' si il y a moyen, ce dernier avec le temps et I'industrie arrivera, et le premier de ma part ne manquera pas, je n'ai pu avoir d'autre raison, pourquoi on ne faisait point de chanvres, si ce n'est que 1'on n'avait pas assez de temps, a cause que les saisons de labourer, semer et recueillir sont trop courtes, car en ce pays le bled ne se seme qu'en Avril et May. Si le Roy voulait acheter les chanvres un peu plus cher jusques & ce que 1'on fut en train, cela pourait les animer, aveo un ordre & chacun d'en fournir une certaine quantity on pourra les faire agir, si outre cela on avait quelques ouvriers tisserands a die tribuer par paroisses, et qui ne fussent a la charge du peuple
APPENDIX.
501
que pour leurs nouritures, ce serait un moyen pour faire apprendre aux enfants. Les Cure's nous rendraient compte du nombre de ceux qui apprendraieut a preparer la chanvre et fillassc, et a faire de la toille ; avant que d'en venir la il faudrait montrer a filer aux filles et aux femmes, car il y en a tres peu, qui sacheut tenir le fuseau, c'est en cela que les filles de la congregation de Montreal feront merveilles. 11 nous est venu de la part de Mr. Arnoul deux bariques de graine de chanvre que je ferai distribuer et dont je me ferai rendre compte.
Je croyais, Monseigneur, une ordonnance necessaire en- core a faire pour engager chaque habitant a avoir deux ou trois brebis, n'y en ayant pas suffisament dans le pays.
... II n'est pas possible qu'oii ne puisse faire une verrerie en ce pays, la plus grande affaire sont les ouvriers qui encherissent tout car Ton donne ordinairement et communement a chaque ouvrier par jour quarente sols nouris, cinquante sols et un ecu, et tons ces maraux n'en sont pas plus riches car ils mettent tout a boire.
(Signe") LE MQUIS DB DENONVILLE.
MiMOIRE A MONSEIGNEUR LE MARQUIS DE SEIGNELAY,
' M SUB L'^TABLISSEMENT DU COMMERCE EN CANADA, 16 • PR£SENT£ PAR LES SIEURS CHALONS ET RIVERIN.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
(JOINT A LA LETTUE DU SlEUR DB ElVERIN, D0 7 FEVRIEH, 1686.)
. . . En effet si cette colonie n'a pas avance" depuis le hemps de son etablissement, c'est que les habitants qui la |',omposent ou par leur negligence ou par leur peu d'expe"rience ians les affaires, ou enfin par leur impuissance ne se sont mis en estat de se servir des avantages qu'elle renferme
502 APPENDIX.
en elle-mesme, et des moyens qu'elle leur fournit pour un commerce solide et considerable.
Car il ne faut pas regarder la traitte des pelleteries a laquelle seule on s'est attache jusqu'a present et qui finira avec le temps par la destruction des bestes, comme un moyen propre a son avancement, au contraire 1'experience a fait counoistre qu'elle rend les habitans faineans et vaga- bonds, qu'elle les detourne de la culture des terres, de la pesche, de la navigation et des autres entreprises.
DU SlEUR DE CATALOGNE, ING^NIEUR, 8UR LES PLANS DES HABITATIONS ET SEIGNEURIES DES GOU- VERNEMENS DE QUEBEC, DE MONTREAL ET DES TROIS- RlVI£RES.
(Extrait.1) Archives de la Marine.
1 NOVEMBRE, 1712.
Observations sur Vetablissement. • — Que par rapport la grande e"tendue qu'on a donne"e a Petablissement, il n'y a pas le quart des ouvriers qu'il faudroit pour bien etendre et cultiver les terres.
Que les laboureurs ne se donnent pas assez de soin poi cultiver les terres, etant certain que la sentence d'un mine de ble", seme sur de la terre cultivee comme en Fram produira plus que deux autres comme on seme en Canada.
Que comme les saisons sont trop courtes et souveut tr mauvaises, il serait a souhaiter que 1'Eglise permit travaux indispensables, que les fgtes d'e'te' obligent chomer, dtant tres vrai que depuis le mois de Mai que le semences commencent jusques a la fin de Septembre, il n*
1 This mf moire is 70 pages in length.
APPENDIX. 503
a pas 90 journees de travail, par rapport aux fetes et au mauvais temps. C'est pourtant dans cette espace que roule la solidit^ de cet e*tablissement. II faudrait assujetir les habitans negligens a travailler a la culture des terres, en les privant des voyages qui les dispensent de travailler, et cela parce qu'un voyage de deux ou trois mois leur produit 30 ou 40 escus en perdant la saison du travail a la terre, qui les fait derueurer en friche.
Les obliger de semer quantite" de chanvre et lin qui vient en ce pays plus gros qu'en Europe. Us s'en re- lachent parceque, disent-ils, il y a trop de peine et de soins a le mettre en ceuvre. II est vrai qu'il y a peu de gens qui s'entendent et qui le font payer bien cher.
Assujetir les habitans a nourrir et a Clever des be"tes 3 comes, au lieu du grand nombre de chevaux qui ruinent le Pacage et qui entrainent les habitans a des grosses depenses, tant que pour leurs equipages qui sont fort chers que par la grande quantite de fourages et de grains qu'il faut pendant 7 ou 8 mois de 1'annee, etant tres vrai que 1'entretien d'un cheval coute autant que deux bceufs.
Obliger les Seigneurs pour faciliter 1'etablissement de leurs Seigneuries de donner suffisamment des terres pour commencer a un prix modique et a construire des moulins let les commodites publiques; plusieurs consomment le tiers de leur temps a aller faires leur farines a 15 ou 20 lieues, et que les Seigneurs, des que les Seigneuries sont etablies, nicedent des terres sans que les tenanciers soient obliges le payer des rentes qu'apres 6 ans que les terres soient en ileur.
Ordonner au grand voyer de donner son application a lire etablir les chemins et ponts ne*cessaires au public, ]ui est une necessite" fort essentielle.
Obliger les habitans ou ceux qui sont en e'tat, de faire greniers pourque chacun fut en etat de conserver du
504 APPENDIX.
grain pour deux armies; cela fait une fois, 1'abondance sa trouvera toujours au Canada au lieu que la plupart, faute de cette commodity, en manquent tr&s souvent, £tant oblige" de le vendre a vil prix.
Chatier s^verement tous ceux qui sont convaincus de fraudo, mauvaise foi et imposture, qui est un mal qui com- mence a etre bien en racine et qui indubitablement le privera do tout commerce, les marchands des lies et de Plaisance s'en e*tant ddja plaints.
Que comme il n'y a pas de notaires dans tous les lieux, que les conventions et les marches fails en presence de deur te*moins vaudront pendant un temps fixe".
II serait a souliaiter que S. M. voulut etablir dans chaque villc des conseils a juger sans frais sur le fait du commerce et des affaires qui n'entrent pas dans la couturae. Ces sortes de procedures aussi bien que les autres, ne prennent aucune fin que lorsque les parties n'ont plus d'argent pour plaider, qui est la mine des families.
Engager un certain n ombre de gens du pays a etudier le pilotage, m§me Ics officiers des troupes, particulterement du fleuve St. Laurent qui est tres dangereux, la plupart du temps ne se trouvant pas un seul pilote en Canada, et cependant on commence a donner dans la construction; le capitaine du Port et M. Duplessis ay ant mis un vaisseau de 3 4 400 tonneaux sur les chantiers.
Cong&lier de temps en temps des soldats en leur permet. taut de se marier, apres qu'ils auront un etablissement.
II s'est etabli une coutume dans ce pays autorisee par le magistrat, qui mf-me ne me parait pas naturelle, de laisser des bestiaux a 1'abandon qui la plupart gatent lei grains et les prairies, n'y ayant presque point de terret closes qui causent des contestes et de la mesintelligence entre les voisins; pour obvier a cela il faudrait qu'il y eut des gardiens pour cbaque nature d'animaux pour les mener
APPENDIX. 505
dans les communes, car tel qui n'a pas un pouce de terre, envoie ses animaux paitre sur les terres de ses voisins, en disant que 1'abandon est donne ; si S. M. voulait couper la racine a une pepiniere de proems et de mesintelligence entre les Seigneurs et habitans, il serait a souhaiter qu'elle voulut donner une ordonnance tendante a ce que les Sei- gneuries et autres concessions demeureraient dans les limites qu'elles se trouvent a present, sans avoir egard aux titres portes dans les contrats, pour la quantite et les rumbs de vent qui y sont annonces, etant a remarquer que les anciens Seigneurs et habitans se sont e*tablis de bonne foi, que les terres ont eta" limitees par des arpenteurs peu intelligens, et aujourd'hui que la chicane est en vogue, chacuu veut suivre les termes de son contrat qui tendent la plupart a 1'impossible. Mr. Baudot a donne une ordonnance a ce sujet pour 1'ile de Montreal seulement.
Comme la plupart des rues de Quebec et de Montreal sont souvent impraticables, tant par les rochers que par les bour- biers, s'il plaisait a S. M. d'ordonner que les deniers qui proviennent des amendes et certaines confiscations seraient employes a les mettre en etat.
Que la subordination du vassal a son Seigneur n'est point objet a . Cette erreur vient qu'il a 6i6 accorde
des Seigneuries a des roturiers qui non pas su maintenir le droit que la raison leur donne a I'e'gard de leur co-sujets, les officiers de milice qui leur sont dependants, n'ont la plupart aucun e"gard pour leur superiority et veulent dans les occasions passer pour independants.
II serait a souhaiter que S. M. voulut envoyer dans ce pays toute sorte d'artisans, particulierement des ouvriers en cordages et filages, des potiers et un verrier, et ils trou- sraient & s'occuper. Si S. M. voulait faire envoyer en irchandises une partie des appointemens de Messrs, les iciers, cela leur adoucirait la durete' qu'eux seuls trouvent
506 APPENDIX.
dans le pays, par la grande chert^ des marchandises caus^e par le mauvais retour de la inonnaie de cartes qui fait acheter 3 et 4 pour 100.
VEU : VAUDEEUIL.
VEU : BEGON. CATALOGUE.
I.
LETTER OF FATHER CARHEIL.
LETTRE DU PERE ETIENNE DE CARHEIL, DE LA COM- PAGNIE DE JESUS, A L'lxTENDANT DE CHAMPIGNY.
(Extrait.)1 Archives Nationales.
A Mirilll.IMAKINA, LE 30 I/AOL'ST, 1702.
. . . Nos Missions sont reduites a une telle extremity, que nous ne pouvons plus les soutenir centre une multitude infinie de d&ordres, de brutalitez, de violences, d*injustices d'irapietez, d'impudicitez, d'insolences, de me'pris, d'insult que 1'infaiiie et funeste traitte d'eau-de-vie y cause univer-j sellement dans toutes les nations d'icy haut, ou Ton vien la faire, allant de villages en villages et courant les law avec une quantite prodigieuse de barils, sans garder aucuiu mesure. Si Sa Majeste avoit veu une seule fois ce qui a passe et icy et a Montreal, dans tous les temps qu'on y fai cette malheureuse traitte, je suis sur qu'elle ne balanceroi pas un moment, d6s la premiere vue, a la d^ffendre pou jainais sous les plus rigoureuses peines.
Dans le desespoir ou nous sommes, il ne nous reste poii d'autre party a prendre que celui de quitter nos Missions de les abandonner aux traittants d'eau-de-vie, pour y e"tal
i This letter is 45 pages long.
APPENDIX. 507
le domaine de leur traitte, de 1'ivrognerie et de Pimpuret^. C'est ce que nous aliens proposer a nos superieurs en Canada et en Prance, y etant contraints par 1'etat d'inutilite et d'impuissance de faire aucun fruit ou Pon nous a reduits par la permission de cette deplorable traitte, permission que Ton n'a obtenue de Sa Majeste que sous un pretexte aparent de raisons que Ton scait etre fausses, permission qu'elle n'accorderoit point, si ceux auxquels elle se raporte de la verite la lui fesoient connoistre comme ils la connoissent eux-mgmes et tout le Canada avec eux, permission enfin qui est le plus grand mal et le principe de tous les maux qui arrivent presentement au pays, et surtout des naufrages dont on n'entendoit point encore parler ici et que nous apprenons arriver maintenant presque touttes les annees ou dans la venue ou dans le retour de nos vaisseaux en France, par une juste punition de Dieu qui fait perir par 1'eau ce que 1'on avoit mal acquis par l'eau-de-vie, ou qui entend empecher le transport pour prevenir le mauvais usage qu'on en feroit. Si cette permission n'est revoquee par une de"f- fense contraire, nous n'aurons plus que faire de demeurer H|dans aucune de nos Missions d'icy haut, pour y perdre le reste de notre vie, et touttes nos peines dans une pure «'t|inutilite sous 1'empire d'une continuelle ivrognerie et d'une impurete universelle qu'on ne permet pas moins aux trait- •/eurs d'eau-de-vie que la traitte meme dont elle est 1'accom- oagnement et la suite. Si Sa Majeste veut sauver nos ions et soutenir 1'etablissement de la Religion, comme .ous ne doutons point qu'elle le veuille, nous la suplions humblement de croire, ce qui est tres veritable, qu'il i'y a point d'autre nioyen de le pouvoir faire que d'abolir 58 deux infames commerces qui les ont reMuites a la ne*ces- ite* prochaine de pe"rir et qui ne tarderont pas a achever de sfc perdre, s'ils ne sont au plus tost abolis par ses ordres et is hors d'etat d'etre retablis. Le premier est le commerce
508 APPENDIX.
de l'eau-dc-vie ; le second est le commerce des femmes sau- vages avec lea Francois, qui sont tous deux aussy publics Tun que 1'autre, sans que nous puissions y reim-dier, pour n' est re pas appuyez des commandans qui, bien loin de les vouloir empficher par les remontrances que nous leur faisons, les exercent eux-m&mes avec plus de liberte que leurs inferieurs, et les autorisent tellement par leur exemple qu'en le regardant on s'en fait une permission ge'ne'rale et une assurance d'impunite qui les rend communs a tout ce qui vient icy de Francois en traitte, de sorte que tous les vil de nos Sauvages ne sont plus que des cabarets pour 1'i gnerie et des Sodomes pour 1'impurete, d'oii il faut q nous nous retirions, les abandonnant a la juste colere Dieu et a ses vengeances.
Vous voyez par la que, de quelque maniere qu'on etabli le commerce FranQois avec les Sauvages, si 1'on veut no retenir parmi eux, nous y conserver et nous y soutenir qnalite de missionnaires dans le libre exercice de n fonctions avec esp^rance d'y faire du fruit, il faut no delivrer des commandans et de leur garnisons qui, bien lo d'estre necessaires, sont au contraire si pernicieuses q nous pouvons dire avec v&ite' qu'elles sont le plus gra nial de nos missions, ne servant qu'a nuire a la trait ordinaire des voyageurs et a 1'avanceraent de la Fo Depuis qu'elles sont venues icy haut, nous n'y avons pi veu que corruption universelle qu'elles ont r^pandues pal leur vie scandaleuse dans tous les esprits de ces nations qfl en sont presentement infect^es. Tout le service pretendl qu'on veut faire croire au Roy qu'elles rendent se reduit £ quatre principales occupations dont nous vous prions instaa* ment de vouloir bien informer le Roy.
La premiere est de tenir un cabaret public d'eau-de- ou ils la traittent continuellement aux Sauvages qui cessent point de s'eny vrer, quelques opositions que no
APPENDIX. 509
puissions faire. C'est en vain que nous leur parlons pour les arreter; nous n'y gagnons rien que d'etre accusez de nous oposer nous-memes au Service du Roy en voulant empe'cher une traitte qui leur est permise.
La seconde occupation des soldats est d'estre envoyez d'un poste a Pautre par les Coininandans, pour y porter leurs mar- chandises et leur eau-de-vie, apres s'etre accominodes ensem- ble, sans que les uns et les autres ayent d'autre soin que celuy de s'entr'ayder mutuellement dans leur commerce, et afin que cela s'execute plus facilement des deux costez comme ils le souhaitent, ils faut que les commandans se ferment les yeux pour user de connivence et ne voir aucun des desordres de leur soldats, quelques visibles, publics et scandaleux qu'ils soient, et il faut reciproquemeut que les soldats, outre qu'ils traittent leurs propres marchandises, se fassent encore les traitteurs de celles de leurs Commandans qui souvent meme les obligent d'en acheter d'eux pour leur permettre d'aller ou ils veulent.
Leur troisieme occupation est de faire de leur fort un lieu que j'ay honte d'apeler par son nom, ou les femmes ont apris que leurs corps pouvoient tenir lieu de marchandises et qu'elles seroient mieux regues que le castor, de sorte que c'est pre"sentement le commerce le plus ordinaire, le plus continuel et le plus en vogue. Quelques efforts que puissent faire tous les missionnaires pour de*crier et pour 1'abolir, au lieu de diminuer, il augmente et se multiplie tous les jours de plus en plus; tous les soldats tiennent table ouverte a touttes les femmes de leur connaissance dans leur maison; depuis le matin jusqu'au soir, elles y passent les journees entieres, les unes apres les autres, assises a leur feu et souvent sur leur lit dans des entretiens et des actions propre de leur commerce qui ne s'acheve ordinairement que la nuit, la foule etant trop grande pendant la journee pour qu'ils puissent I'achever, quoyque souvent aussy ils s'entrelaissent
510 APPENDIX.
une maison vide de monde pour n'en pas diff^rer I'achSve- raent jusqu'a la nuit.
La quatrieme occupation des soldats est celle du jeu qui a lieu dans les terns ou les traitteurs se rassera blent ; il y va quelquefois a un tel point que u'etans pas contens d'y passer le jour, ils y passent encore la nuit entiere, et il n'arrive meuie que trop souvent dans 1'ardeur de 1'aplication qu'ils ne se souviennent pas, ou s'ils s'en souviennent, qu'ils meprisent de garder les postes. Mais ce qui augmente en cela leur desordre, c'est qu'un attacheraent si opiniatre au jeu n'est presque jamais sans une ivrognerie commune a tous les joueurs, et que 1'ivrognerie est presque toujoura suivie de querelles qui s'excitent entre eux lesquelles venant a paroitre publiquement aux yeux des Sauvages, causent parmi eux trois grands scandales: le premier de les voir ivres, le second de les voir s'entrebatre avec fureur les uns coutre les autres jusqu'a prendre des fusils en main pour s'entretuer, le troisieme de voir que les Missionnaires n'y peuvent apporter aucun remede.
Voila, Monseigneur, les quatre seules ocupations des garni- sous que Ton a tenues ici pendant tant d'anne'es. Si ces sortes d'ocupations peuvent s'apeler le service du Roy, j'avoue qu'elles lay ont actuelleraent et toujours rendu quelqu'un de ces quatre services, mais je n'en ai point veu d'autres que ces quatre- la; et par consequent, si on ne juge pas que ce soit la des services necessaires au Roy, il n'y a point eu jusqu'a present de necessity de les tenir icy, et apres leur rapel, il n'y en aura point de les y retablir.
Cependant comme cette n^cessite pretendue des Garnisons est 1'unique pretexte que Ton prend pour y envoyer des Commandans, nous vous prions, Monseigneur, d'gtre bien persuade" de la faussete' de ce pretexte, afin que, sous ces 8pe*cieuses aparences du service du Roy, on ne se fasse pas une obligation d'en envoyer, puisque les Commandans ne
APPENDIX. 511
viennent icy que pour y faire la traitte de concert avec leurs soldats sans se mettre en peine de tout le reste. Us n'ont de liaison avec les Missionnaires que par les endroits ou ils les croient utiles pour leur temporel, et hors de la ils leur sout contraires des qu'ils' veulent s'opposer au desordre qui, ne s'accordant ny avec le service de Dieu ny avec le service du Roy, ne laisse pas d'etre avantageux a leur commerce, au quel il n'est rien qu'ils ne sacrifient. C'est la 1'unique cause qui a mis le de're'glement dans nos Missions, et qui les a tellement desolees par 1'ascendant que les Commandans ont pris sur les Missionnaires en s'attirant toute 1'autorite* soit a 1'egard des Francois, soit a 1'egard des Sauvages, que nous n'avons pas d'autre pouvoir que celui d'y travailler inutilement sous leur domination qui s'est e'leve'e jusqu'a nous pour nous faire des crimes civils et des accusations pretendues juridiques des propres fonctions de notre e*tat et de notre devoir, comme 1'a toujours fait Monsieur de la Motte qui ne voulait pas me"me que nous nous servissions du mot de desordre et qui intente en effet procez au pere Pinet pour s'en etre servi.
. . . Vous voyez, Monseigneur, que je me suis heau- coup e"tendu sur les articles des Commandans et des garni- sons pour vous faire comprendre que c'est la qu'est venu tout le malheur de nos Missions. Ce sont les Commandans, ce sont les garnisons, qui, se joignant avec les traitteurs d'eau-de-vie les ont entierement desolees par 1'ivrognerie et par une impudicite presque universelle que 1'on y a etablie par une continuelle impunite de 1'une et de 1'autre, que les puissances civiles ne tolerent pas seulement, mais qu'elles permettent, puisque les pouvant empe'cher, elles ne les empgchent pas. Je ne crains done point de vous declarer que si 1'on remet icy haut dans nos missions des Comman- dans traitteurs et des garnisons de soldats traitteurs, nous ne doutons point que nous ne soyons contraints de les
512 APPENDIX.
quitter, n'y pouvant rien faire pour le salut des ftraes. C'est & vous d'informer Sa Majest^ de I'extre'mite" ou Ton nous r&luit et de luy deuiander pour nous notre de'livrance, atin que nous puissions travailler 4 1'etablisseiuent de la Religion sans ces empechemens qui 1'ont arrete jusqu'4 present.
J.
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE CLERGY.
M£MOIRE DE TALON SUB L'ETAT PRESENT DU CANADA, 1667.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
. . . L'ECCL^SIASTIQUE est compost d'un Evesque, ayant le tiltre de IV tree, In partibus infidelium, et se ser- vant du caract&re et de I'autorite' de Vicaire Apostolique.
II a soubs [sous] luy neuf Prestres, et plusieurs clercs qui vivent en comraunaut^ quand ils sont pres de lui dans son S^minaire, et s^par^ment ^. la campagne quand ils y sont envoyez par voye de mission pour desservir les cures qui ne sont pas encore fondles. II y a pareillement les Peres de la Compagnie de Je'sus, au nombre de trente-cinq, la pluspart desquels sont employ oz aux Missions etrangeres: ouvrage digne de leur zele et de leur pi^t^ s'il est exempt du meslange de I'interest dont on les dit susceptibles, par la traitte des pelleteries qu'on assure qu'ils font aux StaSaks [Outaouaks], et au Cap de la Magdelaine; ce que je ne §<jay pas de science certaine.
La vie de ces Eccle'siastiques, par tout ce qui paroist au dehors, est fort reglee, et peut servir de bon exemple et
APPENDIX. 513
d'un bon modele aux seculiers qui la peuvent imiter; mais com me ceux qui composent cette Colonie ne sont pas tous d'esgale force, ny de vertu pareille, ou n'ont pas tous les mesmes dispositions au bien , quelques-uns tombent aysement dans leur disgrace pour ne pas se conformer a leur maniere de vivre, ne pas suivre tous leurs sentimens, et ne s'aban- donner pas a leur conduite qu'ils estendent jusques sur le temporel, empietaut mesme sur la police exterieure qui regarde le seul magistrat.
On a lieu de soupconner que la pratique dans laquelle ils sont, qui n'est pas bien conforme a celle des Ecclesiastiques de 1'Ancienne France, a pour but de partager 1'autorite temporelle qui, jusques au temps de 1'arrivee des troupes du Hoy en Canada, residoit principalement en leur personnes.
A. ce mal qui va jusques a gehenner \_gener] et contraindre les consciences, et par la desgouter les colons les plus at- tachez au pays, on peut donner pour remade 1'ordre de balancer avec adresse et moderation cette autorite" par celle qui reside ez [dans les] personnes envoyees par Sa Majeste pour le Gouvernement : ce qui a desja et6 pratique; de permettre de renvoyer un ou deux Ecclesiastiques de ceux qui reconnoissent inoius cette autorite temporelle, et qui troublent le plus par leur conduite le repos de la Colonie, et introduire quatre Ecclesiastiques entre les se'culiers ou les reguliers, les faisant bien autoriser pour 1'administration des Sacremens, sans qu'ils puissent estre inquie'tez: autre- ment ils deviendroient inutiles au pays, parce que s'ils ne se conformoient pas a la pratique de ceux qui y sont aujourd'huy M. 1'Evesque leur deffendroit d'administrer les Sacremens.
Pour estre mieux informe de cette conduite des consciences, on peut entendre Monsieur Dubois, Aumosnier au regiment de Carignan, qui a ouy plusieurs Confessions en secret, et a la desrobee, et Monsieur de Bretonvilliers sur ce qu'il a appris par les Ecclesiastiques de son Seminaire establi & Mont-Real. 33
514 APPENDIX.
LETTRE DU MIXISTRE A MR. TALON, 20 FEVRIER, 1668.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
... II faut que 1'application d'un Gouverneur et d'un Intendant aide a adoucir le nial, et non it 1'effet que le Gou- verneur ne se porte a aucune extremit^, centre lea Sieurs Evgque et les P. P. J&uites, quand bien mSnie ils auraient abuse du pouvoir que leur habit et le respect qu'on a natu- rellement pour la religion leur donne. En se contentant par des conferences particuli&res de resserrer ce pouvoir, autant que se pourra, dans les bornes d'une l^gitime autorit^ et esperant que, quand le pays sera plus peupte, qui est la seule et unique chose que doit convier le dit Sr. Gou- verneur et Intendaiit a y doiiner leurs soins quand a present, 1'autorite Royale qui sera la plus reconnue des peuples prdvaudra sur 1'autre et la contiendra dans de justes limites.
. . . Je ne m'explique point avec vous sur ce sujet parceque je sais qu'a part ses bonnes qualites il [3/ Courcelle'] a us£ d'emportement dont il est bon qu'il se rige. Insinuez lui aussi honnetemeut les sentiments qu'il doit avoir et ce que je viens de vous dire au sujet du Sieur de Ressan, et qu'il ne doit jamais blamer la conduite de 1'EvSque de Petr^e ni des Jesuites en public, dtant assez d'en user avec eux avec grandc circonspection, se contentant seulement lorsqu'ils entreprendront trop de leur faire con-j naitre et d'en envoyer des m^moires, afin que je conf&re avec leurs Sup^rieure de ces entreprises et en cas qu'ils et fassent qu'on puisse les interdire.
APPENDIX. 615
INSTRUCTION POUR M. DE BOUTEROUE, 1668. (Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
II faut empescher autant qu'il se pourra la trop grande quantite des prestres, religieux, et religieuses . . . s'entre- mettre quelquefois et dans les occasions pour les porter a adoucir cette trop grande severite, estant tres-important que lesdits evesque et Jesuites ne s'aperQoivent jamais qu'il veuille blasmer leur conduite.
(Signe) COLBERT
For the instructions on this subject, more precise and em- phatic than the above, given by the King to Talon in 1665 see N. Y. Colonial Docs., ix. 24.
1JETTRE DE COLBERT A DuCHESNEAU, 15 AVRIL, 1676.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
Eviter les contestations . . . sans toutefois prejudicier aux precautions qui sont a prendre et aux mesures & garder pour empescher que la puissance ecclesiastique n'entreprenne rien sur la temporelle, ;\ quoy les ecclesiastiques sont assez porte's.
LETTRE DU MINISTRE A DUCHESNEAU, LE 28 AVRIL, 1677.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
. . . Je vous dirai premi&rement que Sa Majest^ est bien persuad^e de la piete do tous les Ecclesiastiques et de leurs bonnes intentions pour le succez du sujet de leurs missions,
516 APPENDIX.
mais Sa Majesto veut que vous preniez garde qu'ils n'entre- prennent rien tant snr son authority Royalle que sur la justice et police du pays et que vous les resserriez prdcise- ment dans les bornes de Fauthorit^ que les Eccldsiastiques ont dans le Royaume, sans soufFrir qu'ils les passent en quelque sorte et mani&re que ce soit, et cette maxirae ge"n3- ralle vous doit servir pour toutes les difficultez de cette nature qui pourront survenir ; mais pour parvenir a ce point il seroit n^cessaire que vous-mesme vous travailliassier a vous rendre habil sur ces mati&res en lisant les autheurs qui en ont traitt^, observer tout ce qui se passe et a envoyer tous les ans des m^moires sur les difficultez que vous aurez et auxquelles vous n'aurez pas pu remedier; considerez cette matiere comme tres importante et a laquelle vous ne scauriez dormer trop d'application.
LETTRE DU MINISTRE A DUCHESNEAU, LE PREMIER MAY, 1677.
(Ertrait.) Archives de la Marine.
... Je suis encore oblig^ de vous dire que 1'on voit claire- ment qu'encore que le dit Sieur Evesque soit un homme de bien et qu'il fasse fort bieu son devoir, il ne laisse pas d'affecter une domination qui passe de beaucoup au dela des bornes que les Evesques ont dans tout le monde cbrestien et particulierement dans le Royaume et ainsy vous devez vous appliquer & bien connoistre et a s^avoir le plus parfaitement que vous pourrez 1'estendue du pouvoir des Evesques et les rem&des que 1'authorit^ Royalle a apport^ pour en empescher 1'abus et leur trop grande domination, afm que vous puissiez de concert avec Monsieur le Comte de Frontenac dans les occasions importantes y apporter les mesmes rem&des, en quoy vous devez toujoi
APPENDIX. 517
agir avec beaucoup de moderation et de retenue. . . . Corame je vois que Monsieur 1'Evesque de Quebec, ainsi que je viens de vous dire affecte une authorite un peu trop inde- pendante de 1'authorite Royalle et que par cette raison il seroit peut-estre bon qu'il n'eust pas de seance dans le conseil, vous devez bien examiner toutes les occasions et tous les rnoyens que 1'on pourrait pratiquer, pour luy douner a luy-mesme 1'envie de n'y plus venir; mais vous devez en cela vous conduire avec beaucoup de retenue, et bien prendre garde que qui ce soit ne descouvre ce que je vous escris sur ce point.
MiMOIBB DU EOI AUX SlEURS DE FRONTENAC ET DE CHAMPIGNY, ANNEE 1692.
(Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
. . . Sa Majeste veut aussy qu'ils [Frontenac et Cham- pigny\ assistent de leur authorite les Jesuites et les Recolets et tous autres Ecclesiastiques sans neantmoins souffrir qu'ils portent 1'autorite ecclesiastique plus loin qu'elle ne doit s'estendre. Elle ne veut pas qu'ils se dispensent de faire doucement et avec toute la discretion possible des remon- strances au dit Sieur Evesque dans les occasions ou ils reconnoistront que les Ecclesiastiques agissent par un zele immodere ou par d'autres passions, afin de 1'engager ay remedier et a faire tout ce qui depend avec lui pour pro- curer le repos des consciences. Les dits Sieurs de Fron- tenac et de Champigny doivent se tenir en cela dans les voyes de la seule excitation et informer sa Majeste de tout ce qui se passera a cet egard.
618 APPENDIX.
LETTRE DE MONSIEUR DE LA MOTHE CADILLAC. (Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
28 SEPTEMBRE, 1604.
... La chose ne se passa pas ainsi qu'il 1'a racont^ dans cet article et lo suivant; ceux qui savent 1'histoire de ce temps la en parlent autrement et voicy le fait: Monsieur de Laval fit diverses tentatives a peu pres comme celles qu'on void aujourd'huy dont le but a toujoure 6t6 de pre- valoir sur 1'autorite du gouvernement; Monsieur de Tracy pour lors Vice-roy de ce pays, voyait tranquil lenient le de"sir de cette elevation, et comme c'estoit un homme de*vot, il ne jugea pas a propos de preter le colet a cette cohorte Eccldsiastique, dont la puissance e*toit redoutable. Mon- sieur Talon dans cette conjoncture fit paroitre une plus forte resolution et risqua pour 1'interest du Roy de perdre son credit et sa fortune; il vid qu'il falloit etouffor cet orage dans son berceau et enfin par ses remontrances et par ses soins, il fit donner un arret favorable et tel qu'il se 1'etoit propose*. Monsieur de Laval voyant alors qu'on 1'avoit rengaine et qu'on 1'avoit coupe* a demi-vent, il creut suivant la politique de 1'Eglise qu'il falloit attendre un temps plus favorable; ayant done mis armes bas, on taclia de rajuster les affaires par 1'entremise meme de Monsieur de Tracy qui obtint de Monsieur Talon au jour de sa recon- ciliation que 1'arrSt en question seroit raye et batonne", non pas pour le de*saprouver ou pour 1'avoir trouv^ contraire a toute bonne justice, comme le veut persuader le procureur ge'ne'ral ; mais afin que Monsieur de Laval ne f ut pas repro- cbable de ses ecarts et de ses injustes pretentions; ce fut une foiblesse a Monsieur Talon de s'Stre laiss^ vaincre par J de telles soumissions.
. . . II faut etre ici pour voir les menees qui se font toua
APPENDIX. 519
les jours pour renverser le plan et les projets d'un Gou- verneur. II faut une tete aussi ferme et aussi plombee qua celle de Monsieur le Comte pour se soutenir centres les ambusches que partout on lui dresse ; s'il veut la paix cela suffit pour qu'on s'y oppose et qu'on crie que tout est perdu ; s'il veut faire la guerre, on lui expose la ruine de la collonie. II u'auroit pas tant d'affaires sur les bras, s'il n'avoit pas aboli un Hiericho qui etait une maison que Messieurs du Seminaire de Montreal avoient fait batir pour renfermer, disoient-ils, les filles de mauvaise vie. S'il avoit voulu leur permettre de prendre des soldats et leur donner des officiers pour aller dans les maisons arracher des femmes a minuit et couchees avec leurs maris, pour avoir ete au bal ou en masque et les faire fesser jusques au sang dans ce Hiericho; s'il n'avait rien dit encore contre des Cures qui faisoient la ronde avec des soldats et qui obligeoient en este les filles et les femmes a se renfermer a neuf heures chez elles, s'il avoit voulu deffendre de porter de la dentelle, s'il n'avoit rien dit sur ce qu'on refusoit la communion a des femmes de qualite pour avoir une fontange, s'il ne s'opposoit point encore aux excommunications qu'on jette a tort et a travers, aux scan- dales qui s'en suivent, s'il ne faisoit les officiers que par la voye des communautes, s'il vouloit deffendre le vin et 1'eau de vie aux sauvages, s'il ne disoit mot sur le sujet des cures fixes et droits de patronage, si Monsieur le Comte estoit de ces avis-la, ce seroit assurement un homme sans pareil et il seroit bientot sur la liste des plus grands saints, car on les canonise dans ce pais a bon marche.
520 APPENDIX.
K.
CANADIAN CURES. EDUCATION. DIS- CIPLINE.
LETTBE DU MARQUIS DE DEXONVILLE AU MINISTRE. (Extrait.) Archives de la Marine.
A QUEBEC 15 NOVEMBRE, 1686.
. . . Vous me permettrez, Monseigneur, de voua demander la grace de faire quelques reflections sur lea moyens d'occuper la jeunesse du pays, dans son has Sge, et dans 1'age le plus avance", que je vous rende compte de mes pensees la dessus, puisque c'est une des choses la plus essentielle de la colonie.
Pour y parveiiir, Monseigneur, le premier moyen a mon gre*, est de multiplier le nombre des Cures, et de les rendre plus fixes et residentaires, Mr. notre Evgque en est si con- vaincu par la connaissance qu'il a prise de son diocese di ses visites, et dans le voyage que nous avons fait ensemble, qu'il n'a point de plus grand empressement que de pouvoir contribuer a cet etablissement qui serait un moyen sur, pour faire des ecoles, auxquelles les cures s'occuperaient et accoutumeraient les enfans de bonne heure a s'assugetir et s'occuper: Mais, Monseigneur, pour faire cet e"tablissemei utilement, il faudrait multiplier le nombre des cure's jusques au nombre de cinquante et un. Le memoire que je vous en envoye, vous fera assez bien voir, que si on les e"tend davantage et qu'il faille que les cure's passent et repassent la riviere, comme ils font a present pour faire leurs fonc- tions, ils employent avec bien du travail tout le temps qu'ils pourraient donner a instruire la jeunesse, si leurs cures e*taient moins e*tendues. Outre cela, Monseigneur, a 1'entree
APPENDIX. 521
et a la sortie de 1'hiver, il y a pres de deux mois que Ton ne saurait passer la riviere, qui en bien des endroits a une lieue de largeur, et beaucoup plus en d'autres. Si bien que dans ces temps il faut que les malades demeurent sans aucun secours spirituel.
C'est une pitie, Monseigneur, que de voir 1'ignorance dans laquelle les peuples eloignes du sejourdes Cures vivent en ce pays, et les peines que les missionnaires et Cures se donnent pour y reme'dier en parcourant leurs cures, sur le pied qu'elles sont selon le me'moire que je vous en envoye. Vous y verrez, Monseigneur, le cherain qu'il leur faut faire pour visitor leurs paroisses dans les rigueurs de 1'hiver.
Puisque j'ai entame' 1'affaire des Cures vous me per- mettrez d'achever de vous dire que pour la subsistence d'un cure selon les connaissances que j'ai pu prendre du pays, depuis que j'y suis, selon le prix des denrees, on ne saurait donner moins a un curd pour sa subsistance que quatre cents livres, monoye de France, attendu qu'il ne faut pas compter sur aucun revenant bon du dedans de 1'Eglise. II est bien vrai qu'il y a quelques cures qui sont mieux peuplees dont les dismes sont assez raisonables pour pou- voir suffir a leur entretien, mais il y en a tres peu sur ce pied la.
J'ai trouve* ici dans le Seminaire de I'Eve'che', le com- mencement de deux etablissements qui seraient admirables pour la Colonie, si on les pouvait augmenter, ce sont, Mon- seigneur, deux maisons ou Ton retire des enfans pour les instruire, dans 1'une on y met ceux auquels on trouve de la disposition pour les lettres, auxquelles on s'attache de les former pour 1'Eglise, qui dans la suite peuvent rendre plus de service que les pretres Fra^ais etants plus faits que les autres aux fatigues et aux manieres du pays.
Dans 1'autre maison on y met ceux qui ne sont propres que pour gtre artisans, et a ceux la on apprends des metiers.
522 APPENDIX.
Je croirais que ce scrait 14 un moyen admirable pour com- mencer un e'tablissement de manufactures, qui sont absolu- ment ue'cessaires pour le secours de ce pays.
Mr. notre Eveque est charme' de ces etablissements, et voudruit bieu etru en etat de les soutenir et augmeuter. Mais comme tout cola ne se peut faire sans depense tan pour 1'augmentation du nombre des Curds que pour cetta espece de manufacture, et qu'il conviendrait d'en faire de grandes, pour y reussir, je ne vois qu'un moyen assure" pom cela, qui serait que le Roy voulut bien donner vine gross* abbaye a Mr. notre Eveque sans 1'attacher a I'Evechd comme il n'a 1'esprit et le coeur occupes que des soius d faire du bien aux pauvres et augmeuter la foi et le salut dea Sines, il est certain que Sa Majeste, aurait le plaisir d voir employer le revenu de ce benefice en bonnes et saintei oeuvres, qui feraient merveille pour le bien de la colonie sot soutien et son augmentation.
J'ai trouve" a Villemarie en 1'isle de Montreal, un blissement de sosurs de la congregation, sous la conduit* de la soeur Bourgeois, qui fait de grands biens a toute 1 colonie, elles furent brule*es 1'an passe* ou elles perdiren tout; il seroit fort ne*cessaire qu'elles se re'tablissent, ella n'ont pas le premier sol, j'y ai trouve* un autre e'tablissemen de filles de la providence qui travaillent ensemble, elle pourront commencer qnelque manfacture de ce cote* si vous avez la bonte* de continuer la gratification de mi livres pour les laines, et mil livres pour apprendre a tricoter. II y a encore un troisieme e'tablissement pour faire des ma it res d'e*cole8.
II faut revenir s'il vous plait, Monseigneur, a voir ce se peut faire pour dissipliner les grands gartjons, et donner de 1'occupation aux enfans des gentilshommes autres soi-disans et vivans comme tels.
Avant tout, Monseigneur, vous me permettrez de vc
APPENDIX. 523
dke que la noblesse de ce pays nouveau, est tout ce qu'il y a de plus gueux et que d'en augmenter le noinbre est augmenter le nombre des faineants. Un pays neuf demande des gens laborious et industrieux, et qui mettent la main a la hache et a la piocke. Les enfans de nos conseillers De sont pas plus laborieux, et n'out de ressource que les bois, ou ils font quelque traite, et la plupart font tous les desordres dont j'ai eu 1'honneur de vous entretenir, je ne m'oublierai en rien de ce qu'il y aurait a faire pour les engager a entrer dans le commerce, mais comme nos nobles et conseillers sont tous fort pauvres et accables de debtes, ils ne sauraient trouver de credit pour un ecu.
Le seul moyen qui me parait le plus assure pour disci- pliner cette jeunesse serait que le Roy voulut bien entre- tenir en ce pays, quelqaes compagnies, dont on donnerait le coinmandement a gens d'authorite et de bonnes moeurs et appliques, comme a Mr. le Chevalier de Cailliere, a Mr. ie Vare*nes, Gouverneur des trois Rivieres, ou au Sr. Prevot, Major de Quebec, avec des Lieutenants du pays que Ton choisirait, lesquels ne devraient point avoir peine i'obeir, a ceux auxquels naturellement ils doivent obeir.
INDEX.
ABENAKI Indians, the, at Port
Royal, 13, 382. Absolutism, in Canada, 342, 461-
468.
\cadia, quarrel between England and France over, 3 ; the French keep a feeble hold on, 5 ; Charles de la Tour applies for a commission to command in, 5 ; French settlements transferred by conquest to England, 8 ; restored to France by the treaty of St. Germain, 8 ; France and the Company of New France in sole possession of, 8; D'Aunay succeeds Razilly in command in, 9 ; inexact assertion of Charle- yoix concerning division of, 14; nvaded by the Plymouth trad- irs, 15; 50; Le Borgue gets a ion's share of, 52 ; conquered or England by Major Robert iedgwick, 52 ; restored to Trance by the treaty of Breda, 2 ; recaptured by Sir William hips, 52; again restored to Trance by the treaty of Rys- (wick, 52 ; finally seized for England by General Nicholson, >2 ; Talon tries to open a road to, 274, 323, 383. iroudacks, the, 248. rica, 234, 235. •ariata, Chief, 252.
Ailleboust, the family of, 319.
Ailleboust, D', succeeds Charny as governor of Quebec, 88; his dealings with the Iroquois, 88 ; insanely pious, 165, 166, 167; Argenson complains of, 176, 393, 429.
Ailleboust, Madame d', 106, 144 ; fantastic devotion of, 421.
Aix, 156.
Albanel, Father Charles, the Jesuit, at the Fort of St. Louis, 250 ; penetrates to Hudson's Bay, 274 ; 39
Albany, 113, 188,249.
Alexander, Sir William, grant made by James I. to, 4 ; attacks Charles de la Tour at Fort Lo- meron, 5 ; makes Claude de la Tour a baronet of Nova Scotia, 6 ; sends Claude de la Tour to Cape Sable, 6 ; makes the La Tours baronets of Nova Scotia, 7 ; grants Charles de la Tour land near Cape Sable, 7 ; jeal- ous of the Company of New France, 7 ; fits out a private expedition under the brothers Kirke, 7 ; succeeds in transfer- ring by conquest the French settlements in Acadia and Can- ada to England, 7 ; gives iip Port Royal to Razilly, 8 ; 9.
Algonquins, French, 124.
528
INDEX.
Algonquin Indians, the, 68, 88, 126, 134.
Algonquin missions, the, 383.
Allen's River, 12.
Allet, Father, the Sulpitian, 95, 141, 156 ; on the Jesuits at Que- bec, 416.
Almshouses, established in Can- ada, 446.
Amazon River, the, 234.
American Revolution, the, 164.
Amours, D', Matthieu, the coun- cillor, 195, 213, 321.
Amours, D' (son), 337.
Amlaraque, largest and strongest of the Mohawk forts, 257 ; taken by the French, 257 ; description of, 258.
Audit?, Fere, tries to seduce La Tour's men, 38 ; 472.
Augoville, Major d', 208, 217, 488.
Auuahotaha, Etienne, 130 ; offers to reinforce Daulac, 131 ; at the Long Saut, 131-133 ; deserts Daulac, 134, 138.
Annapolis River, the, 11, 12, 48.
Anne of Austria, 144, 220, 230.
Anne, St., shrine of, 429; Ca- nadian devotion to, 429.
Anticoeti, the island of, 357.
Antilles, the, 234, 235.
Antiuomianism, the ghastly spec- tre of, 25.
Aoutarisati, the Iroquois Chief, 58.
Arabia, 166.
Argall, lawless inroads of, 4.
Argenson, Vicomte d', 105; be- comes governor of the colony, 120 ; his efforts to save the col- ony, 121; on the desertion of Daulac by the Hnrons, 138; 144, 155, 157, 158 ; characteristics of, 166; Laval quarrels with, 166,
167 ; his memorial to the connci of state, 169 ; his reception by th Jesuits, 173 ; difficulties of, 174 the Company of New Franc refuses aid to, 175 ; annoyed b; the virtual independence o Montreal, 175 ; complains o Ailleboust, 176; his trouble! 177 ; resigns his position ii disgust, 177; Laval urges th removal of, 178; his opinion o Villeray, 196 ; 203.
Argenson, D' (brother of the goi ernor), 170, 178; correspond ence between Laval and, 48 484.
Argentan, town of, 1 50.
Arnonl, M., 501.
Arts of ornament, the, in Caiuu 362.
Associates of Montreal, the, Montreal, the Attociation of.
Aubert, Barthelemy, 475.
Aubert, Felix, 217.
Austrian War, the, 242.
Auteuil, Rnette d', appointed cou cillor at Quebec, 195 ; remo from the council by Mezy, 2i 213.
Anteuil, D' (son), 337.
Avangour, Baron Dubois d', ta Argeuson's place, 178; scription of, 178 ; his recepti 1 79 ; wished to be on go terms with the Jesuits, 17 the brandy quarrel, 1 80 ; La urges the removal of, 1 summoned home, 187 ; memorial to Colbert, 187 ; det of, 188 ; 193.
BAGOT, the Jesuit, 145, 147. Balls, in Canada, 413. Bard v, Father, 398. Baronies, 314.
INDEX.
529
Basques, the, 356.
Baston, the merchant, 438, 439.
Bayeux, the Bishop of, 148.
Beaufort, 230.
Beauharnois, Marquis de, 313, 361, 433.
Beauport, Monsieur de, 308.
Beauport, settlement of, census of, 299, 307.
Beaupre, Laval's seigniory of, 224, 298, 299; census of, 402; population of, 403, 428, 440, 500.
Beaver-skins, serve as currency, 362 ; effect produced by, 383.
Beaver-trade, the, Canada depend- ent upon, 58 ; largeness of, 58 ; Oudiette granted monopoly in, 366, 371 ; a surfeit in, 372; the West Indian Company given a monopoly in, 373.
Becnnconr, the seigniory of, 302.
Bechefer, the Jesuit, 251.
Be'gon, the intendant, 361, 506.
Beletre, M., 438, 439.
Belmout, the Sulpitian, on the desertion of Daulac by the Hu- rons, 138 ; on the struggle for thebishopricof Canada, 156; 424.
Bernieres, Sieur de, see Louvigni, Bernieres de.
Bernon, 354.
Berthelot, Freu^ois, 307, 324, 403.
Berthier, Captain, 243, 301.
Bienconrt, keeps a feeble hold on Acadia, 4, 5 ; takes the name of Poutrincourt, 5 ; at Fort Lome- ton, 5 ; La Tour becomes at- tached to the service of, 5 ; bequeaths his property to La Tour, 5.
Bienville, 323.
Bigot, the intendant, 342.
"Blue Coats" of Montreal, the, 247, 254.
Blue Hill in Milton, the, 23. Bochart, Du Plessis, defeated and
killed by the Mohawk Iroquois,
55.
Bochart, Magdeleine, 448. Bochart, Marie, 289. Boisdon, Jacques, 300. Boisdon, Jean, 448. Bologna, the Concordat of, 153;
Canada excluded from, 154. Bouchard, the surgeon of Mont*
iconrs, the seigniory of, 308.
Bossuet, 232.
Boston, site of, 4; La Tour sails for, 20 ; La Tour arrives in, 21 ; description of, 23 ; undesirable neighbors of, 23 ; antagonisms of the Pequot Indians, 23 ; dan- gers of the theological quarrels to, 24 ; training-day in, 26 ; Governor Winthrop allows La Tour to hire allies in, 28; Madame La Tour in, 36; D'Aunay sends envoys to, 41 ; 358, 470.
Boucher, Father Pierre, cure of Point Levi, 189, 282,363,451.
Boucherville, the seigniory of, 302.
Boudrot, Michel, Lieutenant-Gen- eral in Acadia, 13.
Bougainville, the famous naviga- tor, 402, 432; his view of the Canadians, 456.
Boulle', 307.
Bourbon, 229.
Bourbons, the, 316.
Bourdon, Jean, appointed attor- ney-general at Quebec, 195, 196 ; early life of, 1 97 ; removed from the council by Mezy,208; 213; banished to France, 214 ; 486, 489.
Bourdon, Madame Jean, 285.
Bourdon, Jean Francois, 173.
34
530
INDEX.
Bourgeoys, Marguerite, returns to Canada, 96 ; her labors at Mont- real, 98 ; returns to France, 99 ; gains recruits in Troves, 1U2; on the miracles at Montreal, 112; 285.
Bonrget, Bishop of Montreal, fiftieth anniversary of, 226.
Bourg la Keine, village of, 297.
Bourg Royal, village of, 297.
Bonrg Talon, village of, 297.
Bourse, the, established at Quebec, 365.
Bonteroue, the intendant, 291,337, 400 ; Colbert's instructions re- gard ing the government and the clergy in Canada, 515.
Bradstreet, signs the "Ipswich Letter," 30; Governor Win- throp's reply to, 31 ; letter to Governor Winthrop, 31.
Brandy, love of the Indians for, 1 80, 387 ; quarrel between Laval and Avangonr concern- h-.g, 180, a fiend with all crimes and miseries in his train, 388; its sale necessary to the interests of the fnr-trade, 388 ; penalties for selling, 389 ; question of its sale submitted to the fathers of the Sorbonne, 390; the King's views concerning, 391.
Brandy quarrel, the, 180, 386- 303.
Brann, Father, 226.
Brebenf, Jean de, the Jesuit, 73, 226, 240.
Breda, the treaty of, restores Aca- dia to France, 52, 260.
B resoles, Sister Judith de, 101 ; early life of, 106 ; made Supe- rior at Montreal, 106, 109.
Bretonvilliers, M. de, 513.
Brigeac, Claude de, 112; tortured to death by the Iroqnois, 113.
British colonies, the, 4.
British conquest, the, 425.
Brittany, 278.
Brnyas, the Jesuit, ordered to the Oneidas, 266; takes the Mis- sion of the Martyrs, 380.
Bullion, Madame de, visited by Mile. Mance, 100; designated as " the unknown benefactress/ 100.
CABOTS, the, discovery of North America by, 3.
Caen, 145 ; the zealots at, 147, H 149; 204; the Jacobin com at, 205 ; 207, 479, 480.
Cesar, 153.
Cailliere, Chevalier de, 523.
Callicres, 433, 446.
Calvin, John, the extreme do; of, 24.
Canada, charter of the count and lordship of, 4 ; Fr settlements transferred by quest to England, 8; to France by the treaty of St. Germain, 8 ; turned to fasting and penance, 54 ; the bear her only sustenance, 58 ; tb Iroqnois wish for peace wit 66 ; writhes under the SCOD of the Iroquois War, 118; a mission, 120; domestic qu rels in, 140; struggle for the bishopric of, 141-160; exclude from the Concordat of Boloj 154; entering into a state transition, 165; the chief ferer from the monopoly of Company of the West, 235; Louis XIV. has at heart prosperity of, 236 ; an object very considerable attention court, 237 ; not to be wholll abandoned to a trading company,
INDEX.
531
239 ; little capital and little enter- prise in, 270 ; Talon sets himself to galvanize, 270 ; concern of Colbert for the prosperity of, 270; Talon's attempt to estab- lish trade between the West Indies and, 272 ; the peopling of, 276 ; emigration to, 277 ; young women sent to, 280 ; premium placed on marriage, 282 ; celibacy punished, 287 ; bounties offered for children, 289 ; satisfactory results, 290 ; the settler of, 295 ; persists in attenuating herself, 298 ; the river settlements, 301 ; feudalism of, 304 ; Richelieu first plants feudalism in, 305 ; not governed to the profit of a class, 315 ; its condition in 1712, 315 ; becomes infatuated with noblesse, 317; the King the dispenser of charity for all, 321 ; its government, 326 ; the intendaut, 326 ; the Governor-General, 327 ; the coun- cil, 329 ; the King alone su- preme in, 329 ; inferior courts, 331 ; the judge, 332 ; the spirit of absolutism everywhere apparent in, 342, 461-468 ; justice in, 344-346 ; abuses, 347 ; neg- lected, 351 ; its organs of nu- trition, 352 ; its trade in fetters, 353 ; appeals for help, 359 ; man- ufactures of, 361 ; ship-building in, 362 ; condition of ornamen- tal arts in, 362 ; finances of, 362 ; a coinage ordered for, 363 ; a card currency issued, 363 ; im- portance of the fur-trade to, 366; the forest-trade, 368; filled with distress and consternation, 371 ; the coureitrs de bois, 373 ; the first ball in, 413 ; clerical severity in, 413 ; heresy scoured
ont of, 419; never troubled by witches, 421 ; threatened with an attack by the English, 424 ; miracles in, 425 ; education in, 425 ; catches some of the .French corruption, 432 ; extreme pov- erty of, 434 ; influence of the troops on, 435 ; lawlessness in, 435-441 ; drunkenness the most destructive rice in, 444 ; swarms with beggars, 445 ; slavery in, 454 ; formation of character in, 461 ; the very portal of the great interior wilderness, 462 ; com- pared with New England, 463- 467 ; the Church of Rome stands out conspicuous in the history of, 467 ; the English Conquest a happy calamity to, 468 ; memorial of Dumesnii concerning the affairs of, 286- 288 ; marriage and population in, 493-496 ; trade and industry in, 500-506 ; the government and the clergy in, 512-519.
" Canada, the River and Gulf of," 4.
Canadian Church, the, 103 ; its influence paramount and pervad- ing, 120; 159; Laval the father of, 224 ; liberality of the King to, 401 ; grows purer in the presence of Protestantism, 468.
Canadian fisheries, the, see Fish- eries.
Canadian government, the, 326- 346 ; essentially military, 465.
Canadian noblesse, 315.
Canadian settler, the, 295.
Canadians, the, strength of, 445 ; views of different writers on, 455.
Capet, Hugh, 229, 304.
Cap Rouge, 56, 59, 301.
Capuchin Friars, the, at Port
532
INDEX.
Royal, 13 ; supported by Riche- lieu, 13 ; the missions of, 383.
Capudus, the, 471, 472, 474, 475.
Card currency, in Canada, 363; loses its value, 364 ; converted into bills of exchange, 364.
Carheil, Father Ktienne, his letter to Champigny, 379, 506-512; takes the mission of Saint Joseph, 380; in despair over the Jesuit missions, 383 ; his severe condemnation of the coureurs de boig, 385 ; his sug- gestions concerning the govern- ment of Canada, 386.
,'arignan, the Prince of, 242.
Carignan-Salieres, the regiment of, 237, 240, 241 ; history of, 242 ; ordered back to France, 279, 292, 293, 317, 493, 513.
Carillon, 131.
Canon, Lieutenant, attacks on Lormeau, 437, 438.
Carletou, supposed site of Fort La Tour at, 39.
Casgrain, Abbe, 300, 357 ; on the shrine at the Petit Cap, 430.
Casson, Dollier de, 94, 104 ; on the miracles at Montreal, 111, 112; on the death of Major Closse, 114 ; on the year of disaster at Montreal, 115 ; on the principal fault of Frenchmen, 130; on the desertion of Daulac by the Hurons, 138 ; on Courcelle's "Blue Coats," 247; great strength of, 254 ; sent to St. Anne, 261 ; description of, 263 ; at Fort St. Anne, 264 ; on the policy of Talon, 273; on the frenzy for marriage in Canada, 288 ; on the advantages of the Canadian climate for women, 290; at Montreal, 438 ; on the outlaw of Montreal, 439.
Castine, 15.
" Castle," the, 45.
Catalogue, the engineer, 359, 360, 362, 441 ; his memorial, 502-506.
Catholics, the, of France, divided by two great parties, 153 ; Laval an object of veneration to, 1 63.
Caughnawaga, Jesuit mission at, 382.
Cayenne, 234.
Caynga Indians, the, 57, 66 ; at Onondaga, 82 ; the Jesuits among, 84 ; send an embassy to Quebec, 245 ; sue for peace, 266 ; Carheil among, 380.
Celibacy, punishment of, 287.
Censittiirr, the, 310, 341, 343.
Certain, Andre*, his official report on La Tour and D'Annay, 469- 475.
Chalons, Sieur, 356 ; memorial pre- sented by, on the establishment of commerce in Canada, 358, 501 , 502.
Chambly, the chief proprietor on the Richelieu, 294.
Chambly, Fort of, 250, 262.
Chambly, Rapids of, 244, 245, 247.
Chambly, town of, 292, 294.
Champagne, Philippe de, 230.
Champipny, the intendant, on the Canadian nobility, 319, 320 ; 357, 359, 360; letter from Father Carheil to, 379, 506-512; 386, 433, 443, 446, 447 ; on Chateau St. Louis, 497-499 ; his memorial to the King, 517.
Champlain, Lake, 244, 248, 253, 260, 262.
Champlain, Samuel de, on the political influence of women among the Indiana, 85 ; hia earnestness in converting the Indians, 165; builds Chateau St. Louis, 496.
INDEX.
533
Charbonnier, Marie Magdeleine, 287. •
Charlemagne, the Capitularies of, 313.
Charles I., 344.
Charlestown, 45, 52.
Charlevoix, Father, inexact asser- tion concerning division of Acadia, 14 ; on the Medicine Feast, 94 ; on the brandy quarrel, 182 ; on the earthquake at Que- bec, 184 ; on the copper mines of Lake Superior, 271 ; on the early colonists of Canada, 277 ; in Canada, 432 ; his letter to the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres, 458.
Charnisay, Charles de Menou d'Aunay, in Razilly's company, 8 ; succeeds Razilly in com- mand in Acadia, 9 ; dissen- sions with La Tour, 9 ; his posi- tion and qualities compared with La Tour, 9 ; his reign at Port Royal, 11 ; returns to France, 11 ; marries Jeanne Molin, 11 ; his life at Port Royal, 11-13 ; on good terms with the Indians, 12; reduced financial condition of, 13 ; bitter en-' mity for La Tour, 14; hia feud with La Tour, 14, 15; attacks the Plymouth trading station at Penobscot, 15 ; La Tour plots against, 1 6 ; battle with La Tour, 1 7 ; takes La Tour prisoner, 17; releases La Tour, 17; ordered to seize La Tour's forts, 18; returns to France, 18.; endeavors to seize La Tour, 19, 20; La Tour asks Governor Winthrop for aid against, 22, 27, 28 ; La Tour hires allies against, 28, 30 ; flees from La Tour and bis allies, 32 ; letter from the
Massachusetts magistrates to, 33 ; ordered by the King to keep peace with the Puritans, 33 ; makes overtures of friend- ship to the Puritans, 33 ; joined by the Recollet friars, 38 ; attacks and captures Fort St. Jean, 39 ; captures Ma- dame La Tour, 40; his 'treat- ment of his prisoners, 40; sends envoys to the Puritans, 41 ; their reception in Boston, 41 ; makes a treaty with D'Aunay, 43, 44; royal favors to, 46 ; his hopes, 47 ; his death, 48 ; tribute to his charac- ter, 48, 49 ; his children, 52 ; no trace of his blood left in the land, 53 ; official report of Andre' Certain on La Tour and, 469-475.
Charnisay, Madame Charles de Menou d'Aunay, see Molin, Jeanne.
Charnisay, Joseph de Menou d'Aunay, 47.
Charny, son and successor of Lauson, 86 ; weakness of his 'character, 86 ; resigns the government and becomes a priest, 88.
Charron, chosen alderman of Que- bec, 212.
Chartier, Sieur de, appointed at- torney-general by Mezy, 212.
Chasy, nephew of Tracy, 251 ; murder of, 252.
Chatelain, Father, at Quebec, 416; his episode with Courcelle, 416, 417.
Chatel, Sister, 102.
Chaulmer, on the French colony among the Onondagas, 75.
Chaumonot, sent among the Onon- dagas, 69 ; arrival at Onon- daga, 70; harangues the Indv
534
INDEX.
ans, 71, 82; at Onondaga, 79, 80 ; sets ont for the Cayugas, 84 ; on the Seneca mission, 94 ; on the Jesuits' belief in tor- tnre, 127 ; on the desertion of Da ulac by the Ilurons, 137.
Chaumont, Chevalier de, 238, 254.
Che'ruel, on Colbert, 233 ; 329,351.
Children, bounties offered on, 289.
Choisy, Abbe" de, 230.
Chomedey, Paul de, see Maison- iienre, Chomedey de.
Cldment, on Colbert, 233, 236; on the paupers of Paris. 283 ; on the premium on marriage in Canada, 287.
Closse, Major, killed by the Iro- quois, 114.
Colbert, Jean Baptiste, the trne antagonist of Laval, 165; his opinion of Avaugour, 179; Avaugour's memorial to, 187; 197 ; Dumesnil reports his griev- ances to, 200; on the mutual accusations of Laval, Me'zy, and the Jesuits, 217; the intendant of Mazar in'* household, 232 ; reforms of, 233 ; defects in his policy, 233 ; Talon a true dis- ciple of, 268 ; his concern for the prosperity of Canada, 270; reluctantly recalls Talon, 275 ; peoples Canada, 276, 283 ; places a premium on marriage in Canada, 286 ; offers a bounty on children in Canada, 290 ; sat- isfactory results, 290 ; his letters to Dnchesiieau, 339; report on the brandy question to, 389, 390 ; orders Courcelle to be kept within bounds, 397; his letter to Conrcelle, 397 ; on the rela- tions of Laval and the King, 399 ; plans against the Jesuits, 400; letter from Du Pont con-
cerning Dumesnil to, 484 ; his correspondence with Talon re- garding marriage and popula- tion, 493-496; letter from Denonville concerning trade and industry in Canada, 500, 501 ; his letter to Talon on the government and the clergy in Canada, 514 ; his instruc- tions to Bouteroue regarding the government and the clergy in Canada, 515 ; his letters to Duchesneau, 515, 516; letter from Denonville on Canadian cure's, education, and discipline in Canada, 520, 523.
Colden, 252.
Colombiere, the vicar-general, pro- nounces the funeral enlogy of Laval, 225.
Comet, the, appears atove Quebec, 119.
Commerce, in Canada, 358, 501.
Commune, the, 178.
Company of New France, the, North America given by Louis XIII. to, 7; Richelieu at the head of, 7 ; Sir William Alexan- der jealous of, 7 ; in sole posses- sion of Acadia, 8 ; Charles de la Tour made commander at Cape Sable for, 9 ; grants land to La Tour on the St. John, 14; 27; refuses aid to Argenson, 175; Argenson replaced by Avangour, 178; shows signs of returning life, 190; called upon to resign its claims, 193 ; grants made by, 310.
Company of the Hundred Associ- ates, the, 305.
Company of the West, the, 234; monopoly of trade granted to, 235 ; fails to prosper, 236.
Comtek, 314.
INDEX.
535
Conde", 230, 231, 242.
Congregation of the Holy Family, the, 418, 422, 424, 431.
Contrecceur, town of, 294, 302.
Copper mines of Lake Superior, the, 271.
Corlaer (Schenectady), Dutch hamlet of, 249.
C6te, a, 295, 341.
Cotton, Rev. John, 28.
Coaillard, 239.
Couillard, Madame, 223.
Council of Canada, the, powers of, 329.
Courcelle, Sieur de, see Re'my, Daniel de.
Courcelles, Seigneur, de, 11.
Coureurs de bois, 321, 368; an ob- ject of horror to the King, 373 ; edicts directed against, 373 ; their return to Montreal, 376 ; build palisades, 376 ; spoiled for civili- zation, 377 ; had their uses, 377 ; their riotous invasions of Michili- mackinac, 383 ; Father Carheil's severe condemnation of, 385.
Coutume de. Paris, the, 313, 330.
Crequy, Due de, ambassador of France at Rome, 220.
Croatia, 188.
Crolo, Sister, 102.
Cromwell, Captain, 44.
Cromwell, Oliver, 52, 202.
Crown, William, obtains a grant of Acadia from Cromwell, 53.
Cuillerier, Rene, 113.
Cures, Canadian, 520.
DABLON, the Jesuit, sent among the Onondagas, 69 ; arrival at Onondaga, 70 ; harangues the Indians, 70 ; his journey home, 73 ; at Quebec, 73 ; joins the col- ony among the Onondagas, 74 ; denounces balls in Canada, 413.
D'Amours, see Amours, L?.
Daniel, 123.
Dansmartin, Henry, 475.
Daulac, Adam, early life of, 1 28 ; his expedition against the Iro- quois, 129 ; Chief Anuahotaha offers to reinforce, 130; his en- counter with the Iroquois at the Long Saut, 131-139; deserted by Annahotaha, 134 ; death of, 137 ; saved Canada from a dis- astrous invasion, 138.
D'Aulnay, D'Aulney.see D'Aunay.
D'Aunay, see Charnisay, Charles de Menou d'Aunay.
Dauphiny, 320.
Dauversiere, see La Dauversiere, Le Royer de.
Demers, 436.
De Monts, grant made by Henry IV. to, 3.
Denis, Charles, 173, 213.
Denis, M., 171,483.
Denonville, Mademoiselle, 410.
Denonville, Marchioness, 410.
Denonville, Marquis, the governor, on the Canadian nobility, 318, 320, 321 , 354, 355, 357, 360, 369 ; on the coureurs de bois, 375 ; his arrival in Canada, 410; the di- rections of Bishop Saint-Vallier to, 410, 420; on the education of girls in Canada, 431 ; on the lawlessness in Canada, 441-443 ; on the strength of the Canadi- ans, 445 ; asks aid from the King for the Canadian poor, 446, 450 ; on Chateau St. Louis, 497 ; his letter to Colbert con- cerning trade and industry in Canada, 500, 501 ; his letter to Colbert on Canadian cures, edu- cation, and discipline in Canada, 520-523.
Denys, Nicolas, the trader, 6 ; at
536
INDEX.
Fort Lomlron, 11; his title in Acadia, 14; on the capture of Fort St Jean by D'Aunay, 40 ; keeps a feeble hold on his pos- sessions, 52.
De Quen, see Quen, De,
Des Islets. 275, 307, 314.
Desjardins, La Tour's agent, 16 ; taken prisoner by D'Aunay, 1 7 ; released by D'Aunay, 17 ; sends a ship to La Tour, 19.
Des Touches, Fe'ronne, 192 ; his murder, 192.
Detroit, 323 ; post of the coitreurs de boi* at, 376 ; La Mothe-Cadillac the founder of, 415 ; slavery at, 454.
Diamond, Cape, 75, 238, 346.
Dieppe, 277.
Dollard, see Daiilac, Adam.
Dollier, see Cauon, Dottier de.
Doutre, 331, 346, 365.
Dream Feast, the, 72.
Dreams, the oracles of the Iro- qnois, 91.
Drunkenness, the most destruc- tive vice in the colony, 444.
Du Bois, Jean Baptiste, 258.
Dubois, M., 513.
Dn Buisson, 308.
Duchesnean, the intendant, on the Canadian nobility, 318, 319, 337 ; letters from Colbert to, 339, 400 ; letters from the King to, 339, 394 ; attempts to apply a stimu- lus to Canadian trade, 358 ; ap- peals for help, 359 ; on the cou- reurt de bois, 374 ; his report on the brandy question, 389 ; 402, 403, 443 ; on the poverty of Canada, 447 ; letters from Col- bert to, 515, 516.
Dufresne, Jacques, 113.
Du Lhut, 323, 374 ; the leader of the coureurt de bolt, 376.
Dumesnil, Jean Peronne, 190; his power not recognized, 191 ; his life threatened, 192, 193; his statements rejected by the council, 195 ; his papers seized by the council, 198 ; designs of the council against, 199; his escape, 200 ; returns to France, 200; reports his grievances to Colbert, 200; memorials of, 202 ; 389 ; on the brandy quarrel, 390 ; on the trade of the Jesuits, 394 ; letter of Du Pont to Col- bert concerning, 484, 485 ; his memorial concerning affairs in Canada, 486-488.
Dumout, 189 ; journal of, 190.
Dunkin, Mr., 315.
Duplessis, 362, 504.
Du Pont, Gaudais, letter to Col- bert concerning Dumesnil from, 484 ; 486, 487.
Dupny, Paul, 344, 435.
Du Pnys, Major Zachary, 74 ; at Onoudaga, 79, 89 ; admirable coolness of, 90.
Du Quet, Pierre, 173.
Durham Terrace, 496, 499.
Dutch, the, 63, 71, 75, 84, 381, 388.
Dutch War, the, outbreak of, 291.
EBOULEMENS, the, 185, 298.
Education, in Canada, 520.
Endicott, Governor John, warns Governor Winthrop against La Tour, 30; La Tour asks aid from, 32 ; refuses to grant La Tour's petition, 33; D'Aunay proposes terms of peace to, 34, 35.
England, claims the North Ameri- can continent, 3 ; Sir William Alexander transfers the French settlements in Acadia and Can*
INDEX.
537
ada by conquest to, 8 ; restored by treaty of St. Germain, 8 ; war breaks out between France and, 52; 121 ; jealousy of Co- lonial manufactures shown by, 361 ; succeeded in the building up of colonies, 463.
English, the, attack Fort Lome- ron, 6 ; 381, 388 ; threaten to attack Canada, 424.
English colonist, the, compared with the French colonist, 459.
English conquest, the, the grand crisis of Canadian history, 467.
English gentry, the, 316.
English revolution, the, 164.
Erie Indians, the, at war with the Iroquois, 57 ; the best hope of peace for the French lay in the Iroquois' war with, 67.
Estrades, the Marechal d', viceroy for America, 237.
Evreux, in Normandy, 10.
FAILLON, Abbe", on Dauversiere and the Sisterhood of St. Joseph, 98 ; on the miraculous cure of Mile. Mance, 100; on the reticence and dissimulation practised by the Jesuits and the Mont realists, 104 ; on the privations of the nuns at Mont- real, 106; tribute to, 117; on the heroism of Daulac, 138 ; on the struggle for the bishopric of Canada, 155; on Laval's letter to the Pope, 1 59 ; on Laval's desire for the title of Bishop of Quebec, 219 ; on Dollier de Cas- son at St. Anne, 264 ; on Tracy's expedition against the Iroqaois, 267 ; on the peopling of Can- ada, 277, 285 ; on the premium placed on marriage in Canada, 287, 290 ; on the right of Mont-
real to trade with France, 352 ; on the ornamental arts in Canada, 362 ; on Mile. Le Ber, 425 ; on education in Canada, 426; on the influence of the troops on Canada, 435 ; on the brawls at Montreal, 439 ; on the laws controlling innkeepers, 449.
Felicite', Saint, 241.
Ferlaud, Abbe, his admiration of Laval, 172; 308; on the trade of the Jesuits, 395 ; 448, 449, 450 ; on the letter from Mezy to the Jesuits, 490.
" Festins a manger tout," 90, 94.
Fete Dieu, the, 168.
Feudalism, in Europe, 304 ; in Canada, 304; in France, 304; first planted in Canada by Richelieu, 305.
Fillion, Sieur, 203.
Finances of Canada, the, not pros- perous, 362.
Fisheries of Canada, the, 357, 358.
Flavian, Saint, 241.
Flemish Bastard, the, 64, 252, 266.
Florida, 4, 7, 234.
Follin, Sieur, 272.
Fontainebleau, the forest of, 229.
Fontanges, 231.
Forestier, at Fort St. Anne, 264.
Forest-trade, the, 368.
Forster, John Reinold, 458.
Fouquet, the arrest of, 231.
Fowle, Mr., 34.
France, claims the North Ameri- can continent, 3 ; the French settlements in Acadia and Can- ada restored by the treaty of St. Germain to, 8 ; in sole possession of Acadia, 8; war breaks out between England
638
INDEX.
and, 51; drifting toward the triumph of the fxirti dfvot, 227 ; feudalism loses its vitality in, 304 ; past and present stand side by side throughout, 326 ; failed in the building up of colonies, 463.
France, the Church of, 153.
Tranche Comte, 414.
Franchetot, Mathnrin, captured by the Iroqnois, 56; burned by the Iroqnois, 61.
Francis, Saint, 13.
Francis Borgia, Saint, 225.
Francis I., of France, 153, 155, 156.
Francis of Assisi, Saint, 225.
Francis of Sales, Saint, 225, 410.
Franciscans, the, 400.
Freinin, Father, joins the colony among the Onondagas, 74; at Three Rivers, 250 ; ordered to the Mohawks, 266 ; 394.
Fremont, the cure, 438.
French, the, keep a feeble hold on Acadia, 4 ; make a lodg- ment on the rock of Quebec, 7 ; peace concluded with the Indians at Quebec, 61 ; their best hope of peace lay in the Iroquois' war with the Eries, 67 ; Mohawk attacks on, 68 ; the Mohawks make insolent de- mands of, 86 ; abandon the Huron* to their fate, 86; the principal fault of, 130.
French Celt, the, 465.
French colonist, the, compared with the English colonist, 459.
French fisheries of Newfoundland, the, 358.
French nobleste, the, 316.
Fronde, 242.
Frontenac, Count, 197, 281 ; on the life of Chain bly on the
Richelieu, 294 ; on the younger Charles Le Moyne, 324 ; re- ports on the coureurt de boit to, 374 ; on the brandy quarrel, 392, 393 ; his patronage of balls in Canada, 413 ; on the clerical severity in Canada, 413, 414; 446; on Chateau St. Louis, 496, 497-499; his memorial to the King, 517.
Fundy, Bay of, 14, 38.
Fur-trade, the, not held inconsis- tent with nobleste, 10; disputes concerning, 52 ; again restored to Canada after the Iroquoia War, 58 ; rendered worthless by the Iroquois War, 175; the Mont realists want to monopolize, 176; at Tadoussac, 365; the importance of, 366.
GABOURT, Louis, 346.
Galinee, Father, 141.
Gallican Church, the, 153.
Gallican (National) Party, the, 153; tenets of, 153; outflanked by the Ultramontanes, 1 54 ; its struggle against the Ultramon- tanes, 155.
Gannentaa, meaning of the word, 83.
Ganong, W. F., on the supposed site of Fort La Tour, 39.
Gauuntaah, meaning of the word, 83.
Garacontie, the famous chief, 245.
Garde de la Marine, the, 321.
Garneau, the Canadian, 224 ; on the emigration to Canada, 277.
Gamier, Julien, at the Seneca mis* sions, 380.
Garonne River, the, 409.
Garrean, the Jesuit, murdered by the Mohawks, 85.
Gaspe', 187.
INDEX.
539
Gaudais-Dupont, 194, 195, 198, 199, 200,201, 203,215,218.
General Court of Massachusetts, the, 43 ; severe law against the sale of liquor to the Indians passed by, 391.
General Hospital of Paris, the, 446.
General Hospital of Quebec, the, founded by Saint- Vallier, 446.
Gentilhomme, the, 316.
Gentry, English, 316.
George, Lake, 248, 253.
Germanic race, the, 465.
Gibbons, Capt. Edward, 21, 25; joins La Tour against D'Aunay, 28, 29, 32, returns to Boston, 32; entertains D'Aunay's en- voys, 42, 43.
Gibbons, Mrs. Edward, 21, 22, 25.
Giffard, the physician, 291, 299, 307.
Giffard, Robert, 195.
Gloria, Jean, 203.
Code, Nicolas, 110.
Godefroy (son), death of, 119.
Good Hope, Cape of, 234.
Gookin, Daniel, 248.
Government House, the, at -Que- bec, 308.
Governor-General of Canada, the, powers of, 327 ; his relations with the intendant, 328.
"Governor's Garden," the, 21.
Graftou, sent to Fort St. Jean with provisions, 38 ; captured by D'Aunay, 38,41.
Grande Baye, La, 15.
Grandet, 255, 263, 264, 265.
Grand voyer, the, in Canada, 340.
Great Britain, the King of, 308.
Great Lakes, the, 323, 462.
Great Seminary, the, at Quebec, 220 ; founded by Laval, 220 ; Laval's arrangement for the support of, 223.
Greenland, 466.
Guercheville, Madame de, grant
made by Louis XIII. to, 4. Guiche, the Count de, 230. Guienne, the admiralty court of,
16.
Guimont, Louis, 429. Guion, Jean, 307. Gyuecocracy, among the Indians,
*85.
HABITANT, the, 315, 333, 360, 431,
466. Harlay, Archbishop of Rouen,
283.
Harvard College, 425. Hawkins, Thomas, joins La Tour
against D'Aunay, 28, 29, 32;
returns to Boston, 32. Hazard, 7.
Hazeur, 356 ; memorial of, 357. Henriette of England, 230. Henry IV., of France, grant made
to De Monts by, 3. "Hermitage," the, 145; account
of, 146 ; the zealots at, 147 ;
204, 205, 207, 228, 476-481. Hertel, Francois, his letter to Le
Moyne, 121, 122; captured by
the Mohawks, 122 ; his letter to
his mother, 123 ; adventures of,
123; death of, 123; letters of
nobility of, 123; estimates of,
124. Hocquart, the intendant, his view
of the Canadians, 455. Holland, 121, 237. Holy Family, the, attempt to found
a religious colony at Montreal
in honor of, 98. Holy See, the, 160. Holy Wars of Montreal, the, 96-
117.
Horn, Cape, 466. Hotel Dieu of Montreal, the, 303.
540
INDEX.
Hotel TMeu of Quebec, the, 104, 125; Talon's portrait at, 268, 300; the nuiis of, 362 : 401,421, 422.
Houssart, 162.
Hubbard, 15, 19, 32.
Hudson's Bay, 234, 236, 365.
Hudson Kiver, the, Dutch heretics at the mouth of, 15 ; settlements of, 119; 248.
Huguenots, the, 204, 240, 354, 420, 421.
Ihiissier, the, in Canada, 331.
Hundred Associates, the, 305.
Hunt, Prof. Sterry, on the evi- dences of the earthquake at Quebec, 185.
Huron Colony, the, coveted by the Iroquois, the Mohawks, and the Onoudagas, 62.
Huron Indians, the, destruction of, 58 ; Iroquois plans to destroy, 62 ; turn to the Jesuits for aid, 62 ; attack of the Mohawks on, 76 ; abandoned to their fate by the French, 86 ; joined by Father Ragueneau, 86; slaughtered by the Onondagas, 87 ; take refuge in Quebec, 125; at the Long Saut, 134; desert Daulac, 134, 137, 138.
Huron mission, the, 63.
Hutchinson, Mrs., preaching of, 25.
Iiu: HVII.I.E, Le Moyne d', 323.
Ignace, Father, the Superior of the Capucins, at Port Royal, 12; tribute to D'Annay, 48.
Incarnation, Marie de 1', on the Mohawk Iroqnois attack on Du Plessis Bochart, 55 ; on the cap- ture of Father Le Moyne by the Mohawks, 68; on the French colony among the Onondagas,
75 ; on the Mohawks' attack on the Hurous, 76 ; on the politi- cal influence of women among the Iroquois, 84 ; on the Medi- cine Feast, 92 ; on the Onon- daga mission, 94 ; on the ap- pearance of the comet above Quebec, 119; on the threatened attack of the Iroquois, 125; on the desertion of Daulac by the Hurons, 137; her eulogy on Laval, 161 ; on the earthquake at Quebec, 184, 185, 186, 187; on the appointment of the Mar- quis de Tracy as lieutenant- general of America, 238, 241 ; on the Holy War in Canada, 243 ; her letters home, 244 ; 252 ; on Tracy's expedition against the Mohawks, 254, 256 ; on Tracy's success, 257 ; 261 ; on Talon's zeal for the success of the colony, 272 ; on the peo- pling of Canada, 277 ; on the emigration to Canada, 278, 280; on the " King's gift," 286 ; on the premium ou marriage in Canada, 287 ; her estimate of the officers on the Richelieu, 294 ; at the Urculine Convent in Quebec, 300 ; on the Canadian settler, 303 ; ou witches in Canada, 421 ; on the education of girls in Canada, 431 ; on the influence of the troops on Can* ada, 435.
Indians, the, grand council held at Quebec, 57 ; conclude treaty with the French, 61 ; celebra- tion of the Dream Feast, 72 ; political influence of women among, 84 ; their fur-trade with the French, 367 ; forest- trade with, 368; severe law passed by the General Court of
INDEX.
541
Massachusetts against the sale of liquor to, 391.
Indian women, the, reproductive qualities of, 289.
Infant Jesus, the chapel of the, at Montreal, 302.
Innocent XI., Pope, 153, 154, 156, 158, 159, 220.
Intendant of Canada, the powers of, 326 ; his relations with the Governor-General, 328 ; the rul- ing power in the colony, 337.
" Ipswich Letter," the, 30 ; Gov- ernor Winthrop's reply to, 31 ; great/eifect of, 31.
" Ironsides," Cromwell's invinci- ble, 466.
Iroquois Indians, the, attack the French at Montreal, 55 ; cap- ture Father Poncet, 56 ; at war with the Eries, 57 ; make peace with the French, 57 ; the five " nations " of, 57 ; grant life to Father Poncet, 59 ; native fickle- ness of, 62 ; plans to destroy the Hurons, 62 ; their friendly re- ception to Father Le Moyne, 66 ; desire peace with Canada, 66 ; the capital of, 81 ; dissimu- lation of, 81 ; political influence of women among, 84 ; dealings of Ailleboust with, 88 ; dreams the oracles of, 91 ; their attacks on Montreal, 109-116; the French make a truce with, 110; kill Le Maitre and Vignal, 111, 112 ; their threatened attack on the French, 125; captured by the French, 127; Daulac's ex- pedition against, 129; their encounter with Dauku- at the Long Saut, 131-139 ; 244 ; sue for peace, 265 ; the hopes of the Jesuits for, 380.
Iroquois missions, the, 383.
Iroquois War, the, 54-57 ; Canada writhes under the scourge of, 118; at its height, 120; renders theL fur-trade worthless, 175.
Isle a la Pierre, 1 1 2.
Isle aux Oies, 68, 435.
Isle La Motte, 260.
JACOBIN convent, the, 205.
JadbbTn monks, the, 205.
Jacquelin, Marie, marries Charles de la Tour, 1 7 ; proves a valu- able ally to La Tour, 17 ; taken prisoner by D'Aunay, 17 ; released by D'Aunay, 1 7 ; sails for Boston, 20 ; in Boston, 28 ; returns to France, 36 ; forbidden to leave France, 36 ; escapes to England and sails to America, 36 ; arrives in Boston, 36 ; re- joins La Tour, 37 ; captured by D'Aunay, 40; her death, 40; 470.
James I. of England, grant made to Sir William Alexander by, 4.
Jamin, Captain, 17.
Jansenism, 148, 157, 205.
Jansenists, the, their struggle with the Jesuits, 146 ; 420, 476, 479, 480.
Javille, 475.
Jemsec, supposed site of Fort La Tour at, 39.
Jerome, Saint, 411.
Jesuit College, the, at Quebec, 301 .
Jesuit missions, the, 380 ; import- ance of, 381 ; extremities of, 383 ; the splendid self-devotion of, 409.
Jesuits, the, grant made by Louis XIII. to, 4; the Hurons apply for aid to, 62 ; invited by the Onondagas to plant a colony among them, 63 ; send Father Le Moyne among the Onon-
542
INDEX.
dagas, 64 ; at Onondaga, 70, 80 ; decide to establish a colony among the Onondagas, 74 ; Governor Lauson makes a grant of land to, 74 ; fearful task essayed by, 84 ; among the Cayugas, the Senecas, and the Oneidas, 84 ; frightfnl position of, 89 ; admirable coolness of, 90; the Medicine Feast, 91; escape from the Indians, 93 ; arrival at Quebec, 94 ; jealousy for the Sulpitians at Montreal, 103; reticence and dissimulation practised by, 104 ; in despair, 119 ; torture considered a bless- ing in disguise by, 124 ; their struggle to obtain the bishopric of Canada, 142-145; animosity of Father Queylus to, 143, 144; conflict with the Jansenists, 1 46 ; the most forcible expo- nents of ultramontane princi- ples, 153 ; their struggle against the Sulpitians, 155 ; triumph over the Sulpitians, 160 ; adepts in human nature, 164; their sagacity in choosing Laval to be Bishop of Canada, 164; Avaugour desires to be on good terms with, 179; Mezy appeals to, 209 ; accusations against M'-'/y, 214; Me"zy's charges against, 217; their ideas in re- gard to the relations of the Church and State, 226 ; victory over the Iroquois, 265-267 ; be- ' gin their ruined missions anew, 380 ; their hopes of converting the Iroquois, 380 ; always in the van of religious and political propagandism, 383 ; La Mothe's hatred for, 385 ; denounce the brandy traffic, 388 ; enter on the work of reform, 389 ; trade of,
393-395 ; forbidden by the King to carry on trade, 394 ; the re- call of Mey.y a defeat in dis- guise for, 396 ; Courcelle's op- position to, 397 ; Talon ordered to watch, 397 ; Colbert plans against, 400; rigorous at Que- bec, 416; derive great power from the confessional, 417; form the Congregation of the Holy Family, 418 ; reluctant to share their power with the Recollets, 418; the ablest teachers in Canada, 425 ; letter from Mezy to, 490-492 ; 517.
" Jesuits' Well," the, 79.
Jesus, the Company of, 69, 512.
Jesus, the Island of, 224, 403.
Jesus, the Order of, see Order of Jesut.
Joachim, Saint, 429.
Jognes, Father Isaac, 257.
Joliet, Louis, 356.
Joseph, Brother, 394.
Joseph, Saint, the labors of Mile. Mance in honor of, 98 ; hos- pital at Montreal in honor of, 101.
Josselyn, on the earthquake at Quebec, 187.
Jouaneaux, at Montreal, 107 ; de- votes himself to the service of the Sisters, 107.
Juchereau, see Saint-Ignace, Fran- ces Juchereau de.
Judge, the, in Canada, 332.
Jumeau, Sister, at Montreal, 107.
KAI.M, the Swedish botanist, 456 ; his view of the Canadians, 456. Kamouraska, 406, 428. " King's gift," the, 280. " King's girls," the, 285. " Kirke," the, 5. Kirke, the brothers, Sir William
INDEX.
543
Alexander fits out a private ex- pedition under, 7 ; success of the expedition, 7. Kirke, Sir David, gives assistance to La Tour, 45.
LABADIE, Sergeant, 301.
La Barre, Governor, 419, 440, 441, 443, 496.
La Bouteillerie, 406.
La Chaise, Pere, 391 ; his corre- spondence with Laval, 404.
Lachenaye, 178.
La Chesnaye, Charles Aubert de, memorial of, 275 ; on the brandy quarrel, 390, 391 ; 448.
La Chine, 65, 287, 302.
La Chine Rapids, the, 302.
La Citiere, vast domain of, 310.
La Combe, 406.
La Dauversiere, Le Rover de, founder of the sisterhood of St. Joseph, 97 ; appropriates for himself the money of the sister- hood, 98, 102; portrait of, 98; visited by Mile. Mance, 100; a wretched fanatic, 100 ; agent of the Association of Montreal, 101 ; death of, 102.
Ladies, the, in Canada, 457.
La Durantaye, 263, 323 ; at Mich- ilimackinac, 385.
La Fayette, Madame de, 230.
La Ferte, Juchereau de, appointed councillor at Quebec, 195, 196; 213.
Lafitau, on the political influence of women among the Iroquois, 84 ; on the resemblance between the Iroquois and the ancient Lyciaus, 85 ; 432.
La Fleche, town of, 100, 101, 102.
La Fleche Nuns, the, 102; in Canada, 1 04 ; extreme poverty of, 105.
Lafontaine, Judge, 315.
Lafontaine, Sir L. H., 309.
La Frediere, Major, sent to garri- son Montreal, 435 ; his tyranny, 436 ; accusations against, 437 ; ordered home to France, 437.
La Galisonniere, Marquis de, 432.
La Houtan, 281, 282, 285, 332, 334, 347, 354, 369 ; complains of the clerical severity in Canada, 414, 415 ; 420, 447 ; his view of the Canadians, 455.
Lalemant, Charles, 226.
Lalemaut, Father Jerome, 166, 167, 171, 172, 179, 181, 182, 183, 184, 211, 213, 387 ; on the trade of the Jesuits, 393 ; 483, 484.
La Luciere, La Motte de, 263, 265, 279, 288, 493.
Lamberville, among the Onon- dagas, 380.
Lamoignon, President of the Com- pany of New France, 178.
La Mothe-Cadillac, 323 ; at Mich- ilimackinac, 385 ; his hatred for the Jesuits, 385 ; on the re- lations of Laval and the King, 399 ; the founder of Detroit, 415 ; on the clerical severity in Canada, 415, 416, 518, 519.
La Motte, see La Luciere, La Motte de.
La Mouche, Chief, 134.
Langlois, Noel, 318.
La Peltrie, Madame de, 145.
La Potherie, 252, 334, 347 ; on the women of Quebec, 453.
Larean, 331, 346, 365.
La Salle, 274, 302, 323; on the brandy quarrel, 390; on the trade of the Jesuits, 394 ; on Father Bardy's sermon against the governor, 399 ; on the power derived by the Jesuits from the confessional, 417.
544
INDEX.
La Tesserie, appointed councillor at Quebec, 213.
La Tout, Abbe, 146, 152, 155, 181, 184, 193, 214, 218, 221, 228, 241, 278, 296, 334, 361, 430, 448.
La Tour, Charles Saint-fetienne de, brought to Acadia, 5 ; be- comes attached to the service of Biencourt, 5 ; Biencourt be- queaths his property to, 5 ; be- comes owner of Fort Lomeron and its dependencies, 5 ; appeals to the King for a commission to command in Acadia, 5 ; attacked by Sir William Alexander, 5 ; made a baronet of Nova Scotia, 7 ; receives grants of land near Cape Sable and on the St. John River, 7 ; builds a fort on the St. John River, 7 ; his English titles to lands at Cape Sable become worthless, 9 ; returns to Paris, 9 ; extensive grants of lands made to, 9 ; made lieuten- ant-general in Fort Lome'ron and commander at Cape Sable, 9 ; dissensions with D'Annay, 9 ; his position and qualities compared with D'Annay, 9 ; his little kingdom at Cape Sable, 10; the true surname of his family, 10; bitter enmity for D'Aunay, 14 ; receives a land grant on the St. John, 14 ; re- moves from Cape Sable to Fort St. Jean, 14 ; his fend with D'Aunay, 14, 15; attacks the Plymouth trading-house at Ma- chias, 15; refuses to aid D'Aunay against Penobscot, 16; plots {.gainst D'Annay, 16; marries Ma ie Jacquelin, 17; she proves a valuable ally to, 1 7 ; captures some of D'Annay's sol- diers, 1 7 ; battle with D'Aunay,
17; taken prisoner by TV Au&ay, 17; released by D'Annay, 17; his commission revoked, 18; refuses to obey the King's com- mand, 18; in open revolt, 19; sails for Boston, 20 ; arrives in Boston, 21 ; asks Governor Winthrop for aid against D'Aunay, 22 ; among the Puri- tans, 25 ; attends training-day in Boston, 26 ; allowed by Governor Winthrop to hire allies against D'Aunay, 28; sails with his allies from Boston, 32; D'Auuay flees before, 32; asks aid from Governor Eudi- cott, 32 ; his petition not granted, 33 ; rejoined by his wife, 37 ; D'Annay captures Fort St. Jean, 39 ; his wife captured, and her death, 40 ; entertained by Samuel Maverick, 45 ; re- ceives assistance from Sir David Kirke, 45 ; treachery of, 45 ; death of D'Aunay, 48 ; suddenly appears as the favorite of roy- alty, 49; his fruitful visit to France, 50; return to Acadia, 50 ; marries Madame d'Aunay, 51 ; his share of Acadia, 52 ; obtains a grant of Acadia from Cromwell, 53 ; sells his share to Temple, 53 ; his death, 53 ; his descendants, 53 ; official report j of Andre Certain on D'Aunay and, 469-475.
La Tour, Madame Charles de, see Jiirqurlin, Marie.
La Tour, Claude de, 5 ; captur by the privateer " Kirke," 5 ; his marriage, 5 ; renounces hii French allegiance, 6 ; made baronet of Nova Scotia, 6 ; to Cape Sable, 6 ; early histor of, 10.
INDEX.
545
La Tour, Fort, supposed site of, 39 ; see also Lomtron, Fort.
Laubia, Captain, 301.
Laurent, Jean, 475.
Lauson, Governor, Jean de, re- ceives the Onondaga deputation, 69 ; favors the establishment of the Onondaga colony, 74 ; makes a grant of land to the Jesuits, 74 ; not matched to the desper- ate crisis of the hour, 77; 116, 196,310,352,448.
Lauson, son of the governor, the seneschal of New France, 119; death of, 119.
Lauzon, Cote de, census of, 299.
Laval- Mo ntmorency, Fran9ois Xavier de, bishop at Quebec, 102; allied to the Jesuits, 102; looks on the colonists of Mont- real with more than coldness, 102; maxims of, 141 ; appointed Bishop of Canada, 145; sketch of, 145 ; eulogy on, 151 ; bound- less zeal of, 152; of one mind with the Jesuits, 154; sails for Canada, 154 ; Queylus puts him- self in opposition to, 155; his dislike of divided authority, 155 ; not a man of half measures, 156; Queylus in conflict with, 158 ; his letter to the Pope, 159 ; reconciliation with Queylus, 160 ; his triumph complete, 160 ; an object of veneration to Cath- olics, 161 ; eulogies on, 161 ; his austerity of life, 162; sanctity of, 162 ; portraits of, 163 ; char- acteristics of, 1 63 ; Colbert the true antagonist of, 1 65 ; quarrels with Argenson, 166, 167, 168, 170, 171 ; Ferland's admiration for, 172; urges the removal of Argenson, 178; the brandy quarrel, 181 ; sails for France,
182; urges the removal of Avaugonr, 182 ; his triumph, 193 ; constructs a new council, 194; his selection of Mezy as governor, 206 ; signs of storm, 207 ; Me'zy in opposition to, 209, 213; accusations against Mezy, 214 ; Mezy recalled, 215 ; his threefold strength at court, 215; the death of Mezy, 210; Mezy's charges against, 217; his desire to obtain the title of Bishop of Quebec, 219; obtains his desires, 220 ; proposes to establish a seminary at Quebec, 220 ; his idea of the parish priest, 221 ; his arrangement for the support of the seminary, 222; acquires vast grants of land in Canada, 224 ; the father of the Canadian Church, 224 ; tribute to, 224 ; his funeral eulogy, 225 ; stories of his asceticism, 225; his ideas in regard to the rela- tion of Church and State, 226 ; cared for nothing outside the Church, 228 ; receives the Mar- quis de Tracy, 239 ; on the peopling of Canada, 277 ; his seigniory of Beaupre, 298 ; his opposition to the brandy traffic, 389; the King distrusts, 392; his relations with the King, 399; returns to France, 403; asks to have a successor ap- pointed, 403 ; forbidden to return to Canada, 404 ; his correspond- ence with Pere La Chaise, 404 ; his invectives against the luxury and vanity of women, 412; de- nounces balls in^Canada, 413; encourages education in Canada, 426 ; his industrial school, 430 , letters between D'Argenson (brother of the governor) and,
35
546
INDEX.
481 -4*4; 486; order received from Me'zy, 488 ; his reply, 490 ; 517, 518,520.
Laval's Seminary, at Quebec, 450 ; the burning of, 450.
La Valterie, Lieutenant, 301.
Laval University, of Quebec, 161, 223.
Lavater, 268.
La Verendrye, Varennes de, 289, 323.
Lavigne, 112 ; nocturnal adventure of, 114.
Le Her, the merchant, 107.
Le Ber, Jacques, 317.
Le Ber, Jeanne, 362; the vener- ated recluse of Montreal, 421 ; sketch of, 422-425.
L« Ber, Pierre, 362.
Le Borgne, unscrupulous plans against Madame d'Annay, 50, 51 ; gets a lion's share of Aca- dia, 52.
Leclerc, 475.
Le Clerc, 276 ; on the early colo- nists of Canada, 278.
Le Jeune, Father, on the Mo- hawks' attack on the Hnrons, 76; on the Iroquois attacks on Montreal, 115; asked by Anne of Austria to select a bishop for Canada, 144 ; sagacious choice of, 145.
Le Maitre, the priest, 96 ; killed by the Iroquois, 111.
Le Mercier, Father, on the French victory over the Iroqnois at Montreal, 55 ; on the close of the Iroqnois War, 58 ; on the sale of beaver-skins in Canada, 58 ; on the departure of Father Le Moyne to the Ouondajras, 64 ; joins the colony among the Onondagas, 74 ; falls ill, 78 ; at Onondaga, 79, 80; on Cliaumo-
not's power among the Indians. 83 ; 241 ; on Conrcelle's desire for war, 246 ; on Talon's at- tempt to establish trade between Canada and the West Indies, 272 ; his punishment of the brandy traffic, 389; private journal of, .393; 417.
Le Moyne, Charles, 129, 245; at the head of the " Blue Coats " of Montreal, 254 ; a man of sterling qualities, 324.
Le Moyne, Charles (the younger), 324 ; his fort, 324 ; 437, 438.
Le Moyne, Father Simon, sent among the Onondagas, 64 ; his journey, 64 ; reception by the Iroqnois, 65; his harangue, 66,
67 ; discovers the famous salt- springs of Onondaga, 68 ; re- turns to Quebec, 68 ; captured by the Mohawks, but released,
68 ; among the Mohawks, 69 ; returns to Montreal, 69 ; goes again among the Mohawks, 88 ; letter from Hertel to, 122.
Le Noir, Francois, 287.
Leroles, cousin of Tracy, 251.
Lesdiguieres, Duchesse de, letter from Charlevoix to, 458.
Lesser Seminary, the, at Quebec, 223.
Lestang, 19.
Levi, Point, 126, 238, 451.
Levite, 215.
Lome'ron, Fort, Bienconrt at, 5 ; Charles de la Tour becomes the owner of, 5 ; attacked by Sir William Alexander, 5, 6 ; Charles de la Tour made lieu- tenant-general in, 9; hislifeat.il.
Long Lake, 249.
Long Sant Rapids, the, 131 ; en- counter of Danlac with the Iro- quois at, 131-139.
INDEX.
547
Longuenil,the seigniory of, 302,307.
Longueuil, Baron de, see Le Moyne, Charles (the younger).
Lorette, the mission of, 382.
Lormeau, Ensign, Carion's attack on, 437, 438.
Lorraine, the regiment of, 243.
Lotbiniere, the seigniory of, 302.
Louis, Father, 205, 206.
Louis, M., goes to Boston as D'Aunay's envoy, 41 ; completes treaty with the Puritans, 44 ; returns to D'Aunay, 45.
Louis XIII., of France, grant made to Madame de Guerche- ville and the Jesuits by, 4 ; La Tour begs a commission to command in Acadia from, 5, 7 ; gives North America to the Company of New France, 7 ; revokes La Tour's commission, 18; orders D'Annay to keep peace with the Puritans, 33.
Louis XIV., of France, pleased with D'Aunay's capture of Fort St. Jean, 46 ; grants royal favors to D'Aunay, 46; reverses the decree against La Tour, 49 ; re. flections on the colonial adminis- tration of, 50 ; favors Laval's wishes for the bishopric of Que- bec, 220 ; his sun rising in splendor, 230 ; fortune strangely bountiful to, 230; formed by nature to act the part of a king, 231 ; the embodiment of the monarchical idea, 232; has the prosperity of Canada at heart, 2.36 ; resolved that a new France should be added to the old, 239 ; peoples Canada, 276 ; alarmed by Talon's demands for more men, 278 ; offers a bounty on children, 289; the Father of New France, 291 ; bis zeal
spasmodic, 291 ; the triumph of royalty culminates in, 305 ; preserves feudalism in Canada, 305 ; the dispenser of charity for all Canada, 321 ; alone supreme in Canada, 329; on justice in Canada, 333 ; letter to Duchesneau, 339; ever haunted with the fear of the Devil, 344 ; his edict against swearing, 344; the excess of his benevolence, 347 ; death of, 348 ; Saint-Simon's portrait of, 350 ; influence of Madame de Maiuteuon ou, 350 ; retains ex- clusive right of the fur-trade at Tadoussac, 365 ; the coureurt de Lois an object of horror to, 373 ; appeal made in the brandy quarrel to, 390 ; never at heart a prohibitionist, 391 ; distrusts Laval, 392 ; his attitude on the brandy quarrel, 392 ; forbids the Jesuits from carrying on trade, 394 ; his relations with Laval, 399 ; his liberality to the Cana- dian Church, 401 ; on education in Canada, 426 ; contributes to the relief of the Canadian poor, 446; his instructions to Talon regarding the government and the clergy in Canada, 515.
Louisburg, the capture of, 467.
Louvigni, Bernieres de, royal treasurer at Caen, 145, 151 ; sketch of, 145-147; 204, 206; laudatory notice of, 206 ; the maxims of, 228 ; 476, 477, 479.
Louvre, the, library of, 178.
Loyola, Ignatius de, sage policy of, 144; followers of, 416.
Lussaudiere, the seigniory of, 302.
Lycians, the, ancient resemblance of the Iroquuis to, 85.
Lyons, 280.
548
INDEX.
MACE, Sister, 101 ; at Montreal, 107, 109.
Machias, Plymouth trading-houses at, 15 ; attacked by I A Tour, 15.
Madeleine, Cape, 393.
Madry, chosen alderman of Que- bec, 212.
Magdelaine, Cape, 512.
Maillet, Sister, 97, 101, 109.
Maine, State of, 8, 323, 383.
Mainteiioii, Madame de, 227, 350 ; influence on Louis XIV., 350, 420.
Maisonneuve, Chomedey de, gov- ernor of Montreal, 106; forms a military fraternity at Mont- real, 116 ; proclamation of, 116 ; 128, 130, 131, 175 ; removed by Me'zy, 207 ; removed by Tracy, 328 ; his death in obscurity, 328.
Mai Bay, 298, 356.
Malta, Kniglits of, 165.
Mance, Jeanne, returns to Canada, 97; her labors in honor of St. Joseph, 98 ; her hospital work at Montreal, 98 ; loses the use of her arm, 99 ; returns to France, 99 ; her miraculous cure, 99 ; her visit to Mme. de Bul- lion, 100; her visit to Dau- versiere, 100; gains recruits in La Fleche, 102; attacked by fever, 103 ; returns to Montreal, 103 ; description of her hospital, 105.
Mans, 17.
Manufactures, at Canada, 361.
Margry, 432, 456; on La Tour and D'Aunay, 469-475.
Marie, M., visits the Puritans, 34 ; his reception by the magistrates, 34; his terms of peace from D'Aunay, 34 : his return to
Port Royal, 35 ; returns to Boston as D'Annay's envoy, 41, 44 ; completes treaty with the Puritans, 44 ; returns to D'Au- nay, 45.
Marie, Sienr, 471, 473.
Marie Thdrcse, 230.
Marine and Colonies, the Archives of the, 349, 391.
Marot, Bernard, 475.
Marquette, Father, his old mis- sion at Michilimackinac, 383.
Marriage in Canada, bounty on, 286.
Martin, Henri, on Colbert, 233.
Martyrs, the mission of the, 380; Brnyas at, 380.
Massachusetts, Bay of, 15.
Massachusetts, State of, figures as an independent state, 35.
Massachusetts magistrates, the, grant aid to La Tour against D'Aunay, 28 ; letter to D'Au- nay, 33 ; refuse to grant La Tour's second petition, 33 ; re- ception of M. Marie, 34; his terms of peace from D'Aunay, 34.
Maverick, Samuel, La Tour en- tertained by, 45.
Mazarin, Cardinal, 142, 154 ; death of, 231.
Mazariii library at Paris, the, 265.
Maze", Pe*ronne de, secretary to Avangour, 192 ; appointed coun- cillor at Quebec, 213.
Medicine Feast, the, 90-92.
Menard, joins the colony among the Onondagas, 74 ; sets out for the Cayugas, 84.
Menou, Comte Jules de, 9, 10, 16, 17, 19, 20, 27, 50, 51.
Menou, Rene" de (father of D'An- nay), 18, 50.
M.-snu, 1'euvret de, appointed
INDEX.
549
secretary of the council at Que- bec, 195.
Meules, the intendant, 275, 278, 318, 322, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 342, 343, 358, 360 ; issues a card currency, 363 ; 403, 447, 496.
Mexico, the viceroy of, 44.
Mc'zy, Saffray de, appointed gov- ernor of Quebec, 1 94 ; youth of, 204 ; a military zealot, 205 ; merits of, 206 ; removes Maison- neuve, 207 ; signs of storm, 207 ; removes Bourdon, Villeray, and Auteuil from the council, 208; his appeal to the Jesuits, 209 ; appoints Chartier attorney- general, 212 ; banishes Bourdon and Villeray to France, 214; accusations of Laval and the Jesuits against, 214; receives a peremptory recall, 215 ; his defeat, 215; his death, 216; his letter to Marquis de Tracy, 216 ; his will, 216; his charges against Laval and the Jesuits, 217; on the right of Montreal to trade with France, 352 ; his recall a defeat in disguise for the Jesuits, 396 ; 486 ; his order to Laval, 488; Laval's reply, 490; his letter to the Jesuits, 490-492.
Michael, Saint, 247.
Michilimackiuac, the chief resort of the coureurs de bnis, 377, 379 ; Father Marquette's old mission at, 383; abuses at, 383-385; difficulties in transferring trade to Montreal from, 386 ; Jesuit beaver-skins at, 383.
Micmac Indians, the, at Cape Sa- ble, 11; at Port Royal, 12; give assistance to La Tour's outcasts, 46.
Milet, among the Oneidas, 380.
Milton, the Blue Hill in, 23.
Missions, the Jesuit, 380.
Mississippi River, the, 323, 356, 383.
Mississippi Valley, the, posts of the coureurs de bois in, 376.
Mituvemeg, Chief, 130.
Mohawk Iroquois Indians, the, 55 ; defeat and kill Du Plessis Bo- chart, 55 ; Three Rivers beset by, 56 ; make overtures of peace, 57 ; 59 ; covet the Huron colony, 62 ; pretended indigna- tion with the Jesuits, 64 ; cap- ture Father Le Moyne, 68 ; at- tacks on the French, 68 ; take no part in the Erie War, 68 ; attack on Montreal, 68 ; Father Le Moyne among, 69 ; their op- position to the French colony among the Onondagas, 75 ; at- tack on the Hurons, 76; at Onondaga, 81 ; murder the Jesuit Garrean, 85 ; make inso- lent demands of the French, 86 ; Father Le Moyne again goes among, 88 ; rupture Hertel, 122 ; 138; 244; the French plan to chastise, 245 ; Courrelle's march against, 246 ; his failure, 249 ; sue for peace, 251 ; their treach- ery, 251 ; Sorel sent against, 251 ; Tracy sets out against, 253 ; the French victorious against, 257 ; sue for peace, 266 Fre'min and Pierron ordered to, 266 ; Bruyas among, 380.
Mohawk town, the lower, 60.
Mohawk towns, the, 248; Tracy attacks, 255 ; captured by the French, 257.
Mohegan Indians, the, 124.
Molin (Motiu), Jeanne, marries P'Aunay, 11, 16; death of her
550
INDEX.
husband, 48; in need of help, 50 ; oppressed by Le Borgne, 50, 51 , applies to the Due <le Vendome, 51 ; marries La Tour, 51 ; her children, 52.
Montaguais Indians, the, 298.
Montespan, Madame de, 2.31.
Montiguy, Abbe de, see Laval- Montmorency, Francois Xavier de.
Muntmagny, Governor, 165, 393.
Montmoreuci, the cataract of, 299.
Montmorency, Anne de, Constable of France, 145.
Montreal, site of, 4 ; attacked by the Iroquois, 54 ; the Onondaga Indians at, 56 ; attacked by the Mohawks, 68; holy wars of, 96-117; school for female chil- dren at, 97 ; attempt to found a religious colony in honor of the Holy Family at, 98 ; blood and blows rife at, 98 ; a government within a government, 103 ; pop- ulation of, 1 05 ; attacks of the Iroquois on, 109 ; character of its tenants, 110; miracles at, 110-112; a year of disaster at, 115 ; Maisomieuve forms a mili- tary fraternity at, 116; 118; in danger from the Iroquois, 125, 133, 139; Father Souart left in spiritual charge of, 142 ; its struggle against Quebec, 155; the virtual independence of, 175; ariff of prices at, 270; young women shipped to, 285 ; the great mill at, 296; local government at, 328 ; the corpo- rate seigniors of, 332 ; her right to trade with France, 352 ; a bourse established at, 365 ; great annual fair established at, 367 ; the harboring-place of the coureurs de 6o»s, 376; difficul-
ties in transferring trade from Michilimackinac to, 386 ; the Sulpitiaus rigorous at, 416; the sisterhood at, 431 ; the natural resort of desperadoes, 439 ; almshouse established at, 446 ; 502.
Montreal, the Association of, 101, 116.
Montreal, Island of, 130; passes into the possession of the Sulpi- tian priests, 141 ; the head of the colony, 292.
Montrealists, the, reticence and dissimulation practised by, 104; ascend the St. Lawrence, 104 ; reach their new home, 104 ; want to monopolize the fur- trade, 176.
Mouts, De, see De Mont*.
Morangi, M. de, 177.
Moras, Ensign, 301.
Moreau, 19, 50, 51.
Morel, Ensign, 437, 438.
Morel, Father, 406 ; the charge of, 406-408.
Moriu, Sister, 106 ; in Montreal, 109 ; on the miracles at Mont- real, 112; on the influence of the troops on Canada, 435.
Morgan, 83.
Morrison, William, Jr., 499.
Morton, on the earthquake at Quebec, 187.
Motteville, Madame de, 230.
Mouron, Captain, 20, 27.
Murray, General, 308.
NATIONAL (Gallican ) party, the,
153; tenets of, 153. Nau, Michelle-The'rese, 195. New England, 187 ; the Puritan
churches of, 409 ; the colonists
of, 464 ; compared with Canada,
463-467.
INDEX.
561
Newfoundland, 7,45; the French fisheries of, 358.
New France, La Tour becomes governor in, 49 ; incessant su- pernaturalism the key to the early history of, 61 ; political segregation in, 464.
New France, the Company of, see Company of New France, the.
New Hampshire, State of, 379.
New Netherlands, 187 ; passes into English hands, 249.
New Orleans, city of, 323.
New Scotland, charter of, 4.
Newspaper, the first Canadian, 425.
New York, site of, 4 ; 113 ; Talon urges the purchase or seizure of, 274, 275.
Nicholson, General, finally seizes Acadia for England, 52.
Nicole, the Jauseuist, on the zeal- ots at the " Hermitage," 146- 151 ; 205, 206.
Nicolls, governor of New York, 260.
Noblesse, Canadian, 315; French, 316.
Noddle's Island, 45.
Noel, Jean, 308.
Noel, Philippe, 308.
Normandy, 278.
Normans, the, 277.
North America, contest for owner- ship of, 3 ; given by Louis XIII. to the Company of New France, 7.
Norton, John, signs the " Ipswich Letter," 30; Governor Win- throp's reply to, 31.
Notre Dame, the brethren of, 1 23.
Notre Dame, the Church of, at Montreal, 226.
Notre Dame, the Church of, at Quebec, 300, 301.
Nova Scotia, 4, 8.
Nuns, the, at Montreal, 105; pri- vations of, 106; additions to, 107 ; Jouaueaux devotes himself to the service of, 108.
Nuns, the, at Quebec, 421, 422.
OHIO RIVEU, the, 323.
Olier, Jean Jacques, founder of St. Sulpice, 99 ; death of, 99.
Ondakout, Joachim, adventures of, 78.
Oueida Indians, the, 57, 66 ; at Onondaga, 81 ; the Jesuits among, 84; 244; send deputies to Tracy, 266 ; Bruyas ordered to, 266 ; Milet among, 380.
Onondaga, the famous salt springs of, 68; the Jesuits at, 54-95; Le Moyne at, 121.
Onondaga colonists, the, journey of, set out from Quebec, 74 ; 77 79 ; evil designs of the In- dians upon, 89 ; the Medicine Feast, 91 ; their escape, 93 ; their arrival in Quebec, 94.
Onondaga Iroquois Indians, at Montreal, 56 ; covet the Huron colony, 62; invite the French to plant a colony among them, 63 ; Father Le Moyne sent among, 64 ; demand a French colony to be established among them, 69 ; Chaumonot and Dablon sent among, 70, 71; their punishment of prisoners, 72 ; celebration of the Dream Feast, 72 ; the Jesuits decide to establish a colony among, 74 ; at Onondaga, 82 ; jealousy for the Mohawks, 86 ; slaughter their Huron prisoners, 87 ; dia- bolical plots against the Jesuits, 89 ; send an embassy to Quebec, 245 ; sue for peace, 266 ; Lam- berville among, 380.
552
INDEX.
Onondaga, the Lake of, 67, 79, 80 ; France and the Faith intrenched on, 83.
Onondaga, the .Mission of, see Saint Afary of Gannentaa, the Mission of.
Onondaga River, the, 65, 70
"Onontio," 174.
Ontario, Lake, 65, 78.
Orange, Fort (Albany), 188.
Order of Jesns, the, 154.
Oriuoco River, the, 234.
Orleans, the Duke of, 230, 348.
Orleans, the Island of, 62, 76 ; cen- sus of, 299 ; 307, 346, 403, 428.
Orleans, the seigniory of, 402 ; population of, 403.
Ormeaux, Sieur des, see Daulac, Adam.
Oswego River, the, 78, 93, 94.
Ottawa River, the, 125, 128, 130.
Oudiette, granted monopoly in the Tadonssac trade, 366 ; estab- lishes a hat factory, 370; be- comes bankrupt, 371.
Ouelle River, the, 302, 357.
PALACE OF JUSTICE, the, 335. Palace of the Inteudant, the, 335. Papal (Ultramontane) Party, the,
153 ; tenets of, 153. Paris, 9, 99, 278. Paris, the Archbishop of, 391. Paris, the General Hospital of,
283.
Paris, the Parliament of, 154, 190. Parishes, the country, 453. Pawnee Indians, the, 454. Pays d'Annis, 278. Pemigewasset River, the, 379. Penobscot, the Pentegoet of the
French, 15 ; Plymouth trading
station at, 15; attacked by
D'Aunay, 15; 17. Penobscot River, the, 15.
Pentegoet of the French, the, 15. Peqnot Indians, the, antagonism
to the whites, 24. Percherons, the, 277. Pdrot, Isle, 302.
Perrot, Governor of Montreal, 347. Perrot, Nicolas, 77, 252. Petit Cap, the, heights of, 429 ;
shrine at, 430. Petit, Father, 451. Petite Nation, the, seigniory of,
224. Petrsea, Bishop of, see Laval-
Montmorency, Francois Xavier
de.
Peuvret, Laval's secretary, 490. Philadelphia, site of, 4. Philip's War, 382. Phipps, Admiral, 497. Phips, Sir William, capture*
Acadia for England, 52. Picards, the, 277. Picardy, 278. Pierron, Father Jean, ordered to
the Mohawks, 266. Pijart, the Jesuit, 144. Plymouth, 15. Plymouth trading-houses, at
Mac hi as, 15; attacked by
La Tour, 15; at Penobscot, 15;
attacked by D'Aunay, 15. PoinCy, Longvilliers, 475. Point aux Trembles, 302. Poitou, 278. Poncet, Father, captured by the
Iroquoia, 56 ; his life spared by
the Iroqnois, 59 ; his adventures
among the Iroquois, 59-61. Ponchartrain, 313, 364, 371. Porpoise-fishing, 357. Porte St. Antoine, the, 242. Portland Point, supposed site of
Fort La Tour at, 39. Portneuf, the seigniory of, 307. Port Royal, Razilly reaches, 8;
INDEX.
553
D'Aunay makes his headquarters at, 9; D'Aunay's reign at, 11; description of, 13 ; 32, 36, 37, 38, 48 ; captured by Maj. Robert Sedgwick, 52 ; 471, 472.
Pottawattamie Indians, the, 376.
Poutrincourt, 5.
Pretextata, 411.
Prevot, Major of Quebec, 523.
Priests, the Canadian, 409.
Printing-press, the first, in Canada, 425.
Propaganda, at Rome, the, 219.
Protestantism in Canada, 467.
Puritans, the, threaten to destroy the infant colony by their theo- logical quarrels, 24 ; their ideas of religious toleration, 24 ; troubles of, 25; Louis XIII.'s desire to keep peace with, 33 ; D'Aunay makes overtures of friendship to, 33 ; M. Marie visits, 34; D'Aunay sends envoys to, 42.
Pyrenees, the, peace of, 242.
QCATKE ARTICLES of 1682, the, 153.
Quebec, site of, 4; least exposed to Indian attacks, 56 ; grand council of the Indians at, 57 ; fur-trade at, 58 ; peace con- cluded with the Indians at, 61 ; the Canadian Church focussed at, 103; 118; a comet appears above, 119; in danger, 125, 133, 139 ; its struggle against Montreal, 155 ; portents of com- ing evil, 182; the earthquake at, 185-187 ; a little hell of dis- cord, 1 93 ; the new government, 194 ; plan to make a city of, 212 ; political troubles at, 213 ; Laval proposes to establish a seminary at, 220 ; tariff of prices at, 270 ;
young women shipped to, 284 ; settlements about, 293; Talon aims to concentrate the popu- lation around, 296 ; census of, 299 ; the superior council at, 330 ; chimney-sweeping neg- lected at, 341 ; a bourse estab- lished at, 365 ; the Jesuits rigorous at, 416; the Congre- gation of the Holy Family in, 418 ; almshouse established at, 446 ; early police regulations of, 449 ; the Lower Town burned to the ground, 450; busy months at, 452 ; the women of, 453 ; 502.
Quebec, the Chateau of, 325.
Quebec, the Church of, 241.
Quebec, the College of, 425.
Quebec, the Council of, created by Laval, 191 ; refuses to ac- knowledge the powers of Dnmesuil, 191 ; the members of, 195 ; seize the papers of Dumesuil, 198; Mezy in op- position to, 208 ; changes made by Mezy in, 213.
Quebec, the Rock of, the French made a lodgment on, 7; 103,428.
Quen, De, on the Jesuits at Onon- daga, 73.
Queylus, Abbe" de, 141 ; the Sulpitian candidate for the bishopric of Canada, 141 ; made vicar-general for all Canada, 142 ; description of, 143 ; his experiences in Quebec, 143 ; his animosity to the Jesuits, 143, 144 ; opposes Laval, 155 ; shipped to France, 1 56 ; ordered to Rome, 156; receives a cold welcome, 156; disobeys the King's orders and returns to Canada, 157 ; in conflict with Laval, 157 ; again compelled to return to France, 158; his expulsion a defeat
554
INDEX.
for the Sulpitians, 158; bulls obtained from Rome by, 158; finds bis position untenable, 1 60 ; reconciliation with Laval, 160; returns to Canada as a mission- ary, 160; 417.
RADISSON, Pierre Esprit, remark- able narratives of, 94 ; ac- count of Daulac's fight with the Iroquois, 138.
Raffeix, at the Seneca missions, 380.
Ragueneau, Father, on the dis- simulation of the Iroquois, 81 ; joins the Huron fugitives, 86 ; 172; on the earthquake at Que- bec, 184 ; his trade with the Indians, 390 ; at Quebec, 416.
Raisin, Sister, 102.
Ramean, 11, 51, 53.
Rattlesnake Hill, 23.
Raudin, Ensign, 301.
Raudot, the intendant, 313, 341, 357, 361, 442, 505.
Razilly, Claude de, takes posses- sion of the French settlements in Acadia and Canada for France, 8 ; reaches Port Royal, 8 ; grants of Acadian lands made to, 8 ; death of, 9 ; succeeded by D'Aunay, 9; 11.
Recollet Friars, the, in Fort St. Jean, 37 ; join D'Aunay, 38 ; complain that D'Aunay ill-used them, 49 ; cherished hope of, 141 ; missions of, 382 ; sent to Canada by Colbert, 400 ; Talon favors, 401 ; the Jesuits reluctant to share their power with, 418 ; in dispute with the bishop, 419; 470, 471,472, 517.
"Redoubt of the Infant Jesus," the, 116.
Re'my, Daniel de, Sieur de Cour-
celle, 236; appointed governor of Canada, 236; his arrival at Quebec, 239 ; breathed nothing but war, 246 ; his march against the Mohawks, 246 ; his " Blue Coats," 247 ; failure of his ex- pedition, 249 ; his second expedi- tion against the Mohawks. 253 ; characteristics of, 397 ; Talon complains to Colbert of, 397 ; Colbert's letter to, 397 ; his op- position to the Jesuits, 397 ; his episode with Father Chate- lain, 416; 514.
Repentigny, 195; chosen mayor of Quebec, 212; joins Tracy against the Mohawks, 254, 256 ; asks aid from the King, 319.
Repentigny, Madame de, 361.
Richelieu, Cardinal, at the head of the Company of New France, 7 ; supports the Capuchin friars, 13 ; first plants feudalism in Canada, 305.
Richelieu River, the, 133, 244, 247, 261, 292, 293, 294, 297, 301, 302.
Riverin, 356 ; memorial on the establishment of commerce in Canada presented by, 357, 501, 502.
Riviere dn Loup, 406.
Riviere du Sud, 406.
Robert, appointed intendant of. Canada, 218.
Robineau, Re'ne', 307, 324.
Rochefort, 356.
Rochelle, Huguenot city of, 18, 96, 99, 101, 102, 277, 354, 460.
Rochet, 19.
Rocky Mountains, the, discovery of, 289, 323.
Roman Catholic Church, the, 422 ; stands out conspicuous in the history of Canada, 467.
INDEX.
555
Romans, the, 293.
Rome, 156, 158.
Rome, the Court of, 159.
Rosiers, Cape, 52.
Rouen, 283.
Rouen, the Archbishop of, 142,
154, 155, 159, 160,220,283. Rouen, the Parliament of, 154. Royalty, the triumph of, 305. Ryswick, the treaty of, restores
Acadia to France, 52.
SABLE, Cape, 5, 6, 7 ; Charles de
la Tour made commander at,
9 ; La Tour's little kingdom
at, 10; La Tour removes to
Fort St. Jean from, 14 ; La Tour
returns to, 45. Saguenay River, the, 298. "St. Andre'," the ship, 96; the
company on board, 96. St. Anne, Fort, 260, 261 ; Dollier
sent to, 262 ; the garrison at,
264.
St. Anne, heights of, 428. St. Anne, settlement of, 126. St. Anne de la Pocatiere, 302. St. Anne du Petit Cap, 430. St. Anne River, the, 130. Saint-Augustin, Mother Catherine
de, 183, 240. Saiut-Castin, 323. St. Charles River, the, 335, 451. "St. Clement," the, 19, 20; in
Boston Harbor, 21 ; sails for
France, 36. St. Croix Bay, 8. St. Croix, Point, 76. St. Croix River, the, 8. St. Denis, the seigniory of, 406. Saint-Denis, Mother Juchereau de,
Superior of the Hotel-Dieu, 161 ;
her eulogy on Laval, 161. St. Etienne, Charles de, son of
La Tour, 51.
Saint Francis Xavier, the mission of, 380 ; Milet at, 380.
St. Gabriel, the fortified house of, 110, 111.
St. Germain, the treaty of, restores the French settlements in Acadia and Canada to France, 8.
Saint-Ignace, Frances Jnchereau de, 126; on the earthquake at Quebec, 184, 185 ; on the merits of Mezy, 206 ; on the Marquis de Tracy, 238 ; on the arrival of the Marquis de Tracy at Que- bec, 239 ; on Talon's zeal for the success of the colony, 273 ; on the population of Quebec, 299 ; on the condition of the ornamental arts in Canada, 362 ; on the miracles in Canada, 425 ; on Paul Dupuy, 435 ; on ex- travagance in Canada, 447.
St. Jean, Fort, La Tour removes from Cape Sable to, 14; loca- tion of, 14; 16, 17, 18, 20,36; attacked and captured by D'Auuay, 39; site of, 39; 41, 46 ; its value as a trading sta- tion, 47 ; La Tour regains pos- session of, 51, 52; captured by Maj. Robert Sedgwick, 52.
St. Joachim, the parish of, semi- nary at, 223 ; 428, 429.
St. John, city of, 7, 39.
St. John River, the, Charles de la Tour receives grants of land on, 7, 14 ; Charles de la Tour builds a fort on, 7 ; 29, 36, 38, 469, 470,471,472,474.
Saint John the Baptist, the mis- sion of, 380 ; Lamberville at, 380.
Saint Joseph, the mission of, 380 ; Carheil at, 380.
St. Joseph, the Sisterhood of,
656
INDEX.
founded by Dauversiere, 97 ;
left penniless, 98. St. Laurent, the seigniory of, 307,
324.
St Lawrence, the Gulf of, 52. St. Lawrence liiver, the, 4, 7, 46,
56, 59, 64, 73, 78, 88, 94, 103, 104,
119, 165, 179, 185, 187, 224, 236,
238, 246, 272, 293, 297, 298, 301,
303, 359, 365, 405, 428, 460,
462.
St. Louis, the castle of, 239. St. Louis, Chateau, 120, 296, 300,
334, 344, 390 ; history of, 496-
499.
St. Louis, city of, 323. St. Louis, Fort, at Quebec, 488. St Louis, Fort of, 56, 73, 77, 86,
103, 250.
St. Louis, the Lake of, 65, 302. Saiut-Lusson, takes possession of
the country of the Upper Lakes,
274.
St. Malo, 94.
St. Martin's Day, 311, 314. Saint Mary of Ganneutaa, the
mission of, the beginnings of,
83 ; crisis drawing near at, 88 ;
a miserable failure, 94. St. Michel, 451. Saint-Onen, the parish of, 479. Saint-Ours, Monsieur de, 320. Saint Ours, town of, 294. St. Paul, the Bay of, 298, 356,
365.
Saint-Pere, Jean, 110. St. Peter, Lake, 293. Saint Client in, M. de, 123. Saint-Simon, Due de, his portrait
of Louis XIV., 350,351. St. Sacrament, Lake (Lake
George), 253. St. Sulpice, the Seminary of, 99 ;
founded by Olier, 99 ; 141,159,
302, 401 ; attacked by Saint-
Vallien, 404 ; the citadel of the Canadian Church. 404.
St. Valerien, Mont, 143.
Saint- Vallier, Bishop of Quebec, succeeds Laval, 392 ; letter from the King to, 392 ; 401 ; attacks the Seminary of Que- bec, 404 ; estimates of, 405 ; 408 ; his directions to Denonville, 410; his invectives against the vanity of women, 411; 428, 443 ; overwhelmed with beggars, 446 ; founds the General Hospital of Quebec, 446.
Ste. Claire d'Argentan, the abbey of, 149, 150.
Sainte-Heleue, Mother du Plessis de, 283.
Ste. Marie, the fortified house of, 110; the scene of hot and bloody fights, 114.
Ste. The'rese, Fort, 247, 249, 250
Salem, La Tour in, 32 ; M. Marie in, 35.
Salieres, Colonel de, 242, 243, 245.
Sal in a, the salt springs of, 80.
Salmon Falls, fort and settlement of, 123.
Saltonstall, signs the " Ipswich Letter," 30 ; Governor Win- throp's reply to, 31.
Sangrado of Montreal, the, 261.
Saratoga Lake, 249.
Sarrazin, Michel, the physician, 432 ; sketch of, 433.
Savoy, 242.
Schenectady, 249.
Schools, in Canada, 426.
Sedgwick, Major Robert, conquers Acadia for England, 52.
Seignelay, the minister, memorial on the establishment of com- merce in Canada, presented by Chalons and Riverin to, 358, 359, 501, 502.
INDEX.
557
Seignior, the, in Canada, 306, 331, 343.
Seigniorial tenure, in Canada, 297, 315.
Seigniories, in Canada, 297, 306.
Seneca Indians, the, 57, 66, 75; at Onondaga, 82 ; the Jesuits among, 84; 133; send an em- bassy to Quebec, 245 ; sue for peace, 251, 266.
Seneca missions, the, 94, 380 ; liaffeix and Gamier at, 380.
Seven Years' War, the, 39.
Sevestre, Charles, 196.
Se'vigne, Madame de, 230.
Shawmut, the peninsula of, 15.
Shea, J. G., 268.
Sheldon, 385.
Ship-building in Canada, 362.
Sillery, 68, 75, 246; Jesuit eel- pots at, 395 ; the heights of, 460.
Sillery, the mission of, 382, 386.
Sioux Indians, the, 376.
Slavery in Canada, 454.
" Soldiers of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," 116.
Sorbonne, the, the Fathers of, 390 ; the scholastic duels of, 426.
Sorel, 245 ; sent against the Mo- hawks, 251 ; 294.
Sorel, Fort of, 302.
Sorel, town of, 245 ; new forts at, 247, 294.
Sonart, Father, 141 ; left in spir- itual charge of Montreal, 142.
South America, 234.
Spain, 414.
Stuarts, the, 164.
Sulpitians, the 100; efforts to strengthen the colony at Mont- real, 1 02 ; jealousy of the Jesuits for, 103; assume entire spiritual charge of Montreal, 110; the Island of Montreal passes into the possession of,
141 ; their plans to obtain the bishopric of Canada, 141 ; de- spair of obtaining the bishopric, 142 ; their struggle against the Jesuits, 1 55 ; the expulsion of Queylus a defeat for, 158 ; their plan of land-grants, 293 ; claim the right to name their own local governor, 328 ; missions of, 382 ; rigorous at Montreal, 416.
Suite, Benjamin, 448.
Superior, Lake, 138 ; the copper of, 271 ; posts of the coureurs de bois on, 376.
Susane, on the regiment of Ca- rignan-Salieres, 243.
Swearing, Louis XIV.'s famous edict against, 344.
Syndic, the, in Canada, 343.
TADOUSSAC, 186, 236, 298; fur- trade at, 365.
Talon, Jean Baptiste, 188, 215 ; appointed intendant of Canada, 236 ; his arrival at Quebec, 239 ; the chosen agent of paternal royalty, 268 ; his personal ap- pearance, 268 ; his portrait, 268 ; a true disciple of Colbert, 268, 269 ; sets himself to galvanize Canada, 270 ; Colbert's instruc- tions to, 270; his zeal for the colony, 271-275 ; his policy, 273, 274 ; urges the purchase or seizure of New York, 275 ; his fidelity to his trust, 275 ; failing health, 275 ; asks for his recall, 275 ; resumes the intendancy, 275 ; his property, 275 ; his efforts to people Canada, 278, 280, 281 ; places a premium on marriage, 287 ; satisfactory re- sults, 290 ; his plan of dividing the lands into seigniorial grants, 293; on the Canadian settler,
558
INDEX.
295 ; aims to concentrate the population aronud Quebec, 296 ; his model seigniory, 297 ; his villages, 297 ; grants of land made by, 301 ; his plan of ad- ministration, 306; asks for pa- tents of nobility, 317; the old brewery of, 335 ; his attempt to establish trade with the West Indies, 355 ; 393, 397 ; complains of Courcelle, 397 ; ordered to watch the Jesuits, 397 ; favors the Re'collets, 401 ; orders La Frediere home to France, 437 ; tries to control the inns, 449 ; his correspondence with Col- bert regarding marriage and population in Canada, 493-496 ; 500; his memorial of the pres- ent condition of Canada, 512; his letter from Colbert on the government and the clergy in Canada, 514 ; instructions re- ceived from the King regarding the government and the clergy in Canada, 515 ; 518.
Tellier, 227.
Temple, Thomas, obtains a grant of Acadia from Cromwell, 53.
Terron, 201.
Theresa, Saint, the day of, 255.
Thousand Islands, the, 87.
Three Rivers, settlement of, 55, 56 ; beset by the Mohawks, 56 ; fur-trade at, 58; 118, 121, 122, 125, 127, 130, 138, 247, 250; tariff of prices at, 270 ; 288, 289, 301 ; local governor at, 328 ; 347; annual fair established at, 368; 393, 443; almshonse es- tablished at, 446 ; 502.
Tilly, the seigniory of, 308.
Tilly, Le Gardeur de, appointed councillor at Quebec, 195, 213 ; ask* aid from the King, 319.
Tilly (son), 837.
Torture, considered by the Jesuits to be a blessing in disguise, 1 24.
Tourmente.Cape, 238,298,428,460.
Tracy, Marquis Pronville de, 179, 188, 216, 236 ; appointed lien- tenant-general of America, 237 : description of, 238 ; his arrival at Quebec, 238; received by Laval, 239 ; sets out again-: the Mohawks, 253 ; success ot his expedition, 257 ; trouble with the English, 260, his re- turn to Quebec, 260; the Iro- qnois sue for peace, 265 ; his ex- pedition against the Iroquoia the most productive of good, 267 ; leaves Canada, 268 ; his tariff of prices, 270 ; the fruit of his chastisement of the Mo- hawks, 301 ; his plan of admin- istration, 306 ; asks for patents of nobility, 317 ; removes Mai- sonneuve, 328 ; 397 ; escapes clerical attacks, 399 ; 518.
Trade in Canada, restrictions upon, 353.
Tremblay, M., 162.
Tremont, 23.
Trimouut, 23.
Troves, town of, 102.
Turenne, 263.
Tnrgis, the true surname of La Tour's family, 1 0 ; the arms of, 10.
Turkish Wars, the. 435.
Turks, the, 188, 242.
Two Mountains, the Lake of, 130.
ULTRAMONTANE (Papal) Party, the, 153; tenets of, 153; out- flank the King and the Galli- cans, 154; its struggle against the Gallicans, 155.
United Colonies, the, commission- ers of, 34, 35, 42, 44.
INDEX.
559
Upper Lakes, the, Saint-Lusson
takes possession of the country
of, 274. Ursuline Convent at Quebec, the,
171, 300; engraving of, 300;
burned, 300.
Ursulines, the, of Caen, 479. Ursulines, the, of Quebec, 125,
145, 243, 272,300,347,401,422,
431. Utrecht, the Peace of, 362.
VALOIS, 229.
Varennes, town of, 294, 302.
Varennes, Rene Gaultier de, 289,
523. Vasseur, describes the burning of
Laval's seminary, 450. Vaudrenil, 506. Vendome, Due de, Madame
d'Aunay applies for help to, 51. Vercheres, town of, 294, 302. Verd, Cape, 234. Verrazzano, voyage of, 3. Versailles, 325, 348, 405. Viger, J., 144, 255. Vignal, Guillaume de, the priest,
96; killed by the Iroquois, 112,
113.
Villemarie, see Montreal. Villeray, Rouer de, appointed
councillor at Quebec, 195 ;
Argenson's opinion of, 196 ;
becomes the richest man in
Canada, 197 ; 203 ; removed
from the council by Me"zy, 208 ;
213 ; banished to France, 214 ;
485, 486.
Vimont, Father, 393. Virginia, English heretics in, 15;
46, 234.
Vismes, Dubreuil, 475. Vitry, Sieur, 357.
WALCKENAER, 230.
Ward, Nathaniel, signs the " Ips-
wich Letter," 30 ; Governor Winthrop's reply to, 31.
Washington, site of, 4.
West, the Company of the, 234.
West India Company, the, 329, its charter revoked, 353 ; ex- tinguished, 366 ; revived, 373 ; given a monopoly of exporting beaver-skins, 373.
West Indies, the, 44, 237, 241; Talon's efforts to establish trade between Canada and, 272, 355, 360 ; 370 ; slaves imported into Canada from, 454.
William Henry, Fort, 253
Williamson, 7.
Winthrop, Fort, 21.
Winthrop, Governor, 1 9 ; La Tour asks aid against D'Aunay from, 22; entertains La Tour, 23-27; allows La Tour to hire allies, 28, 29 ; sharply criticised for giving assistance to La Tour, 29 ; his action approved by the majority, 30; the " Ipswich Letter," 30 ; his reply to, 31 ; letter from Brad- street to, 31 ; entertains D'Aunay's envoys, 42; ar- ranges a treaty with D'Aunay, 43, 44 ; deceived in La Tour, 46
Witches, Canada never troubled by, 421.
Wolf Indians, the, 124.
Wolfe, 308.
Women, political influence among the Iroquois of, 84.
Wood, 22, 23.
Wooster River, 123.
XAVIER, Saint Francis, fete of, 166 ; 225.
YORK, the Duke of, 249. ZRIN, the fortress of, 188
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t. juw I b 1988
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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
F Parkman, Francis
505? France and England in
P24. North America
1869
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