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THE 


CONQUEST  OF   CANADA. 


S.  J~refman.se 


TH.  H^MEL, AFTKB-  THE   ORIGINAL  PICTURE  AT    S 


^^ 


c 


THE 


CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 


BY 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  " HOCHELAGA 

. 


IN   TWO  VOLUMES. 
VOL.  I. 


LONDON : 

RICHARD    BENTLEY, 
in  ©tbmarg  to 

1849. 


v. 


LONDON : 
BRADBURY  AND  KVANS,  PRINTKRS,  WHITKFRIARS. 


INTRODUCTION. 


and  France  started  in   a  fair  race  for  the 
magnificent    prize    of    supremacy  in   America.      The 
\  advantages  and  difficulties  of  each  were  much  alike,  but 


) 


the  systems  by  which  they  improved  those  advantages 
and  met  those  difficulties,  were  essentially  different. 
New  France  was  colonised  by  a  government,  New 
d  by  a  people.  In  Canada  the  men  of  intellect, 
influence,  and  wealth,  were  only  the  agents  of  the 
mother  country  ;  they  fulfilled,  it  is  true,  their  colonial 
duties  with  zeal  and  ability,  but  they  ever  looked  to 
France  for  honour  and  approbation,  and  longed  for  a 
return  to  her  shores  as  their  best  reward  :  they  were 
in  the  colony  but  not  of  it  ;  they  strove  vigorously  to 
repel  invasion,  to  improve  agriculture,  and  to  encourage 
commerce  for  the  sake  of  France,  but  not  for  Canada. 

The   mass  of  the  population  of  New  France  were 
descended  from  settlers  sent  out  within  a  short 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

^ 

after  the  first  occupation  of  the  country,  and  who  were 
not  selected  for  any  peculiar  qualifications.  They  were 
not  led  to  emigrate  from  the  spirit  of  adventure, 
disappointed  ambition,  or  political  discontent ;  by  far 
the  larger  proportion  left  their  native  country  under 
the  pressure  of  extreme  want  or  in  blind  obedience  to 
the  will  of  their  superiors.  They  were  then  established 
in  points  best  suited  to  the  interests  of  France,  not 
those  best  suited  to  their  own.  The  physical  condition 
of  the  humbler  emigrant  however  became  better  than 
that  of  his  countrymen  in  the  Old  World ;  the  fertile 
soil  repaid  his  labour  with  competence ;  independence 
fostered  self-reliance,  and  the  unchecked  range  of  forest 
and  prairie  inspired  him  with  thoughts  of  freedom. 
But  all  these  elevating  tendencies  were  fatally  counter- 
acted by  the  blighting  influence  of  feudal  organisation. 
Restrictions  humiliating  as  well  as  injurious  pressed 
upon  the  person  and  property  of  the  Canadian.  Every 
avenue  to  wealth  and  influence  was  closed  to  him  and 
thrown  open  to  the  children  of  Old  France.  He  saw 
whole  tracts  of  the  magnificent  country  lavished  upon 
the  favourites  and  military  followers  of  the  court,  and 
through  corrupt  or  capricious  influences  the  privilege 
of  exclusive  trade  granted  for  the  aggrandisement  of 
strangers  at  his  expense. 

France  founded  a  state  in  Canada  ;  she  established  a 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

feudal  and  ecclesiastical  frame-work  for  the  young- 
nation,  and  into  that  Procrustean  bed  the  growth  of 
population,  and  the  proportions  of  society  were  forced. 
The  State  fixed  governments  at  Montreal,  Three  Rivers, 
and  Quebec  ;  there  towns  arose  :  she  divided  the  rich 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  of  the  Richelieu  into 
seigneuries ;  there  population  spread  :  she  placed  posts 
on  the  lakes  and  rivers  of  the  far  west ;  there  the 
fur-traders  congregated  :  she  divided  the  land  into 
dioceses  and  parishes,  and  appointed  bishops  and 
curates  ;  a  portion  of  all  produce  of  the  soil  was 
exacted  for  their  support :  she  sent  out  the  people  at 
her  own  cost,  and  acknowledged  no  shadow  of  popular 
rights  ;  she  organised  the  inhabitants  by  an  unsparing 
conscription,  and  placed  over  them  officers  either  from 
the  Old  Country  or  from  the  favoured  class  of  Seigneurs : 
she  grasped  a  monopoly  of  every  valuable  production 
of  the  country,  and  yet  forced  upon  it  her  own  manu- 
factures to  the  exclusion  of  all  others :  she  squandered 
her  resources  and  treasures  on  the  colony,  but  violated 
all  principles  of  justice  in  a  vain  endeavour  to  make 
that  colony  a  source  of  wealth  :  she  sent  out  the  ablest 
and  best  of  her  officers  to  govern  on  the  falsest  and 
worst  of  systems  :  her  energy  absorbed  all  individual 
energy  ;  her  perpetual  and  minute  interference  aspired 
to  shape  and  direct  all  will  and  motive  of  her  subjects. 


viii  INTRODUCTION. 

The  State  was  everything,  the  people  nothing.  Finally, 
when  the  J3owj3rj)f  the  State  was  brokenby  a  foreign  foe, 
there  remained  no  power  of  the  People  to  supply  its  place. 
On  the  day  that  the  French  armies  ceased  to  resist, 
Canada  was  a  peaceful  province  of  British  America. 

A  few  years  after  the  French  Crown  had  founded  a 
State  in  Canada,  a  handful  of  Puritan  refugees  founded 
a  People  in  New  England.  They  bore  with  them  from 
the  Mother  Country  little  beside  a  bitter  hatred  of  the 
existing  government,  and  a  stern  resolve  to  perish  or 
be  free.  One  small  vessel — the  Mayflower — held  them, 
their  wives,  their  children,  and  their  scanty  stores.  So 
ignorant  were  they  of  the  country  of  their  adoption, 
that  they  sought  its  shores  in  the  depth  of  winter 
when  nothing  but  a  snowy  desert  met  their  sight. 
Dire  hardships  assailed  them  ;  many  sickened  and  died, 
but  those  who  lived  still  strove  bravely.  And  bitter  was 
their  trial ;  the  scowling  sky  above  their  heads,  the 
frozen  earth  under  their  feet,  and  sorest  of  all,  deep  in 
their  strong  hearts  the  unacknowledged  love  of  that 
venerable  land  which  they  had  abandoned  for  ever. 

But  brighter  times  soon  came ;  the  snowy  desert 
changed  into  a  fair  scene  of  life  and  vegetation.  The 
woods  rang  with  the  cheerful  sound  of  the  axe ;  the 
fields  were  tilled  hopefully,  the  harvest  gathered  grate- 
fully. Other  vesseJa^^arrived  bearing  jnore  settlers, 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

men  for  the  most  part  like  those  who  had  first  landed. 
Their  numbers  swelled  to  hundreds,  thousands,  tens 
thousands.  They  formed  themselves  into  a  community ; 
they  decreed  laws,  stern  and  quaint,  but  suited  to  their 
condition.  They  had  neither  rich  nor  poor ;  they 
admitted  of  no  superiority  save  in  their  own  gloomy 
estimate  of  merit ;  they  persecuted  all  forms  of  faith 
different  from  that  which  they  themselves  held,  and 
yet  they  would  have  died  rather  than  suffer  the 
religious  interference  of  others.  Far  from  seeking  or 
accepting  aid  from  the  government  of  England,  they 
patiently  tolerated  their  nominal  dependence  only 
because  they  were  virtually  independent.  For  pro- 
tection against  the  savage ;  for  relief  in  pestilence 
or  famine  ;  for  help  to  plenty  and  prosperity,  they 
trusted  alone  to  God  in  heaven,  and  to  their  own  right 
hand  on  earth. 

Such  in  the  main  were  the  ancestors  of  the  men 
of  New  England,  and  in  spite  of  all  subsequent 
admixture  such  in  the  main  were  they  themselves. 
In  the  other  British  colonies  also,  hampered  though 
they  were  by  Charters,  and  proprietary  rights,  and 
alloyed  by  a  Babel  congregation  of  French  Huguenots, 
Dutch,  Swedes,  Quakers,  Nobles,  Roundheads,  Canadians, 
Rogues,  Zealots,  Infidels,  Enthusiasts,  and  Felons,  a 
general  prosperity  had  created  individual  self-reliance, 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

and  self-reliance  had  engendered  the  desire  of  self- 
government.  Each  colony  contained  a  separate  vitality 
within  itself.  They  commenced  under  a  variety  of 
systems ;  more  or  less  practicable,  more  or  less  liberal, 
and  more  or  less  dependent  on  the  Parent  State. 
But  the  spirit  of  adventure,  the  disaffection,  and  the 
disappointed  ambition  which  had  so  rapidly  recruited 
their  population  gave  a  general  bias  to  their  political 
feelings  which  no  arbitrary  authority  could  restrain,  and 
no  institutions  counteract.  They  were  less  intolerant 
and  morose,  but  at  the  same  time  also  less  industrious 
and  moral  than  their  Puritan  neighbours.  Like  them, 
however,  they  resented  all  interference  from  England 
as  far  as  they  dared,  and  constantly  strove  for  the 
acquisition  or  retention  of  popular  rights. 

The  British  colonists,  left  at  first  in  a  great  measure 
to  themselves,  settled  on  the  most  fertile  lands,  built 
their  towns  upon  the  most  convenient  harbours,  directed 
their  industry  to  the  most  profitable  commerce,  raised 
the  most  valuable  productions.  The  trading  spirit  of 
the  mother  country  became  almost  a  passion  when 
transferred  to  the  New  World  ;  enterprise  and  industry 
were  stimulated  to  incredible  activity  by  brilliant  suc- 
cess and  ample  reward.  As  wealth  and  the  means 
of  subsistence  increased,  so  multiplied  the  population. 
Early  marriages  were  universal ;  a  numerous  family 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

was  the  riches  of  the  parent.  Thousands  of  immigrants 
also  from  year  to  year  swelled  the  living  flood  that 
poured  over  the  wilderness.  In  a  century  and  a  half 
the  inhabitants  of  British  America  exceeded  nearly 
twenty-fold  the  people  of  New  France.  The  relative 
superiority  of  the  first  over  the  last,  was  even  greater 
wealth  and  resources  than  in  population.  The 
f  merchant  navy  of  the  English  colonies  was  already 
larger  than  that  of  many  European  nations,  and  known 
in  almost  every  port  in  the  world,  where  men  bought 

— — ~«  c~. 

and  sold.     New  France  had  none. 

The  French  colonies  were  founded  and  fostered  by 
the  State  with  the  real  object  of  extending  the  dominion, 
increasing   the   power,    and   illustrating   the   glory   of 
France.     The  ostensible  object  of  settlement,  at  least 
that  holding  the  most  prominent  place  in  all  Acts  and 
Charters,  was  to  extend  the  true  religion,  and  to  minister 
to   the   glory  of  God.      From   the  earliest  time   the 
ecclesiastical  establishments  of  Canada  were  formed  on 
a  scale  suited  to  these  professed  views.     Not  only  was  f 
ample   provision  made  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  the 
European  population,   but  the  labours  of  many  earnest  j 
and  devoted  men  were  directed  to  the  enlightenment   \ 
of  the  Heathen  Indians.,     At  first  the  Church  and  the 
civil   government  leant   upon   each  other   for   mutual 
support  and  assistance,  but  after  a  time,  when  neither 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

of  these  powers  found  themselves  troubled  with  popular 
opposition,  their  union  grew  less  intimate ;  their  interests 
differed,  jealousies  ensued,  and  finally  they  became 
antagonistic  orders  in  the  community.  The  mass  of 
the  people,  more  devout  than  intelligent,  sympathised 
with  the  priesthood ;  this  sympathy  did  not,  however, 
interfere  with  unqualified  submission  to  the  government. 

The  Canadians  were  trained  to  implicit  obedience 
to  their  rulers,  spiritual  and  temporal  :  these  rulers 
ventured  not  to  imperil  their  absolute  authority  by 
educating  their  vassals.  It  is  true  there  were  a  few 
seminaries  and  schools  under  the  zealous  administration 
of  the  Jesuits ;  but  even  that  instruction  was  unat- 
tainable by  the  general  population ;  those  who  walked 
in  the  moonlight  which  such  reflected  rays  afforded, 
were  not  likely  to  become  troublesome  as  sectarians  or 
politicians.  Much  credit  for  sincerity  cannot  be  given 
to  those  who  professed  to  promote  the  education  of  the 
people,  when  no  printing-press  was  ever  permitted  in 
Canada  during  the  government  of  France. 

Canada,  unprovoked  by  Dissent,  was  altogether  free 
from  the  stain  of  religious  persecution  :  hopelessly 
fettered  in  the  chains  of  metropolitan  power,  she  was 
also  undisturbed  by  political  agitation.  But  this  calm 
was  more  the  stillness  of  stagnation  than  the  tranquillity 
of  content.  Without  a  press,  without  any  semblance  of 


INTRODUCTION.  Xlll 

popular  representation,  there  hardly  remained  other 
alternatives  than  tame  submission  or  open  mutiny.  By 
hereditary  habit  and  superstition  the  Canadians  were 
trained  to  the  first,  and  by  weakness  and  want  of 
energy  they  were  incapacitated  for  the  last. 

Although  the  original  charter  of  New  England 
asserted  the  king's  supremacy  in  matters  of  religion, 
a  full  understanding  existed  that  on  this  head  ample 
latitude  should  be  allowed ;  ample  latitude  was  accord- 
ingly taken.  She  set  up  a  system  of  faith  of  her  own, 
and  enforced  conformity.  But  the  same  spirit  that  had 
excited  the  colonists  to  dissent  from  the  Church  of 
England,  and  to  sacrifice  home  and  friends  in  the  cause, 
soon  raised  up  among  them  a  host  of  dissenters  from 
their  own  stern  and  peculiar  creed.  Their  clergy  had 
sacrificed  much  for  conscience-sake,  and  were  generally 
"  faithful,  watchful,  painful,  serving  their  flock  daily 
with  prayers  and  tears,"  some  among  them  also  men  of 
high  European  repute.  They  had  often,  however,  the 
mortification  of  seeing  their  congregations  crowding  to 
hear  the  ravings  of  any  knave  or  enthusiast  who  broached 
a  new  doctrine.  Most  of  these  mischievous  fanatics 
were  given  the  advantage  of  that  interest  and  sympathy 
which  a  cruel  and  unnecessary  persecution  invariably 
excites.  All  this  time  freedom  of  individual  judgment 
was  the  watchword  of  the  persecutors.  There  is  no 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

doubt  that  strong  measures  were  necessary  to  curb  the 
furious  and  profane  absurdities  of  many  of  the  seceders, 
who  were  the  very  outcasts  of  religion.  On  considering 
the  criminal  laws  of  the  time,  it  would  also  appear  that 
not  a  few  of  the  outcasts  of  society  also  had  found  their 
way  to  New  England.  The  code  of  Massachusetts 
contained  the  description  of  the  most  extraordinary 
collection  of  crimes  that  ever  defaced  a  statute-book, 
and  the  various  punishments  allotted  to  each. 

In  one  grand  point  the  pre-eminent  merit  of  the 
Puritans  must  be  acknowledged  :  they  strove  earnestly 
and  conscientiously  for  what  they  held  to  be  the  truth. 
For  this  they  endured  with  unshaken  constancy,  and 
persecuted  with  unremitting  zeal. 

The  suicidal  policy  of  the  Stuarts  had,  for  a  time, 
driven  all  the  upholders  of  civil  liberty  into  the  ranks 
of  sectarianism.  The  advocates  of  the  extremes  of 
religious  and  political  opinion  flocked  to  America,  the 
furthest  point  from  Kings  and  Prelates  that  they  could 
conveniently  reach.  Engrafted  on  the  stubborn  temper 
of  the  Englishman,  and  planted  in  the  genial  soil  of  the 
West,  the  love  of  this  civil  and  religious  liberty  grew 
up  with  a  vigour  that  time  only  served  to  strengthen  ; 
that  the  might  of  armies  vainly  strove  to  overcome. 
Thus,  ultimately,  the  persecution  under  the  Stuarts 
was  the  most  powerful  cause  ever  yet  employed 


I 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

towards  the  liberation  of  man  in  his  path  through 
earth  to  Heaven. 

For  many  years  England  generally  refrained  from 
interference  with  her  American  Colonies  in  matters  of 
local  government  or  in  religion.  They  taxed  them- 
selves, made  their  own  laws,  and  enjoyed  religious 
freedom  in  their  own  way.  In  one  State  only,  in 
Virginia,  was  the  Church  of  England  established,  and 
even  there  it  was  accorded  very  little  help  by  the 
temporal  authority  :  in  a  short  time  it  ceased  to  receive 
the  support  of  the  majority  of  the  settlers,  and  rapidly 
decayed.  On  one  point,  however,  the  mother  country 
claimed  and  exacted  the  obedience  of  the  colonists  to 
the  imperial  law.  In  her  commercial  code  she  would 
not  permit  the  slightest  relaxation  in  their  favour, 
whatever  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  their  condition 
might  be.  This  short-sighted  and  unjust  restriction 
was  borne,  partly  because  it  could  not  be  resisted,  and 
partly  because  at  that  early  time  the  practical  evil  was 
but  lightly  felt.  Although  the  principle  of  repre- 
sentation was  seldom  specified  in  the  earlier  charters, 
the  colonists  in  all  cases  assumed  it  as  a  matter  of 
right :  they  held  that  their  privileges  as  Englishmen 
accompanied  them  wherever  they  went,  and  this  was 
generally  admitted  as  a  principle  of  colonial  policy. 

In  the  1 7th  century  England  adopted  the  system  of 


XVI  INTRODUCTION. 

transportation  to  the  American  Colonies.  The  felons 
were,  however,  too  limited  in  numbers  to  make  any 
serious  inroad  upon  the  morals  or  tranquillity  of  the 
settlers.  Many  of  the  convicts  were  men  sentenced 
for  political  crimes,  but  free  from  any  social  taint ;  the 
labouring  population  therefore  did  not  regard  them 
with  contempt,  nor  shrink  from  their  society.  It  may 
be  held,  therefore,  that  this  partial  and  peculiar  system 
of  transportation  introduced  no  distinct  element  into 
the  constitution  of  the  American  nation. 

The  British  colonisation  in  the  New  World  differed 
essentially  from  any  before  attempted  by  the  nations  of 
modern  Europe,  and  has  led  to  results  of  immeasurable 
importance  to  mankind.  Even  the  magnificent  empire 
of  India  sinks  into  insignificance,  in  its  bearings  upon 
the  general  interests  of  the  world,  by  comparison  with 
the  Anglo-Saxon  empire  in  America.  The  success  of 
each,  however,  is  unexampled  in  history. 

In  the  great  military  and  mercantile  colony  of  the 
East  an  enormous  native  population  is  ruled  by  a 
dominant  race,  whose  number  amounts  to  less  than 
a  four-thousandth  part  of  its  own,  but  whose  superiority 
in  war  and  civil  government  is  at  present  so  decided  as 
to  reduce  any  efforts  of  opposition  to  the  mere  outbursts 
of  hopeless  petulance.  In  that  golden  land,  however,  even 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race  cannot  increase  and  multiply  ; 


INTRODUCTION.  XV11 

the  children  of  English  parents  degenerate  or  perish 
under  its  fatal  sun.  No  permanent  settlement  or 
infusion  of  blood  takes  place.  Neither  have  we  effected 
any  serious  change  in  the  manners  or  customs  of  the 
East  Indians  ;  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  rather  assimi- 
lated ours  to  theirs.  We  tolerate  their  various  religions, 
and  we  learn  their  language ;  but  in  neither  faith  nor 
speech  have  they  approached  one  tittle  towards  us. 
We  have  raised  there  no  gigantic  monument  of  power 
either  in  pride  or  for  utility ;  no  temples,  canals,  or 
roads  remain  to  remind  posterity  of  our  conquest  and 
dominion.  Were  the  English  rule  over  India  suddenly 
cast  off,  in  a  single  generation  the  tradition  of  our 
Eastern  empire  would  appear  a  splendid  but  baseless 
dream,  that  of  our  administration  an  allegory, — of  our 
victories  a  romance. 

In  the  great  social  colonies  of  the  West  the  very 
essence  of  vitality  is  their  close  resemblance  to  the 
parent  State.  Many  of  the  coarser  inherited  elements 
of  strength  have  been  increased.  Industry  and  adven- 
ture have  been  stimulated  to  an  unexampled  extent 
by  the  natural  advantages  of  the  country,  and  free 
institutions  have  been  developed  almost  to  license  by 
general  prosperity,  and  the  absence  of  external  danger. 
Their  stability,  in  some  one  form  or  another,  is  undoubted : 

it  rests  on  the  broadest  possible  basis — on  the  universal 

I 


XV111  INTRODUCTION. 

will  of  the  nation.  Our  vast  empire  in  India  rests  only 
on  the  narrow  basis  of  the  superiority  of  a  handful  of 
Englishmen ;  should  any  untoward  fate  shake  the  Atlas 
strength  that  bears  the  burthen,  the  superincumbent 
mass  must  fall  in  ruins  to  the  earth.  With  far  better 
cause  may  England  glory  in  the  land  of  her  revolted 
children  than  in  that  of  her  patient  slaves :  the  prosperous 
cities  and  busy  seaports  of  America  are  prouder 
memorials  of  her  race  than  the  servile  splendour  of 
Calcutta,  or  the  ruined  ramparts  of  Seringapatam.  In 
the  earlier  periods  the  British  Colonies  were  only  the 
reflection  of  Britain ;  in  later  days  their  light  has  served 
to  illumine  the  political  darkness  of  the  European 
Continent.  The  attractive  example  of  American 
democracy  proved  the  most  important  cause  that  has 
acted  upon  European  society  since  the  Reformation. 

Towards  the  close  of  George  II.'s  reign  England  had 
reached  the  lowest  point  of  national  degradation 
recorded  in  her  history.  The  disasters  of  her  fleets 
and  armies  abroad  were  the  natural  fruits  of  almost 
universal  corruption  at  home.  The  admirals  and  gene- 
rals, chosen  by  a  German  king  and  a  subservient 
ministry,  proved  worthy  of  the  mode  of  their  selection. 
An  obsequious  parliament  served  but  to  give  the  appa- 
rent sanction  of  the  people  to  the  selfish  and  despotic 
measures  of  the  crown.  Many  of  the  best  blood  and 


INTRODUCTION.  XIX 

of  the  highest  chivalry  of  the  land  still  held  loyal  devo- 
tion to  the  exiled  Stuarts  ;  while  the  mass  of  the  nation, 
disgusted  by  the  sordid  and  unpatriotic  acts  of  the 
existing  dynasty,  regarded  it  with  sentiments  of  dislike 
but  little  removed  from  positive  hostility.  A  sullen 
discontent  paralysed  the  vigour  of  England,  obstructed 
her  councils,  and  blunted  her  sword.  In  the  cabinets 
of  Europe,  among  the  colonists  of  America,  and  the 
millions  of  the  East  alike,  her  once  glorious  name 
had  sunk  almost  to  a  bye-word  of  reproach.  But 
"  the  darkest  hour  is  just  before  the  dawn :"  a  new 
disaster,  more  humiliating,  and  more  inexcusable  than 
any  which  had  preceded,  at  length  goaded  the  passive 
indignation  of  the  British  people  into  irresistible  action. 
The  spirit  that  animated  the  men  who  spoke  at  Runny- 
mede,  and  those  who  fought  on  Marston  Moor,  was  not 
dead,  but  sleeping.  The  free  institutions  which  wisdom 
had  devised,  time  hallowed,  and  blood  sealed,  were 
evaded  but  not  overthrown.  The  nation  arose  as  one 
man,  and  with  a  peaceful,  but  stern  determination, 
demanded  that  these  things  should  cease.  Then  for 
"the  hour,"  the  hand  of  the  All  Wise  supplied  "the 
man."  The  light  of  Pitt's  genius,  the  fire  of  his 
patriotism,  like  the  dawn  of  an  unclouded  morning, 
soon  chased  away  the  chilly  night  which  had  so  long 

darkened  over  the  fortunes  of  his  country, 

62 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

But  not  even  the  genius  of  the  great  minister,  aided 
as  it  was  by  the  awakened  spirit  of  the  British  people, 
would  have  sufficed  to  rend  Canada  from  France  with- 
out the  concurrent  action  of  many  and  various  causes  : 
the  principal  of  these  was,  doubtless,  the  extraordinary 
growth  of  our  American  settlements.  When  the  first 
French  colonists  founded  their  military  and  ecclesiastical 
establishments  at  Quebec,  upheld  by  the  favour  and 
strengthened  by  the  arms  of  the  mother  country,  they 
regarded  with  little  uneasiness  the  unaided  efforts  of 
their  English  rivals  in  the  South.  But  these  dangerous 
neighbours  rose  with  wonderful  rapidity  from  few  to 
many,  from  weak  to  powerful.  The  cloud,  which  had 
appeared  no  greater  than  "a  man's  hand"  on  the 
political  horizon,  spread  rapidly  wider  and  wider, 
above  and  below,  till  at  length  from  out  its  threatening 
gloom  the  storm  burst  forth  which  swept  away  the  flag 
of  France. 

As  a  military  event,  the  conquest  of  Canada  was  a 
matter  of  little  or  no  permanent  importance  :  it  can 
only  rank  as  one  among  the  numerous  scenes  of  blood 
that  give  an  intense  but  morbid  interest  to  our  national 
annals.  The  surrender  of  Niagara  and  Quebec  were 
but  the  acknowledgment  or  final  symbol  of  the  victory 
of  English  over  French  colonisation.  For  three  years 
the  admirable  skill  of  Montcalm  and  the  valour  of  his 


INTRODUCTION.  XXI 

troops  deferred  the  inevitable  catastrophe  of  the 
colony :  then  the  destiny  was  accomplished.  France 
had  for  that  time  played  out  her  part  in  the  history 
of  the  New  World  ;  during  150  years  her  threatening- 
power  had  served  to  retain  the  English  colonies  in 
interested  loyalty  to  protecting  England.  Notwith- 
standing the  immense  material  superiority  of  the 
British  Americans,  the  fleets  and  armies  of  the  mother 
country  were  indispensable  to  break  the  barrier  raised 
up  against  them  by  the  union,  skill,  and  courage  of  the 
French. 

Montcalm's  far-sighted  wisdom  suggested  consolation 
even  in  his  defeat  and  death.  In  a  remarkable  and 
A  almost  prophetic  letter,  which  he  addressed  to  M.  de 
»erryer  during  the  siege  of  Quebec,  he  foretells  that 
the  British  power  in  America  shall  be  broken  by  suc- 
cess, and  that  when  the  dread  of  France  ceases  to  exist, 
the  colonists  will  no  longer  submit  to  European  control. 
One  generation  had  not  passed  away  when  his  predic- 
tion was  fully  accomplished.  England  by  the  conquest 
of  Canada  breathed  the  breath  of  life  into  the  huge 
Frankenstein  of  the  American  Republic. 

The  rough  schooling  of  French  hostility  was  neces- 
sary for  the  development  of  those  qualities  among  the 
British  colonists,  which  enabled  them  finally  to  break 
the  bonds  of  pupilage,  and  stand  alone.  {Some  degree 


xxii  INTRODUCTION. 

of  united  action  had  been  effected  among  the  several 
and  widely  different  states  ;  the  local  governments  had 
learned  how  to  raise  and  support  armies,  and  to  con- 
sider military  movements.  On  many  occasions  the 
Provincial  militia  had  borne  themselves  with  distin- 
guished bravery  in  the  field ;  several  of  their  officers 
had  gained  honourable  repute  ;  already  the  name  of 
WASHINGTON  called  a  flush  of  pride  upon  each  American 
cheek.  The  stirring  events  of  the  contest  with  Canada 
had  brought  men  of  ability  and  patriotism  into  the 
strong  light  of  active  life,  and  the  eyes  of  their  country- 
men sought  their  guidance  in  trusting  confidence. 
Through  the  instrumentality  of  such  men  as  these  the 
American  Revolution  was  shaped  into  the  dignity  of  a 
national  movement,  and  preserved  from  the  threatening 
evils  of  an  insane  democracy. 

The  consequences  of  the  Canadian  war  furnished  the 
cause  of  the  quarrel  which  led  to  the  separation  of  the 
great  colonies  from  the  mother  country.  England  had 
incurred  enormous  debt  in  the  contest;  her  people 
groaned  under  taxation,  and  the  wealthy  Americans 
had  contributed  in  but  a  very  small  proportion  to  the 
cost  of  victories  by  which  they  were  the  principal 
gainers.  The  British  Parliament  devised  an  unhappy 
expedient  to  remedy  this  evil :  it  assumed  the  right  of 
taxing  the  unrepresented  colonies,  and  taxed  them 


INTRODUCTION.  XX111 

accordingly.  Vain  was  the  prophetic  eloquence  of 
Lord  Chatham  ;  vain  were  the  just  and  earnest  remon- 
strances of  the  best  and  wisest  among  the  colonists  :  the 
time  was  come.  Then  followed  years  of  stubborn  and 
unyielding  strife  ;  the  blood  of  the  same  race  gave 
sterner  determination  to  the  quarrel.  The  balance  of 
success  hung  equally.  Once  again  France  appeared 
upon  the  stage  in  the  Western  World,  and  Lafayette 
revenged  the  fall  of  Montcalm. 

However  we  may  regret  the  cause  and  conduct  of  the 
revolutionary  war,  we  can  hardly  regret  its  result.  The 
catastrophe  was  inevitable :  the  folly  or  wisdom  of  British 
statesmen  could  only  have  accelerated  or  deferred  it. 
The  child  had  outlived  the  years  of  pupilage  ;  the 
interests  of  the  old  and  the  young  required  a  separate 
household.  But  we  must  ever  mourn  the  mode  of  sepa- 
ration :  a  bitterness  was  left  that  three  quarters  of  a 
century  has  hardly  yet  removed ;  and  a  dark  page 
remains  in  our  annals,  that  tells  of  a  contest  begun  in 
injustice,  conducted  with  mingled  weakness  and  seve- 
rity, and  ended  in  defeat.  The  cause  of  human  freedom, 
perhaps  for  ages,  depended  upon  the  issue  of  the  quarrel. 
Even  the  patriot  minister  merged  the  apparent  interests 
of  England  in  the  interests  of  mankind.  By  the  light 
of  Lord  Chatham's  wisdom  we  may  read  the  dis- 
astrous history  of  that  fatal  war,  with  a  resigned  and 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

tempered  sorrow  for  the  glorious  inheritance  rent  away 
from  us  for  ever. 

The  reaction  of  the  New  World  upon  the  Old  may 
be  distinctly  traced  through  the  past  and  the  present ; 
but  human  wisdom  may  not  estimate  its  influence  on 
the  future.  The  lessons  of  freedom  learned  by  the 
French  army,  while  aiding  the  revolted  colonies  against 
England,  were  not  forgotten.  On  their  return  to  their 
native  country  they  spread  abroad  tidings  that  the 
new  people  of  America  had  gained  a  treasure  richer  a 
thousand  fold  than  those  which  had  gilded  the  triumphs 
of  Cortes  or  Pizarro — the  inestimable  prize  of  liberty. 
Then  the  down-trampled  millions  of  France  arose,  and 
with  avaricious  haste  strove  for  a  like  treasure.  They 
won  a  specious  imitation,  so  soiled  and  stained,  however, 
that  many  of  the  wisest  amongst  them  could  not  at 
once  detect  its  nature.  They  played  with  the  coarse 
bauble  for  a  time,  then  lost  it  in  a  sea  of  blood. 

Doubtless  the  tempest  that  broke  upon  France  had 
long  been  gathering.  The  rays  that  emanated  from 
such  false  suns  as  Voltaire  and  Rousseau  had  already 
drawn  up  a  moral  miasma  from  the  swamps  of  sensual 
ignorance  :  under  the  shade  of  a  worthless  government 
these  noxious  mists  collected  into  the  clouds  from 
whence  the  desolating  storm  of  the  revolution  burst. 
It  was,  however,  the  example  of  popular  success  in  the 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV 

New  World,  and  the  republican  training  of  a  portion  of 
the  French  army  during  the  American  contest,  that 
finally  accelerated  the  course  of  events.  A  generation 
before  the  "  Declaration  of  Independence  "  the  struggle 
between  the  rival  systems  of  Canada  and  New 
England  had  been  watched  by  thinking  men  in  Europe 
with  deep  interest,  and  the  importance  to  mankind  of 
its  issue  was  fully  felt.  While  France  mourned  the 
defeat  of  her  armies,  and  the  loss  of  her  magnificent 
colony,  the  keen-sighted  philosopher  of  Ferney  gave  a 
banquet  to  celebrate  the  British  triumph  at  Quebec,  not 
as  the  triumph  of  England  over  France,  but  as  that  of 
freedom  over  despotism.1 

The    overthrow    of    French   by    British    power  in 

America,  was  not  the  effect  of  mere  military  superioril 

"""  ..  _ 

The  balance  of  general  success  and  glory  in  the  field  is 

no  more  than  shared  with  the  conquered  people.  The 
morbid  national  vanity,  which  finds  no  delight  but  in  the 
triumphs  of  the  sword,  will  shrink  from  the  study  of  this 
chequered  story.  The  narrative  of  disastrous  defeat 
and  doubtful  advantage  must  be  endured  before  we  arrive 
at  that  of  the  brilliant  victory  which  crowned  our  arms 
with  final  success.  We  read  with  painful  surprise 
of  the  rout  and  ruin  of  regular  British  regiments  by 

1  See  Appendix,  No.  I. 


XXVI  INTRODUCTION. 

a  crowd  of  Indian  savages,  and  of  the  bloody  repulse 
of  the  most  numerous  army  that  had  yet  assembled 
round  our  standards  in  America,  before  a  few  weak 
French  battalions,  and  an  unfinished  parapet. 

For  the  first  few  years  our  prosecution  of  the  Canadian 
war  was  marked  by  a  weakness  little  short  of  imbecility. 
The  conduct  of  the  troops  was  indifferent,  the  tactics  of 
the  generals  bad,  and  the  schemes  of  the  minister 
worse.  The  coarse  but  powerful  wit  of  Smollett  and 
Fielding,  and  the  keen  sarcasms  of  "  Chrysal,"  convey 
to  us  no  very  exalted  idea  of  the  composition  of  the 
British  army  in  those  days.  The  service  had  sunk  into 
contempt.  The  withering  influence  of  a  corrupt 
patronage  had  demoralised  the  officers ;  successive 
defeats  incurred  through  the  inefficiency  of  courtly 
generals  had  depressed  the  spirit  of  the  soldiery,  and 
were  it  not  for  the  proof  shown  upon  the  bloody  fields 
of  La  Feldt  and  Fontenoy  we  might  almost  suppose 
that  English  manhood  had  become  an  empty  name. 

Many  of  the  battalions  shipped  off  to  take  part  in 
the  American  contest  were  hasty  levies  without  organi- 
sation or  discipline  :  the  colonel,  a  man  of  influence, 
with  or  without  other  qualifications  as  the  case  might 
be;  the  officers,  his  neighbours  and  dependants.  These 
armed  mobs  found  themselves  suddenly  landed  in  a 
country,  the  natural  difficulty  of  which  would  of  itself 


INTRODUCTION.  XXvii 

have  proved  a  formidable  obstacle,  even  though  un- 
enhanced  by  the  presence  of  an  active  and  vigilant 
enemy.  At  the  same  time,  there  devolved  upon  them  the 
duties  and  the  responsibilities  of  regular  troops.  A  due 
consideration  of  these  circumstances  tends  to  diminish 
the  surprise  which  a  comparison  of  their  achievements 
with  those  recorded  in  our  later  military  annals  might 
create. 

Very  different  were  the  ranks  of  the  American  army 
from  the  magnificent  regiments,  whose  banners  now 
bear  the  crowded  records  of  Peninsular  and  Indian 
victory ;  who  within  the  recollection  of  living  men 
have  stood  as  conquerors  upon  every  hostile  land,  yet 
never  once  permitted  a  stranger  to  tread  on  England's 
sacred  soil,  but  as  a  prisoner,  fugitive,  or  friend.  In 
Cairo  and  Copenhagen ;  in  Lisbon,  Madrid,  and  Paris  ; 
in  the  ancient  metropolis  of  China ;  in  the  capital  of  the 
young  American  Republic,  the  British  flag  has  been  hailed 
as  the  symbol  of  a  triumphant  power,  or  of  a  generous 
deliverance.  Well  may  we  cherish  an  honest  pride  in 
the  prowess  and  military  virtue  of  our  soldiers;  loyal 
alike  to  the  crown  and  to  the  people  ;  facing  in  battle, 
with  unshaken  courage,  the  deadly  shot  and  sweeping 
charge,  and,  with  a  still  loftier  valour,  enduring  in  times 
of  domestic  troubles,  the  gibes  and  injuries  of  their 
misguided  countrymen. 


XXV111  INTRODUCTION. 

In  the  stirring  interest  excited  by  the  progress  and 
ivalry  of  our  kindred  races  in  America,  the  sad  and 
solemn  subject  of  the  Indian  people  is  almost  forgotten. 
The  mysterious  decree  of  Providence  which  has  swept 
them  away  may  not  be  judged  by  human  wisdom. 
Their  existence  will  soon  be  of  the  past.  They  have 
left  no  permanent  impression  on  the  constitution  of  the 
great  nation  which  now  spreads  over  their  country. 
No  trace  of  their  blood,  language,  or  manners  may  be 
found  among  their  haughty  successors.  As  certainly 
as  their  magnificent  forests  fell  before  the  advancing 
tide  of  civilisation,  they  fell  also.  Neither  the  kindness 
or  the  cruelty  of  the  white  man  arrested  or  hastened 
their  inevitable  fate.  They  withered  alike  under  the 
Upas-shade  of  European  protection,  and  before  the 
deadly  storm  of  European  hostility.  As  the  snow  in 
spring  they  melted  away,  stained,  tainted,  trampled 


The  closing  scene  of  French  dominion  in  Canada  was 
marked  by  circumstances  of  deep  and  peculiar  interest. 
The  pages  of  romance  can  furnish  no  more  striking 
episode  than  the  battle  of  Quebec.  The  skill  and 
daring  of  the  plan  which  brought  on  the  combat, 
and  the  success  and  fortune  of  its  execution,  are 
unparalleled.  There  a  broad  open  plain,  offering  no 
advantages  to  either  party,  was  the  field  of  fight. 


INTRODUCTION.  Xxix 

The  contending  armies  were  nearly  equal  in  military 
strength  if  not  in  numbers.  The  chiefs  of  each  were 
men  already  of  honourable  fame.  France  trusted 
firmly  in  the  wise  and  chivalrous  Montcalm  :  England 
trusted  hopefully  in  the  young  and  heroic  Wolfe.  The 
magnificent  stronghold  which  was  staked  upon  the  issue 
of  the  strife,  stood  close  at  hand.  For  miles  and  miles 
around,  the  prospect  extended  over  as  fair  a  land  as 
ever  rejoiced  the  sight  of  man  ;  mountain  and  valley, 
forest  and  waters,  city  and  solitude,  grouped  together 
in  forms  of  almost  ideal  beauty. 

The  strife  was  brief,  but  deadly.  The  September 
sun  rose  upon  two  gallant  armies  arrayed  in  unbroken 
pride,  and  noon  of  the  same  day  saw  the  ground  where 
they  had  stood,  strewn  with  the  dying  and  the  dead. 
Hundreds  of  the  veterans  of  France  had  fallen  in  the 
ranks,  from  which  they  disdained  to  fly  ;  the  scene  of 
his  ruin  faded  fast  from  Montcalm's  darkening  sight, 
but  the  proud  consciousness  of  having  done  his  duty 
deprived  defeat  and  death  of  their  severest  sting.  Not 
more  than  a  musket-shot  away  lay  Wolfe ;  the  heart 
that  but  an  hour  before  had  throbbed  with  great  and 
generous  impulse,  now  still  for  ever.  On  the  face  of 
the  dead  there  rested  a  triumphant  smile  which  the  last 
agony  had  not  overcast,  a  light  of  unfailing  hope  that 
the  shadows  of  the  grave  could  not  darken. 


XXX  INTRODUCTION. 

The  portion  of  history  here  recorded  is  no  frag- 
ment. Within  a  period  comparatively  brief,  we  see  the 
birth,  the  growth,  and  the  catastrophe  of  a  nation. 
The  flag  of  France  is  erected  at  Quebec  by  a  handful 
of  hardy  adventurers ;  a  century  and  a  half  has  passed, 
and  that  flag  is  lowered  to  a  foreign  foe  before  the 
sorrowing  eyes  of  a  Canadian  people.  This  example 
is  complete  as  that  presented  in  the  life  of  an  indivi- 
dual :  we  see  the  natural  sequence  of  events ;  the 
education  and  the  character,  the  motive  and  the  action, 
the  error  and  the  punishment.  Through  the  following 
records  may  be  clearly  traced  combinations  of  causes, 
remote,  and  even  apparently  opposed,  uniting  in  one 
result,  and  also  the  surprising  fertility  of  one  great 
cause  in  producing  many  different  results. 

Were  we  to  read  the  records  of  history  by  the  light 
of  the  understanding,  instead  of  by  the  fire  of  the 
passions,  the  study  could  be  productive  only  of  un- 
mixed good ;  their  examples  and  warnings  would 
afford  us  constant  guidance  in  the  paths  of  public  and 
private  virtue.  The  narrow  and  unreasonable  notion  of 
exclusive  national  merit,  cannot  survive  a  fair  glance 
over  the  vast  map  of  time  and  space  which  history  lays 
before  us.  We  may  not  avert  our  eyes  from  those  dark 
spots  upon  the  annals  of  our  beloved  land  where  acts 
of  violence  and  injustice  stand  recorded  against  her,  nor 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXI 

may  we  suffer  the  blaze  of  military  renown  to  dazzle 
our  judgment.  Victory  may  bring  glory  to  the  arms, 
while  it  brings  shame  to  the  councils  of  a  people  :  for 
the  triumphs  of  war  are  those  of  the  general  and  the 
soldier;  increase  of  honour,  wisdom  and  prosperity, 
are  the  triumphs  of  the  nation. 

The  citizens  of  Rome  placed  the  images  of  their 
ancestors  in  the  vestibule,  to  recal  the  virtues  of  the 
dead,  and  to  stimulate  the  emulation  of  the  living. 
We  also  should  fix  our  thoughts  upon  the  examples 
which  history  presents,  not  in  a  vain  spirit  of  selfish 
nationality,  but  in  earnest  reverence  for  the  great  and 
good  of  all  countries,  and  a  contempt  for  the  false, 
and  mean,  and  cruel,  even  of  our  own. 


THE 


ERRATA  TO  VOL.  I. 

P.  61— for  "  cornibotz  "  read  cornibolz. 

63- for  reference  to  Appendix  XIV.  read  XV. 

73-<fcte  XV. 

82— /or  "  traitre"  in  note  5,  read  traiter. 

—    after  "  deja"  insert  distingue. 

89,  note  8—; for  "mene"  read  me"ner. 

_     _      /or  "Gruercheville"readGuerchevillc. 
100-/br  XVI.  read  XVII. 

—for  XVII.  read  XVIII. 
184— /or  "Faraquai "  read  Paraguai. 
188-/or  XLI.  read  XLIII. 
189— /or  XLII.  read  XLIV. 
234 —dele  reference  to  Appendix. 
387-/OT  LXIV.  read  LXHI. 


tenons  empire,  wnere  uiie-imru  ui  uur  itjiiow  men 
still  stand  apart  from  the  brotherhood  of  nations. 
Among  the  various  and  astounding  exaggerations 
induced  by  the  vanity  of  the  narrators,  and  the 
ignorance  of  their  audience,  none  was  more  ready 

VOL.  I.  B 


THE 


CONQUEST    OF    CANADA 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  philosophers  of  remote  antiquity  acquired 
the  important  knowledge  of  the  earth's  spherical 
form  ;  to  their  bold  genius  we  are  indebted  for  the 
outline  of  the  geographical  system  now  universally 
adopted.  With  a  vigorous  conception,  but  imperfect 
execution,  they  traced  out  the  scheme  of  denoting 
localities  by  longitude  and  latitude :  according  to 
their  teaching  the  imaginary  equatorial  line,  encom- 
passing the  earth,  was  divided  into  hours  and 
degrees. 

Even  at  that  distant  period  hardy  adventurers  had 
penetrated  far  away  into  the  land  of  the  rising  sun, 
and  many  a  wondrous  tale  was  told  of  that  mys- 
terious empire,  where  one-third  of  our  fellow  men 
still  stand  apart  from  the  brotherhood  of  nations. 
Among  the  various  and  astounding  exaggerations 
induced  by  the  vanity  of  the  narrators,  and  the 
ignorance  of  their  audience,  none  was  more  ready 

VOL.  I.  B 


2  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

than  that  of  distance.  The  journey,  the  labour  of 
a  life ;  each  league  of  travel  a  new  scene  ;  the  day 
crowded  with  incident,  the  night  a  dream  of  terror 
or  admiration.  Then  as  the  fickle  will  of  the 
wanderer  suggested,  as  the  difficulties  or  encourage- 
ment of  nature,  and  the  hostility  or  aid  of  man 
impelled,  the  devious  course  bent  to  the  north  or 
south,  was  hastened,  hindered,  or  retraced. 

By  such  vague  and  shadowy  measurement  as  the 
speculations  of  these  wanderers  supplied,  the 
sages  of  the  past  traced  out  the  ideal  limits  of  the 
dry  land  which,  at  the  word  of  God,  appeared  from 
out  the  gathering  together  of  the  waters.1 

1  "  La  sphericite  de  la  terre  etant  reconnue,  Tetendue  de  la  terre  ha- 
bitee  en  longitude  determine,  en  meme  temps  la  largeur  de  1'Atlantique 
entre  les  c6tes  occidentales  d'Europe  et  d'Afrique  et  les  cotes  orien- 
tales  d'Asie  par  differens  degres  de  latitude.  Eratosthene  (Strabo, 
ii.,  p.  87,  Gas.)  evalue  la  circonference  de  1'equateur  a  252,000 
stades,  et  la  largeur  de  la  chlamyde  du  Cap  Sacre  (Cap  Saint  Vincent) 
a  1'extremite  dela  grande  ceinture  de  Taurus,  pres  de  Thinse  &  70,000 
stades.  En  prolongeant  la  distance  vers  le  sud  est  j usque  au  cap  des 
Coliaques  qui,  d'apres  les  idees  de  Strabon  sur  la  configuration  de 
1'Asie,  represente  notre  Cap  Comorin,  et  avance  plus  a  1'est  que  la 
cote  de  Thinse,  la  combinaison  des  donnees  d'Eratosthene  offre 
74,600  et  meme  78,000  stades.  Or,  en  reduisant,  par  la  difference 
de  latitude,  le  perimetre  equatorial  au  parallele  de  Rhodes,  des  portes 
Caspiennes  et  de  Thinse  c'est  a  dire,  au  parallele  de  36°  0'  et  nou  de 
36°  21',  on  trouve  203,872  stades,  et  pour  largeur  de  la  terre  habitee, 
par  le  parallele  de  Rhodes,  67,500  stades.  Strabon  dit  par  conse- 
quence avec  justesse,  dans  le  fameux  passage  ou.  il  semble  predire 
1'existence  du  Nouveau  Continent,  en  parlant  de  deux  terres  habitees 
dans  la  meme  zone  temperee  boreale  que  les  terres  occupent  plus  du 
tiers  de  la  circonference  du  parallele  qui  passe  par  Thinse.  Par  cette 
supposition  la  distance  de  1'Iberie  aux  Indes  est  au  dela  de  236°  a 
peu  pres  240°.  Ou  peut  Mre  surpris  de  voir  que  le  resultat  le  plus 
ancien  est  aussi  le  plus  exact  de  tons  ceux  que  nous  trouvons  en 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA.  3 

The  most  eminent  geographer  before  the  time  of 
Ptolemy,  places  the  confines  of  Seres — the  China  of 
to-day — at  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  distance  round 
the  world,  from  the  first  meridian.2  Ptolemy 

descendant  d'Eratosthene  par  Posidonius  aux  temps  de  Marin  de 
Tyr  et  de  Ptolemee.  La  terre  habitee  offre  effeetivement,  d'apres  nos 
connoissances  actuelles,  entre  les  36°  et  37°  130  degres  d'etendue  en 
longitude  ;  il  y  a  par  consequent  des  cotes  de  la  Chine  au  Cap  Sacre 
a  travers  1'ocean  de  Test  a  1'ouest  230  degres.  L'accord  que  je 
nommerai  accidentel  de  cette  vraie  distance  et  de  revaluation  d'Era- 
tosthene atteint  done  dix  degres  en  longitude.  Posidonius  *  soup- 
gonne,  (c'est  1'expression  de  Strabon,  lib.  ii.  p.  102,  Gas.)  que  la 
longueur  de  la  terre  habitee  laquelle  est,  selon  lui,  d'environ  70,000 
stades,  doit  former  la  moitie  du  cercle  entier  sur  lequel  le  mesure  se 
prend,  et  qu'  ainsi  a  partir  de  1'extremite  occidentale  de  cette  meme 
terre  habitee,  en  naviguant  avec  un  vent  d'est  continuel  1'espace  de 
70,000  autres  stades,  ou  arriverait  dans  1'Inde."  -  Humboldt's 
Geographic  du  Nouveau  Continent. 

2  "  La  longueur  de  la  terre  habitee  comprise  entre  les  meridiens 
des  iles  Forturiees  et  de  Sera  etoit,  d'apres  Marin  de  Tyr  (Ptol.  Geogr. 
lib.  i.  cap.  11)  de  15  heures  ou  de  225°.  C' etoit  avancer  les  cotes  de 
la  Chine  jusqu'au  meridien  des  iles  Sandwich,  et  reduire  1'espace  a 
parcourir  des  iles  Canaries  aux  c6tes  orientales  de  1'Asie  a  135°, 
erreur  de  86°  en  longitude.  La  grande  extension  de  23^°  que  les 
anciens  donnoient  a  la  mer  Caspienne,  contribuoit  egalement  beau- 
coup  a  augmenter  la  largeur  de  1'Asie.  Ptolemee  a  laisse  intacte, 
dans  1'evaluation  de  la  terre  habitee,  selon  Posidonius,  la  distance  des 
iles  Fortunees  au  passage  de  1'Euphrate  a  Hierapolis.  Les  reduc- 
tions de  Ptole'me'e  ne  portent  que  sur  les  distances  de  1'Euphrate  a 
la  Tour  de  Pierre  et  de  cette  tour  a  la  metropole  des  Seres.  Les 
225°  de  Marin  de  Tyr  deviennent,  selon  1' Almagest  (lib.  ii.,  p.  1)  180°, 
selon  la  Geographic  de  Ptolemee  (lib.  i.,  p.  12)  177J.  Les  cotes  des 
Sinse  *  reculent  done  du  meridien  des  iles  Sandwich  vers  celui  des 
Carolines  orientales,  et  1'espace  a  parcourir  par  mer  en  longitude  n'etoit 
plus  de  135°,  mais  de  180°  a  182f°.  II  e'toit  dans  les  interets  de 

*  In  opposition  to  the  opinion  of  Malte  Brun  and  M.  de  Josselin,  Mr.  Hugh 
Murray  is  considered  to  have  satisfactorily  proved  the  correctness  ef  Ptolemy's  asser- 
tion that  the  Seres  or  Sina;  are  identical  with  the  Chinese.  —See  Trans,  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Edinburgh,  vol.  viii.,  p.  171. 

B  2 


4  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

reduces  the  proportion  to  one  half.  Allowing  for 
the  supposed  vast  extent  of  this  unknown  country 
to  the  eastward,  it  was  evident  that  its  remotest 
shores  approached  our  western  world.  But,  beyond 
the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  the  dark  and  stormy  waters 
of  the  Atlantic3  forbade  adventure.  The  giant 
minds  of  those  days  saw,  even  through  the  mists 
of  ignorance  and  error,  that  the  readiest  course  to 
reach  this  distant  land  must  lie  towards  the  setting 
sun,  across  the  western  ocean.4  From  over  this 

Christophe  Colomb  de  preferer  de  beaucoup  les  calculs  de  Marin  de 
Tyr  a  ceux  de  Ptolemee  et  a  force  de  conjectures  Colomb  parvient  a 
restreindre  1'espace  de  1'Ocean  qui  lui  restait  a  traverser  des  lies  du  cap 
Vert  au  Cathay  de  1'Asie  orientale  a  128°  "  ( Vida  del  Almirante}. 
— Humboldt's  Geographic  du  Nouveau  Continent)  vol.  ii.,  p.  364. 

3  That  the  vast  waters  of  the  Atlantic  were  regarded  with  "  awe 
and  wonder,  seeming  to  bound  the  world  as  with  a  chaos,"  needs  no 
greater  proof  than  the  description  given  of  it  by  Xerif  al  Edrizi,  an 
eminent  Arabian  writer,  whose  countrymen  were  the  boldest  naviga- 
tors of  the  middle  ages,  and  possessed  all  that  was  then  known  of 
geography.      "  The  ocean,"  he  observes,  "  encircles  the  ultimate 
bounds  of  the  inhabited  earth,  and  all  beyond  it  is  unknown.     No 
one  has  been  able  to  verify  anything  concerning  it,  on  account  of  its 
difficult  and   perilous  navigation,  its  great  obscurity,   its  profound 
depth,  and  frequent  tempests  ;  through  fear  of  its  mighty  fishes  and 
its  haughty  winds  ;  yet  there  are  many  islands  in  it,   some  peopled, 
others  uninhabited.     There  is  no  mariner  who  dares  to  enter  into  its 
deep  waters  ;  or  if  any  have  done  so,  they  have  merely  kept  along 
its  coasts,  fearful  of  departing  from  them.     The  waves  of  this  ocean, 
though  they  roll  as  high  as  mountains,  yet  maintain  themselves  with- 
out breaking  ;  for  if  they  broke  it  would  be  impossible  for  ship  to 
plough  them." — Description  of  Spain,  by  Xerif  al  Edrizi :  Conde's 
Spanish  translation.     Madrid,  1799. — Quoted  by  Washington  Irving. 

4  Aristotle,  Strabo,  Pliny,  and  Seneca  arrived  at  this  conclusion. 
The  idea,  however,  of  an  intervening  continent  never  appears  to  have 
suggested  itself. — Humboldt's  Cosmos. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA.  5 

vast  watery  solitude  no  traveller  had  ever  brought 
back  the  story  of  his  wanderings.  The  dim  light 
of  traditionary  memory  gave  no  guiding  ray,  the 
faint  voice  of  rumour  breathed  not  its  mysterious 
secrets.  Then  poetic  imagination  filled  the  void; 
vast  islands  were  conjured  up  out  of  the  deep, 
covered  with  unheard  of  luxuriance  of  vegetation, 
rich  in  mines  of  incalculable  value,  populous  with 
a  race  of  conquering  warriors.  But  this  magnificent 
vision  was  only  created  to  be  destroyed ;  a  violent 
earthquake  rent  asunder  in  a  day  and  a  night  the 
foundations  of  Atlantis,  and  the  waters  of  the  western 
ocean  swept  over  the  ruins  of  this  once  mighty  em- 
pire.5 In  after  ages  we  are  told,  that  some  Phoenician 

5  In  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  over  against  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  lay 
an  island  larger  than  Asia  and  Africa  taken  together,  and  in  its 
vicinity  were  other  islands.  The  ocean  in  which  these  islands  were 
situated  was  surrounded  on  every  side  by  mainland,  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean, compared  with  it,  resembled  a  mere  harbour  or  narrow 
entrance.  Nine  thousand  years  before  the  time  of  Plato  this  island 
of  Atlantis  was  both  thickly  settled  and  very  powerful.  Its  sway 
extended  over  Africa,  as  far  as  Egypt,  and  over  Europe  as  far  as  the 
Tyrrhenian  Sea.  The  farther  progress  of  its  conquests,  however, 
was  checked  by  the  Athenians,  who,  partly  with  the  other  Greeks, 
partly  by  themselves,  succeeded  in  defeating  these  powerful  invaders, 
the  natives  of  Atlantis.  After  this  a  violent  earthquake,  which 
lasted  for  the  space  of  a  day  and  a  night,  and  was  accompanied  with 
inundations  of  the  sea,  caused  the  islands  to  sink,  and  for  a  long 
period  subsequent  to  this,  the  sea  in  that  quarter  was  impassable  by 
reason  of  the  slime  and  shoals.— Plato,  Tim.  24—29,  296  ;  Crit. 
108 — 110,  39,  43.  The  learned  Gessner  is  of  opinion  that  the  Isle 
of  Ceres,  spoken  of  in  a  poem  of  very  high  antiquity,  attributed  to 
Orpheus,  was  a  fragment  of  Atlantis.  Kircher,  in  his  *'  Mundus 
Subterraneus, "  and  Beckman,  in  his  "  History  of  Islands,"  suppose 
the  Atlantis  to  have  been  an  island  extending  from  the  Canaries  to 


6  THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA. 

vessels,  impelled  by  a  strong  east  wind,  were  driven 
for  thirty  days  across  the  Atlantic :  there  they  found 
a  part  of  the  sea  where  the  surface  was  covered  with 
rushes  and  seaweed,  somewhat  resembling  a  vast 
inundated  meadow.6  The  voyagers  ascribed  these 

the  Azores  ;  that  it  was  really  ingulfed  in  one  of  the  convulsions  of 
the  globe,  and  that  those  small  islands  are  mere  fragments  of  it. 
Gosselin,  in  his  able  research  into  the  voyages  of  the  ancients,  sup- 
poses the  Atlantis  of  Plato  to  have  been  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
one  of  the  nearest  of  the  Canaries,  viz.  Fortaventura  or  Laiicerote. 
Carli  and  many  others  find  America  in  the  Atlantis,  and  adduce 
many  plausible  arguments  in  support  of  their  assertion. — Carli, 
Letters  Amer. ;  Fr.  Transl.,  ii.  180.  M.  Bailly,  in  his  "  Letters 
Bur  1'  Atlantide  de  Platon,"  maintains  the  existence  of  the  Atlantides, 
and  their  island  Atlantis,  by  the  authorities  of  Homer,  Sanchoniathon, 
and  Diodorus  Siculus,  in  addition  to  that  of  Plato.  Manheim 
maintains  very  strenuously  that*  Plato's  Atlantis  is  Sweden  and 
Norway.  M.  Bailly,  after  citing  many  ancient  testimonies,  which 
concur  in  placing  this  famous  isle  in  the  north,  quotes  that  of  Plu- 
tarch, who  confirms  these  testimonies  by  a  circumstantial  description 
of  the  Isle  of  Ogygia,  or  the  Atlantis,  which  he  represents  as  situated 
in  the  north  of  Europe.  The  following  is  the  theory  of  Buffon  : 
after  citing  the  passage  relating  to  the  Atlantis,  from  Plato's 
"Timseus,"  he  adds  :  "This  ancient  tradition  is  not  devoid  of  pro- 
bability. The  lands  swallowed  up  by  the  waters  were,  perhaps,  those 
which  united  Ireland  to  the  Azores,  and  the  Azores  to  the  continent 
of  America  ;  for  in  Ireland  there  are  the  same  fossils,  the  same 
shells,  and  the  same  sea  bodies  as  appear  in  America,  and  some  of 
them  are  found  in  no  other  part  of  Europe." — Buffon's  Nat.  Hist. 
by  Smellie,  vol.  i.,  p.  507. 

6  The  first  authentic  description  of  the  Mar  di  Sargasso  of 
Aristotle  is  due  to  Columbus.  It  spreads  out  between  the  nineteenth 
and  thirty-fourth  degrees  of  north  latitude.  Its  chief  axis  lies  about 
seven  degrees  to  the  westward  of  the  island  of  Corvo.  The  smaller 
bank,  on  the  other  hand,  lies  between  the  Bermudas  and  Bahamas. 
The  winds  and  partial  currents  in  different  years  slightly  affect  the 
position  and  extent  of  these  Atlantic  "  sea- weed  meadows."  No 
other  sea  in  either  hemisphere  displays  a  similar  extent  of  surface 


THE    CONQUEST    OP    CANADA.  7 

strange  appearances  to  some  cause  connected  with 
the  submerged  Atlantis,  and  even  in  later  years 
they  were  held  by  many  as  confirmation  of  Plato's 
marvellous  story.7 

In  the  Carthaginian  annals  is  found  the  mention 
of  a  fertile  and  beautiful  island  of  the  distant  Atlantic. 
Many  adventurous  men  of  that  maritime  people  were 
attracted  thither  by  the  delightful  climate  and  the 
riches  of  the  soil ;  it  was  deemed  of  such  value  and 
importance  that  they  proposed  to  transfer  the  seat 
of  their  republic  to  its  shores  in  case  of  any  irrepa- 
rable disaster  at  home.  But  at  length  the  Senate, 
fearing  the  evils  of  a  divided  state,  denounced  the 
distant  colony,  and  decreed  the  punishment  of  death 
to  those  who  sought  it  for  a  home.  If  there  be  any 
truth  in  this  ancient  tale,  it  is  probable  that  one  of 
the  Canary  Islands  was  its  subject.8 

covered  by  plants  collected  in  this  way.  These  meadows  of  the  ocean 
present  the  wonderful  spectacle  of  a  collection  of  plants  covering  a 
space  nearly  seven  times  as  large  as  France. — Humboldt's  Cosmos. 

7  See  Appendix,  No.  II. 

8  See  Aristotle,  De  Mirab.  Auscult.,  cap.  Ixxxiv.  84,  p.  836.    Bekk. 
This    work,   "A    Collection   of   Wonderful    Narratives,"    is    attri- 
buted  to  Aristotle  ;  the  real  compiler  is   unknown.     According  to 
Humboldt,  it  seems  to  have  been  written  before  the  first  Punic  war. 
— Diodorus  of  Sicily,  vol.  xix.     Aristotle  attributes  the  discovery  of 
the  island  to  the  Carthaginians  ;  Diodorus  to  the  Pho3nicians.     The 
occurrence  is  said  to  have  taken  place  in  the  earliest  times  of  the 
Tyrrhenian  dominion  of  the  sea,  during   the  contest  between  the 
Tyrrhenian  Pelasgi  and  the  Pho3nicians.     The  island  of  the  Seven 
Cities  (see  Appendix,  No.  II.)  was  identified  with  the  island  mentioned 
by  Aristotle  as  having  been  discovered  by  the  Carthaginians,  and 
was  inserted  in  the  early  maps  under  the  name  of  Antilla.     Paul 
Toscanelli,   the   celebrated   physician   of  Florence,  thus   writes   to 
Columbus.:  "From  the  island  of  Antilia,  which  you  call  the  Seven 


8  THE   CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

Although  the  New  World  in  the  West  was  unknown 
to  the  Ancients,  there  is  no  doubt  that  they  enter- 
Cities,  and  of  which  you  have  some  knowledge,"  <kc.  In  the  middle 
ages  conjectures  were  religiously  inscribed  upon  the  maps,  as  is 
proved  by  Antilia,  St.  Borondon  (see  Appendix),  the  Hand  of 
Satan,  Green  Island,  Maida  Island,  and  the  exact  form  of  vast 
southern  regions.  Humboldt  refers  the  name  of  Antilia  so  far  back 
as  the  fourteenth  century.  The  earliest  date  given  by  Ferdinand 
Columbus  is  1436.  "  Beyond  the  Azores,  but  at  no  great  distance 
towards  the  west,  occurs  the  Ysola  de  Antilia,  which  we  may  conclude, 
even  allowing  the  date  of  the  map  to  be  genuine  (in  the  library  of 
St.  Mark,  at  Venice,  date,  1436),  to  be  ajnere  gratuitous  or  theoretic 
supposition,  and  to  have  received  that  strange  name  because  the 
obvious  and  natural  idea  of  antipodes  has  been  anathematised  by 
Catholic  ignorance."  He  elsewhere  says  that  "some  Portuguese 
cosmographers  have  inserted  the  island  described  by  Aristotle  in  maps 
under  the  name  of  Antilia." — Hist,  of  the  Discovery  of  America,  by 
Don  Ferdinand  Columbus,  in  Ker,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  3 — 29. 

The  origin  of  the  name  Antilia,  or  Antilia,  is  still  a  matter  of  con- 
jecture. Humboldt  attributes  to  a  "  litterateur  distingue "  the 
solution  of  the  enigma,  from  a  passage  in  Aristotle's  "  de  Mundo," 
which  speaks  of  the  probable  existence  of  unknown  lands  opposite  to 
the  mass  of  continents  which  we  inhabit.  "  These  countries,  be  they 
small  or  great,  whose  shores  are  opposed  to  ours,  were  marked  out 
by  the  word  porthornoi,  which  in  the  middle  ages  was  translated  by 
antinsulae."  Humboldt  says  that  this  translation  is  totally  incorrect  ; 
however,  the  idea  of  the  "litterateur  distingue"  is  evidently  the 
same  as  Ferdinand  Columbus's.  The  following  is  the  hypothesis 
favoured  by  Humboldt  : — "  Peut-etre  meme  le  nom  d' Antilia  qui 
parait  pour  la  premiere  fois  sur  une  carte  Venitienne  de  1436  n'est  il 
qu'une  forme  Portuguaise  donnee  a  un  nom  geographique  des  Arabes. 
L 'etymologic  que  hasarde  M.  Buace  me  parait  tres  ingenieuse. 
La  syllabe  initiale  me  parait  la  corruption  de  1'article  Arabe.  D'al 
Tinnin  et  d'Al  tin  on  aura  fait  peu  d  peu  Antinna  et  Antilia,  comme 
par  un  deplacement  analogue  de  consonnes,  les  Espagnols  ont  fait  de 
crocodile,  corcodilo  et  cocodrilo.  Le  Dragon  est  al  Tin,  et  1'Antilia  est 
peut-etre,  1'ile  des  dragons  marina. " — Humboldt's  Ex.  Grit.,  vol.ii.,  21 1 . 

Oviedo  applies  the  relation  of  Aristotle  to  the  Hesperian  islands, 
and  asserts  that  they  were  the  "  India  "  discovered  by   Columbus 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  9 

tained  a  suspicion  of  its  existence ; 9  the  romance  of 
Plato — the  prophecy  of  Seneca,  were  but  the  off- 
springs of  this  vague  idea.  Many  writers  tell  us  it 
was  conjectured  that,  by  sailing  from  the  coast  of 
Spain,  the  eastern  shores  of  India  might  be  reached;1 

"  Perche  egli  (Colombo)  conobbe  come  era  in  effetto  che  queste  terre 
che  egli  ben  ritrovava  scritte,  erano  del  tutto  uscite  dalla  memoria 
degli  uomin  ;  e  io  per  me  non  dubito  che  si  sapissero,  e  possedessero 
auticamente  dalli  Re  de  Spagna  :  e  voglio  qui  dire  quello  che  Aris- 
totele  in  questo  caso  ne  scrisse,  <fcc.  .  .  .  io  tengo  che  queste  Indie 
siano  quelle  autiche  e  fainose  Isole  Hesperide  cose  dette  da  Hespero 
12  Re  di  Spagna.  Or  come  la  Spagna  e  1'Italia  tolsero  il  nome  da 
Hespero  12  Re  di  Spagna  cosi  anco  da  questo  istesso  ex  torsero 
queste  isole  Hesperidi,  che  noi  diciamo,  onde  senza  alcun  dubbio  si 
de  tenere,  che  in  quel  tempo  queste  isole  sotto  la  signoria  della 
Spagna  stessero,  e  sotto  un  medesmo  Re,  che  fu  (come  Beroso  dice) 
1658  anni  prima  che  il  nostro  Salvatore  nascesse.  E  perche  al  pre- 
sente  siamo  nel  1535  della  salute  nostra,  ne  segue  che  siano  ora  tre 
niilo  e  cento  novantatre  anni  che  la  Spagna  e'l  suoRe  Hespero  signoreg- 
giavauo  queste  Indie  o  Isole  Hesperidi.  E  come  cosa  sua  par  che 
abbia  la  divina  giustizia  voluto  ritornargliele." — Hist.  Gen.  delV 
Indie  de  Gonzalo  Fernando  D'Oviedo,  in  Ramusio,  torn,  iii.,  p.  80. 

9  "  It  is  very  possible  that  in  the  same  temperate  zone,  and  almost 
in  the  same  latitude  as  Thinse  (or  Athens  ?),  where  it  crosses  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  there  are  inhabited  worlds,  distinct  from  that  in 
which  we  dwell."* — Strabo,  lib.  i.,  p.  65,  and  lib.  ii.,  p.  118. — It  is 
surprising  that  this  expression  never  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
Spanish  authors,  who,  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
were  searching  everywhere  in  classical  literature  with  the  expecta- 
tion of  finding  some  traces  of  acquaintance  with  the  .New  World. 

1  "  D'Anville  a  dit  avec  esprit  que  la  plus  grande  des  erreurs  dans 
la  geographic  de  Ptolemee  a  conduit  les  homnes  a  la  plus  grande 


*  "  The  idea  of  such  a  locality  in  a  continuation  of  the  long  axis  of  the  Mediterranean 
was  connected  with  a  grand  view  of  the  earth  by  Eratosthenes  (generally  and  exten- 
sively known  among  the  ancients),  according  to  which  the  entire  ancient  continent, 
in  its  widest  expanse  from  west  to  east,  in  the  parallel  of  about  thirty-six  degrees,  pre- 
sents an  almost  unbroken  line  of  elevation." — Humboldt's  Cosmos. 


10  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

the  length  of  the  voyage,  or  the  wonders  that  might 
lie  in  its  course,  imagination  alone  could  measure  or 
describe.  Whatever  might  have  been  the  suspicion 
or  belief2  of  ancient  time,  we  may  feel  assured  that 
none  then  ventured  to  seek  these  distant  lands,  nor 
have  we  reason  to  suppose  that  any  of  the  civilised 
European  races  gave  inhabitants  to  the  New  World 
before  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

To  the  barbarous  hordes  of  North-eastern  Asia 
America  must  have  long  been  known,  as  the  land 
where  many  of  their  wanderers  found  a  home.  It  is 
not  surprising  that  from  them  no  information  was 
obtained ;  but  it  is  strange  that  the  bold  and  adven- 
turous Northmen  should  have  visited  it  nearly  five 
hundred  years  before  the  great  Genoese,  and  have 
suffered  their  wonderful  discovery  to  remain  hidden 
from  the  world,  and  to  become  almost  forgotten 
among  themselves.3 

decouverte  de  terres  nouvelles  c'est,  a  dire  la  supposition  que  1'Asie 
s'etendait  vers  Test,  au  dela  du  180  degre  de  longitude." 

Both  Strabo  and  Aristotle  speak  of  "the  same  sea-bathing  oppo- 
site shores,"  Strabo,  lib.  i.,  p.  103  ;  lib.  ii.,  p.  162.  Aristotle,  De 
Ccelo,  lib.  ii.,  cap.  14,  p.  297.  The  possibility  of  navigating  from 
the  extremity  of  Europe  to  the  eastern  shores  of  Asia,  is  clearly 
asserted  by  the  Stagyrite,  and  in  the  two  celebrated  passages  of 
Strabo.  Aristotle  does  not  suppose  the  distance  to  be  very  great, 
and  draws  an  ingenious  argument  in  favour  of  his  supposition  from 
the  geography  of  animals.  Strabo  sees  no  obstacle  to  passing  from 
Iberia  to  India,  except  the  immense  extent  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Strabo,  as  well  as  Eratosthenes,  extend 
the  appellation  of  Atlantic  sea  to  every  part  of  the  ocean." — Hum- 
boldt's  Geog.  du  Nouveau  Continent. 

2  See  Appendix,  No.  IIL 

3  "  Au  milieu  detant  de  discussions  acerbes  qu'une  curieuse  malignite 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  11 

In  the  year  1001  the  Icelanders  touched  upon  the 
American  coast,  and  for  nearly  two  centuries  subse- 
quent visits  were  repeatedly  made  by  them  and  the 
Norwegians,  for  the  purpose  of  commerce  or  for  the 
gratification  of  curiosity.  Biorn  Heriolson,  an  Ice- 
lander, was  the  first  discoverer :  steering  for  Green- 
land he  was  driven  to  the  south  by  tempestuous 
and  unfavourable  winds,  and  saw  different  parts  of 
America,  without  however  touching  at  any  of  them. 
Attracted  by  the  report  of  this  voyage,  Leif,  son  of 
Eric  the  discoverer  of  Greenland,  fitted  out  a  vessel 
to  pursue  the  same  adventure.  He  passed  the  coast 
visited  by  Biorn,  and  steered  south-west  till  he  reached 
a  strait  between  a  large  island  and  the  mainland. 
Finding  the  country  fertile  and  pleasant,  he  passed 
the  winter  near  this  place,  and  gave  it  the  name  of 
Vinland4  from  the  wild  vine  which  grew  there  in 

et  le  gout  d'une  fausse  erudition  classique  firent  naitre  sur  le  merite 
de  Christophe  Colomb,  parmi  ses  contemporains,  personne  n'a 
pense  aux  navigations  des  Normands  comme  precurseurs  des  Ge'nois. 
Cette  idee  ne  se  presenta  que  soixante  quatre  ans  apres  la  mort 
du  grand  homme.  On  savait  par  ces  propres  reeits  '  qu'il  etoit  alle 
a  Thule  '  mais  alors  ce  voyage  vers  le  nord  ne  fit  naitre  aucun 
soupgon  sur  la  priorite,  de  la  decouverte  .  .  .  .  Le  merite  d 'avoir 
reconnu  la  premiere  decouverte  de  1'Amerique  septentrionale  par  les 
Normands  appartient  indubitablement  au  geographe  Ortelius,  qui 
annonga  cette  opinion  de's  1'annee  1570.  '  Christophe  Colomb,  dit 
Ortelius,  a  seulement  mis  le  Nouveau  Monde  en  rapport  durable  de 
commerce  et  d'utilite  avec  1 'Europe'  ( Theatr.  Orbis  Terr.,  on  pp.  5,  6). 
Ce  jugement  est  beaucoup  trop  severe." — Humboldt's  Geog.  du 
Nouveau  Continent. 

4  "  Biorn  first  saw  land  in  the  island  of  Nantucket,  one  degree 
south  of  Boston,  then  in  New  Scotland,  and  lastly  in  Newfoundland.'7 
— Carl  Christian  Rafn,  Antiquitates  Americance,  1845,  p.  4,  421  ; 
Humboldt's  Cosmos. 


12  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

great  abundance.5  The  winter  days  were  longer  in 
this  new  country  than  in  Greenland,  and  the  weather 
was  more  temperate. 

"  The  country  called  *  the  good  Vinland '  (Vinland  it  goda)  by 
Leif,  included  the  shore  between  Boston  and  New  York,  and  there- 
fore parts  of  the  present  states  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and 
Connecticut,  between  the  parallels  of  latitude  of  Civita  Vecchia  and 
Terracina,  where,  however,  the  average  temperature  of  the  year  is 
between  46°  and  52°  (Fahr.)  This  was  the  chief  settlement  of  the 
Normans.  Their  active  and  enterprising  spirit  is  proved  by  the 
circumstance,  that  after  they  had  settled  in  the  south  as  far  as 
41°  30'  north  latitude,  they  erected  three  pillars  to  mark  out  the 
boundaries  near  the  eastern  coast  of  Baffin's  Bay,  in  the  latitude  of 
72°  55'  upon  one  of  the  Women  Islands  north-west  of  the  present 
most  northern  Danish  colony  of  Upernavik.  The  Runic  inscription 
upon  the  stone,  discovered  in  the  autumn  of  1824,  contains,  accord- 
ing to  Rask  and  Finn  Magnusen,  the  date  of  the  year  1135.  From 
this  eastern  coast  of  Baffin's  Bay,  the  colonists  visited,  with  great 
regularity  on  account  of  the  fishery,  Lancaster  Sound  and  a  part  of 
Barrow's  Straits,  and  this  occurred  more  than  six  centuries  before  the 
bold  undertakings  of  Parry  and  Ross.  The  locality  of  the  fishery  is 
very  accurately  described  ;  arid  Greenland  priests,  from  the  diocese 
of  Gardar,  conducted  the  first  voyage  of  discovery  in  1266.  These 
north-western  summer  stations  were  called  the  Kroksjardar,  heathen 
countries.  Mention  was  early  made  of  the  Siberian  wood,  which  was 
then  collected,  as  well  as  of  the  numerous  whales,  seals,  walrus,  and 
Polar  bears."— Rafn,  Antiq.  Amer.,  pp.  20,  274,  415—418,  quoted 
by  Humboldt. 

5  One  of  the  objections  brought  forward  by  Robertson  against  the 
Norman  discovery  of  America  is,  that  the  wild  vine  has  never  since 
been  found  so  far  north  as  Labrador  ;  but  modern  travellers  have 
ascertained  that  a  species  of  wild  vine  grows  even  as  far  north  as  the 
shores  of  Hudson's  Bay.*  Since  Robertson's  time,  however,  the  loca- 
lity of  the  first  Norman  settlement  has  been  moved  further  south,  and 
into  latitudes  where  the  best  species  of  wild  vines  are  abundant. 


*  Sir  A.  Mackenzie's   Travels  in    Iceland.     1812.     Preliminary  Dissertation  by 
Dr.  Holland,  p.  46. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  13 

Leif  returned  to  Greenland  in  the  spring;  his 
brother  Thorvald  succeeded  him,  and  remained  two 
winters  in  Vinland  exploring  much  of  the  coast  and 
country.6  In  the  course  of  the  third  summer  the 
natives,  now  called  Esquimaux,  were  first  seen  ;  on 
account  of  their  diminutive  stature  the  adventurers 
gave  them  the  name  of  Styr&Kngar?  These  poor 
savages,  irritated  by  an  act  of  barbarous  cruelty, 
attacked  the  Northmen  with  darts  and  arrows,  and 
Thorvald  fell  a  victim  to  their  vengeance.  A 
wealthy  Icelander,  named  Thorfin,  established  a 
regular  colony  in  Vinland  soon  after  this  event ;  the 
settlers  increased  rapidly  in  numbers,  and  traded 
with  the  natires  for  furs  and  skin§jtQ_greai_advan- 
tage. Sfter  three  years  the  adventurers  returned 
to  Iceland  enriched  by  the  expedition,  and  reported 
favourably  upon  the  new  country.  Little  is  known 
of  this  settlement  after  Thorfin's  departure  till  early 
in  the  twelfth  century,  when  a  bishop  of  Greenland8 
went  there  to  promulgate  the  Christian  faith  among 
the  colonists ;  beyond  that  time  scarcely  a  notice  of 
its  existence  occurs,  and  the  name  and  situation  of 
the  ancient  Vinland  soon  passed  away  from  the  know- 
ledge of  man.  Whether  the  adventurous  colonists 
ever  returned,  or  became  blended  with  the  natives,9. 

6  Rafn,  Antiq.  Amer. 

7  The  Esquimaux  were  at  that  time  spread  much  further  south  than 
they  are  at  present. — Humboldt's  Cosmos,  vol.  ii.,  p.  268. 

8  Eric  Upsi,  a  native  of  Iceland,  and  the  first  Greenland  hishop, 
undertook  to  go  to  Vinland  as  a  Christian  missionary  in  1121. 

9  "  The  learned  Grotius  founds  an  argument  for  the  colonisation  of 


14  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

or  perished  by  their  hands,  no  record  remains  to 
tell.1 

Discoveries  such  as  these  by  the  ancient  Scandi- 

America  by  the  Norwegians  on  the  similarity  between  the  names  of 
Norway  and  La  Norimbegue,  a  district  bordering  on  New  England." — 
Grotius,  De  Origine  Gentium  Americanarum,  in  quarto,  1642.  See 
also  the  Controversy  between  Grotius  and  Jean  de  Lae't. 

1  Accurate  information  respecting  the  former  intercourse  of  the 
Northmen  with  the  continent  of  America  reaches  only  as  far  as  the 
middle  of  the  fourteenth  century.  In  the  year  1349  a  ship  was  sent 
from  Greenland  to  Markland  (New  Scotland),  to  collect  timber,  and 
other  necessaries.  Upon  their  return  from  Markland,  the  ship  was 
overtaken  by  storms,  and  compelled  to  land  at  Straumfjord,  in  the 
west  of  Iceland.  This  is  the  last  account  of  the  "  Norman  America," 
preserved  for  us  in  the  ancient  Scandinavian  writings.  The  settle- 
ments upon  the  west  coast  of  Greenland,  which  were  in  a  very  flou- 
rishing condition,  until  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  gradually 
declined  from  the  fatal  influence  of  monopoly  of  trade,  by  the  invasion 
of  the  Esquimaux,  by  the  black  death  which  depopulated  the  north 
from  the  year  1347  to  1351,  and  also  by  the  arrival  of  a  hostile  fleet, 
from  what  country  is  not  known. 

By  means  of  the  critical,  and  most  praiseworthy  efforts  of  Christ- 
ian Rafn,  and  the  Royal  Society  for  Northern  Antiquities  in  Copen- 
hagen, the  traditions  and  ancient  accounts  of  the  voyage  of  the 
Normans  to  Helluland  (Newfoundland),  to  Markland  (the  mouth  of 
the  River  St.  Laurence  at  Nova  Scotia),  and  at  Winland  (Massachu- 
setts), have  been  separately  printed,  and  satisfactorily  commented 
upon.  The  length  of  the  voyage,  the  direction  in  which  they  sailed, 
the  time  of  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun  are  accurately  laid  down. 
The  principal  sources  of  information  are  the  historical  narrations  of 
Erik  the  Red,  Thorsinn  Karlsefue,  and  Snorre  Thorbrandson,  pro- 
bably written  in  Greenland  itself,  as  early  as  the  twelfth  century, 
partly  by  descendants  of  the  settlers  born  in  Winland.  Rafn,  Antiq. 
Amer.,  pp.  7,  14,  16.  The  care  with  which  the  tables  of  their 
pedigrees  was  kept  was  so  great,  that  the  table  of  the  family  of 
Thorfinn  Karlsefne,  whose  son  Snorre  Thorbrandson,  was  born  in 
America,  was  kept  from  the  year  1007  to  1811. 

The   name  of  the  colonised  countries  is    found    in  the    ancient 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  15 

navians — fruitless  to  the  world  and  almost  buried 
in  oblivion — cannot  dim  the  glory  of  that  transcend- 
ant  genius  to  whom  we  owe  the  knowledge  of  a 
New  World. 

The  claim  of  the  Welch  to  the  first  discovery  of 
America,  seems  to  rest  upon  no  better  original 
authority  than  that  of  Meridith-ap-Rees,  a  bard  who 
died  in  the  year  1477.  His  verses  only  relate  that 
Prince  Madoc,  wearied  with  dissensions  at  home, 
searched  the  ocean  for  a  new  kingdom.  The  tale  of 
this  adventurer's  voyages  and  colonisation  was 
written  100  years  subsequent  to  the  early  Spanish 
discoveries,  and  seems  to  be  merely  a  fanciful  com- 
pletion of  his  history  :  he  probably  perished  in  the 
unknown  seas.  It  is  certain  that  neither  the  ancient 
principality  nor  the  world  reaped  any  benefit  from 
these  alleged  discoveries.2 

In  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  and  the  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth  centuries,  the  Venetian  Marco 
Polo,3  and  the  Englishman  Mandeville,4  awakened 
the  curiosity  of  Europe  with  respect  to  the  remote 
parts  of  the  earth.  Wise  and  discerning  men 
selected  the  more  valuable  portions  of  their  observa- 
tions ;  ideas  were  enlarged,  and  a  desire  for  more 
perfect  information  excited  a  thirst  for  discovery. 
While  this  spirit  was  gaining  strength  in  Europe, 
the  wonderful  powers  of  the  magnet  were  revealed 

national   songs  of  the  natives  of    the   Faroe    islands.— Humboldt's 
Cosmos,  vol  ii.,  pp.  268-452.  2  See  Appendix,  No.  IV. 

3  See  Appendix,  No.  V.  4  See  Appendix,  No.  VI. 


16  THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA. 

to  the  Western  world.5  The  invention  of  the 
mariner's  compass  aided  and  extended  navigation 
more  than  all  the  experience  and  adventure  of  pre- 
ceding ages:  the  light  of  the  stars,  the  guidance 
of  the  sea-coast,  were  no  longer  necessary ;  trusting 
to  the  mysterious  powers  of  his  new  friend,  the 
sailor  steered  out  fearlessly  into  the  ocean,  through 
the  bewildering  mists,  or  the  darkness  of  night. 

The  Spaniards  were  the  first  to  profit  by  the 
bolder  spirit  and  improved  science  of  navigation. 
About  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
they  were  led  to  the  accidental  discovery  of  the 
Canary  Islands,6  and  made  repeated  voyages  thither, 

5  See  Appendix,  No.  VII. 

6  The  numerous  data  which  have  come  down  to  us  from  antiquity, 
and  an  acute  examination  of  the  local  relations,  especially  the  great 
vicinity  of  the  settlements  upon  the  African  coast,  which  incontestably 
existed,  lead  me  to  believe  that  Phoenicians,  Carthaginians,  Greeks, 
and  Romans,  and  probably  even  the  Etruscans,  were  acquainted  with 
the  group  of  the  Canary  Islands. — Humboldt's'(7o5mo5,  vol.ii.,  p.  414. 

"  Porrb  occidentalis  navigatio,  quantum  etiam  fama  assequi 
Plinius  potuit,  tantum  ad  Fortunatas  Insulas  cursum  protendit,  earum- 
que  prsecipuam  a  multitudine  canum  Canariam  vocatam  refert." — 
Acosta,  De  Natura  Nom  Orbis,  lib.  i.,  cap.  ii. 

Respecting  the  probability  of  the  Semitic  origin  of  the  name  of 
the  Canary  Islands,  Pliny,  in  his  latinising  etymological  notions,  con- 
sidered them  to  be  Dog  Islands  !  (Vide  Credner's  Biblical  Repre- 
sentation of  Paradise,  in  Illgeri's  Journal  for  Historical  Theology, 
1836,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  166 — 186.) — Humboldt's  Cosmos,  vol.  ii.,  p.  414. 

The  most  fundamental,  and,  in  a  literary  point  of  view,  the  most 
complete  account  of  the  Canary  islands,  that  was  written  in  ancient 
times  down  to  the  middle  ages,  was  collected  in  a  work  of  Joachim 
Jose  da  Costa  de  Macedo,  with  the  title  "  Memoria  cem  que  se  pre- 
tende  provar  que  os  Arabes  nao  connecerao  as  Canarias  autes  dos 
Portuguesques.  1844."  (See  also  Viera  y  Clavigo,  Notic.  de  la  Hist, 
de  Canaria.) — Humboldt's  Cosmos. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  17 

plundering  the  wretched  inhabitants,  and  carrying 
them  off  as  slaves.7  Pope  Clement  VI.  conferred 
these  countries  as  a  kingdom  upon  Louis  de  la  Cerda, 
of  the  royal  race  of  Castile ;  he,  however,  was  power- 
less to  avail  himself  of  the  gift,  and  it  passed  to 
the  stronger  hand  of  John  de  Bethancourt,  a  Norman 
baron.8  The  countrymen  of  this  bold  adventurer 
explored  the  seas  far  to  the  south  of  the  Canaries, 
and  acquired  some  knowledge  of  the  coast  of  Africa. 
The  glory  of  leading  the  career  of  systematic 
exploration,  belongs  to  the  Portuguese:9  their 

7  See  Appendix,  No.  VIII. 

8  "  Jean  de  Bethancourt  knew  that  before  the  expedition  of  Alvaro 
Beccara,  that  is  to  say  before  the  end  of  the  14th  century,  Norman 
adventurers  had  penetrated  as  far  as  Sierra  Leone  (lat.  8°  30'),  and 
he  sought  to  follow  their  traces.     Before  the  Portuguese,  however, 
no  European  nation  appears  to  have  crossed  the  equator." — Humboldt. 

"  Les  Normands  et  les  Arabes  sont  les  seules  nations  qui,  jusqu'au 
commencement  du  douzieme  siecle,  aient  partage  la  gloire  des  grandes 
expeditions  maritimes,  le  gout  des  aventures  etranges,  la  passion  du 
pillage  et  des  conquetes  ephemeres.  Les  Normands  ont  occupe  suc- 
cessiveinent  1'Islande  et  la  Neustrie,  ravage  les  sanctuaires  de 
1'Italie,  conquis  la  Pouille  sur  les  Grecs,  inscrit  leurs  caracteres 
runiques  jusque  sur  les  flancs  d'un  des  lions  que  Morosini  enleva  au 
Piree  d'Athenes  pour  en  orner  1'arsenal  de  Venise." — Humboldt 's 
Ge'og.  du  Nouveau  Continent,  vol.  ii.,  p.  86. 

9  "  No  nation,"  says  Southey,  "  has  ever  accomplished  such  great 
things  in  proportion  to  its  means  as  the  Portuguese."     Its  early 
maritime  history  does,  indeed,  present  a  striking  picture  of  enterprise 
and  restless  energy,  but  the    annals   of  Europe  afford  no   similar 
instance  of  rapid  degeneracy.     There  was  an  age  when  less  than 
40,000  armed  Portuguese  kept  the  whole  coasts  of  the  ocean  in  awe 
from  Morocco  to   China  ;  when  150  sovereign  princes  paid  tribute 
to  the  treasury  of  Lisbon.     But  in  all  their  enterprises  they  aimed 
at   conquest   and   not   at   colonisation.     The  government  at   home 
exercised  little  control  over  the  arms  of  its  piratical  mariners  ;  the 

VOL.  i.  c 


18  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

attempts  were  not  only  attended  with  considerable 
success,  but  gave  encouragement  and  energy  to  those 
efforts  that  were  crowned  by  the  discovery  of  a 
world :  among  them  the  great  Genoese  was  trained, 
and  their  steps  in  advance  matured  the  idea,  and 
aided  the  execution  of  his  design.  The  nations  of 
Europe  had  now  begun  to  cast  aside  the  errors  and 
prejudices  of  their  ancestors.  The  works  of  the 
ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  were  eagerly  searched 
for  information,  and  former  discoveries  brought  to 
light.1  The  science  of  the  Arabians  was  introduced 
and  cultivated  by  the  Moors  and  Jews,  and  geometry, 
astronomy,  and  geography,  were  studied  as  essential 
to  the  art  of  navigation. 

In  the  year  1412,  the  Portuguese  doubled  Cape 
Non,  the  limit  of  ancient  enterprise.  For  upwards 
of  seventy  years  afterwards  they  pursued  their  ex- 
plorations with  more  or  less  of  vigour  and  success 
along  the  African  coast,  and  among  the  adjacent 
islands.  By  intercourse  with  the  people  of  these 
countries  they  gradually  acquired  some  knowledge 
of  lands  yet  unvisited.  Experience  proved  that  the 
torrid  zone  was  not  closed  to  the  enterprise  of  man.2 

mother  country  derived  no  benefit  from  their  achievements.  To  the 
age  of  conquest  succeeded  one  of  effeminacy  and  corruption. — Meri- 
vale's  Lectures  on  Colonisation,  vol.  i.,  p.  44. 

1  See  Appendix,  No.  IX. 

2  The  zones  were  imaginary   bands    or    circles  in  the  heavens, 
producing  an  effect  of  climate  on  corresponding  belts  on  the  globe  of 
the  earth.     The  frigid  zones  between  the  polar  circles  and  the  poles 
were  considered  uninhabitable  and  unnavigable,  on  account  of  the 
extreme  cold.     The  torrid  zone,  lying  beneath  the  track  of  the  sun, 
or  rather  the  central  part  of  it,  immediately  about  the  equator,  was 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  19 

They  found  that  the  form  of  the  continent  con- 
tracted as  it  stretched  southward,  and  that  it  tended 
towards  the  east.  Then  they  brought  to  mind  the 
accounts  of  the  ancient  Phoenician  voyagers  round 
Africa,3  long  deemed  fabulous,  and  the  hope  arose 
that  they  might  pursue  the  same  career,  and  win 
for  themselves  the  magnificent  prize  of  Indian 
commerce.  In  the  year  1486  the  adventurous 
Bartholomew  Diaz 4  first  reached  the  Cape  of  Good 

considered  uninhabitable,  unproductive,  and  impassable,  on  account  of 
the  excessive  heat.  The  temperate  zones,  lying  between  the  torrid 
and  the  frigid  zones,  were  supposed  to  be  the  only  parts  of  the  globe 
suited  to  the  purposes  of  life.  Parmenides,  according  to  Strabo,  was 
the  inventor  of  this  theory  of  the  five  zones.  Aristotle  supported  the 
same  doctrine.  He  believed  that  there  was  habitable  earth  in  the 
southern  hemisphere,  but  that  it  was  for  ever  divided  from  the  part 
of  the  world  already  known  by  the  impassable  zone  of  scorching  heat 
at  the  equator.  (Aristot.  Met.  ii.,  cap.  v.)  Pliny  supported  the 
opinion  of  Aristotle  concerning  the  burning  zones.  (Pliny,  lib.  i.,  cap. 
Ixvi.)  Strabo  (lib.  ii.),  in  mentioning  this  theory,  gives  it  likewise 
his  support ;  and  others  of  the  ancient  philosophers,  as  well  as  the 
poets,  might  be  cited,  to  show  the  general  prevalence  of  the  belief. — 
Cicero,  JSomnium  Scipionis,  cap.  vi.  ;  Geminus,  cap.  xiii.,  p.  31  ;  ap. 
Petavii  Opus  de  Doctr.  Tempor.  in  quo  Uranologium  sive  Systemata 
var.  Auctorum.  Amst.  1705,  vol.  iii. 

3  See  Appendix,  No.  X. 

4  Barros,  Dec.  I.,  lib.  iii.,  cap.  iv.,  p.  190,  says  distinctly,   "  Bar- 
tholomeu  Diaz,  e  os  de  sua  compantica  per  causa  dos  perigos,  e 
tormentas,    que  em    o   dobrar   delle  passa"ram  che   puyeram   nome 
Tormentoso."     The  merit  of  the  first  circumnavigation,  therefore; 
does  not  belong  to  Vasco  de  Gama,  as  is  generally  supposed.     Diaz 
was  at  the  Cape  in  May,  1487,  and,  therefore,  almost  at  the  same 
time  that  Pedro  de  Covilham  and  Alonzo  de  Payva  of  Barcelona 
commenced  their  expedition.     As  early  as  December,  1487,   Diaz 
himself  brought  to  Portugal  the  account  of  his  important  discovery. 
The  mission  of  Pedro  Covilham  and  Alonso  de  Payva,  in  1487,  was 
set  on  foot  by  King  John  II.,  in  order  to  search  for  "  the  African 

c2 


20  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

Hope;  soon  afterwards  the  information  gained  by 
Pedro  de  Covilham,  in  his  overland  journey,  con- 
firmed the  consequent  sanguine  expectations  of 
success.  The  attention  of  Europe  was  now  fully 
aroused,  and  the  progress  of  the  Portuguese  was 
watched  with  admiration  and  suspense.  But  during 
this  interval,  while  all  eyes  were  turned  with  anxious 
interest  towards  the  East,  a  little  bark,  leaky  and 
tempest-tossed,  sought  shelter  in  the  Tagus.5  It  had 
come  from  the  far  west, — over  that  stormy  sea 

priest  Johannes."  Believing  the  accounts  which  he  had  obtained 
from  Indian  and  Arabian  pilots  in  Calicut,  Goa,  Aden,  as  well  as  in 
Sofala,  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  Covilham  informed  King 
John  II.,  by  means  of  two  Jews  from  Cairo,  that  if  the  Portuguese 
were  to  continue  their  voyages  of  discovery  upon  the  western  coast  in 
a  southerly  direction,  they  would  come  to  the  end  of  Africa,  whence 
a  voyage  to  the  Island  of  the  Moon,  to  Zanzibar,  and  the  gold 
country  of  Sofala,  would  be  very  easy.  Accounts  of  the  Indian  and 
Arabian  trading  stations  upon  the  east  coast  of  Africa,  and  of  the 
form  of  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Continent,  may  have  extended 
to  Venice,  through  Egypt,  Abyssinia,  and  Arabia.  The  triangular 
form  of  Africa  was  actually  delineated  upon  the  map  of  Sanuto,  made 
in  1306,  and  discovered  in  the  "  Portulano  della  Mediceo-Lauren- 
ziana,"  by  Count  Baldelli  in  1351,  and  also  in  the  chart  of  the  world 
by  Fra  Mauro. — Humboldt's  Cosmos,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  290,  461. 

5  Faria  y  Sousa  complains  that  "  the  admiral  entered  Lisbon  with  a 
vain-glorious  exultation,  in  order  to  make  Portugal  feel,  by  displaying 
the  tokens  of  his  discovery,  how  much  she  had  erred  in  not  acceding 
to  his  propositions."- — Europa  Portugueses,  t.  ii.,  pp.  402,  403. 

Ruy  de  Pina  asserts  that  King  John  was  much  importuned  to 
kill  Columbus  on  the  spot,  since,  with  his  death,  the  prosecution  of 
the  undertaking,  as  far  as  the  sovereigns  of  Castile  were  concerned, 
would  cease,  from  want  of  a  suitable  person  to  take  charge  of  it  ; 
but  the  king  had  too  much  magnanimity  to  adopt  the  iniquitous 
measure  proposed. — Vasconcellos,  Vida  del  Rie  Don  Juan  II.,  lib.  vi. ; 
Garcia  de  Resende,  Vide  de  Dom  Joam  II.  ;  Las  Casas,  Hist.  Ind., 
lib.  i.,  cap.  Ixxiv.  ;  MS.  quoted  by  Prescott. 


,  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  21 

where,  from  the  creation  until  then,  had  brooded  an 
impenetrable  mystery.  It  bore  the  richest  freight6 
that  ever  lay  upon  the  bosom  of  the  deep, — the 
tidings  of  a  New  World.7 

It  would  be  but  tedious  to  repeat  here  all  the 
well-known  story  of  Christopher  Columbus ; 8  his 
early  dangers  and  adventures,  his  numerous  voyages, 
his  industry,  acquirements,  and  speculations,  and 

0  See  Appendix,  No.  XL 

7  "  A  Castilla  y  a  Leon 

Nuevo  Mundo  dib  Colon," 

was  the  inscription  on  the  costly  monument  that  was  raised  over  the 
remains  of  Columhus,  in  the  Carthusian  Monastery  of  La  Cuevas  at 
Seville.  "  The  like  of  which,"  says  his  son  Ferdinand,  with  as  much 
truth  as  simplicity,  "  was  never  recorded  of  any  man  in  ancient  or 
modern  times." — Hist,  del  Almir ante,  cap.  cviii. 

His  ashes  were  finally  removed  to  Cuba,  where  they  now  repose  in 
the  cathedral  church  of  its  capital. — Navarrete,  Coleccion  de  Viages, 
torn.  ii. 

"  E  dandogli  il  titol  di  Don  volsero  che  egli  aggiungesse  presso 
alTarme  di  casa  sua  quattro  altre,  cioe  quelle  del  Regno  de  Castiglio 
di  Leon,  e  il  Mar  Oceario  con  tutte  1'isole  e  quattro  anchore  per 
dimostrare  I'ufficio  d'Almirante,  con  un  motto  d'intorno  che  dicea, 
4  Per  Castiglia  e  per  Leon,  Nuovo  Mundo  trovo  Colon.'  " — Ramusio, 
Discorso,  torn.  iii. 

The  heir  of  Columbus  was  always  to  bear  the  arms  of  the  admiral, 
to  seal  with  them,  and  in  his  signature  never  to  use  any  other  title 
than  simply  "  the  Admiral." 

8  See  Appendix,  No.  XII. — In  the  middle  ages  the  prevalent  opinion 
was  that  the  sea  covered  but  one-seventh  of  the  surface  of  the  globe  ;  an 
opinion  which  Cardinal  d'Ailly  (Imago  Mundi,  cap.  viii.)  founded  on 
the  apocryphal  fourth  book  of  Ezra.  Columbus,  who  always  derived 
much  of  his  cosmological  knowledge  from  the  Cardinal's  work,  was  much 
interested  in  upholding  this  idea  of  the  smallness  of  the  sea,  to  which 
the  misunderstood  expression  of  the  "  the  ocean-stream  "  contributed 
not  a  little.  He  was  also  accustomed  to  cite  Aristotle,  and  Seneca, 
and  St.  Augustine,  in  confirmation  of  this  opinion.  —  Humboldt's 
Examen  Critique  de  VHist.  de  la  Geographic,  torn,  i.,  p.  186. 


22  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

how  at  length  the  great  idea  arose  in  his  mind,  and 
matured  itself  into  a  conviction ;  then  how  convic- 
tion led  to  action,  checked  and  interrupted,  hut  not 
weakened,  by  the  doubts  of  pedantic  ignorance,9  and 
the  treachery,1  coolness,  or  contempt  of  courts.  On 
Friday 2  the  3rd  of  August,  1493,  a  squadron  of  three 

9  See  especially  the  details  of  the  conference  held  at  Salamanca, 
(the  great  seat  of  learning  in  Spain)  given  in  the  4th  Chapter  of 
Washington  Irving' s  "Columbus."  One  of  the  objections  advanced 
was,  that,  admitting  the  earth  to  be  spherical,  and  should  a  ship  succeed 
in  reaching  in  this  way  the  extremity  of  India,  she  could  never  get 
back  again  ;  for  the  rotundity  of  the  globe  would  present  a  kind  of 
mountain,  up  which  it  would  be  impossible  for  her  to  sail  with  the 
most  favourable  wind. — Hist,  del  Almir ante,  cap.  ii.  ;  Hist,  de  Chiapa 
por  Remesel,  lib.  ii.,  cap.  27. 

1  Columbus  was  required  by  King  John  II.,  of  Portugal,  to  furnish 
a  detailed  plan  of  his  proposed  voyages  with  the  charts  and  other 
documents  ;  according  to  which,  he  proposed  to  shape  his  course  for 
the  alleged  purpose  of  having  them  examined  by  the  royal  coun- 
cillors.    He  readily  complied,  but  while  he  remained  in  anxious  sus- 
pense as  to   the  decision  of  the    council,  a   caravel   was    secretly 
dispatched  with  instructions  to  pursue  the  route  designated  in  the 
papers  of  Columbus.      This  voyage  had  the  ostensible  pretext  of 
carrying  provisions   to   the   Cape    de    Verde  islands  ;    the  private 
instructions  given,  were  carried  into  effect  when  the  caravel  departed 
thence.     It  stood  westward  for  several  days  ;  but  then  the  weather 
grew  stormy,  and  the  pilots  having  no  zeal  to  stimulate  them,  and 
seeing  nothing  but  an  immeasurable  waste  of  wild  trembling  waves 
still  extending  before  them,  lost  all  courage  to  proceed.     They  put 
back  to  the  Cape  de  Verde  islands,  and  thence  to  Lisbon,  excusing 
their  own  want  of  resolution  by  ridiculing  the  project  of  Columbus. 
On  discovering  this    act  of  treachery,  Columbus  instantly  quitted 
Portugal. — Hist,  del  Almirante,  cap.  viii. ;  Herrera,  Dec.  I.,  lib.  i., 
cap.  vii. ;  Munoz,  Hist,  del  Nuevo  Mundo,  lib.  ii. — Quoted  by  Prescott. 

2  "  Le  Vendredi  n'  etant  pas  regard  e  dans  la  Chretiente  comme  un 
jour  de  bon  augure  pour  le  commencement  d'une  entreprise,  les 
historiens  du  17me  siecle,  qui  gemissaient  deja  sur  les  maux  dont, 
selon  eux,  1'Europe  a  ete  accable  par  la  decouverte  de  I'Amerique, 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA.  23 

small  crazy  ships,  bearing  ninety  men,  sailed  from 
the  port  of  Palos,  in  Andalusia.  Columbus,  the 
commander  and  pilot,  was  deeply  impressed  with 
sentiments  of  religion  ;  and,  as  the  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity was  one  great  object  of  the  expedition,  he 
and  his  followers  before  their  departure  had  implored 
the  blessing  of  Heaven 3  upon  the  voyage,  from  which 
they  might  never  return. 

They  steered  at  first  for  the  Canaries,  over  a  well- 
known  course ;  but  on  the  6th  of  September  they 
sailed  from  Gomera,  the  most  distant  of  those  islands, 
and,  leaving  the  usual  track  of  navigation,  stretched 
westward  into  the  unknown  sea.  And  still  ever 
westward  for  six-and-thirty  days  they  bent  their 
course  through  the  dreary  desert  of  waters ;  terrified 

on  fait  remarque  que  Colomb  est  parti  pour  la  premiere  expe- 
dition vendredi,  3  aout  1492,  et  que  la  premiere  terre  d'  Amerique 
a  etc  decouverte  vendredi  12  Octobre  de  la  nieme  annee.  La 
reformation  du  ealendrier  appliquee  au  journal  de  Colomb,  qui 
indique  toujours  a  la  fois,  les  jours  de  la  semaine  et  la  date  du  mois, 
feroit  disparoitre  le  pronostic  du  jour  fatal." — Humboldt's  Geog.  du 
Nouveau  Continent,  vol.  iii.,  p.  160. 

3  His  first  landing  in  the  New  World  partook  of  the  same  cha- 
racter as  his  departure  from  the  old. 

"  Christoforo  Colombo — primo  con  una  bandiera  nella  quale  era 
figurato  il  nostro  Signore  Jesu  Christo  in  croce,  salto  in  terra,  e  quella 
piantd,  e  poi  tutti  gli  alti  smontarono,  e  inginocchiati  baciarono  la  terra, 
tre  volti  piangendo  di  allegrezza.  Di  poi  Colombo  alzate  le  mani 
al  cielo  lagrimando  disse,  Signor  Dio  Eterno,  Signore  omnipotente, 
tu  creasti  il  cielo,  e  la  terra,  e  il  mare  con  la  tua  santa  parola, 
sia  benedetto  e  glorificato  il  nome  tuo,  sia  ringraziata  la  tua  Maestk, 
la  quale  si  e  degnata  per  mano  d'  uno  umil  suo  servo  far  ch'  el  suo 
santo  nome  sia  conosciuto  e  divulgato  in  questa  altra  parte  del 
mondo." — Pietro  Martire,  Dell'  Indie  Occidentali,  in  Ramusio, 
torn,  iii.,  p.  2  ;  Oviedo,  Hist.  Gen.  dell1  India. 


24  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

by  the  changeless  wind  that  wafted  them  hour  after 
hour  further  into  the  awful  solitude,  and  seemed  to 
forbid  the  prospect  of  return ;  bewildered  by  the 
altered  hours  of  day  and  night,  and  more  than  all 
by  the  mysterious  variation  of  their  only  guide,  for 
the  magnetic  needle  no  longer  pointed  to  the  pole.4 
Then  strange  appearances  in  the  sea  aroused  new 
fears :  vast  quantities  of  weeds  covered  the  sur- 
face, retarding  the  motion  of  the  vessels  ;  the  sailors 


4  Columbus  not  only  has,  incontestably,  the  merit  of  first  discovering 
the  line  where  there  is  no  declination  of  the  needle,  but  also  of  first 
inducing  a  study  of  terrestrial  magnetism  in  Europe,  by  his  observa- 
tions concerning  the  increasing  declination  as  he  sailed  in  a  westerly 
direction  from  that  line.  It  had  been  already  easily  recognised  in 
the  Mediterranean,  and  in  all  places  where,  in  the  twelfth  century, 
the  declination  was  as  much  as  eight  or  ten  degrees,  even  though 
their  instruments  were  so  imperfect  that  the  ends  of  a  magnetic 
needle  did  not  point  exactly  to  the  geographical  north  or  south.  It 
is  improbable  that  the  Arabs  or  Crusaders  drew  attention  to  the  fact 
of  the  compass  pointing  to  the  north-east  and  north-west  in  different 
parts  of  the  world,  as  to  a  phenomenon  which  had  long  been  known. 
The  merit  which  belongs  to  Columbus  is,  not  for  the  first  observance 
of  the  existence  of  the  declination,  which  is  given,  for  example,  upon 
the  map  of  Andrew  Bianca  in  1436,  but  for  the  remark  which  he 
made  on  the  13th  September,  1492,  that  about  two  degrees  and  a 
half  to  the  east  of  the  island  of  Corvo,  the  magnetic  variation 
changed,  and  that  it  passed  over  from  north-east  to  north-west. 
This  discovery  of  a  magnetic  line  without  any  variation  indicates  a 
remarkable  epoch  in  nautical  astronomy.  It  was  celebrated  with  just 
praise  by  Oviedo,  Casas,  and  Herrera.  If  with  Livio  Sanuto  we 
ascribe  it  to  the  renowned  mariner,  Sebastian  Cabot,  we  forgot  that 
his  first  voyage,  which  was  undertaken  at  the  expense  of  some  mer- 
chants of  Bristol,  and  which  was  crowned  with  success  by  his  touch- 
ing the  main  land  of  America,  falls  five  years  later  than  the  first 
expedition  of  Columbus.  —  Humboldt's  Cosmos,  vol.  ii.,  p.  318; 
Las  Casas,  Hist.  Ind.,  lib,  i.,  cap.  6. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  25 

imagined  that  they  had  reached  the  utmost  boundary 
of  the  navigable  ocean,  and  that  they  were  rushing 
blindly  into  the  rocks  and  quicksands  of  some 
submerged  continent. 

The  master  mind  turned  all  these  strange  novelties 
into  omens  of  success.  The  changeless  wind  was  the 
favouring  breath  of  the  Omnipotent ;  the  day  length- 
ened as  they  followed  the  sun's  course ;  an  ingenious 
fiction  explained  the  inconstancy  of  the  needle ;  the 
vast  fields  of  sea- weed  bespoke  a  neighbouring  shore; 
and  the  flight  of  unknown  birds5  was  hailed  with 
happy  promise.  But  as  time  passed  on,  and  brought 
no  fulfilment  of  their  hopes,  the  spirits  of  the  timid 
began  to  fail,  the  flattering  appearances  of  land  had 
repeatedly  deceived  them  ;  they  were  now  very  far 
beyond  the  limit  of  any  former  voyage.  From  the 
timid  and  ignorant  these  doubts  spread  upwards, 
and  by  degrees  the  contagion  extended  from  ship  to 
ship :  secret  murmurs  rose  to  conspiracies,  com- 
plaiiits,  and  mutiny.  They  affirmed  that  they  had 
already  performed  their  duty  in  so  long  pursuing  an 

5  "  In  sailing  towards  the  West  India  Islands  birds  are  often  seen 
at  the  distance  of  200  leagues  from  the  nearest  coast." — Sloane's 
Nat.  Hist,  of  Jamaica,  vol.  i.,  p.  30. 

Captain  Cook  says,  "  No  one  yet  knows  to  what  distance  any  of 
the  Oceanic  birds  go  to  sea  ;  for  my  own  part  I  do  not  believe  that 
there  is  any  one  of  the  whole  tribe  that  can  be  relied  on  in  pointing 
out  the  vicinity  of  land." — Voyage  towards  the  South  Pole,  vol.  i., 
p.  275. 

The  Portuguese,  however,  only  keeping  along  the  African  coast 
and  watching  the  flight  of  birds  with  attention,  concluded  that  they 
did  not  venture  to  fly  far  from  land.  Columbus  adopted  this  erro- 
neous opinion  from  his  early  instructors  in  navigation. 


26  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

unknown  and  hopeless  course,  and  that  they  would 
no  more  follow  a  desperate  adventurer  to  destruc- 
tion. Some  even  proposed  to  cast  their  leader  into 
the  sea. 

The  menaces  and  persuasions  that  had  so  often 
enabled  Columbus  to  overcome  the  turbulence  and 
fears  of  his  followers,  now  ceased  to  be  of  any 
avail.  He  gave  way  to  an  irresistible  necessity, 
and  promised  that  he  would  return  to  Spain,  if 
unsuccessful  in  their  search  for  three  days  more. 
To  this  brief  delay  the  mutineers  consented.  The 
signs  of  land  now  brought  almost  certainty  to  the 
mind  of  the  great  leader.  The  sounding  line 
brought  up  such  soil  as  is  only  found  near  the 
shore  :  birds  were  seen  of  a  kind  supposed  never  to 
venture  on  a  long  flight.  A  piece  of  newly  cut 
cane  floated  past,  and  a  branch  of  a  tree  bearing 
fresh  berries  was  taken  up  by  the  sailors.  The 
clouds  around  the  setting  sun  wore  a  new  aspect, 
and  the  breeze  became  warm  and  variable.  On  the 
evening  of  the  llth  of  October,  every  sail  was 
furled,  and  strict  watch  kept,  lest  the  ships  might 
drift  ashore  during  the  night. 

On  board  the  admiral's  vessel  all  hands  were 
invariably  assembled  for  the  evening  hymn ;  on 
this  occasion  a  public  prayer  for  success  was  added, 
and  with  those  holy  sounds  Columbus  hailed  the 
appearance  of  that  small  shifting  light,6  which 

6  "  Puesto  que  el  amirante  a  los  diez  de  la  noche  vio  lumbre. 
.  .  .  y  era  como  una  candelilla  de  cera  que  se  alzaba  y  levantaba, 
lo  cual  a  pocos  pareciera  ser  indicio  de  tierra.  Pero  el  amirante 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA.  27 

crowned  with  certainty  his  long  cherished  hope,7 
turned  his  faith  into  realisation,8  and  stamped  his 
name  for  ever  upon  the  memory  of  man.9 

It  was  by  accident  only  that  England  had  been 
deprived  of  the  glory  of  these  great  discoveries. 
Columbus  when  repulsed  by  the  Courts  of  Portugal 
and  Spain,  sent  his  brother  Bartholomew  to  London,1 
to  lay  his  projects  before  Henry  VIL,  and  seek 

tuvb  por  cierto  estar  junto  a  la  tierra.  Por  lo  qual  quando  dijeron 
la  *  Salve  '  que  acostumbran  decir  y  cantar  a  su  manera  todos  los 
marineros,  y  de  hallan  todos,  vogo  y  amonestolos  el  amirante  que 
hiciesen  buena  guarda  al  Castillo  de  proa,  y  mirasen  bien  por  la 
tierra." — Diar.  de  Colon.  Prem.  Viag.  11  de  Oct. 

7  "  Let  those  who  are  disposed  to  faint  under  difficulties,  in  the 
prosecution  of  any  great  and  worthy  undertaking,  remember  that 
eighteen  years  elapsed  after  the  time  that  Columbus  conceived  his 
enterprise  before  he  was  enabled  to  carry  it  into  effect ;  that  most  of 
that  time  was  past  in  almost  hopeless  solicitation,  amidst  poverty, 
neglect,  and  taunting  ridicule  ;  that  the  prime  of  his  life  had  wasted 
away  in  the  struggle,   and  that  when  his  perseverance  was  finally 
crowned   with    success,    he  was   about   his   fifty-sixth  year.      This 
example  should  encourage  the  enterprising  never  to  despair." — Wash- 
ington Irving 's  Life  of  Columbus,  vol.  i.,  p.  174. 

8  "  While  Columbus  lay  on  a  sick  bed  by  the  river  Belem,  he  was 
addressed  in  a  dream  by  an  unknown  voice,  distinctly  uttering  these 
words  :   '  Maravillosamente  Dios  hizo  sonar  tu  nombre  en  la  tierra  ; 
de  los  atamientos  de  la  Mar  Oceana,  que  estaban  cerradas  con  cadenas 
tan  fuertes,  te  dio  las  Haves.'       (Letter  to  the  Catholic  Monarch, 
July  7th,  1503.)"— Humboldt's  Cosmos. 

9  See  Appendix,  No.  XIII. 

1  "  The  application  to  King  Henry  VII.  was  not  made  until  1488, 
as  would  appear  from  the  inscription  on  a  map,  which  Bartholomew 
presented  to  the  king.  Las  Casas  intimates,  from  letters  and  writings 
of  Bartholomew  Columbus,  in  his  possession,  that  the  latter  accom- 
panied Bartholomew  Diaz  in  his  voyage  from  Lisbon,  in  1486,  along 
the  coast  of  Africa,  in  the  course  of  which  he  discovered  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope." — Las  Casas,  Hist.  Ind.,  lib.  i.,  cap.  vii. 


28  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

assistance  for  their  execution.  The  king,  although 
the  most  penurious  of  European  princes,  saw  the 
vast  advantage  of  the  offer,  and  at  once  invited  the 
great  Genoese  to  his  court.  Bartholomew  was, 
however,  captured  by  pirates  on  his  return  voyage, 
and  detained  till  too  late,  for  in  the  meanwhile 
Isabella  of  Castile  had  adopted  the  project  of  Colum- 
bus, and  supplied  the  means  for  the  expedition. 

Henry  VII.  was  not  discouraged  by  this  dis- 
appointment :  two  years  after  the  discoveries  of 
Columbus  became  known  in  England,  the  king 
entered  into  an  arrangement  with  John  Cabot,  an 
adventurous  Venetian  merchant,  resident  at  Bristol, 
and  on  the  5th  of  March,  1495,  granted  him 
letters  patent  for  conquest  and  discovery.  Henry 
stipulated  that  one-fifth  of  the  gains  in  this  enter- 
prise was  to  be  retained  for  the  crown,  and  that  the 
vessels  engaged  in  it  should  return  to  the  port  of 
Bristol.  On  the  24th  of  June,  1497,  Cabot  dis- 
covered the  coast  of  Labrador,  and  gave  it  the  name 
of  Primavista.  This  was,  without  doubt,  the  first 
visit  of  Europeans  to  the  continent  of  North 
America,2  since  the  time  of  the  Scandinavian 

2  "  The  American  continent  was  first  discovered  under  the  auspices 
of  the  English,  and  the  coast  of  the  United  States  by  a  native  of 
England  (Sebastian  Cabot  told  me  that  he  was  born  in  Bristowe)." — 
History  of  the  Travayles  in  the  East  and  West  Indies,  by  R.  Eden 
and  R.  Willes,  1577,  fol.  267.  Posterity  hardly  remembered  that 
they*  (the  Cabots)  had  reached  the  American  continent  nearly  four 


*  "  The  only  immediate  fruit  of  Cabot's  first  enterprise  is  said  to  have  been  the 
importation  from  America  of  the  first  turkeys  ever  seen  in  Europe.  Why  this  bird 
received  the  name  it  enjoys  in  England  has  never  been  satisfactorily  explained.  By 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  29 

voyages.  A  large  island  lay  opposite  to  this  shore  : 
from  the  vast  quantity  of  fish  frequenting  the 
neighbouring  waters,  the  sailors  called  it  Bacallaos  ;3 
Cabot  gave  this  country  the  name  of  St.  John's, 
having  landed  there  on  St.  John's  day.  Newfound- 
land has  long  since  superseded  both  appellations. 
John  Cabot  returned  to  England  in  August  of 
the  same  year,  and  was  knighted  and  otherwise 

months  before  Columbus,  on  his  third  voyage,  came  in  sight  of  the 
mainland. — Bancroft's  Hist,  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  11. 
Charlevoix's  "  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  and  the  "  Fastes  Chro- 
nologiques,"  endeavour  to  discredit  the  discoveries  of  John  and 
Sebastian  Cabot,  but  the  testimonies  of  contemporary  authors  are 
decisive.  Unfortunately  no  journal  or  relation  remains  of  the  voyages 
of  the  Cabots  to  North  America,  but  several  authors  have  handed 
down  accounts  of  them,  which  they  received  from  the  lips  of  Sebas- 
tian Cabot  himself.  See  Hakluyt,  iii.  27  ;  Galearius  Butrigarius,  in 
Ramusio,  torn.  ii.  ;  Ramusio,  Preface  to  torn.  iii.  ;  Peter  Martyr 
ab  Angleria,  Dec.  III.,  cap.  vi. ;  Gomara,  Gen.  Hist,  of  West  Indies, 
b.  ii.,  c.  vi.  In  Fabian's  Chronicle,  the  writer  asserts  that  he  saw, 
in  the  sixteenth  year  of  Henry  VII.,  two  out  of  three  men  who  had 
been  brought  from  "  Newfound  Island  "  two  years  before).  The  grant 
made  by  Edward  VI.  to  Sebastian  Cabot  of  a  pension,  equal  to  1000^. 
per  annum  of  our  money,  attests  that  "  the  good  and  acceptable  ser- 
vice" for  which  it  was  conferred,  was  of  a  very  important  nature. 
The  words  of  the  grant  are  handed  down  to  us  by  Hakluyt,  vol.  iii. 
p.  31. — See  Life  of  Henry  VII.,  by  Lord  Bacon  ;  Bacon's  Works, 
vol.  iii.,  pp.  356,  357. 

3  Baccalaos  was  the  name  given  by  the  natives  to  the  cod-fish  with 
which  these  waters  abounded.  Pietro  Martire,  who  calls  Sebastian 
Cabot  his  "dear  and  familiar  friend,"  speaks  of  Newfoundland  as 
Baccalaos  ;  also  Lopez  de  Gomara,  and  Ramusio. 


the  French  it  was  called  '  Coq  <T  Inde,'  on  account  of  its  American  original ;  America 
being  then  generally  termed  Western  India." — Graham's  Hist,  of  the  United  States, 
vol.  i.,  p.  7. 


30  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

rewarded  by  the  king ;  he  survived  but  a  very  short 
time  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  fame,  and  his  son 
Sebastian  Cabot,  although  only  twenty-three  years 
of  age,  succeeded  him  in  the  command  of  an 
expedition  destined  to  seek  a  north-west  passage  to 
the  South  Seas. 

Sebastian  Cabot  sailed  in  the  summer  of  1498  : 
he  soon  reached  Newfoundland,  and  thence  proceeded 
north  as  far  as  the  fifty-eighth  degree.  Having 
failed  in  discovering  the  hoped  for  passage,  he 
returned  towards  the  south,  examining  the  coast  as 
far  as  the  southern  boundary  of  Maryland  and  per- 
haps Virginia.  After  a  long  interval  the  enterprising 
mariner  again,  in  1517,  sailed  for  America,  and 
entered  the  bay4  which  a  century  afterwards  received 
the  name  of  Hudson.  If  prior  discovery  confer  a 
right  of  possession,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  whole 
eastern  coast  of  the  North  American  continent  may 
be  justly  claimed  by  the  English  race.5 


4  Mr.  Bancroft  pronounces  this  "  fact  to  be  indisputable,"  though 
he  acknowledges  that  "the  testimony  respecting  this  expedition  is 
confused  and  difficult  of  explanation."     Sebastian  Cabot  wrote  "  A 
Discourse  of  Navigation,"  in  which  the  entrance  of  the  strait,  leading 
into  Hudson's  Bay,  was  laid  down  with  great  precision  "  on  a  card, 
drawn  by  his  own  hand." — Ortelius,  Map  of  America  in   Theatrum 
Orlis   Terrarum  ;  Eden    and  Willis,  p.  223  ;   Sir  H.  Gilbert,  in 
Hakluyt,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  49,  50  ;  Bancroft,  vol.  i.,  p.  12. 

5  The  learned  and  ingenious  author  of  the  "  Memoirs  of  Sebastian 
Cabot  "  has  brought  forward  strong  arguments  against  the  discovery 
of  the  continent  of  America  by  Jean  Vas  Cortereal  in  1494. — Hum- 
boldt's  Geog.  du  Nouvcau  Continent,  vol.  i.,  p.  279  ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  25. 

' '  The  discoverer  of  the  territory  of  our  country  was    one   of  the 
most  extraordinary  men  of  his  age.     There  is  deep  cause  for  regret, 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA.  31 

Gaspar  Cortereal  was  the  next  voyager  in  the 
succession  of  discoverers :  he  had  been  brought  up 
in  the  household  of  the  King  of  Portugal,  but 
nourished  an  ardent  spirit  of  enterprise  and  thirst 
for  glory,  despite  the  enervating  influences  of  a  court. 
He  sailed  early  in  the  year  1500,  and  pursued  the 
track  of  John  Cabot  as  far  as  the  northern  point  of 
Newfoundland ;  to  him  is  due  the  discovery  of  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,6  and  he  also  pushed  on 
northward  by  the  coast  of  Labrador,7  almost  to  the 
entrance  of  Hudson's  Bay.  The  adventurer  returned 
to  Lisbon  in  October  of  the  same  year.  This  expe- 
dition was  undertaken  more  for  mercantile  advan- 
tage than  for  the  advancement  of  knowledge ;  timber 
and  slaves  seem  to  have  been  the  objects ;  no  less 
than  fifty- seven  of  the  natives  were  brought  back 
to  Portugal,  and  doomed  to  bondage.  These 
unhappy  savages  proved  so  robust  and  useful,  that 
great  benefits  were  anticipated  from  trading  on  their 
servitude;8  the  dreary  and  distant  land  of  their 

that  time  has  spared  so  few  memorials  of  his  career.  He  gave 
England  a  continent,  and  no  one  knows  his  burial-place." — Bancroft, 
vol.  i.,  p.  14. 

6  Ramusio,  vol.  iii.,  p.  417.     This  discovery  is  also  attributed  to 
Jacques  Cartier,  who  entered  the  gulph  on  the  10th  August,  1535, 
and  gave  it  the  name  of  the  saint  whose  festival  was  celebrated  on 
that  day. — Charlevoix. 

7  In  an  old  map  published  in  1508,  the   Labrador  coast  is  called 
Terra  Corterealis. 

8  It  has  been  conjectured  that  the  name  Terra  de  Laborador  was 
given  to  this  coast  by  the  Portuguese  slave  merchants,  on  account  of 
the  admirable   qualities   of  the  natives    as  labourers. — Picture  of 
Quebec. 


32  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

birth,  covered  with  snow  for  half  the  year,  was 
despised  by  the  Portuguese,  whose  thoughts  and 
hopes  were  ever  turned  to  the  fertile  plains,  the 
sunny  skies,  and  the  inexhaustible  treasures  of  the 
East.9 

But  disaster  and  destruction  soon  fell  upon  these 
bold  and  merciless  adventurers.  In  a  second  voyage 
the  ensuing  year,  Cortereal  and  all  his  followers 
were  lost  at  sea:  when  some  time  had  elapsed 
without  tidings  of  their  fate,  his  brother  sailed  to 
seek  them,  but  he  too,  probably,  perished  in  the 
stormy  waters  of  the  North  Atlantic,  for  none  of 
them  were  ever  heard  of  more.  The  King  of  Por- 
tugal feeling  a  deep  interest  in  these  brothers,  fitted 
out  three  armed  vessels  and  sent  them  to  the  north- 


9  It  was  an  idea  entertained  by  Columbus,  that,  as  he  extended  his 
discoveries  to  climates  more  and  more  under  the  torrid  influence  of 
the  sun,  he  should  find  the  productions  of  nature  sublimated  by  its 
rays  to  more  perfect  and  precious  qualities.  He  was  strengthened  in 
this  belief  by  a  letter  written  to  him  at  the  command  of  the  queen, 
by  one  Jayme  Ferrer,  an  eminent  and  learned  lapidary,  who,  in  the 
course  of  his  trading  for  precious  stones  and  metals,  had  been  in  the 
Levant,  and  in  various  parts  of  the  East ;  had  conversed  with  the 
merchants  of  the  remote  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa,  and  the  natives  of 
India,  Arabia,  and  Ethiopia,  and  was  considered  deeply  versed  in 
geography  generally,  but  especially  in  the  nature  of  those  countries 
from  whence  the  valuable  merchandise  in  which  he  dealt  was  procured. 
In  this  letter,  Ferrer  assured  Columbus  that,  according  to  his  expe- 
rience, the  rarest  objects  of  commerce,  such  as  gold,  precious  stones, 
drugs  and  spices,  were  chiefly  to  be  found  in  the  regions  about  the 
equinoctial  line,  where  the  inhabitants  were  black,  or  darkly 
coloured,  and  that  until  the  admiral  should  arrive  among  people  of 
such  complexions,  he  did  not  think  he  would  find  those  articles  in 
great  abundance. — Navarrete,  Coleccion,  torn,  ii.,  Document  68. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  33 

west.  Inquiries  were  made  along  the  wild  shores 
which  Cortereal  had  first  explored,  without  trace  or 
tidings  being  found  of  the  bold  mariner,  and  the 
ocean  was  searched  for  many  months,  but  the  deep 
still  keeps  it  secret. 

Florida  was  discovered  in  1512  by  Ponce  de  Leon, 
one  of  the  most  eminent  among  the  followers  of 
Columbus.  The  Indians  had  told  him  wonderful 
tales  of  a  fountain  called  Bimini,  in  an  island  of 
these  seas ;  the  fountain  possessed  the  power,  they 
said,  of  restoring,  instantly,  youth  and  vigour  to  those 
who  bathed  in  its  waters.  He  sailed  for  months  in 
search  of  this  miraculous  spring,  landing  at  every 
point,  entering  each  port  however  shallow  or  dan- 
gerous, still  ever  hoping ;  but  in  the  weak  and  pre- 
sumptuous effort  to  grasp  at  a  new  life,  he  wasted 
away  his  strength  and  energy,  and  prematurely 
brought  on  those  ills  of  age  he  had  vainly  hoped  to 
shun.  Nevertheless  this  wild  adventure  bore  its 
wholesome  fruits,  for  Ponce  de  Leon  then  first 
brought  to  the  notice  of  Europe  that  beautiful  land 
which,  from  its  wonderful  fertility  and  the  splendour 
of  its  flowers,  obtained  the  name  of  Florida.1 

The  first  attempt  made  by  the  French  to  share  in 
the  advantages  of  these  discoveries,  was  in  the  year 
1504.  Some  Basque  and  Breton  fishermen  at  that 
time  began  to  ply  their  calling  on  the  Great  Bank 

1  Ramusio,  vol.  iii.,  p.  347  ;  Charlevoix,  vol.  i.,  p.  36  ;  See  Osorio, 
History  of  the  Portuguese,  b.  i. ;  Barrow's  Voyages,  pp.  37 — 48;  Her- 
rera,  Dec.  I.,  lib.  vii.,  cap.  ix.;  Ensayo  Chronologico  para  la  Historia 
general  de  la  Florida.  En  Madrid,  1723. — Quoted  by  Murray. 

VOL.  i.  D 


34  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

of  Newfoundland,  and  along  the  adjacent  shores. 
From  them  the  island  of  Cape  Breton  received  its 
name.  In  1506,  Jean  Denys,  a  man  of  Harfleur, 
drew  a  map  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  Two 
years  afterwards,  a  pilot  of  Dieppe,  named  Thomas 
Aubert,  excited  great  curiosity  in  France  by  bringing 
over  some  of  the  savage  natives  from  the  New  World: 
there  is  no  record  whence  they  were  taken,  but  it 
is  supposed  from  Cape  Breton.  The  reports  borne 
back  to  France  by  these  hardy  fishermen  and  adven- 
turers, were  not  such  as  to  raise  sanguine  hopes 
of  riches  from  the  bleak  northern  regions  they  had 
visited:  no  teeming  fertility  or  genial  climate 
tempted  the  settler,  no  mines  of  gold  or  silver 
excited  the  avarice  of  the  soldier;2  and  for  many 
years,  the  French  altogether  neglected  to  profit  by 
their  discoveries. 

In  the  meantime,  Pope  Alexander  VI.  issued  a 
bull  bestowing  the  whole  of  the  New  World  upon 
the  kings  of  Spain  and  Portugal.3  Neither  England 

2  "  Les   demandes   ordinaires  qu'on  nous  fait  sont,    '  Y  a-t-il  des 
tresors  ?      Ya-t-il  de  1'or  et  de  1'argent  ?  '     Et  personne   ne   de- 
mande,    *  Ces   peuples  la   sont  il   disposes  a   entendre  la  doctrine 
Chretienne  ?  '     Et  quant  aux  mines,  il  y  en  a  vraiment,  mais  il  les 
faut  fouiller  avec  Industrie,  labeur  et  patience.     La  plus  belle  mine 
que  je  sache,  c'est  du  bled  et  du  vin,  avec  la  nourriture  du  bestial ; 
qui  a  de  ceci,  il  a  de  1'argent,  et  des  mines,  nous  n'en  vivons  point." 
— Marc  L'  Escarbot. 

3  This  bold  stretch  of  papal  authority,  so  often  ridiculed  as  chime- 
rical and  absurd,  was  in  a  measure  justified  by  the  event,  since  it  did, 
in  fact,  determine  the  principle  on  which  the  vast  extent  of  unappro- 
priated empire  in  the  eastern  and  western  hemispheres  was  ultimately 
divided  between  two  petty  states  of  Europe.     Alexander  had  not 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  35 

nor  France  allowed  the  right  of  conferring  this  mag- 
nificent and  undefined  gift;  it  did  not  throw  the 
slightest  obstacle  in  the  path  of  British  enterprise 
and  discovery,  and  the  high-spirited  Francis  I.  of 
France,  refused  to  acknowledge  the  papal  decree.4 

In  the  year  1523,  Francis  I.  fitted  out  a  squadron 
of  four  ships  to  pursue  discovery5  in  the  west;  the 
command  was  intrusted  to  Giovanni  Verazzano  of 
Florence,  a  navigator  of  great  skill  and  experience, 
then  residing  in  France :  he  was  about  thirty-eight 
years  of  age,  nobly  born,  and  liberally  educated ;  the 
causes  that  induced  him  to  leave  his  own  country 
and  take  service  in  France,  are  not  known.  It  has 
often  been  remarked  as  strange,  that  three  Italians 
should  have  directed  the  discoveries  of  Spain,  Eng- 
land, and  France,  and  thus  become  the  instruments 
of  dividing  the  dominions  of  the  New  World  among 
alien  powers,  while  their  own  classic  land  reaped 
neither  glory  nor  advantage  from  the  genius  and 

even  the  excuse  that  he  thought  he  was  disposing  of  uncultivated 
and  uninhabited  regions,  since  he  specifies  in  his  donation  hoth  towns 
and  castles :  "  Civitates  et  castra  in  perpetuum  tenore  prsesentium 
donamus." 

4  "What,"  said  Francis  I.,  "shall  the  kings  of  Spain  and  Portu- 
gal divide  all  America  between  them,  without  suffering  me  to  take  a 
share  as  their  brother  ?     I  would  fain  see  the  article  in  Adam's  will 
that  bequeaths   that  vast  inheritance   to   them." — Encyclopedia, 
vol.  iv.,  p.  695. 

5  "  In  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  Francis,  by  a  strict  economy  of  the 
public  money,  repaired  the  evils  of  his  early  extravagance,  while  at  the 
same  time  he  was  enabled  to  spare  sufficient  for  carrying  on  the 
magnificent  public  institutions  he  had  undertaken,  and  for  forwarding 
the  progress  of  discovery,  of  the  fine  arts,  and  of  literature." — Bacon's 
Life  and  Times  of  Francis  /.,  pp.  399 — 401. 

D2 


36  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

courage  of  her  sons.  Of  this  first  voyage  the  only 
record  remaining  is  a  letter  from  Verazzano  to 
Francis  L,  dated  8th  of  July,  1524,  merely  stating 
that  he  had  returned  in  safety  to  Dieppe. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  following  year  Verazzano 
fitted  out  and  armed  a  vessel  called  the  Dauphine, 
manned  with  a  crew  of  thirty  hands,  and  provisioned 
for  eight  months.  He  first  directed  his  course  to 
Madeira;  having  reached  that  island  in  safety,  he 
left  it  on  the  17th  of  January  and  steered  for  the 
west.  After  a  narrow  escape  from  the  violence  of  a 
tempest,  and  having  proceeded  for  about  nine  hun- 
dred leagues,  a  long  low  line  of  coast  rose  to  view, 
never  before  seen  by  ancient  or  modern  navigators. 
This  country  appeared  thickly  peopled  by  a  vigorous 
race,  of  tall  stature  and  athletic  form ;  fearing  to 
risk  a  landing-  at  first  with  his  weak  force,  the 
adventurer  contented  himself  with  admiring  at  a 
distance  the  grandeur  and  beauty  of  the  scenery, 
and  enjoying  the  delightful  mildness  of  the  climate. 
From  this  place  he  followed  the  coast  for  about  fifty 
leagues  to  the  south  without  discovering  any  harbour 
or  inlet  where  he  might  shelter  his  vessel ;  he  then 
retraced  his  course  and  steered  to  the  north.  After 
some  time  Verazzano  ventured  to  send  a  small  boat 
on  shore  to  examine  the  country  more  closely:  num- 
bers of  savages  came  to  the  water's  edge  to  meet  the 
strangers,  and  gazed  on  them  with  mingled  feelings 
of  surprise,  admiration,  joy,  and  fear.  He  again 
resumed  his  northward  course,  till  driven  by  want 
of  water,  he  armed  the  small  boat  and  sent  it  once 


THE   CONQUEST   OF    CANADA.  37 

more  towards  the  land  to  seek  a  supply;  the  waves 
and  surf,  however,  were  so  great  that  it  could  not 
reach  the  shore.  The  natives  assembled  on  the 
beach,  by  their  signs  and  gestures  eagerly  invited 
the  French  to  approach:  one  young  sailor,  a  bold 
swimmer,  threw  himself  into  the  water,  bearing  some 
presents  for  the  savages,  but  his  heart  failed  him  on 
a  nearer  approach,  and  he  turned  to  regain  the  boat ; 
his  strength  was  exhausted  however,  and  a  heavy  sea 
washed  him  almost  insensible  up  upon  the  beach. 
The  Indians  treated  him  with  great  kindness,  and 
when  he  had  sufficiently  recovered,  sent  him  back  in 
safety  to  the  ship.6 

Verazzano  pursued  his  examination  of  the  coast 
with  untiring  zeal,  narrowly  searching  every  inlet 
for  a  passage  through  to  the  westward,  until  he 
reached  the  great  island,  known  to  the  Breton  fisher- 
men— Newfoundland.  In  this  important  voyage  he 
surveyed  more  than  two  thousand  miles  of  coast, 
nearly  all  that  of  the  present  United  States,  and  a 
great  portion  of  British  North  America. 

A  short  time  after  Verazzano's  return  to  Europe, 
he  fitted  out  another  expedition  with  the  sanction  of 
Francis  L,  for  the  establishment  of  a  colony  in  the 
newly  discovered  countries.  Nothing  certain  is  known 
of  the  fate  of  this  enterprise,  but  the  bold  navigator 
returned  to  France  no  more ;  the  dread  inspired  by 
his  supposed  fate7  deterred  the  French  king  and 

6  See  Appendix,  No.  XIV. 

7  "  Navigo  anche  lungo  la  detta  terra  1'anno  1524  un  gran  capi- 
tano  del  Re  Christianissimo  Francesco,  detto  Giovanni  da  Verazzano, 


38  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

people  from  any  further  adventure  across  the 
Atlantic  during  many  succeeding  years.  In  later 
times  it  has  come  to  light  that  Verazzano  was  alive 
thirteen  years  after  this  period  :8  those  best  informed 
on  the  subject  are  of  opinion,  that  the  enterprise  fell 
to  the  ground  in  consequence  of  Francis  I.  having 
been  captured  by  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  and  that 
the  adventurer  withdrew  himself  from  the  service 
of  France,  having  lost  his  patron's  support. 

The  year  after  the  failure  of  Verazzano's  last 
enterprise,  1525,  Stefano  Gomez  sailed  from  Spain 
for  Cuba  and  Florida ;  thence  he  steered  northward 
in  search  of  the  long  hoped  for  passage  to  India,  till 
he  reached  Cape  Race,  on  the  south-eastern  extremity 

Florentine,  e  scorse  tutta  la  costa  fino  alia  Florida,  come  per  una  sua 
lettera  scritta  al  detto  Re,  particolarmente  si  vedia  la  qual  sola 
abbiamo  potuto  avere  perciocche  1'altre  si  sono  smarrite  nelli 
travagli  della  povera  citta  di  Fiorenza  e  nell'  ultimo  viaggio  che  esso 
fece,  avendo  voluto  smontar  in  terra  con  alcuni  compagni,  furono  tutti 
morti  da  quei  popoli,  e  in  presentia  di  colo'ro  che  erano  rimasi  nelle 
navi,  furono  arrostiti  e  mangeati."  (Ramusio,  torn,  iii.,  p.  416.)  The 
Baron  La  Houtau  and  La  Potherie  give  the  same  account  of  Veraz- 
zano's end  ;  they  are  not,  however,  very  trustworthy  authorities. 
Le  Beau  repeats  the  same  story  ;  but  Charlevoix's  words  are,  "  Je 
ne  trouve  aucun  fondement  a  ce  que  quelques  uns  ont  public,  qu'ayant 
mis  pied  a  terre  dans  un  endroit  ou  il  voulait  batir  un  fort,  les 
sauvages  se  jeterent  sur  lui,  le  massacrerent  avec  tous  ses  gens  et  le 
mangerent."  A  Spanish  historian  has  asserted,  contrary  to  all  pro- 
bability, that  Verazzano  was  taken  by  the  Spaniards,  and  hung  as  a 
pirate. — D.  Andres  Gonzalez  de  Barcia,  Ensayo  Chronologico  para 
la  Historia  della  Florida. 

8  Tiraboschi,  Storia  della  Literatura  Italiana,  vol.  vii.,  pp.  261, 
262. — Quoted  in  the  Picture  of  Quebec,  to  which  valuable  work 
J.  C.  Fisher,  Esq.,  President  of  the  Literary  and  Historical  Society 
of  Quebec,  largely  contributed. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  39 

of  Newfoundland.  The  further  details  of  his  voyage 
remain  unknown,  but  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that 
he  entered  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  traded  upon 
its  shores.  An  ancient  Castilian  tradition  existed 
that  the  Spaniards  visited  these  coasts  before  the 
French,  and  having  perceived  no  appearance  of 
mines  or  riches,  they  exclaimed  frequently,  "  Aca 
nada ; " 9  the  natives  caught  up  the  sound,  and  when 
other  Europeans  arrived,  repeated  it  to  them.  The 
strangers  concluded  that  these  words  were  a  desig- 
nation, and  from  that  time  this  magnificent  country 
bore  the  name  of  CANADA.  l 

9  Signifying  "here  is  nothing."  The  insatiable  thirst  of  the 
Spanish  discoverers  for  gold  is  justified  by  the  greatest  of  all  disco- 
verers, the  disinterested  Columbus  himself,  on  high  religious  principles. 
When  acquainting  their  Castilian  majesties  with  the  abundance  of 
gold*  to  be  procured  in  the  newly-formed  countries,  he  thus  speaks, 
"  El  oro  es  excelentisimo,  del  oro  se  hace  tesoro  ;  y  con  el  quien  lo 
tiene  hace  quanto  quiere  en  el  mundo,  y  elega  a  que  echa  las  animas 
al  paraiso."  (Navarrete,  Coleccion  de  los  Viages,  vol.  i.,  p.  309.)  A 
passage  which  the  modern  editor  of  his  papers  affirms  to  be  in  con- 
formity with  many  texts  of  Scripture. 

1  Father  Hennepin  asserts  that  the  Spaniards  were  the  first  dis- 
coverers of  Canada,  and  that  finding  nothing  there  to  gratify  their 
extensive  desires  for  gold,  they  bestowed  upon  it  the  appellation  of 
El  Capo  di  Nada,  "  Cape  Nothing,"  whence  by  corruption  its  present 
name. — Nouvelle  Description  d'un  tre's  grand  pays  situe  dans 


*  The  historian  Herrera,  writing  in  the  light  of  experience,  makes  use  of  the  strong 
expression,  that  "  mines  were  a  lure  devised  hy  the  Evil  Spirit,  to  draw  the  Spaniards 
on  to  destruction."  "  L'  Espagne,"  says  Montesquieu,  "  a  fait  comme  ce  roi  insense, 
qui  demanda  que  tout  ce  qu  'il  toucheroit  se  convertit  en  or,  et  qui  fut  oblige  de  revenir 
aux  Dieux,  pour  les  prier  de  finir  sa  misere." — Esprit  des  Loix,  lib.  xxi.,  cap.  22. 

"  Les  mines  du  Perou  et  du  Mexique  ne  valoient  pas  meme  pour  1'  Espagne  ce  qu' 
clle  auroit  tire  de  son  propre  fonds  en  les  cultivant.  Avec  tant  de  tresors  Philippe 
II.  fit  banqueroute." — Millot.  "  Paturage  et  labourage,"  said  the  wise  Sully,  "  valent 
mieux  que  tout  1'  or  du  Perou." 


40  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

L'Ame'rique  entre  le  Nouveau  Mexique  et  la  Mer  Glaciale,  depuis  Van 
1667  jusqu'  en  1670.  Par  le  Pere  Louis  Hennepin,  Missionaire 
Recollet  a  Utrecht,  1697. 

La  Potherie  gives  the  same  derivation.  Histoire  de  V  Amerique 
Septentrionale  par  M.  de  Bacquemlle  de  la  Potherie,  a  Paris,  1722. 
The  opinion  expressed  in  a  note  of  Charlevoix  (Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle 
France,  vol.  i.,  p.  13),  is  that  deserving  most  credit.  "  D'autres 
derivent  ce  nom  du  mot  Iroquois  '  Kannata,'  qui  seprononce  Cannada, 
et  signifie  un  am  as  de  cahanes."  This  derivation  would  reconcile  the 
different  assertions  of  the  early  discoverers,  some  of  whom  give  the 
name  of  Canada  to  the  whole  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  ;  others, 
equally  worthy  of  credit,  confine  it  to  a  small  district  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Stadacona  (now  Quebec).  Seconda  Relatione  di  Jacques 
Cartier,  in  Ramusio,  torn,  iii.,  pp.  442,  447.  "  Questo  popolo  (di 
Hochelaga)  non  partendo  mai  del  loro  paese,  ne  essendo  vagabondi, 
come  quelli  di  Canada  e  di  Saguenay  benche  dette  di  Canada  sieno 
lor  suggetti  con  otte  o  nove  altri  villaggi  posti  sopra  detto  fiume." 
Father  du  Creux,  who  arrived  in  Canada  about  the  year  1625,  in  his 
"  Historia  Canadensis,"  gives  the  name  of  Canada  to  the  whole  valley 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  confessing,  however,  his  ignorance  of  the  etymo- 
logy :  "  Porro  de  Etymologia  vocis  Canada  nihil  satis  certe  potui 
comperire  ;  priscam  quidem  esse,  constat  ex  eo,  quod  illam  ante 
annos  prope  sexaginta  passim  usurpari  audiebam  puer." 

Dupongeau,  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of 
Philadelphia,  founds  his  conjecture  of  the  Indian  origin  of  the  name 
of  Canada  upon  the  fact,  that  in  the  translation  of  the  Gospel  of 
St.  Matthew  into  the  Mohawk  tongue,  made  by  Brandt,  the  Indian 
Chief,  the  word  Canada  is  always  used  to  signify  a  village.  The 
mistake  of  the  early  discoverers  in  taking  the  name  of  a  part  for  that 
of  the  whole,  is  very  pardonable  in  persons  ignorant  of  the  Indian 
language.  It  is  highly  improbable  that  at  the  period  of  its  discovery 
the  name  of  Canada  was  extended  over  this  immense  country.  The 
migratory  habits  of  the  Aborigines  are  alone  conclusive  against  it. 
They  distinguished  themselves  by  their  different  tribes,  not  by  the 
country  over  which  they  hunted  and  rode  at  will.  They  more  pro- 
bably gave  names  to  localities  than  adopted  their  own  from  any  fixed 
place  of  residence.  The  Iroquois  and  the  Ottawas  conferred  their 
appellations  on  the  rivers  that  ran  through  their  hunting  grounds,  and 
the  Huron  tribe  gave  theirs  to  the  vast  lake  now  bearing  their  name/ 
It  has,  however,  never  been  pretended  that  any  Indian  tribe  bore  the 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  41 

name  of  Canada,  and  the  natural  conclusion  therefore  is,  that  the 
word  "  Canada"  was  a  mere  local  appellation,  without  reference  to 
the  country  ;  that  each  tribe  had  their  own  "  Canada,"  or  collection 
of  huts,  which  shifted  its  position  according  to  their  migrations. 

Dr.  Douglas,  in  his  "American  History,"  pretends  that  Canada 
derives  its  name  from  Monsieur  Kane  or  Cane,  who  he  advances  to 
have  heen  the  first  adventurer  in  the  River  St.  Lawrence. — Knox's 
Historical  Journal,  vol.  i.,  p.  303. 


CHAPTER  II. 

IN  the  year  1534,  Philip  Chabot,  Admiral  of  France, 
urged  the  king  to  establish  a  colony  in  the  New 
World,1  by  representing  to  him  in  glowing  colours 
the  great  riches  and  power  derived  by  the  Spaniards 
from  their  transatlantic  possessions.  Francis  I, 
alive  to  the  importance  of  the  design,  soon  agreed 
to  carry  it  out.  JACQUES  CARTIER,  an  experienced 
navigator  of  St.  Malo,  was  recommended  by  the 
admiral  to  be  intrusted  with  the  expedition,  and 
was  approved  of  by  the  king.  On  tlie  20th  of  April, 
1534,  Cartier  sailed  from  St.  Malo  with  two  ships  of 
only  sixty  tons  burden  each,  and  120  men  for  their 
crews:2  he  directed  his  course  westward,  inclining 
rather  to  the  north ;  the  winds  proved  so  favourable 
that  on  the  twentieth  day  of  the  voyage  he  made 
Cape  Bonavista  in  Newfoundland.  But  the  harbours 
of  that  dreary  country  were  still  locked  up  in  the 
winter's  ice,  forbidding  the  approach  of  shipping:  he 
then  bent  to  the  south-east,  and  at  length  found 

1  Hist,  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  par  le  Pere  Charlevoix,  de  la  Com- 
pagnie  de  Jesus,  vol.  i.,  p.  11  ;  Fastes  Clironologiques,  1534. 

2  Prima  Relationc  de  Jacques  Cartier  della  Terra  Nuova,  detta 
la  Nuova  Francia,  in  Ramusio,  torn,  iii.,  p.  435. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  43 

anchorage  at  St.  Catherine,  six  degrees  lower  in 
latitude.  Having  remained  here  ten  days,  he  again 
turned  to  the  north,  and  on  the  21st  of  May  reached 
Bird  Island,  fourteen  leagues  from  the  coast. 

Jacques  Cartier  examined  all  the  northern  shores 
of  Newfoundland  without  having  ascertained  that 
it  was  an  island,  and  then  passed  southward  through 
the  Straits  of  Belleisle.  The  country  appeared 
everywhere  the  same  bleak  and  inhospitable  wilder- 
ness,3 but  the  harbours  were  numerous,  convenient, 
and  abounding  in  fish.  He  describes  the  natives,  as 
well-proportioned  men,  wearing  their  hair  tied  up 
over  their  heads,  like  bundles  of  hay,  quaintly 
interlaced  with  birds'  feathers.4  Changing  his 
course  still  more  to  the  south,  he  then  traversed 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  approached  the  mainland, 

3  "  Se  la  terra  fosse  cosi  buono,  come  vi  sono  buoni  porti,  sarebbe 
un  gran  bene,  ma  ella  non  si  debba  chiamar  Terra  Nuova,  anzi  sassi 
e  grebani  salvaticbi,  e  proprij  luoghi  da  fiere,  per  cio  cbe  in  tutto 
1'isola  di  Tramontana — [translated  by  Hakluyt  "the  northern  part  of 
the  island"] — io  non  vidi  tanta  terra  che  se  ne  potesse  coricar  un 
carro,  e  vi  smontai  in  parecchi  luoghi,  e  all'  isola  di  Bianco  Sabbione 
non  v'e  altro  che  musco,  e  piccioli  spini  dispersi,  secchi,  e  morti,  e  in 
somma  io  penso  che  questa  sia  la  terra  che  Iddio  dette  a  Caino."— 
J.  Cartier,  in  Ramusio,  torn,  iii.,  p.  436. 

The  journal  of  the  two  first  voyages  of  Cartier  is  preserved 
almost  entire  in  the  "  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  by  L'Escarbot ; 
there  is  an  Italian  translation  in  the  third  volume  of  Ramusio.  They 
are  written  in  the  third  person,  and  it  does  not  appear  that  he  was 
himself  the  author. 

4  "  Sono  uomini  d'assai  bella  vita  e  grandezza  ma  indomiti  e  sal- 
vatichi :  portano  i  capelli  in  cuna  legati  e  stretti  a  guisa  d'un  pugno 
di  fieno  rivolto,  mettendone  in  mezzo  un  legnetto,  o  altra  cosa  in 
vece  di  chiodo,  e  vi  legano  insieme  certe  penne  d'uccelli." — J.  Car- 
tier,  in  Ramusio,  torn,  iii.,  p.  436. 


44  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

and  on  the  9th  of  July,  entered  a  deep  bay ;  from 
the  intense  heat  experienced  there  he  named  it 
the  "Baye  de  Chaleurs."  The  beauty  of  the 
country,  and  the  kindness  and  hospitality  of  his 
reception,  alike  charmed  him ;  he  carried  on  a  little 
trade  with  the  friendly  savages,  exchanging  Euro- 
pean goods  for  their  furs  and  provisions. 

Leaving  this  bay,  Jacques  Cartier  visited  a  con- 
siderable extent  of  the  gulf-coast;  on  the  24th 
July  he  erected  a  cross  thirty  feet  high,  with  a  shield 
bearing  the  fleurs-de-lys  of  France  on  the  shore 
of  Gaspe  Bay.5  Having  thus  taken  possession 6  of 
the  country  for  his  king  in  the  usual  manner  of 
those  days,  he  sailed,  the  25th  of  July,  on  his  home- 
ward voyage :  at  this  place  two  of  the  natives  were 
seized  by  stratagem,  carried  on  board  the  ships,  and 
borne  away  to  France.  Cartier  coasted  along  the 
northern  shores  of  the  gulf  till  the  15th  of  August, 
and  even  entered  the  mouth  of  the  River  St. 
Lawrence,  but  the  weather  becoming  stormy,  he 
determined  to  delay  his  departure  no  longer :  he 
passed  again  through  the  Straits  of  Belleisle,  and 

5  De  Laet,  vol.  i.,  p.  58. 

6  This  was  ingeniously  represented  to  the  natives  as  a  religious 
ceremony,  and,  as  such,  excited  nothing  but  the  "  grandissima  ammi- 
razione  "  of  the  natives  present  ;  it  was,  however,  differently  under- 
stood by  their  Chief.  "  Ma  essendo  noi  ritornati  alle  nostra  navi, 
venne  il  Capitano  lor  vestito  d'im  pella  vecchia  d'orso  negro  in  una 
barca  con  tre  suoi  figliuoli,  e  ci  fece  un  lungo  sermone  mostrandaci 
detta  croce  e  facendo  il  segno  della  croce  con  due  dita  poi  ci  mostrava 
la  terra  tutta  intorno  di  noi  come  s'avesse  voluto  dice  che  tutta  era 
sua,  e  che  noi  non  dovevamo  piantar  detta  croce  senza  sua  licenza." 
— J.  Cartier,  in  Ramusio,  torn.  Hi.,  p.  439. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  45 

arrived  at  St.  Malo  on  the  5th  of  September,  1534, 
contented  with  his  success  and  full  of  hope  for  the 
future. 

Jacques  Cartier  was  received  with  the  considera- 
tion due  to  the  importance  of  his  report.  The  court 
at  once  perceived  the  advantage  of  an  establishment 
in  this  part  of  America,  and  resolved  to  take  steps 
for  its  foundation.  Charles  de  Money,  Sieur  de  la 
Mailleraye,  vice-admiral  of  France,  was  the  most 
active  patron  of  the  undertaking;  through  his 
influence  Cartier  obtained  a  more  effective  force,  and 
a  new  commission,  with  ampler  powers  than  before. 
When  the  preparations  for  the  voyage  were  com- 
pleted, the  adventurers  all  assembled  in  the  cathedral 
of  St.  Malo  on  Whitsunday,  1535,  by  the  command  of 
their  pious  leader;  the  bishop  then  gave  them  a 
solemn  benediction  with  all  the  imposing  ceremonials 
of  the  Romish  Church. 

On  the  19th  of  May  Jacques  Cartier  embarked, 
and  started  on  his  voyage  with  fair  wind  and 
weather.  The  fleet  consisted  of  three  small  ships, 
the  largest  being  only  120  tons  burthen.  Many 
adventurers  and  young  men  of  good  family  accom- 
panied the  expedition  as  volunteers.  On  the  morrow 
the  wind  became  adverse,  and  rose  to  a  storm  ;  the 
heavens  loured  over  the  tempestuous  sea  ;  for  more 
than  a  month  the  utmost  skill  of  the  mariners  could 
only  enable  them  to  keep  their  ships  afloat,  while 
tossed  about  at  the  mercy  of  the  waves.  The  little 
fleet  was  dispersed  on  the  25th  of  June :  each  vessel 
then  made  for  the  coast  of  Newfoundland  as  it  best 


46  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

might.  The  general's  vessel,  as  that  of  Cartier  was 
called,  was  the  first  to  gain  the  land  on  the  7th 
July,  and  there  awaited  her  consorts ;  but  they  did 
not  arrive  till  the  26th  of  the  month.  Having  taken 
in  supplies  of  fuel  and  water,  they  sailed  in  company 
to  explore  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  A  violent  storm 
arose  on  the  1st  of  August,  forcing  them  to  seek 
shelter.  They  happily  found  a  port  on  the  north 
shore,  at  the  entrance  of  the  great  river,  where, 
though  difficult  of  access,  there  was  a  safe  anchor- 
age. Jacques  Cartier  called  it  St.  Nicolas,  and  it  is 
now  almost  the  only  place  still  bearing  the  name  he 
gave.  They  left  their  harbour  on  the  7th,  coasting 
westward  along  the  north  shore,  and  on  the  10th 
came  to  a  gulf  filled  with  numerous  and  beautiful 
islands.7  Cartier  gave  this  gulf  the  name  of  St. 
Lawrence,  having  discovered  it  on  that  saint's 
festival  day.8 

On  the  15th  of  August  they  reached  a  long  rocky 
island  towards  the  south,  which  Cartier  named  L'Isle 
de  1'Assumption,  now  called  Anticosti.9  Thence  they 
continued  their  course,  examining  carefully  both 

7  "  Trovavamo  un  molto  bello  e  gran  golfo  pieno  d'isole  e  buone 
entrate  e  passaggi,  verso  qual  vento  si  possa  fare." — J.  Cartier,  in 
Ramusio,  torn,  iii.,  p.  441. 

8  "  Carthier  donna  au  golphe  le  nom  de  St.  Laurent,  ou  plutot  il 
le  donna  a,  une  baye  qui  est  entre  1'isle  d'Anticoste  et  la  cote  septen- 
trionale,  d'oii  ce  nom  s'est  etendu  a  tout  le  golphe  dont  cette  baye 
fait  partie." — Hist,  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  torn,  i.,  p.  15. 

9  "  Des  sauvages  1'appelloient  Natiscotec,  le  nom  d' Anticosti  paralt 
lui  avoir  etc  donne  par  les  Anglais." — Charlevoix,  torn,  i.,  p.  16.    This 
island  is  125  miles  long,  and  in  its  widest  part  30  miles,  dividing  the 
River  St.  Lawrence  into  two  channels.    Throughout  its  whole  extent 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  47 

shores  of  the  Great  River,1  and  occasionally  holding 
communication  with  the  inhabitants,  till  on  the  1st 
of  September  they  entered  the  mouth  of  the  deep 
and  gloomy  Saguenay.  The  entrance  of  this  great 
tributary  was  all  they  had  leisure  to  survey  ;  but 
the  huge  rocks,  dense  forests,  and  vast  body  of  water, 

it  has  neither  bay  nor  harbour  sufficiently  safe  to  shelter  ships.  It  is 
uncultivated,  being  generally  of  an  unprofitable  soil,  upon  which  any 
attempted  improvements  have  met  with  very  unpromising  results. 
Since  the  year  1809,  establishments  have  been  formed  on  the  island 
for  the  relief  of  shipwrecked  persons  ;  two  men  reside  there  at  two 
different  stations  all  the  year  round,  furnished  with  provisions  for 
the  use  of  those  who  may  have  the  misfortune  to  need  them.  Boards 
are  placed  in  different  parts  describing  the  distance  and  direction  to 
these  friendly  spots  ;  instances  of  the  most  flagrant  inattention  have, 
however,  occurred,  which  were  attended  with  the  most  distressing  and 
fatal  consequences." — Bonchetti,  vol.  i.,  p.  169. 

"  At  present  the  whole  island  might  be  purchased  for  a  few  hundred 
pounds.  It  belongs  to  some  gentlemen  in  Quebec  ;  and  you  might, 
for  a  very  small  sum,  become  one  of  the  greatest  landowners  in 
the  world,  and  a  Canadian  seigneur  into  the  bargain." — Grey's 
Canada. 

1  This  is  the  first  discovery  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  called  by 
the  natives  the  River  Hochelaga,  or  the  River  of  Canada.  Jacques 
Cartier  accurately  determined  the  breadth  of  its  mouth  ninety  miles 
across.  Cape  Rosier,  a  small  distance  to  the  north  of  the  point  of 
Gaspe,  is  properly  the  place  which  marks  the  opening  of  the  gigantic 
river.  "  V'e  tra  le  terre  d'ostro  e  quelle  di  tramontana  la  distantia 
di  trenta  leghe  in  circa,  e  piii  di  dugento  braccia  di  fondo.  Ci  dis- 
sero  anche  i  detti  salvatichi  e  certificarono  quivi  essere  il  cammino  e 
principio  del  gran  fiume  di  Hochelaga  e  strada  di  Canada." — J. 
Cartier,  in  Ramusio,  torn,  iii.,  p.  442. 

J.  Cartier  always  afterwards  speaks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  as  the 
River  of  Hochelaga,  or  Canada.  Charlevoix  says,  "  Parceque  le 
fleuve  qu'on  appelloit  auparavant  la  Riviere  de  Canada  se  decharge 
dans  le  Golphe  de  St.  Laurent,  il  a  insensiblement  pris  le  nom  de 
Fleuve  de  St.  Laurent,  qu'il  porte  aujourd'hui  (1720)." 


48  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

forming  a  scene  of  sombre  magnificence  such  as  had 
never  before  met  their  view,  inspired  them  with  an 
exalted  idea  of  the  country  they  had  discovered. 
Still  passing  to  the  south-west  up  the  St.  Lawrence, 
on  the  6th  they  reached  an  island  abounding  in  deli- 
cious filberts,  and  on  that  account  named  by  the 
voyagers  Isle  aux  Coudres.  Car  tier,  being  now  so 
far  advanced  into  an  unknown  country,  looked  out 
anxiously  for  a  port  where  his  vessels  might  winter 
in  safety.  He  pursued  his  voyage  till  he  came  upon 
another  island,  of  great  extent,  fertility,  and  beauty, 
covered  with  woods  and  thick  clustering  vines.  This 
he  named  Isle  de  Bacchus  :2  it  is  now  called  Orleans. 
On  the  7th  of  September  Donnacona,  the  chief  of 
the  country,3  came  with  twelve  canoes  filled  by  his 

2  "  Lorsque  Jacques  Carthier  decouvrit  cette  ile,  il  la  trouva  toute 
remplie  de  vignes,  et  la  nomma  1'Ile  de  Bacchus.     Ce  navigateur 
etait  Breton,  apres  lui  sont  venus  des  Normands  qui  ont  arrache  les 
vignes  et  a  Bacchus  ont  substitue  Pomone  et  Ceres.     En  effet  elle 
produit  de  bon  froment  et  d'excellent  fruits." — Journal  Historique, 
lettre  ii.,  p.  102. 

Charlevoix  also  mentions  that  when  he  visited  the  islands  in  1720, 
the  inhabitants  were  famed  for  their  skill  in  sorcery,  and  were  sup- 
posed to  hold  intercourse  with  the  devil ! 

The  Isle  of  Orleans  was  in  1 676  created  an  earldom,  by  the  title 
of  St.  Laurent,  which,  however,  has  long  been  extinct.  The  first 
Comte  de  St.  Laurent  was  of  the  name  of  Berthelot. — Charlevoix, 
vol.  v.,p.  99. 

3  "  II  signor  de  Canada  (chiamato  Donnacona  per  nome,  ma  per 
signore  il  chiamano  Agouhanna)." — J.  Carthier  in  Ramusio,  torn,  iii., 
p.  442.     Agouhanna  signified  Chief  or  lord. 

Here,  says  Jacques  Cartier,  begins  the  country  of  Canada. 
"  II  settimo  giorno  di  detto  mese  la  vigilia  della  Madonna,  dopo 
udita  la  messa  ci  partimmo  dalP  isola  de'  nocellari  per  andar  all'insu 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  49 

train,  to  hold  converse  with  the  strangers,  whose 
ships  lay  at  anchor  between  the  island  and  the 
north  shore  of  the  Great  River.  The  Indian  Chief 
approached  the  smallest  of  the  ships  with  only  two 
canoes,  fearful  of  causing  alarm,  and  began  an 
oration,  accompanied  with  strange  and  uncouth  ges- 
tures. After  a  tune  he  conversed  with  the  Indians 
who  had  been  seized  on  the  former  voyage,  and  now 
acted  as  interpreters.  He  heard  from  them  of  their 
wonderful  visit  to  the  great  nation  over  the  salt 
lake,  of  the  wisdom  and  power  of  the  white  men, 
and  of  the  kind  treatment  they  had  received  among 
the  strangers.  Donnacona  appeared  moved  with 
deep  respect  and  admiration;  he  took  Jacques 
Cartier's  arm  and  placed  it  gently  over  his  own 
bended  neck,  in  token  of  confidence  and  regard. 
The  admiral  cordially  returned  these  friendly  demon- 
strations. He  entered  the  Indian's  canoe,  and  pre- 
sented bread  and  wine,  which  they  ate  and  drank 
together.  They  then  parted  in  all  amity. 

After  this  happy  interview,  Jacques  Cartier  with 
his  boats  pushed  up  the  north  shore  against  the 
stream,  till  he  reached  a  spot  where  a  little  river 
flowed  into  a  "  goodly  and  pleasant  sound,"  forming 
a  convenient  haven.4  He  moored  his  vessels  here 

di  detta  fiume,  e  arrivamo  a  quattordici  isole  distanti  dall'  isola  de 
Nocellari  intorno  setto  in  otto  leghe,  e  quivi  e  il  principio  della  pro- 
vincia,  e  terra  di  Canada. — J.  Cartier,  in  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  p.  442. 

4  The  writer  of  these  pages,  adds  the  testimony  of  an  eye-witness 
to  the  opinion  of  the  ingenious  author  of  "  the  Picture  of  Quebec," 
as  to  the  localities  here  described.  The  old  writers,  even  Charle- 
voix  himself,  have  asserted  that  the  "  Port  St.  Croix  was  at  the 

VOL.  I.  E 


50  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

for  the  winter  on  the  16th  of  September,  and  gave 
the  name  of  St.  Croix  to  the  stream,  in  honour 
of  the  day  on  which  he  first  entered  its  waters: 

entrance  of  the  river  now  called  Jacques  Cartier,  which  flows  into 
the  St.  Lawrence,  about  fifteen  miles  above  Quebec.  Charlevoix, 
indeed,  mentions  that  "  Champlain  pretend  que  cette  riviere  est  celle 
de  St.  Charles,  mais,"  he  adds,  "  il  se  trompe,  &c."  However,  the 
localities  are  still  unchanged  ;  though  three  centuries  have  since 
elapsed,  the  description  of  Jacques  Cartier  is  easily  recognised  at  the 
present  day,  and  marks  out  the  mouth  of  the  little  river  St.  Charles* 
as  the  first  winter  station  of  the  Europeans  in  Canada.  The  follow- 
ing are  J.  Cartier's  words — "per  cercar  luogo  e  porto  sicuro  da 
metter  le  nave,  e  andammo  al  contrario  per  detto  fiume  intorno  di 
dieci  leghe  costezziando  detta  isola  (di  Bacchus)  e  in  capo  di  quella 
trovammo  un  gorgod'  acqua  bello  e  ameno — ("  the  beautiful  basin  of 
Quebec,"  as  it  is  called  in  the  "Picture  of  Quebec,")  nel  quel  luogo 
e  un  picciol  fiume  e  porto,  dove  per  il  flusso  e  alta  1'acqua  intorno  a 
tre  braccia,  ne  parve  questo  luogo  comodo  per  metter  le  nostre  navi, 
per  il  che  quivi  le  mettemmo  in  sicuro,  e  lo  chiamammo  Santa  Croce, 
percio  che  nel  detto  giorno  v'  eramo  giunti.  .  .  Alia  riva  e  lito 
di  quell'  isola  (di  Bacchus  verso  ponente  v'e  un  goejo  d'  acque  molto 
bello  e  dilettevole,  e  convenientemente  da  mettere  navilij,  dove  e  uno 
stretto  del  detto  fiume  molto  corrente  e  profondo  ma  non  e  lungo  piii 
d'  un  terzo  di  lega  intorno,  per  traverse  del  quale  vi  e  una  terra  tutta 
di  colline  di  buona  altezza  .  .  .  quive  e  la  stanza  e  la  terra  di  Donna- 
cona,  e  chiamasi  il  luogo  Stadacona  ....  sotto  la  qual  alta  terra 
verso  tramontana  e  il  fiume  e  porto  di  Santa  Croce,  nel  qual  luogo  e 
porto  siamo  stati  dalli  15  di  Settembre  fino  alii  16  di  Maggio  1536, 
nel  qual  luogo  le  navi  rimasero  in  secco."  The  "one  place"  in 
the  River  St.  Lawrence  "deep  and  swift  running, "  means,  of  course, 
that  part  directly  oppposite  the  Lower  Town,  and  no  doubt  it 
appeared,  by  comparison,  "  very  narrow  "  to  those  who  had  hitherto 
seen  the  noble  river  only  in  its  grandest  forms.  The  town  of  Stada- 
cona stood  on  that  part  of  Quebec  which  is  now  covered  by  the 


*  It  received  this  name,  according  to  La  Potherie,  in  compliment  to  Charles  des 
Boiies,  Grand  Vicar  of  Pontoise,  founder  of  the  first  mission  of  Recollets  in  New 
France.  The  River  St.  Charles  was  called  Coubal  Coubat  by  the  natives,  from  its 
windings  and  uieanderings. — Smith's  Canada,  vol.  i.,  p.  104. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  51 

Donnacona,  accompanied  by  a  train  of  500  Indians, 
came  to  welcome  his  arrival  with  generous  friend- 
ship. In  the  angle  formed  by  the  tributary  stream 
and  the  Great  River,  stood  the  town  of  Stadacona, 
the  dwelling-place  of  the  Chief;  thence  an  irregular 
slope  ascended  to  a  lofty  height  of  table-land :  from 
this  eminence  a  bold  headland  frowned  over  the 
St.  Lawrence,  forming  a  rocky  wall  300  feet  in 
height.  The  waters  of  the  Great  River — here  nar- 
rowed to  less  than  a  mile  in  breadth — rolled  deeply 
and  rapidly  past  into  the  broad  basin  beyond. 
When  the  white  men  first  stood  on  the  summit  of 
this  bold  headland,  above  their  port  of  shelter, 
most  of  the  country  was  fresh  from  the  hand  of  the 
Creator ;  save  the  three  small  barks  lying  at  the 


suburbs  of  St.  Roch,  with  part  of  those  of  St.  John,  looking  towards 
the  St.  Charles.  The  area  or  ground  adjoining,  is  thus  described 
by  Cartier  as  it  appeared  three  centuries  ago  :  "  terra  tanta  buona, 
quanto  sia  possibile  di  vedere,  e  e  molto  fertile,  pieria  di  bellissimi 
arbori  della  sorte  di  quelli  di  Francia,  come  sarebbeno  quercie,  olmi, 
frassine,  najare,  nassi,  cedri,  vigne,  specie  bianchi,  i  quali  producono  il 
frutto  cosi  grosso  come  susine  damaschini,  e  di  molte  altre  specie  d' 
arbori,  sotto  de  quali  vi  nasce  e  cresce  cosi  bel  canapo  come  quel  di 
Francia,  e  nondimeno  vi  nasce  senza  semenza,  e  senza  opera  umana 
o  lavoro  alcuno. — Jacques  Cartier,  in  Ramusio,  torn,  iii.,  pp,  443, 
449,  450. 

The  exact  spot  in  the  River  St.  Charles,  where  the  French  passed 
the  winter,  is  supposed,  on  good  authority,  to  have  been  the  site  of 
the  old  bridge,  called  Dorchester  Bridge,  where  there  is  a  ford  at  low 
water,  close  to  the  Marine  Hospital.  That  it  was  on  the  east  bank, 
not  far  from  the  residence  of  Charles  Smith,  Esq.,  is  evident  from 
the  river  having  been  frequently  crossed  by  the  natives  coming 
from  Stadacona  to  visit  the  French. — Picture  of  Quebec,  pp.  43 — 46, 
1834. 

E2 


52  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

mouth  of  the  stream,  and  the  Indian  village,  no 
sign  of  human  habitation  met  their  view.  Far  as 
the  eye  could  reach,  the  dark  forest  spread ;  over 
hill  and  valley,  mountain  and  plain;  up  to  the 
craggy  peaks,  down  to  the  blue  water's  edge ;  along 
the  gentle  slopes  of  the  rich  Isle  of  Bacchus,  and 
even  from  projecting  rocks,  and  in  fissures  of 
the  lofty  precipice,  the  deep  green  mantle  of  the 
summer  foliage  hung  its  graceful  folds.  In  the 
dim  distance,  north,  south,  east  and  west,  where 
mountain  rose  above  mountain  in  tumultuous 
variety  of  outline,  it  was  still  the  same ;  one  vast 
leafy  veil  concealed  the  virgin  face  of  Nature  from 
the  stranger's  sight.  On  the  eminence  command- 
ing this  scene  of  wild  but  magnificent  beauty, 
a  prosperous  city  now  stands ;  the  patient  industry  of 
man  has  felled  that  dense  forest,  tree  by  tree,  for  miles 
and  miles  around ;  and  where  it  stood,  rich  fields 
rejoice  the  eye :  the  once  silent  waters  of  the  Great 
River  below,  now  surge  against  hundreds  of  stately 
ships ;  commerce  has  enriched  this  spot,  art  adorned 
it ;  a  memory  of  glory  endears  it  to  every  British 
heart.  But  the  name  QUEBEC,S  still  remains  un- 

5  "  Quebec  en  langue  Algonquine  signifie  retrecissement.  Les 
Abenaquis  dont  la  langue  est  une  dialecte  Algonquine,  le  nomment 
Quelibec,  qui  veut  dire  ce  qui  estferme,  parceque  de  1'entree  dela 
petite  riviere  de  la  Chaudiere  par  ou  ces  sauvages  venaient  a  Quebec, 
le  port  de  Quebec  ne  paroit  qu'  une  grande  barge." — Charlevoix, 
vol.  i.,  p.  50. 

"  Trouvant  un  lieu  le  plus  etroit  de  la  riviere  que  les  habitans  du 
pays  nomment  Quebec  ;" — "la  pointe  de  Quebec,  ainsi  appellee  des 
sauvages." — Champlain,  vol.  i.,  pp.  115,  124. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  53 

changed ;  as  the  savage  first  pronounced  it  to  the 
white  stranger,  it  stands  to-day  among  the  proudest 
records  of  our  country's  story. 

The  Chief  Donnacona  and  the  French  continued 
in  friendly  intercourse,  day  by  day  exchanging 
good  offices  and  tokens  of  regard.  But  Jacques 
Cartier  was  eager  for  further  discoveries ;  the  two 
Indian  interpreters  told  him  that  a  city  of  much 
larger  size  than  Stadacona,  lay  further  up  the  river, 
the  capital  of  a  great  country ;  it  was  called  in  the 
native  tongue  Hochelaga :  thither  he  resolved  to 
find  his  way.  The  Indians  endeavoured  vainly 
to  dissuade  their  dangerous  guests  from  this 

Others  give  a  Norman  derivation  for  the  word :  it  is  said  that 
Quebec  was  so  called  after  Caudebec,  on  the  Seine. 

La  Potherie's  words  are  :  "  On  tient  que  les  Normands  qui  etoient 
avec  J.  Cartier  a  sa  premiere  decouverte,  apercevant  en  bout  de  1'isle 
d' Orleans,  un  cap  fort  eleve,  s'e'crierent  '  Quel  bee  !  '  et  qu'  a  la  suite 
du  terns  la  nom  de  Quebec  lui  est  reste.  Je  ne  suis  point  garant  de 
cette  etymologic."  Mr.  Hawkins  terms  this  "a  derivation  entirely 
illusory  and  improbable,"  and  asserts  that  the  word  is  of  Norman 
origin.  He  gives  an  engraving  of  a  seal  belonging  to  William  de  la 
Pole,  Earl  of  Suffolk,  dated  in  the  7th  of  Henry  V.,  or  A.  D.  1420. 
The  legend  or  motto  is,  "  Sigillum  Willielmi  de  la  Pole,  Comitis 
Suffolckiae,  Domine  de  Hamburg  et  de  Quebec."  Suffolk  was 
impeached  by  the  Commons  of  England  in  1450,  and  one  of  the 
charges  brought  against  him  was,  his  unbounded  influence  in  Nor- 
mandy, where  he  lived  and  ruled  like  an  independent  prince  ;  it  is 
not,  therefore,  improbable,  that  he  enjoyed  the  French  title  of  Quebec 
in  addition  to  his  English  honours. 

The  Indian  name  Stadacona,  had  perished  before  the  time  of 
Champlain,  owing,  probably,  to  the  migration  of  the  principal  tribe 
and  the  succession  of  others.  The  inhabitants  of  Hochelaga,  we  are 
told  by  Jacques  Cartier,  were  the  only  people  in  the  surrounding 
neighbourhood  who  were  not  migratory. 


54  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

expedition  ;  they  represented  the  distance,  the  late- 
ness of  the  season,  the  danger  of  the  great  lakes 
and  rapid  currents  ;  at  length  they  had  recourse  to 
a  kind  of  masquerade  or  pantomime,  to  represent 
the  perils  of  the  voyage,  and  the  ferocity  of  the 
tribes  inhabiting  that  distant  land.  The  interpreters 
earnestly  strove  to  dissuade  Jacques  Cartier  from 
proceeding  on  his  enterprise,  and  one  of  them  re- 
fused to  accompany  him.  The  brave  Frenchman 
would  not  hearken  to  such  dissuasions,  and  treated 
with  equal  contempt  the  verbal  and  pantomimic 
warnings  of  the  alleged  difficulties.  As  a  precau- 
tionary measure  to  impress  the  savages  with  an 
exalted  idea  of  his  power  as  a  friend  or  foe,  he 
caused  twelve  cannon  loaded  with  bullets  to  be 
fired  in  their  presence  against  a  wood :  amazed  and 
terrified  at  the  noise,  and  the  effects  of  this  dis- 
charge, they  fled  howling  and  shrieking  away. 

Jacques  Cartier  sailed  for  Hochelaga  on  the  19th 
of  September ;  he  took  with  him  the  Hermerillon— 
one  of  his  smallest  ships,  the  pinnace  and  two 
longboats,  bearing  thirty-five  armed  men,  with 
their  provisions  and  ammunition.  The  two  larger 
vessels  and  their  crews  were  left  in  the  harbour 
of  St.  Croix,  protected  by  poles  and  stakes  driven 
into  the  water  so  as  to  form  a  barricade.  The 
voyage  presented  few  of  the  threatened  difficulties ; 
the  country  on  both  sides  of  the  Great  River  was 
rich  and  varied,  covered  with  stately  timber,  and 
abounding  in  vines.  The  natives  were  everywhere 
friendly  and  hospitable,  all  that  they  possessed  was 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  55 

freely  offered  to  the  strangers.  At  a  place  called 
Hochelai,  the  Chief  of  the  district  visited  the  French, 
and  showed  much  friendship  and  confidence,  pre- 
senting Jacques  Cartier  with  a  girl  seven  years  of 
age,  one  of  his  own  children. 

On  the  29th,  the  expedition  was  stopped  in  Lake 
St.  Pierre  by  the  shallows,  not  having  hit  upon  the 
right  channel.  Jacques  Cartier  took  the  resolution 
of  leaving  his  larger  vessels  behind,  and  proceeding 
with  his  two  boats ;  he  met  with  no  further  interrup- 
tion, and  at  length  reached  Hochelaga  on  the  2nd 
of  October,  accompanied  by  De  Pontbriand,  De  la 
Pommeraye,  and  De  Gozelle,  three  of  his  volunteers. 
The  natives  welcomed  him  with  every  demon- 
stration of  joy  and  hospitality ;  above  a  thousand 
people,  of  all  ages  and  sexes,  came  forth  to  meet 
the  strangers,  greeting  them  with  affectionate  kind- 
ness. Jacques  Cartier,  in  return  for  their  generous 
reception,  bestowed  presents  of  tin,  beads,  and  other 
baubles  upon  all  the  women,  and  gave  some  knives 
to  the  men.  He  returned  to  pass  the  night  in  the 
boats,  while  the  savages  made  great  fires  on 
the  shore,  and  danced  merrily  all  night  long.  The 
place  where  the  French  first  landed  was,  probably, 
about  eleven  miles  from  the  city  of  Hochelaga, 
below  the  rapid  of  St.  Mary. 

On  the  day  after  his  arrival  Jacques  Cartier 
proceeded  to  the  town ;  his  volunteers,  and  some 
others  of  his  followers,  accompanied  him,  arrayed  in 
full  dress ;  three  of  the  natives  undertook  to  guide 
them  on  their  way.  The  road  was  well  beaten,  and 


56  THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA. 

bore  evidence  of  being  much  frequented ;  the  country 
through  which  it  passed  was  exceedingly  rich  and 
fertile.  Hochelaga  stood  in  the  midst  of  great  fields 
of  Indian  corn ;  it  was  of  a  circular  form,  containing 
about  fifty  large  huts,  each  fifty  paces  long  and  from 
fourteen  to  fifteen  wide,  all  built  in  the  shape  of 
tunnels,  formed  of  wood,  and  covered  with  birch 
bark ;  the  dwellings  were  divided  into  several  rooms, 
surrounding  an  open  court  in  the  centre,  where  the 
fires  burned.  Three  rows  of  palisades  encircled  the 
town,  with  only  one  entrance ;  above  the  gate,  and 
over  the  whole  length  of  the  outer  ring  of  defence 
there  was  a  gallery,  approached  by  flights  of  steps, 
and  plentifully  provided  with  stones  and  other 
missiles  to  resist  attack.  This  was  a  place  of 
considerable  importance  even  in  those  remote  days, 
as  the  capital  of  a  great  extent  of  country,  and  as 
having  eight  or  ten  villages  subject  to  its  sway. 

The  inhabitants  spoke  the  language  of  the  great 
Huron  nation,  and  were  more  advanced  in  civilisa- 
tion than  any  of  their  neighbours :  unlike  other 
tribes,  they  cultivated  the  ground,  and  remained 
stationary.  The  French  were  well  received  by  the 
people  of  Hochelaga ;  they  made  presents,  the  Indians 
gave  fetes;  their  fire-arms,  trumpets,  and  other 
warlike  equipments  filled  the  minds  of  their  simple 
hosts  with  wonder  and  admiration,  and  their  beards 
and  clothing  excited  a  curiosity  which  the  difficulties 
of  an  unknown  language  prevented  from  being 
satisfied.  So  great  was  the  veneration  for  the  white 
men  that  the  Chief  of  the  town,  and  many  of  the 


THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA.  57 

maimed,  sick  and  infirm  came  to  Jacques  Cartier, 
intreating  him,  by  expressive  signs,  to  cure  their  ills. 
The  pious  Frenchman  disclaimed  any  supernatural 
power,  but  he  read  aloud  part  of  the  Gospel  of 
St.  John,  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  over  the 
sufferers,  and  presented  them  with  chaplets  and 
other  holy  symbols;  he  then  prayed  earnestly 
that  the  poor  savages  might  be  freed  from  the  night 
of  ignorance  and  infidelity.  The  Indians  regarded 
these  acts  and  words  with  deep  gratitude  and 
respectful  admiration. 

Three  miles  from  Hochelaga,  there  was  a  lofty 
hill,  well  tilled  and  very  fertile  ;6  thither  Jacques 
Cartier  bent  his  way  after  having  examined  the 
town.  From  the  summit  he  saw  the  river  and 
the  country  for  thirty  leagues  around,  a  scene  of 
singular  beauty.  To  this  hill  he  gave  the  name 

6  "  In  mezzo  di  quelle  campagne,  e  posta  la  terra  d'Hochelaga 
appresso  e  congiunta  con  una  montagna  coltivata  tutta  attorno  e 
molto  fertile,  sopra  la  qual  si  vede  molto  lontano.  Noi  la  chiamaramo 

il  Monte  Regal Parecchi  uomini  e  donne  ci  vennero 

a  condur  e  menar  sopra  la  montagna,  qui  dinanzi  detta,  la  qual 
chiamammo  Monte  Regal,  distante  da  detto  luogo  poco  manco  d'un 
miglio,  sopra  la  quale  essendo  noi,  vedemmo  e  avemmo  notitia  di  piu  di 
trenta  leghe  attorno  di  quella,  e  verso  la  parte  di  tramontana  si  vede 
una  continuazione  di  montagne,  li  quali  corrono  avante  e  ponente,  e 
altra  tante  verso  il  mezzo  giorno,  fra  le  quali  montagna  e  la  terra, 
piu  bella  che  sia  possibile  a  veder." — J.  Cartier,  inRamusio,  torn,  iii., 
pp.  447,  448. 

"  Cartier  donna  le  nom  de  Mont  Royal  a  la  montagne  au  pied  de 
laquelle  etoit  la  bourgade  de  Hochelaga.  II  decouvrit  de  la  une 
grande  etendue  de  pays  dont  la  vue  le  charma,  et  avec  raison,  car  il 
en  est  peu  au  monde  de  plus  beau  et  de  meilleur." — Charlevoix, 
torn,  i.,  p.  20. 


58  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

of  Mont  Royal;  since  extended  to  the  large  and 
fertile  island  on  which  it  stands  and  to  the  city 
below.  Time  has  now  swept  away  every  trace  of 
Hochelaga :  on  its  site  the  modern  capital  of  Canada 
has  arisen;  50,000  people  of  European  race,  and 
stately  buildings  of  carved  stone,  replace  the  simple 
Indians  and  the  huts  of  the  ancient  town. 

Jacques  Cartier  having  made  his  observations 
returned  to  the  boats  attended  by  a  great  concourse, 
when  any  of  his  men  appeared  fatigued  with  their 
journey  the  kind  Indians  carried  them  on  their 
-shoulders.  This  short  stay  of  the  French  seemed 
to  sadden  and  displease  these  hospitable  people,  and 
on  the  departure  of  the  boats  they  followed  their 
course  for  some  distance  along  the  banks  of  the 
river.  On  the  4th  of  October  Jacques  Cartier 
reached  the  shallows  where  the  pinnace  had  been 
left,  he  resumed  his  course  the  following  day,  and 
arrived  at  St.  Croix  on  the  llth  of  the  same 
month. 

The  men  who  had  remained  at  St.  Croix  had 
busied  themselves  during  their  leader's  absence,  in 
strengthening  their  position  so  as  to  secure  it  against 
surprise,  a  wise  precaution  under  any  circumstances 
among  a  savage  people,  but,  especially  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  a  populous  town,  the  residence  of  a 
chief  whose  friendship  they  could  not  but  distrust, 
in  spite  of  his  apparent  hospitality. 

The  day  after  Jacques  Cartier's  arrival,  Donnacona 
came  to  bid  him  welcome,  and  intreated  him  to 
visit  Stadacona.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  59 

proceeded  with  his  volunteers  and  fifty  sailors  to 
the  village,  about  three  miles  from  where  the  ships 
lay.     As   they  journeyed  on,  they  observed  that 
the  houses  were  well  provided  and  stored  for  the 
coming  winter,  and  the  country  tilled  in  a  manner 
showing  that  the  inhabitants  were  not  ignorant  of 
agriculture ;  thus  they  formed,  on  the  whole,  a  favour- 
able impression  of  the  docility  and  intelligence  of 
the  Jndians  during  this  expedition. 
^fyheu  the  awful  and  unexpected  severity  of  the 
/winter  set  in,  the  French  were  unprovided  with 
vuecessary  clothing  and  proper  provisions ;  the  scurvy 
attacked  them,  and  by  the  month  of  March  twenty- 
five  were  dead,  and  nearly  all  were  infected;  the 
remainder  would  probably  have  also  perished,  but 
that  when  Jacques  Cartier  was  himself  attacked 
with  the  dreadful  disease,  the  Indians  revealed  toV 
him  the  secret  of  its  cure :  this  was  the  decoction  ( 
of  the  leaf  and  bark  of  a  certain  tree,  which  proved    \ 
so  excellent  a  remedy,  that  in  a  few  days  all  were^J 
restored  to  health.7 

Jacques  Cartier,  on  the  21st  of  April,  was  first  led 
to  suspect  the  friendship  of  the  natives  from  seeing 
a  number  of  strong  and  active  young  men  make  their 
appearance  in  the  neighbouring  town;  these  were 
probably  the  warriors  of  the  tribe,  who  had  just  then 
returned  from  the  hunting  grounds  where  they  had 

7  "  This  tree  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  Spruce  Fir,  Pinus  Oana- 
densis.  It  is  called  '  Ameda'  by  the  natives.  Spruce-beer  is  known 
to  be  a  powerful  anti-scorbutic." — Champlain,  Part  i.,  p.  124. 

Charlevoix  calls  the  tree,  Epinette  Blanche. 


60  THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

passed  the  winter,  but  there  is  now  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  their  presence  indicated  any  hostility. 
However  Jacques  Cartier,  fearing  treachery,  deter- 
mined to  anticipate  it.  He  had  already  arranged  to 
depart  for  France.  On  the  3rd  of  May  he  seized  the 
chief,  the  interpreters,  and  two  other  Indians  to  pre- 
sent them  to  Francis  I. :  as  some  amends  for  this 
cruel  and  flagrant  violation  of  hospitality,  he  treated 
his  prisoners  with  great  kindness ;  they  soon  'became 
satisfied  with  their  fate.  On  the  6th  of  May  he  made 
sail  for  Europe,  and  after  having  encountered  some 
difficulties  and  delays,  arrived  safely  at  St.  Malo  the 
8th  of  July,  1536. 

The  result  of  Jacques  Cartier's  expedition  was  not 
encouraging  to  the  spirit  of  enterprise  in  France;  no 
mines  had  been  discovered,8  no  rare  and  valuable 

8  Any  information  given  by  the  natives  as  to  the  existence  of 
mines  was  vague  and  unsatisfactory.  *'  Poscia  ci  mostrarono  con 
segni,  che  passate  dette  tre  cadute  si  poteva  navigar  per  detto  fiume  il 
spazio  di  tre  June  : — noi  pensammo  che  quello  sia  il  fiume  che  passa 
per  il  passe  di  Saguenay,  e  senza  che  li  facessimo  dimanda  presero  la 
catena  del  suhiotto  del  capitano  che  era  d'argento,  e  il  manico  del 
pugnale  di  uno  de  nostre  compagni  marinari,  qual  era  d'  ottone 
giallo  quanto  1*  oro,  e  ci  mostrarono  che  quello  veniva  di  sopra  di 
detto  fiume.  .  .  II  capitan  mostro  loro  del  rame  rosso,  qual  chiamano 
Caignetadze  dimostrandoli  con  segni  voltandosi  verso  detto  paese  li 
dimandava  se  veniva  da  quelle  parti,  e  eglino  cominciarono  a  crollar  il 
capo,  volendo  dir  no,  ma  ben  ne  significarono  che  veniva  da  Saguenay. 

"  Piii  ci  hanno  detto  e  fatto  intendere,  che  in  quel  paese  di 
Saguenay  sono  genti  vestite  di  drappi  come  noi,  .  .  .  e  che  hanno 
gran  quantita  d'  oro  e  rame  rosso  .  .  .  e  che  gli  uomini  e  donne  di 
quell  a  terra  sono  vestite  di  pelli  come  loro,  noi  li  dimandammo  se  ci  e 
oro  e  rame  rosso,  ci  risposero  di  si.  lo  penso  che  questo  luogo  sia 
verso  la  Florida  per  quanto  ho  potuto  intendere  dalli  loro  segni  e 
indicij." — J.  Cartier,  in  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  pp.  448 — 450. 


THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA.  61 

productions  found.9  The  miserable  state  to  which 
the  adventurers  had  been  reduced  by  the  rigorous 
climate  and  loathsome  diseases,  the  privations  they 
had  endured,  the  poverty  of  their  condition,  were  suf- 
ficient to  cool  the  ardour  of  those  who  might  other- 
wise have  wished  to  follow  up  their  discoveries. 
But  happily  for  the  cause  of  civilisation  some  of 
those  powerful  in  France  judged  more  favourably 
of  Jacques  Cartier's  reports,  and  were  not  to  be 
disheartened  by  the  unsuccessful  issue  of  one  under- 
taking; the  dominion  over  such  a  vast  extent  of 
country,  with  fertile  soil  and  healthy  climate,  inha- 
bited by  a  docile  and  hospitable  people,  was  too 
great  an  object  to  be  lightly  abandoned.  The 
presence  of  Donnacona,  the  Indian  Chief,  tended 
to  keep  alive  an  interest  in  the  land  whence  he  had 
come;  as  soon  as  he  could  render  himself  intelligible 

9  The  only  valuable  the  natives  seemed  to  have  in  their  possession 
was  a  substance  called  esurgny,  white  as  snow,  of  which  they  made 
beads  and  wore  them  about  their  necks.  This  they  looked  upon  as  the 
most  precious  gift  they  could  bestow  on  the  white  men.  The  mode 
in  which  it  was  prepared  is  said  by  C  artier  to  be  the  following  : — 
When  any  one  was  adjudged  to  death  for  a  crime,  or  when  their 
enemies  are  taken  in  war,  having  first  slain  the  person,  they  make 
long  gashes  over  the  whole  of  the  body,  and  sink  it  to  the  bottom  of 
the  river  in  a  certain  place,  where  the  esurgny  abounds.  After  re- 
maining ten  or  twelve  hours,  the  body  is  drawn  up  and  the  esurgny 
or  cormbotz  is  found  in  the  gashes.  These  necklaces  of  beads  the 
French  found  had  the  power  to  stop  bleeding  at  the  nose.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  in  the  above  account  the  French  misunderstood  the  natives 
or  were  imposed  upon  by  them  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
"  valuable  substance  "  described  by  C  artier  was  the  Indian 
Wampum. 


62  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

in  the  French  language,  he  confirmed  all  that  had 
been  said  of  the  salubrity,  beauty,  and  richness  of 
his  native  country.  The  pious  Jacques  Cartier  most 
of  all  strove  to  impress  upon  the  king  the  glory  and 
merit  of  extending  the  blessed  knowledge  of  a 
Saviour  to  the  dark  and  hopeless  heathens  of  the 
west;  a  deed  well  worthy  of  the  prince  who  bore  the 
title  of  Most  Christian  King,  and  Eldest  Son  of  the 
Church. 

Jean  Francois  de  la  Roque,  Lord  of  Roberval,  a 
gentleman  of  Picardy,  was  the  most  earnest  and 
energetic  of  those  who  desired  to  colonise  the  lands 
discovered  by  Jacques  Cartier ;  he  bore  a  high  repu- 
tation in  his  own  province,  and  was  favoured  by  the 
friendship  of  the  king.  With  these  advantages  he 
found  little  difficulty  in  obtaining  a  commission  to 
command  an  expedition  to  North  America ;  the  title 
and  authority  of  lieutenant-general  and  viceroy  was 
conferred  upon  him;  his  rule  to  extend  over  Canada, 
Hochelaga,  Saguenay,  Newfoundland,  Belle  Isle,  Car- 
pon,  Labrador,  La  Grand  Baye,  and  Baccalaos,  with 
the  delegated  rights  and  powers  of  the  crown.  This 
patent  was  dated  15th  of  January,  1540.  Jacques 
Cartier  was  named  second  in  command.  The  orders 
to  the  leaders  of  the  expedition  enjoined  them  to  dis- 
cover more  than  had  been  hitherto  accomplished, 
and  if  possible  to  reach  the  country  of  Saguenay, 
where  from  some  reports  of  the  Indians,  they  still 
hoped  to  find  mines  of  gold  and  silver.  The  port  of 
St.  Malo  was  again  chosen  for  the  fitting  out  of  the 


THE    CONQUEST    OF   CANADA.  63 

expedition:  the  king  furnished  a  sum  of  money  to 
defray  the  expenses.1 

Jacques  Cartier  exerted  himself  vigorously  in 
preparing  the  little  fleet  for  the  voyage,  and  awaited 
the  arrival  of  his  Chief  with  the  necessary  arms, 
stores,  and  ammunition ;  Roberval  was  meanwhile 
engaged  at  Honfleur  in  fitting  out  two  other  vessels 
at  his  own  cost,  and  being  urged  to  hasten  by  the 
king,  he  gave  his  lieutenant  orders  to  start  at  once, 
with  full  authority  to  act  as  if  he  himself  were 
present.  He  also  promised  to  follow  from  Honfleur 
with  all  the  required  supplies.  Jacques  Cartier 
sailed  on  the  23rd  of  May,  1541,  having  provisioned 
his  fleet  for  two  years.  Storms  and  adverse  winds 
dispersed  the  ships  for  some  time,  but  in  about  a 
month  they  all  met  again  on  the  coast  of  New- 
foundland, where  they  hoped  Roberval  would  join 
them.  They  awaited  his  coming  for  some  weeks, 
but  at  length  proceeded  without  him  to  the  St. 
Lawrence ;  on  the  23rd  of  August  they  reached  their 
old  station  near  the  magnificent  headland  of  Quebec. 

Donnacona's  successor  as  Chief  of  the  Indians  at 
Stadacona,  came  in  state  to  welcome  the  French  on 
their  return,  and  to  inquire  after  his  absent  country- 
men. They  told  him  of  the  Chief's  death,  but  con- 
cealed the  fate  of  the  other  Indians,  stating  that  they 
were  enjoying  great  honour  and  happiness  in  France 
and  would  not  return  to  their  own  country.  The 
savages  displayed  no  symptoms  of  anger,  surprise 

1  See  Appendix,  No.  XIV. 


64  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

or  distrust  at  this  news,  their  countenances  exhibited 
the  same  impassive  calm,  their  manners  the  same 
quiet  dignity  as  ever,  but  from  that  hour  their  hearts 
were  changed,  hatred  and  hostility  took  the  place  of 
admiration  and  respect,  and  a  sad  foreboding  of 
their  approaching  destruction  darkened  their  simple 
minds.  Henceforth  the  French  were  hindered  and 
molested  by  the  inhabitants  of  Stadacona  to  such 
an  extent,  that  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  seek 
another  settlement  for  the  winter.  Jacques  Cartier 
chose  his  new  position  at  the  mouth  of  a  small  river 
three  leagues  higher  on  the  St.  Lawrence  ;2  here  he 
laid  up  some  of  his  vessels,  under  the  protection  of 
two  forts,  one  on  a  level  with  the  water,  the  other 
on  the  summit  of  an  overhanging  cliff;  these  strong- 
holds communicated  with  each  other  by  steps  cut  in 
the  solid  rock;  he  gave  the  name  of  Charlesbourg 
Royal  to  his  new  station.  The  two  remaining 

2  The  precise  spot  on  which  the  upper  fort  of  Jacques  Cartier  was 
huilt,  afterwards  enlarged  by  Roberval,  has  been  fixed  by  an  inge- 
nious gentleman  at  Quebec,  at  the  top  of  Cape  Rouge  Height,  a  short 
distance  from  the  handsome  villa  of  Mr.  Atkinson.  A  few  months 
ago  Mr.  Atkinson's  workmen  in  levelling  the  lawn  in  front  of  the 
house,  and  close  to  the  point  of  Cape  Rouge  Height,  found  beneath 
the  surface  some  loose  stones  which  had  apparently  been  the  founda- 
tions of  some  building  or  fortification.  Among  these  stones  were 
found  several  iron  balls  of  different  sizes,  adapted  to  the  calibre  of 
the  ship  guns  used  at  the  period  of  Jacques  Cartier's  and  Roberval's 
visit.  Upon  the  whole,  the  evidence  of  the  presence  of  the  French 
at  Cape  Rouge  may  be  considered  as  conclusive.  Nor  is  there 
any  good  reason  to  doubt  that  Roberval  took  up  his  quarters 
in  the  part  which  Jacques  Cartier  had  left.  —  Picture  of  Quebec, 
pp.  62—469. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  65 

vessels  of  the  fleet  he  sent  back  to  France,  with 
letters  to  the  king,  stating  that  Roberval  had  not 
yet  arrived. 

Under  the  impression  that  the  country  of  the 
Saguenay — the  land  of  fabled  wealth,  could  be 
reached  by  pursuing  the  line  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
Jacques  Cartier  set  forth  to  explore  the  rapids  above 
Hochelaga  on  the  7th  of  September.  The  season  1541 
being  so  far  advanced  he  only  undertook  this  expe- 
dition with  a  view  to  being  better  acquainted  with 
the  route,  and  to  being  provided  with  all  necessary 
preparations  for  a  more  extensive  exploration  in  the 
spring.  In  passing  up  the  great  river  he  renewed 
acquaintance  with  the  friendly  and  hospitable  chief 
of  Hochelai,  and  there  left  two  boys  under  charge  of 
the  Indians  to  learn  the  language.  On  the  llth  he 
reached  the  sault  or  rapids  above  Hochelaga,  where 
the  progress  of  the  boats  was  arrested  by  the  force 
of  the  stream,  he  then  landed  and  made  his  way  to 
the  second  rapid.  The  natives  gave  him  to  under- 
stand that  above  the  next  sault  there  lay  a  great 
lake;  Cartier  having  obtained  this  information, 
returned  to  where  he  had  left  the  boats  ;  about  400 
Indians  had  assembled  and  met  him  with  demon- 
strations of  friendship,  he  received  their  good  offices 
and  made  them  presents  in  return,  but  still  regarded 
them  with  distrust  on  account  of  their  unusual 
numbers.  Having  gained  as  much  information  as 
he  could,  he  set  out  on  his  return  to  Charlesbourg 
Royal — his  winter-quarters.  The  chief  was  absent 
when  Jacques  Cartier  stopped  at  Hochelai  on 

VOL.  I.  F 


66  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

descending  the  river  ;  he  had  gone  to  Stadacona  to 
hold  counsel  with  the  natives  of  that  district  for  the 
destruction  of  the  white  men.  On  arriving  at 
Charlesbourg  Royal,  Jacques  Cartier  found  con- 
firmation of  his  suspicions  against  the  Indians  ;  they 
now  avoided  the  French  and  never  approached  the 
ships  with  their  usual  offerings  of  fish  and  other 
provisions  :  a  great  number  of  men  had  also  assem- 
bled at  Stadacona.  He  accordingly  made  every 
possible  preparation  for  defence  in  the  forts,  and 
took  due  precautions  against  a  surprise.  There  are 
no  records  extant  of  the  events  of  this  winter  in 
Canada,  but  it  is  probable  that  no  serious  encounter 
took  place  with  the  natives;  the  French,  however, 
must  have  suffered  severely  from  the  confinement 
rendered  necessary  by  their  perilous  position,  as  well 
as  from  want  of  the  provisions  and  supplies  which 
the  bitter  climate  made  requisite. 

Roberval,  though  high-minded  and  enterprising, 
failed  in  his  engagements  with  Jacques  Cartier :  he 
did  not  follow  his  adventurous  lieutenant  with  the 
necessary  and  promised  supplies  till  the  spring  of 
1542  the  succeeding  year.  On  the  16th  of  April,  1542,  he 
at  length  sailed  from  Rochelle  with  three  large  ves- 
sels, equipped  principally  at  the  royal  cost.  Two 
hundred  persons  accompanied  him,  some  of  them 
being  gentlemen  of  condition,  others  men  and  women 
purposing  to  become  settlers  in  the  new  world.  Jean 
Alphonse,  an  experienced  navigator  of  Saintonge,  by 
birth  a  Portuguese,  was  pilot  of  the  expedition. 
After  a  very  tedious  voyage,  they  entered  the  road 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA.  67 

of  St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  on  the  8th  of  June, 
where  they  found  no  fewer  than  seventeen  vessels 
engaged  in  the  inexhaustible  fisheries  of  those 
waters. 

While  Roberval  indulged  in  a  brief  repose  at  this 
place,  the  unwelcome  appearance  of  Jacques  Cartier 
filled  him  with  disappointment  and  surprise.  The 
lieutenant  gave  the  hostility  of  the  savages  and  the 
weakness  of  his  force  as  reasons  for  having  aban- 
doned the  settlement  where  he  had  passed  the 
winter.  He  still,  however,  spoke  favourably  of  the 
richness  and  fertility  of  the  country,  and  gladdened 
the  eyes  of  the  adventurers  by  the  sight  of  a  sub- 
stance that  resembled  gold  ore,  and  crystals  that 
they  fancied  were  diamonds,  found  on  the  bold  head- 
land of  Quebec.  But,  despite  these  flattering  reports 
and  promising  specimens,  Jacques  Cartier  and  his 
followers  could  not  be  induced  by  entreaties  or  per- 
suasions to  return.  The  hardships  and  dangers  of 
the  last  terrible  winter  were  too  fresh  in  memory, 
and  too  keenly  felt,  to  be  again  braved.  They 
deemed  their  portion  of  the  contract  already  com- 
plete, and  the  love  of  their  native  land  overcame 
the  spirit  of  adventure,  which  had  been  weakened 
if  not  quenched,  by  recent  disappointment  and 
suffering.  To  avoid  the  chance  of  an  open  rupture 
with  Roberval,  the  lieutenant  silently  weighed 
anchor  during  the  night,  and  made  all  sail  for  France. 
This  inglorious  withdrawal  from  the  enterprise  para- 
lysed Roberval's  power,  and  deferred  the  permanent 
settlement  of  Canada  for  generations  then  unborn. 

F2 


68  THE   CONQUEST    OF   CANADA. 

Jacques  Cartier  died  soon  after  his  return  to  Europe.3 
Having  sacrificed  his  fortune  in  the  pursuit  of  dis- 
covery, his  heirs  were  granted  an  exclusive  privilege 
of  trade  to  Canada  for  twelve  years,  in  consideration 
of  his  sacrifices  for  the  public  good ;  but  this  gift 
was  revoked  four  months  after  it  was  bestowed. 

Roberval  determined  to  proceed  on  his  expedition, 
although  deprived  of  the  powerful  assistance  and  , 
valuable  experience  of  his  lieutenant.  He  sailed 
from  Newfoundland  for  Canada,  and  reached  Cap 
Rouge,  the  place  where  Jacques  Cartier  had  win- 
1542  tered,  before  the  end  of  June,  1542.  He  immediately 
fortified  himself  there,  as  the  situation  best  adapted 
for  defence  against  hostility,  and  for  commanding 
the  navigation  of  the  Great  River.  Very  little  is 
known  of  Roberval's  proceedings  during  the  remain- 
der of  that  year  and  the  following  winter.  The 
natives  do  not  appear  to  have  molested  the  new 
settlers ;  but  no  progress  whatever  was  made  towards 
a  permanent  establishment.  During  the  intense  cold 
the  scurvy  caused  fearful  mischief  among  the  French; 
no  fewer  than  fifty  perished  from  that  dreadful  malady 
during  the  winter.  Demoralised  by  misery  and  idle- 
ness, the  little  colony  became  turbulent  and  lawless ; 

3  Jacques  Cartier  was  born  at  St.  Malo,  about  1500.  The  day  of 
his  birth  cannot  be  discovered,  nor  the  time  and  place  of  his  death. 
Most  probably  he  finished  his  useful  life  at  St.  Malo  ;  for  we  find, 
under  the  date  of  the  29th  November,  1549,  that  the  celebrated 
navigator  with  his  wife,  Catherine  des  Granges,  founded  an  obit  in 
the  Cathedral  of  St.  Malo,  assigning  the  sum  of  four  francs  for  that 
purpose.  The  mortuary  registers  of  St.  Malo  make  no  mention  of 
his  death,  nor  is  there  any  tradition  on  the  subject. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  69 

and  Roberval  was  obliged  to  resort  to  extreme  se- 
verity of  punishment  before  quiet  and  discipline 
were  re-established. 

Towards  the  close  of  April  the  ice  broke  up,  and 
released  the  French  from  their  weary  and  painful 
captivity ;  on  the  5th  of  June,  Roberval  set  forth  1543 
from  Cap  Rouge  to  explore  the  province  of  Sa- 
guenay,  leaving  thirty  men  and  an  officer  to  protect 
their  winter  quarters  :  this  expedition  produced  no 
results,  and  was  attended  with  the  loss  of  one  of 
the  boats  and  eight  men.  In  the  mean  time  the 
pilot,  Jean  Alphonse,  was  dispatched  to  examine  the 
coasts  north  of  Newfoundland,  in  hopes  of  discover- 
ing a  passage  to  the  East  Indies ;  he  reached  the 
fifty-second  degree  of  latitude  and  then  abandoned 
the  enterprise ;  on  returning  to  Europe  he  published 
a  narrative  of  Roberval's  expedition,  and  his  own 
voyage,  with  a  tolerably  accurate  description  of  the 
River  St.  Lawrence,  and  its  navigation  upwards  from 
the  Gulf.  Roberval  reached  France  in  1543;  the  war 
between  Francis  I.  and  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  for 
some  years  occupied  his  ardent  spirit ;  and  supplied 
him  with  new  occasions  for  distinction,  till  the 
death  of  the  king,  his  patron  and  friend,  in  1547. 
In  the  year  1549  he  collected  some  adventurous  1549 
men,  and  accompanied  by  his  brave  brother,  Achille, 
sailed  once  again  for  Canada ;  but  none  of  this 
gallant  band  were  ever  heard  of  more.  Thus  for 
many  a  year  were  swallowed  up  in  the  stormy 
Atlantic,  all  the  bright  hopes  of  founding  a  new 


70  THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA. 

nation  in  America:4  since  these  daring  men  had 
failed,  none  others  might  expect  to  be  successful. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  attention  was  directed 
towards  Brazil ;  splendid  accounts  of  its  wealth  and 
fertility  were  brought  home  by  some  French  navi- 
gators who  had  visited  that  distant  land.  The 
admiral  Gaspard  de  Coligni  was  the  first  to  press 
upon  the  king  the  importance  of  obtaining  a  footing 
in  South  America,  and  dividing  the  magnificent  prize 
with  the  Portuguese  monarch.  This  celebrated  man 
was  convinced  that  an  extensive  system  of  colonisa- 
tion was  necessary  for  the  glory  and  tranquillity  of 
France.  He  purposed  that  the  settlement  in  the  New 
World  should  be  founded  exclusively  by  persons 

4  The  name  of  America  was  first  given  to  the  New  World  in  1507. 
"  LT opinion  anciennement  emise  et  encore  tres  repandue  que  Vespuce, 
dans  1'exercice  de  son  emploi  dePiloto  mayor,  et  charge  de  corriger  les 
cartes  hydrographiques  de  1508  a  1512,  ait  profite  de  sa  position 
pour  appeler  de  son  nom  le  Nouveau  Monde,  n'a  aucun  fondement. 
La  denomination  d'Amerique  a  ete  proposee  loin  de  Seville,  en  Lor- 
raine, en  1507,  une  annee  avant  la  creation  de  1'office  d'un  Piloto 
mayor  de  Indias.  Les  Mappe  Mondes  qui  portent  le  nom  d'Amerique 
n'ont  paru  que  8  ou  10  ans  apres  la  mort  de  Vespuce,  et  dans  des 
pays  sur  lequels  ni  lui  ni  ses  parents  n'exergaient  aucune  influence. 
II  est  probable  que  Vespuce  n'a  jamais  su  quelle  dangereuse  gloire 
on  lui  pre'paroit  a  Saint  Die,  dans  un  petit  endroit,  situe  au  pied  des 
Vosges,  et  dont  vraisembablement  le  nom  meme  lui  etoit  inconnu. 
Jusqu'  k  Tepoque  de  sa  mort,  le  mot  Amerique,  employe  comme 
denomination  d'un  continent  ne  s'est  trouve  imprime  que  dans  deux 
seuls  ouvrages,  dans  la  Cosrnographia3  Introductio  de  Martin  Waldsee- 
miiller,  et  dans  le  Globus  Mundi  (Argentor,  1509).  On  n'a  jusqu'ici 
aucun  rapport  direct  de  Waldseemiiller  imprimateur  de  Saint  Die, 
avec  le  navigateur  Florentin."  —  Humboldt's  Geogr.  du  Nouveau 
Continent,  vol.  v.,  p.  206. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  71 

holding  that  reformed  faith  to  which  he  was  so 
deeply  attached,  and  thus  would  be  provided  a  refuge 
for  those  driven  from  France  by  religious  proscrip- 
tion and  persecution.  It  is  believed  that  Coligni's 
magnificent  scheme  comprehended  the  possession  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi,  gradually  colo- 
nising the  banks  of  these  great  rivers  into  the  depths 
of  the  continent,  till  the  whole  of  North  America,  from 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
should  be  hemmed  in  by  this  gigantic  line  of  French 
outposts.  However,  the  first  proposition  was  to 
establish  a  colony  on  the  coast  of  Brazil ;  the  king 
approved  the  project,  and  Durand  de  Villegagnon,  1555 
vice-admiral  of  Brittany,  was  selected  to  command, 
in  1555 ;  the  expedition,  however,  entirely  failed 
owing  to  religious  differences. 

Under  the  reigns  of  Francis  II.  and  Charles  IX., 
while  France  was  convulsed  with  civil  war,  America 
seemed  altogether  forgotten.  But  Coligni  availed 
himself  of  a  brief  interval  of  calm  to  turn  attention 
once  more  to  the  Western  World.  He  this  time 
bethought  himself  of  that  country  to  which  Ponce 
de  Leon  had  given  the  name  of  Florida,  from 
the  exuberant  productions  of  the  soil,  and  the 
beauty  of  the  scenery  and  climate.  The  River 
Mississippi 5  had  been  discovered  by  Ferdinand  de 
Soto,6  about  the  time  of  Jacques  Carrier's  last 

5  Nemcesi-Sipu,  Fish  River,  Mcesisip  by  corruption.      This  river 
is  called  Cucagna  by  Garcilasso. 

6  For  the  romantic  details  of  Ferdinand  de  Soto's  perilous  enter- 
prise,  see  Vega  Garcilasso  de  Florida  del  Ynca,   b.  i.,  ch.  iii.  iv., 


72  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

voyage,  1543  ;  consequently  the  Spaniards  had  this 
additional  claim  upon  the  territory,  which,  they 
affirmed,  they  had  visited  in  1512,  twelve  years 
before  the  date  of  Verazzano's  voyage  in  1524.  How- 
ever, the  claims  and  rights  of  the  different  European 
nations  upon  the  American  continent,  were  not  then 
of  sufficient  strength  to  prevent  each  state  from  pur- 
suing its  own  views  of  occupation.  Coligni  obtained 
permission  from  Charles  IX.  to  attempt  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  colony  in  Florida,7  about  the  year 
1562.  The  king  was  the  more  readily  induced  to 
approve  of  this  enterprise,  as  he  hoped  that  it  would 
occupy  the  turbulent  spirits  of  the  Huguenots, 
many  of  them  his  bitter  enemies,  and  elements  of 
discord  in  his  dominions.  On  the  18th  of  February, 
1562  1562,  Jean  de  Ribaut,  a  zealous  Protestant,  sailed 
from  Dieppe,  with  two  vessels  and  a  picked  crew  ; 
many  volunteers,  including  some  gentlemen  of  condi- 
tion, followed  his  fortunes.  He  landed  on  the  coast  of 
Florida,  near  St.  Mary's  river,  where  he  established 

Herrera,  Dec.  VI.,  b.  vii.,  ch,  ix.  ;  Purchas,  4,  1532  ;  "  Purchas,  his 
Pilgrimage, "  otherwise  called  "  Hackluytus  Posthumus;"  a  volu- 
minous compilation  by  a  chaplain  of  Archbishop  Abbot's,  designed  to 
comprise  whatever  had  been  related  concerning  the  religion  of  all 
nations,  from  the  earliest  times. — Miss  Aikin's  Charles  I.,  voL  L, 
p.  39. 

7  "  La  colonie  Franchise  etablie  sous  Charles  IX.  comprenoit  la 
partie  meridionnale  de  la  Caroline  Angloise,  la  Nouvelle  Georgie, 
d'aujourd'hui  (1740)  San  Matteo,  appelle  par  Laudonniere  Caroline 
en  1'honneur  du  roi  Charles,  St.  Augustin,  et  tout  cequelesEspagnols 
ont  sur  cette  cote  jusqu'au  Cap  Frangois,  n'a  jamais  etc  appellee 
autrement  que  la  Floride  Frangaise,  ou  la  Nouvelle  France,  on  la 
France  Occidentale." — Charlevoix,  torn,  vi.,  p.  383. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  73 

a  settlement  and  built  a  fort.  Two  years  afterwards, 
Coligni  sent  out  a  reinforcement  under  the  command 
of  Rene  de  Laudonniere ;  this  was  the  only  portion 
of  the  admiral's  great  scheme  ever  carried  into 
effect ;  when  he  fell  in  the  awful  massacre  of  Saint 
Bartholomew,  his  magnificent  project  was  aban- 
doned. After  six  years  of  fierce  struggle  with  the  1558 
Spaniards  the  survivors  of  this  little  colony  returned 
to  France.8 

8  See  Appendix,  Nos.  XV.,  XVI. 


CHAPTER    III. 

LITTLE  or  no  effort  was  made  to  colonise  any 
part  of  Canada  for  nearly  fifty  years  after  the  loss 
of  Roberval,  but  the  Huguenots  of  France  did  not 
forget  that  hope  of  a  refuge  from  religious  persecu- 
tion which  their  great  leader  Coligni  had  excited  in 
their  breasts.  Several  of  the  leaders  of  subsequent 
expeditions  of  trade  and  discovery  to  Canada 
and  Acadia  were  Calvinists,  until  1627,  when 
Champlain,  zealous  for  the  Romish  faith,  procured 
a  decree  forbidding  the  free  exercise  of  the  reformed 
religion  in  French  America. 

Although  the  French  seemed  to  have  renounced 
all  plan  of  settlement  in  America  by  the  evacuation 
of  Florida,  the  fishermen  of  Normandy  and  Brittany 
still  plied  their  calling  on  the  Great  Bank  and  along 
the  stormy  shores  of  Newfoundland,  and  up  the 
Gulf  and  river  of  St.  Lawrence.  By  degrees  they 
began  to  trade  with  the  natives,  and  soon  the 
greater  gains  and  easier  life  of  this  new  pursuit 
transformed  many  of  these  hardy  sailors  into 
merchants. 

When,  after  fifty  years  of  civil  strife,  the  strong 
and  wise  sway  of  Henry  IV.  restored  rest  to  troubled 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  75 

France,  the  spirit  of  discovery  again  arose.     The 
Marquis  de  la  Roche,  a  Breton  gentleman,  obtained 
from  the  king,  in  1598,  a  patent  granting  the  same    1598 
powers  that  Roberval  had  possessed.     He  speedily 
armed  a  vessel,  and  sailed  for  Nova  Scotia  in  the 
same  year,  accompanied  by  a  skilful  Norman  pilot 
named  Chedotel.     He  first  reached   Sable  Island, 
where  he  left  forty  miserable  wretches,   convicts 
drawn  from  the  prisons  of  France,  till  he  might 
discover  some  favourable  situation  for  the  intended 
settlement,  and  make  a  survey  of  the  neighbouring 
coasts.     Whether  La  Roche  ever  reached  the  con- 
tinent of  America  remains  unknown,  but  he  certainly 
returned  to  France,  leaving  the  unhappy  prisoners 
upon  Sable  Island,  to  a  fate  more  dreadful  than  even 
the  dungeons  or  gallies  of  France  could  threaten. 
After  seven  years  of  dire  suffering  twelve  of  these 
unfortunates  were  found  alive,  an  expedition  having 
been  tardily  sent  to  seek  them  by  the  king.     When 
they  arrived  in  France  they  became  objects  of  great 
curiosity;    in    consideration    of   such    unheard-of 
suffering  their  former  crimes  were  pardoned,  a  sum 
of  money  was  given  to  each,  and  the  valuable  furs 
collected    during    their  dreary  imprisonment,   but 
fraudulently  seized  by  the  captain  of  the  ship  in 
which  they  were  brought  home,  were   allowed  to 
their  use.     In  the  meantime  the  Marquis   de  la 
Roche,  who  had   so  cruelly  abandoned  these  men 
to  their  fate,  harassed  by  law-suits,  overwhelmed 
with  vexations,  and  ruined  in  fortune  by  the  failure 
of  his  expedition,  died  miserably  of  a  broken  heart. 


76  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

The  misfortunes  and  ruin  of  the  Marquis  de  la 
Roche  did  not  stifle  the  spirit  of  commercial  enter- 
prise which  the  success  of  the  fur  trade  had  excited. 
Private  adventurers,  unprotected  by  any  especial 
privilege,  began  to  barter  for  the  rich  peltries  of 

1600  the  Canadian  hunters.  A  wealthy  merchant  of 
St.  Malo,  named  Pontgrave,  was  the  boldest  and  most 
successful  of  these  traders ;  he  made  several  voyages 
to  Tadoussac,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Saguenay,  bringing 
back  each  time  a  rich  !  cargo  of  rare  and  valuable 
furs.  He  saw  that  this  commerce  would  open 
to  him  a  field  of  vast  wealth,  could  he  succeed 
in  obtaining  an  exclusive  privilege  to  enjoy  its 
advantages,  and  managed  to  induce  Chauvin,  a 
captain  in  the  navy,  to  apply  to  the  king  for  powers 
such  as  de  la  Roche  had  possessed  :  the  application 
was  successful,  a  patent  was  granted  to  Chauvin,  and 

1602  Pontgrave  admitted  to  partnership.  It  was,  how- 
ever, in  vain  that  they  attempted  to  establish  a 
trading  post  at  Tadoussac : l  after  having  made  two 

1  "  Parceque  les  relations  et  les  voyageurs  parloient  beaucoup  de 
Tadoussac,  les  Geographes  ont  suppose  que  e'etait  une  ville,  mais  il 
n'y  a  jamais  eu  qu'une  maison  frangaise,  et  quelques  cabannes  de 
sauvages,  qui  y  venoient  au  terns  de  la  traite,  et  qui  emportoient 
ensuite  leurs  cabannes  ;  comme  on  fait  les  loges  d'une  foire.  II  est 
vrai  que  ce  port  a  etc  lontems  1'abord  de  toutes  les  nations  sauvages 
du  nord  et  de  1'est ;  que  les  Frangois  s'y  rendoient  des  que  la  navi- 
gation etoit  libre  ;  soit  de  France,  soit  du  Canada  ;  que  les  mission- 
naires  profitoient  de  1'occasion,  et  y  venoient  negocier  pour  le  ciel. 
.  .  .  Au  reste  Tadoussac  est  un  bon  port,  et  on  m'a  assure  que  vingt 
cinq  vaisseaux  de  guerre  y  pouvoient  etre  a  1'abri  de  tons  les  vents, 
que  1'ancrage  y  est  sur,  et  que  Tentree  en  est  facile." — Charlevoix, 
torn.  v.  p.  96,  1721. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA.  77 

voyages  thither  without  realising  their  sanguine 
expectations  of  gain,  Chauvin  died  while  once  more 
preparing  to  try  his  fortune. 

At  this  time  the  great  object  of  colonisation  was 
completely  forgotten  in  the  eager  pursuit  of  the  fur 
trade,  till  de  Chatte,  the  governor  of  Dieppe,  who 
succeeded  to  the  privileges  of  Chauvin,  founded  a 
company  of  merchants  at  Rouen,  for  the  further 
development  of  the  resources  of  Canada.  An  1603 
armament  was  fitted  out  under  the  command  of  the 
experienced  Pontgrave;  he  was  commissioned  by 
the  king  to  make  further  discoveries  in  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  to  establish  a  settlement  upon  some 
suitable  position  on  the  coast.  Samuel  de  Champlain, 


"  Tadoussac,  140  miles  below  Quebec,  is  a  post  belonging  to  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  and  is  the  residence  of  one  of  its  partners 
and  an  agent.  They  alone  are  allowed  to  trade  with  the  Indians  in 
the  interior.  At  Tadoussac  is  a  Roman  Catholic  chapel,  a  store  and 
warehouse,  and  some  eight  or  ten  dwellings.  Here  is  erected  a  flag- 
staff, surrounded  by  several  pieces  of  cannon,  on  an  eminence 
elevated  about  fifty  feet,  and  overlooking  the  inner  warehouse, 
where  is  a  sufficient  depth  of  water  to  float  the  largest  vessels. 
This  place  was  early  settled  by  the  French,  who  are  said  to  have 
here  erected  the  first  dwelling  built  of  stone  and  mortar  in  Canada, 
and  the  remains  of  it  are  still  to  be  seen.  The  view  is  exceedingly 
picturesque  from  this  point.  The  southern  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
may  be  traced  even  with  the  naked  eye  for  many  a  league  ;  the 
undulating  line  of  swow-white  cottages  stretching  far  away  to  the  east 
and  west ;  while  the  scene  is  rendered  gay  and  animated  by  the 
frequent  passage  of  the  merchant  vessel  ploughing  its  way  towards 
the  port  of  Quebec,  or  hurrying  upon  the  descending  tide  to  the 
gulf ;  while,  from  the  summit  of  the  hill  upon  which  Tadoussac 
stands,  the  sublime  and  impressive  scenery  of  the  Saguenay  rises 
to  view." — Picturesque  Tourist,  p.  267,  (New  York,  1844). 


78  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

a  captain  in  the  navy,  accepted  a  command  in  this 
expedition  at  the  request  of  de  Chatte ;  he  was  a 
native  of  Saintonge,  and  had  lately  returned  to 
France  from  the  West  Indies,  where  he  had  gained 
a  high  name  for  boldness  and  skill.  Under  the 
direction  of  this  wise  and  energetic  man  the  first 
successful  efforts  were  made  to  found  a  permanent 
settlement  in  the  magnificent  province  of  Canada, 
and  the  stain  of  the  errors  and  disasters  of  more  than 
seventy  years,  was  at  length  wiped  away. 

Pontgrave  and  Champlain  sailed  for  the  St. 
1603  Lawrence  in  1603.  Theylreniained  a  short  time  at 
tadoussac,  where  they  left  their  ships,  then  trusting 
themselves  to  a  small  open  boat  with  only  five  sailors, 
they  boldly  pushed  up  the  great  river  to  the  sault 
St.  Louis,  where  Jacques  Cartier  had  reached  many 
years  before.  By  this  time  Hochelaga,  the  ancient 
Indian  city,  had,  from  some  unknown  cause,  sunk 
into  such  insignificance,  that  the  adventurers  did 
not  even  notice  it,  nor  deem  it  worthy  of  a  visit. 
But  they  anchored  for  a  time  under  the  shade  of 
the  magnificent  headland  of  Quebec.  On  the  return 
of  the  expedition  to  France,  Champlain  found  to  his 
deep  regret  that  de  Chatte,  the  worthy  and  powerful 
patron  of  the  undertaking,  had  died  during  his 
absence :  Pierre  du  Guast,  sieur  de  Monts,  had 
succeeded  to  the  powers  and  privileges  of  the 
deceased,  with  even  a  more  extensive  commission. 

De  Monts  was  a  Calvinist,  and  had  obtained  from 
the  king  the  freedom  of  religious  faith  for  himself 
and  his  followers  in  America,  but  under  the  engage- 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA.  79 

ment  that  the  Roman  Catholic  worship  should  be 
established  among  the  natives.  Even  his  opponents 
admitted  the  honesty  and  patriotism  of  his 
character,2  and  bore  witness  to  his  courage  and 
ability,  he  was  nevertheless  unsuccessful ;  many 
of  those  under  his  command  failed  in  their  duty, 
and  the  jealousy,  excited  by  his  exclusive  privileges 
and  obnoxious  doctrines,3  involved  him  in  ruinous 
embarrassments. 

The  trading^  company  established  by  de  Chatte 
was~continued  and  increased  by  his  successor.  With 
this  additional  aid  de  Monts  was  enabled  to  fit  out 

2  "  The  colony  that  was  sent  to  Canada  this  year  was  among  the 
number  of  those  things  that  had  not  my  approbation  ;  there  was  no 
kind  of  riches  to  be  expected  from  all  those  countries  of  the  New 
World  which  are  beyond  the  fortieth  degree  of  latitude.    His  Majesty 
gave  the  conduct  of  this  expedition   to    the    Sieur  de  Monts." — 
Memoirs  of  Sully,  b.  xvi.,  p.  241,  Eng.  trans. 

3  The  pious  Romanist,  Champlain,  thus  details  the  inconveniences 
caused  by  the  different  creeds  of  the  Frenchmen  composing  the 
expedition  of  de  Monts.  "II  se  trouva  quelque  chose  k  redire  en 
cette  entreprise,  qui  est  en  ce  que  deux  religions  contraires  ne  font 
jamais  un  grand  fruit  pour  la  gloire  de  Dieu  parmi  les  infideles  que 
1'on  veut  convertir.  J'ai  vu  le  ministre  et  notre  cure  s'entre  battre 
&  coups  de  poing,  sur  le  differend  de  la  religion.  Je  ne  sgais  pas 
qui  etoit  le  plus  vaillant  et  qui  donnoit  le  meilleur  coup,  mas  je  sgais 
tres  bien  que  le  ministre  se  plaignoit  quelquefois  au  Sieur  de  Monts 
d 'avoir  etc  battue,  et  vuidoit  en  cette  fagon  les  points  de  contro- 
versie.  Je  vous  laisse  a  penser  si  cela  etoit  beau  a  voir  ;  les 
sauvages  etoient  tantot  d'une  partie,  tant6t  d'une  autre,  et  les 
Frangois  mele's  selon  leurs  diverses  croyances,  disoit  pis  que  pendre  de 
1'une  et  de  Tautre  religion,  quoique  le  Sieur  de  Monts  y  apportat 
la  paix  le  plus  qu'il  pouvoit." —  Voyages  de  la  Nouvelle  France 

Occidental,  dite  Canada,  faits  par  le  Sieur  de  Champlain  a  Paris, 

1632. 


80  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

a  more  complete  armament  than  had  ever  hitherto 
been  engaged  in  Canadian  commerce.     He   sailed 

1604  from  Havre  on  -the  7th  of  March,  1604,  with  four 
vessels.     Of  these,  two  under  his  immediate  com- 
mand were  destined  for  Acadia.     Champlain,  Pout- 
rincourt,  and  many  other  Volunteers,  embarked  their 
fortunes  with  him,  purposing  to  cast  their  future  lot 
in  the  New  World.     A  third  vessel  was  dispatched 
under  Pontgrave  to  the  Strait  of  Canso,  to  protect 
the   exclusive  trading  privileges  of  the  Company. 
The  fourth  steered  for  Tadoussac,  to  barter  for  the 
rich  furs  brought  by  the  Indian  hunters  from  the 
dreary  wilds  of  the  Saguenay. 

On  the  6th  of  May  de  Monts  reached  a  harbour 
on  the  coast  of  Acadia,  where  he  seized  and  confis- 
cated an  English  vessel,  in  vindication  of  his  exclusive 
privileges.  Thence  he  sailed  to  the  island  of  St. 
Croix,  where  he  landed  his  people,  and  established 
himself  for  the  winter.  In  the  spring  of  1605  he 
hastened  to  leave  this  settlement,  where  the  want 
of  wood  and  fresh  water,  and  the  terrible  ravages 
of  the  scurvy,  had  disheartened  and  diminished 
the  number  of  his  followers.  In  the  mean  time 

1605  Champlain  had  discovered  and  named  Port  Royal, 
now  Annapolis,  a  situation  which  presented  many 
natural  advantages.    De  Monts  removed  the  estab- 
lishment thither,  and    erected   a  fort,  appointing 
Pontgrave  to  its  command.     Soon  afterwards  he 
bestowed  Port  Royal  and  a  large  extent  of  the  neigh- 
bouring country  upon   de  Poutrincourt,    and    the 
grant  was  ultimately  confirmed  by  letters  patent 


THE    CONQUEST   OP    CANADA.  81 

from  the  king.     This  was  the  first  concession  of 
land  made  in  North  America  since  its  discovery. 

When  de  Monts  returned  to  France  in  1605,  he 
found  that  enemies  had  been  busily  and  successfully 
at  work  in  destroying  his  influence  at  court.  Com- 
plaints of  the  injustice  of  his  exclusive  privileges 
poured  in  from  all  the  ports  in  the  kingdom.  It  was 
urged  that  he  had  interfered  with  and  thwarted  the 
underjihft  p^tfiqr^  of  securing  the  sole 


right  of  trading  with  the  Indian  hunters.  These 
statements  were  hearkened  to  by  the  king,  and  all 
the  Sieur's  privileges  were  revoked.  De  Monts  bore 
up  bravely  against  this  disaster.  He  entered  into  a 
new  engagement  with  de  Poutrincourt,  who  had 
followed  him  to  France,  and  dispatched  a  vessel 
from  Rochelle  on  the  13th  of  May  to  succour  the 
colony  in  Acadia.  The  voyage  was  unusually  pro- 
tracted, and  the  settlers  at  Port  Royal,  at  length 
reduced  to  great  extremities,  feared  that  they  had 
been  abandoned  to  their  fate.  The  wise  and  ener- 
getic Pontgrave  did  all  that  man  could  do  to  reassure 
them  ;  but  finally,  their  supplies  being  completely 
exhausted,  he  was  constrained  to  yield  to  the  general 
wish,  and  embark  his  people  for  France.  He  had 
scarcely  sailed,  however,  when  he  heard  of  the 
arrival  of  Poutrincourt  and  the  long-desired  sup- 
plies. He  then  immediately  returned  to  Port  Royal, 
where  he  found  his  chief  already  landed.  Under 
able  and  judicious  management4  the  colony  increased 

4  De  Poutrincourt  had  been  accompanied,  in  his  last  voyage  from 
France,  by  Marc  Lescarbot,  well  known  as  one  of  the  best  historians 
VOL.  i.  G 


82  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

and  prospered  until  1614,  when  it  was  attacked  and 
broken  up  by  Sir  Samuel  Argal  with  a  Virginian 
force.5 

The  enemies  of  de  Monts  did  not  relax  in  their 

of  the  early  French  colonists.  His  Memoirs  and  himself  are  thus 
described  by  Charlevoix : — "  Un  avocat  de  Paris,  nomine  Marc 
L'Escarbot,  homme  d'esprit  et  fort  attache  a  M.  de  Poutrincourt, 
avoit  eu  la  curiosite  de  voir  le  Nouveau  Monde.  II  animoit  les  uns, 
il  picquoit  les  autres  d'honneur,  il  se  faisoit  aimer  de  tons,  et  ne 
s'epargnoit  lui-meme  en  rien.  II  inventoit  tons  les  jours  quelque 
chose  de  nouveau  pour  1'utilite  publique,  et  jamais  on  ne  comprit 
mieux  de  quelle  ressource  peut  etre  dans  un  uouvel  etablissement, 
un  esprit  cultive  par  1'etude.  .  .  .C'est  a  cet  avocat,  que  nous  sommes 
redevable  des  meilleurs  memoires  que  nous  ayons  de  ce  qui  s'est 
passe*  sous  ses  yeux.  On  y  voit  un  auteur  exact,  judicieux,  et  un 
homme,  qui  cut  ete  aussi  capable  d'etablir  une  colonie  que  d'en 
ecrire  une  histoire."  (Charlevoix,  vol.  i.,  p.  185.)  The  title  of 
L'Escarbot's  work  is :  "  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  par  Marc 
L'Escarbot,  Avocat  en  Parlement,  temoin  oculaire  d'une  partie  des 
choses  y  recite'es  :  a  Paris,  1609." 

5  "  Argall  se  fondait  sur  une  concession  de  Jacques  I.,  qui  avait 
permis  k  ses  sujets  de  s'etablir  jusqu'au  quarante  cinq  degre"s,  et  il 
crut  pouvoir  profiter  de  la  foiblesse  des  Frangais  pour  les  traitre  en 
usurpateurs.  ...  Si  Poutrincourt  avoit  ete  dans  son  fort  avec  trente 
homines  bien  armes,  Argall  n'auroit  pas  meme  eu  1'assurance  de 
1'attaquer  ....  en  deux  heures  de  terns  le  feu  consuma  tout  ce  que 
les  Frangais  possedoient  dans  une  colonie  ou  Ton  avait  deja  depense 
plus  de  cent  mille  ecus.  .  .  .  Celui  qui  y  perdit  davantage,  fut  M.  de 
Poutrincourt  qui,  depuis  ce  terns  Ik  ne  songea  plus  a  1'Amerique. 
II  rentra  dans  le  service,  ou  il  s'etait  deja  par  plusieurs  belles  actions 
et  mourut  au  lit  d'honneur." — Jean  de  Lae't. 

In  1621,  James  I.  conferred  Acadia  upon  Sir  William  Alexander, 
who  gave  it  the  name  of  Nova  Scotia.  At  the  treaty  of  St.  Germain- 
en-Laye,  in  1632,  it  was  restored  to  the  French  ;  again  taken  by  the 
English,  it  was  again  restored  to  France  by  the  treaty  of  Breda,  in 
1667.  In  1710,  when  Acadia  was  taken  by  General  Nicholson,  the 
English  perceived  its  importance  for  their  commerce.  They  obtained 
its  formal  and  final  cession  at  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  1713. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  83 

efforts  till  he  was  deprived  of  his  high  commission. 
A  very  insufficient  indemnity  was  granted  for  the 
great  expenses  he  had  incurred.  Still  he  was  not  dis- 
heartened :  in  the  following  year,  1607,  he  obtained 
a  renewal  of  his  privileges  for  one  year,  on  condition 
that  he  should  plant  a  colony  upon  the  banS  of  the 
St.  Lawrence.  The  trading  company  did  not  lose  1607 
confidence  in  their  principal,  although  his  courtly 
influence  had  been  destroyed ;  but  their  object__was_. 
confined  to  the  prosecution  of  the  luCTatiygL  com- 
merce  in  furs,  for  which  reason  they  ceased  to 
interest  themselves  in  Acadia,  and  turned  their 
thoughts  to  the  Great  River  of  Canada,  where  they 
hoped  to  find  a  better  field  for  their  undertaking. 
They  equipped  two  ships  at  Honfleur,  under  the 
command  of  Champlain  and  Pontgrave,  to  establish 
the  fur  trade  at  Tadoussac.  De  Monts  remained  in 
France,  vainly  endeavouring  to  obtain  an  extension 
of  his  patent.  Despite  his  disappointments,  he  fitted 
out  some  vessels  in  the  spring  of  1608,  with  the 
assistance  of  the  Company,  and  dispatched  them  to 
the  River  St.  Lawrence  on  the  13th  April,  under  the 
same  command  as  before. 

Champlain  reached  Tadoussac  on  the  3rd  of  June ; 
his  views  were  far  more  extended  than  those  of  a  mere 
merchant ;  even  honest  fame  for  himself,  and  in-  1608 
crease  of  glory  and  power  for  his  country,  were,  in 
his  eyes,  objects  subordinate  to  the  extension  of  the 
Catholic  faith.  After  a  brief  stay,  he  ascended  the 
Great  River,  examining  the  shore  with  minute  care, 
to  seek  the  most  fitting  place  where  the  first  foun- 


84  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

dation  of  French  empire  might  be  laid.     On  the  3rd 

1608  of  July,  1608,  he  reached  QUEBEC,  where,  nearly 
three  quarters  of  a  century  before,  Jacques  Cartier 
had  passed  the  winter.     This  magnificent  position 
was  at  once  chosen  by  Champlain  as  the  site  of  the 
future  capital  of  Canada :  centuries  of  experience 
have  proved  the  wisdom  of  the  selection  ;  admirably 
situated  for  purposes  of  war  or  commerce,  and  com- 
pletely commanding  the  navigation  of  the   Great 
River,  it   stands  the  centre  of  a  scene   of  beauty 
that  can  nowhere  be  surpassed. 

On  the  bold  headland  overlooking  the  waters  of 
the  basin,  he  commenced  his  work  by  felling  the  trees, 
and  rooting  up  the  wild  vines  and  tangled  under- 
wood from  the  virgin  soil.  Some  rude  huts  were 
speedily  erected  for  shelter;  spots  around  them  were 
cultivated  to  test  the  fertility  of  the  land ;  this 
labour  was  repaid  by  abundant  production.  Jhe 
first  permanent  work  undertaken  in  the  new  settle- 
nient7~was  the  jereciion  of  a  solid  building  as  a 
magazine  for  their  provisions.  A  temporary  bar- 
rack on  the  highest  point  of  the  position  for  the 
officers  and  men,  was  subsequently  constructed. 
These  preparations  occupied  the  remainder  of  the 
summer.  The  first  snow  fell  on  the  18th  of  Novem- 
ber, but  only  remained  on  the  ground  for  two  days : 
in  December  it  again  returned,  and  the  face  of 

1609  nature  was  covered  till  the  end  of  April.     From  the 
time   of  Jacques   Cartier,  to  the  establishment   of 
Champlain,  and  even  to  the  present  day,  there  has 
been  no  very  decided  amelioration  of  the  severity  of 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  85 

the  climate :    indeed,  some  of  the  earliest  records 
notice  seasons  milder  than  many  of  modern  days. 

The  town  of  Stadacona,  like  its  prouder  neigh- 
bour of  Hochelaga,  seems  to  have  dwindled  into 
insignificance  since  the  time  when  it  had  been  an 
object  of  such  interest  and  suspicion  to  Jacques 
Cartier.  Some  Indians  still  lived  in  huts  around 
Quebec,  but  in  a  state  of  poverty  and  destitution,  ] 
very  different  from  the  condition  of  their  ancestors^/ 
During  the  winter  of  1608,  they  suffered  dire 
extremities  of  famine ;  several  came  over  from  the 
southern  shores  of  the  river,  miserably  reduced  by 
starvation,  and  scarcely  able  to  drag  along  their 
feeble  limbs,  to  seek  aid  from  the  strangers.  Cham- 
plain  relieved  their  necessities  and  treated  them 
with  politic  kindness.  The  French  suffered  severely 
from  the  scurvy  during  this  first  winter  of  their 
residence. 

On  the  18th  of  April,  1609,  Champlain,  accom-  1609 
panied  by  two  Frenchmen,  ascended  the  Great  River 
with  a  war-party  of  Canadian  Indians.  After  a  time 
turning  southward  up  a  tributary  stream,  he  came  to 
the  shores  of  a  large  and  beautiful  lake,  abounding 
with  fish ;  the  shores  and  neighbouring  forests  shel- 
tered, in  their  undisturbed  solitude,  countless  deer 
and  other  animals  of  the  chase.  To  this  splendid 
sheet  of  water  he  gave  his  own  name,  which  it  still 
bears.  To  the  south  and  west  rose  huge  snow- 
capped mountains,  and  in  the  fertile  valleys  below 
dwelt  numbers  of  the  fierce  and  hostile  Iroquois. 
Champlain  and  his  savage  allies  pushed  on  to  the 


86  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

furthest  extremity  of  the  lake,  descended  a  rapid, 
and  entered  another  smaller  sheet  of  water,  after- 
wards named  St.  Sacrement.  On  the  shore  they 
encountered  200  of  the  Iroquois  warriors ;  a  battle 
ensued ;  the  skill  and  the  astonishing  weapons  of  the 
white  men  soon  gave  their  Canadian  allies  a  com- 
plete victory.  Many  prisoners  were  taken,  and,  in 
spite  of  Champlain's  remonstrances,  put  to  death 
with  horrible  and  protracted  tortures.  The  brave 
Frenchman  returned  to  Quebec,  and  sailed  for  Europe 
in  September,  leaving  Captain  Pierre  Chauvin,  an 
experienced  officer,  in  charge  of  the  infant  settle- 
ment. Henry  IV.  received  Champlain  with  favour, 
and  called  him  to  an  interview  at  Fontainebleau : 6 
the  king  listened  attentively  to  the  report  of  the 
new  colony,  expressing  great  satisfaction  at  its  suc- 
cessful foundation,  and  favourable  promise.  But  the 
energetic  de  Monts,  to  whom  so  much  of  this  success 
was  due,  could  find  no  courtly  aid :  the  renewal  of 
his  privilege  was  refused,  and  its  duration  had 
already  expired.  By  the  assistance  of  the  Merchant 
Company,  he  fitted  out  two  vessels  in  the  spring  of 
1610,  under  the  tried  command  of  Champlain  and 
Pontgrave :  the  first  was  destined  for  Quebec,  with 
some  artisans,  settlers,  and  necessary  supplies  for  the 
colony ;  the  second  was  commissioned  to  carry  on 
the  fur  trade  at  Tadoussac.  Champlain  sailed  from 
1610  Honfleur  on  the  8th  of  April,  and  reached  the  mouth 
of  the  Saguenay  in  eighteen  days,  a  passage  which 

6  "  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  name  of  New  France  was  first 
given  to  Canada." — Charlevoix,  torn,  i.,  p.  232. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  87 

even  all  the  modern  improvements  in  navigation 
have  rarely  enabled  any  one  to  surpass  in  rapidity. 
He  soon  hastened  on  to  Quebec,  where,  to  his  great 
joy,  he  found  the  colonists  contented  and  prosperous ; 
the  virgin  soil  had  abundantly  repaid  the  labours  of 
cultivation,  and  the  natives  had  in  no  wise  molested 
their  dangerous  visitors.  He  joined  the  neighbour- 
ing tribes  of  Algonquin  and  Montagnez  Indians, 
during  the  summer,  in  an  ^exjpedMon  against  the 
Iroquois.  Having  penetratedT  the  woody  country 
beyond  Sorel  for  some  distance,  they  came  upon  a 
place  where  their  enemies  where  entrenched;  this 
they  took,  after  a  bloody  resistance.  Champlain  and 
another  Frenchman  were  slightly  wounded  in  the 
encounter. 

In  1612  Champlain  found  it  necessary  to  revisit  1612 
France ;  some  powerful  patron  was  wanted  to  for- 
ward the  interests  of  the  colony,  and  to  provide  the 
supplies  and  resources  required  for  its  extension. 
The  Count  de  Soissons  readily  entered  into  his 
views,  and  delegated  to  him  the  authority  of  vice- 
roy, which  had  been  conferred  upon  the  Count.7 
Soissons  died  soon  after,  and  the  Prince  of  Conde 
became  his  successor.  Champlain  was  wisely  con- 
tinued in  the  command  he  had  so  long  and  ably 
held,  but  was  delayed  in  France  for  some  time  by 
difficulties  on  the  subject  of  commerce  with  the 
merchants  of  St.  Malo. 

Champlain  sailed  again  from  St.  Malo  on  the  6th 

7  Champlain,  part  i.,  p.  231;  Charlevoix,  vol.  i.  p.  236. 


88  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

of  March,  1613,  in  a  vessel  commanded  by  Font- 
grave,  and  anchored  before  Quebec  on  the  7th  of 

1613  May.    He  found  the  state  of  affairs  at  the  settlement 
so   satisfactory  that  his   continued  presence    was 
unnecessary ;   he,  therefore,  proceeded  at  once  to 
Montreal,  and  after  a  short  stay  at  that  island, 
explored  for  some  distance  the  course  of  the  Ottawa, 
which  there  pours  its  vast  flood  into  the  main  stream 
of  the  St.  Lawrence.     The  white  men  were  filled 
with  wonder  and  admiration  at  the  magnitude  of 
this  great  tributary,  the  richness  and  beauty  of  its 
shores,  the  broad  lakes  and  deep  rapids,  and  the 
eternal  forests,  clothing  mountain,  plain,  and  valley 
for  countless  leagues  around.     As  they  proceeded 
they  found  no  diminution  in  the  volume  of  water ; 
and  when  they  inquired  of  the  wandering  Indian  for 
its  source,  he_gointed  to  the  north-west,  and  indi- 
cated that  it  lay  in  the  unknown  solitudes  of  ice  and 
snow,  to  which  his  people  had  never  reached.     After 
this  expedition  Champlain  returned  with  his  com- 
panion Pontgrave  to  St.  Malo,  where  they  arrived  in 
the  end  of  August. 

Having  engaged  some  wealthy  merchants  of  St. 
Malo,  Rouen,  and  Rochelle  in  an  association  for  the 
support  of  the  colony,  through  the  assistance  of  the 

1614  Prince  of  Conde,  viceroy  of  New  France,  he  obtained 
letters  patent  of  incorporation  for  the  Company. 
The  temporal  welfare  of  the  settlement  being  thus 
placed  upon  a  secure  basis,  Champlain,  who  was  a 
zealous   Catholic,   next  devoted  himself  to  obtain 
spiritual  aid.     By  his  entreaties  four  Recollets  were 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA.  89 

prevailed  upon  to  undertake  the  mission.      These 
were  the  first8  ministers  of  religion  settled  in  Canada. 
They  reached  Quebec  in  the  beginning  of  April,  1615, 
accompanied  by  Champlain,  who,  however,  at  once    1615 
proceeded  to  Montreal. 

8  Seven  or  eight  years  before  the  arrival  of  the  PP.  Recollets 
at  Quebec,  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  had  found  their  way  to 
Nova  Scotia.  They  were  Jesuits.  It  was  remarkable  that  Henry  IV., 
whose  life  had  been  twice  attempted  by  the  Jesuits,*  should  have 
earnestly  urged  their  establishment  in  America.  When  Port  Royal 
was  ceded  to  Poutrincourt  by  de  Monts,  the  king  intimated  to  him 
that  it  was  time  to  think  of  the  conversion  of  the  savages,  and  that 
it  was  his  desire  that  the  Jesuits  should  be  employed  in  this  work. 
Charlevoix  acknowledges  that  de  Poutrincourt  was  "  un  fort  honnete 
homme,  et  sincerement  attache  a  la  religion  Catholique," — neverthe- 
less his  prejudices  against  Jesuits  were  so  strong,  that  "  il  etoit  bien 
resolu  de  ne  les  point  mene  au  Port  Royal."  On  various  pretexts  he 
evaded  obeying  the  royal  commands,  and  when,  the  year  after,  the 
Jesuits  were  sent  out  to  him,  at  the  expense  of  Madame  de  Gruer- 
cheville,  and  by  the  orders  of  the  queen's  mother,  he  rendered  their 
stay  at  Port  Royal  as  uncomfortable  as  was  consistent  with  his  noble 
and  generous  character, — vigilantly  guarding  against  their  acquiring 
any  dangerous  influence.  His  former  prejudices  could  not  have  been 
lessened  by  the  assassination  of  Henry  IV.  f  The  two  Jesuits 
selected  by  P.  Cotton,  Henry  IV. 's  confessor,  for  missionary  labours 
in  Acadia,  were  P.  Pierre  Biast  and  P.  Enemond  Masse.  They  were 
taken  prisoners  at  the  time  of  Argall's  descent  on  Acadia,  1614,  and 
conveyed  to  England. — Charlevoix,  torn,  i.,  pp.  189,  216, 


*  By  Barriere  in  1593  ;  by  Jean  Chatel  in  1594.  He  finally  perished  by  the  hand 
of  Ravaillac,  in  1610.  See  Sully's  Memoirs,  bb.  vi.,  vii.;  Cayet,  Chron.  Noven.,  b.  v. ; 
Pere  de  Chalons,  torn,  iii.,  p.  245,  quoted  by  Sully. 

+  Henri  s'  etait  montre'  bienveillant  pour  les  Jesuites,  encore  que  les  parlemens  et 
tous  ceux  qui  tenoient,  a  la  magistrature  ressentoient  plus  de  prevention  centre  ces 
religieux  que  les  Hugonots  eux-m6mes  ....  Henri  IV.  fit  abattre  la  pyramide  qui 
avait  e'te'  eleve'e  en  me'moire  de  1'  attentat  de  Jean  Chatel  contre  lui,  parce  que 
1'  inscription  qu'  elle  portait  inculpait  les  Jesuites  d1  avoir  excitd  a  cet  assassinat. — 
Sismondi :  Histaire  des  Franfdis.  See  De  Thou,  torn,  ix.,  pp.  696,  704 ;  torn,  x., 
pp.  26  a  30. 


90  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 


at  this  island  he  found  the  Huron 
and  other  allied  tribes  again  preparing  for  an  expe- 
dition against  the  Jmquois.  With  a  view  of  gaining 
the  friendship  of  the  savages,  and  of  acquiring  a 
knowledge  of  the  country,  he  injudiciously  offered 
himself  to  join  a  quarrel  in  which  he  was  no  wise 
concerned.  The  father  Joseph  Le  Caron  accompanied 
him  in  the  view  of  preparing  the  way  for  religious 
instruction,  by  making  himself  acquainted  with  the 
habits  and  language  of  the  Indians.  Champlain 
was  appointed  chief  by  the  allies,  but  his  savage 
followers  rendered  slight  obedience  to  this  authority. 
The  expedition  proved  very  disastrous  :  the  Iroquois 
were  strongly  entrenched  and  protected  by  a  quan- 
tity of  felled  trees;  their  resistance  proved  successful  ; 
Champlain  was  wounded,  and  the  allies  were  forced 
to  retreat  with  shame  and  with  heavy  loss. 

1615  The  respect  of  the  Indians  for  the  French  was 
much   diminished  by  this  untoward  failure;   they 
refused  to  furnish  Champlain  with  a  promised  guide 
to  conduct  him  to  Quebec,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
pass  the  winter  among  them  as  an  unwilling  guest. 

I  He,  however,  made   the  best  use  of  his  time  ;    he 

|    visited  many  of  the  principal  Huron  and  Algonquin 

towns,  even  those  as  distant  as  Lake  Nipissing,  and 

succeeded  in  reconciling  several  neighbouring  nations. 

~~At  the  opening  of  the  navigation,  he  gained  over 

some  of  the  Indians  to  his  cause,  and  finding  that 

1616  another  expedition  against  the  Iroquois  was  in  pre- 
paration, embarked  secretly  and  arrived  at  Quebec 
on  the  llth  of  July,  1616,  when  he  found  that  he 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  91 

and  the  father  Joseph  were  supposed  to  have  been 
dead  long  since.  They  both  sailed  for  France  soon 
after  their  return  from  among  the  Hurons. 

In  the  following  year,  a  signal  service  was  ren- 
dered to  the  colony,  by  a  worthy  priest  named 
Duplessys :  he  had  been  engaged  for  some  time  at 
Three  Rivers  in  the  instruction  of  the  savages,  and 
had  happily  so  far  gained  their  esteem,  that  some  of 
his  pupils  informed  him  of  a  conspiracy  amongst  all 
the  neighbouring  Indian  tribes  for  the  utter  destruc- 
of  the  French;  800  chiefs  and  warriors  had  assembled 
to  arrange  the  plan  of  action.  Duplessys  contrived 
with  consummate  ability  to  gain  over  some  of  the 
principal  Indians  to  make  advances  towards  a  recon- 
ciliation with  the  white  men,  and  by  degrees  suc- 
ceeded in  arranging  a  treaty,  and  in  causing  two 
chiefs  to  be  given  up  as  hostages  for  its  observance^ 

For    several    years    Champlain    was    constantly/ 
obliged  to  visit  France  for  the  purpose  of  urging  onV.^ 
the  tardily  provided  aids  for  the  colony.     The  courtf 
would  not  interest  itself  in  the  affairs  of  New  France 
since  a  Company  had  undertaken  their  conduct,  and 
the  merchants,  always  limited  in  their  views  to  merk 
commercial  objects,  cared  but  little  for  the  fate  oi; 
the    settlers    so    long    as   then-  warehouses  were\^ 
stored    with    the    valuable    furs   brought    by    the 
Indian  hunters.     These  difficulties  would  doubtless 
have  smothered  the  infant  nation  in  its  cradle,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  untiring  zeal  and  constancy  of  its 
great  founder.    At  every  step  he  met  with  new  trials 
from  the  indifference,  caprice,  or  contradiction  of  his 


92  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

associates,  but  with  his  eye  steadily  fixed  upon  the 
future,  he  devoted  his  fortune  and  the  energies  of 
his  life  to  the  cause,  and  rose  superior  to  every 
obstacle. 

1620  In  1620,  the  Prince  of  Conde  sold  the  viceroyalty 
of  New  France  to  his  brother-in-law  the  Marshal  de 
Montmorenci   for    eleven    thousand   crowns.     The 
marshal  wisely  continued  Champlain  as  lieutenant- 
governor,  and  intrusted  the  management  of  colonial 
affairs  in  France  to  M.  Dolu,  a  gentleman  of  known 
zeal  and  probity.      Champlain  being  hopeful  that 
these    changes    would    favourably   affect    Canada, 
resolved  now  to  establish  his  family  permanently  in 
that  country.     Taking  them  with  him,  he  sailed  from 
France  in  the  above  named  year,  and  arrived  at 
Quebec  in  the  end  of  May.     In  passing  by  Tadoussac 
he  found  that  some  adventurers  of "Rochelle  had 
opened  a  trade- with  the  savages,  in  violation  of  the 
Company's  privileges,  and  had  given  the  fatal  exam- 
ple of  furnishing    the    hunters   with   fire-arms  in 
exchange  for  their  peltries. 

A  great  danger  menaced  the  colony  in  the  year 
1621.  The  Iroquois  sent  three  large  parties  of 
warriors  to  attack  the  French  settlements.  This 

1621  savage  tribe  feared  that  if  the  white  men  obtained  a 
footing  in  the  country,  their  alliance  with  the  Hurons 
and  Algon quins,  of  which  the  effects  had  already^ 
been  felt,  might  render  them  too  powerful,  y'fhe 
first  division  marched  upon  sault  St.  Louis,  where  a 
few  Frenchmen  were   established.      Happily  there 
was  warning  of  their  approach ;  the  defenders,  aided 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  93 

by  some  Indian  allies,  repulsed  them  with  much 
loss,  and  took  several  prisoners.  The  Iroquois  had, 
however,  seized  Father  Guillaume  Poulain,  one  of 
the  Recollets,  in  their  retreat ;  they  tied  him  to  a 
stake,  and  were  about  to  burn  him  alive,  when  they 
were  persuaded  to  exchange  the  good  priest  for  one 
of  their  own  chiefs,  who  had  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  the  French,  Another  party  of  these  fierce 
marauders  dropped  down  the  river  to  Quebec  in  a 
fleet  of  thirty  canoes,  and  suddenly  invested  the 
Convent  of  the  Recollets,  where  a  small  fort  had 
been  erected ;  they  did  not  venture  to  attack  this 
little  stronghold,  but  fell  upon  some  Huron  villages 
near  at  hand,  and  massacred  the  helpless  inhabi- 
tants with  frightful  cruelty;  they  then  retreated 
as  suddenly  as  they  had  come.  Alarmed  by  this 
ferocious  attack,  which  weakness  and  the  want  of 
sufficient  supplies  prevented  him  from  avenging, 
Champlain  sent  Father  Georges  le  Brebeuf  as  an 
agent,  to  represent  to  the  king  the  deplorable 
condition  of  the  colony,  from  the  criminal  neglect 
of  the  Company.  The  appeal  was  successful ;  the 
Company  was  suppressed,  and  the  exclusive  privi- 
lege transferred  to  Guillaume  and  Emeric  de  Caen, 
uncle  and  nephew. 

The  king  himself  wrote  to  his  worthy  subject 
Champlain,  expressing  high  approval  of  his  eminent 
services,  and  exhorting  him  to  continue  in  the  same 
career.  This  high  commendation  served  much  to 
strengthen  his  hands  in  the  exercise  of  his  difficult 
authority.  He  was  embarrassed  by  constant  dis- 


94  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

putes  between  the  servants  of  the  suppressed  Com- 
pany, and  those  who  acted  for  the  De  Caens; 
religious  differences  also  served  to  embitter  these 
dissensions,  as  the  new  authorities  were  zealous 
Huguenots. 

/  This  year  Champlain  discovered  that  his  ancient 
allies,  the  Hurons,  purposed  to  detach  themselves 
from  his  friendship  and  unite  with  the  Iroquois 
Jfor  his  destruction.  To  avert  this  danger  he  sent 
among  them  Father  Joseph  la  Caron  and  two  other 
priests,  who  appear  to  have  succeeded  in  their 
mission  of  reconciliation.  The  year  after  he  erected 
a  stone  fort9  at  Quebec  for  the  defence  of  the 
settlement,  which  then  only  numbered  fifty  souls  of 
all  ages  and  sexes.  As  soon  as  the  defences  were 
finished  Champlain  departed  for  France  with  his 
family,  to  press  for  aid  from  the  government  for  the 
distressed  colony. 

On  his  arrival  he  found  that  Henri  de  Levi,  Duke 
de  Ventadour,  had  purchased  the  vice-royalty  of  New 
France  from  the  Marshal  de  Montmorenci,  his 
uncle,  with  the  view  of  promoting  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  Canada,  and  the  general  conversion  of 
the  heathen  Indians  to  the  Christian  faith.  He  had 
himself  long  retired  from  the  strife  and  troubles 

9  When  Champlain  first  laid  the  foundations  of  the  fort  in  1623,  to 
which  he  gave  the  name  of  St.  Lewis,  it  is  evident  that  he  was 
actuated  by  views  not  of  a  political  hut  a  commercial  character. 
When  Montmagny  rebuilt  the  fort  in  1 635  it  covered  about  four  acres 
of  ground,  and  formed  nearly  a  parallelogram.  Of  these  works  only 
a  few  vestiges  remain,  except  the  eastern  wall,  which  is  kept  in  solid 
repair. — Bonchette. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA.  95 

of  the  world,  and  entered  into  holy  orders.  Being 
altogether  under  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  he 
considered  them  as  the  means  given  by  heaven  for 
the  accomplishment  of  his  views.  The  pious  and 
exemplary  Father  Lallemant,  with  four  other  priests 
and  laymen  of  the  Order  of  Jesus,  undertook  the 
mission,  and  sailed  for  Canada  in  1625.  They  were 
received  without  jealousy  by  their  predecessors  of 
the  Recollets,  and  admitted  under  their  roof  on  their 
first  arrival. l  The  following  year  three  other  Jesuit 
fathers  reached  Quebec  in  a  little  vessel  provided 
by  themselves ;  many  artisans  accompanied  them. 
By  the  aid  of  this  reinforcement,  the  new  settlement 
soon  assumed  the  appearance  of  a  town. 

The  Huguenot  de  Caens  used  their  powerful 
influence  to  foment  the  religious  disputes  now  raging 
in  the  infant  settlement  ;2  theyjvere i  ai^^Lrjnore 
interested  in  the  prjpjital)lfi__pursuit  of  the  fur  trade 
than  in  prompting  the  progress_of  colonisation  ;  for 
these  reasons  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  judged  that 
their  rule  was  injurious  to  the  prosperity  of  the 

1  Charlevoix,  torn.  i.  p.  247. 

2  "  Ce  fut  Guillaume  de  Caen  qui  les  conduisit  (les  Jesuites)  a 
Quebec.  II  avoit  donne  sa  parole  au  Due  de  Ventadour  qu'il  ne 
laisseroit  les  Jesuites  manquer  de  rien  ;  cependant,  des  qu'ils  furent 
debarques,  il  leur  declara  que,  si  les  PP.  Recollets  ne  vouloient  pas 
les  recevoir  et  les  loger  chez  eux,  ils  n'avoient  point  d'autre  parti  a 
prendre  que  retourner  en  France.  Ils  s'apergurent  meme  bientot 
qu'on  avoit  travaille'  a  prevenir  centre  eux  les  habitans  de  Quebec,  en 
leur  mettant  entre  les  mains  les  ecrits  les  plus  injurieux,  que  les 
Calvinistes  de  France  avoient  publics  contre  leur  compagnie.  Mais 
leur  presence  eut  bientot  efface  tous  ces  prejuges." — Charlevoix, 
torn,  i.,  p.  248. 


96  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

country;  he  J^voked  their  privileges,  and  caused 
the  formation  of  a  numerous  Company  of  wealthy 
and  upright  men ;  to  this  he  transferred  the  charge 
of  the  colony.  This  body  was  chartered  under 
the  name  of  "  The  Company  of  One  Hundred 
Associates:"3  their  capital  was  100,000  crowns; 
their  privileges  as  follows : — To  be  proprietors  of 
Canada ;  to  govern  in  peace  and  war ;  to  enjoy  the 
whole  trade  for  fifteen  years,  (except  the  cod  and 
whale  fishery,)  and  the  fur  trade  in  perpetuity ; 
untaxed  imports  and  exports.  The  king  gave  them 
two  ships  of  300  tons  burthen  each,  and  raised 
twelve  of  the  principal  members  to  the  rank  of 
nobility.  The  Company,  on  their  part,  undertook  toM 
introduce  200  or  300  settlers  during  the  year  1628, 
and  16,000  more  before  1643,  providing  them  with 
all  necessaries  for  three  years,  and  settling  them/ 


afterwards  on  a  sufficient  extent  of  cleared  land// 

*—^s^S 

for  their  future  support.  The  articles  of  this  agree- 
ment were  signed  by  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  on 
the  19th  of  April,  1627,  and  subsequently  approved 
by  the.  king. 

At  this  time  the  Indians  were  a  constant  terror 
to  the  settlers  in  Canada :  several  Frenchmen  had 
been  assassinated  by  the  ruthless  savages,  and  their 

3  Charlevoix  highly  extols  this  brilliant  conception  of  the  Cardinal 
de  Richelieu,  "  et  ne  craint  point  d'avancer  que  la  Nouvelle  France 
seroit  aujourd'hui  la  plus  puissante  colonie  de  I'Amerique,  si  1'execu- 
tion  avoit  repondue  a  la  beaute  du  projet,  et  si  les  membres  de  ce 
grand  corps  eussent  profite  des  dispositions  favorables  du  Souverain  et 
de  son  ministre  a  leur  egard." — Charlevoix,  torn.  i.  p.  250; 
cfes  CtommisscwYes,  vol.  i.  p.  346. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  97 

*^\ 

countrymen  were  too  feeble  in  numbers  to  demand 
the  punishment  of  the  murderers.  Conscious  of  their  / 
strength,  the  natives  became  daily  more  insolent;/ 
no  white  man  could  venture  beyond  the  settlement! 
without  incurring  great  danger.  Building  languished, 
and  much  of  the  cleared  land  remained  uncultivated. 
Such  was  the  disastrous  state  of  the  colony. 

JThe  commencement  of  the  Company's  govern- 
ment was  marked  by  heavy  misfortune.  -  The  first 
vessels  sent  by  them  to  America  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  English,  at  the  sudden  breaking  out  of 
hostilities.  In  16*28,  Sir  David  Kertk,  a  French  1628 
Calvinist  refugee  in  the  British  service,  reached 
Tadoussac  with  a  squadron,  burned  the  fur  houses  of 
the  free  traders,  and  did  other  damage :  thence  he 
sent  to  Quebec,  summoning  Champlain  to  surrender. 
The  brave  governor  consulted  with  Pontgrave  and 
the  inhabitants;  they  came  to  the  resolution  of 
attempting  a  defence,  although  reduced  to  great 
extremities,  and  sent  Kertk  such  a  spirited  answer 
that  he,  ignorant  of  their  weakness,  did  not  advance 
upon  the  town.  He,  however,  captured  a  convoy 
under  the  charge  of  de  Roquemont,  with  several 
families  on  board,  and  a  large  supply  of  provisions 
for  the  settlement-  This  expedition  against  Canada 
was  said  to  have  been  planned  and  instigated  by 
de  Caen,  from  a  spirit  of  vengeance  against  those 
who  had  succeeded  to  his  lost  privileges. 

In  July,  1629,  Lewis  and  Thomas,  brothers  of  Sir    1529 
David  Kertk,  appeared  with  an  armament  before 
Quebec.    As  soon  as  the  fleet  had  anchored,  a  white 

VOL.  I.  H 


98  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

flag  with  a  summons  to  capitulate  was  sent  ashore. 
This  time  the  assailants  were  well  informed  of  the 
defenders'  distress;  but  offered  generous  terms,  if 
Champlain  would  at  once  surrender  the  fort.  He, 
having  no  means  of  resistance,  was  fain  to  submit. 
xThe  English  took  possession  the  following  day,  and 
treated  the  inhabitants  with  such  good  faith  and 
humanity,  that  none  of  them  left  the  country. 
Lewis  Kertk  remained  in  command  at  Quebec; 
Champlain  proceeded  with  Thomas  to  Tadoussac, 
where  they  met  the  admiral,  Sir  David,  with  the 
remainder  of  the  fleet.  In  September  they  sailed 
for  England,  and  Champlain  was  sent  on  to  France, 
according  to  treaty.4 

I  When  the  French  received  the  news  of  the  loss  of 
/Canada,  opinion  was  much  divided  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  seeking  to  regain  the  captured  settlement.5  Some 
thought  its  possession  of  little  value  in  proportion 
to  the  expense  it  caused ;  while  others  deemed  that 
the  fur  trade  and  fisheries  were  of  great  importance 
to  the  commerce  of  France,  as  well  as  a  useful 
nursery  for  experienced  seamen.  Champlain  strongly 
urged  the  government  not  to  give  up  a  country  where 
they  had  already  overcome  the  principal  difficulties 
of  settlement,  and  where,  through  their  means,  the 

4  Champlain's  proposals  of  capitulation  (Smith's  Canada,  vol.  i., 
p.  22)  sufficiently  prove  that,  down  to  1629,  France  had  scarcely  any 
permanent  footing  in  the  country.  By  stipulating  for  the  removal  of 
"all  the  French"  in  Quebec,  Champlain  seems  to  consider  that  the 
whole  province  was  virtually  lost  to  France,  and  "  the  single  vessel," 
which  was  to  furnish  the  means  of  removal,  reduces  "  all  the  French" 
in  Quebec  to  a  very  small  number.  5  Charlevoix. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF  CANADA.  99 

light  of  religion  was  dawning  upon  the  darkness  of 
heathen  ignorance.  His  solicitations  were  success- 
ful, and  Canada  was  restored  to  France  at  the  same 
time  with  Acadia  and  Cape  Breton,  by  the  treatyj)f_l632 
St.  Germain-en-Laye. 6  At  this  period  the  fort  of 
Quebec,  surrounded  by  a  score  of  hastily  built  dwell- 
ings and  barracks,  some  poor  huts  on  the  Island  of 
Montreal,  the  like  at  Three  Rivers  and  Tadoussac, 
and  a  few  fishermen's  log-houses  elsewhere  on  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  were  the  only  fruits  of  the 
discoveries  of  Verazzano,  Jacques  Cartier,  Roberval, 
and  Champlain,  the  great  outlay  of  la  Roche  and 
de  Monts,  and  the  toils  and  sufferings  of  their 
followers,  for  nearly  a  century.7 

By  the  treaty  of  St.  Germain-en-Laye  the  Com-\ 
pany  were  restored  to  all  their  rights  and  privileges, 
and  obtained  compensation  for  the  losses  they  had 
sustained,  but  it  was  some  time  before  the  English  V 
could  be  effectually  excluded  from  the  trade  which    ^ 

•*-*^^ 

6  Charlevoix,  torn,  i.,  p.  273. 

7  "  L'ile  au  Cap  Breton  (c'etoit  bien  peu  de  choses  que  I'etablisse- 
ment  que  nous  avions  alors  dans  cette  ile)  le  fort  de  Quebec  environne 
de  quelques  mechantes  maisons  et  de  quelques  baraques,  deux  OIL 
trois  cabanes  dans  File  de  Montreal,  autant  peutetre  a  Tadoussac,  et 
en  quelques  autres  endroits  sur  le  fleuve  St.  Laurent,  pour  la  com- 
modite  de  la  peche  et  de  la  Traite,  un  commencement  d'habitation 
aux  Trois  Rivieres  et  les  rivieres  de  Port  Royal,  voila  en  quoi  con- 
sistoit  la  Nouvelle  France  et  tout  le  fruit  des  decouvertes  de  Verazani, 
de  Jaques  Cartier,  de  M.  de  Roberval,  de  Champlain,  des  grandes 
depenses  de  Marquis  de  la  Roche,  et  de  M.  de  Monts  et  de  1'industrie 
d'un  grand  nombre  de  Frangais  qui  auroient  pu  y  faire  un  grand 
e'tablissement,  s'ils  eussent  ete  bien  conduits." — Charlevoix,  torn,  i., 
p.  274. 

H2 


100  THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

pthey  had  established  with  the  Indians  during  their 
1633  Pbrief  possession  of  the  country.  In  1633  Champlain 
was  re-appointed  governor  of  New  France,  and  on  his 
departure  for  the  colony  took  with  him  many  respec- 
table settlers :  several  Protestants  wrere  anxious  to 
join  him ;  this,  however,  was  not  permitted.  Two 
Jesuits,  Fathers  de  Brebeuf  and  Enemond  Masse, 
accompanied  the  governor ;  they  purposed  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  to  Chris- 
tianity and  to  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the 
colony.  The  Recollets  had  made  but  little  progress  in 
proselytism ;  as  yet  very  few  of  the  natives  had  been 
baptised,  nor  were  the  Jesuits  at  first8  much  more 
successful:  these  persevering  men  were,  however, 
not  to  be  disheartened  by  difficulties,  and  they  were 
supported  by  the  hope  that  when  they  became 
better  acquainted  with  the  language  and  manners 
of  their  pupils,  their  instructions  would  yield  a 
richer  harvest.9 

As  New  France  advanced  in  population  and 
prosperity,  the  sentiments  of  religion  became 
strengthened  among  the  settlers.  On  the  first 
arrival  of  the  Jesuits,  Rene  Rohault,  the  eldest 
son  of  the  Marquis  de  Gamache,  and  himself  one 
of  the  Order,  adopted  the  idea  of  founding  a  college 

8  See  Appendix,  XVI. 

9  The  Jesuits  always  retained  the  superior  position  they  held  from 
the  first  among  the  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  of  Canada.  There 
is  a  well-known  Canadian  proverb,  "  Pour  faire  un  Recollet  il  faut  une 
hachette,  pour  un  Pretre  un  ciseau,  mais  pour  un  Jesuite  il  faut  un 
pinceau."  See  Appendix,  XVII.  for  Professor  Kalm's  account  of 
these  three  classes. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          101 

at  Quebec  for  the  education  of  youth,  and  the 
conversion  of  the  Indians,  and  offered  6000  crowns 
of  gold  as  a  donation  to  forward  the  object.  The 
capture  of  the  settlement  by  the  English  had,  for 
a  time,  interrupted  the  execution  of  this  plan ; 
but  Rohault  at  length  succeeded  in  laying  the 
foundation  of  the  building  in  December,  1635,  to 
the  great  joy  of  the  French  colonists. 

In  the  same  month,  to  the  deep  regret  of  all  1635 
good  men,  death^ deprived  his  country  of  the  brave, 
high-minded,  and  wise  Champlain.  He  was  buried 
in  the  city  of  which  he  was  the  founder ;  where, 
to  this  day,  he  is  fondly  and  gratefully  remembered 
among  the  just  and  good.  Gifted  with  high  ability, 
upright,  active,  and  chivalrous,  he  was  at  the  same 
time  eminent  for  his  Christian  zeal  and  humble  piety. 
"  The  salvation  of  one  soul,"  he  often  said,  "  is  of  1 
more  value  than  the  conquest  of  an  empire. "/"T^T"" 
him  belongs  the  glory  of  planting  Christianity  and 
civilisation  among  the  snows  of  those  northern 
forests;  during  his  life  indeed  a  feeble  germ,  but 
sheltered  by  his  vigorous  arm — nursed  by  his  tender 
care — the  root  struck  deep.  Little  more  than  two 
centuries  have  passed  since  the  faithful  servant 
went  to  rest  upon  the  field  of  his  noble  toils.  And 
now  a  million  and  a  half  of  Christian  people  dwell 
in  peace  and  plenty  upon  that  magnificent  territory, 
which  his  zeal  and  wisdom  first  redeemed  from  the 
desolation  of  the  wilderness. 


102 


CHAPTER   IV. 

HAVING  followed  the  course  of  discovery  and 
settlement  in  New  France  up  to  the  death  of  the 
man  who  stamped  the  first  permanent  impression 
upon  that  country,  it  is  now  time  to  review  its 
character  and  condition  at  the  period  when  it 
became  the  abode  of  a  civilised  people.  Cham- 
plain's  deputed  commission  of  governor  gave  him 
authority  over  all  that  France  possessed  or  claimed 
on  the  continent  and  islands  of  North  America ; 
Newfoundland,  Isle  Royal,  and  Acadia,  were  each 
portions  of  this  vast  but  vague  territory;  and 
those  unknown  boundless  solitudes  of  ice  and 
snow,  lying  towards  the  frozen  north,  whose  very 
existence  was  a  speculation,  were  also,  by  the 
shadowy  right  of  an  European  king,  added  to  his 
wide  dominion.  Of  that  portion,  however,  called 
Canada,  it  is  more  especially  the  present  subject  to 
treat. 

Canada  is  a  vast  plain,  irregular  in  elevation  and 
feature,  forming  a  valley  between  two  ranges  of 
high  land;  one  of  these  ranges  divides  it  to  the 
north  from  the  dreary  territories  of  Hudson's  Bay, 
the  other  to  the  south,  from  the  republic  of  the 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  103 

United   States  and  the  British  province    of  New 
Brunswick.      None  of  the  hills  rise  to  any  great 
height ;  with  one  exception,  Man's  Hill  in  the  State 
of  Maine,  2000  feet  is  their  greatest  altitude  above 
the  sea.    The  elevated  districts  are,  however,  of  very 
great  extent,  broken,  rugged,  and  rocky,  clothed 
with  dense  forests,  intersected  with  rapid  torrents, 
and  varied  with  innumerable  lakes.   The  great  plain 
of  Canada  narrows  to  a  mere  strip  of  low  land  by 
the  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  as  it  approaches  the 
eastern  extremity.    From  Quebec  to  the  Gulf  on  the 
north  side,  and  towards  Gaspe  on  the  south,  the 
grim  range   of  mountains  reaches  almost  to  the 
water's  edge ;    westward   of   that    city   the    plain 
expands,  gradually  widening  into  a  district  of  great 
beauty  and  fertility ;  again,  westward  of  Montreal, 
the  level  country  becomes  far  wider  and  very  rich, 
including  the  broad  and  valuable  flats  that  lie  along 
the  lower  waters  of  the  Ottawa.   The  rocky  elevated 
shores  of  Lake   Huron  bound  this  vast  valley  to 
the  west ;  the  same  mountain  range  extends  along 
the  northern   shore  of  Lake  Superior;  beyond  lie 
great  tracts  of  fertile  soil,  where  man's  industrious 
hand  has  not  yet  been  applied. 

Canada  may  be  described  as  lying  between  the 
meridians  of  57°  50',  and  90°  west;  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Esquimaux  river  on  the  confines  of  Labrador, 
to  the  entrance  of  the  stream  connecting  the  waters 
of  Lake  Superior  and  the  Rainy  Lake,  bordering  on 
Prince  Rupert's  Land.  The  parallels  of  42°  and 
52°  inclose  this  country  to  the  south  and  north. 


104  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

The  greatest  length  is  about  1300  miles,  the  breadth 
700.  A  space  of  348,000  square  miles  is  inclosed 
within  these  limits. 

The  great  lakes  in  Canada  give  a  character  to  that 
country  distinct  from  any  other  in  the  Old  World  or 
the  New.  They  are  very  numerous;  some  far  exceed 
all  inland  waters  elsewhere  in  depth  and  extent; 
they  feed,  without  apparent  diminution,  the  great 
river  St.  Lawrence ;  the  tempest  ploughs  their  surface 
into  billows  that  rival  those  of  the  Atlantic,1  and 
they  contain  more  than  half  of  all  the  fresh  water 
upon  the  surface  of  the  globe.2 

1  "  The  sea  (if  it  may  be  so  termed)  on  Lake  Ontario,  is  so  high 
during  a  sharp  gale,  that  it  was  at  first  thought  the  smaller  class 
steam-boats  could  not  live  on  it ;  and  on  Lake  Superior,  the  waves 
almost  rival  those  of  the  far-famed  Cape  of  Storms,  while  the  ground- 
swell,  owing  to  the  comparative  shallowness,  or  little  specific  gravity 
of  the  fresh  water,  is  such  as  to  make  the  oldest  sailor  sick.  Whether 
the  water  in  the  lowest  depths  of  Lakes  Superior  and  Ontario  be  salt 
or  fresh,  we  cannot  ascertain  ;   for  the  greater  density  of  the  former 
may  keep  it  always  below,  or  there  may  be  a  communication  with 
the  fathomless  abysses  of  the  ocean." — Montgomery  Martin,  p.  181. 

2  "  Beyond  Lake  Superior,  stretching  into  the  vast  interior  of  North 
America,  we  find  first  a  long  chain  of  little  lakes  connected  by  nar- 
row channels,  and  which,  combined,  form  what  in  the  early  narratives 
and  even  treaties  is  called  Long  Lake.      Next  occur,  still  connected 
by  the  same  channel,  the  larger  expanses  of  Lake  La  Pluie,  and  Lake 
of  the  Woods.     Another  channel  of  about  100  miles  connects  this 
last  with  the  Winnipeg  Lake,  whose  length  from  north  to  south  is 
almost  equal  to  the  Superior  ;  but  in  a  few  parts  only  it  attains  the 
breadth  of  50  miles.     The  whole  of  this  wonderful  series  of  lakes, 
separated  by  such  small  intervals,  may  almost  be  considered  as  form- 
ing one  inland  sea.     There  is  nothing  parallel  to  this  in  the  rest  of 
the  globe.     The  Tzad,  the   great  interior  sea  of  Africa,  does  not 
equal  the  Ontario.    The  Caspian,  indeed,  is  considerably  greater  than 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  105 

Superior3  is  the  largest  and  most  elevated  of  these 
lakes ;  it  is  crescent-shaped,  convex  to  the  north ; 
to  the  south-east  and  south-west  its  extremities  are 
narrow  points :  the  length  through  the  curve  is  360 
geographical  miles,  the  breadth  in  the  widest  part 
140,  the  circumference  1500.  The  surface  of  this 
vast  sheet  of  fresh  water  is  627  feet  ahove  the  level 
of  the  Atlantic ;  from  various  indications  upon  the 
shores  there  is  good  reason  to  conclude  that  at 
some  remote  period  it  was  forty  or  fifty  feet  higher. 
The  depth  of  Lake  Superior  varies  much  in  different 
parts,  but  is  generally  very  great ;  at  the  deepest  it 
is  probably  1200  feet.  The  waters  are  miraculously 
pure  and  transparent ;  many  fathoms  down  the  eye 

any  of  these  lakes,  almost  equal  to  the  whole  united.  But  the  Cas- 
pian forms  the  final  receptacle  of  many  great  rivers,  among  which 
the  Volga  is  of  the  first  magnitude.  But  the  northern  waters,  after 
forming  this  magnificent  chain  of  lakes,  are  not  yet  exhausted,  but 
issue  forth  from  the  last  of  them,  to  form  one  of  the  noblest  river 
channels,  either  in  the  old  or  new  continent." — History  of  Discove- 
ries and  Travels  in  North  America,  by  H.  Murray,  Esq.,  vol.  ii., 
p.  458. 

3 "  Lake  Superior  is  called  also  Keetcheegahmi,  and  Missisawgaie- 
gon.  It  is  remarkable,  that  while  every  other  large  lake  is  fed  by 
rivers  of  the  first  order,  this,  the  most  capacious  on  the  surface  of 
the  globe,  does  not  receive  a  third  or  even  fourth-rate  stream  ;  the 
St.  Louis,  the  most  considerable,  not  having  a  course  of  more  than 
150  miles.  But  whatever  deficiency  there  may  be  in  point  of  magni- 
tude, it  is  compensated  by  the  vast  number  which  pour  in  their 
copious  floods  from  the  surrounding  heights.  The  dense  covering  of 
wood,  and  the  long  continuance  of  frost,  must  also  in  this  region 
greatly  diminish  the  quantity  drawn  off  by  evaporation." — Bouchette, 
vol.  i.,  pp.  127,  128.  Darby's  View  of  the  United  States  (1828), 
p.  200. 


106          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

can  distinctly  trace  the  rock  and  shingle  of  the 
bottom,  and  follow  the  quick  movements  of  the 
numerous  and  beautiful  fish  inhabiting  these  crystal 
depths.  No  tides  vary  the  stillness  of  this  inland 
sea,  but  when  a  strong  prevailing  wind  sweeps  over 
the  surface,  the  waves  are  lashed  to  fury,  and  the 
waters,  driven  by  its  force,  crowd  up  against  the 
leeward  shore.  When  in  the  spring  the  warm  sun 
melts  the  mountain  snows,  and  each  little  tributary 
becomes  an  impetuous  torrent  pouring  into  this 
great  basin,  the  level  of  the  surface  rises  many  feet. 
Although  no  river  of  any  magnitude  helps  to  supply 
Lake  Superior,  a  vast  number  of  small  streams  fall 
in  from  among  clefts  and  glens  along  the  rugged 
shores  ;4  there  are  also  many  large  islands,  one,  Isle 

4  "  The  Pictured  Rocks  (so  called  from  their  appearance)  are  situated 
on  the  south  side  of  the  lake,  towards  the  east  end,  and  are  really 
quite  a  natural  curiosity  ;  they  form  a  perpendicular  wall  300  feet 
high,  extending  about  twelve  miles,  with  numerous  projections  and 
indentations  in  every  variety  of  form,  and  vast  caverns,  in  which  the 
entering  waves  make  a  tremendous  sound.  The  Pictured  Rocks  of 
Lake  Superior  have  been  described  as  '  surprising  groups  of  over- 
hanging precipices,  towering  walls,  caverns,  waterfalls,  and  prostrate 
ruins,  which  are  mingled  in  the  most  wonderful  disorder,  and  burst 
upon  the  view  in  ever- varying  and  pleasing  succession.'  Among  the 
more  remarkable  objects  are  the  Cascade  La  Portaille,  and  the  Doric 
Arch.  The  Cascade  consists  of  a  considerable  stream  precipitated 
from  a  height  of  70  feet  by  a  single  leap  into  the  lake,  and  projected 
to  such  a  distance,  that  a  boat  may  pass  beneath  the  fall  and  the 
rock,  perfectly  dry.  The  Doric  Arch  has  all  the  appearance  of  a 
work  of  art,  and  consists  of  an  isolated  mass  of  sandstone,  with  four 
pillars  supporting  an  entablature  of  stone,  covered  with  soil,  and  a 
beautiful  grove  of  pine  and  spruce  trees,  some  of  which  are  60  feet 
in  height." — Montgomery  Martin's  History  of  Canada,  vol.  i.,  p.  211. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          107 

Royale,  is  more  than  forty  miles  in  length.  In  some 
places  lofty  hills5  rise  abruptly  from  the  water's 
edge,  in  others  there  are  intervals  of  lower  lands  for 
sixty  or  seventy  miles,  but  everywhere  stands  the 
primeval  forest,  clothing  height  and  hollow  alike. 
At  the  south-eastern  extremity  of  this  lake,  St. 
Mary's  Channel  carries  the  superabundant  waters 
for  nearly  forty  miles,  till  they  fall  into  Lake  Huron ; 
about  midway  between,  they  rush  tumultuously 
down  a  steep  descent  with  a  tremendous  roar 
through  shattered  masses  of  rock,  filling  the  pure 
air  above  with  clouds  of  snowy  foam. 

Lake  Huron  is  the  next  in  succession  and  the 
second  in  magnitude  of  these  inland  seas.  The  out- 
line is  very  irregular,  to  the  north  and  east  formed 
by  the  Canadian  territory,  to  the  south-west  by  that 
of  the  United  States.  From  where  the  Channel  of 
St.  Mary's  enters  this  lake,  to  the  furthest  extremity 
is  240  miles,  the  greatest  breadth  is  220,  the  circum- 
ference about  1000;  the  surface  is  only  32  feet 
lower  than  that  of  Superior ;  in  depth  and  in  pure 
transparency  the  waters  of  this  lake  are  not 
surpassed  by  its  great  neighbour.  Parallel  to  the 
north  shore,  runs  a  long  narrow  peninsula  called 
Cabot  Head,  which  together  with  a  chain  of  islands 

5  "  The  Thunder  Mountain  is  one  of  the  most  appalling  objects  of 
the  kind  that  I  have  ever  seen,  being  a  bleak  rock,  about  twelve 
hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  lake,  with  a  perpendicular  face 
of  its  full  height  towards  the  west  ;  the  Indians  have  a  superstition, 
which  one  can  hardly  repeat  without  becoming  giddy,  that  any 
person  who  may  scale  the  eminence,  and  turn  round  on  the  brink  of 
its  fearful  wall,  will  live  for  ever." — Simpson,  vol.  i.,  p.  33. 


108          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

shuts  in  the  upper  waters  so  as  almost  to  form  a 
separate  and  distinct  lake.  The  Great  Manitoulin 
Island,  the  largest  of  this  chain,  is  seventy-five 
miles  in  length.  In  the  Indian  tongue  the  name 
denotes  it  the  abode  of  the  Great  Spirit,6  and  the 
simple  savages  regard  these  woody  shores  with 
reverential  awe. 

To  the  north  and  west  of  Lake  Huron  the  shores 
are  generally  rugged  and  precipitous;  abrupt 
heights  of  from  30  to  100  feet  rise  from  the 
water's  edge,  formed  of  clay,  huge  stones,  steep 
rocks,  and  wooded  acclivities ;  further  inland,  the 
peaks  of  the  Cloche  mountains  ascend  to  a  con- 
siderable height.  To  the  east,  nature  presents  a 
milder  aspect ;  a  plain  of  great  extent  and  richness 
stretches  away  towards  the  St.  Lawrence.  Many 
streams  pour  their  flood  into  this  lake ;  the  principal 
are  the  Maitland,  Severn,  Moon,  and  French  rivers ; 
they  are  broad  and  deep,  but  their  sources  lie  at  no 
great  distance.  By  far  the  largest  supply  of  water 
comes  from  the  vast  basin  of  Lake  Superior  through 
the  channel  of  St.  Mary.  Near  the  north-western 
extremity  of  Huron,  a  narrow  strait 7  connects  it  with 
Lake  Michigan  in  the  United  States ;  there  is  a 

6  "  The  Indian  appellation  of  '  Sacred  Isles'  first  occurs  at  Lake 
Huron,  and  thence  westward  is  met  with  in  Superior,  Michigan,  and 
the  vast  and  numerous  lakes  of  the  interior.     Those  who  have  been 
in  Asia,  and  have  turned  their  attention  to  the  subject,  will  recognise 
the  resemblance  in  sound  between  the  North  American  Indian  and 
the  Tartar  names." — Montgomery  Martin's  History  of  Canada,  vol.  i., 
p.  117. 

7  "  The  remarkable  post  of  Machillimackinack  is  a  beautiful  island 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  109 

slight  difference  of  level  between  these  two  great 
sheets  of  water,  and  a  current  constantly  sets  into 
the  southern  basin  :  this  lake  is  also  remarkable  for 
its  depth  and  transparency.8 

At  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Huron,  its 
overflow  pours  through  a  river  about  thirty  miles  in 
length  into  a  small  lake  ;  both  lake  and  river  bear 
the  name  of  St.  Glair.9  Thence  the  waters  flow  on 
through  the  broad  but  shallow  stream  of  the  Detroit 

or  great  rock,  planted  in  the  strait  of  the  same  name,  which  forms 
the  connexion  between  Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan.  The  meaning 
of  the  Indian  word  Machillimackinack,  is  Great  Turtle.  The  island  is 
crowned  with  a  cap  of  300  feet  above  the  surrounding  waters,  on  the 
top  of  which  is  a  fortification.  If  Quebec  is  the  Gibraltar  of  North 
America,  Mackinaw  (the  vulgar  appellation  for  this  fort)  is  only 
second  in  its  physical  character,  and  in  its  susceptibilities  of 
improvement  as  a  military  post.  It  is  also  a  most  important  position 
for  the  facilities  it  affords  in  the  fur-trade,  between  New  York  and 
the  north-west." — Mr.  Colton's  American  Lakes,  vol.  i.,  p.  92. 

The  value  of  canals  and  steam  navigation  may  be  judged  of  from 
the  fact,  that,  in  1812,  the  news  of  the  declaration  of  war  against 
Great  Britain  by  the  United  States  did  not  reach  the  post  of  Michil- 
limackinack  (1107  miles  from  Quebec)  in  a  shorter  time  than  two 
months;  the  same  place  is  now  within  the  distance  of  ten  days' 
journey  from  the  Atlantic. 

8  "So  clear  are  the  waters  of  these  lakes,  that  a  white  napkin, 
tied  to  a  lead,  and  sunk  thirty  fathoms  beneath  a  smooth  surface, 
may  be  seen  as  distinctly  as  when  immersed  three  feet." — Colton, 
vol.  i.,  p.  93. 

9  "  The   St.  Clair  (according  to  Dr.  Bigsby)  is  the  only  river  of 
discharge  for  Lakes   Superior,  Michigan  and  Huron,  which  cover  a 
surface  of  thirty-eight  and  a  half  million  of  acres,  and  are  fed  by 
numerous  large  rivers.     Other  able  observers  are  of  opinion  that  the 
Missouri  and  the  Mississippi  receive  some  of  the  waters  of  Superior 
and  Michigan.     Many  persons  think  that  a  subterraneous  communica- 
tion exists  between  all  the  great  lakes,  as  is  surmised  to  be  the  case 
between  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Euxine." — Montgomery  Martin. 


110          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

until  they  fall  into  Lake  Erie  thirty  miles  below ;  on 
either  side  the  banks  and  neighbouring  districts  are 
rich  in  beauty  and  abundantly  fertile. 

Lake  Erie  is  shallow  and  dangerous,  the  anchor- 
age is  bad,  the  harbours  few  and  inconvenient. 
Long  low  promontories  project  for  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  main  land  and  embarrass  the 
navigation.  But  the  coasts  both  on  the  Canadian 
and  American  side  are  very  fertile.1  Lake  Erie  is 
about  265  miles  long,  and  63  wide  at  its  greatest 
breadth,  the  circumference  is  calculated  at  658 
miles,  its  surface  lies  30  feet  below  the  level  of  Lake 
Huron.2  The  length  of  the  lake  stretches  north-east, 

1  "  The  Lake  Erie  is  justly  dignified  by  the  illustrious  name  of 
Conti,  for  assuredly  it  is  the  finest  lake  upon  earth.  Its  circumference 
extends  to  230  leagues  ;  but  it  affords  everywhere  such  a  charming 
prospect,  that  its  banks  are  decked  with  oak-trees,  elms,  chesnut- 
trees,  walnut-trees,  apple-trees,  plum-trees,  and  vines,  which  bear 
their  fine  clusters  up  to  the  very  top  of  the  trees,  upon  a  sort  of 
ground  that  lies  as  smooth  as  one's  hand.  Such  ornaments  as  these 
are  sufficient  to  give  rise  to  the  most  agreeable  idea  of  a  landscape  in 
the  world."— La  Hontan,  in  Pinkerton,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  343  (1683). 

"  Le  nom  que  le  Lac  Erie  porte  est  celui  d'une  nation  de  la  langue 
Huronne,  qui  etait  etablie  sur  ses  bords  et  que  les  Iroquois  ont 
entierement  detruite.  Erie  veut  dire  Chat,  et  les  Eries  sont  nommes 
dans  quelques  relations  la  nation  du  Chat.  Ce  nom  vient  apparem- 
ment  de  la  quantite  de  ces  animaux  qu'on  trouve  dans  le  pays. 
Quelques  cartes  modernes  ont  donne  au  Lac  Erie  le  nom  de  Conti, 
mais  ce  nom  n'a  pas  fait  fortune,  non  plus  que  ceux  de  Conde,  de 
Tracy,  et  d'Orleans,  donnes  au  Lac  Huron,  au  Lac  Superieur,  et  au 
Lac  Michigan."— Charlevoix,  torn,  v.,  p.  374  (1721). 

2  "In  extreme  depth  Lake  Erie  varies  from  forty  to  forty-five 
fathoms,  with  a  rocky  bottom.  Lakes  Superior  and  Huron  have  a 
stiff,  clayey  bottom,  mixed  with  shells.  Lake  Erie  is  reported  to  be 
the  only  one  of  the  series  in  which  any  current  is  perceptible.  The 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          Ill 

almost  the  same  direction  as  the  line  of  the  river 
St.  Lawrence. 

The  Niagara  river  flows  from  the  north-eastern 
extremity  of  Lake  Erie  to  Lake  Ontario  in  a  course 
of  33  miles,  with  a  fall  of  not  less  than  334 
feet.  About  twenty  miles  below  Lake  Erie  is  the 
grandest  sight  that  nature  has  laid  before  the  human 
eye — the  Falls  of  Niagara.  A  stream  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  wide,  deep  and  rapid,  plunges  over  a  rocky 
ledge  150  feet  in  height ;  about  two-thirds  of  the 
distance  across  from  the  Canadian  side  stands  Goat 
Island,  covered  with  stately  timber :  four  times  as 

fact,  if  it  is  one,  is  usually  ascribed  to  its  shallowness  ;  but  the  vast 
volume  of  its  outline — the  Niagara  River — with  its  strong  current, 
is  a  much  more  probable  cause  than  the  small  depth  of  its  water, 
which  may  be  far  more  appropriately  adduced  as  the  reason  why  the 
navigation  is  obstructed  by  ice  much  more  than  either  of  the  other 
great  lakes.  As  connected  with  trade  and  navigation,  this  lake  is 
the  most  important  of  all  the  great  chain,  not  only  because  it  is 
bordered  by  older  settlements  than  any  of  them  except  Ontario,  but 
still  more  because  from  its  position  it  concentrates  the  trade  of  the 
vast  west.  The  Kingston  Herald  notices  a  most  extraordinary  occur- 
rence on  Lake  Erie  during  a  late  storm  (1836).  A  channel  was  made 
by  the  violence  of  the  tempest  through  Long  Point,  N.  Foreland, 
300  yards  wide,  and  from  11  to  15  feet  deep.  It  had  been  in 
contemplation  to  cut  a  canal  at  this  very  spot,  the  expenses  of  which 
were  estimated  at  12,OOOL  The  York  Courier  confirms  this  extra- 
ordinary intelligence,  stating  that  the  storm  made  a  breach  through 
the  point  near  the  main  land,  converted  the  peninsula  into  an  island, 
and  actually  made  a  canal  400  yards  wide,  and  eight  or  ten  feet  deep, 
almost  at  the  very  point  where  the  proposed  canal  was  to  be  cut ; 
and  rendered  nothing  else  now  necessary  in  order  to  secure  a  safe 
channel  for  the  vessels,  and  a  good  harbour  on  both  sides,  than  the 
construction  of  a  pier  on  the  west  side,  to  prevent  the  channel  being 
filled  up  with  sand."— Montgomery  Martin. 


112  .THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA. 

great  a  body  of  water  precipitates  itself  over  the 
northern  or  Horse-shoe  Fall  as  that  which  flows  over 
the  American  portion.  Above  the  cataract  the  river 
becomes  very  rapid  and  tumultuous  in  several  places, 
particularly  at  the  Ferry  of  Blackrock,  where  it 
rushes  past  at  the  rate  of  seven  miles  an  hour ; 
within  the  last  mile  there  is  a  tremendous  indraught 
to  the  Falls.  The  shores  on  both  sides  of  the 
Niagara  river  are  of  unsurpassed  natural  fertility, 
but  there  is  little  scenic  beauty  around  to  divert 
attention  from  the  one  object.  The  simplicity  of  this 
wonder  adds  to  the  force  of  its  impression  ;  no  other 
sight  over  the  wide  world  so  fills  the  mind  with  awe 
and  admiration.  Description  may  convey  an  idea  of 
the  height  and  breadth 3 — the  vast  body  of  water 4 — 

3  "  The  Horse-shoe  Cataract  on  the  British  side  is  the  largest  of 
the  Falls.  The  curvatures  have  been  geometrically  computed  at  700 
yards,  and  its  altitude,  taken  with  a  plumb  line  from  the  surface  of 
the  Table  Rock,  149  feet  ;  the  American  fall,  narrowed  by  Goat 
Island,  does  not  exceed  375  yards  in  curvilinear  length  (the  whole 
irregular  semicircle  is  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  mile),  its  perpen- 
dicular height  being  162  feet,  or  13  feet  higher  than  the  top  of  the 
Great  Fall,  adding  57  feet  for  the  fall ;  the  rapids  thus  give  only  a 
total  of  219  feet,  which  is  less  than  many  other  falls  ;  but  their 
magnificence  consists  in  the  volume  of  the  water  precipitated  over 
them,  which  has  been  computed  at  2400  millions  of  tons  per  day, 
102  millions  per  hour  !  A  calculation  made  at  Queenston,  below  the 
Falls,  is  as  follows  : — The  river  is  here  half  a  mile  broad,  it  averages 
25  feet  deep,  current  three  miles  an  hour  ;  in  one  hour  it  will 
discharge  a  current  of  water  three  miles  long,  half  a  mile  wide, 
and  twenty-five  feet  deep,  containing  1,111,400,000  cubic  feet ;  being 
18,524,000  cubic  feet,  or  113,510,000  gallons  of  water  each 
minute." — Montgomery  Martin's  History  of  Canada. 

4  "  The  total  area  of  the  four  great  lakes  which  pour  forth  their 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  113 

the  profound  abyss — the  dark  whirlpools — the  sheets 
of  foam5 — the  plumy  column  of  spray6  rising  up 
against  the  sky — the  dull  deep  sound  that  throbs 
through  the  earth,  and  fills  the  air  for  miles  and 
miles  with  its  unchanging  voice7 — but  of  the  mag- 
nitude of  this  idea,  and  the  impression  stamped  upon 
the  senses  by  the  reality,  it  is  vain  to  speak  to  those 
who  have  not  stood  beside  Niagara. 

The  descent  of  the  land  from  the  shores  of  Lake 
Erie  to  those  of  Ontario  is  general  and  gradual,8 

waters  to  the  ocean  over  the  falls  of  Niagara,  is  estimated  at  100,000 
square  miles." — Montgomery  Martin. 

5  Colonel  Bouchette  ohserves,  that,  according  to  the  altitude  of  the 
sun,  and  the  situation  of  the  spectator,  a  distinct  and  hright  iris  is 
seen  amidst  the  revolving  columns  of  mist  that  soar  from  the  foaming 
chasm,  and  shroud  the  broad  front  of  the  gigantic  flood.    Both  arches 
of  the  bow  are  seldom  entirely  elicited,  but  the  interior  segment  is 
perfect,  and  its  prismatic  hues   are  extremely  glowing  and  vivid. 
The  fragments  of  a  plurality  of  rainbows  are  sometimes  to  be  seen  in 
various  parts  of  the  misty  curtain. 

6  Symptoms  of  the  Falls  are  discerned  from  a  vast  distance.    From 
Buffalo,  twenty  miles  off,  two  small  fleecy  specks  are  distinctly  seen, 
appearing  and  disappearing  at  intervals.     These  are  the  clouds  of 
spray  arising  from  the  Falls  ;  it  is  even   asserted  that  they  have 
been  seen  from  Lake  Erie,   a  distance  of  fifty-four  miles. — Weld, 
p.  374. 

7  The  sound  of  the  Falls  appears  to  have  been  heard  at  the  dis- 
tance of  twenty  or  even  forty  miles ;  but  these  effects  depend  much 
on  the  direction  of  the  wind,  and  the  tranquil  or  disturbed  state  of  the 
atmosphere.     Mr.  Weld  mentions  having  approached  the  Falls  within 
half  a  mile  without  hearing  any  sound,  while  the  spray  was  but  just 
discernible. — Weld,  p.  374. 

8  "  The  shores  of  Lake  Erie,  though  flat,  are  elevated  about  400 
feet  above  those  of  Lake  Ontario.     The  descent  takes  place  in  the 
short   interval  between   the   two   lakes   traversed  by  the   Niagara 

VOL.  I.  I 


114          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

and  there  is  no  feature  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Falls  to  mark  its  locality.  From  the  Erie  boundary 
the  river  flows  smoothly  through  a  level  but  elevated 
plain,  branching  round  one  large  and  some  smaller 
islands.  Although  the  deep  tremulous  sound  of 
Niagara  tells  of  its  vicinity,  there  is  no  unusual 
appearance  till  within  about  a  mile,  when  the  waters 
begin  to  ripple  and  hasten  on,  a  little  further  it 
dashes  down  a  magnificent  rapid,  then  again  becomes 
tranquil  and  glassy,  but  glides  past  with  astonishing 
swiftness.  There  are  numberless  points  whence 
the  fall  of  this  great  river  may  be  well  seen :  the 

Channel.  This  descent  is  partly  gradual,  producing  only  a  succession 
of  rapids.  It  is  at  Queenstown,  about  seven  miles  below  the  present 
site  of  the  Falls,  that  a  range  of  hills  marks  the  descent  to  the  Ontario 
level.  Volney  conceives  it  certain  that  this  must  have  been  the  place 
down  which  the  river  originally  fell,  and  that  the  continued  and 
violent  action  of  its  waves  must  have  gradually  worn  away  the  rocks 
beneath  them,  and  in  the  course  of  ages  carried  the  Fall  back  to 
its  present  position,  from  which  it  continues  gradually  receding. 
Mr.  Howison  confirms  the  statement,  that,  in  the  memory  of  persons 
now  living  in  Upper  Canada,  a  considerable  change  has  been  observed. 
The  whole  course  of  the  river  downwards  to  Queenston  is  through  a 
deep  dell,  bordered  by  broken  and  perpendicular  steeps,  rudely  over- 
hung by  trees  and  shrubs,  and  the  opposite  strata  of  which  correspond ; 
affording  thus  the  strongest  presumption  that  it  is  a  channel  hewn 
out  by  the  river  itself." — H.  Murray's  Historical  Description  of 
America,  vol.  ii.,  p.  466. 

"  It  is  now  considered  that  there  is  clear  geological  proof  that  the 
Fall  once  existed  at  Queenstown.  The  710,000  tons  of  water  which 
each  minute  pour  over  the  precipice  of  the  Niagara,  are  estimated  to 
carry  away  a  foot  of  the  cliff  every  year  ;  therefore  we  must  suppose 
a  period  of  20,000  years  occupied  in  the  recession  of  the  cataract  to 
its  present  site." — Lyell's  Geology. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF    CANADA.  115 

best  is  Table  Rock  at  the  top  of  the  cataract — the 
most  wonderful,  is  the  recess  between  the  falling 
flood  and  the  cliff  over  which  it  leaps. 

For  some  length  below  Niagara  the  waters  are 
violently  agitated ;  however,  at  the  distance  of  half 
a  mile  a  ferry  plies  across  in  safety.  The  high 
banks  on  both  sides  of  the  river  extend  to  Queenston 
and  Lewiston,  eight  miles  lower,  confining  the  waters 
to  a  channel  of  no  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in 
breadth,  between  steep  and  lofty  cliffs ;  midway  is 
the  whirlpool,9  where  the  current  rushes  furiously 
round  within  encircling  heights.  Below  Queenston 
the  river  again  rolls  along  a  smooth  stream  between 

9  "  The  mouth  of  the  whirlpool  is  more  than  1000  feet  wide,  and  in 
length  ahout  2000.  Mr.  Howison,  in  his  sketches  of  Upper  Canada, 
says,  that  the  current  of  the  river  has  formed  a  circular  excavation  in 
the  high  and  perpendicular  banks,  resembling  a  bay.  The  current, 
which  is  extremely  rapid,  whenever  it  reaches  the  upper  point  of  this 
bay,  forsakes  the  direct  channel,  and  sweeps  wildly  round  the  sides  of 
it  ;  when,  having  made  this  extraordinary  circuit,  it  regains  its  proper 
course,  and  rushes  with  perturbed  velocity  between  two  perpendicular 
precipices,  which  are  not  more  than  400  feet  asunder.  The  surface 
of  the  whirlpool  is  in  a  state  of  continual  agitation.  The  water 
boils,  mantles  up,  and  wreathes  in  a  manner  that  proves  its  fearful 
depth,  and  the  confinement  it  suffers  ;  the  trees  that  come  within  the 
sphere  of  the  current,  are  swept  along  with  a  quivering  zig-zag 
motion,  which  it  is  difficult  to  describe.  This  singular  body  of  water 
must  be  several  hundred  feet  deep,  and  has  not  hitherto  been  frozen 
over,  although  in  spring  the  broken  ice  that  descends  from  Lake 
Erie  descends  in  such  quantities  upon  its  surface,  and  becomes  so 
closely  wedged  together,  that  it  resists  the  current,  and  remains  till 
warm  weather  breaks  it  up.  The  whirlpool  is  one  of  the  greatest 
natural  curiosities  in  the  Upper  Province,  and  its  formation  cannot  be 
rationally  accounted  for. " — Martin's  History  of  Canada,  p.  139. 

i2 


116  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

level  and  cultivated  banks,  till  it  pours  its  waters 
into  Lake  Ontario. 

Ontario  is  the  last1  and  the  most  easterly  of  the 

1  "  This  inland  sea,  though  the  smallest  of  the  great  chain  with 
which  it  is  connected,  is  of  such  extent,  that  vessels  in  crossing  it  lose 
sight  of  land,  and  must  steer  their  way  by  the  compass  ;  and  the 
swell  is  often  equal  to  that  of  the  ocean.  During  the  winter,  the 
north-east  part  of  Ontario,  from  the  Bay  of  Quinte  to  Sacket's 
Harhour,  is  frozen  across  ;  but  the  wider  part  of  the  lake  is  frozen 
only  to  a  short  distance  from  the  shore.  Lake  Erie  is  frozen  still 
less  ;  the  northern  parts  of  Huron  and  Michigan  more  ;  arid  Superior 
is  said  to  be  frozen  to  a  distance  of  seventy  miles  from  its  coasts. 
The  navigation  of  Ontario  closes  in  October  ;  ice-boats  are  some- 
times used  when  the  ice  is  glare  (smooth).  One  mentioned  by 
Lieutenant  de  Roos,  was  twenty-three  feet  in  length,  resting  on 
three  skates  of  iron,  one  attached  to  each  end  of  a  strong  cross-bar, 
fixed  under  the  fore-feet,  the  remaining  one  to  the  stern,  from  the 
bottom  of  the  rudder,  the  mast  and  sail  those  of  a  common  boat ; 
when  brought  into  play  on  the  ice,  she  could  sail  (if  it  may  be  so 
termed)  with  fearful  rapidity,  nearly  twenty-three  miles  an  hour. 
One  has  been  known  to  cross  from  Toronto  to  Fort  George  or 
Niagara,  a  distance  of  forty  miles,  in  little  more  than  three  quarters 
of  an  hour  ;  but,  in  addition  to  her  speed  before  the  wind,  she  is  also 
capable  of  beating  well  up  to  windward,  requiring,  however,  an 
experienced  hand  to  manage  her,  in  consequence  of  her  extreme 
sensibility  of  the  rudder  during  her  quick  motion." — Martin's  His- 
tory  of  Canada. 

"  The  great  earthquake  that  destroyed  Lisbon,  happened  on  the  1st 
November,  1755,  and  on  Lake  Ontario  strong  agitations  of  the  water 
were  observed  from  the  month  of  October,  1755." — Lettera  Rarissima 
data  nelle  Indie  nella  Isola  di  Jamaica  a  7  Julio  del  1503  (Bassano, 
1810,  p.  29). 

"  From  some  submarine  centre  in  the  Atlantic,  this  earthquake 
spread  one  enormous  convulsion  over  an  area  of  700,000  square 
miles,  agitating,  by  a  single  impulse,  the  lakes  of  Scotland  and 
Sweden,  and  the  islands  of  the  West  Indian  Sea.  Not,  however, 
by  a  simultaneous  shock,  for  the  element  of  time  comes  in  with  the 
distance  of  undulation  ;  and,  together  with  this,  another  complexity 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  117 

chain  of  lakes.2  The  greatest  length  is  172  miles;  at 
the  widest  it  measures  59  miles  across;  the  cir- 
cumference is  467  miles,  and  the  surface  is  334  feet 
below  the  level  of  Lake  Erie.  The  depth  of  Ontario 
varies  very  much  along  the  coast,  being  seldom  more 
than  from  three  to  50  fathoms ;  and  in  the  centre, 
a  plummet,  with  300  fathoms  of  line,  has  been  tried 
in  vain  for  soundings.  A  sort  of  gravel,  small  pieces 
of  limestone,  worn  round  and  smooth  by  the  action 
of  water,  covers  the  shores,  lying  in  long  ridges 
sometimes  miles  in  extent.  The  waters,  like  those 
of  the  other  great  lakes,  are  very  pure  and  beautiful, 
except  where  the  shallows  along  the  margin  are 

of  action  in  the  transmission  of  earthquake  movements  through  the 
sea,  arising  from  the  different  rate  of  progression  at  different  depths. 
In  the  fact  that  the  wave  of  the  Lisbon  earthquake  reached  Plymouth 
at  the  rate  of  2*1  miles  per  minute,  and  Barhadoes  at  7 '3  miles  per 
minute  ;  there  is  illustration  of  the  law,  that  the  velocity  of  a  wave 
is  proportional  to  the  square  root  of  its  depth,  and  becomes  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  sounding  line  in  fixing  the  mean  proportional  depth  of 
different  parts  of  this  great  ocean." — Humboldt. 

2  "  There  are  two  lakes  in  Lower  Canada,  Matapediac  and 
Memphramagog.  The  former  is  about  16  miles  long,  and  three 
broad  in  its  greatest  breadth,  about  21  miles  distant  from  the 
St.  Lawrence  river  in  the  county  of  Rimouski ;  amidst  the  islands 
that  separate  the  waters  running  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  from 
those  that  run  to  the  Bay  of  Chaleurs,  it  is  navigable  for  rafts  of  all 
kinds  of  timber,  with  which  the  banks  of  the  noble  river  Matapediac 
are  thickly  covered.  Memphramagog  Lake,  in  the  county  of  Stan- 
stead,  stretching  its  south  extremity  into  the  State  of  Vermont,  is 
of  a  semi-circular  shape,  30  miles  long,  and  very  narrow.  It 
empties  itself  into  the  fine  river  St.  Francis,  by  means  of  the  river 
Magog,  which  runs  through  Lake  Scaswaninepus.  The  Mem- 
phramagog Lake  is  said  to  be  navigable  for  ships  of  500  tons 
burthen."— Martin's,  History  of  Canada,  p.  102. 


]1S          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

stirred  up  by  violent  winds  :  for  a  few  days  in  June 
a  yellow  unwholesome  scum  covers  the  surface  at 
the  edge  every  year.  There  is  a  strange  phenomenon 
connected  with  Ontario,  unaccounted  for  by  scientific 
speculation ;  each  seventh  year,  from  some  inscru- 
table cause,  the  waters  reach  to  an  unusual  height, 
and  again  subside,  mysteriously  as  they  arose.  The 
beautiful  illusion  of  the  mirage  spreads  its  dreamy 
enchantment  over  the  surface  of  Ontario  in  the 
summer  calms,  mixing  islands,  clouds,  and  waters 
in  strange  confusion.3 

The  outline  of  the  shores  is  much  diversified, — to 
the  north-east  lie  low  lands  and  swampy  marshes, — 
to  the  north  and  north-east  extends  a  bold  range  of 
elevated  grounds, — southward  the  coast  becomes 
again  flat  for  some  distance  inland,  till  it  rises  into 
the  ridge  of  heights  that  marks  the  position  of 
Niagara.  The  country  bordering  the  lake  is  gene- 
rally rich  and  productive,  and  was  originally  covered 
with  forest.  A  ridge  of  lofty  land  runs  from  the 
beautiful  Bay  of  Quinte,  on  the  north-west  of  the 
lake,  westward  along  the  shore,  at  a  distance  of  nine 

3  "  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  great  lakes  of  Upper  Canada 
are  liable  to  the  formation  of  the  Prester  or  water-spout,  and  that 
several  instances  are  recorded  of  the  occurrence  of  that  truly  extra- 
ordinary phenomenon,  the  theory  of  which,  however,  is  well  known. 
Whether  electricity  be  a  cause  or  a  consequence  of  this  formidable 
meteor,  appears,  nevertheless,  to  be  a  question  of  some  doubt  among 
natural  philosophers  ;  Gassendi  being  disposed  to  favour  the  former 
opinion,  whilst  Cavallo  espouses  the  latter." — Bouchette's  Topogra- 
phical and  Statistical  Description  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada, 
vol.  i.,  p.  346. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          119 

or  more  miles:  from  these  heights  innumerable 
streams  flow  into  Ontario  on  one  side,  and  into  the 
lakes  and  rivers  of  the  back  country  on  the  other. 
At  Toronto  the  ridge  recedes  to  the  distance  of 
twenty-four  miles  north-east  from  the  lake,  sepa- 
rating the  tributary  waters  of  Lakes  Huron  and 
Ontario ;  thence  merging  in  the  Burlington  Heights, 
it  continues  along  the  south-west  side  from  four  to 
eight  miles  distant  from  the  shore  to  the  high 
grounds  about  Niagara. 

Besides  the  great  stream  of  Niagara,  many  rivers 
flow  into  Ontario  both  on  the  Canadian  and  American 
sides.  The  bays  and  harbours  are  also  very  nume- 
rous, affording  great  facilities  for  navigation  and 
commerce :  in  this  respect  the  northern  shore  is  the 
most  favoured — the  Bays  of  Quinte  and  Burlington 
are  especially  remarkable  for  their  extent  and 
security.4 

4  "  The  most  considerable  harbours  on  the  English  side  are  Toronto 
(York,  the  former  name,  has  recently  changed  to  the  Indian  name  of 
the  place,  Toronto)  and  Kingston.  Toronto  is  situated  near  the 
head  of  Lake  Ontario,  on  the  north  side  of  an  excellent  harbour,  or 
elliptical  basin,  of  an  area  of  eight  or  nine  miles,  formed  by  a  long, 
low,  sandy  peninsula  or  island,  stretching  from  the  land  east  of  the 
town  to  Gibraltar  Point  abreast  of  a  good  fort.  The  town  of  Toronto, 
at  that  period  York,  was  twice  captured  by  the  Americans,  in  April 
and  August,  1813,  owing  to  its  defenceless  state  ;  and  a  large  ship 
of  war,  on  the  stocks,  burnt.  The  Americans  would  not  now  find  its 
capture  such  an  easy  task.  Little  more  than  forty  years  ago  the 
site  whereon  Toronto  now  stands,  and  the  whole  country,  to  the 
north  and  west  of  it,  was  a  perfect  wilderness — the  land  is  now  fast 
clearing  —  thickly  settled  by  a  robust  and  industrious  European- 
descended  population,  blessed  with  health  and  competence,  and 
all  sides  indicating  the  rapid  progress  of  civilisation.  The  other 


120          THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA. 

The  north-east  end  of  Lake  Ontario,  where  its 
waters  pour  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  is  a  scene  of 
striking  beauty;5  numerous  wooded  islands  in  end- 
less variety  of  form  and  extent  divide  the  entrance 
of  the  Great  River6  into  a  labyrinth  of  tortuous 

British  town  of  importance  on  this  shore  is  Kingston,  formerly 
Cataraqui  or  Frontenac,  distant  from  Toronto  184  miles,  and  from 
Montreal  180  miles.  It  is,  next  to  Quebec  and  Halifax,  the  strongest 
British  post  in  America,  and  next  to  Quebec  and  Montreal  the  first 
in  commercial  importance.  It  is  advantageously  situate  on  the  north 
bank  of  Lake  Ontario  at  the  head  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  and  is 
separated  from  Points  Frederick  and  Henry  by  a  bay,  which  extends 
a  considerable  distance  to  the  N.W.  beyond  the  town,  where  it 
receives  the  water  of  a  river  flowing  from  the  interior.  Point 
Frederick  is  a  long  narrow  peninsula,  extending  about  half  a  mile 
into  the  lake,  distant  from  Kingston  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile 
on  the  opposite  side  of  its  bay.  This  peninsula  forms  the  west  side 
of  a  narrow  and  deep  inlet  called  Navy  Bay,  from  its  being  our  chief 
naval  depot  on  Lake  Ontario." — Martin's  History  of  Canada. 

5  "  The  channel  of  the  St.  Lawrence  is  here  so  spacious  that  it  is 
called  the  Lake  of  the  Thousand  Islands.     The  vast  number  implied 
in  this  name  was  considered  a  vague  exaggeration,  till  the  commis- 
sioners employed   in  fixing  the  boundary  with  the  United   States 
actually  counted  them,  and  found  that  they  amounted  to  1692.  They 
are  of  every  imaginable  size,  shape,  and  appearance  ;  some  barely 
visible,   others  covering  fifteen  acres  ;  but  in  general  their  broken 
outline? -presents  the  most  picturesque  combinations  of  wood  and  rock. 
The  navigator,   in  steering  through  them,   sees  an  ever-changing 
scene  ;  sometimes  he  is  inclosed  in  a  narrow  channel,  then  he  dis- 
covers before  him  twelve  openings  like  so  many  noble  rivers  ;  and 
soon  after  a  spacious  lake  seems  to  surround  him  on  every  side." — 
Bouchette,  vol.  i.,  p.  156  ;  Howison's  Sketches  of  Canada,  p.  46. 

6  "  The  St.  Lawrence  traverses  the  whole  extent  of  Lower  Canada, 
as  the  lakes  everywhere  border  and  inclose  Upper  Canada.     There  is 
a  difficulty  in  tracing  its  origin,  or  at  least  which  of  the  tributaries  of 
Lake   Superior  is  to  be  called  the  St.  Lawrence.     The    strongest 
claim  seems  to  be  made  by  the  series  of  channels  which  connect  all 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          121 

channels,  for  twelve  miles  in  breadth  from  shore  to 
shore:  this  width  gradually  decreases  as  the  stream 
flows  on  to  Prescott  fifty  miles  below ;  a  short  dis- 
tance beyond  that  town  the  rapids  commence,7  and 

the  great  upper  lakes,  though,  strictly  speaking  till  after  the  Ontario, 
there  is  nothing  which  can  very  properly  he  called  a  river.  There 
are  only  a  rmmher  of  short  canals  connecting  the  different  lakes,  or 
rather  separating  one  immense  lake  into  a  number  of  great  branches. 
It  seems  an  interesting  question  how  this  northern  centre  of  the 
continent,  at  the  precise  latitude  of  about  50°,  should  pour  forth  so 
immense  and  overwhelming  a  mass  of  waters  ;  for  through  a  great 
part  of  its  extent  it  is  quite  a  dead  flat,  though  the  Winnipeg,  indeed, 
draws  some  tributaries  from  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  thick  forests 
with  which  the  surface  is  covered,  the  slender  evaporation  which 
takes  place  during  the  long  continuance  of  cold,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  the  thorough  melting  of  the  snows  by  the  strong  summer  heat, 
seem  to  be  the  chief  sources  of  this  profuse  and  superabundant 
moisture." — H.  Murray's  Historical  Account  of  Discoveries  and 
Travels  in  North  America,  vol.  ii.,  p.  459.  1829. 

7  "  The  statements  laid  before  Parliament  thus  enumerate  and 
describe  the  five  rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  which  are  impassable  by 
steam,  and  occur  between  Montreal  and  Kingston,  a  distance,  by  the 
St.  Lawrence  river,  of  171  miles,  and  by  the  Rideau  Canal  267  miles. 
The  rapids  vary  in  rapidity,  intricacy,  depth  and  width  of  channel, 
and  in  extent,  from  half  a  mile  to  nine  miles.  The  Cedar  Rapid, 
twenty-four  miles  from  La  Chine,  is  nine  miles  long,  very  intricate, 
running  from  nine  to  twelve  miles  an  hour,  and  in  some  places  only 
from  nine  to  ten  feet  water  in  the  channel.  The  Coteau  du  Lac 
Rapid,  six  miles  above  the  former,  is  two  miles  long,  equally  intricate 
in  channel,  and  in  some  places  only  sixteen  feet  wide.  Long  Sault, 
forty-five  miles  above  the  preceding,  is  nine  or  ten  miles  long,  with 
generally  the  same  depth  of  water  throughout.  It  is  intersected  by 
several  islands,  through  whose  channels  the  water  rushes  with  great 
velocity,  so  that  boats  are  carried  through  it,  or  on  it,  at  the  rate  of 
twenty-seven  miles  an  hour  ;  at  the  foot  of  the  rapid  the  water  takes 
a  sudden  leap  over  a  slight  precipice,  whence  its  name.  From  the 
Long  Sault  to  Prescott  is  forty-one  miles  shoal  water,  running  from 


122  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

thence  to  Montreal  the  navigation  is  interrupted  for 
vessels  of  burthen;  boats,  rafts,  and  small  steamers, 
however,  constantly  descend  these  tumultuous  waters, 
and  not  unfrequently  are  lost  in  the  dangerous 
attempt.  The  most  beautiful  and  formidable  of  these 
rapids  is  called  the  Cedars,  from  the  rich  groves  of 
that  fragrant  tree  covering  numerous  and  intricate 
islands  which  distort  the  rushing  stream  into  narrow 
and  perilous  channels:  the  water  is  not  more  than 
ten  feet  deep  in  some  places,  and  flows  at  the  rate  of 
twelve  miles  an  hour.  The  river  there  widens  into 
Lake  St.  Francis,  and  again  into  Lake  St.  Louis,  which 
drains  a  large  branch  of  the  Ottawa  at  its  south- 
western extremity.  The  water  of  this  great  tributary 
is  remarkably  clear  and  of  a  bright  emerald  colour; 
that  of  the  St.  Lawrence  at  this  junction  is  muddy 
from  having  passed  over  deep  beds  of  marl  for 
several  miles  above  its  entrance  to  Lake  St.  Louis : 
for  some  distance  down  the  lake  the  different  streams 
can  be  plainly  distinguished  from  each  other.  From  the 
confluence  of  the  first  branches  above  Montreal  these 
two  great  rivers  seem  bewildered  among  the  nume- 
rous and  beautiful  islands,  and  hurrying  past  in 
strong  rapids,  only  find  rest  again  in  the  broad  deep 
waters  many  miles  below. 

The  furthest  sources   of  the  Ottawa   river  are 
unknown.8    It  rises   to  importance  at  the  outlet 

six  to  eight  miles  an  hour,  and  impassable  by  steamboats.  Then 
the  Rapid  Du  Plas,  half  a  mile  long,  and  Rapid  Galoose,  one  and 
half  a  mile  long,  intervene." 

8  "According  to  Mr.  M'Gregor  (Brit.  Amer.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  525),  the 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  123 

from  Lake  Temiscaming,  350  miles  west  of  its  junc- 
tion with  the  St.  Lawrence.9  Beyond  the  Falls  and 

Ottawa,  or  Grand  River,  is  said  to  have  its  source  near  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  to  traverse  in  its  windings  a  distance  of  2500  miles. 
The  more  sober  statement  of  Bouchette  attributes  to  the  Ottawa 
a  course  of  about  450  miles  before  joining  the  St.  Lawrence." — 
Bouchette,  vol.  i.,  p.  187. 

"  A  tremendous  scene  is  presented  at  the  eastern  part  of  Lake 
St.  Louis,  where  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  grand  tributary,  the 
Ottawa,  rush  down  at  once  and  meet  in  dreadful  conflict.  The  swell 
is  then-  equal  to  that  produced  by  a  high  gale  in  the  British  Channel, 
and  the  breakers  so  numerous,  that  all  the  skill  of  the  boatmen  is 
required  to  steer  their  way.  The  Canadian  boatmen,  however,  are 
among  the  most  active  and  hardy  races  in  the  world,  and  they  have 
boats  expressly  constructed  for  the  navigation  of  these  perilous 
channels.  The  largest  of  these,  called,  it  is  not  known  why,  the 
Durham  boat,  is  used  both  here  and  in  the  rapids  of  the  Mohawk. 
It  is  long,  shallow,  and  nearly  flat-bottomed.  The  chief  instrument 
of  steerage  is  a  pole  ten  feet  long,  shod  with  iron,  and  crossed  at 
short  intervals  with  small  bars  of  wood  like  the  feet  of  a  ladder. 
The  men  place  themselves  at  the  bow,  two  on  each  side,  thrust  their 
poles  into  the  channel,  and  grasping  successively  the  wooden  bars, 
work  their  way  towards  the  stern,  thus  pushing  on  the  vessel  in  that 
direction.  At  other  times  by  the  brisk  and  vigorous  use  of  the  oar, 
they  catch  and  dash  through  the  most  favourable  lines  of  current. 
In  this  exhausting  struggle,  however,  it  is  needful  to  have  frequent 
pauses  for  rest,  and  in  the  most  difficult  passages  there  are  certain 
positions  fixed  for  this  purpose,  which  the  Canadians  call  pipes." — 
H.  Murray's  Hist.  Descr.  of  America,  vol.  ii.,  p.  473. 

9  "  From  the  sea  to  Montreal  this  superb  river  is  called  the 
St.  Lawrence,  from  thence  to  Kingston,  in  Upper  Canada,  the 
Cataraqui  or  Iroquois ;  between  Lakes  Ontario  and  Erie,  the  Niagara; 
between  Lakes  Erie  and  St.  Clair,  the  Detroit;  between  Lakes  St.  Clair 
and  Huron,  the  St.  Clair;  and  between  Lakes  Huron  and  Superior,  the 
distance  is  called  the  Narrows  or  Falls  of  St.  Mary.  The  St.  Law- 
rence discharges  to  the  ocean  annually  about  4,277,880  millions  of 
tons  of  fresh  water,  of  which  2,112,120  millions  of  tons  may  be 
reckoned  melted  snow ;  the  quantity  discharged  before  the  thaw 


124          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

Portage  des  Allumettes,  110  miles  above  Hull,  this 
stream  has  been  little  explored.  There  it  is  divided 
into  two  channels  by  a  large  island  fifteen  miles 
long:  the  southernmost  of  these  expands  into  the 
width  of  four  or  five  miles,  and  communicates  by  a 
branch  of  the  river  with  the  Mud  and  Musk  Rat 
Lakes.  Twelve  miles  further  south  the  river  again 
forms  two  branches,  including  an  extensive  and 
beautiful  island  twenty  miles  in  length ;  numerous 
rapids  and  cascades  diversify  this  wild  but  lovely 
scene ;  thence  to  the  foot  of  the  Chenaux,  wooded 
islands  in  picturesque  variety  deck  the  bosom  of  the 
stream,  and  the  bright  blue  waters  here  wind  their 
way  for  three  miles  through  a  channel  of  pure  white 
marble.  Nature  has  bestowed  abundant  fertility  as 
well  as  beauty  upon  this  favoured  district.  The 
Gatineau  river  joins  the  Ottawa  near  Hull,  after  a 
course  of  great  length.  This  stream  is  navigated 

comes  on,  being  4512  millions  of  tons  per  day  for  240  days,  and  the 
quantity  after  the  thaw  begins,  being  25,560  millions  per  day  for 
125  days,  the  depths  and  velocity  when  in  and  out  of  flood  being 
duly  considered  :  hence  a  ton  of  water  being  nearly  equal  to  55  cubic 
yards  of  pure  snow,  the  St.  Lawrence  frees  a  country  of  more  than 
2,000  miles  square,  covered  to  the  depth  of  three  feet.  The 
embouchure  of  this  first-class  stream  is  that  part  of  the  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence  where  the  island  of  Anticosti  divides  the  mouth  of  the 
river  into  two  branches.  According  to  Mr.  M'Taggart,  a  shrewd 
and  humorous  writer,  the  solid  contents  in  cubic  feet  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  embracing  Lakes  Superior,  Huron,  Michigan,  Erie  and 
Ontario,  is  estimated  at  1,547,792,360,000  cubic  feet,  and  the 
superficial  area  being  72,930  square  miles,  the  water  therein  would 
form  a  cubic  column  of  nearly  22  miles  on  each  side  !" — Montgomery 
Martin's  History  of  Canada. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          125 

by  canoes  for  more  than  300  miles,  traversing 
an  immense  valley  of  rich  soil  and  picturesque 
scenery. 

At  the  foot  of  the  Chenaux  the  magnificent  Lake 
des  Chats  opens  to  view,  in  length  about  fifteen 
miles ;  the  shores  are  strangely  indented,  and  num- 
bers of  wooded  islands  stud  the  surface  of  the  clear 
waters.  At  the  foot  of  the  lake  there  are  falls  and 
rapids  ;*  thence  to  Lake  Chaudiere,  a  distance  of  six 
miles,  the  channel  narrows,  but  expands  again  to 
form  that  beautiful  and  extensive  basin.  Rapids 
again  succeed,  and  continue  to  the  Chaudiere  Falls. 
The  boiling  pool  into  which  these  waters  descend  is 
of  great  depth  :  the  sounding-line  does  not  reach  the 
bottom  at  the  length  of  300  feet.  It  is  supposed 
that  the  main  body  of  the  river  flows  by  a  subterra- 
neous passage,  and  rises  again  half  a  mile  lower 
down.  Below  the  Chaudiere  Falls  the  navigation  is 
uninterrupted  to  Grenville,  sixty  miles  distant.  The 
current  is  scarcely  perceptible ;  the  banks  are  low, 
and  generally  overflowed  in  the  spring;  but  the 
varying  breadth  of  the  river,  the  numerous  islands, 
the  magnificent  forests,  and  the  crystal  purity  of  the 
waters,  lend  a  charm  to  the  somewhat  monotonous 

1  "  Kinnel  Lodge,  the  residence  of  the  celehrated  Highland  chieftain 
M'Nab,  is  romantically  situated  on  the  south  bank  of  the  lake,  about 
five  miles  above  the  head  of  the  Chats  Rapids,  which  are  three  miles 
long,  and  pass  amidst  a  labyrinth  of  varied  islands,  until  the  waters 
of  the  Ottawa  are  suddenly  precipitated  over  the  Falls  of  the  Chats, 
which  to  the  number  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  form  a  curved  line  across 
the  river,  regularly  divided  by  woody  islands,  the  falls  being  in  depth 
from  sixteen  to  twenty  feet," — M.  Martin's  History  of  Canada. 


126          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

beauty  of  the  scene.  At  Grenville  commences  the 
Long  Sault,  a  swift  and  dangerous  rapid,  which 
continues  with  intervals  till  it  falls  into  the  still 
Lake  of  the  Two  Mountains.  Below  the  heights 
from  whence  this  sheet  of  water  derives  its  name, 
the  well-known  Rapids  of  St.  Anne's  discharge 
the  main  stream  into  the  waters  of  the  St. 
Lawrence.2 

Below  the  Island  of  Montreal  the  St.  Lawrence 
continues,  in  varying  breadth  and  considerable  depth, 
to  Sorel,  where  it  is  joined  by  the  Richelieu  river 
from  the  south ;  thence  opens  the  expanse  of  Lake 
St.  Peter,  shallow  and  uninteresting ;  after  twenty- 
five  miles  the  Great  River  contracts  again,  receives 
in  its  course  the  waters  of  the  St.  Maurice,  and 
other  large  streams ;  and  180  miles  below  Montreal 
the  vast  flood  pours  through  the  narrow  channel 
that  lies  under  the  shadow  of  Quebec.3  Below  this 
strait  lies  a  deep  basin,  nearly  four  miles  wide, 
formed  by  the  head  of  the  Island  of  Orleans :  the 
main  channel  continues  by  the  south  shore.  It 

2  See  Appendix,  No.  XIX. 

3  "At  Quebec,  the  river  St.  Lawrence  narrows  to  131 4  yards  ;  yet 
the  navigation  is  completely  unobstructed,  while  there  is  formed 
near  the  city,  a  capacious  harbour.  About  twenty-one  miles  lower,  its 
waters  beginning  to  mingle  with  those  of  the  sea,  acquire  a  saline 
taste,  which  increases  till,  at  Kamauraska,  seventy-five  miles  nearer  its 
mouth,  they  become  completely  salt.  Yet  custom,  with  somewhat 
doubtful  propriety,  considers  the  river  as  continued  down  to  the  island 
of  Anticosti,  and  bounded  by  Cape  Rosier  on  the  southern,  and  Min- 
gau  settlement  on  the  northern  shore." — Bouchette's  Top.  and  Stat. 
Descr.  of  Canada,  vol.  i.,  pp.  164 — 169. 


THE    CONQUEST   OP   CANADA.  127 

would  be  wearisome  to  tell  of  all  the  numerous  and 
beautiful  islands  that  deck  the  bosom  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  from  Quebec  to  the  Gulf.  The  river  gra- 
dually expands,  till  it  reaches  a  considerable  breadth 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Saguenay.  There  is  a  dark 
shade  for  many  miles  below  where  this  great  tribu- 
tary pours  its  gloomy  flood  into  the  pure  waters  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  :  120  miles  westward  it  flows  from 
a  large  circular  sheet  of  water,  called  Lake  St.  John ; 
but  the  furthest  sources  lie  in  the  unknown  regions  of 
the  west  and  north.  For  about  half  its  course,  from 
the  lake  to  Tadoussac  at  the  mouth,  the  banks  are 
rich  and  fertile ;  but  thence  cliffs  rise  abruptly 
out  of  the  water  to  a  lofty  height, — sometimes 
2000  feet, — and  two  or  three  miles  apart.  The 
depth  of  the  Saguenay  is  very  great,  and  the  sur- 
rounding scenery  is  of  a  magnificent  but  desolate 
character. 

Below  the  entrance  of  the  Saguenay  the  St.  Law- 
rence increases  to  twenty  miles  across,  at  the  Bay 
of  Seven  Islands  to  seventy,  at  the  head  of  the  large 
and  unexplored  island  of  Anticosti  to  ninety,  and  at 
the  points  where  it  may  be  said  to  enter  the  Gulf 
between  Gaspe  and  the  Labrador  coast,  reaches  the 
enormous  breadth  of  120  miles.  In  mid-channel 
both  coasts  can  be  seen ;  the  mountains  on  the 
north  shore  rise  to  a  great  height  in  a  continuous 
range,  their  peaks  capped  with  eternal  snows. 

Having  traced  this  vast  chain  of  water  com- 
munication from  its  remotest  links,  it  is  now  time 
to  speak  of  the  magnificent  territory  which  it 


128  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

opens  to  the  commerce  and  enterprise  of  civilised 
man. 

Upper  or  Western  Canada4  is  marked  off  from 
the  eastern  province  by  the  natural  boundary  of 
the  Ottawa  or  Grand  River.  It  consists  almost 
throughout  of  one  uniform  plain.  In  all  those 
districts  hitherto  settled  or  explored  there  is  scarcely 
a  single  eminence  that  can  be  called  a  hill,  although 
traversed  by  two  wide  ridges,  rising  above  the  usual 
level  of  the  country.  The  greater  of  these  elevations 
passes  through  nearly  the  whole  extent  of  the 
province  from  south-east  to  north-west,  separating 
the  waters  falling  into  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the 
great  lakes,  from  those  tributary  to  the  Ottawra  : 
the  highest  point  is  forty  miles  north  of  Kingston, 
being  also  the  most  elevated  level  on  that  magnificent 
modern  work,  the  Rideau  Canal;5  it  is  290  feet 
above  the  Ottawa  at  Bytown,  and  160  feet  higher 
than  the  surface  of  Lake  Ontario.  Towards  these 
waters  the  plain  descends  at  the  gradient  of  about 
four  feet  in  the  mile ;  this  declivity  is  imperceptible 
to  the  eye,  and  is  varied  by  gently  undulating 
slopes  and  inequalities.  Beyond  the  broad  rich 
valley  lying  to  the  north  of  this  elevation  there  is  a 

4  See  Appendix,  No.  XX. 

5  "  The  Falls  of  the  Rideau  are  about  fifty  feet  in  height,  and  300 
in  breadth,  being  at  the  time  we  saw  them  more  magnificent  than 
usual,  by  reason  of  the  high  state  of  the  waters.  It  is  from  their 
resemblance  to  a  curtain  that  they  are  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
Rideau,  and  they  also  give  this  name  to  the  river  that  feeds  them, 
which  again  lends  the  same  appellation  to  the  canal  that  connects  the 
Ottawa  with  Lake  Ontario." — Simpson,  vol.  i.,  p.  16. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  129 

rocky  and  mountainous  country ;  still  farther  north 
are  seen  snow-covered  peaks  of  a  great  but  unknown 
height;  thence  to  the  pole  extends  the  dreary 
region  of  the  Hudson  Bay  territory. 

The  lesser  elevation  begins  near  the  eastern 
extremity  of  Ontario,  and  runs  almost  parallel  with 
the  shores  of  the  lake  to  a  point  about  twenty-four 
miles  north-west  from  Toronto,  where  it  separates 
the  streams  flowing  into  lakes  Huron  and  Ontario : 
it  then  passes  south-east  between  lakes  Erie  and 
Ontario,  and  terminates  on  the  Genessee  in  the 
United  States.  This  has  a  more  perceptible  elevation 
than  the  southern  ridge,  and  in  some  places  rises 
into  bold  heights. 

The  only  portion  of  the  vast  plain  of  Western 
Canada  surveyed  or  effectually  explored,  is  included 
by  a  line  drawn  from  the  eastern  coast  of  lake 
Huron  to  the  Ottawa  river,  and  the  northern  shores 
of  the  great  chain  of  lake  and  river ;  this  is  however 
nearly  as  large  as  the  whole  of  England. 

The  natural  features  of  Lower  or  Eastern  Canada 
are  unsurpassed  by  those  of  any  other  country  in 
grace  and  variety :  rivers,  lakes,  mountains,  forests, 
prairies  and  cataracts  are  grouped  together  in 
endless  combinations  of  beauty  and  magnificence. 
The  eastern  districts,  beginning  with  the  bold  sea- 
coast  and  broad  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  are 
high,  mountainous,  and  clothed  with  dark  forests 
on  both  sides,  down  to  the  very  margin  of  the  river. 
To  the  north,  a  lofty  and  rugged  range  of  heights 
runs  parallel  with  the  shore  as  far  westward  as 

VOL.  I.  K 


130  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

Quebec ;  thence  it  bends  west  and  south-west  to  the 
banks  of  the  Ottawa.  To  the  south,  the  elevated 
ridge,  where  it  reaches  within  sixty  miles  of  Quebec, 
turns  from  the  parallel  of  the  St.  Lawrence  south- 
west and  south  into  the  United  States ;  this  ridge, 
known  by  the  name  of  the  Alleghanies,  rises  abruptly 
out  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  at  Perce,  between 
the  Baye  de  Chaleur  and  Gaspe  Cape,  and  is  more 
distant  from  the  Great  River  than  that  upon  the 
northern  shore.  Where  the  Alleghanies  enter  the 
United  States  they  divide  the  plains  of  the  Atlantic 
coast  from  the  basin  of  the  Ohio ;  their  greatest 
height  is  about  4,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
The  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  lying  between 
these  two  ranges  of  heights  is  marked  by  great 
diversities  of  hill,  plain,  and  valley.  Both  from  the 
north  and  south  numerous  rivers  pour  their  tributary 
flood  into  the  great  waters  of  Canada ;  of  those  east- 
ward of  the  Saguenay  little  is  known  beyond  their 
entrance ;  they  flow  through  cliffs  of  light-coloured 
sand,  rocky  wooded  knolls,  or  in  some  places  deep 
swampy  mossbeds  nearly  three  feet  in  depth.  From 
the  Saguenay  to  Quebec  the  mountain  ridge  along 
the  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence  is  unbroken,  save 
where  streams  find  their  way  to  the  Great  River,  but 
beyond  this  coast-border  the  country  is  in  some 
places  level,  in  others  undulating,  with  hills  of 
moderate  height,  and  well  watered  vallies.  From 
Quebec  westward  to  the  St.  Maurice  which  joins  the 
St.  Lawrence  at  Three  Rivers,  the  land  rises  in  a 
gentle  ascent  from  the  banks  of  the  Great  River,  and 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          131 

presents  a  rich  tract  of  fertile  plains  and  slopes :  in 
the  distance  a  lofty  chain  of  mountains  protects  this 
favoured  district  from  the  bitter  northern  blast. 
Along  the  north  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence  from  the 
St.  Maurice,  the  country  towards  the  Ottawa  is 
slightly  elevated  into  table  ridges,  with  occasional 
abrupt  declivities  and  some  extensive  plains.  In  this 
portion  of  Canada  are  included  the  islands  of  Montreal, 
Jesus,  and  Perrot,  formed  by  the  various  branches 
of  the  Great  River  and  the  Ottawa  where  their 
waters  unite.  Montreal  is  the  largest  and  most 
fertile  of  these  islands;  its  length  is  thirty-two 
miles  and  breadth  ten,  the  general  shape  is  trian- 
gular. Isle  Jesus  is  twenty-one  miles  by  six  in 
extent,  and  also  very  rich ;  there  are  besides  several 
other  smaller  islands  of  considerable  fertility.  Isle 
Perrot  is  poor  and  sandy.  The  remote  country  to 
the  north  of  the  Ottawa  is  but  little  known. 

On  the  south  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  the 
peninsula  of  Gaspd  is  the  most  eastern  district ; 
this  large  tract  of  country  has  been  very  little  ex- 
plored :  so  far  as  it  has  been  examined,  it  is  uneven, 
mountainous,  and  intersected  with  deep  ravines; 
but  the  forests,  rivers,  and  lakes,  are  very  fine,  and 
the  vallies  fertile.  The  sea-beach  is  low  and  hard,6 

6  Modern  alluvial  accumulations  are  rapidly  increasing  on  some 
points  of  this  coast,  owing  to  the  enormous  mass  of  fresh  water 
charged  with  earthy  matter,  that  here  mingles  with  the  sea.  The 
surface  of  the  water  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  where  the 
depth  is  100  fathoms,  is  stated  by  Bayfield,  to  be  turbid  from  this 
cause, — yet,  that  this  discoloration  is  superficial  is  evident,  for  in  the 
wake  of  a  ship  moving  through  the  troubled  surface,  the  clear  blue 
waters  of  the  sea  are  seen  below. 


132  THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA. 

answering  the  purposes  of  a  road ;  at  the  Cape  of 
Gasp£,  however,  there  are  some  bold  and  lofty  cliffs. 
Behind  the  beach  the  land  rises  into  high  round 
hills,  well  wooded ;  sheltered  from  the  Gaspe  district 
to  the  Chaudiere  river  the  country  is  not  so  stern 
as  on  the  northern  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence ;  though 
somewhat  hilly,  it  abounds  in  large  and  fertile 
vallies.  The  immediate  shores  of  the  river  are  flat, 
thence  irregular  ridges  arise,  till  they  reach  an  ele- 
vated table-land  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  from  the 
beach.  From  the  Chaudiere  river  westward,  extends 
that  rich  and  valuable  country  now  known  by  the 
name  of  the  Eastern  Townships.  At  the  mouth  of 
the  Chaudiere,  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  are 
bold  and  lofty ;  but  they  gradually  lower  to  the 
westward,  till  they  sink  into  the  flats  of  Baye  du 
Febre,  and  form  the  marshy  shores  of  Lake  St.  Peter, 
whence  a  rich  plain  extends  to  a  great  distance. 
This  district  contains  several  high  isolated  moun- 
tains, and  is  abundantly  watered  by  lakes  and 
rivers.  To  the  south  lies  the  territory  of  the  United 
States. 


133 


CHAPTER  V. 

UPON  the  surface  of  Canada  are  found  manifest 
indications  of  that  tremendous  deluge,  the  effects  of 
which  are  so  plainly  visible  in  the  Old  World.  Huge 
boulder  stones l  abound  in  almost  every  part  of  the 
province;  sometimes  they  are  seen  rounded,  piled 
in  high  heaps  on  extensive  horizontal  beds  of  lime- 
stone, swept  together  by  the  force  of  some  vast 
flood.  Masses  of  various  kinds  of  shells  lie  in  great 
quantities  in  hollows  and  vallies,  some  of  them  hun- 
dreds of  feet  above  the  level  of  Lake  Ontario.  Near 
to  great  rivers,  and  often  where  now  no  waters  are 

1  "  The  neighbourhood  of  Quebec,  as  well  as  Canada  in  general,  is 
much  characterised  by  boulders,  and  the  size  and  position  of  some  of 
them  is  very  striking.  There  are  two  crowning  the  height  which 
overlooks  the  domain  farm  at  Beauport,  whose  collective  weight  is 
little  short,  by  computation,  of  forty  tons.  The  Heights  of  Abraham 
also  are,  or  rather  were,  crowded  with  them ;  and  it  should  never 
be  forgotten  that  it  was  upon  one  of  these  hoary  symbols,  the  debacles 
of  the  deluge,  as  they  are  supposed  to  be,  that  the  immortal  and 
mortal  parts  of  two  heroes  separated  from  each  other.  It  has  often 
occurred  to  us,  that  one  of  the  most  suitable  monuments  to  the 
memory  of  Wolfe  and  Montcalm  might  have  been  erected  with  these 
masses,  in  the  form  of  a  pyramid  or  pile  of  shot,  instead  of  burying 
them,  as  in  many  instances  has  been  done,  in  order  to  clear  the 
ground.  "—Picture  of  Quebec,  p.  456. 


134  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

at  hand,  undulations  of  rocks  are  seen  like  those 
found  in  the  beds  of  rapids  where  the  channels  are 
waved.  These  have  evidently,  at  some  remote 
period,  been  the  courses  of  floods  now  no  longer 
existing.  On  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence detached  boulder  stones  appear,  some  of 
enormous  size,  many  tons  in  weight;  they  must 
have  come  from  a  great  distance,  for  nowhere  in 
that  region  is  there  any  rock  of  similar  material. 
In  the  upper  strata  of  the  country,  are  abundant 
fossil  remains  of  distinct  animal  existences  now 
unknown ;  they  are  blended  with  the  limestone  in 
which  they  lie. 

It  seems  certain  that  the  whole  of  Canada  has 
been  violently  convulsed  by  some  effort  of  nature, 
since  the  floods  of  the  deluge  passed  away ;  the 
mountains  are  abrupt  and  irregular  in  outline,  and 
in  some  places  cleft  with  immense  chasms;  the 
rivers  also  show  singular  contortions.  North  of 
Quebec  and  in  St.  Paul's  Bay,  are  many  traces  of 
volcanic  eruptions,  and  vast  masses  of  alluvial 
rocks,  bearing  marks  of  vitrification,  frequently 
appear  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  There  is, 
besides,  strong  evidence  that  the  American  Conti- 
nent has  lain  for  unknown  ages  beneath  the  great 
deep,  or  that  it  is  of  later  formation  than  Europe  or 
Asia. 

As  far  as  it  has  been  explored,  the  general  geolo- 
gical structure  of  Canada  exhibits  a  granite  country, 
with  some  calcareous  rocks  of  a  soft  texture  in  hori- 
zontal strata.  The  lower  islands  in  the  St.  Lawrence 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  135 

are  merely  inequalities  of  the  vast  granite  strata 
which  occasionally  stand  above  the  level  of  the 
waters;  the  whole  neighbouring  country  appears 
as  if  the  Great  River  had,  at  one  time,  covered  it. 
The  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  are,  in  many  places, 
formed  of  a  schistus  substance  in  a  decaying  state, 
but  still  granite  is  everywhere  found  in  strata, 
inclined,  but  never  parallel  to  the  horizon.  In  the 
Gaspe  district  many  beautiful  quartz,  and  a  great 
variety  of  cornelians,  agates,  copals,  and  jaspers 
have  been  found,  and  traces  of  coal  have  also  been 
observed.2 

2  Gray  says,  in  1809,  that  "no  coal  has  ever  yet  been  found  in 
Canada,  probably  because  it  has  never  been  thought  worth  search- 
ing after.  It  is  supposed  that  coal  exists  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Quebec  ;  at  any  rate  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  exists  in  great 
abundance  in  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  which  may  one  day  become 
the  Newcastle  of  Canada." — P.  287. 

"  No  idea  can  be  formed  of  the  importance  of  the  American  coal- 
seams,  until  we  reflect  on  the  prodigious  area  over  which  they  are 
continuous.  The  elliptical  area  occupied  by  the  Pitteburg  seam  is 
225  miles  in  its  largest  diameter,  while  its  maximum  breadth  is 
about  100  miles ;  its  superficial  extent  being  about  14,000  square  miles. 

"  The  Apalachian  coal-field  extends  for  a  distance  of  720  miles  from 
north-east  to  south-west,  its  greatest  width  being  about  180  miles. 

"  The  Illinois  coal-field  is  not  much  inferior  in  dimensions  to  the 
whole  of  England." — Ly ell's  America,  vol.  ii.,  p.  31. 

"  It  was  the  first  time  I  had  seen  the  true  coal  in  America,  and  I 
was  much  struck  with  its  surprising  analogy  in  mineral  and  fossil 
characters  to  that  of  Europe  ;  ,  the  whole  series  resting  on 

a  coarse  grit  and  conglomerate,  containing  quartz  pebbles,  very  like 
our  millstone  grit,  and  often  called  by  the  American,  as  well  as  the 
English   miners,    the    '  Farewell  Rock,'  because   when   they   have 
reached  it  in  their  borings,  they  take  leave  of  all  valuable  fuel."- 
Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  61. 


]36          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

The  north  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  from  thirty 
miles  below  Quebec  eastward,  and  along  the  coast 
of  Labrador,  is  generally  of  the  primitive  formations. 
Except  in  the  marshes  and  swamps,  rocks  obtrude 
upon  the  surface  in  all  quarters ;  in  many  places 
deep  fissures  of  from  six  inches  to  two  feet  wide, 
are  seen  bearing  witness  to  volcanic  violence;  the 
Indians  describe  some  of  these  rents  as  several  miles 
long,  and  forty  or  fifty  feet  deep ;  when  covered  with 
the  thick  underwood  they  are,  at  times,  very  dan- 
gerous to  the  traveller.  These  chasms  are  probably 
owing  to  some  great  subterranean  action ;  there  is  a 
manuscript  in  the  Jesuits'  College  at  Quebec,  which 
records  the  occurrence  of  an  earthquake  on  the  5th 
of  February,  1663,  at  about  half-past  5  P.M.,  felt 
through  the  whole  extent  of  Canada :  trees  in  the 
forests  were  torn  up  and  dashed  against  each  other, 
with  inconceivable  violence ;  mountains  were  raised 
from  their  foundations  and  thrown  into  vallies, 
leaving  awful  chasms  behind ;  from  the  openings 
issued  dense  clouds  of  smoke,  dust,  and  sand ; 
many  rivers  disappeared,  others  were  diverted  from 
their  course,  and  the  great  St.  Lawrence  became 
suddenly  white  as  far  down  as  the  mouth  of  the 
Saguenay.  The  first  shock  lasted  for  more  than 
half  an  hour,  but  the  greatest  violence  was  only  for 
fifteen  minutes.  At  Tadoussac,  a  shower  of  volcanic 
ashes  descended  upon  the  rivers,  agitating  the 
waters  like  a  tempest.  This  tremendous  earthquake 
extended  simultaneously  over  180,000  square  miles 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  137 

of  country,  and  lasted  for  nearly  six  months  almost 
without  intermission.3 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Quebec,  a  dark  clay  slate 
generally  appears,  and  forms  the  bed  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence, as  far  as  Lake  Ontario  and  even  at  Niagara ; 
boulders  and  other  large  masses  of  rock,  however, 
of  various  kinds,  occur  in  detached  portions  at 
many  different  places.  The  great  elevated  ridge  of 
broken  country,  running  towards  the  Ottawa  river, 
at  the  distance  of  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  miles 
from  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  the 
course  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  is  rich  in  silver,  lead, 
copper,  and  iron.  On  the  north  shore  of  the 
Saguenay,  the  rugged  mountains  abound  in  iron  to 
such  an  extent,  as  to  influence  the  mariner's  com- 
pass. The  iron  mines  of  St.  Maurice,4  have  been 

3  See  Appendix,  No.  XXI. 

4  Professor  Kalm  visited  the  iron- works  of  St.  Maurice  in  1748, 
eleven  or  twelve  years  after  their  first  establishment.  "  The  iron- 
work, which  is  the  only  one  in  this  country,  lies  three  miles  to  the 
west  of  Trois  Rivieres.  Here  are  two  great  forges,  besides  two  lesser 
ones  to  each  of  the  great  ones,  and  under  the  same  roof  with  them. 
The  bellows  were  made  of  wood,  and  everything  else  as  in  the  Swedish 
forges.  The  ore  is  got  two  and  a  half  miles  from  the  iron-works,  and 
is  carried  thither  on  sledges.  It  is  a  kind  of  moor-ore  (Tophus 
Tubalcaini :  Linn.  Syst.  Nat.,  lib.  iii.,  p.187,  note  5)  which  lies  in  veins 
within  six  inches  or  a  foot  from  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Each 
vein  is  from  six  to  eighteen  inches  deep,  and  below  it  is  a  white  sand. 
The  veins  are  surrounded  with  this  sand  on  both  sides,  and  covered 
at  the  top  with  a  thia  mould.  The  ore  is  pretty  rich,  and  lies  in 
loose  lumps  in  the  veins  of  the  size  of  two  fists,  though  there  are  a 
few  which  are  near  eighteen  inches  thick.  These  lumps  are  full  of 
holes  which  are  filled  with  ochre.  The  ore  is  so  soft  that  it  may  be 
crushed  between  the  fingers.  They  make  use  of  a  grey  limestone, 


138  THE    CONQUEST    OP    CANADA. 

long  known  and  found  abundantly  productive  of  an 
admirable  metal,  inferior  to  none  in  the  world ;  it  is 
remarkably  pliant  and  malleable,  and  little  subject 

which  is  broke  in  the  neighbourhood,  for  promoting  the  fusibility  of 
the  ore  ;  to  that  purpose  they  likewise  employ  a  clay  marl,  which 
is  found  near  this  place.  Charcoals  are  to  be  had  in  great  abundance 
here,  because  the  country  round  this  place  is  covered  with  wood  which 
has  never  been  stirred.  The  charcoals  from  evergreen-trees,  that  is 
from  the  fir  kind,  are  best  for  the  forge,  but  those  of  deciduous  trees 
are  best  for  the  smelting-oven.  The  iron  which  is  here  made  was  to  me 
described  as  soft,  pliable,  and  tough,  and  is  said  to  have  the  quality 
of  not  being  attacked  by  rust  so  easily  as  other  iron.  This  iron- 
work was  first  founded  in  1737  by  private  persons,  who  afterwards 
ceded  it  to  the  king ;  they  cast  cannon  and  mortars  here  of  different 
sizes,  iron  stoves,  which  are  in  use  all  over  Canada,  kettles,  <fcc. 
They  have  likewise  tried  to  make  steel  here,  but  cannot  bring  it  to 
any  great  perfection,  because  they  are  unacquainted  with  the  best 
method  of  preparing  it.  Here  are  many  officers  and  overseers  who 
have  very  good  houses  built  on  purpose  for  them.  It  is  agreed  on 
all  hands  that  the  resources  of  the  iron-work  do  not  pay  the  expenses 
which  the  king  must  every  year  be  at  in  maintaining  it.  They  lay 
the  fault  on  the  bad  state  of  population,  and  say  that  the  few 
inhabitants  in  the  country  have  enough  to  do  with  agriculture,  and 
that  it  therefore  costs  great  trouble  and  large  sums  to  get  a  sufficient 
number  of  workmen.  But,  however  plausible  this  may  appear,  yet 
it  is  surprising  that  the  king  should  be  a  loser  in  carrying  on  this 
work,  for  the  ore  is  easily  broken,  being  near  the  iron-work,  and  very 
fusible.  The  iron  is  good  ;  and  this  is,  moreover,  the  only  iron- 
work in  the  country  from  which  everybody  must  supply  himself  with 
tools,  and  what  other  iron  he  wants.  But  the  officers  and  servants 
belonging  to  the  iron-work  appear  to  be  in  very  affluent  circumstances. 
A  river  runs  down  from  the  iron- work  into  the  River  St.  Lawrence, 
by  which  all  the  iron  can  be  sent  in  boats  throughout  the  country  at 
a  low  rate." — Kami  in  Pinkerton,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  631. 

"  M.  Dantic,  after  a  number  of  experiments  to  class  the  different 
kinds  of  iron,  discovered  that  the  iron  of  Styria  was  the  best,  and 
that  the  iron  of  North  America,  of  Danemara  in  Sweden,  of  Spain, 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  139 

to  oxidation.  In  1667,  Colbert  sent  M.  de  la  Potar- 
diere,  an  experienced  mineralogist,  to  examine  these 
mines ;  he  reported  the  iron  very  abundant,  and  of 
excellent  quality,  but  it  was  not  till  1737,  that  the 
forges  were  established  by  the  French :  they  failed 
to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  speculation ;  the  super- 
intendent and  fourteen  clerks,  however,  gained  for- 
tunes by  the  losses  of  their  employers. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  immense  mineral 
resources  remain  undiscovered  among  the  rocky 
solitudes  of  Lower  Canada.  Marble  of  excellent 
quality,  and  endless  variety  of  colour,  is  found  in 
different  parts  of  the  country,  and  limestone  is 
almost  universal.  Labrador  produces  a  beautiful 
and  well-known  spar  of  rich  and  brilliant  tints, 
ultra-marine,  greenish  yellow,  red,  and  some  of  a 
fine  pearly  grey. 

In  Upper  Canada,  the  country  north  of  Lake 
Ontario  is  generally  characterised  by  a  limestone 
subsoil,  resting  on  granite.  The  rocks  about 
Kingston  are  usually  a  very  compact  limestone,  of 

Bayonne,  Roussillon,  Foix,  Berri,  Thierache  in  Sweden,  the  Com- 
munes of  France,  and  Siberia  was  the  next  class." — Abbe  Raynal, 
vol.  iii.,  p.  268. 

Weld  and  Heriot  mention  that  the  bank  of  iron  ore  at  the  forges 
of  St.  Maurice  was  nearly  exhausted  in  their  time  ;  new  veins,  how- 
ever, have  been  since  discovered. 

Charlevoix  says,  in  1720  :  "  II  est  certain  que  ces  mines  de  fer, 
que  1'ceil  pergant  de  M.  Colbert  et  la  vigilance  de  M.  Talon  avoit  fait 
decouvrir,  apres  avoir  presqu  entierement  disparu  pendant  plus  de 
soixante  dix  ans,  viennent  d'etre  retrouvees  par  les  soins  de  ceux  qui 
occupent  aujourd'hui  leur  place." — Charlevoix,  torn,  ii.,  p.  166. 


140  THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA. 

a  bluish-grey  colour,  having  a  slight  silicious 
admixture,  increasing  as  the  depth  increases,  with 
occasional  intrusions  of  quartz  or  hornstone.  The 
limestone  strata  are  horizontal,  with  the  greatest 
dip  when  nearest  to  the  elder  rock  on  which  it 
rests ;  their  thickness,  like  the  depths  of  the  soil, 
varies  from  a  few  feet  to  a  few  inches :  in  these 
formations  many* minerals  are  observed;  genuine 
granite  is  seldom  or  never  found. 

West  of  Lake  Ontario  the  chasm  at  the  falls  of 
Niagara  shows  the  strata  of  the  country  to  be  lime- 
stone, next  slate,  and  lowest  sandstone.  Limestone 
and  sandstone  compose  the  secondary  formations  of 
a  large  portion  of  Canada,  and  of  nearly  all  that 
vast  extent  of  country  in  the  United  States  drained 
by  the  Mississippi.  At  Niagara  the  interposing 
structure  of  slate  is  nearly  forty  feet  thick,  and 
fragile,  like  shale  crumbling  away  from  under  the 
limestone,  thus  strengthening  the  opinion  that 
there  has  been  for  many  ages  a  continual  retro- 
cession of  the  Great  Falls.  Around  Lake  St.  Clair 
masses  of  granite,  mica  slate,  and  quartz  are  found 
in  abundance.  The  level  shores  of  Lake  Huron 
offer  little  geological  variety;  secondary  limestone, 
filled  with  the  usual  reliquiae,  is  the  general  structure 
of  the  coast,  but  detached  blocks  of  granite  and 
other  primitive  rocks  are  occasionally  found :  this 
district  appears  poor  in  minerals.  The  waters  of 
lakes  Huron,  Michigan,  and  Superior  have  evidently 
at  some  remote  period  formed  one  vast  sheet,  which 
probably  burst  its  bounds  by  a  sudden  action  of 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          141 

nature,  and  subsided  into  the  present  divisions,  all 
lower  than  the  former  general  level :  the  separating 
ridges  of  these  waters  are  but  slightly  elevated; 
great  masses  of  rock  and  huge  boulders  of  granite 
are  found  rolled  at  least  100  miles  from  their 
original  situations,  and  immense  alluvial  beds  of 
fresh-water  shells,  apparently  formed  since  the 
deluge,  but  when  the  waters  were  still  of  a  vast 
depth  and  extent,  are  found  in  the  east  of  Lake 
Huron. 

Little  or  nothing  is  known  of  the  dreary  solitudes 
beyond  Lake  Superior ;  enormous  muddy  ponds  and 
marshes  are  succeeded  by  open,  dry,  sandy  plains ; 
then  forests  of  hemlock  and  spruce  arise,  again 
swamp,  bog,  windfalls,  and  stagnant  water  succeed; 
in  the  course  of  many  miles  there  may  not  be  one 
dry  spot  found  for  a  resting-place.  The  cold  is 
intense  in  this  desolate  region;  in  winter  spirits 
freeze  into  a  consistency  like  honey;  and  even  in 
the  height  of  summer  the  thermometer  only  shows 
thirty-six  degrees  at  sunrise.  Part  of  the  north  and 
east  shore  of  this  greatest  of  the  lakes  present  old 
formations — sienite,  stratified  greenstone,  more  or 
less  chloritic,  and  alternating  five  times  with  vast 
beds  of  granite — the  general  direction  east,  with 
a  north  or  perpendicular  dip.  Great  quantities  of 
the  older  shell  limestone  are  found  strewn  in  rolled 
masses  on  the  beach.  Amygdaloid  occupies  also 
a  very  large  tract  to  the  north,  mingled  with  por- 
phyries, conglomerates,  and  various  other  substances. 
From  Thunder  Mountain,  westward,  trappose  green- 


142  THE    CONQUEST   OP    CANADA. 

stone  is  the  prevailing  rock ;  it  gives  rise  to  some 
strange  pilastered  precipices  near  Fort -William. 
Copper 5  abounds  in  this  region  to  an  extent,  per- 

5  Henry  and  others  speak  of  a  rock  of  pure  copper,  from  which  the 
former  cut  off  lOOlhs.  weight.  W.  Schoolcraft  examined  the 
remainder  of  the  mass  in  1820,  and  found  it  of  irregular  shape  ;  in 
its  greatest  length  three  feet  eight  inches,  greatest  hreadth  three 
feet  four  inches,  making  about  eleven  cubic  feet,  and  containing,  of 
metallic  matter,  about  2,200  Ibs. ;  but  there  were  many  marks  of 
chisels  and  axes  upon  it,  as  if  a  great  deal  had  been  carried  off. 
The  surface  of  the  block,  unlike  most  metals  which  have  suffered 
a  long  exposure  to  the  atmosphere,  presents  a  metallic  brilliancy. — 
Martin's  History  of  Canada,^.  175. 

Weld  mentions  having  seen  in  the  possession  of  a  gentleman  at 
Niagara,  a  lump  of  copper  of  several  ounces  weight,  apparently  as 
pure  as  if  it  had  passed  through  the  fire,  which  had  been  struck  off 
with  a  chisel  from  a  piece  equally  pure,  growing  on  one  of  the 
islands  in  Lake  Superior.  Rich  veins  of  copper  are  visible  in  almost 
all  the  rocks  on  these  islands  near  the  shore  ;  and  copper  ore, 
resembling  copperas,  is  likewise  found  in  deep  beds  near  the  water. — 
Weld,  p.  346. 

In  Charlevoix's  time  (1720),  "  on  trouvoit  sur  les  bords  du  Lac 
Superieur  et  autour  de  certains  isles,  de  grosses  pieces  de  cuivre  qui 
sont  Fobjet  de  cette  superstition  des  sauvages  ;  ils  les  regardent  avec 
veneration  comme  un  present  des  Dieux  qui  habitent  sous  les  eaux ; 
ils  en  ramassent  les  plus  petits  fragmens  et  les  conservent  avec  soin, 
mais  ils  n'en  font  aucune  usage.  J'ai  connu  un  de  nos  freres  lequel 
etoit  orfevre  de  son  metier,  et  qui,  pendant  qu'il  etoit  dans  la  mission 
du  sault  Sainte  Marie,  en  etoit  alle  chercher  la,  et  en  avoit  fait  des 
chandeliers,  des  croix,  et  des  encensoirs,  car  ce  cuivre  est  souvent 
presque  tout  pur." — Tom.  v.,  p.  415. 

Kalm  says  that  the  copper  found  is  so  pure,  that  it  does  not 
require  melting  over  again,  but  is  fit  for  working  immediately. — 
Kalm  in  Pinkerton,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  691.  (1748). 

"  Before  saying  good-bye  to  Lake  Superior,  let  me  add,  that  since 
the  date  of  my  visit,  the  barren  rocks  which  we  passed  have  become 
an  object  of  intense  interest,  promising  to  rival,  in  point  of  mineral 
wealth,  the  Altai  chain  and  the  Uralian  mountains.  Iron  had  long 


THE   CONQUEST    OF   CANADA.  143 

haps,  unsurpassed  anywhere  in  the  world.  At  the 
Coppermine  river,  300  miles  from  the  sault  de 
St.  Marie,  this  metal,  in  a  pure  state,  nearly  covers 

been  known  to  abound  on  the  northern  shore,  two  mines  having  been 
at  one  time  worked  and  abandoned,  chiefly  on  account  of  temporary 
obstacles,  which  the  gradual  advance  of  agriculture  and  civilisation 
was  sure  to  remove  ;  and  more  recently  the  southern  shore,  though 
of  a  much  less  favourable  character  in  that  respect,  was  found  to 
possess  rich  veins  of  copper  and  silver.  Under  these  circumstances, 
various  enterprising  persons  in  Canada  have  prosecuted  investiga- 
tions which  appear  to  have  satisfactorily  proved  that,  in  addition  to 
their  iron,  the  forbidding  wastes  of  the  northern  shore  contain  inex- 
haustible treasures,  both  of  the  precious  and  of  the  useful  metals,  of 
gold  and  of  silver,  of  copper  and  tin,  and  already  have  associations 
been  formed,  to  reap  the  teeming  harvest."  Sir  G.  Simpson's 
Journey  round  the  World,  vol.  i..  p.  35.  (1841). 

The  following  extract  is  from  a  Quebec  newspaper,  bearing  date 
25th  June,  1848  :— 

"  THE  COPPER  REGION,  SINGULAR  DISCOVERY. — A  correspondent 
of  the  Buffalo  Express,  writing  under  date  June  14,  from  Ontonagon, 
Lake  Superior,  says  : — 

"  '  Mr.  Knapp,  of  the  Vulcan  Mining  Company,  has  lately  made 
some  very  singular  discoveries  here  in  working  one  of  the  veins, 
which  he  lately  found.  He  worked  into  an  old  cave  which  has  been 
excavated  centuries  ago.  This  led  them  to  look  for  other  works  of 
the  same  sort,  and  they  have  found  a  number  of  sinks  in  the  earth 
which  thej  have  traced  a  long  distance.  By  digging  into  those 
sinks  they  find  them  to  have  been  made  by  the  hand  of  man.  It 
appears  that  the  ancient  miners  went  on  a  different  principle  from 
what  they  do  at  the  present  time.  The  greatest  depth  yet  found  in 
these  holes  is  thirty  feet — after  getting  down  to  a  certain  depth, 
they  drifted  along  the  vein,  making  an  open  cut.  These  cuts  have 
been  filled  nearly  to  a  level  by  the  accumulation  of  soil,  and  we  find 
trees  of  the  largest  growth  standing  in  this  gutter  ;  and  also  find  . 
that  trees  of  a  very  large  growth  have  grown  up  and  died,  and 
decayed  many  years  since  ;  in  the  same  places  there  are  now  stand- 
ing trees  of  over  three  hundred  years'  growth.  Last  week  they  dug 


144  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

the  face  of  a  serpentine  rock,  and  is  also  found 
within  the  stone  in  solid  masses.  Iron  is  abundant 
in  many  parts  of  Upper  Canada ;  at  Charlotteville, 
eight  miles  from  Lake  Erie,  the  metal  produced  is 
of  a  very  fine  quality.  The  Marmora  Iron  Works, 
about  thirty-two  miles  north  of  the  bay  of  Quint&, 
on  the  river  Trent,  are  situated,  on  an  extensive 
white  rocky  flat,  apparently  the  bed  of  some  dried- 
down  into  a  new  place,  and  about  twelve  feet  below  the  surface  found 
a  mass  of  copper  that  will  weigh  from  eight  to  ten  tons.  This  mass 
was  buried  in  ashes,  and  it  appears  they  could  not  handle  it,  and  had 
no  means  of  cutting  it,  and  probably  built  fire  to  melt  or  separate  the 
rock  from  it,  which  might  be  done  by  heating,  and  then  dashing  on 
cold  water.  This  piece  of  copper  is  as  pure  aud  clean  as  a  new  cent, 
the  upper  surface  has  been  pounded  clear  and  smooth.  It  appears 
that  this  mass  of  copper  was  taken  from  the  bottom  of  a  shaft,  at  the 
depth  of  about  thirty  feet.  In  sinking  this  shaft  from  where  the 
mass  now  lies,  they  followed  the  course  of  the  vein,  which  pitches 
considerably :  this  enabled  them  to  raise  it  as  far  as  the  hole  came 
up  with  a  slant.  At  the  bottom  of  a  shaft  they  found  skids  of  black 
oak,  from  eight  to  twelve  inches  in  diameter — these  sticks  were 
charred  through,  as  if  burnt ;  they  found  large  wooden  wedges  in 
the  same  situation.  In  this  shaft  they  found  a  miner's  gad  and  a 
narrow  chisel  made  of  copper.  I  do  not  know  whether  these  copper 
tools  are  tempered  or  not,  but  their  make  displays  good  workman- 
ship. They  have  taken  out  more  than  a  ton  of  cobble-stones,  which 
have  been  used  as  mallets.  These  stones  were  nearly  round,  with  a 
score  cut  around  the  tenter,  and  look  as  if  this  score  was  cut  for  the 
purpose  of  putting  a  withe  round  for  a  handle.  The  Chippawa 
Indians  all  say  that  this  work  was  never  done  by  Indians.  This 
discovery  will  lead  to  a  new  methed  of  finding  veins  in  this  country, 
and  may  be  of  great  benefit  to  some.  I  suppose  they  will  keep 
finding  new  wonders  for  some  time  yet,  as  it  is  but  a  short  time  since 
they  first  found  the  old  mine.  There  is  copper  here  in  abundance, 
and  I  think  people  will  begin  to  dig  it  in  a  few  years.  Mr.  Knapp 
has  found  considerable  silver  during  the  past  winter. ' ' 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          145 

up  river;  the  ore  is  found  on  the  surface,  and  is 
very  rich,  yielding  ninety-two  per  cent :  the  necessary 
assistants,  lime  and  fuel,  abound  close  at  hand. 
Various  other  minerals  have  also  been  found  there ; 
among  the  rest,  small  specimens  of  a  metal  like 
silver. 

There  are  many  strong  mineral  springs  in  different 
parts  of  Canada ;  the  most  remarkable  of  these  is 
the  Burning  Spring  above  Niagara ;  its  waters  are 
black,  hot  and  bubbling,  and  emit,  during  the 
summer,  a  gas  that  burns  with  a  pure  bright  flame ; 
this  sulphuretted  hydrogen  is  used  to  light  a  neigh- 
bouring mill.  Salt-springs  are  also  numerous; 
gypsum  is  obtained  in  large  quantities,  with  pipe 
and  potter's  clay ;  yellow  ochre  sometimes  occurs ; 
and  there  are  many  kinds  of  valuable  building  stones. 
It  is  gathered  from  the  Indians  that  there  are 
incipient  volcanoes  in  several  parts  of  these  regions, 
particularly  towards  the  Chippewa  hunting  grounds. 

The  soil  of  Lower  Canada  is  generally  fertile, 
about  Quebec  it  is  light  and  sandy  in  some  parts, 
in  others  it  is  a  mixture  of  loam  and  clay.  Above 
the  Richelieu  Rapids,  where  the  great  valley  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  begins  to  widen,  the  low  lands  consist 
of  a  light  and  loose  dark  earth,  with  ten  or  twelve 
inches  of  depth,  lying  on  a  stratum  of  cold  clay,  all 
apparently  of  alluvial  formation.  Along  the  banks 
of  the  Ottawa  there  is  a  great  extent  of  rich  alluvial 
soil;  each  year  developes  large  districts  of  fertile 
land,  before  unknown.  The  soils  of  Upper  Canada 
are  various ;  brown  clay  and  loam,  intermixed  with 

VOL.  I.  L 


146          THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA. 

marl,  predominates,  particularly  in  the  rich  district 
between  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Ottawa :  north  of 
Ontario  it  is  more  clayey,  and  extremely  fertile. 
A  rich  black  mould  prevails  in  the  district  between 
lakes  Ontario  and  Erie.  There  is  in  this  upper 
country  an  almost  total  absence  of  stone  or  gravel 
for  building  and  other  common  purposes.  So  great 
is  the  fertility  of  the  soil  in  Canada,  that  fifty 
bushels  of  wheat  an  acre  are  frequently  produced, 
even  where  the  stumps  of  trees  still  occupy  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  ground :  near  Toronto  100 
bushels  of  wheat  have  been  grown  upon  a  single 
acre,  and  in  some  districts  the  land  has  yielded  rich 
crops  of  that  grain  for  twenty  successive  years, 
without  being  manured. 

The  quality  of  the  soil  in  wild  lands  may  be 
known  by  the  timber  growing  upon  it.  Hardwood 
trees,  those  that  shed  their  leaves  during  winter, 
show  the  best  indication ;  such  as  maple,  basswood, 
elm,  black  walnut,  hickory,  butternut,  ironwood, 
hemlock,  and  a  giant  species  of  nettle.  A  mixture 
of  beech  is  good,  but  where  it  stands  alone,  the  soil 
is  general  light.  Oak  is  uncertain,  as  an  indication, 
being  found  on  various  bottoms.  Soft,  or  evergreen 
wood,  such  as  pine,  fir,  larch,  and  others  of  the 
species,  are  considered  decisive  of  a  very  light  soil. 
The  larch  or  tamarack  on  wide  flat  plains,  indicates 
sand  upon  a  substratum  of  marly  clay,  which  the 
French  Canadians  hold  in  high  estimation.  It  is, 
however,  right  to  add  that  some  very  respectable 
authorities  dispute  that  the  nature  of  the  timber 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          147 

can  be  fully  relied  on  as  a  guide  to  the  value  of  the 
land.  The  variety  of  trees  found  in  the  Canadian 
forest  is  astonishing,  and  it  is  supposed  that  many 
kinds  still  remain  unknown.  Of  all  these,  none  is 
more  beautiful  and  useful  than  the  maple,  its 
brilliant  foliage  changing  with  each  season  of  the 
year  is  the  richest  ornament  of  the  forest;  the 
timber  is  valuable  for  many  purposes,  and  from  the 
sap  might  be  produced  an  immense  quantity  of  excel- 
lent sugar;  a  great  deal  is  at  present  made,  but  like 
all  the  other  resources  of  this  magnificent  country, 
it  is  very  partially  turned  to  the  use  of  man :  the 
sap  of  the  maple  is  valuable  also  for  distillation. 

There  is  a  considerable  variety  of  climate  in 
Canada,  from  the  north-east,  chilled  by  the  winds  of 
the  Atlantic,6  to  the  south-west,  five  degrees  lower, 
and  approaching  the  centre  of  the  continent ;  the 

6  Acosta  is  the  first  philosopher  who  endeavoured  to  account  for 
the  different  degrees  of  heat  in  the  Old  and  New  Continents,  by  the 
agency  of  the  winds  which  blow  in  each.  (Hist.  Moral.,  lib.  ii. 
and  iii.)  M.  de  Buffon  adopted  the  same  theory,  and  illustrated  it 
with  many  new  observations.  "  The  prevailing  winds,  both  in 
Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  are  the  north-east,  north-west,  and 
south-west,  which  all  have  a  considerable  influence  on  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  atmosphere  and  the  state  of  the  weather.  The  south- 
west wind  is  the  most  prevalent,  but  it  is  generally  moderate,  and 
accompanied  by  clear  skies  ;  and  the  north-east  and  easterly  winds 
usually  bring  with  them  continued  rain  in  summer,  and  snow  in 
winter  ;  the  north-west  is  remarkable  for  its  dryness  and  elasticity, 
and  from  its  gathering  an  intense  degree  of  frigor,  as  it  sweeps  over 
the  frozen  plains  and  ice-bound  hills  in  that  quarter  of  the  continent, 
invariably  brings  with  it  a  perceptible  degree  of  cold.  Winds  from 
due  north,  south,  or  west,  are  not  frequent.  At  Quebec,  the  direction 
of  the  wind  often  changes  with  the  tide,  which  is  felt  for  nearly  sixty 

L2 


148          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

neighbourhood  of  ranges  of  bare  and  rugged  moun- 
tains,7 has  also  a  marked  effect  upon  the  temperature 

miles  higher  up  the  stream  of  the  St.  Lawrence." — Bonchette,  vol.  i., 
p.  343. 

"  The  north-west  wind  is  uncommonly  dry,  and  brings  with  it  fresh 
animation  and  vigour  to  every  living  thing.  Although  this  wind  is 
so  very  piercing  in  winter,  yet  the  people  never  complain  so  much  of 
cold  as  when  the  north-east  wind  blows.  The  north-east  wind  is  also 
cold,  but  it  renders  the  air  raw  and  damp.  That  from  the  south-east 
is  damp,  but  warm.  Rain  or  snow  usually  falls  when  the  wind  comes 
from  any  point  towards  the  east.  The  north-west  wind,  from  coming 
over  such  an  immense  tract  of  land,  must  necessarily  be  dry  ;  and 
coming  from  regions  eternally  covered  with  mounds  of  snow  and  ice, 
it  must  also  be  cold.  The  north-east  wind,  from  traversing  the  frozen 
seas,  must  be  cold  likewise  ;  but  from  passing  over  such  a  large 
portion  of  the  watery  main  afterwards,  it  brings  damp  and  moisture 
with  it.  All  those  from  the  north-east  are  damp,  and  loaded  with 
vapours  from  the  same  cause.  Southerly  winds,  from  crossing  the 
warm  regions  between  the  tropics,  are  attended  with  heats  ;  and  the 
south-west  wind,  from  passing,  like  the  north-west,  over  a  great 
extent  of  land,  is  dry  at  the  same  time. " — Weld's  Travels  in  America, 
4th  ed.,  p.  184. 

Kalm  says,  p.  748,  that  he  was  assured  that  "  the  north-east 
wind,  when  it  is  very  violent  in  winter,  pierces  through  walls  of  a 
moderate  thickness,  so  that  the  whole  wall  on  the  inside  of  the  house 
is  covered  with  snow,  or  a  thick  hoar  frost ;  the  wind  damages 
severely  the  houses  that  are  built  of  stone,  so  that  the  owners  are 
frequently  obliged  to  repair  them  on  the  north-east  side.  In  summer 
the  north-wind  is  generally  attended  with  rain." — Kalm  in  Pinkerton, 
vol.  xiii.,  p.  651. 

7  "  Many  of  these  mountains  are  very  high.  During  my  stay  in 
Canada,  I  asked  many  people  who  have  travelled  much  in  North 
America,  whether  they  ever  met  with  mountains  so  high  that  the 
snow  never  melts  on  them  in  summer  ;  to  which  they  always  answered 
in  the  negative.  They  say  that  the  snow  sometimes  stays  on  the 
highest,  viz.,  on  some  of  those  between  Canada  and  the  English 
colonies  during  a  part  of  the  summer,  but  that  it  melts  as  soon  as  the 
great  heat  begins." — Kalm,  p.  671. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          149 

of  different  localities.  However,  in  all  parts  the 
winters  are  very  severe,  while  the  heat  of  summer 
is  little  inferior  to  that  of  the  tropics.  But  on  the 
whole,  the  clear  blue  sky  unobscured  by  fog  or 
mist,  and  the  pure  elastic  air,  bespeak  the  salubrity 
of  these  provinces  in  all  seasons. 

In  Lower  Canada  the  extreme  severity  of  the 
winter  is,  in  a  measure,  caused  by  the  vicinity  of 
the  range  of  lofty  and  rugged  mountains,  as  well 
as  by  its  more  northern  position.  The  fall  of  snow 
commences  in  November,  but  seldom  remains  long 
on  the  ground  till  December ;  in  that  month  con- 
stantly successive  falls  of  snow  rapidly  cover  the 
whole  surface  of  the  country.  Towards  the  end  of 
December  the  heavy  clouds  disperse,  and  the  rude 
storm  is  followed  by  a  perfect  calm;  the  air  becomes 
pure  and  frosty,  and  the  skies  of  a  clear  and  beau- 
tiful azure.  The  River  St.  Lawrence8  is  frozen 
over  every  winter  from  Montreal  to  the  Richelieu 
Rapids,  but  from  thence  to  Quebec  only  once  in 
about  five  years ;  at  other  times,  however,  enormous 
fields  and  masses  of  ice  drift  up  and  down  with  the 
changing  tides,  increasing  or  diminishing  with  the 
severity  or  mildness  of  the  weather;  where  the 
Island  of  Orleans  divides  the  Great  River  into  two 
branches,  the  northern  channel  is  narrow  and  less 
acted  upon  by  tides ;  here  these  huge  frozen  masses 

8  "  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  and  not  a  little  surprising,  that  so  large 
a  river  as  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  latitude  47°,  should  be  shut  up  with 
ice  as  soon,  and  continue  as  long  shut  up,  as  the  comparatively  small 
river,  the  Neva,  in  latitude  60°."— Gray's  Canada,  p.  320. 


150          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

are  forced  together  by  the  winds  and  waters,  and 
form  an  enormous  bridge  from  shore  to  shore.  The 
greatest  degree  of  cold  prevails  towards  the  end  of 
January,  for  a  few  days  occasionally  so  intense  that 
the  human  frame  can  scarcely  endure  exposure  to 
it  for  any  length  of  time.  When  winter  has  set  in 
nearly  every  bird  disappears,  and  few  wild  animals 
are  any  longer  to  be  seen;  some,  like  the  bear,  remain 
torpid,  others  change  their  colour  to  a  snowy  white, 
and  are  rarely  observed.  Rocks  of  the  softer  kinds 
are  often  rent  asunder,  as  if  with  the  explosion  of 
gunpowder,  by  the  irresistible  expansive  power  of 
the  frost.9  Dogs  become  mad  from  the  severity  of 
the  cold,  and  polished  iron  or  other  metal  when 
exposed  in  the  air  for  a  little  time,  burns  the  hand 

9  "  The  folio  wing  curious  experiments  were  made  some  years  ago  at 
Quebec,  by  Major  Williams  of  the  Artillery.  Iron  shells  of  different 
sizes,  from  the  thirteen-inch  shell  to  the  cohorn  of  four  inches 
diameter,  were  nearly  filled  with  water,  and  an  iron  plug  was  driven 
in  at  the  fuse-hole  by  a  sledge  hammer.  It  was  found,  however, 
that  the  plug  could  never  be  driven  so  firmly  into  the  fuse-hole  as  to 
resist  the  expanding  ice,  which  pushed  it  out  with  great  force  and 
velocity,  and  a  bolt  or  cylinder  of  ice  immediately  shot  up  from  the 
hole  ;  but  when  a  plug  was  used  that  had  springs  which  would  expand 
and  lay  hold  of  the  inside  of  the  cavity,  so  that  it  could  not  possibly 
be  pushed  out,  the  force  of  expansion  split  the  shell.  The  amazing 
force  of  expansion  is  also  shown  from  the  distance  to  which  these  iron 
plugs  are  thrown  out  of  the  fuse-hole.  A  plug  of  two  pounds 
and  a  half  weight  was  thrown  no  less  than  415  feet  from  the  shell ; 
the  fuse  axis  was  at  an  angle  of  45°  ;  the  thermometer  showed 
51°  below  the  freezing  point.  Here  you  see  ice  and  gunpowder 
performing  the  same  operations.  That  similar  effects  should  pro- 
ceed from  such  dissimilar  causes  is  very  extraordinary." — Gray's 
Canada,  p.  309. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          151 

at  the  touch,  as  if  it  were  red  hot.1  During  the  still 
nights  of  intense  frost  the  woods  send  forth  a 
creaking  sound,  like  the  noise  of  chopping  with 
thousands  of  hatchets.  Sometimes  a  brief  thaw 
occurs  in  the  middle  of  winter,  when  a  very  extra- 
ordinary effect,  called  by  the  Canadians  ver  glas9  is 
occasionally  produced  upon  the  bare  trees ;  they  are 
covered  with  an  incrustation  of  pure  ice  from  the 
stem  to  the  extremities  of  the  smallest  branches : 
the  slight  frost  of  the  night  freezes  the  moisture 
that  covered  the  bark  during  the  day ;  the  branches 
become  at  last  unable  to  bear  their  icy  burden,  and 
when  a  strong  wind  arises,  the  destruction  among 
trees  of  all  kinds  is  immense.  When  the  sun  shines 
upon  the  forest  covered  with  this  brilliant  incrusta- 
tion, the  effect  is  indescribably  beautiful. 

The  months  of  March  and  April  are  usually  very 
hot,  and  the  power  of  the  sun's  rays  is  heightened 
by  the  reflection  of  the  ice  and  snows.  Towards  the 
end  of  April,  or  the  beginning  of  May,  the  dreary 
winter  covering  has  altogether  disappeared ;  birds 
of  various  kinds  return  from  their  wintry  exile ;  the 
ice  accumulated  in  the  great  lakes  and  streams  that 
are  tributary  to  the  St.  Lawrence  breaks  up  with  a 
tremendous  noise,  and  rushes  down  in  vast  quantities 
towards  the  ocean,  till  again  the  tides  of  the  Gulf 
drive  them  back.  Sometimes  the  Great  River  is 
blocked  up  from  shore  to  shore  with  these  frozen 
masses ;  the  contending  currents  force  them  together 
with  terrible  violence,  and  pile  them  over  each  other 

1  See  Appendix,  No.  XXII. 


152  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

in  various  fantastic  forms.     The  navigation  of  the 
river  is  not  fairly  practicable  till  all  these  have  dis- 
appeared, which  is  generally  about  the  10th  of  May. 
When  the  young  summer  fairly  sets  in,  nothing 
can  be  more  charming  than  the  climate, — during  the 
day  bright  and  genial,  with  the  air  still  pure  and 
clear ;   the  transition  from  bare  brown  fields  and 
woods  to  verdure  and  rich  green  foliage  is  so  rapid, 
that  its  progress  is  almost  perceptible.     Spring  has 
scarcely  begun  before  summer  usurps  its  place,  and 
the  earth,  awakened  from  nature's  long  wintry  sleep, 
gives  forth  her  increase  with  astonishing  bounty. 
This  delightful   season  is  usually  ushered  in  by 
moderate  rains,  and  a  considerable  rise  in  the  meri- 
dian heat ;  but  the  nights  are  still  cool  and  refreshing. 
In  June,  July,  and  August,  the  heat  becomes  great  and 
for  some  days  intense ;  the  roads  and  rocks  at  noon 
are  so  hot  as  to  be  painful  to  the  touch,  and  the 
direct  rays  of  the  sun  possess  almost  tropical  power ; 
but  the  night  brings  re-invigorating  coolness,  and 
the  breezes  of  the  morning  are  as  fresh  and  tem- 
pered as  in  our  own  favoured  land.     September  is 
usually   a    delightful    month,   although    at    times 
oppressively  sultry.     The  autumn,  or  fall,  rivals  the 
spring  in  healthy  and  moderate  warmth,  and  is  the 
most  agreeable  of  the  seasons.     The  night-frosts 
destroy  the  innumerable  venomous  flies  that  have 
infested  the  air  through  the  hot  season,  and,  by 
their  action  on  the  various   foliage  of  the  forest, 
bestow  an  inconceivable  richness  of  colouring  to 
the  landscape. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          153 

During  the  summer  there  is  a  great  quantity  of 
electric  fluid  in  the  atmosphere;  but  storms  of 
thunder  and  lightning  are  not  of  very  frequent 
occurrence.  When  they  do  take  place,  their  violence 
is  sometimes  tremendous,  and  serious  damage  often 
occurs.  These  outbursts,  however,  usually  produce  a 
favourable  effect  upon  the  weather  and  temperature. 

The  most  remarkable  meteoric  phenomenon  that 
has  occurred  in  Canada  since  the  country  became 
inhabited  by  civilised  man,  was  first  seen  in  October, 
1785,  and  again  in  July,  1814.  At  noonday  a  pitchy 
darkness,  of  a  dismal  and  sinister  character,  com- 
pletely obscured  the  light  of  the  sun,  continuing  for 
about  ten  minutes  at  a  time,  and  being  frequently 
repeated  during  the  afternoon.  In  the  interval 
between  each  mysterious  eclipse  dense  masses  of 
black  clouds,  streaked  with  yellow,  drove  athwart  the 
darkened  sky,  with  fitful  gusts  of  wind ;  thunder, 
lightning,  black  rain,  and  showers  of  ashes  added  to 
the  terrors  of  the  scene ;  and  when  the  sun  appeared 
its  colour  was  a  bright  red.  The  Indians  ascribe 
this  wonderful  phenomenon  to  a  vast  volcano  in  the 
unknown  regions  of  Labrador.  The  testimony  of 
M.  Gagnon  gives  corroboration  to  this  idea.  In 
December,  1791,  when  at  St.  Paul's  Bay,  in  the 
Saguenay  country,  he  saw  the  flames  of  an  immense 
volcano,  mingled  with  black  smoke,  rising  to  a  great 
height  in  the  air.  Several  violent  shocks  as  of  an 
earthquake  accompanied  this  strange  appearance. 

The  prevailing  winds  in  Lower  Canada  are  the 
north-east,  north-west,  and  south-west,  and  these 


154  THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

exercise  considerable  influence  on  the  temperature 
of  the  atmosphere  and  the  state  of  the  weather. 
The  south-west  wind,  the  most  prevalent,  is  generally 
moderate,  accompanied  by  clear  bright  skies ;  the 
north-east  and  east  wind  bring  rain  in  summer, 
and  snow  in  winter,  from  the  dreary  regions  of 
Labrador ;  and  the  north-west  blast  is  keen  and  dry 
from  its  passage  over  the  vast  frozen  solitudes  that 
lie  between  the  Rocky  Mountains2  and  Hudson's 
Bay.  Winds  from  the  north,  south,  or  west,  are 
seldom  felt:  the  currents  of  the  neighbouring  air 
are  often  affected  by  the  direction  of  the  tidal 
streams,  which  act  as  far  as  400  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Great  River. 

The  eifect  of  a  long  continuance  of  snow  upon 
the  earth  is  favourable  to  vegetation;  were  the 
surface  exposed  to  the  intense  severity  of  wintry 
frosts,  unprotected  by  this  ample  covering,  the  ground 
could  not  regain  a  proper  degree  of  heat,  even 
under  a  Canadian  sun,  before  the  autumn  frosts 
had  again  chilled  the  energies  of  nature.  The 
natural  heat  of  the  earth  is  about  42°,  the  surface 
waters  freeze  at  32°,  and  thus  present  a  non-con- 
ducting incrustation  to  the  keen  atmosphere ;  then 
the  snow  becomes  a  warm  garment  till  the  April 
sun  softens  the  air  above ;  the  latent  heat  of  the 
earth  begins  to  be  developed,  the  snow  melts,  and 
penetrates  the  ground  through  every  pore,  rendering 

2  "  These  mountains  were  known  to  the  French  missionaries  by  the 
name  of  Montagnes  des  Pierres  Brillantes.  "• — Chateaubriand. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          155 

friable  the  stiffest  soil.  For  a  month  or  more  before 
the  visible  termination  of  the  Canadian  winter, 
vegetation  is  in  active  progress  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  even  under  snow  several  feet  thick. 

In  Upper  Canada  the  climate  does  not  present 
such  extremes  of  heat  and  cold  as  in  the  Lower 
Province.  In  the  Newcastle  District,  between 
latitude  44°  and  45°,  the  winter  is  little  more  severe 
than  in  England,  and  the  warmth  of  summer  is 
tempered  by  a  cool  and  refreshing  south-west  breeze, 
which  blows  throughout  the  day  from  over  the 
waters  of  the  great  lakes.  In  spring  and  autumn 
this  south-west  wind  brings  with  it  frequent  rains ; 
the  north-west  wind  prevails  in  winter,  and  is  dry, 
cold,  and  elastic ;  the  south-eastern  breezes  are 
generally  accompanied  by  thaw  and  rain :  from  the 
west,  south,  or  north,  the  wind  rarely  blows.  The 
most  sudden  changes  of  weather  consequent  upon 
varying  winds  are  observed  from  the  north-west, 
when  the  air  becomes  pure  and  cool;  thunder 
storms  generally  clear  away  with  this  wind:  the 
heaviest  falls  of  snow,  and  the  most  continued  rains, 
come  with  the  eastern  breezes. 

The  great  lakes  are  never  frozen  in  their  centres, 
but  a  strong  border  of  thick  ice  extends  for  some 
distance  from  the  shore:  in  severe  weather  a 
beautiful  evaporation  in  various  fantastic  shapes 
ascends  from  the  vast  surfaces  of  these  inland  seas, 
forming  cloudy  columns  and  pyramids  to  a  great 
height  in  the  air :  this  is  caused  by  the  water  being 
of  a  higher  temperature  than  the  atmosphere  above. 


156  THE   CONQUEST   OF    CANADA. 

The  chain  of  shallow  lakes  from  Lake  Simco  towards 
the  midland  district  are  rarely  frozen  over  more 
than  an  inch  in  thickness  till  about  Christmas,  and 
are  free  from  ice  again  by  the  end  of  March.  The 
earth  in  Upper  Canada  is  seldom  frozen  more  than 
twelve  or  eighteen  inches  deep,  and  the  general 
covering  of  the  snow  is  about  a  foot  and  a  half  in 
thickness. 

In  Canada  the  Indian  summer  is  perhaps  the 
most  delightful  period  of  the  year ;  during  most  of 
November  the  weather  is  mild  and  serene,  a  soft 
dry  haze  pervades  the  air,  thickening  towards  the 
horizon;  in  the  evenings  the  sun  sets  in  a  rich 
crimson  flush,  and  the  temperature  is  mild  and 
genial :  the  birds  avail  themselves  of  the  Indian 
summer  for  their  migration.  A  phenomenon  called 
the  "  tertian  intervals "  has  excited  much  interest, 
and  is  still  unexplained ;  at  the  end  of  the  third  day 
the  greatest  intensity  of  frost  is  always  remittent, 
and  succeeded  by  several  days  of  mild  weather. 
The  climate  is  so  dry  that  metals  rarely  are  rusted 
by  exposure  to  the  air;  this  absence  of  humidity 
prevents  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold  from  being 
so  powerful  here  in  their  effect  upon  the  sensations 
of  the  human  frame  as  in  other  countries. 

The  Aurora  Borealis  or  northern  lights3  appear 
with  great  brilliancy  in  the  clear  Canadian  sky, 
especially  during  the  winter  nights ;  starting  from 
behind  the  distant  horizon,  they  race  up  through 

3  See  Appendix,  No.  XXIII. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          157 

the  vault  of  heaven,  spreading  over  all  space  one 
moment,  shrinking  to  a  quivering  streak  the  next, 
shooting  out  again  where  least  expected,  then  vanish- 
ing into  darkness  deeper  than  before  ;  now  they  seem 
like  vast  floating  banners  of  variegated  flame,  then 
as  crescents,  again  as  majestic  columns  of  light,  ever 
changing  in  form  and  colour.  It  is  said  that  a 
rustling  sound  like  that  of  silk  accompanies  this 
beautiful  appearance. 

The  climate  of  Canada  has  undergone  a  slight 
change  since  the  discovery  of  the  country ;  especially 
from  the  year  1818,  an  amelioration  has  been  per- 
ceptible, partly  owing  to  the  motion  of  the  magnetic 
poles  and  partly  to  the  gradual  cultivation  and 
clearing  of  the  country.  The  winters  are  somewhat 
shorter  and  milder,  and  less  snow  falls  than  of  old  ; 
the  summers  are  also  hotter.4  The  felling  of  the 
forests,  the  draining  of  the  morasses,  partial  though  it 
may  still  be,  together  with  the  increasing  population, 
have  naturally  some  effect.  The  thick  foliage,  which 
before  interposed  its  shade  between  the  sun  and  the 
earth,  intercepting  the  genial  warmth  from  the  lower 
atmosphere,  has  now  been  removed  in  many  exten- 
sive tracts  of  country:  the  cultivated  soil  imbibes 
the  heat,  and  returns  it  to  the  surrounding  air  in 
warm  and  humid  vapours.  The  exhalations  arising 
from  a  much  increased  amount  of  animal  life, 
together  with  the  burning  of  so  many  combustibles, 
are  not  altogether  without  their  influence  in  soften- 
ing the  severity  of  the  climate.5 

4  See  Appendix,  No.  XXIV.  5  See  Appendix,  No.  XXV. 


158  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

Canada  abounds  in  an  immense  and  beautiful 
variety  of  trees6  and  shrubs  ;  among  the  timber  trees 
the  oak,  pine,  fir,  elm,  ash,  birch,  walnut,  beech, 
maple,  chesnut,  cedar,  and  aspen,  are  the  principal ; 
of  fruit-trees  and  shrubs  there  are  walnut,  chesnut, 
apple,  pear,  cherry,  plum,  elder,  vines,7  hazel,  hiccory, 
sumach,  juniper,  hornbeam,  thorn,  laurel,  whortle- 
berry, cranberry,  gooseberry,  raspberry,  blackberry, 
blueberry,  sloe,  and  others;  strawberries  of  an 
excellent  flavour  are  luxuriantly  scattered  over 

6  "  In  Europe,  in  Asia,  in  Africa,  and  even  in  South  America,  the 
primeval  trees,  however  much  their  magnitude  may  arrest  admira- 
tion, do  not  grow  in  the  promiscuous  style  that  prevails  in  the  general 
character  of  the  North  American  woods.  Many  varieties  of  the  pine, 
intermingled  with  birch,  maple,  beech,  oak,  and  numerous  other 
tribes,  branch  luxuriantly  over  the  banks  of  lakes  and  rivers,  extend 
in  stately  grandeur  along  the  plains,  and  stretch  proudly  up  to  the 
very  summits  of  the  mountains.  It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the 
autumnal  beauty  of  these  forests  ;  nothing  under  heaven  can  be  com- 
pared to  its  effulgent  grandeur.  Two  or  three  frosty  nights  in  the 
decline  of  autumn,  transform  the  boundless  verdure  of  a  whole  empire 
into  every  possible  tint  of  brilliant  scarlet,  rich  violet,  every  shade  of 
blue  and  brown,  vivid  crimson  and  glittering  yellow.  The  stern 
inexorable  fir  tribes  alone  maintain  their  eternal  sombre  green.  All 
others,  in  mountains  or  in  villages,  burst  into  the  most  glorious 
vegetable  beauty,  and  exhibit  the  most  splendid  and  most  enchant- 
ing panorama  on  earth." — M'Gregor,  pp.  79,  80. 

Mr.  Weld  says,  "  The  varied  hues  of  the  trees  at  this  season  of 
the  year  (autumn)  can  hardly  be  imagined  by  those  who  never  have 
had  an  opportunity  of  observing  them  ;  and  indeed  as  others  have 
often  remarked  before,  were  a  painter  to  attempt  to  colour  a  picture 
from  them,  it  would  be  condemned  in  Europe  as  totally  different 
from  any  thing  that  ever  existed  in  nature." — Weld,  p.  510. 

"  I  can  only  compare  the  brightness  of  the  faded  leaves,  scarlet, 
purple,  and  yellow,  to  that  of  tulips." — Lyell's  America,  vol.  i.,  p.  107. 

7  See  Appendix,  No.  XXVI. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  159 

every  part  of  the  country ;  innumerable  varieties  of 
useful  and  beautiful  herbs  and  grasses  enrich  the 
forests,  whose  virtues  and  peculiarities  are  as  yet 
but  little  known  to  Europeans.8  In  many  places, 

8  "  One  of  the  most  striking  features  in  the  vegetation  of  Canada  is 
the  number  of  species  belonging  to  the  genera  Solidago,  Aster, 
Quercus,  and  Pinus.  It  is  also  distinguished  for  the  many  plants 
contained  in  the  Orders,  or  natural  families, —  Grossulacese,  Onogracese, 
Hypericacese,  Aceracese,  Betulacese,  Juglandacese,  and  Vacciniacese  ; 
and  for  the  presence  of  the  peculiar  families — Podophyllse,  Sarrace- 
niacese,  and  Hydrophyllacese.  There  is,  on  the  contrary,  the  climate 
being  considered,  a  remarkable  paucity  of  CruciferaB  and  Umbelliferse, 
and,  what  is  most  extraordinary,  a  total  absence  of  the  genus  Erica 
(heath),*  which  covers  so  many  thousands  of  acres  in  corresponding 
latitudes  in  Europe.  Mrs.  Butler  mentions,  in  her  Journal,  'that 
some  poor  Scotch  peasants,  about  to  emigrate  to  Canada,  took  away 
with  them  some  roots  of  the  "  bonny  blooming  heather,"  in  hopes  of 
making  this  beloved  adorner  of  their  native  mountains,  the  cheerer  of 
their  exile.  The  heather,  however,  refused  to  grow  in  the  Canadian 
soil ; — the  person  who  told  me  this,  said  that  the  circumstance  had 


*  Seven  hours'  journey  above  the  sources  of  the  Bow  River,  Sir  George  Simpson 
mentions  meeting  with  "  an  unexpected  reminiscence  of  my  own  native  hills,  in  the 
shape  of  a  plant  which  appeared  to  me  to  be  the  very  heather  of  the  mountains  of  Scot- 
land ;  and  I  might  well  regard  the  reminiscence  as  unexpected,  inasmuch  as  in  all  my 
wanderings,  of  more  than  twenty  years,  I  had  never  found  anything  of  the  kind  in 
North  America.  As  I  took  a  considerable  degree  of  interest  in  the  question  of  the 
supposed  identity,  I  carried  away  two  specimens,  which  however  proved,  on  a  minute 
comparison,  to  differ  from  the  genuine  staple  of  the  brown  heaths  of  the  '  Land  o' 
Cakes.'  "—Vol.  i.,  p.  120. 

"  We  missed  also  the  small '  crimson-tipped  daisy '  on  the  green  lawns,  and  were 
told  that  they  have  been  often  cultivated  with  care,  but  are  found  to  wither  when 
exposed  to  the  dry  air  and  bright  sun  of  this  climate.  When  weeds  so  common  with 
us  cannot  be  reared  here,  we  cease  to  wonder  at  the  dissimilarity  of  the  native  Flora 
of  the  New  World.  Yet,  wherever  the  aboriginal  forests  are  cleared,  we  see  orchards, 
gardens,  and  arable  lands,  filled  with  the  same  fruit  trees,  the  same  grain  and  vege- 
tables, as  in  Europe,  so  bountifully  has  Nature  provided  that  the  plants  most  useful  to 
man  should  be  capable,  like  himself,  of  becoming  cosmopolites." — Lyell's  Travels  in 
North  America,  vol.  i.,  p.  5. 


]60  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

pine  trees9  grow  to  the  height  of  120  feet  and 
upwards,  and  are  from  nine  to  ten  feet  in  circum- 
ference ;  of  this,  and  of  the  fir  species,  there  are 
many  varieties,  some  of  them  valuable  from  their 

been  related  to  him  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  whose  sympathy  with  the 
disappointment  of  these  poor  children  of  the  romantic  heather-land 
betrayed  itself  even  in  tears.' 

"  Canada  is  not  rich  in  roses  ;  only  three  species  occur  throughout 
the  two  provinces.  Among  the  Ribes  and  the  Ericaceae,  however, 
are  found  many  of  the  most  beautiful  ornaments  of  the  English 
garden  :  Andromedas,  Rhododendrons,  Azaleas,  and  Kalmias,  belong 
to  the  latter  order.  The  Azalea  was  thus  described  by  one  of  the 
earlier  European  botanical  travellers,  Professor  Kalm  *  (in  1748): 
4  The  May-flowers,  as  the  Swedes  call  them,  were  plentiful  in  the 
woods  wherever  I  went  to-day,  especially  on  a  dry  soil,  or  one  that  is 
somewhat  moist.  The  Swedes  have  given  them  this  name  because 
they  are  in  full  blossom  in  May.  Some  of  the  Swedes  and  the  Dutch 
call  them  "  Pinxter  Bloem"  (Whitsunday  flowers),  as  they  are 
in  blossom  about  Whitsuntide.  The  English  call  them  wild  honey- 
suckles, and  at  a  distance  they  really  have  a  resemblance  to  the 
honeysuckle  or  lonicera.  Dr.  Linnaeus  and  other  botanists  call  it  an 
Azalea  (Azalea  Nudiflora,  Linn.  Spec.  Plant.,  p.  214.)  Its  flowers 
were  now  open,  and  added  a  new  ornament  to  the  woods,  being  little 
inferior  to  the  flowers  of  the  honeysuckle  and  hedysarum.  They  sit 
in  a  circle  round  the  stem's  extremity,  and  have  either  a  dark  red  or 
lively  red  colour  ;  but  by  standing  some  time,  the  sun  bleaches  them, 
and  at  last  they  get  a  whitish  hue.  The  height  of  the  bush  is  not 
always  alike.  Some  were  as  tall  as  a  full-grown  man,  and  taller  ; 
others  were  but  low,  and  some  were  not  above  a  palm  from  the  ground  ; 
yet  they  were  all  full  of  flowers.  They  have  some  smell,  but  I  can- 
not say  it  is  very  pleasant.  However,  the  beauty  of  the  colour 
entitles  them  to  a  place  in  every  flower-garden.'  " — Travels  in  North 
America,  by  Professor  Kalm,  in  Pinkerton,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  557. 

9  See  Appendix,  No.  XXVII. 


*  The  kalmias  were  so  named  by  Linnaeus  in  honour  of  Professor  Kalm,  a  favourite 
pupil  of  the  great  botanist. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  161 

production  of  pitch,  tar,  and  turpentine.  The 
American  oak1  is  quicker  in  its  growth  and  less 
durable  than  that  of  England  ;  one  species  however 
called  the  live  oak,  grown  in  the  warmer  parts  of 
the  continent,  is  said  to  be  equal,  if  not  superior,  to 

1  The  oak  from  the  dense  forests  of  Canada,  into  which  the  sun's 
rays  never  penetrate,  is  more  porous,  more  abundant  in  sap,  and 
more  prone  to  the  dry  rot,  than  the  oak  grown  in  any  other  country. 
Canadian  timber  has  increased  in  value  since  the  causes  of  its 
former  rapid  decay  have  been  more  fully  understood.  Mr.  Nathaniel 
Gould  asserts  that  the  wane  of  the  moon  is  now  universally  considered 
the  best  season  for  felling  timber,  both  in  the  United  States  and  in 
Canada.  The  Americans  contract  for  their  ship  timber  to  be  felled 
or  girdled,  between  the  20th  October  and  the  12th  February.  Dry 
rot  being  probably  caused  by  the  natural  moisture  or  sap  being  left 
in  the  wood,  the  less  there  is  in  the  tree  when  cut,  the  longer  it 
will  keep  sound.  As  regards  the  Canadian  oak,  it  is  stated  by 
Mr.  M'Taggart,  (the  engineer,  who  so  ably  distinguished  himself  while 
in  the  colony),  that  it  is  not  so  durable  as  that  of  the  British,  the 
fibre  not  being  so  compact  and  strong  ;  it  grows  in  extensive  groves 
near  the  banks  of  large  lakes  and  rivers,  sometimes  found  growing 
to  50  feet  in  length  by  2  feet  6  inches  ;  its  specific  gravity  is  greater 
than  water,  and  therefore,  when  floated  down  in  rafts,  it  is  rendered 
buoyant  with  cross  bars  of  pine.  It  is  easily  squared  with  the 
hatchet,  and  answers  well  for  ship  building  and  heavy  work  ;  will 
endure  the  seasons  for  about  fifteen  years,*  and  does  not  decay  in 
England  so  soon  as  in  Canada. — Montgomery  Martin's  Canada, 
p.  257  ;  Gray's  Canada,  p.  207. 


*  Kalm  says,  in  1748,  "  They  were  now  building  several  ships  below  Quebec  for 
the  king's  account.  However,  before  my  departure,  an  order  arrived  from  France, 
prohibiting  the  further  building  of  ships  of  war,  because  they  had  found  that  the  ships 
built  of  American  oak  do  not  last  so  long  as  those  of  European  oak.  Near  Quebec  is 
found  very  little  oak,  and  what  grows  there  is  not  fit  for  use,  being  very  small ;  there- 
fore they  are  obliged  to  fetch  their  oak  timber  from  those  parts  of  Canada  which 
border  upon  New  England.  But  all  the  North  American  oaks  have  the  quality  of 
lasting  longer,  and  withstanding  putrefaction  better,  the  further  north  they  grow." — 
Kalm,  p.  663. 

VOL.  I.  M 


162          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

any  in  Europe  for  ship-building.  The  white  oak  is 
the  best  found  in  the  Canadian  settlements,  and  is 
in  high  repute ;  another  description  is  called  the 
scrubby  oak — it  resembles  the  British  gnarled  oak, 
and  is  remarkably  hard  and  durable.  The  birch2 
tribe  is  very  numerous  :  the  bark  is  much  used  by 
the  Indians  in  making  canoes,3  baskets,  and  roofings, 
the  wood  is  of  a  useful  quality,  and  the  sap,  when 
extracted  in  the  spring,  produces  by  fermentation  a 
pleasant  but  weak  wine.  The  maple4  is  one  of  the 

2  The  most  useful  American  plants  in  the  small  order  Betulacese 
are  the  birches,  of  which  Canada  contains  six  species.  The  most 
celebrated  is  Betula  Papyracea,  the  canoe  birch,  so  called  from  the 
use  made  of  the  bark  in  the  construction  of  the  Indian  boats.  It 
extends  from  the  shore  of  the  Hudson  in  New  York  to  a  considerable 
range  of  country  northwards  of  Canada.  The  bark  is  obtained  with 
facility  in  large  pieces,  and  is  sewed  together  with  the  tough  and  slender 
roots  of  the  pine  tree.  La  Hontan  relates  a  characteristic  story  respect- 
ing the  birch  bark — "  I  remember  I  have  seen,  in  a  certain  library  in 
France,  a  manuscript  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  written  in  Greek, 
upon  this  sort  of  bark  ;  and  which  is  yet  more  surprising,  I  was  there 
told  that  it  had  been  written  above  a  thousand  years  ;  and  at  the 
same  time  I  dare  swear,  that  it  was  the  genuine  birch  bark  of  New 
France,  which,  in  all  appearance,  was  not  then  discovered."-— 
La  Hontan,  in  Pinkerton,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  361. 

Mr.  Weld  says  that  "  the  bark  resembles  in  some  degree  that 
of  the  cork  tree,  but  it  is  of  a  closer  grain,  and  also  much  more 
pliable,  for  it  admits  of  being  rolled  up  the  same  as  a  piece  of 
cloth.  The  Indians  of  this  part  of  the  country  always  carry  large 
rolls  of  it  in  their  canoes  when  they  go  on  a  hunting  party,  for 
the  purpose  of  making  temporary  huts.  The  bark  is  spread  on 
small  poles  over  their  heads,  and  fastened  with  strips  of  elm  bark, 
which  is  remarkably  tough,  to  stakes,  so  as  to  form  walls  on  the 
sides."— Weld,  p.  311. 

3  See  Appendix,  No.  XXVIII.        4  See  Appendix,  No.  XXIX. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  163 

most  variable  and  beautiful  of  all  the  forest 
trees,  and  is  adopted  as  the  emblem  of  Canadian 
nationality. 

Two  plants,  formerly  of  great  importance  in  these 
counties,  are  now  almost  extirpated,  or  little  noticed 
as  articles  of  commerce — ginseng5  and  capillaire. 

5  "  The  ginseng  belongs  to  the  small  order  Araliaceaa.  The  bota- 
nical name  is  Panax  quinquefolium ;  it  was  called  Aureliana 
Canadensis  by  Lafitau,  who  was  the  first  to  bring  it  from  Canada 
to  France. — (Charlevoix,  torn,  iv.,  p.  309,  fig.  13.)  It  was  discovered 
in  the  forests  of  Canada  in  1718.  It  is  herbaceous,  scarcely  a  foot 
and  a  half  in  height,  and  towards  the  upper  part  of  the  stem  arise 
three  quinate-digitate  leaves,  from  the  centre  of  which  springs  the 
flower  stalk.  The  root  is  fusiform  and  fleshy,  and  is  the  part  most 
valued.  We  are  informed  that  among  the  Chinese  many  volumes 
have  been  written  upon  its  virtues  ;  and  that  besides  the  name 
already  mentioned,  it  is  known  by  several  others  expressive  of  the 
high  estimation  in  which  it  is  universally  held  throughout  the  celestial 
empire  ;  two  of  these  appellations  are,  '  the  pure  spirit  of  the  earth,' 
and  '  the  plant  that  gives  immortality. '  An  ounce  of  ginseng  bears 
the  surprising  price  of  seven  or  eight  ounces  of  silver  at  Pekin. 
When  the  French  botanists  in  Canada  first  saw  a  figure  of  it,  they 
remembered  to  have  seen  a  similar  plant  in  this  country.  They 
were  confirmed  in  their  conjecture  by  considering  that  several  settle- 
ments in  Canada  lie  under  the  same  latitude  with  those  parts  of  the 
Chinese  Tartary  and  China  where  the  true  ginseng  grows  wild. 
They  succeeded  in  their  attempt,  and  found  the  same  ginseng  wild  and 
abundant  in  several  parts  of  North  America,  both  in  French  and 
English  plantations,  in  plain  parts  of  the  woods.  It  is  fond  of  shade, 
and  of  a  deep  rich  mould,  and  of  land  which  is  neither  wet  nor  high. 
It  is  not  everywhere  very  common,  for  sometimes  one  may  search 
the  woods  for  the  space  of  several  miles  without  finding  a  single  plant 
of  it  ;  but  in  those  spots  where  it  grows  it  is  always  found  in  great 
abundance.  It  flowers  in  May  and  June,  and  its  berries  are  ripe  at 
the  end  of  August.  The  trade  which  is  carried  on  with  it  here  is 
very  brisk,  for  they  gather  great  quantities  of  it,  and  send  them  to 

M2 


164  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

The  first  was  found  in  great  abundance  by  the  French 
in  their  earlier  settlement  of  the  colony,  and  large 
quantities  were  exported  to  Europe,  from  whence  it 

France,  from  whence  they  are  brought  to  China,  and  sold  there  to 
great  advantage.  The  Indians  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Montreal 
were  so  taken  up  with  the  business  of  collecting  ginseng,  that  the 
French  farmers  were  not  able  during  that  time  to  hire  a  single  Indian, 
as  they  commonly  do,  to  help  them  in  the  harvest.  The  ginseng 
formerly  grew  in  abundance  round  Montreal,  but  at  present  there  is 
not  a  single  plant  of  it  to  be  found,  so  effectually  have  they  been 
rooted  out.  This  obliged  the  Indians  this  summer  to  go  far  within 
the  English  boundaries  to  collect  these  roots.  After  the  Indians 
have  sold  the  fresh  roots  to  the  merchants,  the  latter  must  take  a 
great  deal  of  pains  with  them.  They  are  spread  on  the  floor  to  dry, 
which  commonly  requires  two  months  and  upwards,  according  as  the 
season  is  wet  or  dry.  During  that  time  they  must  be  turned  once  or 
twice  every  day  lest  they  should  putrefy  or  moulder.  The  roots  pre- 
pared by  the  Chinese  are  almost  transparent  and  look  like  horn  in 
the  inside  ;  and  the  roots  which  are  fit  for  use  are  heavy  and  com- 
pact in  the  inside.  No  one  has  ever  discovered  the  Chinese  method 
of  preparing  it.  It  is  thought  amongst  other  preparations  they  dip 
the  roots  in  a  decoction  of  the  leaves  of  ginseng."  Kalm  wrote  thus 
of  the  ginseng  in  1749  (Kalm,  in  Pinkerton,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  639). 
Mr.  Heriot  mentions  that  "  one  article  of  commerce  the  Canadians 
had,  by  their  own  imprudence,  rendered  altogether  unprofitable. 
From  the  time  that  Canada  ginseng  had  been  imported  to  Canton, 
and  its  quality  pronounced  equal  to  that  of  Corea  or  Tartary,  a 
pound  of  this  plant,  which  before  sold  in  Quebec  for  twenty  pence, 
became,  when  its  value  was  once  ascertained,  worth  one  pound  and 
tenpence  sterling.  The  export  of  this  article  amounted  in  1752  to 
20,OOOZ.  sterling.  But  the  Canadians,  eager  suddenly  to  enrich 
themselves,  reaped  this  plant  in  May  when  it  should  not  have  been 
gathered  until  September,  and  dried  it  in  ovens  when  its  moisture 
should  have  been  gradually  evaporated  in  the  shade.  This  fatal 
mistake,  arising  from  cupidity,  and  in  some  measure  from  ignorance, 
ruined  the  sale  of  their  ginseng  among  the  only  people  on  earth  who 
are  partial  to  its  use,  and  at  an  early  period  cut  off  from  the  colony 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  165 

was  forwarded  to  China;  the  high  value  it  then 
possessed  in  that  distant  market  induced  the  Cana- 
dians to  collect  the  roots  prematurely;  and  the 
Indians  also  gathered  them  wherever  they  could  be 
found ;  consequently  this  useful  production  was  soon 
exhausted,  and  is  now  rarely  seen.  The  capillaire6 

a  new  branch  of  trade  which,  under  proper  regulations,  might  have 
been  essentially  productive." — Heriot's  Travels  through  the  Canadas, 
p.  99,  1807. 

"  Mountainous  woods  in  Tartary  are  mentioned  as  the  place  where 
the  ginseng  is  produced  in  the  greatest  abundance.  In  1709,  the 
emperor  ordered  an  army  of  ten  thousand  men  to  collect  all  the 
ginseng  they  could  find  ;  and  each  person  was  to  give  him  two  ounces 
of  the  best,  while  for  the  remainder  payment  was  to  be  made  in  silver, 
weight  for  weight.  It  was  in  the  same  year  that  Father  Jartoux,  a 
Jesuit  missionary  in  China,  prepared  a  figure  and  accurate  descrip- 
tion of  the  plant,  in  which  he  bears  testimony  to  the  beneficial  effects 
of  the  root.  He  tried  it  in  many  instances  himself  and  always  with 
the  same  result,  especially  when  exhausted  with  fatigue.  His  pulse 
was  increased,  his  appetite  improved,  and  his  whole  frame  invigorated. 
Judging  from  the  accounts  before  us,  we  should  say  that  the  Chinese 
were  extravagant  in  their  ideas  of  the  virtues  of  this  herb  ;  but  that 
it  is  undoubtedly  a  cordial  stimulant,  to  be  compared  perhaps  in 
some  degree  with  the  aromatic  root  of  Meum  Athamanticum,  so 
much  esteemed  by  the  Scottish  Highlanders.  It  has  nevertheless 
disappeared  from  our  Materia  Medica." — Murray's  Canada,  vol.  iii., 
p.  308.  Charlevoix,  torn,  vi.,  p.  24. 

"  Ginseng  a  veritablement  la  vertu  de  soutenir,  de  fortifier,  et  de 
rappeller  les  forces  epuisees." — Lafitau,  torn,  ii.,  p.  142. 

6  In  La  Hontan's  time  (1683),  he  speaks  of  "  maiden-hair,"  being 
as  common  in  the  forests  of  Canada,  as  fern  is  in  those  of  France, 
and  is  esteemed  beyond  that  of  other  countries  ;  insomuch  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Quebec  prepare  great  quantities  of  its  syrup,  which 
they  send  to  Paris,  Nantes,  Rouen,  and  several  other  cities  of  France. 
Charlevoix  gives  a  figure  of  the  maiden-hair  (torn,  iv.,  p.  301),  under 
the  name  of  Adiantum  Americanum. — "  Cette  plante  a  la  racine  fort 
petite,  et  enveloppee  de  fibres  noires,  fort  deliees;  sa  tige  est  d'un 


166          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

is  now  either  become  rare  or  neglected  for  other 
objects  ;  a  small  quantity  is,  however,  still  exported. 
In  the  woods  there  is  a  vast  variety  of  wild  plants 
and  flowers,  many  of  them  very  beautiful ;  the  sweet 
garlic  especially  deserves  notice ;  two  large  pale- 
green  leaves  arise  from  the  root,  between  them 
stands  the  delicate  stem  about  a  foot  in  height, 
bearing  a  cluster  of  graceful  flowers,  resembling 
blue-bells  in  shape  and  colour.  The  wild  turnip  is 
also  very  beautiful.  There  are  besides  many  valuable 
herbs  and  roots,  which  the  Indians  use  for  various 

pourpre  fon'ce,  et  s'eleve  en  quelques  endroits  k  trois  ou  quatre  pieds  de 
haut;  il  en  sort  des  branches,  qui  se  courbent  en  tous  sens.  Les  feuilles 
sont  plus  larges  que  celles  de  notre  Capillaire  de  France,  d'uri  beau 
verd  d'un  cote,  et  de  1'autre,  semees  de  petits  points  obscurs  ;  nulle 
part  ailleurs  cette  plante  n'est  si  baute  ni  si  vive,  qu'en  Canada. 
Elle  n'a  aucune  odeur  tandis  qu'elle  est  sur  pied,  mais  quand  elle  a 
ete  renfermee,  elle  repand  une  odeur  de  violette,  qui  embaume.  Sa 
qualite  est  aussi  beaucoup  audessus  de  tous  les  autres  capillaires." 

The  Herba  capillaris  is  the  Adiantum  pedatum  of  Linnaeus,  (Sp.  PI. 
p.  1557).  Cornutus,  in  his  Canadens.  Plant.  Historia,  p.  7,  calls  it 
Adiantum  Americanum,  and  gives  a  figure  of  it,  p.  6.  Kalm  says 
that  "  it  grows  in  all  the  British  colonies  of  America,  and  likewise  in 
the  southern  parts  of  Canada,  but  I  never  found  it  near  Quebec.  It 
grows  in  the  woods  in  shady  places,  and  in  a  good  soil.  Several 
people  in  Albany  and  Canada  assured  me,  tbat  its  leaves  were  very 
much  used  instead  of  tea,  in  consumptions,  coughs,  and  all  kinds  of 
pectoral  diseases.  This  they  have  learned  from  the  Indians,  who 
have  made  use  of  it  for  these  purposes  from  time  immemorial.  This 
American  maiden-hair  is  reckoned  preferable  in  surgery  to  that  which 
we  have  in  Europe,  and  therefore  they  send  a  great  quantity  of  it  to 
France  every  year.  Commonly  the  price  at  Quebec  is  between  five 
and  fifteen  sols  a  pound.  The  Indians  went  into  the  woods  about 
this  time  (August),  and  travelled  far  above  Montreal  in  quest  of  this 
plant." — Kalm,  in  Pinkerton,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  641. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  167 

purposes ;  the  reindeer  moss7  often  serves  for  support 
and  refreshment  to  the  exhausted  hunter ;  when 
boiled  down  into  a  liquid  it  is  very  nourishing ;  and 
an  herb  called  Indian  tea  produces  a  pleasant  and 
wholesome  draught  with  a  rich  aromatic  flavour. 
Wild  oats  and  rice8  are  found  in  some  of  the  marshy 
lands.  The  soil  and  climate  are  also  favourable  to 
the  production  of  hops  and  a  mild  tobacco,  much 
esteemed  for  the  manufacture  of  snuff.  Hemp9  and 
flax  are  both  indigenous  in  America.  Father  Hen- 
nepin,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  found  the  former 
growing  wild  in  the  country  of  the  Illinois  ;  and  Sir 
Alexander  Mackenzie,  in  his  travels  to  the  western 
coast,  met  with  flax  in  the  interior,  where  no  Euro- 
pean was  ever  known  to  have  been  before.  The 

7  "  This  moss  is  called  by  the  Canadian  voyageurs,  Tripe  de  Roche  ; 
it  belongs  to  the  order  Gyrophara.     They  who   have   perused  the 
affecting  narrative  of  the  sufferings  of  Captain  Franklin,  and  his  gal- 
lant party,  on  their  return  from  their  first  journey  to  the  Arctic  Sea, 
will  remember  that  it  was  on   Tripe  de  Roche  that  they  depended, 
under  God,  for  their  very  existence.     '  We  looked/   says  Captain 
Franklin,   '  with  humble  confidence  to  the  Great  Author  and  giver  of 
all  good,  for  a  continuance  of  the  support  which  had  been  hitherto 
always  supplied  to  us  at  our  greatest  need,'  and  he  was  not  dis- 
appointed."— Murray's    Canada,   vol.    iii.,    p.    330.     "  Parmi   les 
sauvages  errans,  et  qui  ne  cultivent  point  du  tout  la  terre,  lorsque 
la  chasse  et  la  peche  leur  manquent,  leur  unique  ressource  est  une 
espece  de  mousse,  qui  croit  sur  certains  rochers,  et  que  nos  Frangais 
ont  nommee  Tripe  de   Roche  ;  rien  n'est  plus  insipide  que  ce  mets, 
lequel  n'a  pas  meme   beaucoup   de    substance,    c'est   bien   la   etre 
reduit  au  pur  necessaire  pour  ne  pas  mourir  de  faim." — Charlevoix, 
torn,  vi.,  p.  24. 

8  See  Appendix,  No.  XXX.  9  See  Appendix,  No.  XXXI. 


168  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

Indian  hemp1  is  seen  in  abundance  upon  the  Cana- 
dian soil,  particularly  in  light  and  sandy  places ;  the 
bark  is  so  strong  that  the  natives  use  it  for  bow- 
strings ;  the  pod  bears  a  substance  that  rivals  down 
in  softness  and  elasticity ;  the  culture  is  easy ;  the 
root  penetrating  deep  into  the  earth  survives  the 
frosts  of  winter,  and  shoots  out -fresh  stalks  every 
spring.  When  five  or  six  years  old  it  attains  the 
greatest  perfection.  It  may  be  added,  that  in  these 
favoured  provinces  all  European  plants,  fruits,  vege- 
tables, grain,2  legumes,  and  every  other  production 
of  the  earth  required  for  the  subsistence  or  luxury  of 
man,  yield  their  increase  even  more  abundantly  than 
in  the  old  continents. 

The  animals  originally  belonging  to  America 
appear  to  be  of  an  inferior  race — neither  so  robust, 
fierce,  or  numerous  as  those  of  the  other  continents : 


1  "  The  Swedes  gave  the  name  of  Indian  hemp  to  Apocynum  Can- 
nabinum,  because  the  Indians  apply  it  to  the  same  purposes  as  the 
Europeans  do  hemp  ;  for  the  stalk  may  be  divided  into  filaments,  and 
is  easily  prepared.  This  plant  grows  in  abundance  in  old  corn 
grounds,  in  woods,  on  hills,  and  on  high  glades.  The  Indians  make 
ropes  of  this  Apocynum,  which  the  Swedes  buy,  and  employ  them  as 
bridles,  and  for  nets.  These  ropes  are  stronger,  and  kept  longer  in 
water,  than  such  as  were  made  of  common  hemp.  The  Swedes 
commonly  got  fourteen  yards  of  these  ropes  for  one  piece  of  bread. 
On  my  journey  through  the  country  of  the  Iroquois,  I  saw  the  women 
employed  in  manufacturing  this  hemp.  The  plant  is  perennial,  which 
renders  the  annual  planting  of  it  altogether  unnecessary.  Out  of  the 
root  and  stalk  of  this  plant,  when  it  is  fresh,  comes  a  white  milky 
juice,  which  is  somewhat  poisonous.  Sometimes  the  fishing  tackle  of 
the  Indian  consists  entirely  of  this  hemp." — Kalm,  in  Pinkerton, 
vol.  xiii.,  p.  544.  2  See  Appendix,  No.  XXXII. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF    CANADA.  169 

some  are  peculiar  to  the  New  World ;  but  there  is 
reason  to  suppose  that  several  species  have  become 
utterly  extinct,  and  the  spread  of  cultivation  and 
increase  of  the  human  race  rapidly  extirpate  many 
of  those  that  still  remain.  America  gives  birth  to 
no  creature  of  equal  bulk  to  the  elephant  and  rhino- 
ceros, or  of  equal  strength  and  ferocity  to  the  lion 
and  tiger.  The  particular  qualities  in  the  climate, 
stinting  the  growth  and  enfeebling  the  spirit  of  the 
native  animals,  have  also  proved  injurious  to  such 
as  have  been  transported  to  the  Canadas  by  their 
present  European  inhabitants.  The  soil,  as  well  as 
temperature,  of  the  country  seems  to  be  rather  un- 
favourable to  the  development  of  strength  and 
perfection  in  the  animal  creation.3  The  general 
quality  of  the  natural  grasses  covering  those 
boundless  pastures  is  not  good  or  sufficiently  nu- 
tritious.4 

The  native  animals  of  Canada  are  the  buffalo, 

3  Buffon,  Hist.  Nat.,  torn,  ix.,  pp.  13,  203  ;  Acosta,  Hist.,  lib.  iv. 
cap.  xxxiv. ;   Pisonis  Hist.,  p.  6;  Herrera,  Dec.  IV.,  lib.  iv.,  cap.  i. ; 
lib.  x.  cap.  xiii. 

4  Canada  has  not  the  fine  natural  pastures  of  Ireland,  England, 
Holland,  and  other  countries  enjoying  a  cool,   moist,   and  equable 
climate.     Artificial  grasses,  now  a  most  valuable  branch  of  British 
husbandry,  are  peculiarly  important  in  Canada,  where  so  large  a 
quantity  of  hay  should  be  stored  for  winter  use.      They  are  also 
most  useful  in  preparing  the  soil  for  grain  crops,  but  have  the  dis- 
advantage of  requiring  to  stand  the  severe  winter,  so  trying  to  all 
except  annual  plants.     Clover,  which  is  supposed  to  yield  three  times 
the  produce  of  natural  grass,  grows  luxuriantly ;  but  in  the  second 
year  its  roots  are  often  found  to  have  been  destroyed  by  frost.     For 
this  reason  it  is  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  the  species  named 


170          THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA. 

bison,  and  musk  bull,  belonging  to  the  ox  kind. 
The  buffalo  is  still  found  in  herds  of  immense  num- 
bers upon  the  prairies  of  the  remote  western  country, 
where  they  have  wandered  from  the  hated  neigh- 
bourhood of  civilised  man:  the  skin5  is  invaluable  to 
the  Canadians  as  a  protection  from  the  keen  wintry 
air,  and  is  abundantly  supplied  to  them  by  the  hunters 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.6  This  animal  is  about 
the  size  of  an  ox,  with  the  head  disproportionably 
large;  he  is  of  a  lighter  colour,  less  ferocious  aspect, 
and  inferior  strength  to  those  of  the  old  world. 
Both  the  bison  and  musk  ox  are  varieties  of  the 
domestic  cow,  with  a  covering  of  shaggy  hair; 
they  possess  considerable  strength  and  activity. 

Timothy,  which  is  extremely  hardy,  and  will  set  at  defiance  even  a 
Canadian  winter. — Talbot,  vol.  i.,  p.  304  ;  Gould,  p.  67. 

5  "  In  the  western  parts  of  Lower  Canada,  and  throughout  Upper 
Canada,  where  it  is    customary  for  travellers  to  carry  their   own 
hedding  with  them,  these  skins  are  very  generally  made  use  of  for 
the   purpose  of   sleeping   upon.     For   upwards   of  two  months  we 
scarcely  ever  had  any  other  hed  than  one  of  the  skins  spread  on 
the  floor  and  a  blanket  to  each  person.     The   skins    are    dressed 
by  the  Indians  with  the  hair  on,  and  they  are  rendered  by  a  pecu- 
liar process  as  pliable  as  cloth.     When  the  buffalo  is  killed  in  the 
beginning  of  the  winter,  at  which  time  he  is  fenced  against  the 
cold,  the  hair  resembles  very  much  that  of  a  black  bear  ;  it  is  then 
long,  straight,  and  of  a  blackish  colour  ;  but  when  the  animal  is 
killed  in  the  summer,  the  hair  is  short  and  curly,  and  of  a  light 
brown  colour,  owing  to  its  being  scorched  by  the  rays  of  the  sun." — 
Weld,  p.  313. 

6  Charlevoix  says  "que  la  peau,  quoique  tres  forte,  devient  souple 
et  moelleuse  comme  le  meilleur  chamois.     Les  sauvages  en  font  des 
boucliers,  qui  sont  tres  legers,  et  que  les  bals  de  fusil  ne  percent 
pas  aiseinent." — Tom.  v.,  p.  193. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          171 

There  are  different  descriptions  of  deer:  the  black 
and  grey  moose  or  elk,  the  cariboo  or  reindeer,7  the 
stag8  and  fallow  deer.9  The  moose  deer10  is  the 
largest  wild  animal  of  the  continent ;  it  is  often 


7  The  height  of  the  domesticated  reindeer  is  about  three  feet ;  of 
the  wild  ones,  four.     It  lives  to  the  age  of  sixteen  years.     The  rein- 
deer is  a  native  of  the  northern  regions  only.     In  America  it  does  not 
extend  further  south  than  Canada.     The  Indians  often  kill  numbers 
for  the  sake  of  their  tongue  only ;  at  other  times  they  separate  the 
flesh  from  the  bones,  and  preserve  it  by  drying  it  in  the  smoke.    The 
fat,  they  sell  to  the  English,  who  use  it  for  frying  instead  of  butter. 
The    skins   also   are  an  article  of   extensive    commerce    with  the 
English. — Rees's  Cyclopcedia,  art.  Cervus  Tarandus. 

Charlevoix  says  that  the  Canadian  caribou  differs  in  nothing  from 
the  Renne  of  Buffon  except  in  the  colour  of  its  skin,  which  is  brown 
or  reddish. — Tom.  v.,  p.  191.  La  Hontan  calls  the  caribou  a  species 
of  wild  ass  ;  and  Charlevoix  says  that  its  form  resembles  that  of  the 
ass,  but  that  it  at  least  equals  the  stag  in  agility. 

8  Pennant  is  persuaded  that  the  stag  is  not  a  native  of  America, 
and  considers  the  deer  known  in  that  country  by  the  name  of  stag  as 
a  distinct  species.     The  American  stag  is  the  Cervus  Canadensis  of 
Erxleben.     The  Americans  hunt  and  shoot  those  animals  not  so 
much  for  the  sake  of  the  flesh  as  of  the  fat,  which  serves  as  tallow 
in  making  candles,  and  the  skins,  which   they  dispose  of  to  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company.     They  are  caught  principally  in  the  inland 
parts,  near  the  vicinity  of  the  lakes. — Rees's  Cyclopcedia,  art.  Cervus 
Elaphus. 

Charlevoix  says  that  "  le  Cerf  en  Canada  est  absolument  le 
meme  qu'en  France,  peut  etre  communement  un  peu  plus  grand." — 
Tom.v.,  p.  189. 

9  The  fallow  deer  in  America  have  been  introduced  there  from 
Europe  ;  for  the  animal  called  the  American  fallow  is  of  a  very 
different  kind,  and  is  peculiar  to  the  New  Continent.    This,  the  Cervus 
Virginianus,  inhabits  all  the  provinces  south  of  Canada. — Rees's 
Cyclopcedia,  art,  Cervus  Virginianus. 

10  See  Appendix,  No.  XXXIII. 


172  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

seen  upwards  of  ten  feet  high,  and  weighing  twelve 
hundred-weight ;  though  savage  in  aspect  the 
creature  is  generally  timid  and  inoffensive  even 
when  attacked  by  the  hunter,  and  like  the  sheep 
may  be  easily  domesticated:  the  flesh  and  skin  are 
both  of  some  value. 

The  black  and  brown  bear1  is  found  in  various 
parts  of  America,  but  chiefly  in  the  north-west : 
some  few  are  seen  in  the  forests  to  the  north  of 
Quebec.  This  animal  chooses  for  his  lurking-place 
the  hollow  trunk  of  an  old  tree,  which  he  prepares 
with  sticks  and  branches,  and  a  coating  of  warm 
moss;  on  the  approach  of  the  cold  season  he  retires 
to  his  lair,  and  sleeps  through  the  long  winter  till 
the  return  of  spring  enables  him  again  to  seek  his 
prey.  The  bear  is  rather  shy  than  fierce,  but  very 
powerful  and  dangerous  when  driven  to  extremities ; 
he  displays  a  strong  degree  of  instinct,  and  is  very 
dexterous  and  cunning  in  procuring  food :  the  flesh 
is  considered  a  delicacy,  and  the  skin  highly  prized 
for  beauty  and  warmth.  Foxes 2  are  numerous ;  they 
are  of  various  colours  and  very  cunning.  Hares 3 
are  abundant  and  turn  white  in  winter  like  those  of 
Norway.  The  wolverine  or  carcajou  is  called  by 
the  hunters  beaver-eater,  and  somewhat  resembles  a 
badger ;  the  skin  is  soft  and  handsome.  A  species 
of  porcupine  or  urchin  is  found  to  the  northward, 
and  supplies  the  Indians  with  quills  about  four 

1  See  Appendix,  No.  XXXIV.  2  See  Appendix,  No.  XXXV. 

3  See  Appendix,  No.  XXXVI. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          173 

inches  long,  which,  when  dyed,  are  worked  into 
showy  ornaments.  Squirrels4  and  various  other 
small  quadrupeds  with  fine  furs  are  abundant  in  the 
forests.  The  animals  of  the  cat  kind  are  the  cougar 
or  American  lion,  the  loup-cervier,  the  catamount, 
and  the  manguay  or  lynx. 

Beavers5  are  numerous  in  North  America; 
these  amphibious  animals  are  about  two  feet  nine 
inches  in  length,  with  very  short  fore  feet  and 
divided  toes,  while  the  hinder  are  membranous,  and 
adapted  for  swimming ;  the  body  is  covered  with  a 
soft,  glossy,  and  valuable  fur ;  the  tail  is  oval,  scaly, 
destitute  of  hair,  and  about  a  foot  long.  These 
industrious  creatures  dam  up  considerable  streams, 
and  construct  dwellings  of  many  compartments,  to 
protect  them  from  the  rigour  of  the  climate,  as  well 
as  from  their  numerous  enemies ;  their  winter  food, 
consisting  of  poplar  logs,  pieces  of  willows,  alder, 
and  fragments  of  other  trees,  is  collected  in  autumn, 
and  sunk  in  the  water  near  the  habitation.  The 
beaver  exhibits  an  extraordinary  degree  of  instinct, 
and  may  be  easily  tamed ;  when  caught  or  surprised 
by  the  approach  of  an  enemy,  it  gives  warning 
to  its  companions  by  striking  the  water  with  the 
flat  of  its  tail.  The  musk  rat  and  otter  resemble 
the  beaver  in  some  of  their  habits,  but  are  inferior 
in  ingenuity,  and  of  less  value  to  the  hunter. 

The  walrus  has  now  disappeared  from  the  fre- 
quented waters  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  but  is 

4  See  Appendix,  No.  XXXVII.      5  See  Appendix,  No.  XXXVIII. 


174  THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

still  found  on  the  northern  coasts  of  Labrador ;  in 
shape  he  somewhat  resembles  the  seal,  but  is  of 
much  greater  size,  sometimes  weighing  4000  Ibs. ; 
when  protecting  their  young,  or  when  wounded, 
they  are  dangerous  from  their  immense  tusks; 
when  out  of  the  water,  however,  they  are  very 
helpless. 

Nearly  all  these  wild  animals  are  pursued  by  the 
Indians,  and  the  hunters  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany,6 for  their  skins  ;  they  are  consequently  grow- 
ing rarer,  and  their  haunts  become  more  remote 
each  succeeding  year :  probably,  at  no  distant  time, 
they  will  be  altogether  extinct. 

The  birds  of  Canada  differ  little  from  those  of  the 
same  names  in  Europe ;  but  the  severe  climate  is 
generally  uncongenial  to  them.  There  are  eagles, 
vultures,  hawks,  falcons,  kites,  owls,  ravens,  crows, 
rooks,  jays,  magpies,  daws,  cuckoos,  woodpeckers, 
hoopers,  creepers,  humming-birds,  thrushes,  black- 
birds, linnets,  finches,  sparrows,  fly-catchers,  pigeons, 
turkeys,  ducks,  geese,  swans,  grouse,  ptarmigans, 
snipes,  quails,  and  many  others.  The  plumage  of 
the  American  birds  is  very  brilliant ;  but  the  sweet 
voices  that  fill  the  European  woods  with  melody 
are  never  heard.  Many  of  the  birds  of  Lower 
Canada  are  migratory;  the  water-fowl  seek  the 
cooler  north  during  the  heat  of  summer,  and  other 
species  fly  to  the  south  to  shun  the  wintry  frosts. 
In  the  milder  latitudes  of  Upper  Canada,  birds  are 

6  See  Appendix,  No.  XXXIX. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  175 

more  numerous ;  they  are  known  by  the  same 
names  as  those  of  corresponding  species  in  England, 
but  differ  from  them  to  some  extent  in  plumage 
and  character. 

In  Lower  Canada  the  reptiles  are  few  and 
innocuous,  and  even  these  are  not  met  with  in  the 
cultivated  parts  of  the  country ;  in  the  Upper  Pro- 
vince, however,  they  are  more  numerous;  some 
species  are  very  dangerous,  others  harmless  and 
exquisitely  beautiful.  Two  kinds  of  rattlesnakes7 
are  found  here :  one  of  a  deep  brown  and  yellow 
colour,  and  seldom  more  than  thirty  inches  in 
length;  it  frequents  marshes  and  low  meadows, 
and  is  very  dangerous  to  cattle,  often  fastening  its 
fangs  upon  their  lips  while  grazing.  The  other  is 
a  bright  greenish  yellow  clouded  with  brown,  and 
twice  the  size  of  the  former.  These  reptiles  are 
thicker  in  proportion  to  their  length  than  any 
others ;  the  rattle  is  at  the  end  of  the  tail,  and 
consists  of  a  number  of  dry  horny  shells  inclosed 
within  each  other;  when  wounded  or  enraged  the 
skin  of  the  rattlesnake  assumes  a  variety  of  beautiful 
colours;  the  flesh  is  white  as  that  of  the  most 
delicate  fish,  and  is  esteemed  a  great  luxury  by  the 
Indians.  Cold  weather  weakens  or  destroys  their 
poisonous  qualities ;  in  the  spring,  when  they  issue 
from  their  place  of  winter  concealment,  they  are 
harmless  till  they  have  got  to  water,  and  at  that 
time  emit  a  sickening  smell  so  as  to  injure 

7  See  Appendix,  No.  XL. 


170  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

those  who  hunt  them.  In  some  of  the  remoter 
districts  they  are  still  numerous,  but  in  the  long 
settled  parts  of  the  country  they  are  now  rarely 
or  never  seen. 

Several  varieties  of  lizards  and  frogs  abound; 
the  latter  make  an  astonishing  noise  in  marshy 
places  during  the  summer  evening,  by  their  harsh 
croaking;  the  land  crab  is  found  on  the  northern 
shore  of  Lake  Erie.  A  small  tortoise,  called  a 
terrapin,8  is  taken  in  some  rivers,  creeks,  and 
swampy  grounds,  and  is  used  as  an  article  of  food : 
seals  have  been  occasionally  seen  on  the  islands  in 
Lake  Ontario. 

Insects9  are  very  numerous  and  various,  some  of 

8  "  While  we  were  roaming  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario  we 
caught  a  species  of  tortoise  (testudo  picta),  which  was  a  gaily-coloured 
shell,  and  I  carried  it  a  day's  journey  in  the  carriage,   and  then 
turned  it  out,  to  see  whether,  as  I  was  told,  it  would  know  its  way 
back  to  Lake  Ontario.     I  am  bound  to  admit  that  its  instinct  on  this 
occasion  did  not  fail,  for  it  made  directly  for  a  ravine,  in  the  bottom 
of  which  was  a  stream  that  would  lead  it  in  time  to  the  Genesee 
river,  and  this  would  carry  it  to  its  native  lake  if  it  escaped  destruc- 
tion at  the  falls  below  Rochester,  where  the  celebrated  diver,  Sam 
Patch,  perished,  after  he  had  succeeded  in  throwing  himself  with 
impunity  down  several    other  great  waterfalls.     There  is  a  fresh- 
water tortoise   in  Europe  (Terrapena  Europea)  found  in  Hungary, 
Prussia,  and  Silesia,  as  far  north  as  latitude  50°  to  52°.     It  also 
occurs  near  Bourdeaux,  and  in  the  north  of  Italy,  44°  and  45°  north 
latitude,   which   precisely   corresponds   with   the   latitude  of  Lake 
Ontario." — Lyell's  Travels  in  North  America,  vol.  i.,  p.  25. 

9  "  To  the  Malacodermous  division  belongs  the  remarkable  genus 
Lampyris,  which  contains  the  insects  commonly  called  glow-worms. 
The  substance  from  which  the  luminous  property  results  has  been  the 
subject   of  frequent  experiment   and   observation.     It  is  obviously 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          177 

them  both  troublesome  and  mischievous:  locusts 
or  grasshoppers  have  been  known  to  cause  great 
destruction  to  the  vegetable  world.  Mosquitoes  and 
sandflies  infest  the  woods,  and  the  neighbourhood 
of  water,  in  incredible  numbers  during  the  hot 
weather ;  there  are  many  moths  and  butterflies 
resembling  those  seen  in  England.  The  beautiful 
firefly  is  very  common  in  Canada,  their  phos- 
phorescent light  shining  with  wonderful  bright- 
ness through  the  shady  forests  in  the  summer 
nights. 

The  lakes  and  rivers  of  Upper  Canada  abound 
in  splendid  fish  of  almost  every  variety  known  in 
England,  and  others  peculiar  to  the  country: 
sturgeon  of  100  Ibs.  weight  are  frequently  taken, 
and  a  giant  species  of  pike,  called  the  maskenongi, 
of  more  than  60  Ibs.  The  trout  of  the  upper  lakes 
almost  rivals  the  sturgeon  in  size  but  not  in  flavour ; 
the  delicious  whitefish,  somewhat  resembling  a 
shad,  is  very  plentiful,  as  is  also  the  black  bass, 

under  the  control  of  the  animal,  which,  when  approached,  may  fre- 
quently he  observed  to  diminish,  or  put  out  its  light.  The  only 
species  with  which  we  are  acquainted  in  British  America  is  Lampyrjs 
corusca.  It  occurs  in  Canada,  and  has  heen  taken  at  least  as  far 
north  as  latitude  54°.  It  was  originally  described  by  Simmons  as  a 
native  of  Finland  and  Russia,  on  the  authority  of  Uddman,  but  has 
not  since  been  found  there." — Murray,  vol.  in.,  p.  277. 

"  We  saw  numerous  yellow  butterflies  very  like  a  British  species. 
Sometimes  forty  of  them  clustering  on  a  small  spot  resembled  a  plot 
of  primroses,  and  as  they  rose  altogether,  and  flew  off  slowly  on  every 
side,  it  was  like  the  play  of  a  beautiful  fountain." — Ly ell's  America, 
vol.  i.,  p.  25. 

VOL.  I.  N 


178  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

which  is  highly  prized ;  a  fresh-water  herring 
abounds  in  great  shoals,  but  is  inferior  in  delicacy 
to  the  corresponding  species  of  the  salt  seas. 
Salmon  are  numerous  in  Lake  Ontario,  but  above 
the  Falls  of  Niagara  they  are  never  seen. 


179 


CHAPTER   VI. 

PERHAPS  the  saddest  chapter  in  the  history  of  the 
sons  of  Adam,  is  furnished  by  the  Red  Man  of 
America.  His  origin  is  unknown,  no  records  tell 
the  tale  of  his  ancient  deeds.  A  foundling  in 
the  human  family,  discovered  by  his  stronger 
brethren  wandering  wild  through  the  forests  and 
over  the  prairies  of  the  western  desert;  no  fra- 
ternal welcome  greeted  this  lost  child  of  nature ; 
no  soothing  voice  of  affection  fell  upon  his  ear, 
no  gentle  kindness  wooed  him  from  his  savage 
isolation.  The  hand  of  irresistible  power  was 
stretched  out  —  not  to  raise  him  from  his  low 
estate  and  lead  him  into  the  brotherhood  of  civilised 
man,  but  to  thrust  him  away  with  cruel  and  unjust 
disdain. 

Little  more  than  three  centuries  and  a  half  have 
elapsed,  since  the  Indian  first  gazed  with  terror  and 
admiration  upon  the  white  strangers,  and  already 
three-fourths  of  his  inheritance  are  rent  away,  and 
three-fourths  of  his  race  have  vanished  from  the 
earth ;  while  the  sad  remnant,  few  and  feeble,  faint 
and  weary,  "are  fast  travelling  to  the  shades  of 

N2 


180  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

their  fathers,  towards  the  setting  sun." l  Year  by 
year  they  wither  away ;  to  them  the  close  breath  of 
civilised  man  is  more  destructive  than  the  deadliest 
blight.2  The  arts  and  appliances  which  the  accu- 
mulated ingenuity  of  ages  has  provided  to  aid  the 
labour  and  enhance  the  enjoyments  of  others,  have 
been  but  a  curse  to  these  children  of  the  wilderness. 
That  blessed  light  which  shines  to  the  miserable 
of  this  world  through  the  vista  of  the  "  shadowy 
valley,"  cheering  the  fainting  spirit  with  the  earnest 
of  a  glorious  future,  sheds  but  a  few  dim  and  dis- 
torted rays  upon  the  outskirts  of  the  Red  Man's 
forest  land. 

All  the  relations  of  Europeans  to  the  Indian  have 
been  alike  fatal  to  him — whether  of  peace  or  war ; 
as  tyrants  or  suppliants ;  as  conquerors  armed  with 

1  "  Driven  by  the  European  populations  towards  the  north-west  of 
North   America,*   the  savage   tribes  are  returning,  by  a  singular 
destiny,  to  expire  on  the  same  shore  where  they  landed,  in  unknown 
ages,  to  take  possession  of  America.     In  the  Iroquois  language,  the 
Indians  gave  themselves  the  appellation  of  Men  of  Always  (Ongou- 
eonoue) ;  these  men  of  always  have  passed  away,  and  the  stranger 
will  soon  have  left  to  the  lawful  heirs  of  a  whole  world  nothing  but 
the  mould  of  their  graves." — Chateaubriand's   Travels  in  America 
(Eng.  Trans.),  vol.  ii.,  p.  93. 

2  See  Appendix,  No.  XLI. 


*  De  Tocqueville  calculated  that  along  the  borders  of  the  United  States,  from  Lake 
Superior  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  extending  a  distance  of  more  than  1200  miles,  as  the 
bird  flies,  the  whites  advance  every  year  at  a  mean  rate  of  seventeen  miles ;  and  he 
truly  observes  that  there  is  a  grandeur  and  solemnity  in  this  gradual  and  continuous 
march  of  the  European  race  towards  the  Rocky  Mountains.  He  compares  it  to  "  a 
deluge  of  men  rising,  unabatedly,  and  daily  driven  onwards  by  the  hand  of  God." — 
Democracy  in  America,  vol.  ii.,  cap.  x.  §  4;  Lyell,  vol.  ii.  p.  77. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  181 

unknown  weapons  of  destruction ;  as  the  insidious 
purchasers  of  his  hunting-grounds,  betraying  him 
into  an  accursed  thirst  for  the  deadly  fire-water; 
as  the  greedy  gold-seekers,  crushing  his  feeble  frame 
under  the  hated  labours  of  the  mine;  as  ship- 
wrecked and  hungry  wanderers,  while  receiving  his 
simple  alms,  marking  the  fertility  and  defenceless- 
ness  of  his  lands;  as  sick  men  enjoying  his  hos- 
pitality, and,  at  the  same  time,  imparting  that 
terrible  disease3  which  has  swept  off  whole  nations ; 
as  woodmen  in  his  forest,  and  intrusive  tillers  of 
his  ground,  scaring  away  to  the  far  West  those 
animals  of  the  chase  given  by  the  Great  Spirit  for 
his  food ;  there  is  to  him  a  terrible  monotony 
of  result.  In  the  delicious  islands  of  the  Car- 
ribean  Sea,  and  in  the  stern  and  magnificent 
regions  of  the  north-east ;  scarcely  now  remains 
a  mound,  or  stone,  or  trace  even  of  tradition,  to 
point  out  the  place  where  any  among  the  departed 
millions  sleep. 

The  discovery  of  the  American  Indians  brought  to 
light  not  only  a  new  race,  but  also  a  totally  new 
condition  of  men.  The  rudest  form  of  human 
society  known  in  the  Old  World,  was  far  advanced 
beyond  that  of  the  mysterious  children  of  the  West, 
in  arts,  knowledge,  and  government.  Even  among 
the  simplest  European  and  Asiatic  nations  the  prin- 
ciple of  individual  possession  was  established ;  the 
beasts  of  the  field  were  domesticated  to  supply  the 

3  See  Appendix,  No.  XLII. 


182  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

food  and  aid  the  labours  of  man,  and  large  bodies 
of  people  were  united  under  the  sway  of  hereditary 
chiefs.  But  the  Red  Man  roamed  over  the  vast 
forests  and  prairies  of  his  undiscovered  continent, 
accompanied  by  few  of  his  fellows,  unassisted  by 
beasts  of  burden,4  and  trusting  alone  to  his  skill 
and  fortune  in  the  chase  for  a  support.  The  first 
European  visitors  to  the  New  World,  were  filled 
with  such  astonishment  at  the  appearance  and 
complexion  of  the  Red  Man,  that  they  hastily  con- 
cluded he  belonged  to  a  different  species  from  them- 
selves. As  the  native  nations  became  better 
known,  their  warriors,  statesmen,  and  orators, 
commanded  the  admiration  of  the  strangers.  Espe- 
cially in  the  northern  people,  every  savage  virtue 
was  conspicuous;  they  were  gentle  in  peace,  but\ 
terrible  in  war ;  of  a  proud  and  noble  bear- 
ing, honest,  faithful,  and  hospitable,  loving  order 
though  without  laws,  and  animated  by  the  strong- 
est and  most  devoted  loyalty  to  their  tribe.  At 
the  same  time,  while  willingly  recording  their 
high  and  admirable  qualities,  pity  for  the  devoted 

4  "Generally  speaking,  the  American  races  of  mankind  were 
characterised  by  a  want  of  domestic  animals,  and  this  had  consider- 
able influence  on  their  domestic  life."  (Cosmos,  note,  vol.  ii.,  p.  481.) 
Contrasting  the  Bedouin  with  the  Red  Indian,  Volney  observes,  "the 
American  savage  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  hunter  and  a  butcher,  who 
has  had  daily  occasion  to  kill  and  slay,  and  in  every  animal  has 
beheld  nothing  but  a  fugitive  prey,  which  he  must  be  quick  to  seize. 
He  has  thus  acquired  a  roaming,  wasteful,  and  ferocious  disposition  ; 
has  become  an  animal  of  the  same  kind  with  the  wolf  and  tiger ;  has 
united  in  bands  or  troops,  but  not  into  organised  societies." 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  183 


race    must    not    blind   us  to  their  ferocious  an< 

— 

degrading  vices. 

It  was  not  until  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury that  the  manners  and  characteristics  of  this 
strange  race  attracted  to  any  considerable  degree 
the  attention  of  philosophers  and  theorists ;  a  chasm 
in  human  history  then  seemed  about  to  be  filled. 
Eager  to  throw  light  upon  the  subject,  but  too 
impatient  to  inquire  into  the  facts  necessary  for  the 
formation  of  opinions,  the  conclusions  formed  were 
often  unjust  to  the  native  dignity  of  the  Red  Indian,5 
and  have  been  proved  erroneous  by  subsequent  and 
more  perfect  information.  On  the  other  hand,  one 
of  the  most  gifted  but  dangerous  of  modern  philoso- 
phers, would  exalt  these  untutored  children  of  nature 
to  a  higher  degree  of  honour  and  excellence  than 
civilisation  and  knowledge  can  confer:  he  deenoed 
that  the  elevation  and  independence  of  mind,  result-\ 
ing  from  the  rude  simplicity  of  savage  life,  is  soughtj, 

5  "On  ne  prit  pas  d'abord  les  Americains  pour  des  hommes, 
mais  pour  des  orang-otangs,  pour  des  grands  singes,  qu'on  pouvoit 
detruire  sans  remords  et  sans  reproche.  Un  pape  fit  une  Bulle 
originale  dans  laquelle  il  declara  qu'  ayant  envie  de  fonder  des  Eveches 
dans  les  plus  riches  contrees  de  1'Amerique,  il  plaisoit  a  lui  et  au  Saint 
Esprit  de  reconnoitre  les  Americains  pour  des  hommes  veritables  ;  de 
sorte  que,  sans  cette  decision  d'une  Italien,  les  habitans  du  Nouveau 
Monde  seroient  encore  maintenant,  aux  yeux  des  fideles,  une  race 
d'animaux  equivoques.  .  .  .  Qui  auroit  cru  que  malgre  cette  sentence 
de  Rome,  on  eiit  agUe*  violemment  au  conseil  de  Lima,  1583,  si  les 
Americains  avoient  assez  d'esprit  pour  etre  admis  aux  sacrements  de 
1'Eglise.  Plusieurs  eveques  persisterent  a  les  leur  refuser  pendant 
que  les  Jesuites  faisoient  communier  tous  les  jours  leurs  Indiens 


184          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

in  vain  among  the  members  of  refined  and  organised^ 
societies.6 

Everything  tended  to  render  inquiry  into  the  state 
of  the  rude  tribes  of  America  difficult  and  obscure ; 
in  the  generality  of  cases  they  presented  character- 
istics of  a  native  simplicity,  elsewhere  unknown; 
and  even  in  the  more  favoured  districts,  where  a 
degree  of  civilisation  appeared,  it  had  assumed  a 
form  and  direction  totally  different  from  that  of  the 
Old  World.7 

esclaves  au  Paraquai,  afin  de  les  accoutumer,  disoient-ils,  a  la  disci- 
pline, et  pour  les  detourner  de  1'horrible  coutume  de  se  nourrir  de 
chair  humain." — Recherches  Philosophiques  sur  les  Americains,  De 
Pauw,  torn,  i.,  p.  35. 

6  Rousseau,  opposed  by  Buffon,  Volney,  &c. 

7  "  Notwithstanding  the  striking  analogies  existing  between  the 
nations  of  the  New  Continent  and  the  Tartar  tribes  who  have  adopted 
the  religion  of  Bouddah,  I  think  I  discover  in  the  mythology  of  the 
Americans,  in  the  style  of  their  paintings,  in  their  languages,  and 
especially  in  their  external  conformation,  the  descendants  of  a  race  of 
men,  which,  early  separated  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  has  followed 
for  a  lengthened  series  of  years  a  peculiar  road  in  the  unfolding  of  its 
intellectual   faculties,  and  in  its  tendency   towards  civilisation," — 
Humboldt's  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  America,  vol.  i.,  p.  200. 

"  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  greater  part  of  the  nations  of 
America  belong  to  a  race  of  men,  who,  isolated  ever  since  the  infancy 
of  the  world  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  exhibit  in  the  nature  and 
diversity  of  language,  in  their  features,  and  the  conformation  of  their 
skull,  incontestable  proofs  of  an  early  and  complete  civilisation." — 
Ibid.  vol.  i.,  p.  250. 

On  the  American  races  in  general,  Humboldt  refers  to  the  beau- 
tiful work  of  Samuel  George  Morton,  Crania?  Americana?,  1839, 
pp.  62 — 86  ;  and  an  account  of  the  skulls  brought  by  Pentland  from 
the  Highlands  of  Titicaca,  in  the  *  Dublin  Journal  of  Medical  and 
Chemical  Science/  vol.  v.,  p.  475,  1834  ;  also,  Alcide  d'Orbigny, 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  185 

The  origin  of  this  mysterious  people  has  been  the 
subject  of  an  immense  variety  of  speculations,  and 
has  involved  the  question,  whether  all  men  are  the 
sons  of  Adam,  or  whether  the  distinctions  of  the 
human  race  were  owing  to  the  several  sources  from 
whence  its  members  sprung?  The  sceptic  suppo- 
sition that  each  portion  of  the  globe  gave  its  own 
original  type  of  man  to  the  human  family  at  once 
solves  the  difficulty  of  American  population ;  but  as 
both  Christianity  and  philosophy  alike  forbid  accep- 
tance of  this  view,8  it  becomes  necessary  to  consider 
the  relative  probabilities  in  favour  of  the  other 
different  theories  which  enthusiasm,  ingenuity,  and 
research  have  contributed  to  lay  before  the  world. 

Without  referring  to  the  most  sacred  and  ancient 
of  authorities,  we  may  find  existing  natural  evidence 
abundantly  sufficient  to  establish  the  belief  of  the 
common  descent  of  our  race.  There  are  not  in  the 
human  form  differences  such  as  distinguish  separate 
species  of  the  brute  creation.  All  races  of  men  are 
nearly  of  like  stature  and  size,  varying  only  by  the 
accidents  of  climate  and  food  favourable  or  adverse 
to  their  full  development.  The  number,  shape, 

L'Homme  Americain  consider  e  sous  ses  Rapports  Physiol.  et  Mor., 
p.  221.  1839;  and,  farther,  the  work  so  full  of  delicate  ethno- 
graphical observations,  of  Prinz  Maximilian  of  Wied,  Reise  in  das 
Innere  von  Nordamerika,  1839. 

8  "  With  regard  to  their  origin,  I  have  no  doubt,  independent  of 
theological  considerations,  but  that  it  is  the  same  with  ours.  The 
resemblance  of  the  North  American  savages  to  the  oriental  Tartars 
renders  it  probable  that  they  originally  sprang  from  the  same  stock." 
— Buffon,  Eng.  Trans.,  vol.  in.,  p.  193. 


186  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

and  uses  of  limbs  and  extremities  are  alike,  and 
internal  construction  is  invariably  the  same ;  these 
are  circumstances  the  least  acted  upon  by  situation 
and  temperature,  and  therefore  the  surest  tests  of  a 
particular  species.  Colour  is  the  most  obvious  and 
the  principal  indication  of  difference  in  the  human 
families,  and  is  evidently  influenced  to  a  great 
extent  by  the  action  of  the  sun,9  as  the  swarthy 

9  "The  Ethiopians,"  sings  the  old  tragedian,  Theodectes  of 
Phaselis,  "  are  dyed  by  the  near  sun-god  in  his  course  with  a  dark  and 
sooty  lustre ;  the  sun's  heat  crisps  and  dries  up  their  hair."  The  expe- 
ditions of  Alexander,  which  were  so  influential  in  exciting  ideas  of  the 
physical  cosmography,  first  fanned  the  dispute  on  the  uncertain  influence 
of  climate  upon  races  of  men.  Humholdt's  Cosmos,  vol.  i.,  p.  386. 
Volney,  p.  506,  and  Oldmixon,  vol.  i.,  p.  286,  assert  that  the  savages 
are  born  white,  and  in  their  infancy  continue  so.  An  intelligent  Indian 
said  to  Volney,  "  Why  should  there  be  any  difference  of  colour  between 
us  and  them  ?  (some  Spaniards  who  had  been  bronzed  in  America). 
In  them  as  in  us  it  is  the  work  of  the  father  of  colours,  the  sun,  that 
burns  us.  You  whites  yourselves  compare  the  skin  of  your  faces  with 
that  of  your  bodies."  This  brought  to  my  remembrance  that,  on  my 
return  from  Turkey,  when  I  quitted  the  turban,  half  my  forehead 
above  the  eyebrows  was  almost  like  bronze,  while  the  other  half 
next  the  hair  was  as  white  as  paper.  If,  as  natural  philosophy 
demonstrates,  there  be  no  colour  but  what  originates  from  light,  it 
is  evident  that  the  different  complexions  of  people  are  owing  entirely 
to  the  various  modifications  of  this  fluid  with  other  elements  that 
act  on  our  skin,  and  even  compose  its  substance.  Sooner  or  later 
it  will  be  proved  that  the  blackness  of  the  African  has  no  other 
source. — P.  408. 

"  Vespuce  decrit  les  indigenes  du  Nouveau  Continent  dans  sa 
premiere  lettre  comme  des  hommes  a  face  large  et  a  physionomie 
tartare,  dont  la  couleur  rougeatre  n'etoit  due  qu'a  1'habitude  de  ne 
pas  etre  vetus.  II  revient  a  cette  meme  opinion  en  examinant  les 
Bresiliens."  (Canovai,  pp.,  87,  90.)  "  Leur  teint,  dit  il,  est  rougeatre, 
ce  qui  vient  de  leur  nudite  absolue  et  de  1'ardeur  du  eoleil  auquel  ils 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA,  187 

cheek  of  a  harvest  labourer  will  witness.     Under 
the  equator  we  find  the  jet  hlack  of  the  Negro ;  then 
the  olive-coloured  Moors  of  the  southern  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean ;  again,  the  bronzed  face  of  the 
Spaniard  and  Italian ;  next,  the  Frenchman,  darker 
than  those  who  dwell  under  the  temperate  skies  of 
England ;  and  last,  the  bleached  and  pallid  visages 
of  the  north.     Along  the   arctic  circle,  indeed,  a 
dusky  tint  again  appears:  that,  however,  may  be 
fairly  attributed  to  the  scorching  power  of  the  sun, 
constantly  over  the  horizon,  through  the  brief  and 
fiery  summer.     The  natives  remain  generally  in  the 
open  air  during  this  time,  fishing,  or  in  the  chase ; 
and  the  effect  of  exposure  stamps  them  with  a 
complexion  which  even  the  long-continued  snows 
cannot  remove.    In  the  rigorous  winter  season,  the 
people  of  those  dreary  countries  pass  most  of  their 
time  in  wretched  huts,  or  subterranean  dwellings, 
where  they  heap    up    large  fires  to   warm  their 
shivering  limbs ;  the  smoke  has  no  proper  vent  in 
these  ill-constructed  abodes;    it  fills  the   confined 
air,  and  tends  to  darken  the  complexions  of  those 
constantly  exposed  to  its  influence. 

The  difference  of  colour  in  the  human  race  is 
doubtless  influenced  by  many  causes,  modifying  the 
effect  of  position  with  regard  to  the  tropics ;  the 
great  elevation  of  a  particular  district,  its  proximity 

sent  constamment  exposes.  Cette  erreur  a  ete  partagee  par  un  des 
voyageurs  modernes  les  plus  spirituels,  mais  des  plus  systematiques, 
par  Volney."  (Essai  Politique  sur  la  Mexique.) — Humboldt's  Geog. 
du  Nouv.  Continent,  vol.  v.,  p.  25. 


188          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

to  the  sea,  the  shades  of  a  vast  forest,  the  exhala- 
tions from  extensive  marshes,  all  tend  to  diminish 
materially  the  power  of  a  southern  sun.1     On  the 
other  hand  intensity  of  heat  is  aggravated  by  the 
neighbourhood  of  arid  and  sandy  deserts,  or  rocky 
tracts.     The  action  of  long  continued  heat  creates  a 
more  permanent  effect  than  the  mere  darkening  of 
the  outer  skin,  it  alters  the  character  of  those  subtle 
juices  that  display  their  colour  through  the  almost 
transparent  covering.2     We  see  that  from  a  con- 
stitutional   peculiarity  in   individuals   the   painful 
variety  of  the  albino  is  sometimes  produced  in  the 
hottest  countries.     Certain  internal    diseases,  and 
different  medicines,  change  the  beautiful  bloom  of 
the  young  and  healthy  into  repulsive  and  unnatural 
tints.     A  peculiar  secretion  of  the  carbon  abounding 
in  the  human  frame  produces  the  jet  black  of  the 
negro's  skin,  and  enables  him  to  bear  without  incon- 
venience the  terrible  sultriness  of  his  native  land.3 
The  dark  races,  inferior  in  animal  and  intellectual 
powers  to  the  white  man,  are  yet  nearly  free  from 
the   deformities   he  so  often  exhibits,   perhaps    on 
account  of  a  less  susceptible  and  delicate  structure. 

1  On  the   influence    of  humidity  much  stress  has  been  laid  by 
M.  d'Orbigny  and  Sir  R.  Schomburgh,  each  of  whom  has  made  the 
remark  as  the  result  of  personal  and  independent  observation  on  the 
inhabitants  of  the  New  World,  that  people  who  live  under  the  damp 
shade  of  dense  and  lofty  forests  are  comparatively  fair. 

2  See  Appendix,  No.  XLI. 

3  Mr.  Jarrold  asserts  that  the  negro  becomes  the  most  perfect 
specimen  of  the  human  species,  in  consequence  of  his  possessing  the 
coarsest  and  most  impassive  integument.— ^Anthropologia. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  189 

The  Caucasian  or  European  races,  born  and  matured 
under  a  temperate  climate,  manifestly  enjoy  the 
highest  gifts  of  man ;  wherever  they  come  in  con- 
tact with  their  coloured  brother  he  ultimately  yields 
to  the  irresistible  superiority,  and  becomes  according 
to  the  caprice  of  their  haughty  will,  the  victim,  the 
dependant,  or  the  slave.4 

There  are  other  characteristics  different  from,  but 
generally  combined  with  colour,  which  are  influenced 
by  constitutional  varieties.  The  hair  usually  har- 
monises with  the  complexion,  and  like  it  shows  the 
influence  of  climate.  In  cold  countries  the  natural 
covering  of  every  animal  becomes  rich  and  soft,  the 
plentiful  locks  and  manly  beard  of  the  European 
show  a  marked  contrast  to  the  coarse  and  scanty 
hair  of  the  inhabitants  of  tropical  countries.  The 
development  of  mental  power,  and  refined  habits  of 
life  have  also  a  strong  but  slow  effect  upon  the  out- 
ward form  ;5  certain  African  nations  of  a  higher  intel- 

4  See  Appendix,  No.  XLII. 

5  "  It  is  intellectual  culture  which  contributes  most  to  diversify  the 
features.  Barbarous  nations  have  rather  a  physiognomy  of  tribe  or 
horde  than  one  peculiar  to  such  or  such  an  individual.  The  savage 
and  civilised  man  are  like  those  animals  of  the  same  species,  several 
of  which  rove  in  the  forest,  while  others  connected  with  us  share  in 
the  benefits  and  evils  that  accompany  civilisation.  The  varieties  of 
form  and  colour  are  frequent  only  in  domestic  animals.  How  great 
is  the  difference  with  respect  to  mobility  of  feature  and  variety  of 
physiognomy  between  dogs  again  become  savage  in  the  New  World, 
and  those  whose  slightest  caprices  are  indulged  in  the  houses  of 
the  opulent.  Both  in  men  and  animals  the  emotions  of  the  soul  are 
reflected  in  the  features  ;  and  the  features  acquire  the  habit  of 
mobility  in  proportion  as  the  emotions  of  the  mind  are  more  frequent, 


190  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

ligence  and  civilisation  than  their  rude  neighbours, 
show  much  less  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  negro 
features.  The  refined  Hindoo  displays  a  delicate 
form  and  expression  under  his  dark  complexion. 
The  black  colour  and  the  negro  features  are  acci- 
dentally not  necessarily  connected,  and  it  seems  to 
require  both  climate  and  inferiority  of  intellect  to 
unite  them  in  the  same  race. 

When  circumstances  of  climate  or  situation  have 
effected  peculiar  appearances  in  a  nation  or  tribe, 
the  results  will  long  survive  the  causes,  when  people 
are  removed  to  widely  different  latitudes;  a  dark 
colour  is  not  easily  effaced  even  under  the  influence 
of  moderate  temperature  and  heightened  civilisation. 
For  these  reasons,  there  appear  many  cases  where 
the  complexion  of  the  inhabitants  and  the  climate 
of  their  country  do  not  correspond,  but  the  original 
characteristics  will  be  found  undergoing  the  process 
of  gradual  change,  ultimately  adapting  themselves  to 

more  varied,  and  more  durable.  In  every  condition  of  man  it  is 
not  the  energy  or  the  transient  burst  of  the  passions  which  give 
expression  to  the  features  ;  it  is  rather  that  sensibility  of  the  soul 
which  brings  us  continually  into  contact  with  the  external  world, 
multiplies  our  sufferings  and  our  pleasures,  and  reacts  at  once  on  the 
physiognomy,  the  manners,  and  the  language.  If  the  variety  and 
mobility  of  the  features  embellish  the  domain  of  animated  nature,  we 
must  admit  also  that  both  increase  by  civilisation  without  being  pro- 
duced by  it  alone.  In  the  great  family  of  nations  no  other  race 
unites  these  advantages  to  a  higher  degree  than  that  of  Caucasus  or 
the  European.  It  must  be  admitted  that  this  insensibility  of  the 
features  is  not  peculiar  to  every  race  of  men  of  a  very  dark  com- 
plexion ;  it  is  much  less  apparent  in  the  African  than  in  the  natives 
of  America." — Humboldt's  Personal  Narrative,  vol.  iii.,  p.  230. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  191 

their  new  country  and  situation.6  The  marked  and 
peculiar  countenances  of  the  once  "  chosen  people  " 
vary,  in  colour  at  least,  wherever  they  are  seen  over 
the  world,  although  uninfluenced  by  any  admixture 
of  alien  blood ;  in  England  the  children  of  Israel  and 
the  descendant  of  the  Saxon  are  alike  of  a  fair  com- 
plexion, and  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile  the  Jew  and 
the  Egyptian  show  the  same  swarthy  hue.7 

At  first  sight  this  American  race  would  appear  to 
offer  evidence  against  the  supposed  influence  of 
climate  upon  colour,  as  one  general  form  and  com- 
plexion prevail  in  all  latitudes  of  the  New  World, 
from  the  tropics  to  the  frozen  regions  of  the  north. 
Great  varieties,  however,  exist  in  the  shade  of  the 


6  Tacitus,  in  his  speculations  on  the  peopling  of  Britain,  distin- 
guishes very  beautifully  between  what  may  belong  to  the  ultimate 
influences  of  the  country,  and  what  may  pertain  to  an  old  unalterable 
type  in  the  immigrated  race.      "  Britanniam   qui   mortales   initio 
coluerunt,  indigense  an  advecti,  ut  inter  barbaros,  parum  compertum. 
Habitus    corporis   varii,   atque  ex  eo  argumenta ;    namque   rutilsa 
Caledoniam  habitantium  comae,  magni  artus  Germanicam   originem 
adseverant     Silurum  colorati  vultus  et  torti  plerumque  crines,  et 
posita  contra  Hispania,  Iberos  veteres  trajecisse,  easque  sedes  occu- 
passe  fidem   faciunt  :  proximi   Gallis  et    similes  sunt,  seu  durante 
originis  vi ;  seu,  procurrentibus  in  divisa  terris,  positio  cceli  corpori- 
bus  habitum  dedit." — Agricola,  cap.  ii. 

"  No  ancient  author  has  so  clearly  stated  the  two  forms  of  reason- 
ing, by  which  we  still  explain  in  our  days  the  differences  of  colour  and 
figure  among  neighbouring  nations,  as  Tacitus.  He  makes  a  just 
distinction  between  the  influence  of  climate  and  hereditary  disposi- 
tions, and  like  a  philosopher  persuaded  of  our  profound  ignorance  of 
the  origin  of  things,  leaves  the  question  undecided."  —  Humboldt's 
Personal  Narrative. 

7  See  Smith  on  The  Variety  of  Complexion  of  the  Human  Specks. 


192  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

red  or  copper8  colour  of  the  Indians.  There  are  two 
extremes  of  complexion  among  mankind, — those  of 
the  northern  European  and  the  African  negro ; 
between  these  there  is  a  series  of  shades,  that  of  the 
American  Indian  being  about  midway.  The  struc- 
ture of  the  New  World,  and  the  circumstances  of  its 
inhabitants,  may  account  for  the  generally  equal 
colour  of  their  skin.  The  western  Indian  never 
becomes  black,  even  when  dwelling  directly  under 
the  equator.  He  lives  among  stupendous  mountain 
ranges,  where  cool  breezes  from  the  snowy  heights 
sweep  through  the  vallies  and  over  the  plains  below. 
The  vast  rivers  springing  from  under  those  lofty 
peaks  inundate  a  great  extent  of  country,  and  turn 
it  into  swamps,  whence  perpetual  exhalations  arise 
and  lower  the  temperature.  There  are  no  fiery 
deserts  to  heat  the  passing  wind,  and  reflect  the 
rays  of  the  sun ;  a  continual  forest,  with  luxuriant 
foliage,  and  a  dense  underwood,  spreads  a  pleasant 
shade  over  the  surface  of  the  earth.  America,  under 
the  same  latitudes,  especially  on  the  eastern  coast, 
is  everywhere  colder  than  the  Old  World.  The 
nearest  approach  to  a  black  complexion  is  seen  in 
the  people  of  Brazil,  a  country  comparatively  low, 
and  immediately  under  the  equator.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  the  lofty  Mexican  table  land  are  also  very 

8  Mr.  Lawrence's  precise  definition  is  "an  obscure  orange  or  rusty- 
iron  colour,  not  unlike  the  bark  of  the  cinnamon  tree."  Amongst  the 
early  discoverers,  Vespucius  applies  to  them  the  epithet  "rougeatre." 
Verazzano  says,  "  sono  di  color  berrettini  e  non  molto  dalli  Saracini 
differenti." 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  193 

dark,  and  on  those  arid  plains  the  sun  pours  down 
its  scorching  rays  upon  a  surface  almost  devoid  of 
sheltering  vegetation. 

The  habits  of  savage  life,  and  the  constant  expo- 
sure to  the  elements,  seem  sufficient  to  cause  a  dark 
tint  upon  the  human  skin  even  in  the  temperate 
regions  of  America,  where  the  cold  is  far  greater 
than  in  the  same  latitude  in  Europe.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  those  immense  countries  are  badly  clothed, 
imperfectly  defended  against  the  weather,  miserably 
housed ;  wandering  in  war  or  in  the  chase,  exposed 
for  weeks  at  a  time  to  the  mercy  of  the  elements, 
they  soon  darken  into  the  indelible  red  or  copper 
colour  of  their  race.  On  the  north-west  coasts,  about 
latitude  50°,  in  Nootka  Sound,  and  a  number  of 
other  smaller  bays,  dwell  a  people  more  numerous 
and  better  provided  with  food  and  shelter  than  their 
eastern  neighbours.  They  are  free  from  a  great 
part  of  the  toils  and  hardships  of  the  hunter,  and 
from  the  vicissitudes  of  the  season.  When  cleansed 
from  their  filthy  and  fantastic  painting,  it  appears 
that  their  complexion  and  features  resemble  those 
of  the  European.9 

Modern  discoveries  have  to  a  great  extent  dis- 
pelled the  mystery  of  the  Indian  origin,  and  proved 

9  Cook's  Narrative  calls  their  colour  an  effete  white,  like  that  of 
the  southern  nations  of  Europe.  Meares  expressly  says,  that  some 
of  the  females,  when  cleaned,  were  found  to  have  the  fair  complexions 
of  Europe. 

Somewhat  further  north,  at  Cloak  Bay,  in  lat.  54°  10',  Humboldt 
remarks,  that  "in  the  midst  of  copper-coloured  Indians,  with  small 

VOL.  i.  o 


194  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

the  fallacy  of  the  numerous  and  ingenious  theories 
formerly  advanced  with  so  much  pertinacity  and 
zeal.  Since  the  north-west  coasts  of  America  and 
the  north-east  of  Asia  have  been  explored,  little 
difficulty  remains  on  this  subject.  The  two  con- 
tinents approach  so  nearly  in  that  direction  that 
they  are  almost  within  sight  of  each  other,  and 
small  boats  can  safely  pass  the  narrow  strait.  Ten 
degrees  further  south  the  Aleutian  and  Fox  Islands1 
form  a  continuous  chain  between  Kamtschatka 
and  the  peninsula  of  Alaska,  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  leave  the  passage  across  a  matter  of  no  difficulty. 
The  rude  and  hardy  Tschutchi  inhabiting  the  north- 
east of  Asia  frequently  sail  from  one  continent  to 
the  other.2  From  the  remotest  antiquity  this  ignorant 
people  possessed  the  wonderful  secret  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  world  hidden  from  the  wisest  and  most 
adventurous  of  civilised  nations.  They  were  uncon- 
scious of  the  value  of  their  vast  discovery ;  they 
passed  over  a  stormy  strait  from  one  frozen  shore  to 
another,  as  stern  and  desolate  as  that  they  had  left 
behind,  and  knew  not  that  they  had  crossed  one  of 
the  great  boundaries  of  earth.  When  they  first 
entered  upon  the  wilderness  of  America,  probably 
the  most  adventurous  pushed  down  towards  the 

long  eyes,  there  is  a  tribe  with  large  eyes,  European  features,  and  a 
skin  less  dark  than  that  of  our  peasantry. " — New  /Spain,  vol.  i.,  p.  145. 
Humboldt  considers  this  as  the  strongest  argument  of  an  original 
diversity  of  race  which  has  remained  unaffected  by  climate, 

1  See  Appendix,  No.  XLV. 

2  Cochrane's  Pedestrian  Journey. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          195 

genial  regions  of  the  south,  and  so  through  the  long 
ages  of  the  past  the  stream  of  population  flowed 
slowly  on,  wave  by  wave,  to  the  remotest  limits  of 
the  east  and  south.  The  Indians  resemble  the  people 
of  north-eastern  Asia  in  form  and  feature  more  than 
any  other  of  the  human  race :  their  population  is 
most  dense  along  the  districts  nearest  to  Asia,  and 
among  the  Mexicans,  whose  records  of  the  past 
deserve  credence,  there  is  a  constant  tradition  that 
their  Aztec  and  Toultec  chiefs  came  from  the  north- 
west. Everywhere  but  to  the  north,  America  is 
surrounded  with  a  vast  ocean  unbroken  by  any 
chain  of  islands  that  could  connect  it  with  the  Old 
World.  Most  probably  no  living  man  ever  crossed 
this  immense  barrier  before  the  time  of  Columbus. 
It  is  certain  that  in  no  part  of  America  have  any 
authentic  traces  been  found  of  European  civilisa- 
tion; the  civilisation  of  America,  such  as  it  was, 
arose,  as  it  flourished,  in  the  fertile  plains  of  Mexico3 
and  in  the  delightful  valleys  of  Peru  ;4  there,  where 

3  Prescott  remarks,  that  the  progress  made  by  the  Mexicans  in 
astronomy,  and  especially  the  fact  of  their  having  a  general  board  for 
education  and  the  fine  arts,  proves  more  in  favour  of  their  advance- 
ment than  the  noble  architectural  monuments  which  they  and  their 
kindred  tribes  erected.     "  Architecture,"  he  observes,  "  is  a  sensual 
gratification,  and  addresses  itself  to  the  eye  ;  it  is  the  form  in  which 
the  resources  of  a  semi-civilised  people  are  most  likely  to  be  lavished." 
— Conquest  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  p.  155  ;  Lyell's  America,  vol.  i.,  p.  115. 

4  "  Dans  les  regions  anciennement  agricoles  de  TAmerique  me'ri- 
dionale  les  conque'rans  Europeens  n'ont  fait  que  suivre  les    traces 
d'  une  culture   indigene.     Les    Indiens  sont  restes  attaches  au  sol 
qu'ils  ont  defriche  depuis  des  siecles.     Le  Mexique  seul  compte  un 

o2 


190  THE    CONQUEST    OP    CANADA. 

the  bounty  of  nature  supplied  an  abundance  of  the 
necessaries  of  life,  the  population  rapidly  multiplied, 
and  the  arts  became  objects  of  cultivation. 

There  is  something  almost  mysterious  in  the 
total  difference  between  the  languages  of  the  Old 
and  New  World.5  All  the  tongues  of  civilised 
nations  spring  from  a  few  original  roots,  somewhat 
analogous  to  each  other;  but  it  would  seem  that 
among  wandering  tribes  dispersed  over  a  vast 
extent  of  country,  carrying  on  but  little  inter- 
course, and  having  no  written  record  or  traditionary 

million  sept  cent  mille  indigenes  de  race  pure,  dont  le  nombre 
augmente  avec  la  meme  rapidite  que  celui  des  autres  castes.  Au 
Mexique,  a  Guatemala,  a  Quito,  au  Perou,  a  Bolivia,  la  physionomie 
du  pays,  a  1'exception  de  quelques  grandes  villes,  est  essentiellement 
Indienne  ;  dans  les  campagnes  la  variete  des  langues  s'est  conservee 
avec  les  mceurs,  le  costume  et  les  habitudes  de  la  vie  domestique.  II 
n'y  a  de  plus  que  des  troupeaux  de  vaches  et  de  brebis,  quelques 
cereales  nouvelles  et  les  ceremonies  d'une  culte  qui  se  mele  a  d 'an- 
tiques superstitions  locales.  II  faut  avoir  vecu  dans  les  hautes 
plaines  de  I'Anierique  Espagnole  ou  dans  la  confederation  Anglo- 
Americain  pour  sentir  vivement  combien  ce  contraste  entre  des 
peuples  chasseurs  et  des  peuples  agricoles,  entre  des  pays  longtemps 
barbares  ou  des  pays  offrant  d'anciennes  institutions  politiques  et  une 
legislation  indigene  tres  developpee,  a  facilite  ou  entrave  la  conquete, 
influe  sur  les  formes  des  premiers  etablissement  europeens,  conserve 
meme  de  nos  jours  aux  differentes  parties  de  1* Amerique  inde'pendante, 
un  caractere  ineffagable.  Deja  le  pere  Joseph  Acosta  qui  a  e'tudie  sur 
les  lieux  memes  les  suites  du  grand  drame  sanguinaire  de  la  conquete 
a  bien  saisi  ces  differences  frappantes  de  civilisation  progressive  et 
d 'absence  entiere  d'ordre  social  qu'offrait  le  nouveau-monde  a  1'epoque 
de  Christopher  Colomb,  ou  peu  de  terns  apres  la  colonisation  par  les 
Espagnols. — Hist.  Nat.  y  Moral.,  lib.  vi.,  cap.  ii.  ;  Humboldt's  Geo- 
graphic du  Nouveau  Continent,  torn,  i.,  p.  130. 
6  See  Appendix,  No.  XLVI. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          197 

recital  to  preserve  any  fixed  standard,  language 
undergoes  a  complete  change  in  the  course  of 
ages.  The  great  varieties  of  tongues  in  America, 
and  their  dissimilarity  to  each  other,  tend  to  confirm 
this  supposition. 

In  various  parts  of  America  remains  are  found 
which  place  beyond  a  doubt,  the  ancient  existence 
of  a  people  more  numerous,  powerful,  and  civilised 
than  the  present  race  of  Indians.  But  the  indica- 
tions of  this  departed  people  are  not  such  as  to 
bespeak  their  having  been  of  very  remote  antiquity : 
the  ruined  cities  of  Central  America,  concealed  by 
the  forest  growth  of  centuries,  and  the  huge  mounds 
of  earth 6  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  upon 
the  table-lands  of  Mexico,  their  dwellings  and 
mausoleums,  although  long  swept  over  by  the  storm 
of  savage  conquest,  afford  no  proofs  of  their  having 
existed  very  far  back  into  those  dark  ages  when 
the  New  World  was  unknown  to  Europe.  The 
history  of  these  past  races  of  men  will  probably  for 
ever  remain  a  sealed  book,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that 

6  "  In  both  Americas  it  is  a  matter  of  inquiry  what  was  the  intention 
of  the  natives  when  they  raised  so  many  artificial  hills,  several  of 
which  appear  to  have  served  neither  as  mounds  nor  watch  towers,  nor 
the  base  of  a  temple.  A  custom  established  in  Eastern  Asia  may 
throw  some  light  on  this  important  question.  Two  thousand  three 
hundred  years  before  our  era,  sacrifices  were  offered  in  China  to  the 
Supreme  Being,  Chan-Ty,  on  four  great  mountains  called  the  Four  Yo. 
The  sovereigns  finding  it  inconvenient  to  go  thither  in  person,  caused 
eminences  representing  these  mountains  to  be  erected  by  the  hands 
of  men  near  their  habitations." —  Voyage  of  Lord  Macartney,  vol.  i., 
p.  58  ;  Hager,  Monument  of  Yu,  p.  10,  1802. 


198  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

a  great  population  once  covered  those  rich  countries 
which  the  first  English  visitors  found  the  wild  hunt- 
ing-grounds for  a  few  savage  tribes.7  Probably  the 
existing  race  of  red  men  were  the  conquerors  and 
exterminators  of  the  feeble  but  civilised  aboriginal 
nations,  and  as  soon  as  they  possessed  the  land  they 
split  into  separate  and  hostile  communities,  waging 
perpetual  war  with  each  other  so  as  constantly  to 
diminish  their  numbers. 

Far  up  the  Mississippi  and  the  Missouri  the 
exploration  of  the  country  brings  to  light  incontest- 
able proofs  of  the  existence  of  the  mysterious 
aboriginal  race;  wells  artificially  walled,  and  various 
other  structures  for  convenience  or  defence,  are 
frequently  seen ;  ornaments  of  silver,  copper,  and 
even  brass  are  found,  together  with  various  articles 
of  pottery  and  sculptured  stone ;  sepulchres  filled 
with  vast  numbers  of  human  bones  have  often 
been  discovered,  and  human  bodies  in  a  state  of 
preservation  are  sometimes  exhumed;  on  one  of 
these  the  hair  was  yellow  or  sandy,  and  it  is  well 
known  that  an  unvarying  characteristic  of  the 
present  red  race  is  the  lank  black  hair.  A  splendid 
robe  of  a  kind  of  linen,  made  apparently  from 
nettle  fibres,  and  interwoven  with  the  beautiful 
feathers  of  the  wild  turkey,  encircled  this  long 
buried  mummy.  The  number  and  the  magnitude 


7  Mr.  Flint  asserts  "  that  the  greatest  population  clearly  has  been 
in  those  positions  where  the  most  dense  future  population  will  he." — 
P.  166. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          199 

of  the  mounds  bear  evidence  that  the  concurrent 
labours  of  a  vast  assembly  of  men  were  employed 
in  their  construction.8 

8  "  The  bones  of  animals  and  snakes  have  sometimes  been  found 
mixed  with  human  bones  in  these  tumuli,  and  out  of  one  near  Cincin- 
nati were  dug  two  large  marine  shells,  one  of  which  was  the  Cassis 
Cornutus  of  the  Asiatic  islands,  the  other  the  Fulgur  Perversus  of 
the  coast  of  Georgia  and  East  Florida,  and  this  is  an  additional 
argument  used  in  favour  of  the  alleged  intercourse  existing  anciently 
between  the  Indians  of  this  part  of  North  America  and  the  inhabitants 
of  Asia,  and  between  them  and  those  of  the  Atlantic.  Many  circum- 
stances still  existing,  give  probability  to  the  popular  belief  that  the 
American  Indians  had  their  origin  in  Asia.  In  their  persons,  colour, 
and  reserved  disposition,  they  have  a  strong  resemblance  to  the 
Malays  of  the  Oriental  Archipelago  ;  that  is  to  say,  to  some  of  the 
Tartar  tribes  of  Upper  Asia  ;  and  it  is  a  remarkable  circumstance 
that,  like  these,  they  shave  the  head,  leaving  only  a  single  lock  of 
hair.  The  picture  language  of  the  Mexicans,  as  corresponding  with 
the  ancient  picture  language  of  China,  and  the  quipos  of  Peru  with 
the  knotted  and  party-coloured  cords  which  the  Chinese  history 
informs  us  were  in  use  in  the  early  period  of  the  empire,  may  also  be 
adduced  as  corroborative  evidence.  The  high  cheek  bones  and  the 
elongated  eye  of  the  two  people,  besides  other  personal  resemblances, 
suggest  the  probability  of  a  common  origin." — Quarterly  Review, 
No.  LVIL,  p.  13. 

"  The  Iroquois  and  Hurons  made  hieroglyphic  paintings  on  wood, 
which  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  those  of  the  Mexicans." — 
Lafitau,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  43,  225  ;  La  Houtan,  p.  193. 

"  A  long  struggle  between  two  religious  sects,  the  Brahmans  and  the 
Buddhists,  terminated  by  the  emigration  of  the  Chamans  to  Thibet, 
Mongolia,  China,  and  Japan.  If  tribes  of  the  Tartar  race  have 
passed  over  to  the  north-west  coast  of  America,  and  thence  to  the 
south  and  the  east,  towards  the  banks  of  Gila,  and  those  of  the 
Missouri,  as  etymological  researches  serve  to  indicate,  we  should 
be  less  surprised  at  finding  among  the  semi-barbarous  nations  of 
the  New  Continent,  idols  and  monuments  of  architecture,  a  hierogly- 
phical  writing,  and  exact  knowledge  of  the  duration  of  the  year,  and 


200  THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA. 

I  In  the  progress  of  early  discovery  and  settlement, 
striking  views  were  presented  of  savage  life  among 
( the  red  men )  inhabiting  the  Atlantic  coast ;  but 
later  researches  along  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi 
and  its  tributaries,  and  by  the  great  Canadian 
lakes,  exhibited  this  people  under  a  still  more  re- 
markable aspect.  The  most  prominent  among  the 
natives  of  the  interior  for  power,  policy,  and 
courage,  were  the  Iroquois  or  Five  Nations ; 9  their 

traditions  respecting  the  first  state  of  the  world,  recalling  to  our  minds 
the  arts,  the  sciences,  and  religious  opinions  of  the  Asiatic  nations." 
— Humboldt's  Researches. 

In  his  description  of  a  Mexican  painting,  Humboldt  observes, — 
"  The  slave  on  the  left  is  like  the  figure  of  those  saints  which  we  see 
frequently  in  Hindoo  paintings,  and  which  the  navigator  Roblet  found 
on  the  north-west  coast  of  America,  among  the  hieroglyphical  paint- 
ings of  the  natives  of  Cox's  Channel." — Marchant's  Voyage,  vol.  i., 
p.  312. 

"It  is  probably  by  philosophical  and  antiquarian  researches  in 
Tartary  that  the  history  of  those  civilised  nations  of  North  America, 
of  whose  great  works  only  the  wreck  remains,  will  alone  be  elucidated. " 
— See  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  iii.,  chap.  xxii.  ; 
and  Stephens's  Central  America,  vol.  i.,  p.  96  ;  vol.  ii.,  chap,  xxvi., 
pp.  186,  357,  413,  433.  See  Appendix,  No.  XL VII. 

9  "  The  five  nations  were  the  Mohawks,  the  Oneidas,  the  Cayugas, 
the  Onondagas,  and  the  Senecas.  The  Dutch  called  them  Maquas, 
the  French  Iroquois,  their  appellation  at  home  was  the  Mingoes,  and 
sometimes  the  Aganuschion,  or  United  People." — Governor  Clinton's 
Discourse  before  New  York  Historical  Society,  1811. 

The  Iroquois  have  often  among  Europeans  been  termed  the  Romans 
of  the  West. — "  Le  nom  d'Iroquois  est  purement  frangois,  et  a  ete 
forme  du  terme  Hiro,  qui  signifie,  J'ai  dit,  par  lequel  ces  sauvages 
finissent  tout  leur  discours,  comme  les  Latins  faisaient  autrefois  par 
leur  Dixi ;  et  de  Koue,  qui  est  un  cri,  tantot  de  tristesse,  lorsqu'  on 
le  prononce  en  trainant,  et  tantot  de  joie,  lorsqu'  on  le  prononce  plus 
court.  Leur  nom  propre  est  Agonnonsionni,  qui  veut  dire,  Faiseurs 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  201 

.-— 

territory  extended  westward  from  Lake  Champlain, 
to  the  farthest  extremity  of  Ontario,  along  the 
southern  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  of  the 
Great  Lake.  Although  formed  by  the  alliance  of 
five  independent  tribes,  they  always  presented  an 
united  front  to  their  foes,  whether  in  defence  or 
aggression.  Their  enemies,  the  Algonquins,  held 
an  extensive  domain  on  the  northern  bank  of  the 
St.  Lawrence;  these  last  were  at  one  time  the 
masters  of  all  that  portion  of  America,  and  were 
the  most  polished  and  mildest  in  manners  of  the 
northern  tribes.  They  depended  altogether  for 
subsistence  on  the  produce  of  the  chase,  and  dis- 
dained those  among  their  neighbours  who  at- 
tempted the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  The  Hurons l 

de  Cabannes  ;  parcequ'ils  les  batissent  beaucoup  plus  solides,  que  la 
plupart  des  autres  sauvages." — Charlevoix,  torn,  i.,  p.  421. 

Lafitau  gives  the  Iroquois  the  same  name  of  Agonnonsionni;  they 
used  to  say  of  themselves,  that  the  five  nations  of  which  they  were 
composed,  formed  but  one  "  Cabane." 

1  "  Le  Pere  Brebeuf  comptoit  environ  trente  mille  ames  de  vrais 
Hurons,  distribues  en  vingt  villages  de  la  nation.  II  y  ayoit  outre 
cela,  douze  nations  sedentaires  et  nombreuses,  qui  parloient  leur 
langue.  La  plupart  de  ces  nations  ne  subsistent  plus,  les  Iroquois 
ces  ont  detruites.  Les  vrais  Hurons  sont  reduits  aujourd'hui  &  la 
petite  mission  de  Lorette,  qui  est  pres  de  Quebec,  ou  Ton  voit  le 
Christianisme  fleurir  avec  1'edification  de  tous  les  Frangais,  k  la 
nation  des  Tionnontates  qui  sont  etablis  au  Detroit,  et  a  une  autre 
nation  qui  s'est  refugiee  ^  la  Carolina." — Charlevoix,  1721. 

"  The  Tionnontates  mentioned  above,  now  bear  the  name  of  Wyan- 
dots,  and  are  a  striking  exception  to  the  degeneracy  which  usually 
attends  the  intercourse  of  Indians  with  Europeans.  The  Wyandots 
have  all  the  energy  of  the  savage  warrior,  with  the  intelligence  and 
docility  of  civilised  troops.  They  are  Christians,  and  remarkable  for 


202  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

were  a  numerous  nation,  generally  allied  with  the 
Algonquins,  inhabiting  the  immense  and  fertile 
territory  extending  westward  to  the  Great  Lake, 
from  which  they  take  their  name :  they  occupied 
themselves  with  a  rude  husbandry,  which  the  fertile 
soil  of  the  west  repaid,  by  affording  them  an  abun- 
dant subsistence;  but  they  were  more  effeminate 
and  luxurious  than  their  neighbours,  and  inferior  in 
savage  virtue  and  independence.  The  above-named 
nations  were__those  principally  connected  with  the 
events  of  Canadian  history. 

xTVlan  is  less  affected  by  climate  in  his  bodily 
development  than  any  other  animal ;  his  frame 
is  at  the  same  time  so  hardy  and  flexible,  that  he 
thrives  and  increases  in  every  variety  of  temperature 
and  situation,  from  the  tropic  to  the  pole ;  neverthe- 
less in  extremes,  such  as  these,  his  complexion, 
size,  and  vigour,  usually  undergo  considerable  modi- 
fications2 Among  the  red  men  of  America,  how- 
orderly  and  inoffensive  conduct  ;  but  as  enemies,  they  are  among  the 
most  dreadful  of  their  race.  They  were  all  mounted  (in  the  war  of 
1812-13),  fearless,  active,  enterprising;  to  contend  with  them  in  the 
forest  was  hopeless,  and  to  avoid  their  pursuit,  impossible. 

"  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  Wyandots  are  the  only  part  of  the 
Huron  nation  who  ever  joined  in  alliance  with  the  English.  The 
mass  of  the  Hurons  were  always  the  faithful  friends  of  the  French, 
during  the  times  of  the  early  settlement  of  Canada." — Quarterly 
Review. 

2  The  extremes  of  heat  and  cold  are  as  unfavourable  to  intellectual 
as  to  physical  superiority  ;*  a  fact  which  may  be  easily  traced 
throughout  the  vast  and  varied  extent  of  the  two  Americas.  "  As 


*  The  most  temperate  climate  lies  between  the  40th  and  50th  degree  of  latitude, 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  203 

ever,  there  is  a  remarkable  similarity  of  coun- 
tenance, form,  manners,  and  habits,  in  every  part 
of  the  continent ;  no  other  race  can  show  people 
speaking  different  languages,  inhabiting  widely  dif- 
ferent climates,  and  subsisting  on  different  food, 
who  are  so  wonderfully  alike.3  There  are,  indeed, 

far  as  the  parallel  of  53°,  the  temperature  of  the  north-west  coast  of 
America  is  milder  than  that  of  the  eastern  coasts  ;  we  are  led  to 
expect,  therefore,  that  civilisation  had  anciently  made  some  progress 
in  this  climate,  and  even  in  higher  latitudes.  Even  in  our  own  times, 
we  perceive  that  in  the  59th  degree  of  latitude  in  Cox's  Channel  and 
Norfolk  Sound,  the  natives  have  a  decided  taste  for  hieroglyphical 
paintings  on  wood." — Humboldt  on  the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of 
America. 

It  has  been  ascertained  that  this  western  coast  is  populous,  and  the 
race  somewhat  superior  to  the  other  Indians  in  arts  and  civilisation. 
— Ramusio,  tomo.,  iii.,  pp.  297 — 303  ;  Venegas'  California,  Part  ii., 

§.ii. 

"  From  the  happy  coincidence  of  various  circumstances,  man  raises 
himself  to  a  certain  degree  of  cultivation,  even  in  climates  the  least 
favourable  to  the  development  of  organised  beings.  Near  the  polar 
circle  in  Iceland  in  the  twelfth  century,  we  know  the  Scandinavians 
cultivated  literature  and  the  arts  with  more  success  than  the  inha- 
bitants of  Denmark  and  Prussia." — Humboldt. 

3  Mr.  Flint  says,  "  I  have  inspected  the  northern,  middle,  and 
southern  Indians  for  a  length  of  ten  years,  my  opportunities  of  obser- 
vation have,  therefore,  been  considerable,  and  I  do  not  undertake  to 
form  a  judgment  of  their  character  without,  at  least,  having  seen 
much  of  it.  I  have  been  forcibly  struck  by  a  general  resemblance  in 


and  it  produces  the  most  handsome  and  beautiful  people.  It  is  from  this  climate  that 
the  ideas  of  the  genuine  colour  of  mankind,  and  of  the  various  degrees  of  beauty  ought 
to  be  derived.  The  two  extremes  are  equally  remote  from  truth  and  from  beauty. 
The  civilised  countries  situated  under  this  zone  are  Georgia,  Circassia,  the  Ukraine, 
Turkey  in  Europe,  Hungary,  the  south  of  Germany,  Italy,  Switzerland,  France,  and 
the  northern  parts  of  Spain.  The  natives  of  these  territories  are  the  most  handsome 
and  most  beautiful  people  in  the  world. — Buffon,  English  trans,  vol.  iii.  p.  205. 


204  THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA. 

varieties  of  stature,  strength,  intellect,  and  self- 
respect  to  be  found  among  them  ;  but  the  savage  of 
the  frozen  north,  and  the  Indian  of  the  tropics, 
have  the  same  stamp  of  person,  and  the  same  in- 
stincts.4 There  is  a  language  of  signs  common  to 
all,  conveying  similar  ideas,  and  providing  a  means 
of  mutual  intelligence  to  every  red  man  from  north 
to  south. 

The  North  American  Indians  are  generally  of  a 

their  countenance,  make,  conformation,  manners,  and  habits.  I 
helieve  that  no  race  of  men  can  show  people  who  speak  different  lan- 
guages, inhabit  different  climes,  and  subsist  on  different  food,  and  who 
are  yet  so  wonderfully  alike." — (1831.) 

Don  Antonio  Ulloa,  who  had  extensive  opportunities  of  forming  an 
opinion  on  the  natives  of  both  the  continents  of  America,  asserts  that 
"  if  we  have  seen  one  American,  we  may  be  said  to  have  seen  all, 
their  colour  and  make  are  so  nearly  the  same." — Notic.  Americanas, 
p.  308.  See  likewise,  Garcia,  Origin  de  los  Indios,  pp.  55 — 242  ; 
Torquemada,  Monarch.  Indiana,  vol.  ii.,  p.  571. 

"  If  we  except  the  northern  regions  where  we  find  men  similar  to 
the  Laplanders,  all  the  rest  of  America  is  peopled  with  inhabitants, 
among  whom  there  is  little  or  no  diversity.  This  great  uniformity 
among  the  natives  of  America  seems  to  proceed  from  their  living  all 
in  the  same  manner.  All  the  Americans  were,  or  still  are,  savages  ; 
the  Mexicans  and  Peruvians  were  so  recently  polished,  that  they 
ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  an  exception.  Whatever,  therefore,  was 
the  origin  of  these  savages,  it  seems  to  have  been  common  to  the 
whole.  All  the  Americans  have  sprung  from  the  same  source,  and 
have  preserved,  with  little  variation,  the  characters  of  their  race  ;  for 
they  have  all  continued  in  a  savage  state,  and  have  followed  nearly 
the  same  mode  of  life.  Their  climates  are  not  so  unequal  with 
regard  to  heat  and  cold  as  those  of  the  ancient  continent,  and  their 
establishment  in  America  has  been  too  recent  to  allow  those  causes 
which  produce  varieties  sufficient  time  to  operate  so  as  to  render  their 
effects  conspicuous." — Buffon,  Eng.  trans.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  188. 
4  See  Appendix,  No.  XLVIII. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          205 

fair  height  and  proportion.  Deformities  or  personal 
defects5  are  rare  among  them ;  and  they  are  never 
seen  to  fall  into  corpulency.  Their  features,  natu- 
rally pleasing  and  regular,  are  often  distorted  by 
absurd  attempts  to  improve  their  beauty,  or  render 
their  appearance  more  terrible.  They  have  high 
cheek-bones,  sharp  and  rather  aquiline  noses,  and 
good  teeth.  Their  skin  is  generally  described  as  red 
or  copper-coloured,  approaching  to  the  tint  of  cinna- 
mon bark,  a  complexion  peculiar  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  New  World.  The  hair  of  the  Americans,  like 
that  of  their  Mongolian  ancestors,  is  coarse,  black, 
thin,  but  strong,  and  growing  to  a  great  length. 
Many  tribes  of  both  these  races  remove  it  from  every 
part  of  the  head  except  the  crown,  where  a  small 
tuft  is  left,  and  cherished  with  care.  It  is  a  uni- 
versal habit  among  the  tribes  of  the  New  World  to 
eradicate  every  symptom  of  beard  :  hence  the  early 
travellers  were  led  to  conclude  that  the  smoothness 
of  their  faces  resulted  from  a  natural  deficiency. 
One  reason  for  the  adoption  of  this  strange  custom 
was  to  enable  them  to  paint  themselves  with  greater 
ease.  Among  old  men,  who  have  become  indifferent 
to  their  appearance,  the  beard  is  again  seen  to  a 
small  extent.6 

5  See  Appendix,  No.  XLIX. 

6  There  would  never  have  been  any  difference  of  opinion  between 
physiologists,  as  to  the  existence  of  the  beard  among  the  Americans, 
if  they  had  paid  attention  to  what  the  first  historians  of  the  conquest 
of  their  country  have  said  on  this  subject ;  for  example,  Pigafetta,  in 
1519,  in  his  Journal  preserved  in  the  Ambrosian  library  at  Milan,  and 


206  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

On  the  continent,  especially  towards  the  north, 
the  natives  were  of  robust  and  vigorous  constitution. 
Their  sole  employment  was  the  chase  of  the  nume- 
rous wild  animals  of  the  forest  and  prairies :  from 
their  continual  activity,  their  frame  acquired  firm- 
ness and  strength.7  But  in  the  islands,  where  game 
was  rare,  and  the  earth  supplied  spontaneously  an 
abundant  subsistence,  the  Indians  were  compara- 
tively feeble,  being  neither  inured  to  the  exertions  of 
the  chase  nor  the  labours  of  cultivation.  Generally, 
the  Americans  were  more  remarkable  for  agility 
than  strength,  and  are  said  to  have  been  more  like 
beasts  of  prey  than  animals  formed  for  labour. 
Toil  was  hateful,  and  even  destructive  to  themX 
they  broke  down  and  perished  under  tasks  that 

•*.  .•..•* 

published  (in  1800)  by  Amoretti,  p.  18. — Benzoni,  Hist,  del  Mundo 
Nuovo,  p.  35,  1572  ;  Bembo,  Hist.  Venet.,  p.  88,  1557  ;  Humboldt's 
Personal  Narrative,  vol.  iii.,  p.  235. 

"  The  Indians  have  no  beard,  because  they  use  certain  receipts  to 
extirpate  it,  which  they  will  not  communicate." — Oldmixon,  vol.  i., 
p.  286. 

"  Experience  has  made  known  that  these  receipts  were  little  shells 
which  they  used  as  tweezers  ;  since  they  have  become  acquainted 
with  metals,  they  have  invented  an  instrument  consisting  of  a  piece 
of  brass  wire  rolled  round  a  piece  of  wood  the  size  of  the  finger,  so  as 
to  form  a  special  spring  ;  this  grasps  the  hairs  within  its  turns,  and 
pulls  out  several  at  once.  No  wonder  if  this  practice,  continued  for 
several  generations,  should  enfeeble  the  roots  of  the  beard.  Did  the 
practice  of  eradicating  the  beard  originate  from  the  design  of  depriv- 
ing the  enemy  of  such  a  dangerous  hold  on  the  face  ?  This  seems  to 
me  probable." — Volney,  p.  412. 

7  When  the  statue  of  Apollo  Belvedere  was  shown  to  Benjamin 
West  on  his  first  arrival  at  Rome,  he  exclaimed,  "It  is  a  model  from 
a  young  North  American  Indian." — Ancient  America. 


THE   CONQUEST   OP    CANADA. 

would  not  have  wearied  a,  European.  Experience 
provesThat  the  physical  strength  of  civilised  man 
exceeds  that  of  the  savage.8  Hand  to  hand  in  war, 
in  wrestling,  leaping,  and  even  in  running  for  a  short 
distance,  this  superiority  usually  appears.  In  a  long 
journey,  however,  the  endurance  of  the  Indian  has 
no  para] lei  among  Europeans.  A  red  man  has  been 
known  to  travel  nearly  eighty  miles  between  sunrise 
and  sunset,  without  apparent  fatigue.  He  performs 
a  long  journey,  bearing  a  heavy  burden,  and  indulg- 
ing in  no  refreshment  or  repose ;  an  enemy  cannot 
escape  his  persevering  pursuit,  even  when  mounted 
on  a  strong  horse. 

It  has  been  already  observed  that  the  Americans 
are  rarely  or  never  deformed,  or  defective  in  their 
senses  while  in  their  wild  state,  but  in  those 
districts  where  the  restraints  of  law  are  felt,  an 
extraordinary  number  of  blind,  deaf,  dwarfs  and 
cripples,  are  observed.  The Jterrjhlg^  custom  among 
the  savage  tribes  of  destroying  those  children  who 
do  not  promise  a  vigorous  growth,  accounts  for  this 
apparent  anomaly :  infancy  is  so  long  and  helpless 
that  it  weighs  as  a  heavy  burden  upon  a  wandering 
people;  food  is  scanty  and  uncertain  of  supply, 
hunters  and  their  families  must  range  over  exten- 
sive countries,  and  often  remove  from  place  to 

8  "  It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  every  European  who  has  embraced  the 
savage  life  has  become  stronger  and  better  enured  to  every  excess 
than  the  savages  themselves.  The  superiority  of  the  people  of  Vir- 
ginia and  Kentucky  over  them  has  been  confirmed  not  only  in  troop 
opposed  to  troop,  but  man  to  man,  in  all  their  wars." — Volney,  p.  417. 


208  THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

place.  Judging  that  children  of  feeble  or  defective 
formation  are  not  likely  to  survive  the  hardships  of 
this  errant  life,  they  destroy  all  such  unpromising 
offspring,9  or  desert  them  to  a  slower  and  more 
dreadful  fate.  The  lot  of  all  is  so  hard  that  few 
born  with  any  great  constitutional  defect  could  long 
survive,  and  arrive  at  maturity. 

In  the  simplicity  of  savage  life,  where  labour  does 
not  oppress,  nor  luxury  enervate  the  human  frame, 
and  where  harassing  cares  are  unknown,  we  are 
led  to  expect  that  disease  and  suffering  should  be 
comparatively  rare,  and  that  the  functions  of  nature 
should  not  reach  the  close  of  their  gradual  decay 
till  an  extreme  old  age.  The  decrepit  and  shrivelled 
forms  of  many  American  Indians  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  they  had  long  passed  the  ordinary 
time  of  life.  But  it  is  difficult  or  impossible  to 
ascertain  their  exact  age,  as  the  art  of  counting  is 
generally  unknown  among  them,  and  they  are 
strangely  forgetful  and  indifferent  to  the  past.  Their 
longevity,  however,  varies  considerably  according  to 

9  Yet  infanticide  is  condemned  amongst  the  Red  Indians,  both  by 
their  theology  and  their  feelings.  Dr.  Richardson  relates  that  those 
tribes  who  hold  the  idea  that  "  the  souls  of  the  departed  have  to 
scramble  up  a  great  mountain,  at  whose  top  they  receive  the  reward 
of  their  good  or  bad  deeds,  declare  that  women  who  have  been  guilty 
of  infanticide  never  reach  the  top  of  this  mountain  at  all.  They  are 
compelled  instead  to  travel  around  the  scenes  of  their  crimes  with 
branches  of  trees  tied  to  their  legs.  The  melancholy  sounds  which 
are  heard  in  the  still  summer  evenings,  and  which  the  ignorance  of 
the  white  people  looks  upon  as  the  screams  of  the  goat-suckers,  are 
really,  according  to  my  informant,  the  meanings  of  these  unhappy 
beings." — Franklin's  Journey  to  the  Polar  Seas,  pp.  77,  78. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          209 

differences  of  climate  and  habits  of  life.  These 
children  of  nature  are  naturally  free  from  many 
of  the  diseases  afflicting  civilised  nations;  they 
have  not  even  names  in  their  language  to  dis- 
tinguish such  ills,  the  offspring  of  a  luxury  to 
them  unknown.  The  diseases  of  the  savage,  how- 
ever, though  few,  are  violent  and  fatal ;  the  severe 
hardships  of  his  mode  of  life  produce  maladies  of  a 
dangerous  description.  From  improvidence  they  are 
often  reduced  for  a  considerable  time  to  a  state 
bordering  on  starvation;  when  successful  in  the 
chase,  or  in  the  seasons  when  earth  supplies  her 
bounty,  they  indulge  in  enormous  excesses;  these 
extremes  of  want  and  abundance  prove  equally 
pernicious ;  for,  although  habit  and  necessity  enable 
them  at  the  time  to  tolerate  such  sudden  transitions, 
the  constitution  is  ultimately  injured :  disorders 
arising  from  these  causes  strike  down  numbers  in 
the  prime  and  vigour  of  youth,  and  are  so  common 
that  they  appear  the  necessary  consequences  of 
their  mode  of  life.  The  Indian  is  likewise  peculiarly 
subject  to  consumption,  pleurisy,  asthma,  and  para- 
lysis, engendered  by  the  fatigues  and  hardships  of 
the  chase  and  war,  and  constant  exposure  to 
extremes  of  heat  and  cold.  Experience  supports  the 
conclusion  that  the  average  life  is  greater  among 
people  in  an  advanced  condition  of  society,  than 
among  those  in  a  state  of  nature ;  among  savages 
all  are  affected  by  circumstances  of  over-exertion, 
privation,  and  excess,  but  in  civilised  societies  the 
diseases  of  luxury  only  affect  the  few. 

VOL.  I.  P 


210 


CHAPTER  VII. 

.THE  Indian  is  endowed  with  a  far  greater  acuteness 
of  sense  than  the  European ;  despite  the  dazzling 
brightness  of  the  long-continued  snows,  and  the 
injurious  action  of  the  smoke  of  burning  wood  to 
which  he  is  constantly  exposed,  hejDossesses^  extra- 
ordinaryquickness  of  sight.  He  can  also  hear  and 
distinguish  the  faintesj;  sounds,  alike  through  the 
gentle  rustling  of  the  forest  leaves  and  in  the  roar 
of  the  storm /r  his  power  of  smell  is  so  delicate  that 
he  scents  fire  long  before  it  becomes  visible.  By 
some  peculiar  instinct  the  Indian  steers  through  the 
trackless  forests,  over  the  vast  prairies,  and  even 
across  wide  sheets  of  water  with  unerring  certainty. 
Under  the  gloomiest  and  most  obscure" sky  heTcah 
follow  the  course  of  the  sun,1  as  if  directed  by  a 

1  "At  night  the  savages  direct  their  course  by  the  polar  star  ;  they 
call  it  the  motionless  star.  It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  the  con- 
stellation of  the  Bear  should  he  called  by  the  savages  the  Bear. 
This  is  certainly  a  very  ancient  name  among  them,  and  given  long 
before  any  Europeans  visited  the  country.  They  turn  into  ridicule 
the  large  imaginary  tail  which  astronomers  have  given  to  an  animal 
that  has  scarcely  any  such  appendage,  and  they  call  the  three  stars 
that  compose  the  tail  of  the  Bear,  three  hunters  who  are  in  pursuit  of 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  211 

compass.  These  powers  would  seem  innate  in  this 
mysterious  race ;  they  can  scarcely  be  the  fruit  of 
observation  or  practice,  for  children  who  have  never 
left  their  native  village  can  direct  their  course 
through  pathless  solitudes  as  accurately  as  the 
experienced  hunter. 

In  the  early  stages  of  social  progress,  when  the 
life  of  man  is  rude  and  simple,  the  reason  is  little 
exercised,  and  his  wants  and  wishes  are  limited 
within  narrow  bounds ;  consequently  his  intellect 
is  feebly  developed,  and  his  emotions  are  few  but 
concentrated.  These  conditions  were  generally 
observable  among  the  rudest  tribes  of  the  American 
Indians. 

There  are,  however,  some  very  striking  pecu- 
liarities in  the  intellectual  character  of  the  red  men. 
Without  any  aid  from  letters  or  education,  some  of 
the  lower  mental  faculties  are  developed  in  a 
remarkable  degree.  As  orators,  strategists  and 
politicians,  they  have  frequently  exhibited  very 
great  power.2  They  are  constantly  engaged  in 

it.  The  second  of  these  stars  has  a  very  small  one,  very  close  to  it. 
This,  they  say,  is  the  kettle  of  the  second  hunter,  who  is  the  bearer 
of  the  baggage  and  the  provision  belonging  to  all  three.*  The 
savages  also  call  the  Pleiades  '  the  Dancers,'  and  Hygin  tells  us  that 
they  were  thus  called  by  the  ancients  because  they  seem,  from  the 
arrangement  of  their  stars,  to  be  engaged  in  a  circular  dance." — 
Lafitau,  vol.  ii.,  p.  236.  Hygin.,  lib.  ii.,  art.  Taurus. 
2  See  Appendix,  No.  L. 


*  "  Even  at  the  present  time,"  (1720),  Lafitau  writes,  "  these  three  stars  are  called  in 
Italy, i  tre  cavalli" — the  three  knights— on  the  celestial  globe  of  Caronelli. 

p2 


212  THE   CONQUEST   OP   CANADA. 

dangerous  and  difficult  enterprises,  where  ingenuity 
and  presence  of  mind  are  essential  for  their  preser- 
vation. They  are  vigorous  in  the  thought  which 
is  allied  to  action,  but  altogether  incapable  of 
speculation,  deduction,  or  research.  Thejdeas  and 
attention  of  a  sayage^are  ^confined  to  the  objects 
relating  to  his  subsistence,  safety,  or  indulgence : 
everything  else  escapes  his  observation  or  excites 
little  interest  in  his  mind.  Many  tribes  appear 
to  make  no  arrangement  for  the  future;  neither 
care  nor  forethought  prevents  them  from  blindly 
following  a  present  impulse,  regardless  of  its 
consequences. 

The  natives  of  North  America  were  divided  into 
a  number  of  small  communities ;  in  the  relation 
of  these  to  each  other  war  or  negotiation  was 
constantly  carried  on ;  revolutions,  conquests,  and 
alliances  frequently  occurred  among  them.  To 
raise  the  power  of  his  tribe,  and  to  weaken  or 
destroy  that  of  his  enemy,  was  the  great  aim  of 
every  Indian.  For  these  objects  schemes  were  pro- 
foundly laid,  and  deeds  of  daring  valour  achieved : 
the  refinements  of  diplomacy  were  employed,  and 
plans  arranged  with  the  most  accurate  calculation. 
These  peculiar  circumstances  also  developed  the 
power  of  oratory  to  an  extraordinary  degree;3  upon 

3  Charlevoix  says,  that  the  eloquence  of  the  savages  was  such  as 
the  Greeks  admired  in  the  barharians,  "  strong,  stern,  sententious, 
pointed,  perfectly  undisguised." 

Decanesora's  oratory  was  greatly  admired  by  the  most  cultivated 
amongst  the  English  :  his  bust  was  said  to  resemble  that  of  Cicero. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          213 

all  occasions  of  importance  speeches  were  delivered 
with  eloquence,  and  heard  with  deep  attention. 
When  danger  threatened,  or  opportunity  of  aggran- 
disement or  revenge  offered  itself,  a  council  of  the 
tribe  was  called,  where  those  most  venerable  from 
age  and  illustrious  for  wisdom  deliberated  for  the 
public  good.  The  composition  of  the  Indian  orator 
is  studied  and  elaborate,  the  language  is  vigorous 
and  at  the  same  time  highly  imaginative ;  all  ideas 
are  expressed  by  figures  addressed  to  the  senses ; 
the  sun  and  stars,  mountains  and  rivers,  lakes  and 
forests,  hatchets  of  war,  and  pipes  of  peace,  fire  and 
water,  are  employed  as  illustrations  of  his  subject 
with  almost  oriental  art  and  richness.  His  eloquence 
is  unassisted  by  action  or  varied  intonation,  but  his 
earnestness  excites  the  sympathy  of  the  audience, 
and  his  persuasion  sinks  into  their  hearts.4 

The  celebrated  address  of  Logan  is  too  well  known  to  be  cited  here. 
Mr.  Jefferson  says  of  it,  "  I  may  challenge  the  whole  orations  of 
Demosthenes  and  Cicero,  and  of  any  other  more  eminent  orator,  if 
Europe  has  furnished  more  eminent,  to  produce  a  single  passage 
superior  to  the  speech  of  Logan."  An  American  statesman  and 
scholar,  scarcely  less  illustrious  than  the  former,  has  expressed 
his  readiness  to  subscribe  to  this  eulogium.  —  Clinton's  Historical 
Discourse,  1811. 

4  Catlin  gives  the  following  account  of  a  native  preacher,  known 
by  the  name  of  the  Shawnee  Prophet : — "  I  soon  learned  that  he 
was  a  very  devoted  Christian,  regularly  holding  meetings  in  his 
tribe  on  the  Sabbath,  preaching  to  them  and  exhorting  them  to 
a  belief  in  the  Christian  religion,  and  to  an  abandonment  of  the 
fatal  habit  of  whiskey-drinking.  I  went  on  the  Sabbath  to  hear 
this  eloquent  man  preach,  when  he  had  his  people  assembled  in 
the  woods  ;  and  although  I  could  not  understand  his  language,  I 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

The  want  of  any  written  or  hieroglyphic  records 
of  the  past  among  the  northern  Indians  was,  to 
some  extent,  supplied  by  the  accurate  memories  of 
their  old  men;  they  were  able  to  repeat  speeches 
of  four  or  five  hours  duration,  and  delivered  many 
years  before,  without  error  or  even  hesitation,  and  to 
hand  them  down  from  generation  to  generation  with 
equal  accuracy,  their  recollection  being  only  assisted 
by  small  pieces  of  wood  corresponding  to  the  dif- 
ferent subjects  of  discourse.  On  great  and  solemn 
occasions,  belts  of  wampum  were  used  as  aid  to 
recollection  whenever  a  conference  was  held  with 
a  neighbouring  tribe,  or  a  treaty  or  compact  is 
negotiated ;  one  of  these  belts,  differing  in  some 
respects  from  any  other  hitherto  used,  was  made 
for  the  occasion ;  each  person  who  speaks  holds 
this  in  his  hand  by  turns,  and  all  he  says  is 
recorded  in  the  "  living  books "  of  the  bystanders' 
memory  in  connexion  with  the  belt.  When  the 
conference  ends,  this  memorial  is  deposited  in  the 
hands  of  the  principal  chief.  As  soon  as  any  im- 
portant treaty  is  ratified,  a  broad  wampum  belt  of 
unusual  splendour  is  given  by  each  contracting 

was  surprised  and  pleased  with  the  natural  ease,  and  emphasis,  and 
gesticulation  which  carried  their  own  evidence  of  the  eloquence  of  his 
sermon.  I  was  singularly  struck  with  the  nohle  efforts  of  this  cham- 
pion of  the  mere  remnant  of  a  poisoned  race,  so  strenuously  labouring 
to  rescue  the  remainder  of  his  people  from  the  deadly  hane  that  has 
been  brought  amongst  them  by  enlightened  Christians.  It  is  quite 
certain  that  his  exemplary  endeavours  have  completely  abolished  the 
practice  of  drinking  whiskey  in  his  tribe." — Catlin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  98, 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  215 

party  to  the  other,  and  these  tokens  are  deposited 
among  the  other  belts,  that  form,  as  it  were,  the 
archives  of  the  nation.  At  stated  intervals  they 
are  reproduced  before  the  people,  and  the  events 
which  they  commemorate  are  circumstantially 
recalled.  Certain  of  the  Indian  women  are  in- 
trusted with  the  care  of  these  belts;  it  is  their 
duty  to  relate  to  the  children  of  the  tribe  the 
circumstances  of  each  treaty  or  conference,  and 
thus  is  kept  alive  the  remembrance  of  every 
important  event. 

On  the  matters  falling  within  his  limited  com- 
prehension, the  Indian  often  displays  a  correct  and 
solid  judgment ;  he  pursues  his  object  without  hesi- 
tation or  diversion.  He  is  quickly  perceptive  of 
simple  facts  or  ideas ;  but  any  artificial  combination 
or  mechanical  contrivance,  he  is  slow  to  compre- 
hend ;  especially  as  he  considers  everything  beneath 
his  notice  which  is  not  necessary  to  his  advantage 
or  enjoyment.  It  is  very  difficult  to  engage  him 
in  any  labour  of  a  purely  mental  character ;  but  he 
often  displays  vivacity  and  ardour  in  matters  that 
interest  him,  and  is  frequently  quick  and  happy  in 
repartee.5 

The  red  man  is  usually  characterised  by  a  certain 
savage  elevation  of  soul  and  calm  self-possession, 

5  "  Whatever  may  be  the  estimate  of  the  Indian  character  in  other 
respects,  it  is  with  me  an  undoubting  conviction,  that  they  are  by 
nature  a  shrewd  and  intelligent  race  of  men,  in  no  wise,  as  regards 
combination  of  thought  or  quickness  of  apprehension,  inferior  to 
uneducated  white  men.  This  inference  I  deduce  from  having 


216  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

that  all  the  aid  of  religion  and  philosophy  cannot 
enable  his  civilised  brethren  to  surpass ;  master  of 
his  emotions,   the   expression   of  his  countenance 
rarely  alters  for  a  moment  even  under  the  most 
severe  and  sudden  trials.     The  prisoner,  uncertain 
as    to    the   fate   that   may   befal    him,    preparing  / 
for   his    dreadful   death,   or  racked    by  agonising  / 
tortures,  still  raises   his   unfaltering  voice  in  the 

instructed  Indian  children.*  I  draw  it  from  having  seen  the  men  and 
women  in  all  situations  calculated  to  try  and  call  forth  their  capa- 
cities. When  they  examine  any  of  our  inventions,  steam  boats, 
steam  mills,  and  cotton  factories  for  instance  ;  when  they  contem- 
plate any  of  our  institutions  in  operation  ;  by  some  quick  analysis  or 
process  of  reasoning,  they  seem  immediately  to  comprehend  the 
principle  or  the  object.  No  spectacle  affords  them  more  delight  than 
a  large  and  orderly  school.  They  seem  instinctively  to  comprehend, 
at  least  they  explained  to  me  that  they  felt,  the  advantages  which 
this  order  of  things  gave  our  children  over  theirs."  —  Flint's  Ten 
Tears  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  1831. 

Mr.  Flint,  an  experienced  and  intelligent  observer  takes  so  dark  a 
view  of  the  moral  character  of  the  Red  Indian  that  his  favourable 
opinion  of  their  mental  faculties  may  be  looked  upon  as  probably 
accurate,  though  differing  strongly  from  that  more  generally  held. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  question,  among  the  early  writers  may  be 
cited,  M.  Bouguer,  Voyage  au  Perou,  p.  102  :  Voyage  d1  Ulloa, 
torn,  i.,  pp.  335 — 337.  "  They  seem  to  live  in  a  perpetual  infancy," 
is  the  striking  expression  of  De  la  Condamine,  Voyage  de  la  Riv. 
Amazon,  pp.  52,  53.  Chauvelon,  Voyage  a  la  Martinique,  pp. 
44,  50.  P.  Venegas,  Hist,  de  la  Calif ornie. 


*  All  those  who  have  expressed  an  opinion  on  the  subject  seem  to  agree  that 
children  of  most  native  races  are  fully,  or  more. than  a  match,  for  those  of  Europeans, 
in  aptitude  for  intellectual  acquirement.  Indeed,  it  appears  to  be  a  singular  law  of 
Nature,  that  there  is  less  precocity  in  the  European  race  than  almost  any  other.  In 
those  races  in  which  we  seem  to  have  reason  for  believing  that  the  intellectual  organisa- 
tion is  lower,  perception  is  quicker,  and  maturity  earlier." — Merivale  On  Colonization, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  197. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  217 

;  death  song,  and  turns  a  fearless  front  towards  his 
I  tormentors.6 

The  art  of  numbering  was  unknown  in   some 


6  "  Thus,  on  the  whole,  it  may  be  said  that  the  virtues  of  the 
savages  are  reducible  to  intrepid  courage  in  danger,  unshaken  firm- 
ness amid  tortures,  contempt  of  pain  and  death,  and  patience  under 
all  the  anxieties  and  distresses  of  life.  No  doubt  these  are  useful 
qualities,  but  they  are  all  confined  to  the  individual,  all  selfish,  and 
without  any  benefit  to  the  society.  Farther,  they  are  proofs  of  a  life 
truly  wretched,  and  a  social  state  so  depraved  or  null,  that  a  man, 
neither  finding  nor  hoping  any  succour  or  assistance  from  it,  is 
obliged  to  wrap  himself  up  in  despair  and  endeavour  to  harden  him- 
self against  the  strokes  of  fate.  Still  it  may  be  urged  that  these 
men,  in  their  leisure  hours,  laugh,  sing,  play,  and  live  without  care 
for  the  past  as  well  as  for  the  future.  Will  you  then  deny  that  they 
are  happier  than  we  ?  Man  is  such  a  pitiable  and  variable  creature, 
and  habits  have  such  a  potent  sway  over  him,  that  in  the  most  disas- 
trous situations  he  always  finds  some  posture  that  gives  him  ease, 
something  that  consoles  him,  and  by  comparison  with  past  suffering 
appears  to  him  well-being  and  happiness  ;  but  if  to  laugh,  sing,  or 
play  constitute  bliss,  it  must  likewise  be  granted  that  soldiers  are 
perfectly  happy  beings,  since  there  are  no  men  more  careless  or  more 
gay  in  dangers,  or  on  the  eve  of  battle  ;  it  must  be  granted  too,  that 
during  the  Revolution,  in  the  most  fatal  of  our  gaols,  the  Concier- 
gerie,  the  prisoners  were  very  happy,  since  they  were  in  general  more 
careless  and  gay  than  their  keepers,  or  than  those  who  only  feared 
the  same  fate.  The  anxieties  of  those  who  were  at  large,  were  as 
numerous  as  the  enjoyments  they  wished  to  preserve ;  they  who 
were  in  the  other  prisons  felt  but  one,  that  of  preserving  their  lives. 
In  the  Conciergerie,  where  a  man  was  condemned  in  expectation  or 
in  reality,  he  had  no  longer  any  care  ;  on  the  contrary  every  moment 
of  life  was  an  acquisition,  the  gain  of  a  good  that  was  considered  as 
lost.  Such  is  nearly  the  situation  of  a  soldier  in  war,  and  such  is 
really  that  of  the  savage  throughout  the  whole  course  of  his  life.  If 
this  be  happiness,  wretched  indeed  must  be  the  country  where  it  is 
an  object  of  envy.  In  pursuing  my  investigation  I  do  not  find  that 
I  am  led  to  more  advantageous  ideas  of  the  liberty  of  the  savage  ; 


218  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

American  tribes,  and  even  among  the  most  advanced 
it  was  very  imperfect ;  the  savage  had  no  property 
to  estimate,  no  coins  to  count,  no  variety  of  ideas  to 
enumerate.  Many  nations  could  not  reckon  above 
three,  and  had  no  words  in  their  language  to 
distinguish  a  greater  number ;  some  proceeded  as 


on  the  contrary,  I  see  in  him  only  the  slave  of  his  wants  and  of  the 
freaks  of  a  sterile  and  parsimonious  nature.  Food  he  has  not  at 
hand  ;  rest  is  not  at  his  command  ;  he  must  rim,  weary  himself, 
endure  hunger  and  thirst,  heat  and  cold,  and  all  the  inclemency  of 
the  elements  and  seasons  ;  and  as  the  ignorance  in  which  he  was 
horn  and  hred  gives  him  or  leaves  him  a  multitude  of  false  and  irra- 
tional ideas,  and  superstitious  prejudices,  he  is  likewise  the  slave  of 
a  number  of  errors  and  passions,  from  which  civilised  man  is  ex- 
empted, by  the  science  and  knowledge  of  every  kind  that  an  improved 
state  of  society  has  produced." — Volney's  Travels  in  the  United 
States,  p.  467. 

"  Their  impassible  fortitude  and  endurance  of  suffering  are,  after 
all,  in  my  mind,  the  result  of  a  greater  degree  of  physical  insensi- 
bility. It  has  been  told  me,  and  I  believe  it,  that  in  amputation 
and  other  surgical  operations,  their  nerves  do  not  shrink,  do  not  show 
the  same  tendency  to  spasm,  with  those  of  the  whites.  When  the 
savage,  to  explain  his  insensibility  to  cold,  called  upon  the  white  men 
to  recollect  how  little  his  own  face  was  affected  by  it,  in  consequence 
of  its  constant  exposure,  he  added,  '  My  body  is  all  face.'*  This 
increasing  insensibility,  transmitted  from  generation  to  generation, 
finally  becomes  inwrought  with  the  whole  web  of  animal  nature,  and 
the  body  of  the  savage  seems  to  have  little  more  sensibility  than  the 
hoofs  of  horses." — Flint's  Ten  Years  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi. 
See  also  Ulloa's  Notic.  Amer.,  p.  313. 

Charlevoix  quotes  a  passage  from  Cicero  to  the  effect  that 
"1'habitude  au  travail  donne  de  la  facilite  a  supporter  la  douleur." 
—2  Tusc.  25. 


*  Delicacy  of  skin  is  observed  to  be  in  proportion  to  civilisation  amongst  nations, 
in  proportion  to  degrees  of  refinement  among  individuals. — Sharon  Turner. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          219 

far  as  ten,  others  to  twenty ;  when  they  desired  to 
convey  an  idea  of  a  larger  amount,  they  pointed  to 
the  hair  of  the  head,  or  declared  that  it  could  not 
be  counted.  Computation  is  a  mystery  to  all  rude 
nations ;  when,  however,  they  acquire  the  knowledge 
of  a  number  of  objects,  and  find  the  necessity  of 
combining  or  dividing  them,  their  acquaintance 
with  arithmetic  increases ;  the  state  of  this  art  is 
therefore,  to  a  considerable  extent,  a  criterion  of 
their  degree  of  progress.  The  wise  and  politic 
Iroquois  had  advanced  the  farthest,  but  even  they 
had  not  got  beyond  one  thousand;  the  smaller 
tribes  seldom  reached  above  ten. 

The  first  ideas  are  suggested  to  the  mind  of  man 
by  the  senses :  the  Indian  acquires  no  other.  The 
objects  around  him  are  all  important ;  if  they  be 
available  for  his  present  purposes  they  attract  his 
attention,  otherwise  they  excite  no  curiosity:  he 
neither  combines  nor  arranges  them,  nor  does  he 
examine  the  operations  of  his  own  mind  upon  them; 
he  has  no  abstract  or  universal  ideas,  and  his 
reasoning  powers  are  generally  employed  upon 
matters  merely  obvious  to  the  senses.  In  the 
languages  of  the  ruder  tribes  there  were  no  words 
to  express  anything  that  is  not  material,  such  as 
faith,  time,  imagination,  and  the  like.  When  the 
mind  of  the  savage  is  not  occupied  with  matters 
relating  to  his  animal  existence,  it  is  altogether 
inactive.  In  the  islands,  and  upon  the  exuberant 
plains  of  the  south,  where  little  exertion  of  inge- 
nuity was  required  to  obtain  the  necessaries  of  life, 


220          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

the  rational  faculties  were  frequently  dormant,  and 
the  countenance  remained  vacant  and  inexpressive. 
Even  the  superior  races  of  the  north  loiter  away 
their  time  in  thoughtless  indolence,  when  not 
engaged  in  war  or  the  chase,  deeming  other  objects 
unworthy  of  their  consideration.  Where  reason  is 
so  limited  in  a  field  for  exertion,  the  mind  can 
hardly  acquire  any  considerable  degree  of  vigour  or 
enlargement.  In  civilised  life  men  are  urged  to 
activity  and  perseverance  by  a  desire  to  gratify 
numerous  artificial  wants;  but  the  necessities  of 
the  Indian  are  few,  and  provided  for  by  nature 
almost  spontaneously.  He  detests  labour,  and  will 
sometimes  sit  for  whole  days  together  without 
uttering  a  word,  or  changing  his  posture.  Neither 
the  hope  of  reward  nor  the  prospect  of  future  want 
can  overcome  this  inveterate  indolence. 

Among  the  northern  tribes,  however,  dwelling 
under  a  rigorous  climate,  some  efforts  are  employed, 
and  some  precautions  taken,  to  procure  subsistence  ; 
but  the  necessary  industry  is  even  there  looked 
upon  as  a  degradation :  the  greater  part  of  the 
labour  is  performed  by  women,  and  man  will  only 
stoop  to  those  portions  of  the  work  which  he  consi- 
ders least  ignominious.  This  industry,  so  oppressive 
to  one  half  of  the  community,  is  very  partial,  and 
directed  by  a  limited  foresight.  During  one  part  of 
the  year  they  depend  upon  fishing  for  a  subsistence, 
during  another  upon  the  chase,  and  the  produce  of 
the  ground  is  their  resource  for  the  third.  Regard- 
less of  the  warnings  of  experience,  they  neglect  to 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  221 

apportion  provision  for  their  wants,  or  can  so  little 
restrain  their  appetites,  that,  from  imprudence  or 
extravagance,  they  often  are  exposed  to  the  miseries 
of  famine  like  their  ruder  neighbours.  Their  suffer- 
ings are  soon  forgotten,  and  the  horrors  of  one 
year  seem  to  teach  no  lesson  of  providence  for 
the  next. 

The  Indians  for  the  most  part  are  very  we'll 
acquainted  with  the  geography  of  their  own  country! 
When  questioned  as  to  the  situation  of  any  parti 
cular  place,  they  will  trace  out  on  the  ground  with  a 
stick,  if  opportunity  offer,  a  tolerably  accurate  map 
of  the  locality  indicated.  They  will  show  the  course 
of  the  rivers,  and,  by  pointing  towards  tha,  gun 
explain  the  bearings  of  their  rude  sketch.  There 
have  been  recorded  some  most  remarkable  instances 
of  the  accuracy  with  which  they  can  travel  towards 
a  strange  place,  even  when  its  description  had  only 
been  received  through  the  traditions  of  several 
generations,  and  they  could  have  possessed  no  per- 
sonal knowledge  whatever  of  the  surrounding 
country. 

The  religion  of  the  natives  of  America  cannot  but 
be  regarded  with  an  interest  far  deeper  than  the 
gratification  of  mere  curiosity.  The  forms  of  faith, 
the  rites,  the  ideas  of  immortality;  the  belief  in 
future  reward,  in  future  punishment;  the  recogni- 
tion of  an  invisible  Power,  infinitely  surpassing  that 
of  the  warrior  or  the  chief ;  the  dim  traditions  of  a 
first  parent,  and  a  general  deluge, — all  these,  among 
a  race  so  long  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  human 


222          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

family,  distinct  in  language,  habits,  form  and  mind, 
and  displaying,  when  societies  began  to  exist,  a 
civilisation  utterly  dissimilar  from  any  before  known, 
afford  subject  for  earnest  thought  and  anxious 
inquiry.  Those  who  in  the  earlier  times  of  Ameri- 
can discovery  supplied  information  on  these  points, 
were  generally  little  qualified  for  the  task.  Priests 
and  missionaries  alone  had  leisure  or  inclination  to 
pursue  the  subject ;  and  their  minds  were  often  so 
preoccupied  with  their  own  peculiar  doctrines,  that 
they  accommodated  to  them  all  that  fell  under  their 
observation,  and  explained  it  by  analogies  which 
had  no  existence  but  in  their  own  zealous  imagina- 
tions. They  seldom  attempted  to  consider  what 
they  saw  or  heard  in  relation  to  the  rude  notions  of 
the  savages  themselves.  From  a  faint  or  fancied 
similarity  of  peculiar  Indian  superstitions  to  certain 
articles  of  Christian  faith,  some  missionaries  ima- 
gined they  had  discovered  traces  of  an  acquaintance 
with  the  divine  mysteries  of  salvation;  they  con- 
cluded that  the  savage  possessed  a  knowledge 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,7  of  the  Incarnation,  of 

7  Conical  stones,  wrapped  up  in  100  goat  skins,  were  the  idols 
preserved  in  the  temple  of  the  Natchez.  Many  authors  assert  that 
the  Amazons  and  many  eastern  people  had  nothing  in  their  temples 
but  these  pyramidal  stones,  which  represented  to  them  the  Divinity. 

"  Peut-etre  aussi  vouloient  ils  (les  fondateurs  des  Pyramides) 

figurer  en  meme  terns  la  Divinite,  et  ce  qui  leur  restoit  d'idees  du 
mystere  de  la  Sainte  Trinite,  dans  les  trois  faces  de  ces  pyramides. 
Du  moins  est  ce  ainsi  qu'aux  Indes  un  Brame  paroissoit  concevoir  les 
choses  et  s'expliquer  d'apres  les  anciennes.  *  II  faut,'  disoit  il,  '  se 
representer  Dieu  et  ses  trois  noms  differents  qui  repondent  a  ces  trois 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          223 

the  sacrifice  of  a  Saviour,  and  of  sacraments,  from 
their  own  interpretation  of  certain  expressions  and 
ceremonies.8  But  little  confidence  can  be  placed  in 
any  evidence  derived  from  such  sources. 

principaux  attributs,  a  peu  pres  sous  1'idee  de  ces  Pyramides  trian- 
gulaires  qu'on  voit  elevees  devant  la  poste  de  quelques  temples." 
— Lettre  du  Pere  Bouchet  a  M.  Huet,  Eveque  cFAvranches.  Three 
logs  are  always  employed  to  keep  up  the  fire  in  the  Natchez  temple. — 
Lafitau,  vol.  i.,  p.  16J. 

Extract  from  a  dialogue  between  John  Wesley  and  the  Chickasaw 
Indians  : — 

"  Wesley.  Do  you  believe  there  is  One  above  who  is  over  all 
things  ? 

"  Answer.  We  believe  there  are  four  beloved  things  above, — the 
clouds,  the  sun,  the  clear  sky,  and  He  that  lives  in  the  clear  sky. 

"  Wesley.  Do  you  believe  there  is  but  One  who  lives  in  the  clear 
sky? 

"  Answer.  We  believe  there  are  two  with  Him,  three  in  all." — 
Wesley's  Journal,  No.  I.,  p.  39. 

8  See  Stephens's  "  Incidents  of  Travel  in  Central  America,"  vol.  ii., 
p.  346. 

"  Les  croix  qui  ont  tant  excite  la  curiosite  des  conquistadores  \ 
Coqumel,  a  Yucatan,  et  dans  d'autres  contrees  de  1'Amerique  ne  sont 
pas  '  des  contes  de  moines,'  etmeritent,  comme  tout  ce  qui  a  rapport 
au  culte  des  peuples  indigenes  du  Nouveau  Continent,  un  examen 
plus  serieux.  Je  me  sers  du  mot  culte,  car  un  relief  conserve  dans 
les  ruines  de  Palenque,  de  Guatemala,  et  dont  je  possede  unecopie,  ne 
me  parait  laisser  aucun  doute  qu'  une  figure  symbolique  en  forme  de 
croix  etoit  un  objet  d' adoration.  II  faut  faire  observer  cependant  qu'a 
cette  croix  manque  le  prolongement  superieur,  et  qu'elle  forme  plutot 
la  lettre  tau.  Des  ide'es  qui  n'ont  aucun  rapport  avec  le  Christian- 
isme  ont  pu  etre  symboliquement  attachees  a  cet  embleme  Egyptien 
d 'Hermes,  si  celebre  parmi  les  Chretiens  depuis  la  destruction  du 
temple  de  Serapis  a  Alexandrie  sous  Theodose  le  Grand.  (Rufinus, 
Hist.  Eccles.,  lib.  ii.,  cap.  xxix.,  p.  294 ;  Zozomenes,  Eccl.  Hist., 
lib.  in.,  cap.  xv.)  Un  ba*ton  termine  par  une  croix  se  voit  dans  la 
main  d'Astarte  sur  les  monnaies  de  Sidon  au  3me  siecle  avant  notre 


224  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

The  earlier  travellers  in  the  interior  of  the  New 
World  received  the  impression  that  the  Indians  had 
no  religious  belief;  they  saw  neither  priests,  temples, 
idols,  nor  sacrifices  among  any  of  the  various  and 
numerous  tribes.  A  further  knowledge  of  this 
strange  people  disproved  the  hastily  formed  opinion, 
and  showed  that  their  whole  life  and  all  their 
actions  were  influenced  by  a  belief  in  the  spiritual 
world.1  It  is  now  known  that  the  American  Indians 
were  preeminent  among  savage  nations  for  the 
superior  purity  of  their  religious  faith,2  and  indeed 
over  even  the  boasted  elegance  of  poetical  mytho- 

ere.  En  Scandinavie,  un  signe  de  1'alphabet  runique  figurait  le 
marteau  de  Thor,  tres  semblable  a  la  croix  du  relief  de  Palenque. 
On  marquoit  de  cette  rune,  dans  les  terns  payens,  les  objets  qu'on 
vouloit  sanctifier."  (Voyez  1'excellent  Traite  de  M.  Guillaume  Grimm, 
Uber  Deutsche  Runen,  p.  242.) — Humboldt,  Geographic  de  Nouveau 
Continent,  vol.  ii.,  p.  356. 

*'  Laet  avoue  qu'  Herrera  parle  d'une  espece  de  bapteme,  et  de  con- 
fession usitee  dans  Yucatan  et  dans  les  isles  voisines,  mais  il  ajoute 
qu'il  est  bien  plus  naturel  d'attribuer  toutes  ces  marques  equivoques 
de  Christianisme  qu'on  a  cru  apercevoir  en  plusieurs  provinces  du 
Nouveau  Monde  au  demon  qui  a  toujours  affecte  de  contrefaire  le  culte 
du  vrai  Dieu."  Charlevoix  adds,  "  Cette  remarque  est  de  tous  les 
bons  auteurs  qui  ont  parle  de  la  religion  des  peuples  nouvellement 
decouverts,  et  fondee  sur  1'autorite  des  peres  de  1'Eglise." — Charlevoix, 
torn,  v.,  p.  28.  l  See  Appendix,  No.  LI. 

2  "  The  most  sensual,  degraded,  and  least  intellectual  tribes  of 
Northern  Asia  and  America,  have  purer  notions  of  a  spiritual  Deity, 
than  were  possessed  of  old  by  the  worshippers  of  Jupiter  and  Juno 
under  Pericles." — Progression  by  Antagonism. 

This,  according  to  Lord  Lindsay's  theory,  is  to  be  accounted  for 
by  the  absence  of  imagination,  these  nations  being  only  governed  by 
Sense  and  Spirit,  to  the  exclusion  of  intellect  in  either  of  its  manifes- 
tations, Imagination,  or  Reason. — Pp.  21,  26. 


THE   CONQUEST   OP   CANADA.  225 

"^S1 

logy.  From  the  reports  of  all  those  worthy  of 
credence,  who  have  lived  intimately  among  these 
children  of  the  forest,  it  is  certain  that  they  firmly  | 
believe  in  the  power  and  unity  of  the  Most  High 
God,  and  in  an  immortality  of  happiness  or  misery. 
They  worship  the  Great  Spirit,  the  Giver  of  life,  and 
attribute  to  him  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  the 
government  of  all  things  with  infinite  love,  wisdom, 
and  power.  Of  the  origin  of  their  religion  they  are 
altogether  ignorant.  In  general  they  believe  that 
after  the  world  was  created  and  supplied  with 
animal  life  by  the  Great  Spirit,  he  formed  the  first 
red  man  and  woman,  who  were  very  large  of  stature 
and  lived  to  an  extreme  old  age  ;  that  he  often  held 
council  with  his  creatures,  gave  them  laws  and 
instructed  them,  but  that  the  red  children  became 
rebels  against  their  Great  Father,  and  he  then 
withdrew  himself  with  sorrowful  anger  from  among 
them,  and  left  them  to  the  vexations  of  the  Bad 
Spirit.  But  still  this  merciful  Father,  from  afar  off 
where  he  may  be  seen  no  more,  showers  down  upon 
them  all  the  blessings  they  enjoy.  The  Indians 
are  truly  filial  and  sincere  in  their  devotions; 
they  pray  for  what  they  need  and  return  hearty 
thanks  for  such  mercies  as  they  have  enjoyed.3 


3  "  At  the  breaking  up  of  the  winter,"  says  Hunter,  "  after  having 
supplied  ourselves  with  such  things  as  were  necessary,  and  the  situa- 
tion afforded,  all  our  party  visited  the  spring  from  which  we  had 
procured  our  supplies  of  water,  and  there  offered  up  our  orisons  to 
the  Great  Spirit  for  having  preserved  us  in  health  and  safety,  and 
for  having  supplied  all  our  wants.  This  is  the  constant  practice  of 

VOL.  i.  Q 


226          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

They  supplicate  him  to  bestow  courage  and  skill 
upon  them  in  the  battle;  the  endurance  which 
enables  them  to  mock  the  cruel  tortures  of  their 
enemies  is  attributed  to  his  aid :  their  preparation 
for  war  is  a  long  continued  religious  ceremony  ;  their 
march  is  supposed  to  be  under  omnipotent  guidance, 
and  their  expeditions  in  the  chase  are  held  to  be  not 
unworthy  of  divine  superintendence.  They  reject 
all  idea  of  chance  on  the  fortune  of  war,  and 
believe  firmly  that  every  result  is  the  decision  of  a 
Superior  Power.3  Although  this  elevated  conception 

the  Osages,  Kansas,  and  many  other  nations  of  Indians  on  breaking 
up  their  encampments,  and  is  by  no  means  an  unimportant  cere- 
mony." The  habitual  piety  of  the  Indian  mind  is  remarked  by 
Heckewelder,  and  strongly  insisted  upon  by  Hunter,  and  it  is  satis- 
factorily proved  by  the  whole  tenor  of  his  descriptions,  where  he 
throws  himself  back,  as  it  were,  into  the  feelings  peculiar  to  Indian 
life.  And,  indeed,  after  hearing  at  a  council  the  broken  fragments 
of  an  Indian  harangue,  however  imperfectly  rendered  by  an  ignorant 
interpreter,  or  reading  the  few  specimens  of  Indian  oratory  which 
have  been  preserved  by  translation,  no  one  can  fail  to  remark  a  per- 
petual and  earnest  reference  to  the  power  and  goodness  of  the  Deity. 
"  Brothers  !  we  all  belong  to  one  family  ;  we  are  all  children  of  the 
Great  Spirit,"  was  the  commencement  of  Tecumthe's  harangue  to 
the  Osages  ;  and  he  afterwards  tells  them  :  "  When  the  white  men 
first  set  foot  on  our  grounds  they  were  hungry  ;  they  had  no  places 
on  which  to  spread  their  blankets  or  to  kindle  their  fires.  They 
were  feeble,  they  could  do  nothing  for  themselves.  Our  fathers 
commiserated  their  distress,  and  shared  freely  with  them  whatever 
the  Great  Spirit  has  given  to  his  red  children." — Quarterly  Review. 
3  On  the  remarkable  occasion  on  which  our  forces  were  compelled, 
in  1813,  to  evacuate  the  Michigan  territory,  Tecumthe,  in  the  name 
of  his  nation,  refused  to  consent  to  retreat ;  he  closed  his  denial 
with  these  words,  "  Our  lives  are  in  the  hand  of  the  Great  Spirit : 
He  gave  the  lands  which  we  possess  to  our  fathers  ;  if  it  be  his 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  227 

of  the  One  God4  is  deeply  impressed  upon  the 
Indian's  mind,  it  is  tainted  with  some  of  the  alloy 
which  ever  must  characterise  the  uninspired  faith. 
Those  who  have  inquired  into  the  religious  opinions 
of  the  uneducated  and  laborious  classes  of  men, 
even  in  the  most  enlightened  and  civilised  commu- 
nities, find  that  their  system  of  belief  is  derived 
from  instruction,  and  not  from  instinct  or  the 
results  of  their  own  examination :  in  savage  life  it 
is  vain  to  expect  that  men  should  reason  accurately, 
from  cause  to  effect,  and  form  a  just  idea  of  the 
Creator  from  the  creation.  The  Indian  combines 
the  idea  of  the  Great  Spirit  with  others  of  a  less 
perfect  nature.  The  word  used  by  him  to  indicate 
this  Sovereign  Being,  does  not  convey  the  notion  of 
an  immaterial  nature;  it  signifies  with  him  some 
one  possessed  of  lofty  and  mysterious  powers,  and 
in  this  sense  may  be  applied  to  men  and  even  to 
animals. 

will,  our  bones  shall  whiten  upon  them,  but  we  will  never  quit  them." 
An  old  Oneida  chief,  who  was  blind  from  years,  observed  to  Hecke- 
welder,  "I  am  an  aged  hemlock  ;  the  winds  of  one  hundred  years 
have  whistled  through  my  branches  ;  I  am  dead  at  the  top.  Why  I  yet 
live,  the  great,  good  Spirit  only  knows."  This  venerable  father  of 
the  forest  lived  long  enough  to  be  converted  to  Christianity. — 
Quarterly  Review. 

4  A  Huron  woman,  under  the  instruction  of  a  missionary,  who 
detailed  to  her  the  perfections  of  God,  exclaimed  in  a  species  of 
ecstacy,  "  I  understand,  I  understand  ;  and  I  always  felt  convinced 
that  our  Areskoui  was  exactly  such  an  one  as  the  God  you  have 
described  to  me." — Lafitau,  torn,  i.,  p.  127.  The  Great  Spirit  was 
named  Areskoui  amongst  the  Hurons  ;  Agriskoue  among  the  Iroquois  ; 
Manitou  amongst  the  Algonquins. 

Q2 


228          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

To  the  first  inquirers  into  the  religious  faith 
of  the  native  Americans,  the  subject  of  their 
mythology  presented  very  great  difficulties  and 
complications;  those  Indians  who  attempted  to 
explain  it  to  Europeans,  had  themselves  no  dis- 
tinct or  fixed  opinions.  Each  man  put  forward 
peculiar  notions,  and  was  constantly  changing 
them,  without  attempting  to  reconcile  his  self-con- 
tradictions. 

Some   of   the  southern  tribes  who  were    more 
settled  in  their  religious  faith,  exhibited  a  remark- 
able  degree  of  bigotry  and  spiritual  pride.      They 
called  the  Europeans  "men  of  the  accursed  speech:" 
while  they  styled  themselves  "the  beloved  of  the 
Great  Spirit."      The  Canadian  and  other  northern 
nations,  however,  were  less  intolerant,  and  at  any 
time  easily  induced  to  profess  the  recantation   of 
their  heathen    errors  for   some   small   advantage. 
1  Among  these  latter,  the  hare  was  deemed  to  possess 
/  some  mystic  superiority  over  the  rest  of  the  animal 
I  creation ;    it  was  even  raised  to   be  an   object  of 
worship,  and  the  Great  Hare  was   confounded  in 
their  minds  with  the  Great  Spirit.     The  Algonquins 
f  'Believed  in  a  Water  God,  who  opposes  himself  to  the 
|  benevolent  designs  of  the  Great  Spirit ;  it  is  strange 
that  the  name  of  the  Great  Tiger  should  be  given 
to  this  Deity,  as  the  country  does  not  produce  such 
an  animal,  and  from  this  it  appears  probable,  that 
the  tradition  of  his  existence  had  come  from  else- 
where.    They  have  also  a  third  Deity  who  presides 
over  their  winter  season.     The  gods  of  the  Indians 


THE   CONQUEST   OP   CANADA. 

have  bodies  like  the  sons  of  men,  and  subsist  in 
like  manner  with  them,  but  are  free  from  the  pains 
and  cares  of  mortality ;  the  term  "  spirit "  among 
them  only  signifies  a  being  of  a  superior  and  more 
excellent  nature  than  man.  However,  they  believe 
in  the  omnipresence  of  their  deities,  and  invoke 
their  aid  in  all  times  and  places. 

Besides  the  Great .  Spirit  and  the  lesser  deities 
above  mentioned,  every  Indian  has  his  own  Manitou, 
Okki,  or  guardian__^ower ;  this  divinity's  presence 
is  represented  by  some  portable  object,  often  of  the 
most  insignificant  nature,  such  as  the  head,  beak,  or 
claw  of  a  bird,  the  hoof  of  a  deer  or  cow.  No  youth 
can  be  received  among  the  brotherhood  of  warriors, 
till  he  has  placed  himself,  in  due  form,  under  the 
care  of  this  familiar.  The  ceremony  is  deemed  of 
great  importance :  several  days  of  strict  fasting  are 
always  observed  in  preparation  for  the  important 
event,  and  the  youth's  dreams  are  carefully  noted 
during  this  period.  While  under  these  circum- 
stances, some  object  usually  makes  a  deep  impres- 
sion upon  his  mind-;  this  is  then  chosen  for  his 
Manitou  or  guardian  spirit,  and  a  specimen  of  it  is 
procured.  He  is  next  placed  for  some  time  in  a 
large  vapour  bath,  and  having  undergone  the 
process  of  being  steamed,  is  laid  on  the  ground, 
and  the  figure  of  the  Manitou  is  pricked  on  his 
breast  with  needles  of  fishbone,  dipt  in  vermi- 
lion; the  intervals  between  the  scars  are  then 
rubbed  with  gunpowder,  so  as  to  produce  a  mixture 
of  red  and  blue.  When  this  operation  is  performed, 


230  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

he  cries  aloud  to  the  Great  Spirit,  invoking  aid,  and 
praying  to  be  received  as  a  warrior. 

The  Indian  submits  with  resignation  to  the 
chastening  will  of  the  Great  Spirit ;  when  overtaken 
by  any  disaster,  he  diligently  examines  himself  to 
discover  what  omission  of  observance  or  duty  has 
called  down  the  punishment,  and  endeavours  to 
atone  for  past  neglect  by  increased  devotion.  But 
if  the  Manitou  be  deemed  to  have  shown  want  of 
ability  or  inclination  to  defend  him,  he  upbraids  the 
guardian  power  with  bitterness  and  contempt,  and 
threatens  to  seek  a  more  effectual  protector.  If 
the  Manitou  continue  useless,  this  threat  is  fulfilled. 
Fasting  and  dreaming  are  again  resorted  to  in  the 
same  manner  as  before,  and  the  vision  of  another 
Manitou  is  obtained.  The  former  representation  is 
then,  as  much  as  possible,  effaced ;  the  figure  of 
the  newly  adopted  amulet  painted  in  its  place.  All 

\  the  veneration  and  confidence  forfeited  by  the  first 
Manitou,  is  now  transferred  to  the  successor.5 

It  is  also  part  of  the  Indian's  religious  belief,  that 
there  are  inferior  spirits  to  rule  over  the  elements, 

\  under  the  control  of  the  Supreme  Power,  he  being 
so  great  that  he  must,  like  their  chiefs,  have 
attendants  to  execute  his  behests.  These  inferior 
spirits  see  what  passes  on  earth,  and  report  it  to 
their  Great  Ruler:  the  Indian,  trusting  to  their 
good  offices,  invokes  these  spirits  of  the  air  in  times 
of  peril,  and  endeavours  to  propitiate  them  by  throw- 
ing tobacco  or  other  simple  offerings  to  the  winds  or 

8  See  Appendix,  No,  LIT. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          231 

upon  the  waters.  But  amidst  all  these  corrupt  and 
ignorant  superstitions,  the  One  Spirit,  the  Creator 
and  Ruler  of  the  World,  is  the  great  object  of  the 
red  man's  adoration.  On  him  they  rest  their 
hopes — to  him  they  address  their  daily  prayers, 
and  render  their  solemn  sacrifice. 

The  worship  of  the  Indians,  although  frequently 
in  private,  is  generally  little  regulated  either  by 
ceremonies  or  stated  periodical  devotions.  But 
there  are  at  times  great  occasions  when  the  whole 
tribe  assembles  for  the  purpose,6  such  as  in  declaring 
war  or  proclaiming  peace,  or  when  visited  by  storms 
or  earthquakes.  Their  great  feasts  all  partake  of 
a  religious  character ;  everything  provided  must  be 
consumed  by  the  assembly,  as  being  consecrated  to 
the  Great  Spirit.  The  Ottawas  seem  to  have  had  a 
more  complicated  mythology  than  any  other  tribe  : 
they  held  a  regular  festival  in  honour  of  the  sun ; 
and  while  rendering  thanks  for  past  benefit,  prayed 
that  it  might  be  continued  to  the  future.  They 
have  also  been  observed  to  erect  an  idol  in  their 
village,  and  offer  it.  sacrifice;  this  ceremony  was, 
however,  very  rare.  Many  western  tribes  visit  the 

6  Every  spring  the  Arkansas  go  in  a  body  to  some  retired  place, 
and  there  turn  up  a  large  space  of  land,  which  they  do  with  the 
drums  beating  all  the  while.  After  this  they  call  it  the  Desart,  or 
the  Field  of  the  Spirit,  and  thither  they  go  when  they  are  in  their 
enthusiastic  fits,  and  there  wait  for  inspiration  from  their  pre- 
tended deity.  In  the  meanwhile,  as  they  do  this  every  year, 
it  proves  of  no  small  advantage  to  them,  for  by  this  means  they 
turn  up  all  their  land  by  degrees,  and  it  becomes  abundantly  more 
fruitful,— Tonti. 


£32          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

spring  whence  they  have  been  supplied  with  water 
during  the  winter,  at  the  breaking  up  of  the  ice,  and 
there  offer  up  their  grateful  worship  to  the  Great 
Spirit  for  having  preserved  them  in  health  and 
safety,  and  having  supplied  their  wants.  This  pious 
homage  is  performed  with  much  ceremony  and 
devotion. 

Among  this  rude  people,  who  were  at  one  time 
supposed  to  have  been  without  any  religion,  habi- 
tual piety  may  be  considered  the  most  remarkable 
characteristic ;  every  action  of  their  lives  is  con- 
nected with  some  acknowledgment  of  a  Superior 
Power.  Many  have  imagined  that  the  severe  fasts 
sometimes  endured  by  the  Indians  were  only  for  the 
purpose  of  accustoming  themselves  to  support 
hunger ;  but  all  the  circumstances  connected  with 
these  voluntary  privations  leave  no  doubt  that  they 
were  solemn  religious  exercises.  Dreams  and  visions 
during  these  fasts  were  looked  upon  as  oracular, 
and  respected  as  the  revelations  of  Heaven.  The 
Indian  frequently  propitiates  the  favour  of  the 
inferior  spirits  by  vows;  when  for  some  time  un- 
successful in  the  chase,  or  suffering  from  want  in 
long  journies,  he  promises  the  genius  of  the  spot  to 
bestow  upon  one  of  his  chiefs  in  its  honour  a  portion 
of  the  first  fruits  of  his  success  ;7  if  the  chief  be  too 
distant  to  receive  the  gift,  it  is  burned  in  sacrifice. 

7  Lafitau  asserts  that  the  first  beast  killed  by  a  young  hunter  was 
always  offered  in  sacrifice. — Vol.  i.  p.  515.  See  Catlin's  description 
of  the  sacrifices  and  ceremonies  practised  when  the  first  fruits  of  corn 
are  ripe. — Catlin,  vol.  i.,  p.  189. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  233 

The  belief  of  the  Indian  in  a  future  state,  although 
deeply  cherished  and  sincere,  can  scarcely  be  re- 
garded as  a  denned  idea  of  the  immortality  of  the 
soul.8  There  is  little  spiritual  or  exalted  in  his  con- 
ception. When  he  attempts  to  form  a  distinct 
notion  of  the  spirit,  he  is  blinded  by  his  senses ;  he 
calls  it  the  shadow  or  image  of  his  body,  but  its  acts 
and  enjoyments  are  all  the  same  as  those  of  its 
earthly  existence.  He  only  pictures  to  himself  a 
continuation  of  present  pleasures.  His  heaven  is 
a  delightful  country  far  away  beyond  the  unknown 
western  seas,  where  the  skies  are  ever  bright  and 
serene,  the  air  genial,  the  spring  eternal,  and  the 
forests  abounding  in  game ;  no  war,  disease,  or 
torture  are  known  in  that  happy  land;  the  suf- 
ferings of  life  are  endured  no  more,  and  its  sweetest 
pleasures  are  perpetuated  and  increased ;  his  wife  is 
tender  and  obedient,  his  children  dutiful  and  affec- 
tionate. In  this  country  of  eternal  happiness,  the 
Indian  hopes  to  be  again  received  into  the  favour  of 
the  Great  Spirit,  and  to  rejoice  in  his  glorious  pre- 
sence.9 But  in  his  simple  mind  there  is  a  deep  and 

8  Peter  Martyr  speaks  of  the  general  opinion  among  the  early  dis- 
coverers, that  the  Indians  believed  in  a  species  of  immortality.   "  They 
confess  the  soul  to  he  immortal ;  having  put  off  the  bodily  clothing 
they  imagine  it  goeth  forth  to  the  woods  and  the  mountains,  and  that 
it  liveth  there  perpetually  in  caves  ;  nor  do  they  exempt  it  from  eating 
or  drinking,  but  that  it  should  be  fed  there.     The  answering  voices 
heard  from  caves  and  hollows,  which  the  Latines  call  echoes,  they 
suppose  to  be  the  souls  of  the  departed  wandering  through  those 
places." — Peter  Martyr,  Decad.  VIII. ,  cap.  ix.     M.   Lock's  Trans 
lation,  1612. 

9  "  Une  jeune  sauvagesse  voyant  sa  sceur  mourante,  par  la  quantit^ 


234          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

enduring  conviction  that  admission  to  this  delightful 
country  of  souls  can  only  be  attained  by  good  and 
noble  actions  in  this  mortal  life.9  For  the  bad  men 
there  is  a  fate  terribly  different — endless  afflictions, 
want,  and  misery ;  a  land  of  hideous  desolation ; 
barren,  parched,  and  dreary  hunting-grounds,  the 
abode  of  evil  and  malignant  spirits,  whose  office  is 
to  torture,  whose  pleasure  is  to  enhance  the  misery 
of  the  condemned.  It  is  also  almost  universally 
believed  that  the  Great  Spirit  manifests  his  wrath 
or  his  favour  to  the  evil  and  the  good  in  their 
journey  to  the  land  of  souls.  After  death  the  Indian 
believes  that  he  is  supplied  with  a  canoe ;  and  if  he 
has  been  a  virtuous  warrior,  or  otherwise  worthy, 
he  is  guided  across  the  vast  deep  to  a  haven  of 
eternal  happiness  and  peace  by  the  hand  of  the  Great 
Spirit.  But  if  his  life  be  stained  with  cowardice, 
vice,  or  negligence  of  duty,  he  is  abandoned  to  the 
malignity  of  evil  genii,  driven  about  by  storms  and 

de  cigue  qui  elle  avoit  pris  dans  un  depit,  et  determine  a  ne  faire  aucun 
remede  pour  se  garantir  de  la  mort,  pleuroit  k  chaudes  larmes,  et 
s'efforgoit  de  la  toucher  par  les  liens  du  sang,  et  de  1'amitie  qui  les 
unissoit  ensemble.  Elle  lui  disoit  sans  cesse,  *  C'en  estdonc  fait  ;  tu 
veux  que  nous  ne  nous  retrouvions  jamais  plus,  et  que  nous  ne  nous 
revoyions  jamais  ?  '  Le  missionnaire,  frappe  de  ces  paroles,  lui  en 
demanda  la  raison.  (l\  mesemble,'  dit-il,  '  que  vous  avez  un  pays  des 
ames,  on  vous  devez  tous  vous  reiinir  a  vos  ancetres  ;  pourquoi  done  est 
ce  que  tu  paries  ainsi  a  la  sceur  ?  '  'II  est  vrai/  reprit-elle,  '  que  nous 
allons  tous  au  pays  des  ames  ;  mais  les  inechants,  et  ceux  en  parti- 
culier,  qui  se  sont  detruits  eux-memes  par  un  mort  violente,  y  portent 
la  peine  de  leur  crime  ;  ils  y  sont  separes  des  autres,  et  n'ont  point  de 
communication  avec  eux  :  c'est  la  le  sujetde  mes  peines.'  " — Lafitau, 
torn,  i.,  p.  404.  See  Appendix,  No.  L1I. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  235 

darkness  over  that  unknown  sea,  and  at  length 
cast  ashore  on  the  barren  land,  where  everlasting 
torments  are  his  portion.1 

The  Indians  generally  believe  in  the  existence  of 
a  Spirit  of  Evil,  and  occasionally  pray  to  him  in 
deprecation  of  his  wrath.  They  do  not  doubt  his 
inferiority  to  the  Great  Spirit,  but  they  believe  that 
he  has  the  power  to  inflict  torments  and  punishments 
upon  the  human  race,  and  that  he  has  a  malignant 
delight  in  its  exercise. 

The  souls  of  the  lower  animals  are  also  held  by 

1  Hunter  gives  the  following  view  of  the  Indian  mythology,  while 
describing  his  own  and  his  companions'  first  sight  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean:  "Here  the  surprise  and  astonishment  of  our  whole  party 
was  indescribably  great.  The  unbounded  view  of  waters,  the  inces- 
sant and  tremendous  dashing  of  the  waves  along  the  shore,  accom- 
panied with  a  noise  resembling  the  roar  of  loud  and  distant  thunder, 
filled  our  minds  with  the  most  sublime  and  awful  sensation,  and  fixed 
on  them  as  immutable  truths  the  tradition  we  had  received  from  our 
old  men,  that  the  great  waters  divide  the  residence  of  the  Great 
Spirit  from  the  temporary  abodes  of  his  red  children.  We  have 
contemplated  in  silent  dread  the  immense  difficulties  over  which  we 
should  be  obliged  to  triumph  after  death  before  we  could  arrive  at  those 
delightful  hunting-grounds,  which  are  unalterably  destined  for  such 
only  as  do  good,  and  love  the  Great  Spirit.  We  looked  in  vain  for 
the  stranded  and  shattered  canoes  of  those  who  had  done  wickedly  ; 
we  could  see  none,  and  were  led  to  hope  they  were  few  in  number. 
We  offered  up  our  devotions,  or  I  might  say  our  minds  were  serious  ; 
and  our  devotions  continued  all  the  time  we  were  in  this  country, 
for  we  had  ever  been  taught  to  believe  that  the  Great  Spirit  resided 
on  the  western  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  ;  and  this  idea  continued 
throughout  the  journey,  notwithstanding  the  more  specific  boun- 
dary assigned  to  Him  by  our  traditionary  dogmas." — Memoirs  of  a 
Captivity  among  the  North  American  Indians  from  Childhood 
to  the  Age  of  Nineteen.  By  John  D.  Hunter,  p.  69.  1824.— See 
Appendix,  No.  LIU. 


236  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

the  red  man  to  be  immortal :  he  recognises  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  understanding  in  them,  and  each 
creature  is  supposed  to  possess  a  guardian  spirit 
peculiar  to  itself.  He  only  claims  a  superiority  in 
degree  of  intelligence  and  power  over  the  beasts  of 
the  field.  Man  is  but  the  king  of  animals.  In  the 
world  of  souls  are  to  be  found  the  shades  of  every 
thing  that  breathes  the  breath  of  life.  However, 
he  takes  little  pains  to  arrange  or  develope  these 
strange  ideas.  The  enlightened  heathen  philosophers 
of  antiquity  were  not  more  successful. 

To  penetrate  the  mysteries  of  the  future  has 
always  been  a  favourite  object  of  superstition,2  and 
has  been  attempted  by  a  countless  variety  of  means. 
The  Indian  trusts  to  his  dreams  for  this  revelation, 
and  invariably  holds  them  sacred.  Before  he  engages 
in  any  important  undertaking,  particularly  in  war, 
diplomacy,  or  the  chase ;  the  dreams  of  his  principal 
chiefs  are  carefully  watched  and  examined;  by  their 
interpretation  his  conduct  is  guided.  In  this 
manner  the  fate  of  a  whole  nation  has  often  been 
decided  by  the  chance  visions  of  a  single  man.  The 
Indian  considers  that  dreams  are  the  mode  by 
which  the  Great  Spirit  condescends  to  hold  converse 
with  man ;  thence  arises  his  deep  veneration  for 
the  omens  and  warnings  they  may  shadow  forth.3 

Many  other  superstitions,  besides  those  of  prog- 
nostics from  dreams,  are  cherished  among  the 
Indians.  Each  remarkable  natural  feature,  such 
as  a  great  cataract,  a  lake,  or  a  difficult  and 

2  See  Appendix,  No.  LIV.  3  See  Appendix,  No.  LV. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          237 

dangerous  pass,  possesses  a  spirit  of  the  spot,  whose 
favour  they  are  fain  to  propitiate  by  votive  offer- 
ings :  skins,  bones,  pieces  of  metal,  and  dead  dogs 
are  hung  up  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  dedicated 
to  its  honour.  Supposed  visions  of  ghosts  are 
sometimes,  but  rarely,  spoken  of:  it  is,  however, 
generally  believed  that  the  souls  of  the  dead  con- 
tinue for  some  time  to  hover  round  the  earthly 
remains:  dreading,  therefore,  that  the  spirits  of 
those  they  have  tortured,  watch  near  them  to 
seek  opportunity  of  vengeance,  they  beat  the  air 
violently  with  rods,  and  raise  frightful  cries  to 
scare  the  shadowy  enemy  away. 

Among  some  of  the  Indian  tribes,  an  old  man 
performed  the  duty  of  a  priest  at  their  religious 
festivals ;  he  broke  the  bread  and  cast  it  in  the 
fire,  dedicated  the  different  offerings,  and  officiated 
in  the  sacrifice.  It  was  also  his  calling  to  declare 
the  omens  from  dreams  and  other  signs,  as  the 
warnings  of  heaven.  These  religious  duties  of 
the  priest  were  totally  distinct  from  the  office  of 
the  juggler,  or  "  medicine-man/'  although  some 
observers  have  confounded  them  together.  There 
were  also  vestals  in  many  nations  of  the  continent 
who  were  supposed  to  supply  by  their  touch  a 
precious  medicinal  efficacy  to  certain  roots  and 
simples. 

The  "medicine-men,"  or  jugglers,  undertook  the 
cure  of  diseases,  the  interpretation  of  omens,  the 
exorcising  of  evil  spirits,  and  magic  in  all  its 
branches.  They  were  men  of  great  consideration 


238          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

in  the  tribe,  and  were  called  in  and  regularly  paid 
as  physicians ;  but  this  position  could  only  be 
attained  by  undergoing  certain  ordeals,  which  were 
looked  upon  as  a  compact  with  the  spirits  of  the 
air.  The  process  of  the  vapour  bath  was  first 
endured;  severe  fasting  followed,  accompanied  by 
constant  shouting,  singing,  beating  a  sort  of  drum, 
and  smoking.  After  these  preliminaries  the  jugglers 
were  installed  by  extravagant  ceremonies,  per- 
formed with  furious  excitement  and  agitation.  They 
possessed,  doubtless,  some  real  knowledge  of  the 
healing  art ;  and  in  external  wounds  or  injuries,  the 
causes  of  which  are  obvious,  they  applied  powerful 
simples,  chiefly  vegetable,  with  considerable  skill. 
With  decoctions  from  ginseng,  sassafras,  hedisaron, 
and  a  tall  shrub  called  bellis,  they  have  been  known 
to  perform  remarkable  cures  in  cases  of  wounds  and 
ulcers.  They  scarified  the  seat  of  inflammation  or 
rheumatic  pain  skilfully  with  sharp-pointed  bones, 
and  accomplished  the  cupping  process  by  the  use  of 
gourd  shells  as  substitutes  for  glasses.  For  all 
internal  complaints,  their  favourite  specific  was  the 
vapour  bath  which  they  formed  with  much  inge- 
nuity from  their  rude  materials.  This  was  doubtless 
a  very  efficient  remedy,  but  they  attached  to  it  a 
supernatural  influence,  and  employed  it  in  the 
ceremonies  of  solemn  preparation  for  great  councils. 
All  cases  of  disease,  when  the  cause  could  not 
be  discovered,  were  attributed  to  the  influence  of 
malignant  spirits.  To  meet  these  the  medicine-man 
°r  juggler  invested  himself  with  his  mysterious 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  239 

character,  and  endeavoured  to  exorcise  the  demon  by 
a  great  variety  of  ceremonies,  a  mixture  of  delusion 
and  imposture.  For  this  purpose  he  arrayed  himself 
in  a  strange  and  fanciful  dress,  and  on  his  first 
arrival  began  to  sing  and  dance  round  the  sufferer, 
invoking  the  spirits  with  loud  cries.  When 
exhausted  with  these  exertions,  he  attributed  the 
hidden  cause  of  the  malady  to  the  first  unusual  idea 
that  suggested  itself  to  his  mind,  and  in  the  con- 
fidence of  his  supposed  inspiration,  proclaimed  the 
necessary  cure.  The  juggler  usually  contrived  to 
avoid  the  responsibility  of  failure  by  ordering  a 
remedy  impossible  of  attainment  when  the  patient 
was  not  likely  to  recover.  The  Iroquois  believed 
that  every  ailment  was  a  desire  of  the  soul,  and 
when  death  followed  it  was  from  the  desire  not 
having  been  accomplished. 

Among  many  of  the  Indian  tribes  the  barbarous 
custom  of  putting  to  death  those  who  were  thought 
past  recovery,  existed,  and  still  exists.  Others 
abandoned  these  unfortunates  to  perish  of  hunger 
and  thirst,  or  under  the  jaws  of  the  wild  beasts  of 
the  forest.  Some  nations  put  to  death  all  infants 
who  had  lost  their  mother,  or  buried  them  alive  in 
her  grave,  under  the  impression  that  no  other 
woman  could  rear  them,  and  that  they  must  perish 
by  hunger.  But  the  dreadful  custom  of  deserting 
the  aged  and  emaciated  among  the  wandering  tribes 
is  universal.4  When  these  miserable  creatures 
become  incapable  of  walking  or  riding,  and  there 

4  See  Appendix,  No.  LVI. 


240          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

is  no  means  of  carrying  them,  they  themselves 
uniformly  insist  upon  being  abandoned  to  their  fate, 
saying,  that  they  are  old  and  of  no  further  use— 
they  left  their  fathers  in  the  same  manner — they 
wish  to  die,  and  their  children  must  not  mourn  for 
them.  A  small  fire  and  a  few  pieces  of  wood,  a 
scanty  supply  of  meat,  and  perhaps  a  buffalo  skin, 
are  left  as  the  old  man's  sole  resources  ;  when  in  a 
few  months  the  wandering  tribe  may  revisit  the  spot 
where  he  was  deserted,  a  skull,  and  a  few  scattered 
bones  will  be  all  that  the  wolves  and  vultures  have 
left  as  tokens  of  his  dreadful  fate. 

The  Indian  father  and  mother  display  great  ten- 
derness for  their  children,5  even  to  the  weakness  of 
unlimited  indulgence ;  this  affection  however  appears 

5  "  While  I  remained  among  the  Indians  a  couple,  whose  tent  was 
adjacent  to  mine,  lost  a  son,  of  four  years  of  age.  The  parents  were 
so  much  affected  at  the  death  of  their  child,  that  they  observed  the 
usual  testimonies  of  grief  with  such  extreme  rigour  as  through  the 
weight  of  sorrow  and  loss  of  hlood  to  occasion  the  loss  of  the  father. 
The  woman,  who  had  hitherto  been  inconsolable,  no  sooner  saw  her 
husband  expire  than  she  dried  up  her  tears,  and  appeared  cheerful 
and  resigned.  I  took  an  opportunity  of  asking  her  the  reason  of  so 
extraordinary  a  transition,  when  she  informed  me  that  her  child  was 
so  young,  it  would  have  been  unable  to  support  itself  in  the  world  of 
spirits,  and  both  she  and  her  husband  were  apprehensive  that  its 
situation  would  be  far  from  happy.  No  sooner,  however,  did  she 
"behold  her  husband  depart  for  the  same  place,  who  not  only  loved 
the  child  with  the  tenderest  affection,  but  was  a  good  hunter,  and 
would  be  able  to  provide  plentifully  for  its  support,  than  she  ceased 
to  mourn.  She  said  she  had  now  no  reason  to  continue  her  tears, 
as  the  child  on  whom  she  doated  was  under  the  care  and  protection 
of  a  fond  father,  and  she  had  now  only  one  wish  remaining  ungratified, 
that  of  herself  being  with  them." — Carver. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          241 

to  be  merely  instinctive,  for  they  use  no  exertion 
whatever  to  lead  their  offspring  to  the  paths  of  virtue. 
Children  on  their  part  show  very  little  filial  affection, 
and  frequently  treat  their  parents,  especially  their 
father,  with  indignity  and  violence.  This  vicious 
characteristic  is  strongly  exemplified  in  the  horrible 
custom  above  described. 

When  the  Indian  believes  that  his  death  is  at 
hand,  his  conduct  is  usually  stoical  and  dignified. 
If  he  still  retain  the  power  of  speech,  he  harangues 
those  who  surround  him  in  a  funeral  oration, 
advising  and  encouraging  his  children,  and  bidding 
them  and  all  his  friends  farewell.  During  this 
time,  the  relations  of  the  dying  man  slay  all  the 
dogs  they  can  catch,  trusting  that  the  souls  of  these 
animals  will  give  notice  of  the  approaching  depar- 
ture of  the  warrior  for  the  world  of  spirits ;  they 
then  take  leave  of  him,  wish  him  a  happy  voyage, 
and  cheer  him  with  the  hope  that  his  children  will 
prove  worthy  of  his  name.  When  the  last  moment 
arrives,  all  the  kindred  break  into  loud  lamenta- 
tions, till  some  one  high  in  consideration  desires 
them  to  cease.  For  weeks  afterwards,  however, 
these  cries  of  grief  are  daily  renewed  at  sunrise 
and  sunset.  In  three  days  after  death  the  funeral 
takes  place,  and  the  neighbours  are  invited  to  a 
feast  of  all  the  provisions  that  can  be  procured, 
which  must  be  all  consumed.  The  relations  of 
the  deceased  do  not  join  in  the  banquet ;  they 
cut  off  their  hair,  cover  their  heads,  blacken  their 

VOL.  I.  R 


24:2  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

faces,  and  for  a  long  time  deny  themselves  every 
amusement.6 

The  deceased  is  buried  with  his  arms -and  orna- 
ments, and  a  supply  of  provisions  for  his  long 
journey ;  the  face  is  painted,  and  the  body  arrayed 
in  the  richest  robes  that  can  be  obtained :  it  is  then 
laid  in  the  grave  in  an  upright  posture,  and  skins 
are  carefully  placed  around  that  it  may  not  touch 
the  earth.  At  stated  intervals  of  eight,  ten,  or 
twelve  years,  the  Indians  celebrate  the  singular 
ceremony  of  the  Festival  of  the  Dead ;  till  this 
has  been  performed,  the  souls  of  the  deceased 
are  supposed  still  to  hover  round  their  earthly 
remains.  At  this  solemn  festival,  the  people  march 
in  procession  to  the  burial  ground,  open  the  tombs, 
and  continue  for  a  time  gazing  on  the  mouldering 

6  Captain  Franklin  says  of  the  Chippewyans,  "no  article  is  spared 
by  these  unhappy  men  when  a  near  relative  dies  ;  their  clothes  and 
tents  are  cut  to  pieces,  their  guns  broken,  and  every  other  weapon 
rendered  useless  if  some  person  do  not  remove  these  articles  from 
their  sight." 

"  When  the  French  missionaries  asked  the  Indians  why  they 
deprived  themselves  of  their  most  necessary  articles  in  favour  of  the 
dead,  they  answered,  '  that  it  was  not  only  to  evidence  their  love  for 
their  departed  relatives,  but  that  they  might  avoid  the  sight  of  objects 
which,  having  been  used  by  them,  would  continually  renew  their 
grief.'  The  same  delicacy  of  feeling,  so  inconsistent  with  the  coarse- 
ness of  the  red  man's  nature,  was  manifested  in  their  custom  of  never 
uttering  the  names  of  the  dead  ;  and  if  these  names  were  borne  by 
any  of  the  other  members  of  the  family,  they  laid  them  aside  during 
the  whole  of  their  mourning.  And  it  was  esteemed  the  greatest 
insult  that  could  be  offered,  to  say  to  any  one,  '  Your  father  is  dead, 
your  mother  is  dead.'  " — Charlevoix,  torn,  vi.,  p.  109. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  243 

relics  in  mournful  silence.  Then,  while  the  women 
raise  a  loud  wailing,  the  bones  of  the  dead  are  care- 
fully collected,  wrapped  in  fresh  and  valuable 
robes,  and  conveyed  to  the  family  caban.7  A  feast 
is  then  held  for  several  days,  with  dances,  games, 
and  prize  combats.  The  relics  are  next  carried  to 
the  council-house  of  the  nation,  where  they  are 
publicly  displayed,  with  the  presents  destined  to 
be  interred  with  them.  Sometimes  the  remains  are 
even  carried  on  bearers  from  village  to  village.  At 
length  they  are  laid  in  a  deep  pit,  lined  with  rich 
furs;  tears  and  lamentations  are  again  renewed, 
and  for  some  time  fresh  provisions  are  daily  laid, 
by  this  simple  people,  upon  the  graves  of  their 
departed  friends. 

7  Pere  Brebeuf,  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France  ;  Charlevoix  ; 
Lafitau.  Catlin  describes  the  same  ceremonies. 

It  has  been  often  said  that  the  care  taken  by  the  Indians  for  the 
deceased  corpses  of  their  ancestors  was  in  consequence  of  a  universally 
received  tradition  that  these  corpses  were  to  rise  again  to  immortal 
life. 


a  2 


244 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

IN  the  warmer  and  milder  climates  of  America  none 
of  the  rude  tribes  were  clothed ;  for  them  there  was 
little  need  of  defence  against  the  weather,  and  their 
extreme  indolence  indisposed  them  to  any  exertion 
not  absolutely  necessary  for  their  subsistence. 
Others  were  satisfied  with  a  very  slight  covering, 
but  all  delighted  in  ornaments.  They  dressed  their 
hair  in  different  forms,  stained  their  skins,  and 
fastened  bits  of  gold,  or  shells,  or  bright  pebbles,  in 
their  noses  and  cheeks.  They  also  frequently  endea- 
voured to  alter  their  natural  form  and  feature ;  as 
soon  as  an  infant  was  born,  it  was  subjected  to  some 
cruel  process  of  compression,  by  which  the  bones  of 
the  skull,  while  still  soft,  were  squeezed  into  the 
shape  of  a  cone,  or  flattened  or  otherwise  distorted.1 

1  "  The  custom  of  squeezing  and  flattening  the  head  is  still  strictly 
adhered  to  among  the  Chinooks.  The  people  bearing  the  name  of 
Flat  Heads  are  very  numerous,  but  very  few  amongst  them  actually 
practise  the  custom.  Amongst  the  Chinooks  it  is  almost  universal. 
The  process  is  thus  effected  : — The  child  is  placed  on  a  thick  plank, 
to  which  it  is  lashed  with  thongs  to  a  position  from  which  it  cannot 
escape,  and  the  back  of  the  head  supported  by  a  sort  of  pillow  made 
of  moss  or  rabbit-skins,  with  an  inclined  piece  resting  on  the  forehead 
of  the  child.  This  is  every  day  drawn  down  a  little  tighter  by  means 
of  a  cord,  which  holds  it  in  its  place,  until  at  length  it  touches  the 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          245 

But  in  all  efforts  to  adorn  or  alter  their  persons,  the 
great  object  was  to  inspire  terror  and  respect.  The 
warrior  was  indifferent  to  the  admiration  of  woman 

nose  ;  thus  forming  a  straight  line  from  the  crown  of  the  head  to 
the  end  of  the  nose.  This  process  is  seemingly  a  cruel  one,  though 
I  doubt  whether  it  causes  much  pain,  as  it  is  done  in  earliest  infancy, 
whilst  the  hones  are  soft  and  cartilaginous,  and  easily  pressed  into 
this  distorted  shape,  by  forcing  the  occipital  up  and  the  frontal  down; 
so  that  the  skull  at  the  top  in  profile  will  show  a  breadth  of  not 
more  than  an  inch  and  a  half  or  two  inches,  when  in  a  front  view  it 
exhibits  a  great  expansion  on  the  sides,  making  it  at  the  top  nearly 
the  width  of  one  and  a  half  natural  heads.  By  this  remarkable 
operation  the  brain  is  singularly  changed  from  its  natural  state,  but 
in  all  probability  not  in  the  least  diminished  or  injured  in  its  natural 
functions.  This  belief  is  drawn  from  the  testimony  of  many  credible 
witnesses  who  have  closely  scrutinised  them,  and  ascertained  that 
those  who  have  the  head  flattened  are  in  no  way  inferior  in  intellectual 
powers  to  those  whose  heads  are  in  their  natural  shapes.  This 
strange  custom  existed  precisely  the  same  until  recently  among  the 
Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  who  occupied  a  large  part  of  the  States  of 
Mississippi  and  Alabama,  where  they  have  laid  their  bones,  and 
hundreds  of  their  skulls  have  been  procured,  bearing  marks  of  a 
similar  treatment  with  similar  results." — Catlin's  American  Indians, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  112. 

With  respect  to  the  origin  of  this  singular  custom,  Humboldt  is 
inclined  to  think  that  it  may  be  traced  from  the  natural  inclination  of 
each  race  to  look  upon  their  own  personal  peculiarities  as  the  standard 
of  beauty.  He  observes  that  the  pointed  form  of  the  heads  is  very 
striking  in  the  Mexican  drawings,  and  continues  thus  : — "  If  we 
examine  osteologically  the  skulls  of  the  natives  of  America,  we  see 
that  there  is  no  race  on  the  globe  in  which  the  frontal  bone  is  more 
flattened  or  which  have  less  forehead.*  (Blumenbach,  Decas  Quinta 
Craniorum,  tab.  xlvi.,  p.  14.  1808.)  This  extraordinary  flattening 


*  "  L'  anatomie  comparee  en  offre  une  autre  confirmation  dans  la  proportion  con- 
stante  du  volume  des  lobes  ce'rebrales  avec  le  degre  d'  intelligence  des  animaux." — 
Cuvier's  Report  to  the  Institute  on  Floureris  Experiments  in  1822. 


246  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

whom  he  enslaved  and  despised,  and  it  was  only  for 
war  or  the  council  that  he  assumed  his  choicest 
ornaments,  and  painted  himself  with  unusual  care. 
The  decorations  of  the  women  were  few  and  simple ; 
all  those  that  were  precious  and  splendid  were 
reserved  for  their  haughty  lords.  In  several  tribes 
the  wives  had  to  devote  much  of  their  time  to 
adorning  their  husbands,  and  could  bestow  little 
attention  upon  themselves.  The  different  nations 
remaining  unclothed  show  considerable  sagacity 
in  anointing  themselves  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
provide  against  the  heat  and  moisture  of  the  climate. 
Soot,  the  juices  of  herbs  having  a  green,  yellow,  or 
vermilion  tint,  mixed  with  oil  and  grease,  are 
lavishly  employed  upon  their  skin  to  adorn  it  and 

exists  among  people  of  the  copper-coloured  race,  who  have  never 
been  acquainted  with  the  custom  of  producing  artificial  deformities, 
as  is  proved  by  the  skulls  of  Mexican,  Peruvian,  and  Aztec  Indians, 
which  M.  Bonpland  and  myself  brought  to  Europe,  and  several  of 
which  are  deposited  in  the  Museum  of  Natural  History  at  Paris. 
The  negroes  prefer  the  thickest  and  most  prominent  lips,  the 
Calmucks  perceive  the  line  of  beauty  in  turned-up  noses.  M.  Cuvier 
observes,  (Legons  dj  Anatomic  Comparee,  torn,  ii.,  p.  6),  that  he 
Grecian  artists,  in  the  statues  of  heroes,  raised  the  facial  line  from 
85°  to  100°,  or  beyond  the  natural  form.  I  am  led  to  think  that 
the  barbarous  custom,  among  certain  savage  tribes  in  America,  of 
squeezing  the  heads  of  children  between  two  planks,  arises  from  the 
idea  that  beauty  consists  in  this  extraordinary  compression  of  the 
bone  by  which  Nature  has  characterised  the  American  race.  It  is 
no  doubt  from  following  this  standard  of  beauty  that  even  the  Aztec 
people,  who  never  disfigured  the  heads  of  their  children,  have 
represented  their  heroes  and  principal  divinities  with  heads  much 
flatter  than  any  of  the  Caribs  I  saw  on  the  Lower  Orinoco." — 
Humboldt's  Researches  on  the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  America. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  247 

render  it  impervious.  By  this  practice  profuse  per- 
spiration is  checked,  and  a  defence  is  afforded  against 
the  innumerable  and  tormenting  insects  that  abound 
everywhere  in  America.2  Black  and  red  are  the 
favourite  colours  for  painting  the  face.  In  war,  black 
is  profusely  laid  on,  the  other  colours  being  only 


2  "  Ces  huiles  leur  sont  absoluraent  necessaires,  et  ils  sont  manges 
de  vermine  quand  elles  leur  manquent." — Lafitau,  torn,  i.,  p.  59. 

It  is  supposed  by  Volney  that  the  fatal  effects  of  the  small-pox 
among  the  Indians  are  to  be  attributed  to  the  obstacle  that  a  skin 
thus  hardened  opposes  to  the  eruption. — P.  416.  In  the  most 
detailed  account  given  of  the  ravages  of  this  disease,  Catlin  par- 
ticularly mentions  that  no  eruption  was  visible  in  any  of  the  bodies 
of  the  dead.  Forster,  the  English  translator  of  Professor  Kalm's 
Travels  in  America,  held  the  same  opinion  as  Yolney. 

"  When  the  Kalmucks  in  the  Russian  dominions  get  the  small-pox, 
it  has  been  observed  that  very  few  escape.  Of  this,  I  believe,  no  other 
reason  can  be  alleged  than  that  the  small-pox  is  always  dangerous, 
either  when  the  open  pores  of  the  skin  are  too  numerous,  which  is 
caused  by  opening  them  in  a  warm-water  bath,  or  when  they  are  too 
much  closed,  which  is  the  case  with  all  the  nations  that  are  dirty 
and  greasy.  All  the  American  Indians  rub  their  body  with  oils, 
the  Kalmucks  rub  their  bodies  and  their  fur  coats  with  grease  ;  the 
Hottentots  are  also,  I  believe,  patterns  of  filthiness  ;  this  shuts  up 
all  the  pores,  hinders  perspiration  entirely,  and  makes  the  small-pox 
always  fatal  among  these  nations," — Note  by  the  translator  of  Kalm, 
p.  532. 

"  The  ravages  which  the  small-pox  made  this  year  (1750)  among 
their  Mohawk  friends,  was  a  source  of  deep  concern  to  these  revered 
philanthropists.  These  people  having  been  accustomed  from  early 
childhood  to  anoint  themselves  with  bear's  grease,  to  repel  the 
innumerable  tribes  of  noxious  insects  in  summer,  and  to  exclude  the 
extreme  cold  in  winter,  their  pores  are  so  completely  shut  up,  that 
the  small-pox  does  not  rise  upon  them,  nor  have  they  much  chance  of 
recovery  from  any  acute  disorder." — Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady, 
vol.  i.,  p.  322. 


248  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

used  to  heighten  its  effect,  and  give  a  terrible  ex- 
pression to  the  countenance.3  The  breast,  arms,  and 
legs  of  the  Indian  are  tattooed  with  sharp  needles 
or  pointed  bones,  the  colours  being  carefully  rubbed 
in.  His  Manitou,  and  the  animal  chosen  as  the 
symbol  of  his  tribe,  are  first  painted,  then  all  his 
most  remarkable  exploits,  and  the  enemies  he  has 
slain  or  scalped ;  so  that  his  body  displays  a  pic- 
torial history  of  his  life.4 

In  the  severe  climate  of  the  north  the  Indian's 
dress  is  somewhat  more  ample.  Instead  of  shoes, 
he  wears  a  strip  of  soft  leather  wrapped  round  the 
foot,  called  the  moccasin.  Upwards  to  the  middle 
of  the  thigh  a  piece  of  leather  or  cloth,  fitting 
closely,  serves  instead  of  pantaloons  and  stockings : 
it  is  usually  sewed  on  to  the  limb,  and  is  never 
removed.  Two  aprons,  each  about  a  foot  square, 
are  fastened  to  a  girdle  round  the  waist,  and  hang 
before  and  behind.  This  is  their  permanent  dress. 

3  M.  de  Tracy,  when  Governor  of  Canada,  was  told  by  his  Indian 
allies,  that  with  his  good-hiraioured  face  he  would  never  inspire  the 
enemy  with  any  degree  of  awe.     They  besought  him  to  place  himself 
under  their  brush,  when  they  would  soon  make  him  such  that  his 
very  aspect  would  strike  terror. — Creuxius,  Nova  Francia,  p.  62  ; 
Charlevoix,  torn,  vi.,  p.  40. 

4  St.  Isidore  of  Seville,   and  Solinus,  give  a  similar  description  of 
the  manner  of  painting  the  body  in  use  among  the  Picts.     "  The 
operator  delineates  the  figures  with  little  points  made  by  the  prick  of 
a  needle,  and  into  these  he  insinuates  the  juice  of  some  native  plants, 
that  their  nobility  thus  written,  as  it  were,  upon  every  limb  of  their 
body,  might  distinguish  them  from  ordinary  men  by  the  number  of 
the  figures  they  were  decorated  with." — Isidor.    Origin.,  lib.   xix., 
cap.  xxiii, ;  Solin.,  De  Magnd  Britannia,  cap.  xxv. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  24-9 

On  occasions  of  ceremony,  however,  and  in  cold 
weather,  they  also  wear  a  short  shirt,  and  over  all 
a  loose  robe,  closed  or  held  together  in  front.  Now 
an  English  blanket  is  generally  used  for  this  gar- 
ment ;  but  before  the  produce  of  European  art  was 
known  among  them,  the  skins  of  wild  animals  fur- 
nished all  their  covering.  The  chiefs  usually  wear 
a  sort  of  breastplate,  covered  with  shells,  pebbles, 
and  pieces  of  glittering  metal.  Those  who  commu- 
nicate with  Europeans  display  beads,  rings,  bracelets, 
and  other  gauds,  instead.  The  ear,  too,  is  cum- 
brously  ornamented  with  showy  pendants,  and  the 
tuft  of  hair  on  the  crown  of  the  head  is  interwoven 
with  feathers,  the  wings  of  birds,  shells,  and  many 
fantastic  ornaments.  Sometimes  the  Indian  warrior 
wears  buffalo  horns,5  reduced  in  size  and  polished, 
on  his  head  :  this,  however,  is  a  distinction  only  for 

5  "  These  horns  are  made  of  about  a  third  part  of  the  horn  of  a 
buffalo  bull,  the  horn  having  been  split  from  end  to  end,  and  a  third 
part  of  it  taken  and  shaved  thin  and  light  and  highly  polished. 
They  are  attached  to  the  top  of  the  head-dress  on  each  side,  in  the 
same  place  as  they  rise  and  stand  on  the  head  of  a  buffalo,  rising  out 
of  a  mat  of  ermine  skins  and  tails  which  hangs  over  the  top  of  the 
head-dress,  somewhat  in  the  form  that  the  large  and  profuse  locks  of 
hair  hang  and  fall  over  the  head  of  a  buffalo  bull.  This  custom  is 
one  which  belongs  to  all  north-eastern  tribes,  and  is  no  doubt  of  very 
ancient  origin,  having  purely  a  classic  meaning.  No  one  wears  the 
head-dress  surmounted  with  horns  except  the  dignitaries  who  are  very 
high  in  authority,  and  whose  exceeding  valour,  worth,  and  power  is 
admitted  by  all  the  nation.  This  head-dress  is  used  only  on  certain 
occasions,  and  they  are  very  seldom  ;  when  foreign  chiefs,  Indian 
agents,  or  other  important  personages  visit  a  tribe,  or  at  war  parades : 
— sometimes  when  a  chief  sees  fit  to  send  a  war  party  to  battle,  he 
decorates  his  head  with  this  symbol  of  power  to  stimulate  his  men  ; 


250          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

those  renowned  in  war  or  in  the  council.  The  dress 
of  the  women  varies  but  little  from  that  of  the  men, 
except  in  being  more  simple.  They  wear  their  hair 
long  and  flowing,  and  richly  ornamented,  whenever 
they  can  procure  the  means. 

The  dwellings  of  the  Indians  usually  receive  much 
less  attention  than  their  personal  appearance.  Even 
among  tribes  comparatively  far  advanced  in  civi- 
lisation, the  structure  of  their  houses  or  cabans  was 
very  rude  and  simple.  They  were  generally  wretched 
huts,  of  an  oblong  or  circular  form,  and  sometimes 
so  low,  that  it  was  always  necessary  to  preserve  a 
sitting  or  lying  posture  while  under  their  shelter. 
There  were  no  windows  ;  a  large  hole  in  the  centre 
of  the  roof  allowed  the  smoke  to  escape  ;  and  a  sort 
of  curtain  of  birch  bark  occupied  the  place  of  the 
door.  These  dwellings  are  sometimes  100  feet  long, 
when  they  accommodate  several  families.  Four 
cabans  generally  form  a  quadrangle,  each  open  to 
the  inside,  with  the  fire  in  the  centre  common  to  all. 

and  throws  himself  into  the  foremost  of  the  battle,  inviting  the  enemy 
to  concentrate  his  shafts  upon  them.  The  horns  upon  these  head- 
dresses are  hut  loosely  attached  at  the  bottom,  so  that  they  easily  fall 
backward  or  forward  ;  and  by  an  ingenious  motion  of  the  head,  which 
is  so  slight  as  to  be  almost  imperceptible,  they  are  made  to  balance 
to  and  fro,  and  sometimes  one  backwards  and  the  other  forwards  like 
a  horse's  ears,  giving  a  vast  deal  of  expression  and  force  of  character 
to  the  appearance  of  the  chief  who  is  wearing  them.  This  is  a 
remarkable  instance,  like  hundreds  of  others,  of  a  striking  similarity 
to  Jewish  customs,  to  the  Kerns  (or  Keren,  in  Hebrew),  the  horns 
worn  by  the  Abyssinian  chiefs  and  Hebrews  as  a  symbol  of  power 
and  command  ;  worn  at  great  parades  and  celebrations  of  victories. — 
Catlin,  vol.  i.  p.  104. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  251 

The  numerous  and  powerful  tribes  formerly  inha- 
biting Canada  and  its  borders  usually  dwelt  in  huts 
of  a  very  rude  description.  In  their  expeditions,  both 
for  war  and  the  chase,  the  Indians  erect  temporary 
cabans  in  a  remarkably  short  space  of  time.  A  few 
poles,  raised  in  the  shape  of  a  cone,  and  covered 
with  birch  bark,  form  the  roof,  and  the  tops  of  pine 
branches  make  a  fragrant  bed.  In  winter  the  snow 
is  cleared  out  of  the  place  where  the  caban  is  to  be 
raised,  and  shaped  into  walls,  which  form  a  shelter 
from  the  wind.  The  permanent  dwellings  were 
usually  grouped  in  villages,  surrounded  with  double 
and  even  triple  rows  of  palisades,  interlaced  with 
branches  of  trees,  so  as  to  form  a  compact  barrier, 
and  offering  a  considerable  difficulty  to  an  assailing 
foe. 

The  furniture  in  these  huts  was  very  scanty.  The 
use  of  metal  being  unknown,  the  pots  or  vessels  for 
boiling  their  food  were  made  of  coarse  earthenware, 
or  of  soft  stone  hollowed  out  with  a  hatchet.  In 
some  cases  they  were  made  of  wood,  and  the  water 
was  boiled  by  throwing  in  a  number  of  heated 
stones. 

The  Indian  displays  some  skill  in  the  construction  \ 
of  canoes,  and  they  are  admirably  adapted  for  his 
purpose.     They  are  usually  made  of  the  bark  of  a 
single  tree,  strengthened  by  ribs  of  strong  woedr^ 
These  light   and    buoyant  skiffs    float    safely   on 
stormy  or  rapid  waters  under  the  practised  guid- 
ance of  the  Indian,  and  can  with  ease  be  borne  on 
his   shoulder  from   one  river  or  lake  to   another. 


252          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

Canoes  formed  out  of  the  trunk  of  a  large  tree  are 
also  sometimes  used,  especially  in  winter,  for  the 
purpose  of  crossing  rivers  when  there  is  floating 
ice,  their  great  strength  rendering  them  capable  of  \ 
enduring  the  collision  with  the  floating  masses,  to/ 
which  they  are  liable. 

Even  among  the  rudest  Indian  tribes  a  regular 
union  between  man  and  wife  was  universal,  although 
not  attended  with  ceremonials.  The  marriage  con- 
tract is  a  matter  of  purchase.  The  man  buys  his 
wife  of  her  parents, — not  with  money,  for  its  value  is 
unknown, — but  with  some  useful  and  precious  arti- 
cle, such  as  a  robe  of  bear,  or  other  handsome  skin, 
a  horse,  a  rifle,  powder  and  shot.  When  the  Indian 
has  made  the  bargain  with  his  wife's  parents,  he 
takes  her  home  to  his  caban,  and  from  that  time  she 
becomes  his  slave.  There  are  several  singular  modes 
of  courtship  among  some  of  the  tribes,  but  gene- 
rally much  reserve  and  consideration  are  exhibited.6 


6  "  When  a  young  Indian  becomes  attached  to  a  female,  he  does  not 
frequent  the  lodge  of  her  parents  or  visit  her  elsewhere,  oftener 
perhaps  than  he  would,  provided  no  such  attachment  existed.  Were 
he  to  pursue  an  opposite  course  before  he  had  acquired  either  the 
reputation  of  a  warrior  or  a  hunter,  and  suffer  his  attachment  to  be 
known  or  suspected  by  any  personal  attention,  he  would  become  the 
derision  of  the  warriors  and  the  contempt  of  the  squaws.  On  meeting, 
however,  she  is  the  first,  excepting  the  elderly  people,  who  engages 
his  respectful  aud  kind  inquiries  ;  after  which  no  conversation  passes 
between  them,  except  it  be  with  the  language  of  the  eyes,  which, 
even  among  savages,  is  eloquent,  and  appears  to  be  well  understood. 
The  next  indications  of  serious  intentions  on  the  part  of  the  young 
hunter  is  the  assumption  of  more  industrious  habits.  He  rises  by 
daybreak,  and  with  his  gun  or  bow,  visits  the  woods  and  prairies,  in 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          253 

In  many  respects,  however,  the  morals  and  manners 
of  the  Indians  are  such  as  might  be  expected  in 
communities  where  the  precepts  of  Christianity  are 
unknown,  and  where  even  the  artificial  light  of 
civilisation  is  wanting.  There  are  occasionally 
instances  of  a  divorce  being  resorted  to  from  mere 
caprice ;  but  usually  the  marriage  tie  is  regarded  as 
a  perpetual  covenant.  As  the  wife  toils  incessantly, 
and  procures  a  great  part  of  the  subsistence,  she  is 
considered  too  valuable  a  servant  to  be  lightly  lost. 

search  of  the  most  rare  and  esteemed  game.  He  endeavours  to 
acquire  the  character  of  an  expert  and  industrious  hunter,  and  when- 
ever success  has  crowned  his  efforts,  never  fails  to  send  the  parents  of 
the  object  of  his  affections  some  of  the  choicest  he  has  procured.  His 
mother  is  generally  the  bearer,  and  she  is  sure  to  tell  from  what 
source  it  comes,  and  to  dilate  largely  on  the  merits  and  excellences  of 
her  son.  The  girl,  on  her  part,  exercises  all  her  skill  in  preparing  it 
for  food,  and  when  it  is  cooked,  frequently  sends  some  of  the  most 
delicious  pieces,  accompanied  by  other  small  presents,  such  as  nuts, 
moccasins,  &c.,  to  her  lover.  These  negotiations  are  usually  carried 
on  by  the  mothers  of  the  respective  parties  who  consider  them  confi- 
dential, and  seldom  divulge  even  to  the  remaining  parents,  except 
one  or  both  of  the  candidates  should  be  the  offspring  of  a  chief,  when 
a  deviation  from  this  practice  is  exacted  and  generally  observed. 
After  an  Indian  has  acquired  the  reputation  of  a  warrior,  expert 
hunter,  or  swift  runner,  he  has  little  need  of  minor  qualifications  or 
of  much  address  or  formality  in  forming  his  matrimonial  views.  The 
young  squaws  sometimes  discover  their  attachment  to  those  they  love 
by  some  act  of  tender  regard,  but  more  frequently  through  the  kind 
offices  of  some  confidant  or  friend.  Such  overtures  generally  succeed, 
but  should  they  fail  it  is  by  no  means  considered  disgraceful,  or  in  the 
least  disadvantageous  to  the  female  ;  on  the  contrary,  should  the 
object  of  her  affections  have  distinguished  himself  especially  in  battle, 
she  is  the  more  esteemed  on  account  of  the  judgment  she  displayed 
in  her  partiality  for  a  respectable  and  brave  warrior." — Hunter, 
pp.  235—237. 


254  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

Among  the  chiefs  of  the  tribes  to  the  west  and 
south  polygamy  is  general,  and  the  number  of  these 
wife-servants  constitute  the  principal  wealth ;  but 
among  the  northern  nations  this  plurality  is  very 
rarely  possessed.  The  Indian  is  seldom  seen  to 
bestow  the  slightest  mark  of  tenderness  upon  his 
wife  or  children  :  he,  however,  exerts  himself  to  the 
utmost  for  their  welfare,  and  will  sacrifice  his  life  to 
avenge  their  wrongs.  His  indomitable  pride  prompts 
him  to  assume  an  apparent  apathy,  and  to  control 
every  emotion  of  affection,  suffering,  or  sorrow. 

Parents  perform  few  duties  towards  their  children 
beyond  procuring  their  daily  bread.  The  father  is 
by  turns  occupied  in  war  and  the  chase,  or  sunk  in 
total  indolence ;  while  the  mother  is  oppressed  by 
the  toils  of  her  laborious  bondage,  and  has  but  little 
time  to  devote  to  her  maternal  cares.  The  infant  is 
fastened  to  a  board,  cushioned  with  soft  moss,  by 
thongs  of  leather,  and  is  generally  hung  on  the 
branch  of  a  tree,  or,  in  travelling,  carried  on  the 
mother's  back.7  When  able  to  move,  it  is  freed 
from  this  confinement,  and  allowed  to  make  its  way 
about  as  it  pleases.  It  soon  reaches  some  neigh- 
bouring lake  or  river,  and  sports  itself  in  the  water 
all  day  long.  As  the  child  advances  in  years  it 
enjoys  perfect  independence ;  it  is  rarely  or  never 
reproved  or  chastised.  The  youths  are  early  led  to 
emulate  the  deeds  of  their  fathers;  they  practise 
with  the  bow,  and  other  weapons  suited  to  a 

7  See  Appendix,  No.  LVII. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  255 

warrior's  use;  and,  as  manhood  approaches,  they 
gradually  assume  the  dignified  gravity  of  the 
elders.  In  some  tribes  the  young  men  must  pass 
through  a  dreadful  ordeal  when  they  arrive  at 
the  age  of  manhood,  which  is  supposed  to  prepare 
them  for  the  endurance  of  all  future  sufferings, 
and  enables  the  chiefs  to  judge  of  their  courage, 
and  to  select  the  bravest  among  them  to  lead  in 
difficult  enterprises. 

During  four  days  previous  to  this  terrible  torture 
the  candidates  observe  a  strict  fast,  and  are  denied 
all  sleep.  When  the  appointed  day  arrives  certain 
strange  ceremonies  of  an  allegorical  description  are 
performed,  in  which  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
village  take  part.  The  candidates  then  repair  to  a 
large  caban,  where  the  chiefs  and  elders  of  the  tribe 
are  assembled  to  witness  the  ordeal.  The  torture 
commences  by  driving  splints  of  wood  through 
the  flesh  of  the  back  and  breasts  of  the  victim ;  he  is 
next  hoisted  off  the  ground  by  ropes  attached  to 
these  splints,  and  suspended  by  the  quivering  flesh, 
while  the  tormentors  twist  the  hanging  body  slowly 
round,  thus  exquisitely  enhancing  the  agony,  till  a 
death-faint  comes  to  the  relief  of  the  candidate :  he 
is  then  lowered  to  the  ground  and  left  to  the  care 
of  the  Great  Spirit.  When  he  recovers  animation, 
he  rises  and  proceeds  on  his  hands  and  feet  to 
another  part  of  the  caban ;  he  there  lays  the  little 
finger  of  the  left  hand  upon  a  buffalo  skull  as  a 
sacrifice  to  the  Great  Spirit,  and  another  Indian 
chops  it  off.  The  fore-finger  is  also  frequently 


256  THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA. 

offered  up  in  the  same  manner:  this  mutilation 
does  not  interfere  with  the  use  of  the  bow,  the  only 
weapon  for  which  the  left  hand  is  required.  Other 
cruel  tortures  are  inflicted  for  some  time,  and  at 
length  the  wretched  victim,  reeling  and  staggering 
from  the  intensity  of  his  suffering  reaches  his  own 
dwelling,  where  he  is  placed  under  the  care  of  his 
friends.  Some  of  the  famous  warriors  of  the  tribe 
pass  through  this  horrible  ordeal  repeatedly,  and 
the  oftener  it  is  endured  the  greater  is  their 
estimation  among  their  people.  No  bandages  are 
applied  to  the  wounds  thus  inflicted,  nor  is  any 
attention  paid  to  their  cure,  but  from  the  extreme 
exhaustion  and  debility  caused  by  want  of  sustenance 
and  sleep,  circulation  is  checked  and  sensibility 
diminished ;  the  bleeding  and  inflammation  are  very 
slight,  and  the  results  are  seldom  injurious. 

The  native  tribes  are  engaged  in  almost  perpetual 
hostility  against  each  other.  War  is  the  great 
occupation  of  savage  life,  the  measure  of  merit,  the 
highroad  of  ambition,  and  the  source  of  its  intensest 
joy — revenge.8  In  war  the  Indian  character  presents 
the  darkest  aspect,  the  finer  and  gentler  qualities  are 
veiled  or  dormant,  and  a  fiendish  ferocity  assumes 
full  sway.  It  is  waged  to  exterminate,  not  toy 
reduce.  The  enemy  is  assailed  with  treachery,  ^nd 

8  "  They  firmly  believe  that  the  spirits  of  those  who  are  killed  by  the 
enemy  without  equal  revenge  of  blood,  find  no  rest,  and  at  night  haunt 
the  houses  of  the  tribe  to  which  they  belonged  ;  but  when  that  kin- 
dred duty  of  retaliation  is  justly  executed,  they  immediately  get  ease 
and  power  to  fly  away.'* — Adair's  Account  of  the  American  Indians. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  257 

if  conquered  treated  with  revolting  cruelty.  The 
glory  and  excitement  of  war  are  dear  to  the 
Indian,  but  when  the  first  drop  of  blood  is  shed, 
revenge  is  dearer  still.  He  thirsts  to  offer  up 
the  life  of  an  enemy  to  appease  the  departed 
spirit  of  a  slaughtered  friend.  Thus  each  contest 
generates  another  even  more  embittered  than 
itself.  The  extension  or  defence  of  the  hunting- 
grounds  is  often  a  primary  cause  of  hostility  among 
the  native  nations,  and  the  increase  of  the  power 
of  their  tribe  by  incorporating  with  them  such  of 
the  vanquished  as  they  may  spare  from  a  cruel 
death  is  another  frequent  motive.  The  savage  pines 
and  chafes  in  long  continued  peace,  and  the  prudence 
of  the  aged  can  with  difficulty  restrain  the  fierce 
impetuosity  of  the  young.  Individual  quarrels  and 
a  thirst  for  fame  often  lead  a  single  savage  to 
invade  a  hostile  territory  against  the  counsels  of 
his  tribe,  but  when  war  is  determined  by  the 
general  voice,  more  enlarged  views,  and  a  desire  of 
aggrandisement  guide  the  proceedings. 

As  soon  as  the  determination  of  declaring  war  is 
formed,  he  who  is  chosen  by  the  nation  as  the  chief, 
enters  on  a  course  of  solemn  preparation,  intreating 
the  aid  and  guidance  of  the  Great  Spirit.  As  a 
signal  of  the  approaching  strife,  he  marches  three 
times  round  his  winter  dwelling,  bearing  a  large 
blood-red  flag,  variegated  with  deep  tints  of  black. 
When  this  terrible  emblem  is  seen,  the  young 
warriors  crowd  around  to  hearken  to  the  words 
of  their  chief.  He  then  addresses  them  in  a  strain 

VOL.  I.  g 


258  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

of  impassioned  but  rude  and  ferocious  eloquence, 
calling  upon  them  to  follow  him  to  glory  and 
revenge.  When  he  concludes  his  oration,  he  throws 
a  wampum-belt  on  the  ground,  which  is  respectfully 
lifted  up  by  some  warrior  of  high  renown,  who  is 
judged  worthy  of  being  second  in  command.  The 
chief  now  paints  himself  black,  and  commences 
a  strict  fast,  only  tasting  a  decoction  of  consecrated 
herbs  to  assist  his  dreams,  which  are  strictly  noted 
and  interpreted  by  the  elders.  He  then  washes  off 
the  black  paint.  A  huge  fire  is  lighted  in  a  public 
place  in  the  village,  and  the  great  war-cauldron  set 
to  boil;  each  warrior  throws  something  into  this 
vessel,  and  the  allies  who  are  to  join  the  expedition 
also  send  offerings  for  the  same  purpose.  Lastly, 
the  sacred  dog  is  sacrificed  to  the  God  of  War,  and 
boiled  in  the  cauldron,  to  form  the  chief  dish  at 
a  festival,  to  which  only  the  warriors  and  men  great 
in  council  are  admitted. 

During  these  ceremonies  the  elders  watch  the 
omens  with  deep  anxiety,  and  if  the  promise  be 
favourable,  they  prepare  for  immediate  departure. 
The  chief  then  paints  himself  in  bright  and  varied 
colours,  to  render  his  appearance  terrible,  and  sings 
his  war-song,  announcing  the  nature  of  the  projected 
enterprise.  His  example  is  followed  by  all  the 
warriors,  who  join  a  war-dance,  while  they  proclaim 
with  a  loud  voice  the  glory  of  their  former  deeds, 
and  their  determination  to  destroy  their  enemies. 
Each  Indian  now  seizes  his  arms,  the  bow  and 
quiver  hang  over  the  left  shoulder,  the  tomahawk 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          259 

from  the  left  hand,  and  the  scalping-knife 9  is  stuck 
in  the  girdle.  A  distinguished  chief  is  appointed  to 
take  charge  of  the  Manitous  or  guardian  powers  of 
each  warrior ;  they  are  collected,  carefully  placed  in 
a  box,  and  accompany  the  expedition  as  the  ark  of 
safety.  Meanwhile  the  women  incite  the  warriors 
to  vengeance,  and  eagerly  demand  captives  for  the 
torture  to  appease  the  spirits  of  their  slaughtered 
relatives,  or  sometimes  indeed  to  supply  their  place. 
When  the  war  party  are  prepared  to  start,  the  chief 
addresses  his  followers  in  a  short  harangue ;  they 
then  commence  the  march,  singing  and  shouting  the 
terrible  war-whoop.  The  women  proceed  with  the 
expedition  for  some  distance ;  and  when  they  must 

9  "  The  modern  scalping-knife  is  of  civilised  manufacture,  made 
expressly  for'  Indian  use.  and  carried  into  the  Indian  country  by 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  and  sold  at  an  enormous  price.  In 
the  native  simplicity  of  the  Indian  he  shapes  out  his  rude  hatchet 
from  a  piece  of  stone,  heads  his  arrows  and  spears  with  flints, 
and  his  knife  is  a  sharpened  hone,  or  the  edge  of  a  broken 
silex.  His  untutored  mind  has  not  been  ingenious  enough  to  design 
or  execute  anything  so  savage  or  destructive  as  these  civilised  refine- 
ments on  Indian  barbarity.  The  scalping-knife,  in  a  beautiful  scab- 
bard which  is  carried  under  the  belt,  is  generally  used  in  all  Indian 
countries  where  knives  have  been  introduced.  It  is  the  size  and 
shape  of  a  butcher's  knife  with  one  edge,  manufactured  at  Sheffield 
perhaps  for  sixpence,  and  sold  to  the  poor  Indians  in  these  wild 
regions  for  a  horse.  If  I  should  ever  cross  the  Atlantic  with  my  col- 
lection, a  curious  enigma  would  be  solved  for  the  English  people  who 
may  inquire  for  a  scalping-knife,  when  they  find  that  every  one  in 
my  collection  (and  hear  also  that  nearly  every  one  that  is  to  be  seen 
in  the  Indian  country,  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,) 
bears  on  its  blade  the  impress  of  G.  R." — Catlin's  American  Indians, 
vol.  i.,  p.  236. 

s2 


260          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

return,  exchange  endearing  names  with  their  hus- 
bands and  relations,  and  express  ardent  wishes  for 
victory.  Some  little  gift  of  affection  is  usually 
exchanged  at  parting. 

Before  striking  the  first  blow,  the  Indians  make 
open  declaration  of  war.  A  herald,  painted  black, 
is  sent,  bearing  a  red  tomahawk,  qn  one  side  of 
which  are  inscribed  figures  representing  the  causes 
of  hostilities.  He  reaches  the  enemy's  principal 
village  at  midnight,  throws  down  the  tomahawk  in 
some  conspicuous  place,  and  disappears  silently. 
When  once  warning  is  thus  given,  every  stratagem 
that  cunning  can  suggest,  is  employed  for  the 
enemy's  destruction. 

As  long  as  the  expedition  continues  in  friendly 
countries,  the  warriors  wander  about  in  small 
parties  for  the  convenience  of  hunting ;  still,  how- 
ever, keeping  up  communication  by  means  of  sounds 
imitating  the  cries  of  birds  and  beasts.  None  ever 
fail  to  appear  at  the  appointed  place  of  meeting 
upon  the  frontier,  where  they  again  hold  high 
festival,  and  consult  the  omens  of  their  dreams. 
When  they  enter  the  hostile  territory  a  close  array 
is  observed,  and  a  deep  silence  reigns.  They  creep 
on  all  fours,  walk  through  water,  or  upon  the 
stumps  of  trees  to  avoid  leaving  any  trace  of  their 
route.  To  conceal  their  numbers  they  sometimes 
march  in  a  long  single  file,  each  stepping  on  the 
foot-print  of  the  man  before  him.  They  sometimes 
even  wear  the  hoofs  of  the  buffalo  or  the  paws  of 
the  bear,  and  run  for  miles  in  a  winding  course  to 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          261 

imitate  the  track  of  those  animals.  Every  effort  is 
made  to  surprise  the  foe,  and  they  frequently  lure 
him  to  destruction  by  imitating  from  the  depths  of 
the  forest  the  cries  of  animals  of  the  chace. 

If  the  expedition  meet  with  no  straggling  party 
of  the  enemy,  it  advances  with  cautious  stealth 
towards  some  principal  village ;  the  warriors  creep 
on  their  hands  and  feet  through  the  deep  woods, 
and  often  even  paint  themselves  the  colour  of  dried 
leaves  to  avoid  being  perceived  by  their  intended 
victims.  On  approaching  the  doomed  hamlet,  they 
examine  it  carefully  but  rapidly,  from  some  tree- 
top  or  elevated  ground,  and  again  conceal  them- 
selves till  nightfall  in  the  thickest  covert.  Strange 
to  say  these  subtle  warriors  neglect  altogether  the 
security  of  sentinels,  and  are  satisfied  with  searching 
the  surrounding  neighbourhood  for  hidden  foes ;  if 
none  be  discovered  they  sleep  in  confidence,  even 
when  hostile  forces  are  not  far  off.  They  weakly 
trust  to  the  protecting  power  of  their  Manitous. 
When  they  have  succeeded  in  reaching  the  village, 
and  concealing  themselves  unobserved,  they  wait 
silently,  keeping  close  watch  till  the  hour  before 
dawn,  when  the  inhabitants  are  in  the  deepest  sleep. 
Then  crawling  noiselessly  like  snakes  through  the 
grass  and  underwood,  till  they  are  upon  the  foe,  the 
chief  raises  a  shrill  cry  and  the  massacre  begins. 
Discharging  a  shower  of  arrows  they  finish  the 
deadly  work  with  the  club  and  tomahawk.  The 
great  object  however  of  the  conquerors  is  to  take 
the  enemy  alive,  and  reserve  him  to  grace  their 


262          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

triumph  and  rejoice  their  eyes  by  his  torture. 
When  resistance  is  attempted  this  is  often  im- 
possible, and  an  instant  death  saves  the  victim 
from  the  far  greater  horrors  of  captivity  and  pro- 
tracted torment.  When  an  enemy  is  struck  down, 
the  victor  places  his  foot  upon  the  neck  of  the 
dead  or  dying  man,  and  with  a  horrible  celerity 
and  skill  tears  off  the  bleeding  scalp.1  This  trophy 
is  ever  preserved  with  jealous  care  by  the  Indian 
warriors. 

After  any  great  success  the  war  party  always 
return  to  their  villages,  more  eager  to  celebrate  the 
victory  than  to  improve  its  advantages.  Their 
women  and  old  men  await  their  return  in  longing 
expectation.  The  fate  of  the  war  is  announced 
from  afar  off  by  well-known  signs ;  the  bad  tidings 
are  first  told.  A  herald  advances  to  the  front  of  the 
returning  party  and  sounds  a  death-whoop  for  each 
of  their  warriors  who  has  fallen  in  the  fray.  Then 
after  a  little  time  the  tale  of  victory  is  told,  and  the 
number  of  prisoners  and  of  the  slain  declared.  All 
lamentations  are  soon  hushed,  and  congratulations 
and  rejoicing  succeed.  During  the  retreat,  if  the 
war  party  be  not  hard  pressed  by  the  enemy, 
prisoners  are  treated  with  some  degree  of  humanity, 
but  are  very  closely  guarded.  When  the  expedition 
has  returned  to  the  village,  the  old  men,  women,  and 
children,  form  themselves  into  two  lines ;  the 
prisoners  are  compelled  to  pass  between  them,  and 

1  See  Appendix,  No.  LVIII. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  263 

are  cruelly  bruised  with  sticks  and  stones,  but  not 
vitally  injured  b}^  their  tormentors. 

A  council  is  usually  held  to  decide  the  fate  of  the 
prisoners,  the  alternatives  are,  to  be  adopted  into 
the  conquering  nation,  and  received  as  brothers,  or 
to  be  put  to  death  in  the  most  horrible  torments ; 
thus  either  to  supply  the  place  of  warriors  fallen  in 
battle,  or  to  appease  the  spirits  of  the  departed  by 
their  miserable  end.  The  older  warriors  among  the 
captives  usually  meet  the  hardest  fate,  the  younger 
are  most  frequently  adopted  by  the  women,  their 
wounds  are  cured,  and  they  are  thenceforth  received 
in  every  respect  as  if  they  belonged  to  the  tribe. 
The  adopted  prisoners  go  out  to  war  against  their 
former  countrymen,  and  the  new  tie  is  held  even 
more  binding  than  the  old. 

The  veteran  warrior,  whose  tattooed  skin  bears 
record  of  slaughtered  enemies,  meets  with  no  mercy; 
his  face  is  painted,  his  head  crowned  with  flowers 
as  if  for  a  festival,  black  moccasins  are  put  upon 
his  feet,  and  a  flaming  torch  is  placed  above  him 
as  the  signal  of  condemnation.  The  women  take 
the  lead  in  the  diabolical  tortures  to  which  he  is 
subjected,  and  rage  around  their  victim  with  horrible 
cries.  He  is,  however,  allowed  a  brief  interval  to 
sing  his  death-song,  and  he  often  continues  it  even 
through  the  whole  of  the  terrible  ordeal.  He  boasts 
of  his  great  deeds,  insults  his  tormentors,  laughing 
at  their  feeble  efforts,  exults  in  the  vengeance  that 
his  nation  will  take  for  his  death,  and  pours  forth 
insulting  reproaches  and  threats.  The  song  is  then 


264  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

taken  up  by  the  woman  to  whose  particular  revenge 
he  has  been  devoted.  She  calls  upon  the  spirit 
of  her  husband  or  son  to  come  and  witness  the 
sufferings  of  his  foe.  After  tortures  too  various 
and  horrible  to  be  particularised,  some  kind  wound 
closes  the  scene  in  death,  and  the  victim's  scalp  is 
lodged  among  the  trophies  of  the  tribe.  To  endure 
with  unshaken  fortitude 2  is  the  greatest  triumph  of 
an  Indian  warrior  and  the  highest  confusion  to  his 
enemies,  but  often  the  proud  spirit  breaks  under 
the  pangs  that  rack  the  quivering  flesh,  and  shouts 
of  intolerable  agony  reward  the  demoniac  ingenuity 
of  the  tormentors. 

Many  early  writers  considered  that  the  charge  of 
cannibalism3  against  the  Indians  was  well  founded ; 

2  The  savage  Cantabrians  and  the  first  inhabitants  of  Spain  sang 
songs  of  triumph  as  they  were  led  to  death  and  while  they  hung  on 
the  cross.     Strabo  mentions  this  as  a  mark   of  their  ferocity  and 
barbarism. — Strabo,  lib.  iii.,  p.  114. 

3  The  American  word  "  cannibal,"  of  a  somewhat  doubtful  signifi- 
cation, is  probably  derived  from  the  language  of  Hayti  or  that  of 
Porto  Rico.     It  has  passed  into  the  languages  of  Europe,  since  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  as  synonymous  with  that  of  Anthropo- 
phagi.    "  Edaces  humanarum  carnium  novi  heluones  Anthropophagi, 
Caribes,  alias  Canibales  appellati,"  says  Peter  Martyr  of  Anghiera, 
in  the  third  decade  of  his  Oceanics,  dedicated  to  Pope  Leo  X.     "  We 
were  assured  by  all  the  missionaries  whom  we  had  an  opportunity  of 
consulting,  that  the  Caribbees  are  perhaps  the  least  anthropophagous 
nation  of  the  New  Continent.     We  may  conceive  that  the  fury  and 
despair   with   which   the  unhappy    Caribbees    defended    themselves 
against  the  Spaniards  when,  in  1704,  a  royal  decree  declared  them 
slaves,  may  have  contributed  to  the  reputation  they  have  acquired  of 
ferocity.      The  licendiado  Rodrigo  de  Figuera  was  appointed  by  the 
Court  in  1520  to  decide  which  of  the  tribes  of  South  America  might 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          265 

doubtless  in  moments  of  fury  portions  of  an  enemy's 
flesh  have  been  rent  off  and  eaten.  To  devour  a 
foeman's  heart  is  held  by  them  to  be  an  exquisite 
vengeance.  They  have  been  known  to  drink 
draughts  of  human  blood,  and  in  circumstances  of 
scarcity  they  do  not  hesitate  to  eat  their  captives. 
It  is  certain  that  all  the  terms  used  by  them  in 
describing  the  torture  of  prisoners  relate  to  this 
horrible  practice,  yet  as  they  are  so  figurative  in 
every  expression,  these  may  simply  mean  the 
fullest  gratification  of  revenge.  The  evidence  upon 
this  point  is  obscure  and  contradictory ;  the  Indian 
cannot  be  altogether  acquitted  or  found  guilty  of 
this  foul  imputation. 

The  brief  peace  that  affords  respite  amidst  the 
continual  wars  of  the  Indian  tribes,  is  scarcely  more 
than  a  truce.  Nevertheless,  it  is  concluded  with 
considerable  form  and  ceremony.  The  first  advance 
towards  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  is  usually  made 
through  the  chief  of  a  neutral  power.  The  nation 
professing  the  first  overture  dispatches  some  men  of 

be  regarded  as  of  Caribbee  race,  or  as  Cannibals,  and  whicb  were 
Guatiaos,  that  is,  Indians  of  peace,  and  friends  of  the  Castilians. 
Every  nation  that  could  be  accused  of  having  devoured  a  prisoner 
after  a  battle,  was  arbitrarily  declared  of  Caribbee  race.  All  the 
tribes  designated  by  Figuera  as  Caribbees  were  condemned  to 
slavery,  and  might  at  will  be  sold  or  exterminated  in  war. ' ' —  Humboldt's 
Personal  Narrative,  vol.  vi.,  p.  35. 

Charlevoix  and  Lafitau  speak  of  the  cannibalism  of  the  North 
American  Indians  as  a  generally  acknowledged  fact :  Lafitau  mentions 
the  Abenaquis  as  the  only  tribe  who  held  it  in  detestation. — Lafitau, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  307. 


266  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

note  as  ambassadors,  accompanied  by  an  orator,  to 
contract  the  negociation.  They  bear  with  them  the 
calumet4  of  peace  as  the  symbol  of  their  purpose, 
and  a  certain  number  of  wampum  belts5  to  note  the 

4  "  On  ne  pent  gueres  douter  que  les  sauvages  en  faisant  fumer  dans 
le    Calumet    ceux  dont   ils    recherchent  1'alliance  ou  le  commerce, 
n'ayent  intention  de  prendre  le  soleil  pour  temoin  et  en  quelque  fagon 
pour  garant  de  leurs  traites,  car  ils  ne  manquent  jamais  de  pousser 
la  fumee  vers  cette  astre :  . . .  Fumer  done  dans  la  m6me  pipe,  en  signe 
d'alliance,  est  la  meme  chose  que  de  boire  dans  la  meme  coupe,  comme 
il  s'est  de  tout  terns  pratique  dans  plusieurs  nations." — Charlevoix, 
torn,  v.,  p.  313. 

Calumet  in  general  signifies  a  pipe,  being  a  Norman  word,  derived 
from  Chalumeau.  The  savages  do  not  understand  this  word,  for  it  was 
introduced  into  Canada  by  the  Normans  when  they  first  settled  there  ; 
and  has  still  continued  in  use  among  the  French  planters.  The  calumet 
or  pipe,  is  called  in  the  Iroquois  language  ganondaoe,  and  by  the  other 
savage  natives,  poagau. 

Ambassadors  were  never  safe  amongst  any  of  the  savage  tribes 
who  do  not  smoke  the  calumet. — Lafitau,  vol.  ii.,  p.  313.  At  the  time 
of  the  early  French  writers  on  Indian  customs,  the  calumet,  since 
almost  universally  in  use,  was  only  known  amongst  the  tribes  inhabit- 
ing Louisiana,  who  in  many  respects  were  more  advanced  in  civilisa- 
tion than  those  of  the  cold  northern  regions. 

5  Wampum  is  the  Indian  name  of  ornaments  manufactured  by  the 
Indians  from  varicoloured  shells*  which  they  get  on  the  shore  of  the 


*  "  Among  the  numerous  shells  which  are  found  on  the  sea-shore,  there  are  some 
which  by  the  English  here  are  called  clams,  and  which  bear  some  resemblance  to  the 
human  ear.  They  have  a  considerable  thickness,  and  are  chiefly  white,  excepting  the 
pointed  end,  which  both  within  and  without  hath  a  blue  colour,  between  purple  and 
violet.  The  shells  contain  a  large  animal,  which  is  eaten  both  by  Indians  and 
Europeans.  The  shells  of  these  clams  are  used  by  the  Indians  as  money,  and  make 
what  they  call  their  wampum ;  they  likewise  serve  their  women  for  an  ornament 
when  they  intend  to  appear  in  full  dress.  These  wampums  are  properly  made  of  the 
purple  part  of  the  shells,  which  the  Indians  value  more  than  the  white  parts.  A 
traveller  who  goes  to  trade  with  the  Indians,  and  is  well  stocked  with  them,  may 
become  a  considerable  gainer,  but  if  he  take  gold  coin  or  bullion  he  will  undoubtedly 
be  a  loser;  for  the  Indians  who  live  farther  up  the  country  put  little  or  no  value  on 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  267 

objects  and  conditions  of  the  negociation.  The 
orator  explains  the  meaning  of  the  belts  to  the 
hostile  chiefs,  and  if  the  proposition  be  received, 

resh  water  streams,  and  file  or  cut  into  bits  of  half  an  inch,  or  an 
inch  in  length,  and  perforate,  giving  them  the  shape  of  pieces  of 
broken-pipe  stems,  which  they  string  on  deer's  sinews,  or  weave 
them  ingeniously  into  war-belts  for  the  waist.  The  wampum  is 
evidently  meant  in  the  description  of  the  esurgny  or  cornibolz,  given 
by  Verazzano  in  Ramusio,  which  has  so  much  puzzled  translators 
and  commentators.  Lafitau  and  Charlevoix  both  describe  it  under 
the  name  of  porcelaine. 

"  La  Porcelaine  dont  nous  parlons  ici,  est  bien  differente  de  ces 
ouvrages  de  Porcelaine  qu'  on  apporte  de  la  Chine  ou  du  Japan*  dont 
la  matiere  est  une  terre  beluttee  et  preparee.  Celle  ci  est  tiree  de 
certains  coquillages  de  mer,  connues  en  generale  sous  le  nom  de  Por- 
celaines, — celles  dont  nos  sauvages  se  servent  sont  canelees,  et 
semblable  pour  leur  figure  aux  coquilles  de  St.  Jacques. — II  y  a  de 
porcelaine  de  deux  sortes,  1'une  est  blanche,  et  c'est  la  plus  commune. 
L'autre  est  d'un  violet  obscur  ;  plus  elle  tire  sur  le  noir  plus  elle 
est  estimee.  La  porcelaine  qui  sert  pour  les  affaires  d'etat  est  toute 
travaillee  au  petits  cylindres  de  la  longueur  d'un  quart  de  pouce  et 
gros  a  proportion.  On  les  distribue  en  deux  manieres,  en  branches 
et  en  colliers.  Les  branches  sont  composees  de  cylindres  enfiles  sans 
ordre,  a  la  suite  les  uns  des  autres  comme  des  grains  de  chapelet. 


the  metals  which  \ve  reckon  so  precious,  as  I  have  frequently  observed  in  the  course 
of  my  travels.  The  Indians  formerly  made  their  own  wampums,  though  not  without 
a  great  deal  of  trouble ;  hut  at  present  the  Europeans  employ  themselves  in  that 
way,  and  get  considerable  profit  by  it." — Kalm  in  Pinkerton,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  455. 

*  "  Marsden  et  la  Comte  Baldelli  ont  rappele,  dans  leur  savans  commentaires  du  Mili- 
one  de  Marco  Polo,  que  c'  est  le  nom  de  la  coquille  du  genere  Cyprsea  a  dos  bombe'  (por- 
cellanor,  de  porcello,  en  latin  porcellus,  pourcelaine  du  pere  Trigault)  qui  a  donne'  lieu 
a  la  denomination  de  porcelaine  par  laquelle  les  peuples  occidentaux  ont  designe 
les  Vasa  Sinica.  Marco  Polo  se  Bert  du  mot  porcellane,  et  pour  les  coquilles  Jcaris, 
ou  couries,  employees  comme  monnaie  dans  Tlnde,  et  pour  la  poterie  fine  de  la  Chine. 
.  .  .  La  blancheur  lustre'e  de  plusieurs  especes  de  la  famille  des  Buccinoides, 
appellees  de  pourcelaines  au  moien  age,  a  sans  doute  suffi  pour  faire  donner  aux 
beaux  vases  c6ramiques  de  la  Chine  une  denomination  analogue.  Ces  coquilles  ne 
sont  pas  entrees  dans  la  composition  de  la  porcelaine." — Humboldt,  Geoff,  du  Nouveau 
Continent,  torn,  v.,  p.  106. 


268  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

the  opposite  party  accept  the  proffered  symbols, 
and  the  next  day  present  others  of  a  similar  import. 
The  calumet  is  then  solemnly  smoked,  and  the 
burial  of  a  war  hatchet  for  each  party  and  for  each 
ally,  concludes  the  treaty.  The  negociations  consist 
more  in  presents,  speeches,  and  ceremonies,  than  in 

La  porcelaine  en  est  ordinairement  toute  blanche,  et  on  ne  s'en  sert 
que  pour  des  affaires  d'une  legere  consequence.  Les  colliers  sont  de 
larges  ceintures,  ou  les  petits  cylindres  blancs  et  pourpre  sont  disposes 
par  rangs  et  assujettes  par  de  petites  bandelettes  de  cuir,  dont  on 
fait  un  tissu  assez  propre.  Leur  longeur,  leur  largueur  et  les  grains 
de  couleur  se  proportionrient  a  1'importance  de  1'affaire.  Les  colliers 
communs  et  ordinaires  sont  de  onze  rangs  de  cent  quatre-vingt 
grains  chacun.  Le  fisc,  ou  le  tresor  public  corisiste  principalement 

en  ces  sortes  de  colliers Les   sauvages  n'  ont  rien  de  plus 

precieux  que  leur  Porcelaine;  ce  sont  leurs  bijoux,  leurs  pierreries.  Us 
en  comptent  jusqu'  aux  grains,  et  cela  leur  tient  lieu  de  toute 
richesse."— Lafitau,  1720. 

Catlin  writes  thus  in  1842  : — "  Amongst  the  numerous  tribes  who 
have  formerly  inhabited  the  Atlantic  coast,  wampum  has  been 
invariably  manufactured  and  highly  valued  as  a  circulating  medium 
(instead  of  coins,  of  which  the  Indians  have  no  knowledge) ;  so  many 
strings,  or  so  many  hands  breadth,  being  the  fixed  value  of  a  horse, 
a  gun,  a  robe,  <kc.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  after  I  passed  the 
Mississippi,  I  saw  but  very  little  wampum  used,  and  on  ascending 
the  Missouri,  I  do  not  recollect  to  have  seen  it  worn  at  all  by  the 
Upper  Missouri  Indians,  although  the  same  materials  for  its  manu- 
facture are  found  in  abundance  in  those  regions.  Below  the  Lions 
and  along  the  whole  of  our  western  frontier,  the  different  tribes  are 
found  loaded  and  beautifully  ornamented  with  it,  which  they  can  now 
afford  to  do,  for  they  consider  it  of  little  value,  as  the  fur  traders  have 
ingeniously  introduced  an  imitation  of  it  manufactured  by  steam  or 
otherwise,  of  porcelain  or  some  composition  closely  resembling  it,  with 
which  they  have  flooded  the  whole  Indian  country,  and  sold  at  so 
reduced  a  price  as  to  cheapen  and  consequently  destroy  the  value  and 
meaning  of  the  original  wampum,  a  string  of  which  can  now  but  very 
rarely  be  found  in  any  part  of  the  country." — Catlin,  vol.  i.,  p.  223. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  269 

any  demands  upon  each  other :  there  is  no  property 
to  provide  tribute,  and  the  victors  rarely  or  never 
require  the  formal  cession  of  any  of  the  hunting- 
grounds  of  the  vanquished.  The  unrestrained 
passions  of  individuals,  and  the  satiety  of  long- 
continued  peace,  intolerable  to  the  Indian,  soon 
again  lead  to  the  renewal  of  hostility. 

The  successful  hunter  ranks  next  to  the  brave 
warrior  in  the  estimation  of  the  savage.  Before  start- 
ing on  his  grand  expeditions,  he  prepares  himself  by 
a  course  of  fasting,  dreaming,  and  religious  observ- 
ances, as  if  for  war.  He  hunts  with  astonishing 
dexterity  and  skill,  and  regards  this  pursuit  rather 
as  an  object  of  adventure  and  glory  than  as  an 
industrious  occupation. 

With  regard  to  cultivation  and  the  useful  arts, 
the  Indians  are  in  the  very  infancy  of  progress.6 
Their  villages  are  usually  not  less  than  eighteen 
miles  apart,  and  are  surrounded  by  a  narrow 
circle  of  imperfectly  cleared  land,  slightly  turned 
up  with  a  hoe,  or  scraped  with  pointed  sticks,7 
scarcely  interrupting  the  continuous  expanse  of 

6  "  Avant  d'avoir  1'usage  des  moulins,  ils  brisaient  leurs  grains 
dans  les  piles,  ou  des  mortiers  de  bois,  avec  des  pilons  de  meme 
matiere.  Hesiode  nous  donne  la  mesure  de  la  pile  et  du  pilon  des 
anciens,  et  de  nos  sauvages,  dans  ces  paroles,  '  Coupez  moi  une  pile 
de  trois  pieds  de  haut,  et  un  pilon  de  la  longueur  de  trois  coudees.' 
(Hesiod.  Opera  et  Dies,  lib.  v.,  411  ;  Servius  in  lib.  ix.,  JEneid.  Init.) 
Caton  met  aussi  la  pile  et  le  pilon,  au  nombre  des  meubles  rustiques 
de  son  temps.  Les  Pisons  prirent  leur  nom  de  cette  maniere  de  piler 
le  bled." — Lafitau. 

'  "  II  leur  suffit  d'un  morceau  de  bois  recourbe  de  trois  doigts  de 


270  THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA. 

the  forest.  They  are  only  acquainted  with  the 
rudest  sorts  of  clay  manufactures,  and  the  use  of 
the  metals  (except  by  European  introduction) 
is  altogether  unknown.8  Their  women,  however, 
display  considerable  skill  in  weaving  fine  mats,  in 
staining  the  hair  of  animals,  and  working  it  into 
brilliant  coloured  embroideries.  The  wampum-belts 
are  made  with  great  care  and  some  taste.  The 
calumet  is  also  elaborately  carved  and  ornamented  ; 
and  the  painting  and  tattooing  of  their  bodies  some- 
times presents  well-executed  and  highly  descriptive 

largeur,  attache  a  un  long  mouche  qui  leur  sert  a  sarcler  la  terre,  et 
a  la  remuer  legerement." — Lafitau,  torn,  ii.,  p.  76. 

Catlin  says  that  the  tribe  of  Mandans  raise  a  great  deal  of  corn. 
This  is  all  done  hj  the  women,  who  make  their  hoes  of  the  shoulder- 
blades  of  the  buffalo  or  elk,  and  dig  the  ground  over  instead  of 
ploughing  it,  which  is  consequently  done  with  a  vast  deal  of  labour. — 
Vol.  i.,  p.  121. 

8  "Nothing  so  distinctly  marks  the  uncivilised  condition  of  the 
North  American  Indian  as  his  total  ignorance  of  the  art  of  metal- 
lurgy. Forged  iron  has  been  in  use  among  the  inhabitants  of  our 
hemisphere  from  time  immemorial ;  for  though  the  process  employed 
for  obtaining  the  malleability  of  a  metal  in  its  malleable  state  is  very 
complicated,  yet  M.  de  Marian  has  clearly  proved  that  the  several 
eras  at  which  writers  have  pretended  to  fix  the  discovery  are  entirely 
fabulous." — Lettres  sur  la  Chine. 

Consequently,  the  weapons  of  brass  and  other  instruments  of  metal 
found  in  the  dykes  of  Upper  Canada,  Florida,  &c.,  are  amongst  the 
strongest  indications  of  the  superiority  of  those  ancient  races  of 
America  who  have  now  entirely  passed  away. 

"  Know  then,"  says  Cotton  Mather,  "  that  these  doleful  creatures 
are  the  veriest  ruins  of  mankind.  They  live  in  a  country  full  of 
metals,  but  the  Indians  were  never  owners  of  so  much  as  a  knife  till 
we  came  among  them.  Their  name  for  an  Englishman  was  '  knife- 
man.' " 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  271 

pictures  and  hieroglyphics.  They  construct  light 
and  elegant  baskets  from  the  swamp  cane,  and 
are  very  skilful  in  making  bows  and  arrows ;  some 
tribes  indeed  were  so  rude  as  not  to  have  attained 
even  to  the  use  of  this  primitive  weapon,  and  the 
sling  was  by  no  means  generally  known. 

Most  of  the  American  nations  are  without  any 
fixed  form  of  government  whatever.     The  complete 
independence  of  every  man  is  fully  recognised.     He 
may  do  what  he  pleases  of  good  or  evil,  useful  or 
destructive,  no  constituted  power  interferes  to  thwart 
his  will.     If  he  even  take  away  the  life  of  another 
the  bystanders  do  not  interpose.     The  kindred  of 
the   slain,   however,   will  make    any  sacrifice    for 
vengeance.     And  yet  in  the  communities  of  these 
children  of  nature  there  usually  reigns  a  wonderful 
tranquillity.     A  deadly  hostility  exists  between  the 
different  tribes,  but  among  the  members  comprising 
each,  the  strictest  union  exists.     The  honour  and 
prosperity  of  his  nation  is  the  leading  object  of  the 
Indian ;  this  national  feeling  forms  a  link  to  draw 
him   closely  to  his  neighbour,   and  he  rarely  or 
never  uses  violence  or  evil  speech  against  a  country- 
man.    Where  there  is  scarcely   such  a  thing  as 
individual  property,   government   and   justice  are 
necessarily  very  much    simplified.      There    exists 
almost  a  community  of  goods.     No  man  wants  while 
another  has  enough  and  to  spare.     Their  generosity 
knows  no  bounds.     Whole  tribes  when  ruined  by 
disasters  in  war  find  unlimited  hospitality  among 
their  neighbours;  habitations  and  hunting-grounds 


272          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

are  allotted  to  them,  and  they  are  received  in  every 
respect  as  if  they  were  members  of  the  nation  that 
protects  them. 

As  there  is  generally  no  wealth  or  hereditary 
distinction  among  this  people,  the  sole  claim  to 
eminence  is  founded  on  such  personal  qualities  as 
can  only  be  conspicuous  in  war,  council,  or  the 
chace.  During  times  of  tranquillity  and  inaction 
all  superiority  ceases.  Every  man  is  clothed  and 
fares  alike.  Relations  of  patronage  and  dependence 
are  unknown.  All  are  free  and  equal,  and  they 
perish  rather  than  submit  to  control,  or  endure 
correction.  During  war  indeed,  or  in  the  chase, 
they  render  a  sort  of  obedience  to  those  who 
excel  in  character  and  conduct,  but  at  other  times 
no  form  of  government  whatever  exists.  The  names 
of  magistrate  and  subject  are  not  in  their  language. 
If  the  elders  interpose  between  man  and  man,  it  is 
to  advise,  not  to  decide.  Authority  is  only  tolerated 
in  foreign,  not  in  domestic,  affairs. 

Music  and  dancing  express  the  emotions  of  the 
Indian's  mind.  He  has  his  songs  of  war  and  death, 
and  particular  moments  of  his  life  are  appointed  for 
their  recital.  His  great  deeds  and  the  vengeance  he 
has  inflicted  upon  his  enemies  are  his  subjects;  the 
language  and  music  express  his  passions  rudely  but 
forcibly.  The  dance9  is  still  more  important:  it  is 

9  Chateaubriand,  vol.  i.,  p.  233  ;  Charlevoix. 

"  The  dances  of  the  Red  Indians  form  a  singular  and  important 
feature  throughout  the  customs  of  the  aborigines  of  the  New  World. 
In  these  are  typified,  by  signs  well  understood  by  the  initiated,  and, 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  273 

the  grand  celebration  at  every  festival,  and  alter- 
nately the  exponent  of  their  triumph,  anger,  or 
devotion.  It  is  usually  pantomimic  and  highly 
descriptive  of  the  subject  to  which  it  is  appropriate. 
The  Indians  are  immoderately  fond  of  play  as  a 
means  of  excitement  and  agitation.  While  gaming 
they  who  are  usually  so  taciturn  and  indifferent, 
become  loquacious  and  eager.  Their  guns,  arms,  and 
all  that  they  possess  are  freely  staked,  and  at  times, 
where  all  else  is  lost,  they  will  trust  even  their 
personal  safety  to  the  hazard  of  the  die.2  The  most 
barbarous  of  the  tribes  have  unhappily  succeeded  in 
inventing  some  species  of  intoxicating  liquor :  that 
from  the  root  of  the  maize  was  in  general  use,  it  is  not 
disagreeable  to  the  taste,  and  is  very  powerful.  When 
the  accursed  fire-water  is  placed  before  the  Indians, 
none  can  resist  the  temptation.  The  wisest,  best, 
and  bravest  succumb  alike  to  this  odious  temptation, 

« 

as  it  were,  by  hieroglyphic  action,  their  historical  events,  their  pro- 
jected enterprises,  their  hunting,  their  ambuscades,  and  their  battles, 
resembling  in  some  respects  the  Pyrrhic  dances  of  the  ancients." — 
Washington  Irving's  Columbus,  vol.  ii.,  p.  122. 

"  In  the  province  of  Pasto,  on  the  ridge  of  the  Cordillera,  I  have 
seen  masqued  Indians,  armed  with  rattles,  performing  savage  dances 
around  the  altar,  while  a  Franciscan  monk  elevated  the  host." — 
Humboldt's  Nouveau  Espagne,  vol.  i.,  p.  411. 

See,  also,  Lafitau's  Moeurs  des  Sauvages  Ameriquains  compares 
aux  moeurs  des  premiers  temps,  torn,  i.,  p.  526  ;  he  refers  to  Plu- 
tarch in  Lycurgo,  for  an  account  of  similar  Spartan  dances. 

2  Charlevoix  ;  Lafitau  ;  Boucher,  Histoire  du  Canada. 

"  The  players  prepare  for  their  ruin  by  religious  observances  ;  they 
fast,  they  watch,  they  pray." — Chateaubriand,  vol.  i.,  p.  240. 

See  Appendix,  No.  LIX. 

VOL.  i.  T 


274          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA, 

and  when  their  unrestrained  passions  are  excited  by 
drinking,  they  are  at  times  guilty  of  enormous  out- 
rages, and  the  scenes  of  their  festivities  often  become 
stained  with  kindred  blood.  The  women  are  not 
permitted  to  partake  of  this  fatal  pleasure,  their  duty 
is  to  serve  the  guests  and  take  care  of  their  husbands 
and  friends  when  overpowered  by  the  debauch.  This 
exclusion  from  a  favourite  enjoyment  is  evidence  of 
the  contempt  in  which  females  are  held  among  the 
Indians. 

In  the  present  day  he  who  would  study  the  cha- 
racter and  habits  of  these  children  of  nature,  must 
travel  far  away  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains  where 
the  murrain  of  perverted  civilisation  has  not  yet 
spread.  There  he  may  still  find  the  virtues  and  vices 
of  the  savage,  and  lead  among  those  wild  tribes  that 
fascinating  life  of  liberty,  which  few  have  ever  been 
known  to  abandon  willingly  for  the  restraints  and 
luxuries  of  civilisation  ajid  refinement. 


275 


CHAPTER   IX. 

WHILE  the  French  were  busied  in  establishing  them-  \ 
selves  upon  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  their 
ancient  rivals  steadily  progressed  in  the  occupation- ' 
of  the  Atlantic  coasts  of  North  America. 

Generally  speaking,  the  oldest  colonies  of  England^ 
were  founded  by  private  adventurers,  at  their  own  ) 
expense  and  risk.  In  most  cases  the  soil  of  the 
new  settlements  was  granted  to  powerful  indivi- 
duals or  companies  of  merchants,  and  by  them  made 
over  in  detail  to  the  actual  emigrants  for  certain 
considerations.  Where,  however,  as  often  occurred, 
the  emigrants  had  settled  prior  to  the  grant,  or  were 
in  a  condition  to  disregard  it,  they  divided  the  land 
according  to  their  own  interests  and  convenience. 
These  unrecognised  proprietors  prospered  more 
rapidly  than  those  who  were  trammelled  by  en- 
gagements with  non-resident  authorities.  The  right 
of  government,  as  well  as  the  nominal  possession  of 
the  soil,  was  usually  granted  in  the  first  instance, 
and  the  new  colonies  were  connected  with  the  Crown 
of  Great  Britain  by  little  more  than  a  formal  recog- 
nition of  sovereignty.  But  the  disputes  invariably 
arising  between  the  nominal  proprietors  and  the 

T2 


276  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

/  actual  settlers  speedily  caused,  in  most  cases,  a  dis- 
/  solution  of  the  proprietary  government,  and  threw 
V_the  colonies  one  by  one  under  royal  authority. 

The  system  then  usually  adopted  was  to  place 
the  colony  under  the  rule  of  an  English  governor, 
assisted  by  an  upper  House  of  Parliament,  or 
Council,  appointed  by  himself,  and  a  Lower  House, 
possessing  the  power  of  taxation,  elected  by  the 
people.  All  laws,  however,  enacted  by  these  local 
authorities  were  subject  to  the  approbation  of  the 
British  Crown.  This  was  the  outline  of  colonial 
constitutions  in  every  North  American  settlement, 
except  in  those  established  under  peculiar  charters. 
The  habit  of  self-government  bore  its  fruit  of  sturdy 
independence  and  self-reliance  among  our  trans- 
atlantic brethren,  and  the  prospect  of  political  privi- 
leges offered  a  special  temptation  to  the  English 
emigrant  to  embark  his  fortunes  in  the  New  World. 
At  their  commencement  trade  was  free  in  all,  and 
religion  in  most  of  the  new  colonies;  and  it  was 
only  by  slow  degrees  that  their  fiscal  regulations 
were  brought  under  the  subordination  of  the  mother 
country. 

Although  a  general  sketch  of  British  colonisation 
in  North  America  is  essential  to  the  illustration  of 
Canadian  history,  it  is  unnecessary  to  detail  more 
than  a  few  of  the  leading  features  of  its  nature  and 
progress,  and  of  the  causes  which  placed  its  interests 
in  almost  perpetual  antagonism  with  those  of  French 
settlement.  This  subject  is  rendered  not  a  little 
obscure  and  complicated  by  the  contradictory  claims 


THE   CONQUEST   OP   CANADA.  277 

and  statements  of  proprietors,  merchant  adven- 
turers and  settlers,  the  separation  of  provinces,  the 
abandonment  of  old,  and  the  foundation  of  new 
settlements.1 

Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,2  of  Compton,  in  Devon- 
shire, formed  the  first  plan  of  British  colonisation  in 
America.  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  then  wore  the 
crown,  willingly  granted  a  patent  conveying  most 
ample  gifts  and  powers  to  her  worthy  and  distin- 
guished subject.  He  was  given  for  ever  all  such 
"  heathen  and  barbarous  countries "  as  he  might 
discover,  with  absolute  authority  therein,  both  by 
sea  and  land.  Only  homage,  and  a  fifth  part  of  the 
gold  and  silver  that  might  be  obtained,  was  reserved 
for  the  Crown. 

The  first  expedition  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  failed 
in  the  very  commencement.  The  adventurers  were 
unfortunately  selected ;  many  deserted  the  cause, 
and  others  engaged  in  disastrous  quarrels  among 
themselves.  The  chief  was  ultimately  obliged  to  set 
out  with  only  a  few  of  his  own  tried  friends.3  He 

1  See  Preface  to  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States, 

2  "  Sir  Humphrey  had  published,  in  1576,  a  treatise  concerning  a 
north-west  passage  to  the  East  Indies,  which,  although  tinctured  with 
the  pedantry  of  the  age,  is  full  of  practical  sense  and  judicious  argu- 
ment."— P.  F.  Tytler's  Life  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  p.  26. 

3  "Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  step-brother  to  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  was 
one  of  his  companions  in  this  enterprise,  and  although  it  proved 
unsuccessful,  the  instructions  of  Sir  Humphrey  could  not  fail  to  be 
of  service  to  Raleigh,  who  at  this  time  was  not  much  above  twenty- 
five,  whilst  the  admiral  must  have  been  in  the  maturity  of  his  years 
and  abilities."— Ty tier,  p.  27. 


278  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

encountered  very  adverse  weather,  and  was  driven 
back  with  the  loss  of  a  ship,  and  one  of  his  trustiest 
companions.4  This  disaster  was  a  severe  blow  to 
Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  as  most  of  his  property  was 
embarked  in  the  undertaking.  However,  ^ith 
unshaken  determination,  and  aided  by  Sir  George 
Peckham,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,5  and  other  distin- 

4  "On  its  homeward  passage,  the  small  squadron  of  Gilbert  was 
dispersed  and  disabled  by  a  Spanish  fleet,  and  many  of  the  company 
were  slain  ;  but,  perhaps  owing  to  the  disastrous  issue  of  the  fight,  it 
has  been  slightly  noticed  by  the  English  historians." — Oldy's  Life  of 
Raleigh,  pp.  28,  29. 

*  Raleigh,  who  had  by  this  time  risen  into  favour  with  the  queen, 
did  not  embark  on  the  expedition,  but  he  induced  his  royal  mistress 
to  take  so  deep  an  interest  in  its  success,  that  on  the  eve  of  its 
sailing  from  Plymouth,  she  commissioned  him  to  convey  to  Sir  H. 
Gilbert  her  earnest  wishes  for  his  success,  with  a  special  token  of 
regard, — a  little  trinket  representing  an  anchor  guided  by  a  lady. 
The  following  was  Raleigh's  letter,  written  from  the  court  : — 
"Brother, — I  have  sent  you  a  token  from  her  majesty,  an  anchor 
guided  by  a  lady,  as  you  see, — and,  further,  her  Highness  willed  me 
to  send  you  word,  that  she  wished  you  as  great  good  hap  and  safety 
to  your  ship  as  if  she  herself  were  there  in  person,  desiring  you  to 
have  care  of  yourself  as  of  that  which  she  tendereth  ;  and  therefore, 
for  her  sake,  you  must  provide  for  it  accordingly.  Farther,  she 
commandeth  that  you  leave  your  picture  with  me.  For  the  rest  I 
leave  till  our  meeting,  or  to  the  report  of  this  bearer,  who  would 
needs  be  the  messenger  of  this  good  news.  So  I  commit  you  to  the 
will  and  protection  of  God,  who  sends  us  such  life  and  death  as  he 
shall  please  or  hath  appointed.  Richmond,  this  Friday  morning. 
Your  true  brother,  WALTER  RALEIGH." — This  letter  is  indorsed  as 
having  been  received  March  18,  1582-3,  and  it  may  be  remarked 
that  it  settles  the  doubt  as  to  the  truth  of  Prince's  story  of  the 
golden  anchor,  questioned  by  Campbell  in  his  Lives  of  the  Admirals. 
In  the  Heroologiz  Anglice,  p.  65,  there  is  a  fine  print  of  Sir  Hum- 
phrey Gilbert,  taken  evidently  from  an  original  picture  ;  but,  unlike 
the  portrait  mentioned  by  Granger,  it  does  not  bear  the  device  men- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  279 

guished  men,  he  again  equipped  an  expedition,  and 
put  to  sea  in  the  year  1583. 

The  force  with  which  this  bold  adventurer  under- 
took to  gain  possession  of  a  new  continent  was 
miserably  small.  The  largest  vessel  was  but 
of  200  tons  burthen :  the  Delight,  in  which  he 
himself  sailed,  was  only  120  tons,  and  the  three 
others  composing  the  little  fleet  were  even  much 
smaller.  The  crew  and  adventurers  numbered 
altogether  260  men,  most  of  them  tradesmen, 
mechanics,  and  refiners  of  metal.  There  was  such 
difficulty  in  completing  even  this  small  equipment, 
that  some  captured  pirates  were  taken  into  the 
service. 

The  expedition  sailed  from  Concert  Bay  on  the     1583 
llth   of  May,    1583.     Three   days  afterwards  the 
Raleigh,6  the  largest  ship  of  the  fleet,  put  back  to 
land,  under  the  plea  that  a  violent  sickness  had 
broken  out  on  board,  but  in  reality  from  the  indis- 

tioned  in  the  text.  Raleigh's  letter  explains  this  difference.  When 
Sir  Humphrey  was  at  Plymouth,  on  the  eve  of  sailing,  the  queen 
commands  him,  we  see,  to  leave  his  picture  with  Raleigh.  This 
must  allude  to  a  portrait  already  painted  ;  and  of  course  the  golden 
anchor  then  sent  could  not  he  seen  in  it.  Now,  he  perished  on  the 
voyage.  The  picture  at  Devonshire  House,  mentioned  by  Granger, 
which  hears  this  honourable  badge,  must,  therefore  have  been  painted 
after  his  death. — Ty tier's  Raleigh,  p.  45  ;  Granger's  Biographical 
History,  vol.  i.,  p.  246  ;  Cayley,  vol.  i.,  p.  31  ;  Prince's  Worthies  of 
Devonshire. 

6  "  This  ship  was  of  200  tons  burden  :  it  had  been  built  under 
Raleigh's  own  eye,  equipped  at  his  expense,  and  commanded  by 
Captain  Butler,  her  master  being  Thomas  Davis,  of  Bristol." — 
Tytler,  p.  44. 


280          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

position  of  the  crew  to  risk  the  enterprise.  The 
loss  of  this  vessel  was  a  heavy  discouragement  to 
the  brave  leaders.  After  many  delays  and  diffi- 
culties from  the  weather  and  the  misconduct  of  his 
followers,  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  reached  the  shores 
of  Newfoundland,  where  he  found  thirty-six  vessels 
engaged  in  the  fisheries.  He,  in  virtue  of  his  royal 
patent,  immediately  assumed  authority  over  them, 
demanding  and  obtaining  all  the  supplies  of  which 
he  stood  in  need :  he  also  proclaimed  his  own  and 
the  queen's  possession  of  the  country.  Soon,  how- 
ever, becoming  sensible  that  this  rocky  and  dreary 
wilderness  offered  little  prospect  of  wealth,  he  pro- 
ceeded with  three  vessels,  and  a  crew  diminished 
by  sickness  and  desertion,  to  the  American  coast. 
Owing  to  his  imprudence  in  approaching  the 
foggy  and  dangerous  shore  too  closely,  the  largest 
vessel7  struck,  and  went  to  pieces.  The  captain 
and  many  of  the  crew  were  lost :  some  of  the 
remainder  reached  Newfoundland  in  an  open  boat, 
after  having  endured  great  hardships. 

Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  altogether  failed  in  reach- 
ing any  part  of  the  mainland  of  America.  The 
weather  became  very  bad,  the  winter  approached, 

7  The  Delight.  The  Swallow  had,  a  short  time  before,  been  sent 
home  with  some  of  the  crew,  who  were  sick.  The  remaining  barks 
were  the  Golden  Hind  and  the  Squirrel,  the  first  of  forty,  the  last 
of  ten  tons  burden.  For  what  reason  does  not  appear,  the  admiral 
insisted,  against  the  remonstrances  of  his  officers  and  crew,  in  having 
his  flag  in  the  /Squirrel.  It  was  a  fatal  resolution.  The  larger 
vessel,  the  Golden  Hind,  arrived  at  Falrnouth  on  the  22nd  Sep- 
tember, 1583. 


THE   CONQUEST    OF   CANADA.  281 

and  provisions  began  to  fail :  there  was  no  alterna- 
tive but  to  return,  and  with  bitter  regret  and 
disappointment  he  adopted  that  course.  The  two 
remaining  vessels  proceeded  in  safety  as  far  as  the 
meridian  of  the  Azores ;  there,  however,  a  terrible 
tempest  assailed  them.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  9th 
of  September  the  smaller  of  the  two  boats  was 
observed  to  labour  dangerously.  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert  stood  upon  her  deck,  holding  a  book  in  his 
hand,  encouraging  the  crew.  "  We  are  as  near  to 
heaven  by  sea  as  by  land,"  he  called  out  to  those  on 
board  the  other  vessel,  as  it  drifted  past  just  before 
nightfall.  Darkness  soon  concealed  his  little  bark 
from  sight ;  but  for  hours  one  small  light  was  seen 
to  rise  and  fall,  and  plunge  about  among  the  furious 
waves.  Shortly  after  midnight  it  suddenly  disap- 
peared, and  with  it  all  trace  of  the  brave  chief  and 
his  crew.  One  maimed  and  storm-tossed  ship  alone 
returned  to  England  of  that  armament  which  so 
short  a  time  before  had  been  sent  forth  to  take 
possession  of  a  New  World.8 

The  English  nation  was  not  diverted  from  the 
pursuit  of  colonial  aggrandisement  by  even  this 
disastrous  failure.  The  queen,  however,  was  mora 
ready  to_  assist  _by  grants  and  patents  than  by 
pecuniary  supplies.  Many  plausible  schemes  of 
settlement  were__pu1L  forward ;  but  the  difficulty  of 
obtaining  sufficient  means  of  carrying  them  into 

8  See  Captain  Edward  Haies's  Narrative  of  the  Expedition  of  iSir 
Humphrey  Gilbert ;  Hakluyt,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  143 — 159. 


282  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

effect  prevented  their  being  adopted.  At  length  the 
illustrious  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  undertook^th^  task 
of  colonisation  at  his  own  sole  charge,  and  easily 
obtained  a  patent  similar  to  that  conferred  upon 
Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert.  He  soon  sent  out  two  small 
vessels,  under  skilful  naval  officers,  to  search  for  his 
new  government.  Warned  by  the  disasters  of  their 
predecessors,  they  steered  a  more  southerly  course. 
When  soundings  indicated  an  approach  to  land,  they 
already  observed  that  the  breeze  from  the  shore 
was  rich  with  delicious  odours  of  fruits  and  flowers. 
They  proceeded  very  cautiously,  and  presently  found 
that  they  had  reached  a  long  low  coast  without 
harbours.  The  shore  was  flat  and  sandy ;  but  softly 
undulating  green  hills  were  seen  in  the  interior, 
covered  with  a  great  profusion  of  rich  grapes.  This 
discovery  proved  to  be  the  island  of  Okakoke,  off 
1584  North  Carolina.  The  English  were  well  received 
by  the  natives,  and  obtained  from  them  many 
valuable  skins  in  exchange  for  trinkets.  Some 
limited  explorations  were  made,  after  which  the 
expedition  returned  to  England,  bearing  very  favour- 
able accounts  of  the  new  country,9  which  filled 
Raleigh  with  joy,  and  raised  the  expectations  of 
the  whole  kingdom.  In  honour  of  England's  maiden 

9  Oldy's  Life  of  Raleigli,  p.  58.  The  description  given  of  Virginia 
by  the  two  captains  in  command  of  the  expedition  (Captains  Philip 
Amadas  and  Walter  Barlow),  was  that  "  the  soil  is  the  most  plentiful, 
sweet,  fruitful,  and  wholesome  of  all  the  world.  We  found  the  people 
most  gentle,  loving,  faithful,  void  of  all  guile  and  treason,  and  such 
as  lived  after  the  manner  of  the  golden  age." 


THE   CONQUEST   OP   CANADA.  283 

queen,  the  name  of  Virginia  was  given  to  this  land 
of  promise. 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh  now  embarked  nearly  all  his  1585 
fortune  in  another  expedition,  consisting  of  seven 
small  ships,  which  he  placed  under  the  able  com- 
mand of  Sir  Richard  Greenville,  surnamed  "the 
Brave."  The  little  fleet  reached  Virginia  on  the 
29th  of  June,  1585,  and  the  colony  was  at  once 
landed ;  the  principal  duties  of  settlement  were 
intrusted  to  Mr.  Ralph  Lane,  who  proved  unequal 
to  the  charge.  The  coast,  however,  was  explored 
for  a  considerable  distance,  and  the  magnificent 
Bay  of  Chesapeake  discovered. 

Lane  penetrated  to  the  head  of  Roanoke  Sound  ;  \ 
there,  without  provocation,  he  seized  a  powerful 
Indian  chief  and  his  son,  and  retained  the  latter  a 
close  prisoner  in  the  hope  through  him  of  ruling  the 
father.  The  natives  exasperated  at  this  injury, 
deceived  the  English  with  false  reports  of  great 
riches  to  be  found  in  the  interior.  /Lane  proceeded 
up  the  river  for  several  days  with  forty  men,  but 
suffering  much  from  the  want  of  provisions,  and 
having  been  once  openly  attacked  by  the  savages, 
he  returned  disheartened  to  the  coast,  where  he 
found  that  the  Indians  were  prepared  for  a  general 
rising  against  him,  in  a  confederacy  formed  of  the 
surrounding  tribes,  headed  by  a  subtle  chief  called 
Pemisapan.  In  the  meantime,  however,  the  captive 
became  attached  to  the  English,  warning  them  of 
the  coming  danger,  and  naming  the  day  for  the 
attack.  Lane  resolving  to  strike  the  first  blow, 


284  THE    CONQUEST    OP    CANADA. 

suddenly  assailed  the  Indians  and  dispersed  them ;    \ 
afterwards  at  a  parley  he  destroyed  all  the  chiefs 
with  disgraceful  treachery.     Henceforth  the  hatred 
of  the  savages  to  the  English  became  intense,  and 
they  ceased    to   sow   any   of  the   lands  near  the 
settlement  with  the  view  of  starving  their  dangerous- 
visitors. 

The  colonists  were  much  embarrassed  by  the 
hostilities  of  the  Indians ;  the  time  appointed  by 
Raleigh  and  Greenville  for  sending  them  supplies 
had  past;  a  heavy  despondency  fell  upon  their 
minds,  and  they  began  earnestly  to  wish  for  a 
means  of  returning  home.  But  suddenly  notice 
was  given  that  a  fleet  of  twenty-three  sail  was  at 
hand,  whether  friendly  or  hostile  no  one  could 
tell :  to  their  great  joy  it  proved  to  be  the  armament 
of  Sir  Francis  Drake.  Lane  and  his  followers 
immediately  availed  themselves  of  this  opportunity, 
and  with  the  utmost  haste,  embarked  for  England, 
1586  totally  abandoning  the  settlement.  A  few  days 
after  this  unworthy  flight,  a  vessel  of  100  tons 
amply  provided  with  aid  for  the  colony,  arrived 
upon  its  deserted  shores  ;  the  crew  in  vain  searched 
the  coast  and  neighbourhood  for  their  fellow- 
countrymen,  and  then  steered  for  England.  A 
fortnight  after  Sir  Richard  Greenville  arrived  with 
three  well-appointed  ships  and  found  a  lonely 
desert  where  he  had  expected  a  flourishing  colony : 
he  also  returned  to  England  in  deep  disappoint- 
ment, leaving,  however,  a  small  party  to  hold 
possession  of  the  country  till  he  should  return  with 
ampler  resources. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          285 

The  noble  Raleigh  was  not  discouraged  by 
this  unhappy  complication  of  errors  and  disasters ; 
he  immediately  dispatched  another  expedition,  with 
three  ships  under  the  command  of  John  White. 
But  a  terrible  sight  presented  itself  on  their  arrival ; 
the  fort  razed  to  the  ground,  the  houses  ruined  and 
overgrown  with  grass,  and  a  few  scattered  bones, 
told  the  fate  of  their  countrymen.  The  little  settle- 
ment  had^been  assailed  by  300  Indians,  and  all  the~ 
colonists  destroyed  or  driven  into  the  interior  to  an 
unknown  fate.  By  an  unfortunate  error  White 
attacked  one  of  the  few  tribes  that  were  friendly  to 
the  English,  in  the  attempt  to  revenge  the  cruel 
massacre.  After  this  unhappy  exploit  he  was  com- 
pelled by  the  discontent  of  his  followers  to  return 
to  England,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  them 
supplies.1  From  various  delays  it  was  not  till  1590 

1  Unfortunately,  on  White's  arrival  in  England,  the  nation  was 
wholly  engrossed  by  the  expected  invasion  of  the  Spanish  Armada, 
and  Sir  Richard  Greenville,  who  was  preparing  to  sail  for  Virginia, 
received  notice  that  his  services  were  wanted  at  home.  Raleigh, 
however,  contrived  to  send  out  White  with  two  more  vessels  ;  hut 
they  were  attacked  by  a  Spanish  ship  of  war,  and  so  severely  shattered, 
that  they  were  obliged  to  return.  Another  expedition  could  not  be 
undertaken  until  1590  ;  and  no  trace  could  then,  or  ever  after,  be 
found  of  the  unfortunate  colony  left  by  White. 

"  Robertson  reproaches  Raleigh  with  levity  in  now  throwing  up  his 
scheme  of  a  Virginian  colony.  But,  really,  when  we  consider  that  in 
the  course  of  four  years  he  had  sent  out  seven  successive  expeditions, 
each  more  unfortunate  than  the  other,  and  had  spent  40,000?., — 
nearly  his  whole  fortune, — without  the  least  prospect  of  a  return,  it 
cannot  be  viewed  as  a  very  unaccountable  caprice,  that  he  should  get 
sick  of  the  business,  and  be  glad  to  transfer  it  into  other  hands. "- 
Murray,  vol.  i.,  p.  254. 


286  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

that  another  expedition  reached  Virginia.  But 
again  silence  and  desolation  reigned  upon  that 
fatal  shore.  The  colony  left  by  White  had  been 
destroyed  like  its  predecessor.  Raleigh  at  last 
abandoned  the  scheme  of  settlement  that  had 
proved  ruinously  disastrous  to  him  and  all  con- 
1591  cerned,  and  the  brave  Sir  Richard  Greenville  was 
soon  after  slain.2 

The  interest  of  the  public  in  Virginia  remained 
suspended  till  the  year  1602,  when  Captain  Bar- 
tholomew Gosnold  undertook  a  voyage  thither,  and 
brought  back  such  brilliant  reports  of  the  beauty  and 
fertility  of  the  country,  that  the  dormant  attention 
of  the  English  towards  this  part  of  the  world  was 
again  aroused.  In  1606,  Arundel,  Lord  Wardour, 
sent  out  a  vessel  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Weymouth,  to  make  further  discoveries ;  the  report 
of  this  voyage  more  than  confirmed  that  of  the 
preceding. 

The  English  nation  were  now  at  length  prepared 
to  make  an  efficient  attempt  to  colonise  the  New 
World.  In  London,  and  at  Plymouth  and  Bristol, 
the  principal  maritime  cities  of  the  kingdom,  the 
scheme  found  numerous  and  ardent  supporters. 
James  I.,  however,  only  granted  such  powers  to  the 
adventurers  as  suited  his  own  narrow  and  arbitrary 
views :  he  refused  to  sanction  any  sort  of  represen- 
tative government  in  the  colony,  and  vested  all 


2  For  an  account  of  Sir  Richard  Greenville's  death,  see  Appendix, 
No.  LX. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          287 

power  in  a  council  appointed  by  himself.3  Virginia 
was,  about  that  time,  divided  somewhat  capriciously 
into  two  parts ;  the  southern  portion  was  given  to 

3  "  The  fundamental  idea  of  the  older  British  colonial  policy  appears 
to  have  heen,  that  wherever  a  man  went,  he  carried  with  him  the 
rights  of  an  Englishman,  whatever  these  were  supposed  to  be.  In 
the  reign  of  James  I.,  the  state  doctrine  was,  that  most  popular  rights 
were  usurpations  ;  and  the  colonists  of  Virginia,  sent  out  under  the 
protection  of  government,  were  therefore  placed  under  that  degree  of 
control  which  the  state  believed  itself  authorised  to  exercise  at  home. 
The  Puritans  exalted  civil  franchise  to  a  republican  pitch  ;  their 
colonies  were  therefore  republican  ;  there  was  no  such  notion  as  that 
of  an  intermediate  state  of  tutelage  or  semi-liberty.  Hence  the  entire 
absence  of  solicitude  on  the  part  of  the  mother  country  to  interfere 
with  the  internal  government  of  the  colonies,  arose  not  altogether 
from  neglect,  but  partly  from  principle.  This  is  remarkably  proved 
by  the  fact,  that  representative  government  was  seldom  expressly 
granted  in  the  early  charters  ;  it  was  assumed  by  the  colonists  as  a 
matter  of  right.  Thus,  to  use  the  odd  expression  of  the  historian  of 
Massachusetts,  *  A  house  of  burgesses  broke  out  in  Virginia  '  in 
1619,*  almost  immediately  after  its  second  settlement ;  and  although 
the  constitution  of  James  contained  no  such  element,  it  was  at  once 
acceded  to  by  the  mother  country  as  a  thing  of  course.  No  thought 
was  ever  seriously  entertained  of  supplying  the  colonies  with  the 
elements  of  an  aristocracy.  Virginia  was  the  only  province  of  old 
foundation  in  which  the  Church  of  England  was  established  ;  and 
there  it  was  abandoned,  with  very  little  help,  to  the  caprice  or  preju- 
dices of  the  colonists,  under  which  it  speedily  decayed.  The  Puritans 
enjoyed,  undisturbed,  their  peculiar  notions  of  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment. '  It  concerneth  New  England  always  to  remember,  that  they 
were  originally  a  plantation  religious,  not  a  plantation  of  trade.  And 
if  any  man  among  us  make  religion  as  twelve,  and  the  world  as  thir- 
teen, such  an  one  hath  not  the  spirit  of  a  true  New  Englandman.  * 
And  when  they  chose  to  illustrate  this  noble  principle  by  decimating 
their  own  numbers  by  persecution,  and  expelling  from  their  limits  all 


Hutchinson's  History  of  Massachusetts^  p.  94. 


288  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

a  merchant  company  of  London,  the  northern,  to  a 
merchant  company  of  Bristol  and  Plymouth.4 
1606        The  southern,  or  London  company,  were  the  first 

dissenters  from  their  own  establishment,  the  mother  country  never 
exerted  herself  to  protect  or  prohibit.  The  only  ambition  of  the  state 
was  to  regulate  the  trade  of  its  colonies  ;  in  this  respect,  and  this 
only,  they  were  fenced  round  with  restrictions,  and  watched  with  the 
most  diligent  jealousy.  They  had  a  right  to  self-government  and 
self-taxation  ;  a  right  to  religious  freedom  in  the  sense  which  they 
chose  themselves  to  put  upon  the  word  ;  a  right  to  construct  their 
municipal  polity  as  they  pleased  ;  but  no  right  to  control  or  amend 
the  slightest  fiscal  regulation  of  the  imperial  authority,  however 
oppressively  it  might  bear  upon  them. 

"  Such,  I  say,  were  the  general  notions  prevailing  in  England  on 
the  subject  of  colonial  government,  during  the  period  of  the  foundation 
and  early  development  of  our  transatlantic  colonies — the  notions  by 
which  the  practice  of  government  was  regulated — although  I  do  not 
assert  that  they  were  framed  into  a  consistent  and  logical  theory. 
Perhaps  we  shall  not  be  far  wrong  in  regarding  Lord  Chatham  as  the 
last  distinguished  assertor  of  these  principles,  in  an  age  when  they 
had  begun  to  be  partially  superseded  by  newer  speculations." — 
Merivale  on  Colonisation,  vol.  i.,  p.  102. 

4  "  In  the  spring  of  1606,  James  I.  by  patent  divided  Virginia 
into  two  colonies.  The  southern  included  all  lands  between  the  34th 
and  41st  degrees  of  north  latitude.  This  was  granted  to  the  London 
Company.  The  northern  included  all  lands  between  the  38th  and  45th 
degrees  north  latitude,  and  was  granted  to  the  Plymouth  Company. 
To  prevent  disputes  about  territory,  the  colonies  were  forbidden  to 
plant  within  a  hundred  miles  of  each  other.  There  appears  an  incon- 
sistency in  these  grants,  as  the  lands  lying  between  the  38th  and 
41st  degrees  are  covered  by  both  patents. 

"  In  the  month  of  August,  1615,  Captain  John  Smith  arrived  in 
England,  where  he  drew  a  map  of  the  northern  part  of  Virginia,  and 
called  it  New  England.  From  this  time  the  name  of  Virginia  was 
confined  to  the  southern  part  of  the  colony." — Winterbottom's  His- 
tory of  America,  vol.  iv.,  p.  165.  See  Bancroft's  History  of  the 
United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  120. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          289 

to  commence  the  work  of  colonisation  with  energy. 
On  the  19th  of  December,  1606,  they  dispatched  an 
expedition  of  three  vessels,  commanded  by  Captain 
Newport,  comprising  a  number  of  people  of  rank 
and  distinction.  Among  these  was  Captain  John 
Smith,  whose  admirable  qualities  were  afterwards 
so  conspicuously  and  usefully  displayed.  The 
expedition  met  with  such  delays  and  difficulties 
that  it  was  at  one  time  on  the  point  of  returning  to 
England.  At  length,  however,  they  descried  an 
unknown  Cape,  and  soon  afterwards  entered  Chesa- 
peake Bay,  where  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the 
shores  even  surpassed  their  expectations.5  On  first 
landing  they  met  the  determined  hostility  of  "the 
savages,  but  when  the  fleet  proceeded  to  Cape  Com- 
fort, they  there  received  a  more  friendly  reception, 
and  were  invited  ashore.  The  Indians  spread  their 
simple  store  of  dainties  before  the  strangers,  smoked 
with  them  the  calumet  of  peace,  and  entertained  1 
them  with  songs  and  dances.  As  the  expedition  ; 
moved  higher  up  the  Bay,  where  no  English  had 
been  before  seen,  it  met  with  a  still  more  cordial 

welcome.  „ 

James  Town  was  the  first  permanent  English  settle-V 
ment  established  in  America,  although  it  has  not  smee  ^ 
risen  to  very  great  importance.     The  site  was  chosen 
by  this  expedition   about   forty  miles   above  the 
entrance  upon  the  banks  of  James'  River,  where  the 
emigrants  at  once  proceeded  to  establish  themselves. 

5  Percy  in  Purchas,  iv.,  1687. 
VOL.  i.  u 


290          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

They  suffered  great  distress  from  the  commencement  \ 
on  account  of  the  bad  quality  of  the  provisions,  fur- 
nished under  contract  by  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  one  of  j 
the  leading  members  of  the  Company.  Disease  soon 
followed  want,  and  in  a  short  time  fifty  of  the 
settlers  died.  Under  these  difficult  circumstances 
the  energy  and  ability  of  Captain  John  Smith  pointed 
him  out  as  the  only  person  to  command,  and  by 
the  consent  of  all  he  was  invested  with  absolute 
authority.  He  arranged  the  internal  affairs  of  the 
colony  as  he  best  could,  and  then  set  out  to  collect 
supplies  in  the  neighbouring  country.  The  Indians 
met  him  with  derision,  and  refused  to  trade  with 
him ;  he  therefore,  urged  by  necessity,  drove  them 
away,  and  took  possession  of  a  village  well  stocked 
with  provisions.  The  Indians  soon  returned  in  force 
and  attacked  him  furiously,  but  were  easily  repulsed: 
after  their  defeat  they  opened  a  friendly  intercourse, 
and  furnished  the  required  supplies.  Smith  made 
several  further  excursions.  On  returning  to  the 
colony  he  found  that  a  conspiracy  had  been  formed 
among  his  turbulent  followers  to  break  up  the  settle- 
ment and  sail  for  England;  this  he  managed  to 
suppress,  and  soon  again  started  to  explore  the 
country.  In  this  expedition  he  rashly  exposed  him- 
self unprotected  to  the  assaults  of  the  Indians,  and 
was  taken  prisoner  after  a  most  gallant  attempt  at 
escape.  He  was  led  about  in  triumph  for  some  time 
from  village  to  village,  and  at  length  sentenced  to 
die.  His  head  was  laid  upon  a  stone,  and  the  execu- 
tioner stood  over  him  with  a  club,  awaiting  the 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          291 

signal  to  slay,  when  Pocahontas,  daughter  of  the 
Indian  chief,  implored  her  father's  mercy  for  the 
white  man.  He  was  inexorable  and  ordered  the  exe- 
cution to  proceed,  but  the  generous  girl  laid  her  head 
upon  that  of  the  intended  victim,  and  vowed  that 
the  death  blow  should  strike  her  first.  The  savage 
chief,  moved  by  his  daughter's  devotion,  spared  the 
prisoner's  life.6  Smith  was  soon  afterwards  escorted 
in  safety  to  James'  Town,  and  given  up  on  a  small  1608 
ransom  being  paid  to  the  Indians.7 

Smith  found  on  his  arrival  that  the  colonists  were 
fitting  out  a  pinnace  to  return  to  England.  He  with 
ready  decision  declared  that  the  preparations  should 
be  discontinued  immediately,  or  he  would  sink  the 
little  vessel.  His  prompt  determination  was  suc- 
cessful, and  the  people  agreed  to  remain.  Through 
the  generous  kindness  of  Pocahontas  supplies  of 
provisions  were  furnished  to  the  settlement,  till  the 
arrival  of  a  vessel  from  England  replenished  its 
stores.  Soon  after  his  happy  escape  from  the  hands 
of  the  savages,  Smith  again  started  fearlessly  upon 

6  "  This  celebrated  scene  is  preserved  in  a  beautiful  piece  of  sculp- 
ture over  the  western  door  of  the  Rotundo  of  the  Capitol  at  Wash- 
ington.    The  group  consists  of  five  figures,  representing  the  precise 
moment  when  Pocahontas  by  her  interposition   saved  Smith  from 
being  executed.     It  is  the  work  of  Capellano,  a  pupil  of  Canova's." — 
Thatcher's    Indian    Biography,  vol.  i.,    p.  22.      See   Appendix, 
No.  LXL,  for  the  History  of  Pocahontas. 

7  Smith   in   Pinkerton,  xiii.,   51 — 55.      "  The  account   is  fully 
contained  in  the  oldest  book  printed  in  Virginia,  in  our  Cambridge 
library.     It  is  a  thin  quarto  in  black  letter,  by  John  Smith,  printed 
in  1608."— Bancroft's  Hist,  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  132. 

u  2 


292  THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA. 

an  expedition  to  explore  the  remainder  of  Chesa- 
1608  peake  Bay.  He  sailed  in  a  small  barge  accompanied 
only  by  twelve  men,  and  with  this  slender  force 
completed  a  voyage  of  3,000  miles  along  an  un- 
known coast,  among  a  fierce  and  generally  hostile 
people,  and  depending  on  accident  and  his  own 
ingenuity  for  supplies.  During  several  years  Poca- 
hontas  continued  to  visit  the  English,  but  her  father 
was  still  hostile,  and  once  endeavoured  to  surprise 
Smith  and  slay  him  in  the  woods,  but  again  the 
generous  Indian  girl  saved  his  life  at  the  hazard 
of  her  own ;  in  a  dark  night  she  ran  for  many  miles 
through  the  forest,  evading  the  vigilance  of  her  fierce 
countrymen,  and  warned  him  of  the  threatened 
danger.  An  open  war  now  ensued  between  the 
English  and  the  Indians,  and  was  continued  with 
great  mutual  injury,  till  a  worthy  gentleman  named 
Thomas  Rolfe,  deeply  interested  by  the  person  and 
character  of  Pocahontas,  made  her  his  wife ;  a  treaty 
1613  was  then  concluded  with  the  Indian  chief,  which 
was  henceforth  religiously  observed. 

The  colony8  meanwhile  proceeded  with  varied 
fortunes.     The    emigrants    had    been  very  badlyN 
selected  for  their  task :  "  poor  gentlemen,  tradesmen^ 

8  In  the  year  1610,  the  South  Virginian  or  London  Company 
sealed  a  patent  to  Lord  Delawarr,  constituting  him  Governor  and 
Captain-General  of  South  Virginia.  His  name  was  given  to  a  bay 
and  river,  and  to  the  Indians  who  dwelt  in  the  surrounding  country, 
called  in  their  own  tongue  Lenni  Lenape,  which  name  signifies  THE 
ORIGINAL  PEOPLE.  Lord  Delawarr's  health  was  ruined  by  the  hard- 
ships and  anxieties  he  was  .exposed  to  in  Virginia,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  return  to  England  in  little  more  than  a  year. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  293 

serving-men,  libertines,  and  such  like,  ten  times^ 
more  fit  to  spoil  a  commonwealth  than  either  to 
begin  or  maintain  one."  These  men  were  tempted 
into  the  undertaking  by  hopes  of  sudden  wealth,  and 
were  altogether  disinclined  to  even  the  slight  labour 
of  tilling  that  exuberant  soil,  when  only  a  .sub- 
sistence was  to  be  their  reward.  / In  1619  James  1619 
commenced  the  system  of  transporting  malefactors, 
by  sending  100  "dissolute  persons"  to  Virginia. 
These  men  were  used  as  labourers,  or  rather  slaves, 
but  tended  seriously  to  lower  the  character  of  the 
voluntary  emigration.9  In  1625  only  1800  convicts 
remained  alive  out  of  9000  who  had  been  trans- 

9  Captain  Smith  says  of  Virginia,  "  that  the  number  of  felons  and 
vagabonds  did  bring  such  evil  character  on  the  place,  that  some  did 
choose  to  be  hanged  rather  than  go  there,  and  were." — Graham's 
Rise  and  Progress  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  71. 

"  England  adopted  in  the  seventeenth  century  the  system  of  trans- 
portation to  her  North  American  plantations,  and  the  example  waa 
propagated  by  Cromwell,  who  introduced  the  practice  of  selling  his 
political  captives  as  slaves  to  the  West  Indians.  But  the  number  of 
regular  convicts  was  too  small,  and  that  of  free  labourers  too  large,  in 
the  old  provinces  of  North  America,  to  have  allowed  this  infusion  of  a 
convict  population  to  produce  much  effect  on  the  development  of  those 
communities,  either  in  respect  of  their  morals  or  their  health.*  Our 
own  times  are  the  first  which  have  witnessed  the  phenomena  of 
communities,  in  which  the  bulk  of  the  working  people  consists  of 
felons  serving  out  the  period  of  their  punishment."  —  Merivale, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  3. 


*  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  crimes  of  the  convicts  were  chiefly  political. 
The  number  transported  to  Virginia  for  social  crimes  was  never  considerable, — scarcely 
enough  to  sustain  the  sentiment  of  pride  in  its  scorn  of  the  labouring  population, — 
certainly  not  enough  to  affect  its  character. — Bancroft  vol.  ii.,  p.  191. 


294          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

ported  at  a  cost  of  ISjOOO/.1  The  contracted  and 
arbitrary  system  of  the  exclusive  Company  was  felt 
as  a  great  evil  in  the  colony.2  This  body  was  at 
length  superseded  by  the  forfeiture  of  its  charter, 
and  the  Crown  assumed  the  direction  of  affairs. 
Many  years  of  alternate  anarchy  and  tyranny 
followed.  During  the  rebellion  of  Bacon  in  1676, 
the  most  remarkable  event  in  this  early  period  of 
Virginian  history,  English  troops  were  first  intro- 
duced into  the  American  colonies.  Sir  William 
Berkeley,  who  was  appointed  governor  in  1642, 
visited  the  insurrectionists  with  a  terrible  vengeance, 
when  the  death  of  the  leader,  Bacon,  left  them 
defenceless.  «  The  old  fool,"  said  Charles  II.  (with 
truth),  "  has  taken  away  more  lives  in  that  naked 
country  than  I  for  the  murder  of  my  father."  But 
though  the  complaints  of  the  oppressed  were  heard 
in  England  with  impartiality,  and  Berkeley  was 
hunted  to  death  by  public  opinion  on  his  return 
there  to  defend  himself,  the  permanent  results  of 
Bacon's  rebellion  were  disastrous  to  Virginia;  all 
the  measures  of  reform  which  had  been  attempted 
during  its  brief  success  were  held  void,  and  every 
restrictive  feature  that  had  been  introduced  into 
legislation  by  the  detested  governor  was  perpetuated. 
Among  the  first  settlers  in  Virginia  gold  was  the 
great  object;  it  was  everywhere  eagerly  sought, 
but  in  vain.  Several  ships  were  loaded  with  a  sort 

1  Stith's  Hist,  of  Virginia,  pp.  167,  168  ;   Chalmers'  Annals  of 
the  United  Colonies,  p.  69.  3  Stith's  Hist,  of  Virginia,  p.  307. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          295 

of  yellow  clay,  and  sent  to  Lngland  under  the  belief 
that  it  contained  the  most  precious  of  metals,  but 
it  was  found  to  be  utterly  worthless.  The  colonists 
next  turned  their  attention  to  the  cultivation  of 
tobacco  ;3  this  speedily  became  so  profitable  that 

3  It  is  asserted  by  Camden  that  tobacco  was  first  brought  into 
England  by  Mr.  Ralph  Lane,  who  went  out  as  chief  governor  of 
Virginia  in  the  first  expedition  commanded  by  Sir  Richard  Greenville. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Lane  was  desired  to  import  it  by 
his  master,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  who  had  seen  it  used  in  France 
during  his  residence  there. — Camden  in  Kennet,  vol.  ii.  p.  509. 

"  There  is  a  well-known  tradition  that  Sir  Walter  first  began  to 
smoke  it  privately  in  his  study,  and  the  servant  coming  in  with  his 
tankard  of  ale  and  nutmeg,  as  he  was  intent  upon  his  book,  seeing 
the  smoke  issuing  from  his  mouth,  threw  all  the  liquor  in  his  face  by 
way  of  extinguishing  the  fire,  and,  running  down  stairs,  alarmed  the 
family  with  piercing  cries  that  his  master,  before  they  could  get  up, 
would  be  burnt  to  ashes." — Oldy's  Life  of  Raleigh,  p.  74. 

"  King  James  declared  himself  the  enemy  of  tobacco,  and  drew 
against  it  his  royal  pen.  In  the  work  which  he  entitled  '  Counter- 
blast to  Tobacco,'  he  poured  the  most  bitter  reproaches  on  this 
'  vile  and  nauseous  weed. '  He  followed  it  up  by  a  proclamation  to 
restrain  'the  disorderly  trading  in  tobacco,'  as  tending  to  a  general 
and  new  corruption  of  both  men's  bodies  and  minds.  Parliament 
also  took  the  fate  of  this  weed  into  their  most  solemn  deliberation. 
Various  members  inveighed  against  it,  as  a  mania  which  infested  the 
whole  nation  ;  that  ploughmen  took  it  at  the  plough  ;  that  it  *  hin- 
dered '  the  health  of  the  whole  nation,  and  that  thousands  had  died 
of  it.  Its  warmest  friends  ventured  only  to  plead,  that  before  the  final 
anathema  was  pronounced  against  it,  a  little  pause  might  be  granted 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Virginia  and  the  Somers  Isles  to  find  some  other 
means  of  existence  and  trade.  James's  enmity  did  not  prevent  him 
from  endeavouring  to  fill  his  coffers  by  the  most  enormous  imposts 
laid  upon  tobacco,  insomuch  that  the  colonists  were  obliged  for  some 
time  to  send  the  whole  into  the  ports  of  Holland.  The  government 
of  New  England,  more  consistently,  passed  a  complete  interdict 
against  tobacco,  the  smoke  of  which  they  compared  to  that  of  the 


296  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

it  was  pursued  even  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other 
industry. 

There  yet  remains  to  be  told  one  terrible  incident 
in  the  earlier  story  of  Virginia,  an  incident  that 
resulted  in  the  total  destruction  of  the  Indian  race. 
The  successor  to  the  father  of  Pocahontas  had 
conceived  a  deadly  enmity  against  the  English :  this 
was  embittered  from  day  to  day  as  he  saw  the 
hated  white  men  multiplying  and  spreading  over 
the  hunting-grounds  of  his  fathers.  Then  a  fierce 
determination  took  possession  of  his  savage  heart. 
For  years  he  matured  his  plans,  and  watched  the 
favourable  moment  to  crush  every  living  stranger 
at  a  blow.  He  took  all  his  people  into  counsel,  and 
such  was  their  fidelity,  and  so  deep  the  wile  of  the 
Indian  chief,  that*  during  four  years  of  preparation,  no 
warning  reached  the  intended  victims.  To  the  last 

bottomless  pit.  Yet  tobacco,  like  other  proscribed  objects,  throve 
under  persecution,  and  achieved  a  final  triumph  over  all  its  enemies. 
Indeed  the  enmity  against  it  was  in  some  respects  beneficial  to  Vir- 
ginia, as  drawing  forth  the  most  strict  prohibitions  against  '  abusing 
and  misemploying  the  soil  of  this  fruitful  kingdom  '  to  the  produc- 
tion of  so  odious  an  article.  After  all,  as  the  impost  for  an  average 
of  seven  years  did  not  reach  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds,  it 
could  not  have  that  mighty  influence  either  for  good  or  evil,  which 
was  ascribed  to  it  by  the  fears  and  passions  of  the  age." — Chalmers, 
b.  i.,  ch.  iii.,  with  notes.  Massaire,  p.  210.  Wives,  p.  197,  quoted 
by  Murray. 

"  Frenchmen  they  call  those  tobacco  plants  whose  leaves  do  not 
spread  and  grow  large,  but  rather  spire  upwards  and  grow  tall  ; 
these  plants  they  do  not  tend,  not  being  worth  their  labour." — 
Mr.  Clayton's  Letter  to  the  Royal  Society,  1688.  Miscellanea 
Curiosa,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  303 — 310. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  297 

fatal  moment  a  studied  semblance  of  cordial  friend- 
ship was  observed ;  some  Englishmen  who  had  lost 
their  way  in  the  woods  were  kindly  and  carefully 
guided  back  again. 

One  Friday  morning  (March  22nd,  1622)  the  1622 
Indians  came  to  the  town  in  great  numbers,  bearing 
presents,  and  finding  their  way  into  every  house. 
Suddenly  the  fierce  shout  of  the  savages  broke  the 
peaceful  silence,  and  the  death-shriek  of  their  victims 
followed.  In  little  more  than  a  minute,  three  hun- 
dred and  forty-seven,  of  all  ages  and  sexes,  were 
struck  down  in  this  horrid  massacre.  The  warning 
of  an  Indian  converted  to  Christianity  saved  James 
Town  ;  the  surviving  English  assembled  there,  and 
began  a  war  of  extermination  against  the  savages. 
By  united  force,  superior  arms,  and,  it  must  be 
added,  by  treachery  as  black  as  that  of  their  enemies, 
the  white  men  soon  swept  away  the  Indian  race  for 
ever  from  the  Virginian  soil.4 

As  has  been  before  mentioned,  the  northern  part 
of  Virginia  was  bestowed  by  royal  grant  upon 

4  The  colonists  of  Virginia,  in  a  kind  of  manifesto  published  in 
1622,  expressed  their  satisfaction  at  some  late  warlike  excursions  of 
the  Indians  as  a  pretext  for  robbing  and  subjugating  them.  "  Now 
these  cleared  grounds  in  all  their  villages,  which  are  situated  in  the 
fruitfullest  parts  of  the  land,  shall  be  inhabited  by  us,  whereas  here- 
tofore the  grubbing  of  woods  was  the  greatest  labour.  The  way  of 
conquering  them  is  much  more  easy  than  that  of  civilising  them  by 
fair  means  ;  for  they  are  a  rude,  barbarous,  and  naked  people,  scat- 
tered in  small  companies,  which  are  helps  to  victory  but  hindrances 
to  civility." — Tracts  relating  to  Virginia  in  the  British  Museum, 
quoted  by  Merivale.  See  Appendix,  No.  LXII. 


298          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

a  Merchant  Company  of  Plymouth,  and  other 
southern  and  western  seaports.  The  first  effort 
to  take  possession  of  the  new  territory  was  feeble 
and  disastrous.  Twenty-nine  Englishmen  and  two 
Indians  were  sent  out  in  a  little  bark  of  only  fifty- 

1606  five  tons  burthen ;  they  were  taken  by  the  Spaniards 
off  the  coast  of  Hispaniola,  who  treated  them  with 
great  cruelty.     Some  time  after  this  ill-fated  expe- 
dition had  failed,  another  colony  of  100  men,  led  by 
Captains  Popham  and  Gilbert,  settled  on  the  river 
Sagahadock,    and    built   a  fort    called    by    them 

1607  St.  George.     They  abandoned  the  settlement,  how- 
ever, the  following  year,  and  returned  to  England. 
The  next  project  of  British  North  American  coloni- 
sation was   set  on  foot  by  Captain  John   Smith, 
already  so  highly    distinguished    in  transatlantic 

1614  history.  After  much  difficulty  he  effected  the 
equipment  of  two  vessels,  and  sailed  for  the  Virgi- 
nian shore,  but,  although  successful  as  a  trading 
speculation,  the  only  permanent  fruits  of  the  voyage 
was  a  map  of  the  coast,  which  he  presented  to 
Charles  I.  The  king,  always  interested  in  maritime 
affairs,  listened  favourably  to  Smith's  accounts  of 
the  New  World,  but  proved  either  unable  or  unwilling 
to  render  him  any  useful  assistance.  The  next 
year  this  brave  adventurer  again  crossed  the  seas  in 
a  small  vessel,  containing  only  sixteen  emigrants ; 
the  little  expedition  was  captured  by  the  French, 
and  the  leader  with  great  difficulty  effected  his 
return  to  England. 

Meanwhile,  a  man  named  Hunt,  who  had  been 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          299 

left  in  charge  of  one  of  the  ships  in  Smith's  first 
expedition,  committed  an  outrage  upon  the  natives  1616 
that  led  to  deplorable  results ;  he  inveigled  thirty  of 
them  on  board,  carried  them  suddenly  away,  and 
sold  them  into  slavery.  The  savages  rose  against 
the  next  English  party  that  landed  upon  their  coast, 
and  killed  and  wounded  several  in  revenge.  Captain 
Dormer,  a  prudent  and  conciliatory  person,  with  one 
of  the  betrayed  natives,  was  sent  by  the  Company  to 
explain  to  the  furious  Indians  that  Hunt's  crime 
was  the  act  of  an  individual,  and  not  of  the  nation : 
this  commission  was  well  and  wisely  executed. 
For  about  two  years  Dormer  frequently  repeated  his 
visits  with  advantage  to  his  employers,  but  finally 
was  attacked  by  strange  savages,  and  wounded 
fatally. 

But  still  through  all  these  difficulties  and  dis- 
asters, adventurers  pressed  on  to  the  fertile  Western 
desert,  allured  by  liberal  grants  of  land  from  the 
chartered  companies.  The  undefined  limits  of  these 
concessions  led  to  constant  and  mischievous  quarrels 
among  the  settlers,  often  attended  with  violence  and 
bloodshed  ;  from  these  causes  the  early  progress  of 
the  colony  was  very  slow.  One  hundred  and  twenty 
years  after  England  had  discovered  North  America, 
she  only  possessed  a  few  scattered  fishing  huts  along 
the  shore.  But  events  were  now  at  hand  which  at 
once  stamped  a  peculiar  character  upon  the  coloni- 
sation of  this  part  of  the  New  World,  and  which 
were  destined  to  exercise  an  influence  upon  the 


300          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

human    race    of   an    importance    even  yet  incal- 
culable.5 

5  "  II  faut  envisager  surtout  1'influence  qu'a  exercee  le  Nouveau 
Continent  sur  les  destinees  du  genre  humain  sous  le  rapport  des 
institutions  sociales.  La  tourmente  religieuse  du  seizieme  siecle,  en 
favorisant  1'essor  d'une  libre  reflexion,  a  prelude  a  la  tourmente  poli- 
tique  des  temps  dans  lesquels  nous  vivons.  Le  premier  de  ces  mouve- 
mens  a  coincide  avec  1'epoque  de  1'etablissement  des  colonies  Euro- 
peennes  en  Amerique  ;  le  second  s'est  fait  sentir  vers  la  fin  du  dix- 
huitieme  siecle,  et  a  fini  par  briser  les  liens  de  dependance  qui 
unissaient  les  deux  mondes.  Une  circonstance  sur  laquelle  on  n'a 
peut-etre  pas  assez  fixe  1'attention  publique  et  qui  tient  a  ces  causes 
mysterieuses  dont  a  dependu  la  distribution  inegale  du  genre  humain 
sur  le  globe,  a  favorisee,  on  pourroit  dire,  a  rendre  possible  1'influ- 
ence politique  que  je  viens  de  signaler.  Une  moitie  du  globe  est 
restee  si  faiblement  peuplee  que,  malgre  le  long  travail  d'une  civilisa- 
tion indigene,  qui  a  eu  lieu  entre  les  decouvertes  de  Lief  et  de  Colomb, 
sur  les  c6tes  Americaines  opposees  a  1'Asie,  d'immenses  pays  dans  la 
partie  orientale  n'offroierit  au  quinzieme  siecle  que  des  tribus  eparses 
de  peuples  chasseurs.  Get  etat  de  depopulation  dans  des  pays  fer- 
tiles  et  eminemment  aptes  a  la  culture  de  nos  cereales,  a  permis  aux 
Europeens  d'y  fonder  des  etablissemens  sur  une  echelle  qu'aucune 
colonisation  de  1'Asie  et  de  1'Afrique  n'a  pu  atteindre.  Les  peuples 
chasseurs  ont  ete  refoules  des  cotes  orientales  vers  1'interieur,  et  dans 
le  nord  de  1'Ame'rique,  sous  des  climats  et  des  aspects  de  vegetation 
tres  analogues  a  ceux  des  iles  Britanniques,  il  s'est  forme  par  emigra- 
tion, des  la  fin  de  1'annee  1620,  des  communautes  dont  les  institu- 
tions se  presentent  comme  le  reflet  des  institutions  libres  de  la  mere 
patrie.  La  Nouvelle  Angleterre  n'etoit  pas  primitivement  un  eta- 
blissement  d'industrie  et  de  commerce,  comme  le  sont  encore  les 
factoreries  de  1'Afrique  ;  ce  n'etoit  pas  une  domination  sur  les  peuples 
agricoles  d'une  race  differente,  comme  1'empire  Britannique  dans 
1'Inde,  et  pendant  longtemps,  1'empire  Espagnole  au  Mexique  et  au 
Perou.  La  Nouvelle  Angleterre,  qui  a  regu  une  premiere  colonisa- 
tion de  quatre  mille  families  de  puritains,  dont  descend  aujourd'hui 
un  tiers  de  la  population  blanche  des  Etats  Unis,  etoit  un  etablisse- 
ment  religieux.  La  liberte  civile  s'y  montrait  des  l'origine  inse'par- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          301 

able  de  la  liberte  du  culte.  Or  1'histoire  nous  revele  que  les  institu- 
tions libres  de  1'Angleterre,  de  la  Hollande,  et  de  la  Suisse,  malgre 
leur  proximite,  n'ont  pas  reagi  sur  les  peuples  de  1' Europe  latine, 
comme  ce  reflet  de  formes  de  gouvernemens  entierement  democra- 
tiques  qui,  loin  de  tout  ennemi  exterieur,  favorises  par  une  tendance 
uniforme  et  constante  de  souvenirs  et  de  vielles  mreurs,  ont  pris 
dans  un  calme  long-temps  prolonge,  des  developpemens  inconnus 
aux  temps  modernes.  C'est  ainsi  que  le  manque  de  population  dans 
des  regions  des  Nou/eau  Continent  opposees  a  1'Europe,  et  le  libre 
et  prodigieux  accroissement  d'une  colonisation  Anglaise  au-dela  de  la 
grande  vallee  de  1'Atlantique,  a  puissamment  contribue  k  changer  la 
face  politique  et  les  destinees  de  1'ancien  continent.  On  a  affirme  que 
si  Colomb  n'avoit  pas  change,  selon  les  conseils  d'Alonzo  Pinzon,* 
le  7  Octobre  1492,  la  direction  de  sa  route,  qui  etoit  de  1'est  a 
1'ouest,  et  gouverne  vers  le  sud-ouest,  il  seroit  entre  dans  le  courant 
d'eau  chaude  ou  Gulf-stream,  et  auroit  etc  porte  vers  la  Floride,  et  de 
la  peut-etre  vers  le  cap  Hatteras  et  la  Virginie,  incident  d'une  im- 
mense importance,  puisqu'il  auroit  pu  donner  aux  Etats  Unis,  en  lieu 
d'une  population  Protestante  anglaise,  une  population  Catholique 
Espagnole."  —  Humboldt's  Geog.  du  Nouveau  Continent,  torn,  iii., 
p,  163. 


*  Alonzo  s'e'toit  eerie  "  que  son  coeur  lui  disoit  que  pour  trouver  la  terre,  il  falloit 
gouverner  vers  le  sud-ouest."  L' inspiration  d'Alonzo  etoit  moins  myste'rieuse  qu'elle 
peut  le  paraitre  au  premier  abord.  Pinzon  avoit  vu  dans  la  soire'e  passer  des  perro- 
quets,  et  il  savoit  que  ces  oiseaux  n'alloient  pas  sans  motif  du  c6te  du  sud.  Jamais 
vol  d'oiseau  n'a  eu  des  suites  plus  graves. 


302 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE  Protestant  Reformation  was  eminently  suited 
to  the  spirit  of  the  English  people,  although  forced 
upon  them  in  the  first  instance  by  the  absolute 
power  of  a  capricious  king,  and  unaccompanied 
by  any  acknowledgment  of  those  rights  of  toleration 
and  individual  judgment  upon  which  its  strength 
seemed  mainly  to  depend.  The  monarch,  when  con- 
stituted the  head  of  the  Church,  exacted  the  same 
spiritual  obedience  from  his  subjects  as  they  had 
formerly  rendered  to  the  Pope  of  Rome.  Queen 
Elizabeth  adopted  her  father's  principles;  she 
favoured  the  power  of  the  hierarchy  and  the  pomp 
and  ceremony  of  external  religious  observances. 
But  the  English  people,  shocked  by  the  horrors  of 
Mary's  reign,  and  terrified  by  the  papal  persecutions 
on  the  Continent,  were  generally  inclined  to  favour 
the  extremes  of  Calvinistic  simplicity,  as  a  supposed 
security  against  another  reaction  to  the  Romish 
faith.  The  stern  and  despotic  Queen,  encouraged 
1583  ky  the  counsels  of  Archbishop  Whitgift,  assumed  the 
groundless  right  of  putting  down  the  opinions  of 
the  Puritans  by  force.  Various  severities  were 
exercised  against  those  who  held  the  obnoxious 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  303 

doctrines,  but  despite  the  storm  of  persecution  the 
spirit  of  religious  independence  spread  rapidly 
among  the  sturdy  people  of  England.  At  length  a 
statute  was  passed  of  a  nature  now  almost  incredible 
— secession  from  the  Church  was  punishable  by 
banishment,  and  by  death  in  case  of  refusal  on  1593 
return.1 

The  Puritans  were  thus  driven  to  extremity.2 
The  followers  of  an  enthusiastic  seceder  named 
Brown3  formed  the  first  example  of  an  independent 
system :  each  congregation  was  in  itself  a  Church, 
and  the  spiritual  power  was  wholly  vested  in  its 
members.  This  sect  was  persecuted  to  the  utter- 

1  35  Eliz.,  c.  1,  stat.  4,  pp.  841—843  ;    Parl.  Hist.,  p.  863  ; 
Strype's  Whitgift,  p.  414,  &c.;  Neale'sPwitaws,  vol.  i.,  pp.  526,  527, 
quoted  by  Bancroft,  vol.  i.,  p.  290. 

2  "  The  Gospel  Advocate  asserts  that  *  the  judicial  law  of  Moses 
being  still  in  force,  no  prince  or  law  ought  to  save  the  lives  of  (inter 
alios)  heretics,  wilful  breakers  of  the  sabbath,  neglecters  of   the 
sacrament  without  just  reason.'      Well  may  the  historian  of  the 
Puritans  (Neale)  say,  '  Both  parties  agreed  in  asserting  the  necessity 
of  a  uniformity  of  public  worship,  and  of  using  the  sword  of  the 
magistrate  in  support    of  their  respective  principles.'     It  should 
never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  are  inclined  to  blame  the  severe 
laws  passed  against  these  nonconformists,  that  the  English  Govern- 
ment was  dealing  with  men  whose  avowed  wish  and  object  it  was  not 
simply  to  be  tolerated,  but  to  subvert  existing  institutions  in  Church 
and  State,  and  set  up  in  their  place  those  approved  by  themselves." — 
Godley's  Letters  from  America,  vol.  ii.,  p.  135. 

3  "  The  most  noisy  advocate  of  the  new  opinions  was  Brown,  a 
man  of  rashness,  possessing  neither  true  courage  nor  constancy.     He 
has  acquired  historical  notoriety  because  his  hot-headed  indiscretion 
urged  him  to  undertake  the  defence  of  separation.     .     .     .      Brown 
eventually  purchased  a  living  in  the  English  Church  by  conformity." 
—Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  /States,  vol.  i.,  p.  287. 


304  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

most:  the  leader  was  imprisoned  in  no  less  than 
thirty-two  different  places,  and  many  of  his  followers 
suffered  death  itself  for  conscience'  sake.  Some  of 
1698  the  Brownists  took  refuge  in  Holland,4  but  impelled 
by  a  longing  for  an  independent  home,  or  perhaps 
urged  by  the  mysterious  impulse  of  their  great 
destiny,  they  cast  their  eyes  upon  that  stern  Western 
shore,  where  the  untrodden  wilderness  offered  them 
at  least  the  "freedom  to  worship  God."  They 
applied  to  the  London  Company  for  a  grant  of  land, 
declaring  that  they  were  "  wreaned  from  the  delicate 
milk  of  their  native  country,  and  knit  together  in  a 
strict  and  sacred  band ;  whom  small  things  could  not 
discourage,  nor  small  discontents  cause  to  wish 
themselves  home  again."  After  some  delay  they 
accomplished  their  object;  however,  the  only 
security  they  could  obtain  for  religious  independence 
was,  a  promise  that  as  long  as  they  demeaned  them- 
selves quietly,  no  inquiry  should  be  made.5 

4  "  But  although  Holland  is  a  country  of  the  greatest  religious 
freedom,  they  were  not  better  satisfied  there  than  in  England.  They 
were  tolerated  indeed,  but  watched.  Their  zeal  began  to  have 
dangerous  languor  for  want  of  opposition,  and  being  without  power 
and  influence,  they  grew  tired  of  the  indolent  security  of  their 
sanctuary.  They  were  desirous  of  removing  to  a  country  where  they 
should  see  no  superior." — Russell's  Modern  Europe,  vol.  ii.,  p.  427. 

"  They  were  restless  from  the  consciousness  of  ability  to  act  a 
more  important  part  on  the  theatre  of  the  world     .     .     .     they  were 
moved  by  an  enlightened  desire  of  improving  their  condition     .     . 
the  honourable  ambition  of  becoming  the  founders  of  a  state." — 
Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  303. 

6  This  was  a  promise  from  James  I.,  who  had  now  succeeded  to 
the  throne  of  England. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  305 

Much  of  the  history  of  nations  may  be  traced 
through  the  foundation  and  progress  of  their 
colonies.  Each  particular  era  has  shown  in  the 
settlements  of  the  time  types  of  the  several  mother 
countries,  examples  of  their  systems  and  the  results 
of  their  exigencies.  At  one  time,  this  type  is  of  an 
adventurous,  at  another  of  a  religious  character; 
now  formed  by  political,  again  by  social  influences. 
The  depth  and  durability  of  this  impress  may  be 
measured  by  the  strength  of  the  first  motives,  and 
the  genius  of  the  people  from  whom  the  emigration 
flows.6  The  ancient  colonies  of  Asia  Minor  displayed 

6  "  A  strongly  marked  distinction  exists  between  the  Southern  and 
Northern  Americans.  The  two  extremes  are  formed  by  the  New 
Englanders*  and  the  Virginians.  The  former  are  certainly  the 
more  respectable.  They  are  industrious,  frugal,  enterprising,  regular 
in  their  habits,  pure  in  their  manners,  and  strongly  impressed  with 
sentiments  of  religion.  The  name  Yankee,  which  we  apply  as  one  of 
reproach  and  derision  to  Americans  in  general,  is  assumed  by  them 
as  their  natural  and  appropriate  designation.!  It  is  a  common 
proverb  in  America,  that  a  Yankee  will  live  where  another  would 
starve.  Their  very  prosperity,  however,  with  a  certain  reserve  in 
their  character,  and  supposed  steady  attention  to  small  gains,  renders 
them  not  excessively  popular  with  those  among  whom  they  settle. 
They  are  charged  with  a  peculiar  species  of  finesse,  called  '  Yankee 
tricks,'  and  the  character  of  being  '  up  to  everything  '  is  applied  to 
them,  we  know  not  exactly  how,  in  a  sense  of  reproach.  The 
Virginian  planter,  on  the  contrary,  is  lax  in  principle,  destitute  of 
industry,  eager  in  the  pursuit  of  rough  pleasures,  and  demoralised  by 
the  system  of  negro  slavery,  which  exists  in  almost  a  West  Indian 


*  Descendants  of  the  Puritans. 

f  "  The  word  Yankees  (which  is  the  Indian  corruption  of  English,  Yengeese,)  is 
hoth  offensive  and  incorrect  as  applied  to  any  but  New  Englanders." — Godley's  Letters 
from  America. 

VOL.  I.  X 


306  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

the  original  characteristics  of  the  mother  country 
long  after  her  states  had  become  utterly  changed. 
The  Roman  settlements  in  Italy  raised  upon  the 
ruins  of  a  subjugated  nation  a  fabric  of  civilisation 
and  power  that  can  never  be  forgotten.  The  proud 
and  adventurous,  but  ruthless  spirit  that  distin- 
guished the  Spanish  nation  at  the  time  of  their 
wonderful  conquests  in  the  New  World,  is  still 
exhibited  in  the  haughty  tyranny  of  Cuba,  and 
the  sanguinary  struggles  of  the  South  American 
Republics.  The  French  Canadian  of  to-day  retains 
most  or  many  of  the  national  sentiments  of  those 
who  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  extend  the  power  of 


form.  Yet  with  all  the  Americans  who  attempt  to  draw  the  parallel, 
he  seems  rather  the  favourite.  He  is  frank,  open-hearted,  and 
exercising  a  splendid  hospitality.  Both  Cooper  and  Judge  Hall 
report  him  as  a  complete  gentleman  ;  by  which  they  evidently  mean 
not  the  finished  courtier,  hut  the  English  country  gentleman  or 
squire,  though  the  opening  afforded  by  the  political  constitution  of 
his  country  causes  him  to  cultivate  his  mind  more  by  reading  and 
inquiry.  A  large  proportion  of  the  most  eminent  and  ruling 
statesmen  in  America — Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison — were 
Virginians.  Surrounded  from  their  infancy  with  ease  and  wealth, 
accustomed  to  despise,  and  to  see  despised,  money  on  a  small  scale, 
and  no  laborious  exertions  made  for  its  attainment,  they  imbibe 
from  youth  the  habits  and  ideas  of  the  higher  classes.  Luxurious 
living,  gaming,  horse-racing,  cock-fighting,  and  other  rough,  turbulent 
amusements,  absorb  a  great  portion  of  their  life.  Although,  there- 
fore, the  leisure  enjoyed  by  them,  when  well  improved,  may  have 
produced  some  very  elevated  and  accomplished  characters,  they 
cannot,  taken  at  the  highest,  be  considered  so  respectable  a  class 
as  their  somewhat  despised  northern  brethren  ;  and  the  lower 
ranks  are  decidedly  in  a  state  of  comparative  moral  debasement." — 
Murray,  vol.  ii.,  p.  394. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          307 

France  and  of  her  proudest  king.  And  still  in  that 
great  Anglo-Saxon  nation  of  the  west,  through  the 
strife  of  democratic  ambition,  and  amidst  the  toils 
and  successes  of  an  enormous  commerce,  we  trace 
the  foundations,  overgrown  perhaps,  but  all 
unshaken,  of  that  stern  edifice  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty7  which  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  raised  with  their 
untiring  labour,  and  cemented  with  their  blood. 

The  peculiar  nature  of  the  first  New  England 
emigration  was  the  result  of  those  strong  tendencies 
of  the  British  people  soon  afterwards  strengthened 
into  a  determination  sufficiently  powerful  to  sacri- 
fice the  Monarch  and  subvert  the  Church  and 
State. 

The  Brownists,  or  as  they  are  more  happily  called,  1620 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  set  sail  on  the  12th  of  July, 
1620,  in  two  small  vessels.  There  were  in  all  120 
souls,  with  a  moderate  supply  of  provisions  and 
goods.  On  the  9th  of  November  they  reached  Cape 
Cod,  after  a  rough  voyage ;  they  had  been  obliged 
to  send  one  of  their  ships  back  to  England.  From 
ignorance  of  the  coast  and  from  the  lateness  of  the 
season,  they  could  not  find  any  very  advantageous 
place  of  settlement ;  they  finally  fixed  upon  New 
Plymouth,8  where  they  landed  on  the  21st  of 

7  "  James  I.  ranked  amongst  their  party,  as  much  as  he  was  able 
by  severe  usage,  all  those  who  stood  up  in  defence  even  of  civil 
liberty." — Bolingbroke's  Remarks  upon  English  History,  p.  283. 

8  "  In  memory  of  the  hospitalities  which  the  company  had  received 
at  the  last  English  port  from  which  they  had  sailed,  this  oldest  New 
England  colony  obtained  the  name  of  Plymouth.     The  two  vessels 

x2 


308  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

December.  During  the  remainder  of  the  winter 
they  suffered  terribly  from  cold,  want,  and  sickness ; 
no  more  than  fifty  remained  alive  when  spring  came 
to  mitigate  their  sufferings.  The  after  progress  of 
the  little  colony  was,  for  some  time  slow  and  painful. 
The  system  of  common  property9  had  excited  griev- 
ous discontent ;  this  tended  to  create  an  aversion 
to  labour  that  was  to  be  productive  of  no  more 
benefit  to  the  industrious  than  to  the  idle ;  in  a  short 
time  it  became  necessary  to  enforce  a  certain  degree 
of  exertion  by  the  punishment  of  whipping.  They 
intrusted  all  religious  matters  to  the  gifted  among 
their  brethren,  and  would  not  allow  of  the  forma- 
tion of  any  regular  ministry.  However,  the  unsuit- 
ableness  of  these  systems  to  men  subject  to  the 
usual  impulses  and  weaknesses  of  human  nature 
soon  became  obvious,  and  the  first  errors  were 
gradually  corrected.  In  the  course  of  ten  years  the 
population  reached  to  300,  and  the  settlement  pros- 
pered considerably. 


which  conveyed  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  from  Delft  Haven  were  the 
Mayflower  and  the  Speedwell.  The  Mayflower  alone  proceeded  to 
America." — Bancroft,  vol.  i.,  p.  313. 

9  "  Under  the  influence  of  this  wild  notion  the  colonists  of  New 
Plymouth,  in  imitation  of  the  primitive  Christians,  threw  all  their 
property  into  a  common  stock." — Robertson's  America,  h.  x.  One 
of  the  many  errors  with  which  the  volume  of  Robertson  teems. 
There  was  no  attempt  at  imitating  the  primitive  Christians  ;  the 
partnership  was  a  consequence  of  negociation  with  British  merchants; 
the  colonists  preferred  the  system  of  private  property,  and  acted  upon 
it,  as  far  and  as  soon  as  was  possible. — Bancroft's  History  of  the 
United  /States,  vol.  i.,  p.  306. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          309 

King  James  was  not  satisfied  with  the  slow  1620 
progress  of  American  colonisation.  In  the  same 
year  that  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  landed  at  Plymouth, 
he  formed  a  new  company  under  the  title  of  the 
Grand  Council  of  Plymouth,1  and  appointed  many 
people  of  rank  and  influence  to  its  direction ;  little 
good,  however,  resulted  from  this  step.  Though 
the  council  itself  was  incapable  of  the  generous 
project  of  planting  colonies,  it  was  ever  ready 
to  make  sale  of  patents,  which  sales,  owing  to 
parliamentary  opposition  to  their  claims,  soon 
became  their  only  source  of  revenue.2  They  sold 
to  some  gentlemen  of  Dorchester  a  belt  of  land 
stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and 

1  "The  remonstrances  of  the  Virginia  corporation  and  a  transient 
regard  for  the  rights  of  the  country  could  delay,  but  could  not  defeat, 
a  measure  that  was  sustained  by  the  personal  favourites  of  the 
monarch.     King  James  issued  to  forty  of  his  subjects,  some  of  them 
members  of  his  household  and  his  government,  the  most  wealthy  and 
powerful  of  the  English  nobility,  a  patent,  which  in  American  annals, 
and  even  in  the  history  of  the  world,  has  but  one  parallel.     The 
territory  conferred    on   the   patentees   in   absolute   property,    with 
unlimited  jurisdiction,  the  sole  powers  of  legislation,  the  appointment 
of  all  officers  and  all  forms  of  government — comprised,  and  at  the 
time  was  believed  to  comprise,  much  more  than  a  million  of  square 
miles — it  was,  by  a  single  signature  of  King  James,  given  away  to  a 
corporation  within  the  realm,  composed  of  but  forty  individuals." — 
Bancroft,  vol.  i.,  p.  273. 

2  "  The  very  extent  of  the  grant  rendered  it  of  little  value.     The 
results  which  grew  out  of  the  concession  of  this  charter  form  a  new 
proof,  if  any  were  wanting,  of  that  mysterious  connexion  of  events  by 
which  Providence  leads  to  ends  that  human  councils  had  not  con- 
ceived."— Bancroft,  vol.  i.,  p.  273. 

The  Grand  Council  of  Plymouth  resigned  their  charter  in  1635. 


310  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

extending  three  miles  south  of  the  River  Charles, 
and  three  miles  north  of  every  part  of  the  River 
Merrimac.  Other  associates  in  the  enterprise  were 
sought  and  found  in  and  about  London :  Winthrop, 
Johnson,  Pinchon,  Eaton,  Saltonstall,  Bellingham, 
famous  in  colonial  annals.  Endicott,  the  first 
governor  of  the  new  colony,  was  one  of  the  original 
purchasers  of  the  patent.  They  were  all  kindred 
spirits,  men  of  religious  fervour,  uniting  the  emo- 
tions of  enthusiasm  with  unbending  resolution  in 
action. 

The  first  winter  brought  to  these  colonists  the 
usual  privation,  suffering,  and  death,  but  a  now 
rapidly  increasing  emigration  more  than  filled  up 
the  places  of  all  casualties.  From  this  period, 
many  men  of  respectability  and  talent,3  especially 

3  "  The  circumstance  which  threw  a  greater  lustre  on  the  colony  than 
any  other  was  the  arrival  of  Mr.  John  Cotton,  the  most  esteemed  of  all 
the  Puritan  ministers  in  England.  He  was  equally  distinguished  for 
his  learning,  and  for  a  brilliant  and  figurative  eloquence.  He  was  so 
generally  beloved  that  his  non-conformity  to  the  ritual  of  the  estab- 
lished church  of  which  he  was  a  minister  was,  for  a  considerable 
time,  disregarded.  At  last,  however,  he  was  called  before  the  eccle- 
siastical commission,  and  he  determined  upon  emigration.  '  Some 
reverend  and  renowned  ministers  of  our  Lord '  endeavoured  to  per- 
suade him  that  the  forms  to  which  he  refused  obedience  were 
'  sufferable  trifles,'  and  did  not  actually  amount  to  a  breach  of  the 
second  commandment.  Mr.  Cotton,  however,  argued  so  forcibly  on 
the  opposite  side,  that  several  of  the  most  eminent  became  all  that  he 
was,  and  afterwards  followed  his  example.  There  went  out  with  him 
Mr.  Hooker  and  Mr.  Stone,  who  were  esteemed  to  make  '  a  glorious 
triumvirate,'  and  were  received  in  New  England  with  the  utmost  exul- 
tation. It  was  doubtless  a  severe  trial  to  these  ministers,  who  appear 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  311 

ministers  of  the  gospel,  sought  that  religious  free- 
dom4 in  America,  which  was  denied  them  at  home. 
A  general  impulse  was  given  among  the  commercial 
and  industrious  classes ;  vessels  constantly  crowded 
from  the  English  ports  across  the  Atlantic,  till  at 
length  the  court  took  the  alarm.  A  proclamation 
was  issued  "  to  restrain  the  disorderly  transporta- 
tion of  his  Majesty's  subjects,  because  of  the  many 
idle  and  refractory  humours, '  whose  only  or  principal 
end  is  to  live  beyond  the  reach  of  authority/  "  It 

really  to  have  been,  as  they  say,  'faithful,  watchful,  painful,  serving  their 
flock  daily  with  prayers  and  tears, '  who  possessed  such  a  reputation  at 
home  and  over  Europe, — to  find  that  no  sooner  did  any  half-crazed  en- 
thusiast spring  up  or  arrive  in  the  colony,  that  the  people  could  he  pre- 
vented only  by  the  most  odious  compulsion  from  deserting  their  churches 
and  flocking  to  him  in  a  mass.  Vainly  did  Mr.  John  Cotton  strive  to 
persuade  Roger  Williams,  the  sectary,  that'the  red  cross  on  the  English 
banner,  or  his  wife's  being  in  the  room  while  he  said  grace,  were  '  suf- 
ferable  trifles,'  and  '  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her  ladies  '  treated  his 
advice  and  exhortations  with  equal  disregard  and  contempt.  One  of 
them  sent  him  a  pound  of  candles  to  intimate  his  need  of  more  spiritual 
light.  This  was  then  the  freedom  for  which  his  church  and  his  country 
had  been  deserted." — Mather  ;  Neale  ;  Hutchinson. 

4  "  Robertson  is  astonished  that  Neale  (see  Neale,  p.  56)  should 
assert  that  freedom  of  religious  worship  was  granted,  when  the  charter 
expressly  asserts  the  king's  supremacy.  But  this,  in  fact,  was  never 
the  article  at  which  they  demurred  ;  for  the  spirit  of  loyalty  was  still 
very  strong.  It  seems  quite  clear,  from  the  confidence  with  which 
they  went,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  acted  when  there,  that, 
though  there  was  no  formal  or  written  stipulation,  the  most  full 
understanding  existed  that  very  ample  latitude  was  to  be  allowed  in 
this  respect.  We  have  seen  on  every  occasion  the  vast  sacrifices 
which  kings  were  willing  to  make  in  order  to  people  their  distant 
possessions  ;  and  the  necessity  was  increased  by  the  backwardness 
hitherto  visible." — Murray's  America,  vol.  i.,  p.  249* 


312  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

has  long  been  a  popular  story  that  eight  emigrant 
ships  were  seized  when  on  the  point  of  sailing  for 
America,  and  the  passengers  forced  to  land  ;  among 
whom  were  John  Hampden,5  Sir  Arthur  Haslerigg, 
and  Oliver  Cromwell.  This  tale  has,  however, 
been  proved  untrue  by  modern  historians.6 

5  During  the  year  1635  we  find  the  name  of  John  Hampden 
joined  with  those  of  six  other  gentlemen  of  family  and  fortune,  who 
united  with  the  Lords  Say  and  Brooke  in  making  a  purchase  from 
the  Earl  of  Warwick  of  an  extensive  grant  of  land  in  a  wide  wilder- 
ness, then  called  Virginia,  but  which  now  forms  a  part  of  the  state  of 
Connecticut.  That  these  transatlantic  possessions  were  designed  by 
the  associates,  ultimately,  or  under  certain  contingencies,  to  serve  as 
an  asylum  to  themselves  and  a  home  to  their  posterity,  there  is  no 
room  to  doubt ;  but  it  is  evident  that  nothing  short  of  circumstances 
constituting  a  moral  necessity,  would  have  urged  persons  of  their 
rank,  fortunes,  and  habits  of  life,  to  encounter  the  perils,  privations, 
and  hardships  attendant  upon  the  pioneers  of  civilisation  in  that  inhos- 
pitable clime.  Accordingly  they  for  the  present  contented  themselves 
with  sending  out  an  agent  to  take  possession  of  these  territories  and 
to  build  a  fort.  This  was  done  and  the  town  called  Say  brook,  from  the 
united  names  of  the  two  noble  proprietors,  still  preserves  the  memory 
of  the  enterprise.  They  finally  abandoned  the  whole  design,  and 
sold  the  land  in  1636,  probably. — Miss  Aikin's  Life  of  Charles  /., 
p.  471.  Bancroft,  vol.  i.,  p.  384. 

6  "  In  one  of  these  embargoed  ships  had  actually  embarked  for  their 
voyage  across  the  Atlantic  two  no  less  considerable  personages  than 
John  Hampden  and  his  kinsman,  Oliver  Cromwell." — Life  of  Hamp- 
den, by  Lord  Nugent,  vol.  i.,  p.  254.  London,  1832. 

Lord  Nugent  has  fallen  into  the  vulgar  error,  an  invention  probably 
of  the  Puritan  historian,  and  unanswerably  disproved  by  a  reference 
to  parliamentary  records.  See  Miss  Aikin's  Life  of  Charles  /.,  vol.  i., 
p.  472  ;  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  411. 
The  exultation  of  the  Puritan  writers  on  the  subject  is  excessive. 
They  ascribe  all  the  subsequent  misfortunes  of  Charles  I.  in  connexion 
with  the  scheme  of  Providence  to  this  tyrannical  edict,  as  they  call  it. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA.  313 

Notwithstanding  these  unjust  and  mischievous 
prohibitions,  a  considerable  number  of  emigrants 
still  found  their  way  across  the  Atlantic.  But  when 
the  outburst  of  popular  indignation  swept  away  all 
the  barriers  raised  by  a  short-sighted  tyranny 
against  English  freedom,  many  flocked  back  again  1648 
to  their  native  country  to  enjoy  its  newly  acquired 
liberty.  The  odious  and  iniquitous  persecution  of 
the  Puritans  resulted  in  a  great  benefit  to  the 
human  race,  and  gave  the  first  strong  impulse  to 
the  spirit  of  resistance  that  ultimately  overthrew 
oppression.  It  caused  also  the  colonisation  of  New 
England  to  be  effected  by  a  class  of  men  far  supe- 
rior in  industry,  energy,  principle,  and  character 

— Russell's  Modern  Europe,  vol.  ii.,  p.  237.  See  Bancroft's  History 
of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  412. 

"  Nothing  could  be  more  barbarous  than  this  !  To  impose  laws  on 
men  which  in  conscience  they  thought  they  could  not  comply  with, 
to  punish  them  for  their  non-compliance,  and  continually  revile  them 
as  undutiful  and  disobedient  subjects  by  reason  thereof,  and  yet  not 
permit  them  peaceably  to  depart  and  enjoy  their  own  opinions  in  a 
distant  part  of  the  world,  yet  dependent  on  the  sovereign;  to  do  all 
this  was  base,  barbarous,  and  inhuman.  But  persecutors  of  all  ages 
and  nations  are  near  the  same  ;  they  are  without  the  feelings  and  the 
understandings  of  men.  Cromwell  or  Hampden  could  have  given 
little  opposition  to  the  measures  of  Charles  in  the  wilds  of  North 
America.  In  England  they  engaged  with  spirit  against  him,  and  he 
had  reason  to  repent  his  hindering  their  voyage.  May  such  at  all 
times  be  the  reward  of  those  who  attempt  to  rule  over  their  fellow- 
men  with  rigour  :  may  they  find  that  they  will  not  be  slaves  to  kings 
or  priests,  but  that  they  know  the  rights  by  nature  conferred  on  them 
and  will  assert  them !  This  will  make  princes  cautious  how  they 
give  themselves  up  to  arbitrary  counsels,  and  dread  the  consequences 
of  them." — Harris's  Life  of  Cromwell,  p.  56. 


314  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

to  those  who  usually  left  their  English  homes  to 
seek  their  fortunes  in  new  countries.  That  reli- 
gion, for  which  they  had  made  so  great  a  sacri- 
fice, was  the  main-spring  of  all  their  social  and 
political  systems.  They  were,  however,  too  blindly 
zealous  to  discriminate  between  the  peculiar  admi- 
nistration of  a  theocracy  and  the  catholic  and 
abiding  principles  of  the  gospel.  If  they  did  not 
openly  profess  that  the  judicial  law  of  Moses  was 
still  in  force,  they  at  any  rate  openly  practised  its 
stern  enactments. 

The  intolerance  of  these  martyrs  of  intolerance 
is  a  sad  example  of  human  waywardness.7  In  their 
little  commonwealth,  seceders  from  the  established 
forms  of  faith  were  persecuted  with  an  unholy 
zeal.  Imprisonment,  banishment,  and  even  death 
itself,  were  inflicted  for  that  free  exercise  of  religious 
opinions  which  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  had .  sacrificed 
all  earthly  interests  to  win  for  themselves.  In  those 
dark  days  of  fanatic  faith  or  vicious  scepticism,  the 
softening  influence  of  true  Christianity  was  but 
little  felt.  The  stern  denunciations  and  terrible 
punishments  of  the  Old  Testament  were  more 
suited  to  the  iron  temper  of  the  age,  than  the 
gentle  dispensations  of  the  New — the  fiery  zeal  of 
Joshua,  than  the  loving  persuasiveness  of  St.  John. 

7  "  Mr.  Dudley,  one  of  the  most  respectable  of  the  governors,  was 
found,  at  his  death,  with  a  copy  of  verses  in  his  pocket,  which  included 
the  following  couplet — 

"  '  Let  men  of  God  in  court  and  churches  watch 
O'er  such  as  do  a  toleration  hatch." — Chalmers.'  " 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          315 

As  the  tenets  of  each  successive  sect  rose  into 
popularity  and  influenced  the  majority,  they  he- 
came  state  questions,8  distracted  the  church  and 
threatened  the  very  existence  of  the  colony.  The 
first  schism  that  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  settle- 
ments was  raised  by  Roger  Williams  at  Salem.  1635 
This  worthy  and  sincere  enthusiast  held  many  just 
and  sound  views  among  others  that  were  wild  and 
injurious ;  he  stoutly  upheld  freedom  of  conscience, 
and  inconveniently  contested  the  right  of  the 
British  crown  to  bestow  Indian  lands  upon  English- 
men. On  the  other  hand  he  contrived  to  raise  a 
storm  of  fanatic  hatred  against  the  red  cross  in  the 
banner  of  St.  George,  which  seriously  disturbed  the 
state,9  and  led  to  violent  writings  and  altercations. 
At  length  Williams  was  banished  as  a  distractor  of 

8  "  The  cutting  the  hair  very  close,  which  seemed   supported  by 
St.  Paul's  authority,  was  the  chief  outward  symbol  of  a  Puritan.     In 
the  case  of  a  minister  it  was  considered  essential  that  the  ear  should 
be  thoroughly  uncovered.     Even  after  the  example  of  Dr.  Owen  and 
other  eminent  divines  had  given  a  sanction  to  letting  the  hair  grow, 
and  even  to  perriwigs,  a  numerous  association  was  formed  at  Boston 
(where  Mr.  John  Cotton  was  pastor),  with  Mr.  Endicot  the  governor 
at  their  head,   the  members  of  which  bound  themselves  to  stand  by 
each  other  in  resisting  long  hair  to  the  last  extremity.     Vane,  a 
young  man  of  birth  and  fashion,  continued  for  some  time  a  recusant 
against  the  uncouth  test  of  his  principles,  but  at  last  we  find  a  letter 
congratulating  him  on  having  'glorified  God  by  cut  ting  his  hair.'  " — 
Hutchinson's  Massachusetts,  quoted  by  Murray. 

9  One  of  Williams's  disciples,  who  held  some  command,  cut  the 
cross  out,   and  trampled  it  under  foot.     This  red  cross  had  nearly 
subverted  the  colony.      One  part  of  the  trained  bands  would  not  march 
with,   another  would  not  march    without  it. — Mather,   Neale,    <kc., 
quoted  by  Murray. 


316          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

the  public  peace,  but  a  popular  uproar  attended  his 
departure,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants 
were  with  difficulty  dissuaded  from  following  him. 

1636  He  retired  to  Providence,  Rhode  Island,1  where  a 
little  colony  soon  settled  round  him,  and  he  there 
lived  and  died  in  general  esteem  and  regard.2 

1637  The  Antinomian  sect  shortly  after  excited  a  still 
more  dangerous  commotion  in  the  colony.     Mrs. 
Hutchinson,  a  Lincolnshire  lady  of  great  zeal  and 
determination,  joined  by  nearly  the  whole  female 
population,  adopted  these  views  in  the   strongest 
manner.      The  ministers   of  the  church,  although 
decided     Calvinists,    and   firmly    opposed    to    the 
Romish  doctrines  of  salvation  by  works,  earnestly 
pressed  the  reformation  of  heart  and  conduct  as  a 
test  of  religion.     Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her  followers 
held  that  to  inculcate  any  rule  of  life  or  manners 
was  a    crime   against   the   Holy  Spirit;    in  their 
actual  deportment,  however,  it  must  be  confessed 
that  their  bitterest  enemies  could  not  find  grounds 
of  censure.     With  the  powerful  advocacy  of  female 
zeal,  these  doctrines  spread  rapidly,  and  the  whole 
colony  was  soon  divided  between  "  the  covenant  of 
works  and  the  covenant  of  grace ;"  the  ardour  and 
obstinacy  of  the  disputants  being  by  no  means  pro- 
portioned to  their  full  understanding  of  the  point2  in 

1  "The  town  of  Providence,  now  the  capital  of  Rhode  Island,  was 
founded  by  Williams.     The  Indian  name  was  Mooshausick,  but  he 
changed  it  to  Providence  in  commemoration  of  his  wonderful  escape 
from  persecution. — Arfwedson,  vol.  i.,  p.  224. 

2  Mather,  vol.  vii.,ch,ii.;  Neale,ch.i.,p.  138;  Hutchinson, pp.  3 7, 39. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          317 

dispute.  Sir  Harry  Vane,3  whose  rank  and  charac- 
ter had  caused  him  to  be  elected  governor  in 
spite  of  his  youth,  zealously  adopted  Antinomian 
opinions,  and  in  consequence  was  ejected  from  office 
by  the  opposite  party  at  the  ensuing  election,  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  having  failed  to  secure  in  the  county 
districts  that  superiority  which  she  possessed  in 
the  town  of  Boston.4  After  some  ineffectual  efforts 

3  "Mr.  Comptroller,  Sir  Harry  Vane's  eldest  son,  hath  left  his  father, 
his  mother,  his  country,  and  that  fortune  which  his  father  would  have 
left  him  here,  and  is  for  conscience'  sake  gone  into  New  England, 
there  to  lead  the  rest  of  his  days,  being  about  twenty  years  of  age. 
He  had  abstained  two  years  from  taking  the  sacrament  in  England, 
because  he  could  get  nobody  to  administer  it  to  him  standing." 
—  Stra/ord  Letters,  September,  1635,  quoted  by  Miss  Aikin,  Life 
of  Charles  L,  vol.  i.,  p.  479. 

"  Sir  Harry  Vane  returned  to  England  immediately  after  the  loss  of 
his  election.  His  personal  experience  of  the  uncharitableness  and 
intolerance  exercised  upon  one  another  by  men  who  had  themselves 
been  the  victims  of  a  similar  spirit  at  home  seems  to  have  produced 
for  some  time  a  tranquillising  effect  upon  the  mind  of  Vane.  He  was 
reconciled  to  his  father,  married  by  his  direction  a  lady  of  family, 
obtained  the  place  of  joint  treasurer  of  the  navy,  and  exhibited  for 
some  time  no  hostility  to  the  measures  of  the  government.  But  his 
fire  was  smothered  only,  not  extinguished." — Miss  Aikin's  Life  of 
Charles  I.  vol.  i.,  p.  481. 

"  After  the  Restoration  of  Charles  II.,  Sir  Harry  Vane  suffered 
death  upon  the  block.  (See  Hallam,  vol.  ii.,  p.  443).  The  manner 
of  his  death  was  the  admiration  of  his  times." — Bancroft,  vol.  ii.,  p.  40. 

4  Boston  was  the  capital  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  centre  of  the 
most  fervent  Puritanism. 

"  Boston  may  be  ranked  as  the  seat  of  the  Unitarians,  as  Baltimore 
is  that  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  Philadelphia  that  of  the 
Quakers  ....  No  axiom  is  more  applicable  to  the  pensive, 
serious,  scrutinising  inhabitant  of  the  New  England  States  than 
this: — 'What  I  do  not  understand,  I  reject  as  worthless  and  false; ' 


318  THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA. 

to  reconcile  the  seceders  to  the  church,  the  new 
governor  and  the  ministers  summoned  a  general 

so  said  one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  Boston  to  me.  '  Why  occupy 
the  mind  with  that  which  is  incomprehensible  ?  Have  we  not  enough 
of  that  which  appears  clear  and  plain  around  us  ?  '  .... 
The  greater  part  of  the  Bostonians,  including  every  one  of  wealth, 
talents,  and  learning,  have  adopted  this  doctrine."  —  Arfwedson, 
•vol.i.,p.  179. 

"  In  Boston  all  the  leading  men  are  Unitarians,  a  creed  peculiarly 
acceptable  to  the  pride  and  self-sufficiency  of  our  nature ;  asserting, 
as  it  does,  the  independence  and  perfectibility  of  man,  and  deny- 
ing the  necessity  of  atonement  or  sanctification  by  supernatural 
influences. 

"  Though  everywhere  in  New  England  the  greatest  possible 
decency  and  respect  with  regard  to  morals  and  religion  is  still 
observed,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  I  do  not  think  the 
New  Englanders  a  religious  people.  The  assertion,  I  know,  is 
paradoxical,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  is,  if  a  strong  and 
earnest  belief  be  a  necessary  element  in  a  religious  character  :  to 
me  it  seems  to  be  its  very  essence  and  foundation.  I  am  not  now 
speaking  of  belief  in  the  truth,  but  belief  in  something  or  any- 
thing which  is  removed  from  the  action  of  the  senses  ...  I  am 
not  trusting  to  my  own  limited  observation  in  arriving  at  this  con- 
clusion :  1  find  in  M.  de  Tocqueville's  work  an  assertion  of  the  same 
fact ;  he  accounts  for  it,  indeed,  in  a  different  way  .  .  .  What 
I  complain  of  is,  not  the  absence  of  nominal,  but  of  real,  heartfelt, 
unearthly  religion,  such  as  led  the  Puritan  Non-Conformists  to 
sacrifice  country  and  kindred,  and  brave  the  dangers  of  the  ocean 
and  the  wilderness,  for  the  sake  of  what  they  believed  God's  truth. 
In  my  opinion,  those  men  were  prejudiced  and  mistaken,  and 
committed  great  and  grievous  faults  ;  but  there  was,  at  least,  a 
redeeming  element  in  their  character, — that  of  high  conscientiousness : 
there  was  no  compromise  of  truth,  no  sacrifice  to  expediency  about 
them  ;  they  believed  in  the  invisible,  and  they  acted  on  that  belief. 
Everywhere  the  tone  of  religious  feeling,  since  that  time,  has  been 
altered  and  relaxed  ;  but  perhaps  nowhere  so  much  as  in  the  land 
where  the  descendants  of  those  pilgrims  lived." — Godley's  Letters 
from  America,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  90.  1 33. 


THE   CONQUEST   OP   CANADA.  3]  9 

synod  of  the  colonial  clergy  to  meet  at  Cambridge, 
where,  after  some  very  turbulent  proceedings,  the 
whole  of  the  Antinomian  doctrines  were  condemned. 
As  might  have  been  supposed,  this  condemnation 
had  but  little  effect.  The  obnoxious  principles  were 
preached  as  widely  and  zealously  as  before,  till  the 
civil  authority  resorted  to  the  rude  argument  of 
force,  banished  Mr.  Wheelwright,  one  of  the  leaders, 
with  two  of  his  followers,  from  the  colony,  and  fined 
and  disfranchised  others.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  ulti- 
mately accused,  condemned,  and  ordered  to  leave 
the  colony  in  six  months.  Although  she  made  a 
sort  of  recantation  of  her  errors,  her  inexorable 
judges  insisted  in  carrying  out  the  sentence.5  The 
unhappy  lady  removed  to  Rhode  Island,  where  her 
husband,  through  her  influence,  was  elected  gover- 
nor, and  where  she  was  followed  by  many  of  her  1638 
devoted  adherents.  Thus  the  persecutions  in  the 
old  settlement  of  Massachusetts  had  the  same  effect 
as  those  in  England, — of  elevating  a  few  stubborn 
recusants  into  the  founders  of  states  and  nations. 
After  her  husband's  death  Mrs.  Hutchinson  removed 
into  a  neighbouring  Dutch  settlement,  where  she 
and  all  her  family  met  with  a  dreadful  fate :  they  1643 
were  surprised  by  the  Indians,  and  every  one 
destroyed. 

5  "  The  arbitrary  will  of  the  single  tyrant ;  the  excesses  of  the 
prerogative  ;  seem  light  when  compared  with  their  (the  Puritans') 
more  intolerant,  more  arbitrary  and  more  absolute  power." — Com* 
mentaries  on  the  Life  and  Reign  of  Charles  I.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  28,  by 
I.  Disraeli.  London,  1830. 


320          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

Although  by  these  violent  and  unjust  punish- 
ments, and  by  disarming  the  disaffected,  the  Anti- 
nomian  spirit  was  for  a  time  put  down,  unity  was 
by  no  means  restored.  Pride  and  the  love  of  novelty 
continually  gave  birth  to  new  sects.  Ministers,  who 
had  possessed  the  highest  reputation  in  England, 
saw  with  sorrow  that  their  colonial  churches  were 
neglected  for  the  sake  of  ignorant  and  mischievous 
enthusiasts.  Even  common  profligates  and  rogues, 
when  other  lesser  villanies  had  failed,  assumed  the 
hypocritical  semblance  of  some  peculiar  religion, 
and  enjoyed  their  day  of  popularity. 

The  Anabaptists  next  carried  away  the  fickle 
affections  of  the  multitude,  and  excited  the  enmity 

1643  of  their  rulers.  This  schism  first  became  perceptible 
by  people  leaving  the  church  when  the  rites  of  bap- 
tism were  being  administered ;  but  at  length  private 
meetings  for  worship  were  held,  attended  by  large 
congregations.  The  magistrates,  as  usual,  practised 
great  severities  against  these  seceders,  first  by  fine, 
imprisonment,  and  even  whipping ;  finally  by  banish- 
ment. The  Anabaptists  were,  however,  not  put 
down  by  the  arm  of  power,  but  were  speedily  for- 
gotten in  the  sudden  appearance  of  a  stranger  sect 
than  any  that  had  hitherto  appeared  even  in  New 
England. 

The  people  called  Quakers  had  lately  made  their 

1648  appearance  in  the  north  of  England;  they  soon 
found  their  way  to  America,  where  they  were 

1656  received  with  bitter  hostility  from  the  commence- 
ment. The  dangerous  enthusiasts,  who  first  went 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          321 

forth  to  preach  the  doctrines  of  this  strange  sect 
were  very  different  men  from  those  who  now  com- 
mand the  respect  and  good-will  of  all  classes,  by 
their  industry,  benevolence,  and  love  of  order.  The 
original  propagandists  believed  that  the  divine 
government  was  still  administered  on  earth  by 
direct  and  special  communication,  as  in  the  times 
chronicled  by  Holy  Writ ;  they  therefore  despised  and 
disregarded  all  human  authorities.  To  actual  force, 
indeed,  they  only  opposed  a  passive  resistance ;  and 
their  patience  and  obstinacy  in  carrying  out  this 
principle  must  excite  astonishment,  if  not  admira- 
tion. But  their  language  was  most  violent  and 
abusive  against  all  priests  and  ministers,  governors 
and  magistrates.6  The  women  of  this  novel  persua- 
sion were  even  more  fanatic  than  the  men.  Several, 

6  Mather  affirms  that  the  Quakers  used  to  go  about  saying,  "  We 
deny  thy  Christ  ;  we  deny  thy  God,  whom  thou  callest  Father,  Son, 
and  Spirit ;  thy  hible  is  the  word  of  the  devil."  They  used  to  rise  up 
suddenly  in  the  midst  of  a  sermon  and  call  upon  the  preacher  to  cease 
his  abomination.  One  writer  says,  "  for  hellish  reviling  of  the  painful 
ministers  of  Christ,  I  know  no  people  can  match  them."  The 
following  epithets  bestowed  by  Fisher  on  Dr.  Owen,  are  said  to  be 
fair  specimens  of  their  usual  addresses :  "  Thou  green-headed 
trumpeter  !  thou  hedgehog  and  grinning  dog  !  thou  tinker  !  thou 
lizard  !  thou  whirligig  !  thou  firebrand  !  thou  louse !  thou  mooncalf ! 
thou  ragged  tatterdemalion  !  thou  livest  in  philosophy  and  logic, 
which  are  of  the  devil."  Even  Penn  is  said  to  have  addressed  the 
same  respected  divine,  as  :  "  Thou  bane  of  reason  and  beast  of  the 
earth."  When  the  governor  or  any  magistrate  came  in  sight  they 
would  call  out  "Woe  to  thee,  thou  oppressor,"  and  in  the  language 
of  scripture  prophecy,  would  announce  the  judgments  that  were 
about  to  fall  upon  their  head. — Neale,  cap.  i.,  pp.  341 — 345.  Mather, 
b.  vii.,  cap.  iv.  Hutchinson,  pp.  196 — 205. 

VOL.  I.  T 


322          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

leaving  their  husbands  and  children  in  England, 
crossed  the  seas  to  bear  witness  to  their  inspiration 
at  Boston.  They  were,  however,  rudely  received, 
their  books  burned,  and  themselves  either  impri- 
soned or  scourged  and  banished.  Nowise  intimi- 
dated by  these  severities,  several  other  women 
brought  upon  themselves  the  vengeance  of  the  law 
by  frantic  and  almost  incredible  demonstrations ; 
and  a  man  named  Faubord  endeavoured  to  sacrifice 
his  first-born  son  under  a  supposed  command  from 
heaven. 

The  ministers  and  magistrates  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  colony  could  never  enjoy  peace 
while  the  Quakers  continued  among  them.  These 
sectarians  were  altogether  unmanageable  by  the 
means  of  ordinary  power  or  reason :  they  would 
neither  pay  fines  nor  work  in  prison,  nor,  when 
liberated,  promise  to  amend  their  conduct.  The 
government  now  enacted  still  more  violent  laws 
against  them,  one  amongst  others,  rendering  them 
liable  to  have  their  ears  cut  off  for  obstinacy ;  and 
yet  this  strange  fanaticism  increased  from  day  to  day. 
At  length  the  Quakers  were  banished  from  the 
colony,  under  the  threat  of  death  in  case  of  return. 
They  were,  however,  scarcely  beyond  the  borders 
when  a  supposed  inspiration  prompted  them  to 
retrace  their  steps  to  Boston :  scarcely  had  their 
absence  been  observed,  when  their  solemn  voices 
were  again  heard  denouncing  the  city  of  their 
persecutors. 

The  horrible   law  decreeing  the   punishment   of 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          323 

death  against  the  Quakers  had  only  been  carried  by 
a  majority  of  thirteen  to  twelve  in  the  Colonial 
Court  of  Deputies,  and  after  a  strong  opposition ; 
but,  to  the  eternal  disgrace  of  the  local  government, 
its  atrocious  provisions  were  carried  into  effect, 
and  four  of  the  unhappy  fanatics  were  judicially 
murdered.  The  tidings  of  these  executions  filled 
England  with  horror.  Even  Charles  II.  was  moved 
to  interpose  the  royal  power  for  the  protection  of 
at  least  the  lives  of  the  obnoxious  sectarians.  He 
issued  a  warrant  on  the  9th  of  September,  1661,  1661 
absolutely  prohibiting  the  punishment  of  death 
against  Quakers,  and  directing  that  they  should  be 
sent  to  England  for  trial.  In  consequence  of  this 
interference  no  more  executions  took  place,  but 
other  penalties  were  continued  with  unabated 
severity. 

While  the  persecution  of  the  Quakers  and  Ana- 
baptists raged  in  New  England,  an  important 
addition  to  the  numbers  of  the  colonists  was  gained ; 
a  large  body  of  Nonconformists  having  fled  across 
the  Atlantic  from  a  fresh  assault  commenced  against 
their  liberties  by  Charles  II.  This  puritan  emi- 
gration was  regarded  with  great  displeasure  by  the 
king ;  he  speedily  took  an  opportunity  of  arbitrarily 
depriving  the  colony  of  its  charter,  and  sent  out 
Sir  Edmund  Andros  to  administrate  as  absolute 
governor.  The  country  soon  felt  painfully  the 
despotic  tyranny  of  their  new  ruler ;  and  the 
establishment  of  an  English  Church  with  the  usual 
ritual,  spread  general  consternation.  When  James 

Y2 


324          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

ascended  the  throne  a  proclamation  of  tolerance 
somewhat  allayed  the  fears  of  the  settlers.  But 
the  administration  of  temporal  aifairs  became 
ruinously  oppressive :  on  the  pretence  that  the 
titles  of  all  land  obtained  under  the  old  charter 
had  become  void  by  its  abrogation,  new  and 
exorbitant  fees  were  exacted,  heavy  and  injudicious 
taxes  arbitrarily  imposed,  and  all  right  of  repre- 
sentation denied  to  the  colonists.  At  length  in  the 
1689  Jear  1689  a  man,  named  Winslow,  brought  from 
Virginia  the  joyful  news  of  the  Prince  of  Orange's 
proclamation ;  he  was  immediately  arrested  for 
treason,  but  the  people  rose  tumultuously,  impri- 
soned the  governor,  and  re-established  the  authority 
of  their  old  magistrates.  On  the  26th  of  May,  a 
vessel  arrived  with  the  intelligence  that  William  and 
Mary  had  been  proclaimed  in  England.  Although 
the  new  monarch  declared  himself  favourably 
disposed  towards  the  colonists,  he  did  not  restore 
their  beloved  charter.  He,  however,  granted  them 
a  constitution  nearly  similar  to  that  of  the  mother 
country,  which  rendered  the  people  of  New  England 
tolerably  contented. 

The  colony  was  now  fated  to  suffer  from  a  delu- 
sion more  frantic  and  insane  than  any  it  had 
hitherto  admitted,  and  which  compromised  its  very 
existence.  The  New  Englanders  had  brought  with 
them  the  belief  in  witchcraft  prevalent  among  the 
early  reformers,  and  the  wild  and  savage  wilderness 
where  their  lot  was  now  cast,  tended  to  deepen  the 
impressions  of  superstition  upon  their  minds.  Two 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  325 

young  girls,  of  the  family  of  Mr.  Paris,  minister  of 
Salem,  were  suddenly  afflicted  with  a  singular 
complaint,  probably  of  an  hysterical  character, 
which  baffled  the  united  skill  of  the  neighbouring 
physicians;  till  one,  more  decided  than  the  rest, 
declared  that  the  suiferers  were  bewitched.  From 
this  time  prayers  and  fasting  were  the  remedies 
adopted,  and  the  whole  town  of  Salem  at  length 
joined  in  a  day  of  humiliation.  The  patients,  how- 
ever, did  not  improve ;  till  an  Indian  serving- woman 
denounced  another,  named  Tituba,  as  the  author 
of  the  evil.  Mr.  Paris  assailed  the  accused,  and 
tortured  her  in  the  view  of  extracting  a  confession 
of  guilt,  which  she  at  length  made,  with  many 
absurd  particulars,  hoping  to  appease  her  persecutor. 
From  this  time  the  mischievous  folly  spread  wider ; 
a  respectable  clergyman,  Mr.  Burroughs,  was  tried 
for  witchcraft  on  the  evidence  of  five  women,  and 
condemned  to  death,  his  only  defence  being,  that 
he  was  accused  of  that  which  had  no  existence,  and 
was  impossible.  New  charges  multiplied  daily ;  the 
gaols  of  Salem  were  full  of  the  accused,  and  pri- 
soners were  transferred  to  other  towns,  where  the 
silly  infection  spread,  and  filled  the  whole  colony 
with  alarm. 

Nothing  could  afford  stronger  proof  of  the  hold 
which  this  sad  delusion  had  taken  of  the  popular 
mind,  than  the  readiness  so  constantly  displayed  by 
the  accused  to  confess  the  monstrous  imputation, 
whose  punishment  was  infamy  and  death.  Many 
detailed  long  consultations  held  with  Satan  for  the 


326  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

purpose  of  overthrowing  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
In  some  cases  these  confessions  were  the  result  of 
distempered  understandings;  hut  generally  they 
may  be  attributed  to  the  hope  of  respite  and  ulti- 
mate reprieve,  as  none  but  the  supposed  impenitent 
sorcerers  were  executed.  Thus,  only  the  truthful 
and  conscientious  suffered  from  the  effects  of  this 
odious  insanity.  Some  among  the  wretched  people 
who  had  confessed  witchcraft,  showed  a  subsequent 
disposition  to  retract ;  a  man  named  Samuel  Ward- 
mell,  having  solemnly  recanted  his  former  statement, 
was  tried,  condemned,  and  executed.  Despite  this 
terrible  warning,  a  few  others  followed  the  con- 
scientious but  fatal  example.  Every  one  of  the 
sufferers  during  this  dreadful  period,  protested  their 
innocence  to  the  last.  It  seems  difficult  to  discover 
any  adequate  motives  for  these  atrocious  and  con- 
stant accusations.  There  is  too  much  reason  to 
believe  that  the  confiscation  of  the  condemned  per- 
sons' property,  malice  against  the  accused,  a  desire  to 
excite  the  public  mind,  and  gain  the  notice  and 
favour  of  those  in  power,  were  generally  the  objects 
of  the  witnesses. 

The  evil  at  length  attained  such  a  frightful 
magnitude,  that  the  firmest  believers  in  witchcraft 
began  to  waver.  In  two  months  nineteen  unhappy 
victims  had  been  executed,  eight  more  remained 
under  sentence  of  death,  150  accused  were  still  in 
prison,  and  there  was  no  more  room  for  the  crowds 
daily  brought  in.  No  character  or  position  was 
a  shield  against  these  absurd  imputations;  all  lay 


THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA.  327 

at  the  mercy  of  a  few  mad  or  malignant  beings. 
The  first  mitigation  of  the  mischief  was  effected  by 
the  governor  assembling  the  ministers  to  discuss 
whether  what  was  called  spectre  evidence  should 
be  held  sufficient  for  the  condemnation  of  the 
accused.  The  assembly  decided  against  that  parti-  1693 
cular  sort  of  evidence  being  conclusive ;  but  at  the 
same  time  exhorted  the  governor  to  persevere  in 
the  vigorous  prosecution  of  witchcraft,  "  according 
to  the  wholesome  statutes  of  the  English  nation." 7 
Public  opinion,  however,  soon  began  to  run  strongly 
against  these  proceedings,  and  finally  the  governor 
took  the  bold  step  of  pardoning  all  those  under 
sentence  for  witchcraft,  throwing  open  all  the 
prisons,  and  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  every  accusation 
(January,  1693).  From  that  time  the  troubles  of  the 
afflicted  were  heard  of  no  more.  Those  who  had 
confessed,  came  forward  to  retract  or  disclaim  their 
former  statements,  and  the  most  active  judges  and 
persecutors  publicly  expressed  contrition  for  the 
part  they  had  taken  in  the  fatal  and  almost 
incredible  insanity.  In  the  reaction  that  ensued, 

7  "  Sir  Matthew  Hale  burnt  two  persons  for  witchcraft  in  1664. 
Three  thousand  were  executed  in  England  during  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment. Two  pretended  witches  were  executed  at  Northampton  in 
1705.  In  1716,  Mrs.  Hicks  and  her  daughter,  aged  nine,  were 
hanged  at  Huntingdon.  The  last  sufferer  in  Scotland  was  in  1722, 
at  Dornoch.  The  laws  against  witchcraft  had  lain  dormant  for 
many  years,  when  an  ignorant  person  attempting  to  revive  them,  by 
finding  a  bill  against  a  poor  old  woman  in  Surrey,  for  the  practice  of 
witchcraft,  they  were  repealed,  10  George  II.,  1736." — Viner's 
Abridgment. 


328          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

many  urged  strict  inquiry  into  the  fearful  prejudices 
that  had  sacrificed  innocent  lives,  but  so  general 
had  been  the  crime,  that  it  was  deemed  wisest  to 
throw  a  veil  of  oblivion  over  the  whole  dreadful 
scene.8 

While  the  settlers  of  New  England  were  dis- 
tracted by  their  own  madness  and  intolerance,  they 
had  to  contend  with  great  external  difficulties  from 
the  animosity  of  the  Indians.  The  native  races  in 
this  part  of  the  continent  appear  to  have  been  in 
some  respects  superior  to  those  dwelling  by  the 
shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Great  Lake. 
They  acknowledged  the  absolute  power  of  a  Sachem 

8  Neale,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  164—170.     Mather,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  62—64. 

Arfwedson  says,  "  Close  to  the  town  of  Salem  is  Beverley,  a  small 
insignificant  place,  remarkahle  only  in  the  annals  of  history,  as 
having  formerly  contained  a  superstitious  population.  Many  lives 
have  here  been  cruelly  sacrificed,  and  the  barren  hill  is  still  in 
existence,  where  persons  accused  of  witchcraft  were  hung  upon  tall 
trees.  Tradition  points  out  the  place  where  the  witches  of  old 
resided.  Cotton  Mather  records  in  a  work,  truly  original  for  that 
age,  that  the  good  people  who  lived  near  Massachusetts  Bay  were 
every  night  roused  from  their  slumbers  by  the  sound  of  a  trumpet, 
summoning  all  the  witches  and  demons." — Cotton  Mather's  Magnalia; 
Arfwedson,  vol.  i.,  p.  186. 

"  And  thrice  that  night  the  trumpet  rang, 

And  rock  and  hill  replied ; 
And  down  the  glen  strange  shadows  sprang, — 
Mortal  and  fiend, — a  wizard  gang, 
Seen  dimly,  side  hy  side. 

"  They  gathered  there  from  every  land 

That  sleepeth  in  the  sun  ; 
They  came  with  spell  and  charm  in  hand, 
Waiting  their  master's  high  command, — 
Slaves  to  the  Evil  One." — Legends  of  New  England. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF    CANADA.  329 

or  king,  which  gave  a  dangerous  vigour  and  unity  to 
their  actions.  They  at  first  received  the  English 
with  hospitality  and  kindness,  and  the  colonists  on 
their  part,  passed  laws  to  protect  not  only  the 
persons  of  the  natives,  but  to  insure  them  an 
equitable  price  for  their  lands.  The  narrowed 
limits  of  their  hunting-grounds,  however,  and  the 
rapid  advance  of  the  white  men,  soon  began  to  alarm 
the  Indians  ;9  when  their  jealousy  was  thus  aroused, 
occasions  of  quarrel  speedily  presented  themselves ; 
the  baneful  influence  of  strong  liquors,  largely 
furnished  in  spite  of  the  strictest  prohibitions, 
increased  their  excitement.  Some  Englishmen  were 
slain,  the  murderers  were  seized,  tried,  and  executed 
by  the  colonial  government,  according  to  British 
law.  These  proceedings  kindled  a  deep  resentment 
among  the  savages,  and  led  to  measures  of  retali- 
ation at  their  hands. 

It  has  been  an  unfortunate  feature  of  European 
settlement  in  America,  that  the  border  population, 
those  most  in  contact  with  the  natives,  have  been 
usually  men  of  wild  and  desperate  character,  the 
tainted  foam  of  the  advancing  tide  of  civilisation. 
These  reckless  adventurers  were  little  scrupulous  in 
their  dealings  with  the  simple  savage,  they  utterly 

9  "  During  the  war  with  Philip,  the  Indians  took  some  English 
alive,  and  set  them  upright  in  the  ground,  with  this  sarcasm,  '  You 
English,  since  you  came  into  this  country,  have  grown  considerably 
above  ground,  let  us  now  see  how  you  will  grow  when  planted  into 
the  ground.'  " — Narrative  of  the  Wars  in  New  England)  1675. 
Harleian  Miscellany,  vol.  v.,  p.  400. 


330  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

disregarded  those  rights  which  his  weakness  could 
not  defend,  and  by  intolerable  provocation,  excited 
him  to  a  bloody  but  futile  resistance.  The  Indians 
naturally  confounded  the  whole  English  race  with 
these  contemptuous  oppressors,  and  commenced  a 
war  that  resulted  in  their  own  extermination. 
They  did  not  face  the  English  in  the  field,  but 
hovered  round  the  border,  and,  with  sudden  sur- 
prise, overwhelmed  detached  posts  and  settlements, 
in  a  horrible  destruction.  The  astute  colonists  soon 
adopted  the  policy  of  forming  alliances,  and  taking 
advantage  of  ancient  enmities  to  stir  up  hostilities 
amongst  them.  By  this  means  they  accomplished 
the  destruction  of  the  warlike  Pequods,1  their 

1  "  The  Pequods  were  a  powerful  nation  on  the  Connecticut 
border,  who  could  muster  a  thousand  warriors.  The  English  might 
have  found  it  difficult  to  withstand  them,  but  for  an  alliance  with 
the  second  most  powerful  people,  the  Narragansets,  whose  ancient 
enmity  to  the  Pequods  for  a  time  prevailed  over  their  jealousy  of 
the  foreigners.  But  at  length,  when  the  Pequods  were  nearly  exter- 
minated, the  Narragansets,  seeing  the  power  of  the  strangers  para- 
mount, began  to  side  with  their  enemies.  The  Indian  chiefs  began 
to  imitate  the  English  mode  of  fighting,  and  even  to  assume  English 
names,  with  some  characteristic  epithet.  One-eyed  John,  Stone-wall 
John,  and  Sagamore  Sam,  kept  the  colony  in  perpetual  alarm.  But 
their  most  deadly  and  formidable  enemy  was  Philip,  Sachem  of  the 
Wompanoags.  No  Indian  was  ever  more  dreaded  by  civilised  man. 
A  century  and  a  half  has  now  elapsed  since  this  hero  of  Pokanoket 
fell  a  victim  to  his  own  race,  but  even  to  this  day  his  name  is  respected ; 
and  the  last  object  supposed  to  have  been  touched  by  him  in  his  life- 
time is  considered  by  every  American  as  a  valuable  relic.  This 
extraordinary  man,  whose  real  name  was  Metacom,  succeeded  his 
brother  in  the  government  of  the  Wompanoags.  The  wrongs  and 
grievances  suffered  by  this  brother,  added  to  those  which  he  had 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          331 

bitterest  foes.  Other  enemies,  however,  soon  came 
into  the  field,  and  at  length,  the  original  allies  of 
the  English,  jealous  of  the  encroaching  power  of  the 
white  strangers,  also  took  arms  against  them.  The 
Indian  chiefs  after  a  time  began  to  adopt  European 
tactics  of  war,  and  for  many  years  kept  the  colony 
in  alarm  by  their  formidable  attacks :  they  were, 
however,  finally  driven  altogether  from  the  field. 

The  New  England  settlers  showed  more  sincerity 
than  any  other  adventurers  in  endeavouring  to 
accomplish  their  principal  professed  object  of 
colonisation,  that  of  teaching  Christianity  to  the 
Indians.2  They  appointed  zealous  and  pious  ministers 

himself  experienced  from  the  English  colonists,  induced  him  to 
engage  in  a  war  against  them.  The  issue  might,  perhaps,  have 
heen  less  doubtful,  had  not  one  of  his  followers  defeated  his  plans  hy 
a  premature  explosion  before  he  had  sufficient  time  to  summon  and 
concentrate  his  warriors  and  allies.  From  this  time  no  smiles  were 
seen  on  his  face.  But  though  he  soon  perceived  that  the  great 
enterprise  he  had  formed  was  likely  to  be  frustrated,  he  never 
lost  that  elevation  of  soul  which  distinguished  him  to  the  last  moments 
of  his  life.  By  his  exertions  and  energy  all  the  Indian  nations  occu- 
pying the  territory  between  Maine  and  the  river  Connecticut,  a 
distance  of  nearly  200  miles,  took  up  arms.  Every  where  the  name 
of  King  Philip  was  the  signal  for  massacre  and  flames.  But  fraud 
and  treason  soon  accomplished  what  open  warfare  could  not  effect ; 
his  followers  gave  way  to  numbers  ;  his  nearest  relations  and  friends 
forsook  him,  and  a  treacherous  ball  at  last  struck  his  heart.  His 
head  was  carried  round  the  country  in  triumph,  and  exposed  as  that 
of  a  traitor  ;  but  posterity  has  done  him  justice.  Patriotism  was 
his  only  crime,  and  his  death  was  that  of  a  hero." — Arfwedson, 
vol.  i.,  p.  229. 

2  "  This  was  not  the  case  in  the  earlier  and  more  northern  settle- 
ments, where  Mather  mentions  a  clergyman  who,  from  the  pulpit, 
alluded  to  this  as  the  main  object  of  his  flock's  coming  out,  when  one 


332  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

for  the  mission,3  and  established  a  seminary  for  the 
education  of  the  natives,  whence  some  scholars  were 
to  be  selected  to  preach  the  gospel  among  their 

of  the  principal  members  rose  and  said,  *  Sir,  you  are  mistaken, — our 
main  object  was  to  catch  fish.'  " — Murray's  America. 

"  To  this  day  the  Council  of  Massachusets,  in  the  impress  of  their 
public  seal,  have  an  Indian  engraven,  with  these  words,  '  Come  over 
and  help  us,'  alluding  to  Acts,  xv.,  9." — Narrative  of  the  Wars  in 
New  England,  1675.  Harleian  Miscellany,  vol.  v.,  p.  400. 

3  "  Amongst  these  was  the  celebrated  Eliot.  Notwithstanding  the 
almost  incredible  hardships  endured  by  Eliot  during  his  missionary 
labours,  he  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty-six.  He  expired  in  1690,  and 
has  ever  since  been  known  by  the  well-earned  title  of  Apostle  to  the 
Indians."- — Missionary  Records,  p.  34. 

Dr.  D wight  says  of  him,  "  He  was  naturally  qualified  beyond  almost 
any  other  man  for  the  business  of  a  missionary.  In  promoting  among 
the  Indians  agriculture,  health,  morals,  and  religion,  this  great  and 
good  man  laboured  with  constancy,  faithfulness,  and  benevolence, 
which  place  his  name  not  unworthily  among  those  who  are  arranged 
immediately  after  the  Apostles  of  our  Divine  Redeemer."  Eliot 
translated  the  Holy  Scriptures  into  the  Indian  language.  In  1661 
the  New  Testament,  dedicated  to  Charles  II.,  was  printed  at  Cam- 
bridge, in  New  England,  and  about  three  years  afterwards  it  was 
followed  by  the  Old  Testament.  This  was  the  first  Bible  ever  printed 
in  America  ;  and  though  the  impression  consisted  of  2000  copies,  a 
second  edition  was  required  in  1685. — Ibid.,  p.  27. 

"  When  at  Harvard  College,  a  copy  of  the  Bible  was  shown  me  by 
Mr.  Jared  Sparks,  translated  by  the  missionary,  Father  Eliot,  into  the 
Indian  tongue.  It  is  now  a  dead  language,  although  preached  for 
several  generations  to  crowded  congregations." — I/yell's  America, 
vol.  i.,  p.  260. 

"  Eliot  had  become  an  acute  grammarian  by  his  studies  at  the 
English  university  of  Cambridge.  Having  finished  his  laborious  and 
difficult  work,  the  Indian  grammar,  at  the  close  of  it,  under  a  full 
sense  of  the  difficulties  he  had  encountered,  and  the  acquisition  he 
had  made,  he  said, '  Prayers  and  pains  through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus, 
do  anything.1  "—Life  of  Eliot,  p.  55. 

"  The  Honourable  Robert  Boyle  often  strengthened  Eliot's  hands 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          333 

savage  countrymen.  Great  obstacles  were  encoun- 
tered in  this  good  work ;  the  Indians  showed  a 
bigoted  attachment  to  their  own  strange  religious 
conceits,  and  their  priests  and  conjurors  used  all  their 
powerful  influence  against  Christianity,  denouncing 
in  furious  terms  all  who  forsook  their  creed  for  the 
English  God.  Despite  these  difficulties  a  number 
of  savages  were  induced  to  form  themselves  in 
villages,  and  lead  a  civilised4  and  Christian  life, 

and  encouraged  him  in  his  work ;  he  who  was  not  more  admirable  among 
philosophers  for  his  discoveries  in  science,  than  he  was  beloved  by 
Christians  for  his  active  kindness  and  his  pious  spirit." — Ibid.,  p.  64. 

"  Nor  was  Eliot  alone.  In  the  islands  round  Massachusetts,  and 
within  the  limits  of  the  Plymouth  patent,  missionary  zeal  and  mis- 
sionary enterprise  were  active;  and  the  gentle  Mayhew,  forgetting  the 
pride  of  learning,  endeavoured  to  win  the  natives  to  a  new  religion. 
At  a  later  day,  he  took  passage  for  New  England  to  awaken  interest 
there  ;  and  the  ship  in  which  he  sailed  was  never  more  heard  of. 
But  such  had  been  the  force  of  his  example,  that  his  father,  though 
bowed  down  with  the  weight  of  seventy  years,  resolved  on  assuming 
the  office  of  the  son  whom  he  had  lost  ;  and  till  beyond  the  age  of 
fourscore  years  and  twelve,  continued  to  instruct  the  natives,  and 
with  the  happiest  results.  The  Indians  within  his  influence,  though 
twenty  times  more  numerous  than  the  whites  in  their  immediate 
neighbourhood,  preserved  an  immutable  friendship  with  Massachu- 
setts."— Bancroft's  Hist,  of  the  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  p.  97.  See 
Missionary  Records  ;  Life  of  Eliot  ;  Mayhew's  Indian  Converts  ; 
T.  Prince's  Account  of  English  Ministers. 

4  "  History  has  no  example  to  offer  of  any  successful  attempt,  how- 
ever slight,  to  introduce  civilisation  among  savage  tribes  in  colonies  or 
in  their  vicinity,  except  through  the  influence  of  religious  missionaries. 
This  is  no  question  of  a  balance  of  advantages — no  matter  of  com- 
parison between  opposite  systems.  I  repeat  that  no  instance  can  be 
shown  of  the  reclaiming  of  savages  by  any  other  influence  than  that 
of  religion.  There  are  two  obvious  reasons  why  such  should  be 
the  case :  the  first,  that  religion  only  can  supply  a  motive  to  the 


334  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

under  the  guidance  of  ministers  of  their  own  race.5 
In  a  few  years  thirty  congregations  of  "praying 
Indians,"6  their  numbers  amounting  to  3000,  were 
established  in  Massachusetts. 

governors,  placed  in  obscure  situations,  and  without  the  reach  of 
responsibility,  to  act  with  zeal,  perseverance,  and  charity  ;  the  other, 
that  it  alone  can  supply  a  motive  to  the  governed  to  undergo  that 
alteration  of  habits  through  which  the  reclaimed  savage  must  pass, 
and  to  which  the  hope  of  mere  temporal  advantage  will  very  rarely 
induce  him  to  consent.  This  position  is  well  stated  in  the  words 
of  Southey  :  '  The  wealth  and  power  of  governments  may  be  vainly 
employed  in  the  endeavour  to  conciliate  and  reclaim  brute  man,  if 
religious  zeal  and  Christian  charity,  in  the  true  import  of  the  word, 
be  wanting.'  " — Merivale  on  Colonisation,  vol.  i.,  p.  289. 

5  "  The  attempt  to  organise  an  Indian  priesthood  at  this  period 
failed  altogether,  the  converts  possessing  neither  the  steadiness  nor 
the    sobriety  requisite   for  the   holy  office.      The   duty,  therefore, 
devolved   upon   European   teachers,  who,   in  many   cases,   scarcely 
obtained  the  wages  of  a  day  labourer,  and  that  very  precariously. 
The  formation,  however,  of  a  society  in  England  for  the  propagation 
of  the  gospel  in  this  settlement,  and  pretty  liberal  contributions  raised 
in  the  principal  towns,  in  some  degree  remedied  these  evils.     After 
the  lapse  of  a  few  more  generations,  the  Indian  character  in  its  slow 
but  steady  upward  progress  under  the  teaching  of  devoted  and  en- 
lightened Christian  ministers,  underwent  a  change  so  effectual,  that 
the  native  teachers  and  preachers  of  the  present  day  may  well  bear 
comparison  in   zeal,  piety  and   eloquence  with  their  European  col- 
leagues."— Catlin's  American  Indians  ;  Cotton's  American  Lakes. 

6  "  The  Indians  about  this  time  (1653)  obtained  the  appellation 
of  '  Praying  Indians,'  and  the  court  appointed  Major  Daniel  Gookin 
their  ruler."— Life  of  Eliot,  p.  53. 


335 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE  principal  characteristics  of  that  colonisation 
by  which  the  vast  republic  of  the  west  was  formed, 
have  been  exhibited  in  the  settlement  of  Virginia 
and  Massachusetts.  The  other  states  were  stamped 
with  the  impress  of  the  two  first,  and  in  a  great 
measure  peopled  from  them.  Rhode  Island  and  the 
rest  of  the  New  England  states  were  founded  by 
those  who  had  fled  from  the  religious  persecutions 
of  Massachusetts,  with  the  exception  of  Connecticut, 
which  owes  its  origin  chiefly  to  the  spirit  of 
adventure  and  the  search  for  unoccupied  lands. 
The  first  settlers  divided  this  last-named  state 
among  themselves  without  the  sanction  of  any 
authority,  and  then  proceeded  to  form  a  constitution 
of  unexampled  liberality.  They  had  to  bear  the 
chief  burden  in  the  Indian  war,  on  account  of  their 
advanced  and  exposed  position;  but  Connecticut 
prospered  in  spite  of  every  obstacle.  Several 
Puritans  of  distinction  sought  its  shore  from  England. 
Charles  II.,  on  his  restoration,  granted  a  most 
liberal  charter,  and  it  continued  to  enjoy  the  benefits 
of  complete  self-government  till  Massachusetts  was 
deprived  of  her  charter  by  James  II.,  when 


336  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

Connecticut  shared  the  same  fate.  At  the  Revolution 
the  younger  state,  more  fortunate  than  her  neigh- 
bour, was  restored  to  all  the  privileges  formerly 
enjoyed. 

The  states  of  New  Hampshire  and  Maine  were 
originally  founded  on  loyalist  and  Church  of 
England  principles.  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges  and 
John  Mason,  the  most  energetic  member  of  the 
Council  of  Plymouth,  undertook  the  colonisation  of 
these  districts,  but  their  tyrannical  and  injudicious 
conduct  stunted  the  growth  of  the  infant  colonies, 
and  little  progress  was  made  till  the  religious  dis- 
sensions of  Boston  swelled  their  population.  Violent 
and  even  fatal  dissensions,  however,  distracted  this 
incongruous  community,  till  the  government  of 
Massachusetts  assumed  the  sway  over  it,  and 
re-established  order  and  prosperity.  Gorges  and 
Mason  disputed  for  many  years  the  rights  of 
authority  with  the  new  rulers;  nor  was  the  ques- 
tion finally  settled  till  Massachusetts  was  deprived 
of  her  charter,  when  a  royal  government  was  estab- 
lished in  New  Hampshire. 

1609  The  important  State  of  New  York  was  founded 
under  very  different  auspices  from  those  of  its  neigh- 
bours. In  1609  Henry  Hudson,  while  sailing  in  the 
service  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  discovered 
the  magnificent  stream  which  now  bears  his  name. 
A  small  colony  was  soon  sent  out  from  Holland1  to 

1  "  On  Hudson's  return,  according  to  the  English  historians,  he 
sold  his  title  to  the  Dutch."  British  Encyc.  vol.  ii.,  p.  236. 
Chalmers  questions,  apparently  on  good  grounds,  the  validity  of  this 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          337 

settle  the  new  country,  and  a  trading  post  estab- 
lished at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Sir  Samuel  Argal, 
governor  of  Virginia,  conceived  that  this  foreign 
settlement  trenched  upon  the  rights  granted  hy  the 
English  Crown  to  its  subjects,  and  by  a  display  of  IGIS 
superior  force  constrained  the  Dutch  colony  to 
acknowledge  British  sovereignty;2  but  this  submis- 
sion became  a  dead-letter  some  years  later,  when 
large  bodies  of  emigrants  arrived  from  the  Low  1620 
Countries;3  the  little  trading  post  soon  rose  into  a 
town,  and  a  fort  was  erected  for  its  defence.  The 
site  of  this  establishment  was  on  the  island  of  Man- 
hattan;4 the  founders  called  it  New  Amsterdam. 
When  it  fell  into  the  possession  of  England,  the 

odd  transaction.  If,  as  Forster  asserts,  Hudson  not  only  sailed  from 
the  Texel,  but  was  equipped  at  the  expense  of  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company,  there  was  no  room  for  sale  or  purchase  of  any  kind  to 
constitute  the  region  Dutch. — Chalmers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  568  ;  Charlevoix, 
torn,  i.,  p.  221. 

2  "  The  English  jurists,  referring  to  the  wide  grants  of  Elizabeth, 
according  to  which  Virginia  extended  far  to  the  north  of  this  region, 
insist  that  there  had  long  ceased  to  be  room  for  any  claim  to  it  founded 
on  discovery.    But  the  Dutch,  who  are  somewhat  slow  in  comprehen- 
sion, could  not  see  the  right  which  Elizabeth  could  have  to  bestow 
a  vast  region,  of  the  very  existence  of  which  she  was  ignorant.  They 
therefore  sent  out  the  small  colony,  1613,  which  was  soon  after  com- 
pelled by  Argal  to  acknowledge  the  sovereignty  of  England."  — 
Murray's  America,  vol.  i.,  p.  331  ;    Pastes  Chronologiques,  1613. 

3  The  Dutch  West  Indian  Company  was  established  in  1620,  and 
sent  out  colonists  on  a  large  scale. 

4  "  Juet,  the  travelling  companion  of  Hudson,  called  the  island  on 
which  New  York  is  situated,  Manna  Hatta,  which  means  the  island 
of  manna  ;  in  other  words,  a  country  where  milk  and  honey  flow. 
The  name  Manhattoes  is  said  to  be  derived  from  the  great  Indian 

VOL.  i.  z 


338  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

name  was  changed  to  New  York.  Albany5  was 
next  built,  at  some  distance  up  the  Hudson,  as  a 
post  for  the  Indian  trade,  and  thence  a  communica- 
tion was  opened  for  the  first  time  with  the  Northern 
Indian  confederacy  of  the  Iroquois,  or  the  Five 
Nations. 

Charles  II.,  from  hatred  to  the  Dutch,  as  well  as 
from  the  desire  of  aggrandisement,  renewed  the 
claims  of  England  upon  the  Hudson  settlements, 
1664  and  in  1664  dispatched  an  armament  of  300 
men  to  enforce  this  claim.  Stuyvesant,  the  Dutch 
governor6,  was  totally  unprepared  to  resist  the 

god,  Manetho,  who  is  stated  to  have  made  this  island  his  favourite 
place  of  residence  on  account  of  its  peculiar  attractions." — Knicker- 
bocker's New  York,  vol.  v.,  p.  1. 

6  "  Albany  bore  the  name  of  Orange  when  it  was  originally  founded 
by  the  Dutch  ;  and  as  a  great  number  of  this  people  remained  in  the 
city  after  it  passed  into  the  possession  of  England,  they  continued  to 
call  it  Orange,  and  the  French  Canadians  give  it  no  other  name." — 
Charlevoix,  torn,  i.,  p.  222. 

"  Albany  received  that  name  from  the  Scottish  title  of  the  Duke  of 
York."— Bancroft. 

6  Nine  years  before  (\655)  Stuyvesant  had  attacked  the  happy  and 
contented  little  colony  of  Swedes  who  were  settled  on  the  banks  of 
the  Delaware,  and  after  a  sanguinary  contest  the  Swedish  governor, 
John  Rising,  was  obliged  to  submit  to  the  Dutch  authority.  Such 
was  the  end  of  New  Sweden,  which  had  only  maintained  an  indepen- 
dent existence  for  seventeen  years.  Thus  the  Swedish  settlements 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  English  at  the  same  time  as  those  of 
the  Dutch.  The  first  Swedish  colonisation  had  been  projected  and 
encouraged  by  the  great  Gustavus  Adolphusin  1638.  They  gave 
their  settlement,  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  the  name  of  the  Land 
of  Canaan,  and  to  the  spot  where  they  first  landed  that  of  Canaan,  so 
inviting  and  delightful  did  this  part  of  the  New  World  first  appear  to 
them.  The  only  thing  now  known  of  this  terrestrial  paradise 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          339 

threatened  attack,  and  after  a  short  parley  agreed 
to  surrender.  The  settlers  were,  however,  secured 
in  property  and  person,  and  in  the  free  exercise  of 
their  religion,  and  the  greater  part  remained  under 
their  new  rulers.  In  the  long  naval  war  subse- 
quently carried  on  between  England  and  Holland, 
the  colony  again  passed  for  a  time  under  the  sway 
of  the  Dutch,  but  at  the  peace  was  finally  restored 
to  Great  Britain.  James,  then  Duke  of  York,  had 
received  from  his  brother  a  grant  of  the  district 
which  now  constitutes  the  State  of  New  York.  On 
assuming  authority  he  appointed  governors  with 
arbitrary  power,  but  the  colonists,  in  assertion  of 
their  rights  as  Englishmen,  stoutly  resisted,  and 
even  sent  home  Dyer,  the  collector  of  customs,  under 
a  charge  of  high  treason,  for  attempting  to  levy 
taxes  without  legal  authority.  The  Duke  judged  it  1681 
expedient  to  conciliate  his  sturdy  transatlantic 
subjects,  and  yielded  them  a  certain  form  of  repre- 
sentative government;  in  1682,  Mr.  Dongan  was 

is,  that  its  situation  was  near  Cape  Henlopen,  a  short  distance 
from  the  sea.  The  colonists  purchased  tracts  of  lands  of  the 
Indians,  and  threw  up  a  few  fortifications  ;  of  the  city  they  founded, 
Christina,  there  is  now  no  trace.  It  was  situated  near  Wilmington, 
twenty-seven  miles  south  of  Philadelphia.  The  Dutch,  whose  prin- 
cipal city  was  then  New  Amsterdam,  pretended  that  the  country 
round  the  Delaware  belonged  to  them,  having  paid  it  a  visit  before 
the  arrival  of  the  Swedes.  This  insinuation,  moreover,  did  not  pre- 
vent the  latter  from  settling,  and  according  to  Charlevoix  the  two 
nations  lived  in  amity  with  each  other  until  Stuyvesant's  aggression, 
the  Dutch  being  wholly  devoted  to  commerce  and  the  Swedes  to 
agriculture.  The  Swedish  settlement  was  at  first  called  New  Sweden, 
afterwards  New  Jersey. 

z2 


340          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

sent  out  with  a  commission  to  assemble  a  council  of 
ten,  and  a  house  of  assembly  of  eighteen  popular 
deputies.  The  new  governor  soon  rendered  himself 
beloved  and  respected  by  all,  although  at  first 
distrusted  and  disliked,  as  professing  the  Romish 
faith.  New  York  was  not  allowed  to  enjoy  these 
fortunate  circumstances  for  any  length  of  time  ;  the 
capricious  and  arbitrary  Duke  on  his  accession  to  the 
crown,  abrogated  the  colonial  constitution ;  shortly 
afterwards  the  State  was  annexed  to  Massachusetts, 
the  beloved  governor  recalled,  and  the  despotic 

1686  Andros  established  in  his  stead.  At  the  first  rumour 
of  the  Revolution  of  1688,  the  inhabitants,  led  by  a 
merchant  of  the  name  of  Leisler,  rose  in  arms, 
proclaimed  William  and  Mary,  and  elected  a  house 
of  representatives.  The  new  monarch  sent  out  a 
Colonel  Slaughter  as  governor,  whose  authority  was 
disputed  by  Leisler ;  however,  the  bold  merchant 
was  soon  overcome,  and  with  quick  severity  tried 

1691  and  executed.  The  English  parliament,  more 
considerate  of  his  useful  services,  subsequently 
reversed  his  attainder  and  restored  the  forfeited 

1695  estates  to  his  family.  With  the  view  of  aiding  the 
resources  and  progress  of  the  colony,  3000  German 
Protestants,  called  Palatines,  were  subsequently 
conveyed  to  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  and  subsisted 
for  three  years,  at  a  great  expense  by  England; 
these  sober  and  industrious  men  proved  a  most 
valuable  addition  to  the  population.7 

7  "  The  entire  cost  of  this  transportation  amounted  to  78,533/., 
which,  amidst  the  ferments  of  party,  was  declared  by  a  subsequent 


THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA.  341 

New  Jersey  was  formed  from  a  part  of  the  ori- 
ginal territory  of  New  York.  Lord  Berkeley  and  Sir 
George  Carteret  were  the  proprietors,  by  grant  from 
James:  th ey founded  the  new  state  with  great  judg-  1664 
ment  and  liberality,  establishing  the  power  of  self- 
government  and  taxation.  The  Duke  of  York, 
however,  on  the  reconquest  of  the  country  from  the 
Dutch,  took  the  opportunity  of  abrogating  the  con- 
stitution :  the  colonists  boldly  appealed  against  this 
tyranny,  and  with  such  force,  that  the  Duke  was  led 
to  refer  the  question  to  the  judgment  of  the  learned 
and  upright  Sir  William  Jones,  who  gave  it  against 
him.  James  was  obliged  to  acquiesce  in  this  deci-  1681 
sion,  till  he  ascended  the  throne,  when  he  swept 
away  all  the  rights  of  the  colony,  and  annexed  it, 
like  its  neighbours,  to  the  government  of  Massa- 
chusetts. After  the  accession  of  William,  New 
Jersey  was  entangled  for  ten  years  in  a  web  of  con- 
flicting claims,  but  was  finally  established  under  its 
own  independent  legislature. 

The  state  of  Maryland  was  so  named  in  honour  of 
Henrietta  Maria,  the  beautiful  queen  of  Charles  I., 
to  whose  influence  the  early  settlers  were  much 
indebted.  Religious  persecution  in  England  drove 

vote  of  Parliament  to  be  not  only  an  extravagant  and  unreasonable 
charge  to  the  kingdom,  but  of  dangerous  consequence  to  the  Church." 
— Brit.  Emp.  Amer.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  249,  250. 

"  Swabia,  with  the  old  Palatinate,  has  contributed  very  largely  to 
the  present  population  of  America.  From  the  end  of  Queen  Anne's 
reign  to  1753,  it  is  said  that  from  4  to  8000  went  annually  to  Penn- 
sylvania alone." — Sadler,  b.  iv.,  cap.  v. 


342  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

forth  the  founders  of  the  colony;  but  in  this 
case  the  Protestants  were  the  instigators,  and  the 
cruel  laws  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  against  the 
Roman  Catholics  were  the  instruments.  Lord  Bal- 
timore, an  Irish  peer,  and  other  men  of  distinction 
in  the  popish  body,  obtained  from  Charles  I.,  as  an 
asylum  in  the  New  World,  a  grant  of  that  angle  of 
Virginia  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  River  Chesapeake, 
a  district  rich  in  soil,  genial  in  climate,  and  admir- 
ably situated  for  commerce.  An  expedition  of  200 
Roman  Catholics,  many  among  them  men  of  good 
birth,  was  sent  under  Mr.  Calvert,  Lord  Baltimore's 
1634  brother,  to  take  possession  of  this  favoured  tract. 
Their  first  care  was  to  conciliate  the  Indians,  in  which 
they  eminently  succeeded.  The  natives  were  even 
prevailed  upon  to  abandon  their  village  and  the 
cleared  lands  around  to  the  strangers,  and  to  remove 
themselves  contentedly  to  another  situation. 

Maryland  was  most  honourably  distinguished  in 
the  earliest  times  by  perfect  freedom  of  religious 
opinion.  Many  members  of  the  Church  of  England, 
as  well  as  Roman  Catholics,  fled  thither  from  the 
persecutions  of  the  Puritans.  The  Baltimore  family 
at  first  displayed  great  liberality  and  judgment 
in  their  rule ;  but,  as  they  gained  confidence 
from  the  secret  support  of  the  king  to  their 
cherished  faith,  their  wise  moderation  seems  to 
have  diminished.  However,  the  principal  grievance 
brought  against  them  was,  that  they  had  not  pro- 
vided by  public  funds  for  Church  of  England 
clergymen,  as  fully  as  for  those  of  their  own  faith, 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          343 

although  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  the  population 
belonged  to  the  flock  of  the  former.     The  unsatis- 
factory state  of  morals,  manners,  and  religion  in 
the  colony,  was  attributed  to  this  neglect.     At  the 
Revolution,  the  inhabitants  of  Maryland  rose  with 
tumultuous  zeal  against  their  Roman  Catholic  lords, 
and  published  a  manifesto  in  justification  of  their 
proceedings,  accusing  Lord  Baltimore's  government 
of  intolerable  tyranny.     These  statements,  whether 
true  or  false,  afforded  King  William  an  opportunity 
to  assume  the  colonial  power  in  his  own  hands, 
1691,  and  to  deprive  the  Calverts  of  all  rights  over 
the  country,  except  the  receipt  of  some  local  taxes.8 
For  a  long  time  but  few  settlers  had  established 
themselves  in  that  part  of  North  America,  now 
called  Carolina  ;9  of  these  some  were  men  who  had 
fled  from   the  persecutions  of  New  England,  and 
formed   a  little  colony  round  Cape  Fear ;    others    1661 
were  Virginians,  attracted  by  the  rich  unoccupied 
lands.    After  the  restoration  of  Charles,  however, 

8  "  King  William,  impatient  of  judicial  forms,  by  his  own  act  con- 
stituted Maryland  a  royal  government.     The  arbitrary  act  was  sanc- 
tioned by  a  legal  opinion  from  Lord  Holt.     The  Church  of  England 
was  established  as  the  religion  of  the  state.     ...     In  the  land 
which  Catholics  had  opened  to  Protestants,  the  Catholic  inhabitant 
was  the   sole  victim  to  Anglican  intolerance.     Mass  might  not  be 
said  publicly.    ...     No  Catholic  might  teach  the  young.     .    .    . 
The  disfranchisement  of  the  proprietary  Lord  Baltimore,  related  to 
his  creed,  not  to  his  family.    To  recover  the  inheritance  of  authority, 
Benedict,  the  son  of  the  proprietary,  renounced  the  Catholic  Church 
for  that  of  England.     The  persecution  never  crushed  the  faith  of  the 
humble  colonists." — Bancroft,  vol.  iii.,  p.  33. 

9  This  name  was  given  in  honour  of  Charles  II. 


344  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

the  energies  of  the  British  nation,  no  longer  devoted 
to  internal  quarrels,  turned  into  the  fields  of  foreign 
and  colonial  adventure.  Charles  readily  bestowed 
upon  his  followers  vast  tracts  of  an  uncultivated 
wilderness  which  he  had  never  seen;  and  Monk, 
Duke  of  Albemarle,  the  Earl  of  Clarendon,  Lords 
Berkeley  and  Ashley,  Sir  George  Carteret,  and  a  few 
others,  were  created  absolute  lords  of  the  new 
1663  province  of  Carolina.  Great  exertions  were  then 
made  to  attract  settlers,  immunity  from  prosecution 
from  debt  was  secured  to  them  for  five  years,  and 
at  the  same  time  a  liberal  constitution  was  granted, 
with  a  popular  house  of  assembly.  The  proprietors, 
anxious  to  perfect  the  work  of  colonisation,  pre- 
vailed upon  the  celebrated  Locke  to  draw  up  a 
system  of  government  for  the  new  state,  which, 
however  excellent  in  theory,  proved  practically  a 
signal  failure.1  The  principal  characteristic  of  the 

1  "  The  system  framed  by  Locke  was  called  '  the  Fundamental 
Constitutions  of  Carolina.'  .  .  .  Locke  was  undoubtedly  well 
acquainted  with  human  nature,  and  not  ignorant  of  the  world  ;  but 
he  had  not  taken  a  sufficiently  comprehensive  view  of  the  history  of 
man,  nor  were  political  speculators  yet  duly  aware  of  the  necessity  of 
adapting  constitutions  to  those  for  whom  they  were  destined.  The 
grand  peculiarity  consisted  in  forming  a  high  and  titled  nobility, 
which  might  rival  the  splendour  of  those  of  the  Old  World.  But  as 
the  Dukes  and  Earls  of  England  would  have  considered  their  titles 
degraded  by  being  shared  with  a  Carolina  planter,  other  titles  of 
foreign  origin  were  adopted.  That  of  Landgrave  was  drawn  from 
Germany.  (Locke  himself  was  created  a  Landgrave.)  But  these 
princely  denominations,  applied  to  persons  who  were  to  earn  their 
bread  by  the  labour  of  their  hands,  could  confer  no  real  dignity. 
The  reverence  for  nobility,  which  can  only  be  the  result  of  long- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          345 

scheme  was  the  establishment  of  an  aristocracy 
with  fantastic  titles  of  nobility,2  who  met  with 
the  deputies  in  a  parliament,  where,  however,  the 
council  solely  possessed  the  power  of  proposing 
new  laws.  The  whole  colonial  body  was  subject  to 
the  court  of  proprietors  in  England,  which  was 
presided  over  by  a  chief  called  the  Palatine,3 
possessing  nearly  supreme  power.  The  sturdy 
colonists  neglected,  or  deferred  for  future  conside- 
ration, every  portion  of  this  new  constitution  that 
appeared  unsuitable  to  their  conditions,  alleging  that 
its  provisions  were  in  violation  of  the  promises  that 
had  induced  them  to  adopt  the  country. 

Carolina  for  a  long  time  progressed  but  slowly. 
The  colonists  had  no  fixed  religion,4  and  their 
general  morals  and  industry  were  very  indifferent. 

continued  wealth  and  influence,  could  never  be  inspired  by  mere 
titles,  especially  of  such  an  exotic  and  fantastic  character.  . 
The  sanction  of  negro  slavery  was  a  deep  blot  in  this  boasted  system. 
.  The  colonists,  who  felt  perfectly  at  ease  under  their  rude 
early  regulations,  were  struck  with  dismay  at  the  arrival  of  this 
philosophical  fabric  of  polity." — Murray's  America,  vol.  i.,  p.  343. 

2  "  It  was  insisted  that  there  should  be  some  Landgraves  and  some 
Caciques,   when  many  other  parts  of    *  the  Fundamental  Constitu- 
tions '  were  given  up  ;  but  these  great  nobles  never  struck  any  root 
in   the   western   soil,  and    have   long   since   disappeared."  —  Hist. 
Ace.  of  the  Colonisation  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  London, 
1779,  vol.  i.,  pp.  44 — 46  ;  Chalmers,  p.  326,  quoted  by  Murray. 

3  Monk,  Duke  of  Albemarle,  was  constituted  Palatine. 

4  "It  is  remarkable  that  the  philosopher's  colony  seems  to  have 
been  the  only  one  founded  before  the   eighteenth  century,  except 
Virginia,  in   which  the   Church  of  England  was    expressly  estab- 
lished ;  but  this  clause  is  said  to  have  been  introduced  against  his 
will." — Merivale  on  Colonisation,  vol.  i.,  pp.  88 — 92. 


346  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

They  drew  largely  upon  the  resources  of  the  pro- 
prietors, without  giving  any  return,  and  when  at 
length  that  supply  was  stopped  they  resorted  to 
every  idle  and  iniquitous  mode  of  raising  funds. 
They  hunted  the  Indians  and  sold  them  as  slaves  to 
the  "West  Indies,   and   their   seaports  became  the 
resort  of  pirates.      These    atrocious    and    ruinous 
pursuits  soon  reduced  them  to  a  state  of  miserable 
poverty,  and  the  baneful  influence  of  a  series  of 
profligate  governors  completed  the  mischief.     One 
1683    of  these,  named  Sette  Sothel,5  was  especially  con- 
spicuous for  rapacity  and  injustice ;  his  misrule  at 
length   goaded  the  people  into  insurrection,  they 
seized    him    and    were    about    to    send  him  as  a 
prisoner  to  England,  but  released  him  on  a  promise 
of  renouncing   the    government    and    leaving  the 
colony  for  a  time.     After   these,  and  some  other 
commotions,  they  succeeded  in  re-establishing  their 
ancient  charter  in  its  original  simplicity. 

Carolina  now  began  to  improve  rapidly  from  the 
influx  of  a  large  and  valuable  immigration.  The 
religious  freedom  that  had  been  secured  under  the 
old  charter,  was  continued  unrestricted  even  under 

5  "Mr.  Chalmers  makes  the  very  bold  assertion,  that  the  annals  of 
delegated  authority  do  not  present  a  name  so  branded  with  merited 
infamy,  and  that  there  never  had  taken  place  such  an  accumulation 
of  extortion,  injustice,  and  rapacity,  as  during  the  five  years  that  he 
misruled  the  colony.  He  had  been  made  prisoner  in  his  way  out, 
and  kept  in  close  captivity  at  Algiers,  where  he  took,  it  appears,  not 
warning  but  lessons.  (Sette  Sothel  had  purchased  the  rights  of  Lord 
Clarendon,  one  of  the  eight  original  proprietaries.)"  —  Murray, 
vol.  i.,  p.  345. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  347 

Mr.  Locke's  complicated  constitution.  Many  Puritans 
flocked  in  from  Britain  to  seek  refuge  from  the 
persecutions  of  Charles  II.,  and  by  their  steadiness 
and  industry  soon  attained  considerable  wealth. 
New  England  had  also  furnished  her  share  to  the 
new  settlement  of  useful  and  energetic  men  who 
had  been  expelled  by  her  Calvinistic  intolerance. 
But  the  narrow-minded  jealousy  of  the  original 
emigrants  soon  interrupted  the  prosperity  of  the 
colony.  Under  the  hypocritical  plea  of  zeal  for  the 
Church  of  England,  to  which  their  conduct  and 
morals  were  a  scandal,  they  obtained,  by  violent 
means,  a  majority  of  one  in  the  assembly,  and 
expelled  all  dissenters  from  the  legislature  and 
government.  They  even  passed  a  law  to  depose  all 
sectarian  clergy,  and  devote  their  churches  to  the 
services  of  the  established  religion.  The  oppressed 
dissenters  appealed  to  the  British  Parliament  for 
protection ;  in  the  year  1705,  an  address  was  voted  1705 
to  the  queen  by  the  House  of  Commons,  declaring 
the  injustice  of  these  acts,  but  nothing  was  done  to 
relieve  the  colony  till  in  1721,  when  the  people  rose  1721 
in  insurrection,  established  a  provisional  govern- 
ment, and  prayed  that  the  king,  George  L,  would 
himself  undertake  their  rule.  He  granted  their 
petition,  and  soon  afterwards  purchased  the  rights  1727 
of  the  proprietors.6 

6  "  The  rights  of  the  proprietors  were  sold  to  the  king  for  ahout 
the  sum  of  20,000£.  Lord  Carteret  alone,  joining  in  the  surrender 
of  the  government,  received  an  eighth  share  in  the  soil." — Histor. 
Account,  &c.y  vol.  i.,  pp.  255 — 321. 


348  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

1732  In  the  year  1732  a  plan  was  formed  for  relieving 
the  distress  then  severely  pressing  upon  England  by 
colonising  the  territory,  still  remaining  unoccupied, 
to  the  south  of  the  Savannah.  Twenty-three  trustees, 
men  of  rank  and  influence,  were  appointed  for  this 
purpose,  and  the  sum  of  15,000£  was  placed  at  their 
disposal  by  Parliament,  and  by  voluntary  subscrip- 
tion. With  the  aid  of  these  funds  about  500  people 
were  forwarded  to  the  new  country,  and  some 
others  went  at  their  own  expense.  In  honour  of 
the  reigning  king,  the  name  of  Georgia  was  given 
to  the  new  settlement.  The  lands  were  granted  to 
the  emigrants  on  conditions  of  military  service,  and 
a  large  proportion  of  them  were  selected  from 
among  the  hardy  Scottish  highlanders,  and  the 
veterans  of  some  German  regiments.  Besides  being 
the  advance-guard  of  civilisation  in  the  Indian 
country,  the  colony  was  threatened  with  the  rival 
claims  of  the  Spaniards  in  Florida,  the  boundaries 
of  whose  territory  were  very  vague  and  uncertain. 
Happily  for  Georgia,  Mr.  Oglethorpe,  the  original 
founder  of  the  settlement,  succeeded  in  establishing 
a  lasting  friendship  with  the  powerful  Creek  Indians, 
the  natives  of  the  country ;  but  the  Spaniards  never 
ceased  to  alarm  and  threaten  the  colony,  till  British 
arms  had  won  the  whole  Atlantic  coast.  Owing 
to  this  disadvantage,  and  still  more  to  certain 
humane  restrictions  upon  the  Indian  trade,7  no  great 

7  "  The  importation  and  use  of  negroes  were  prohibited  ;  no  rum 
was  allowed  to  be  introduced,  and  no  one  was  permitted  to  trade  with 
the  Indians  without  special  license.  The  colonists  complained,  that 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          349 

influx  of  population  took  place  until  1763,  when    1763 
peace  restored  confidence,  and  men  and  money  were 
freely  introduced  from  England. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  the  great  American 
States  that  declared  their  independence  in  1783,  was, 
with  the  exception  of  Georgia,  the  latest  in  its  origin. 
Under  the  wise  and  gentle  influence  of  the  founders, 
however,  it  progressed  more  rapidly  than  any  other. 
When  time  and  reflection  had  cooled  the  ardour  and 
softened  the  fanaticism  of  the  early  Quakers,  the 
sect  attracted  general  and  just  admiration  by  the 
mild  and  persevering  philanthropy  of  its  most  dis- 
tinguished members.  The  pure  benevolence  and 
patient  courage  of  William  Penn,  was  a  tower  of 
strength  to  this  new  creed ;  well  born,  and  enjoying 
a  competent  fortune,  he  possessed  the  means  as  well 
as  the  will  powerfully  to  aid  in  its  advancement. 
He  endured  with  patience,  but  with  unflinching 

without  negroes  it  was  impossible  to  clear  the  grounds  and  cut  down 
the  thick  forests,  though  the  honest  highlanders  always  reprobated  the 
practice,  and  denied  that  any  necessity  for  it  existed."* — Murray, 
vol.  i.,  p.  360. 

*  "  Slavery,"  said  Oglethorpe,  "  is  against  the  Gospel,  as  well  as  the  fundamental  law 
of  England.  We  refused,  as  trustees,  to  make  a  law  permitting  such  a  horrid  crime." 
— Memoirs  of  Skarpe,  vol.  i.,  p.  234  ;  Stephen's  Journal,  quoted  by  Bancroft.  In 
1751,  however,  after  Oglethorpe  had  finally  left  Georgia,  his  humane  restrictions 
were  withdrawn.  Whitfield,  who  believed  that  God's  providence  would  certainly 
make  slavery  terminate  for  the  advantage  of  the  Africans,  pleaded  before  the  trustees 
in  its  favour.  At  last  even  the  Moravians  (who  in  a  body  emigrated  to  Georgia  in 
1733)  began  to  think  that  negro  slaves  might  be  employed  in  a  Christian  spirit ;  and 
it  was  agreed  that  if  the  negroes  are  treated  in  a  Christian  manner,  their  change  of 
country  would  prove  to  them  a  benefit.  A  message  from  Germany  served  to  crush 
their  scruples  :  "  If  you  take  slaves  in  faith,  and  with  the  intent  of  conducting  them 
to  Christ,  the  action  will  not  be  a  sin,  but  may  prove  a  benediction." — Urlsperger, 
vol.  iii.,  p.  479,  quoted  by  Bancroft,  vol.  iii.,  p.  448. 


350  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

constancy,  a  continual  series  of  legal  persecutions 
and  even  the  anger  of  his  father,  until  the  unspotted 
integrity  of  his  life,  and  his  practical  wisdom,  at 
length  triumphed  over  prejudice  and  hostility,  and 
he  was  allowed  the  privilege  of  pleading  before  the 
British  Parliament  in  the  cause  of  his  oppressed 
brethren. 

William  Penn  inherited  from  his  father  a  claim 
against  the  government  for  16,000£  which  King 
Charles  gladly  paid  by  assigning  to  him  the  terri- 
tory in  the  New  World,  now  called  Pennsylvania8 
in  honour  of  the  first  proprietor.9  This  was  a  large 
and  fertile  expanse  of  inland  country,  partly  taken 
from  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Maryland.  It  was 
included  between  the  40th  and  43rd  degrees  of  lati- 
tude, and  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Delaware  river. 
The  enlightened  and  benevolent  proprietor  bestowed 

8  "  He  accepted  this  grant,  because  it  secured  them  against  any 
other  claimant  from  Europe.     It  gave  him  a  title  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Christian  world  ;  but  he  did  not  believe  that  it  gave  him  any  other 
title." — Colonisation  and  Civilisation,  p.  358. 

9  "  Etablissement  de  la  Pennsylvanie,  dans  le  pays  qui  avoit  porte 
le  nom  de  Nouvelle  Suede  : — Cette  colonie  a  regu  son  nom  de  son 
fondateur,  le  Chevalier  Guillaume  Penn,  Anglais,  a  qui  Charles  II., 
Roi  de  la  Grande  Bretagne,  conceda  ce  pays  en  1680  et  qui  cette 
anne'e  1681,  y  mena  les  Quakers  ou  trembleurs  d'Angleterre,  dont 
il  etoit  le  chef.     Lorsqu'il  y  arriva,  il  y  trouva  un  grand  nombre  de 
Hollandois  et  de  Suedois.     Les  premiers,  pour  la  plupart,  occupoient 
les  endroits  situes  le  long  du  golphe,  et  les  seconds,  les  bords  de  la 
riviere  De  la  Warr,  ou  du  midi.     II  paroit  par  une  de  ses  lettres, 
qu'il  n'etoit  pas  content  des  Hollandois  ;  mais  il  dit  que  les  Suedois 
etoient  une   nation  simple,   sans    malice,    industrieuse,   robuste,    se 
souciant  peu  de  1'abondance  et  se  contentant  du  necessaire. — Fastes 
Chronologiques,  1681. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          351 

upon  the  new  state  a  constitution  that  secured,  as 
far  as  human  ordinance  was  capable,  freedom  of 
faith,  thought,  and  action.  He  formed  some  pecu- 
liar institutions  for  the  promotion  of  peace  and 
good-will  among  his  brethren,  and  for  the  protection 
of  the  widow  and  the  orphan.  By  his  wise  and  just 
dealings  with  the  Indians,1  he  gained  their  impor- 
tant confidence  and  friendship:  he  sent  commis- 
sioners to  treat  with  them  for  the  sale  of  their 
lands,  and  in  the  year  1682  met  the  assembled  1682 
chiefs  near  the  spot  where  Philadelphia  now  stands. 
The  savages  advanced  to  the  place  of  meeting  in 
great  numbers,  and  in  warlike  guise,  but  as  the 
approach  of  the  English  was  announced,  they  laid 
aside  their  weapons  and  seated  themselves  in  quiet 
groups  around  their  chiefs.2  Penn  came  forward 

1  "  Even  Penn,  however,  did  not  fully  admit  into  his  scheme  of 
colonisation  the  notion  of  retaining  for  the  Indians  a  property  in  a 
part  of  the  soil  they  once  occupied.     He  gave  the  natives  free  leave 
to  settle  in  certain  parts  of  his  territory,  but,  unfortunately,  he  did 
not  treat  any  definite  tract  of  the  soil  as  their  property,  which  would 
rise  in  value  along  with  other  tracts,  and  thus  afford  a  stimulus  to 
their  gradual  improvement.     It  was  the  want  of  systematic  views  in 
this  and  other  respects,  which  rendered  the  benevolent  intentions  of 
Penn  towards  the  natives  of  little  ultimate  avail  ;  so  that  after  all, 
the  chief  good  which  he  effected  was  by  setting  an  example  of  bene- 
volence and  justice  in  the  principle  of  his  dealings  with  them." — 
Merivale  on  Colonisation,  vol.  ii.,  p.  173. 

2  "  William  Penn  of  course  came  unarmed,  in  his  usual  plain  dress, 
without  banners,  or  mace,  or  guard,  or  carriages,  and  only  distin- 
guished from  his  companions  by  wearing  a  blue  sash  of  silk  net-work 
(which,  it  seems,  is  still  preserved  by  Mr.  Kett,  of  Seething  Hall, 
near  Norwich),  and  by  having  in   his  hand  a  roll   of  parchment, 
on  which  was  engrossed  the  confirmation  of  the  treaty  of  purchase 


352  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

fearlessly  with  a  few  attendants,  all  unarmed,  and 
in  their  usual  grave  and  simple  attire ;  in  his  hand 
he  held  a  parchment  on  which  were  written  the 
terms  of  the  treaty.  He  then  spoke  in  a  few  plain 
words  of  the  friendship  and  justice  that  should  rule 
the  actions  of  all  men,  and  guide  him  and  them  and 
their  children's  children.  The  Indians  answered, 
that  they  would  live  in  peace  with  him  and  his 
white  brothers  as  long  as  the  sun  and  moon  shall 
endure.  And  in  the  Quaker's  parchment  and  the 
Indians'  promise  was  accomplished  the  peaceful 
conquest  of  that  lovely  wilderness,  a  conquest 
more  complete,  more  secure  and  lasting,  than  any 
that  the  ruthless  rigour  of  Cortes,  or  the  stern  valour 
of  the  Puritans  had  ever  won. 

The  prosperity  of  Pennsylvania  advanced  with 
unexampled  rapidity.3  The  founder  took  out  with 
him  two  thousand  well  chosen  emigrants,  and  a 
considerable  number  had  preceded  him  to  the  new 
country.  The  orderly  freedom  that  prevailed,4  and 

and  amity." — Edinburgh  Review  of  Clarksoris  Life  of  William 
Penn,  p,  358. 

"  The  scene  at  Shachamaxon,  quoted  by  Howitt,  forms  the  subject 
of  one  of  the  pictures  of  West.  Thus  ended  this  famous  treaty,  of 
which  Voltaire  has  remarked  with  so  much  truth  and  severity,  '  That 
it  was  the  only  one  ever  concluded  which  was  not  ratified  by  an  oath, 
and  the  only  one  that  never  was  broken.'  " — Howitt,  p.  360. 

3  "  In  three  years  from  its  foundation,  Philadelphia  gained  more 
than  New  York  had  done  in  half  a  century." — Bancroft's  History  of 
the  United  /States,  vol.  ii.,  p.  394. 

4  "  Virtue  had  never,  perhaps,  inspired  a  legislation  better  calcu- 
lated to  promote  the  fidelity  of  mankind.     The  opinions,  the  senti- 
ments, and  the  morals,  corrected  whatever  might  be  deficient  in  it. " — 
Raynal,  vol.  vii.,  p.  292. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          353 

the  perpetual  peace  with  the  Indians,5  gave  a  great 
advantage  to  this  colony,  emigration  flowed  thither 
more  abundantly  than  to  any  other  settlement,  and 
thus,  although  of  such  recent  origin,  this  state  soon 
equalled  the  most  successful  of  its  older  neighbours. 

"  Beautiful,"  said  the  philosophic  Frederic  of  Prussia,  when  he 
read  the  account  of  the  government  of  Pennsylvania,  "  it  is  perfect,  if 
it  can  endure.  "—Herder,  pp.  13,  116.  Quoted  by  Bancroft,  vol.  ii, 
p.  392. 

5  "  Their  conduct  to  the  Indians  never  altered  for  the  worse  ; 
Pennsylvania,  while  under  the  administration  of  the  Quakers,  never 
became,  as  New  England,  a  slaughter-house  of  the  Indians."— 
Howitt,  p.  366. 


VOL.  I.  A  A 


354 


CHAPTER   XII. 

HAVING  noticed  the  principal  features  of  the  origin 
and  progress  of  the  English  colonies ;  the  powerful 
and  dangerous  neighbours  of  the  French  settle- 
ments in  the  New  World ;  it  is  now  time  to  return 
to  the  course  of  Canadian  history  subsequent  to 
the  death  of  the  illustrious  founder  of  Quebec. 

Monsieur  de  Montmagny  succeeded  Champlain  as 
governor,  and  entered  with  zeal  into  his  plans,  but 
difficulties  accumulated  on  all  sides.  Men  and 
money  were  wanting,  trade  languished,  and  the 
Associated  Company  in  France  were  daily  becoming 
more  indifferent  to  the  success  of  the  colony.  Some\ 
few  merchants  and  inhabitants  of  the  outposts,  ' 
indeed,  were  enriched  by  the  profitable  dealings  of 
the  fur  trade,  but  their  suddenly  acquired  wealth 
excited  the  jealousy,  rather  than  increased  the 
general  prosperity  of  the  settlers.  The  work  of 
religious  institutions  was  alone  pursued  with  vigour 
and  success  in  those  times  of  failure  and  discourage- 
ment. At  Sillery,  one  league  from  Quebec,  an 

1637  establishment  was  founded  for  the  instruction  of 
the  savages,  and  the  diffusion  of  Christian  light. 
The  Hotel  Dieu  owed  its  existence  to  the  Duchesse 

1639    d'Aiguillon  two  years  afterwards,  and  the  Convent 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          355 

of  the  Ursulines  was  founded  by  the  pious  and 
highborn  Madame  de  la  Peltrie.1 

The  partial  success  and  subsequent  failure  of 
Champlain  and  his  Indian  allies  in  their  encounters 
with  the  Iroquois  had  emboldened  these  brave  and 
politic  savages;  they  now  captured  several  canoes 
belonging  to  the  Hurons,  laden  with  furs,  which 
that  friendly  people  were  conveying  to  Quebec. 
Montmagny's  military  force  was  too  small  to  allow 
of  his  avenging  this  insult ;  he,  however,  zealously 
promoted  an  enterprise  to  build  a  fort  and  effect  a 
settlement  on  the  Island  of  Montreal  which  he 
fondly  hoped  would  curb  the  audacity  of  his  savage 

1  Amongst  the  Ursulines  who  accompanied  Madame  de  la  Peltrie 
to  Quebec  was  Marie  de  1'Incarnation,  "  the  Theresa  of  France,"  and 
Marie  de  St.  Joseph.  The  sanctity  of  these  remarkable  women  and 
the  miracles  they  performed  are  the  favourite  theme  of  the  Jesuit 
historians  of  Canada.  Several  lives  of  the  former  have  been 
published,  one  of  them  by  Charlevoix.  A  quarto  volume  of  her 
letters  was  also  published  (k  Paris,  chez  Louis  Billaine,  1681)  : 
they  are  highly  extolled  as  "  worthy  of  her  high  reputation  for 
sanctity,  ability,  and  practical  good  sense  in  the  business  of  life." 
They  record  many  historical  facts  which  occurred  during  the  thirty- 
two  years  that  she  passed  in  Canada,  where  she  arrived  in  1640. 
When  the  Ursulines  and  the  "  Filles  Hospitalieres "  landed  at 
Quebec,  they  were  received  with  enthusiasm.  "It  was  held  as  a 
festival  day,  all  work  was  forbidden,  and  the  shops  were  shut.  The 
governor  received  these  heroines  upon  the  shore,  at  the  head  of  the 
troops,  who  were  under  arms,  the  guns  firing  a  salute.  After  the 
first  greeting  he  led  them  to  the  church,  accompanied  by  the  accla- 
mations of  the  people ;  here  the  Te  Deum  was  chanted," — Charlevoix. 

"  The  venerable  ash  tree  still  lives,  beneath  which  Mary  of  the 
Incarnation,  so  famed  for  chastened  piety,  genius,  and  good  judgment, 
toiled,  though  in  vain,  for  the  culture  of  Huron  children." — Bancroft's 
History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  iii.,  p.  127. 

A  A  2 


356  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

foes.  The  Associated  Company  would  render  no  aid 
whatever  to  this  important  plan,  but  the  religious 
zeal  of  the  Abb&  Olivier,  overcame  all  difficulties. 
He  obtained  a  grant  of  Montreal  from  the  king,  and 
dispatched  the  Sieur  de  Maisonneuve  and  others  to 
take  possession.  On  the  17th  of  May,  1641,  the 
place  destined  for  the  settlement  was  consecrated 
by  the  Superior  of  the  Jesuits.2 

2  "  Cette  ville  a  ete  nominee  Ville  Marie  par  ses  fondateurs,  mais 
ce  nom  n'a  pu  passer  dans  1'usage  ordinaire  ;  il  n'a  lieu  que  dans  les 
actes  publics,  et  parmi  les  seigneurs,  qui  en  sont  fort  jaloux." — 
Charlevoix.  When  the  foundations  of  the  city  of  Montreal  were  first 
laid,  the  name  given  to  it  was  Ville  Marie.  Bouchette,  vol.  i,  p.  215  ; 
La  Hontan,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  266. 

Charlevoix  gives  the  following  account  of  the  formation  and  progress 
of  the  remarkable  settlement  at  Montreal : — "  Quelques  personnes 
puissantes,  et  plus  recommandable  encore  par  leur  piete  et  par  leur 
zele  pour  la  religion,  formerent  done  une  societe,  qui  se  proposa  de 
faire  en  grand  k  Montreal,  ce  qu'on  avoit  fait  en  petit  a  Sillery,  II 
devoit  y  avoir  dans  cette  Isle  une  bourgade  Frangoise,  bien  fortifiee, 
et  a  1'abri  de  toute  insulte.  Les  pauvres  y  devoient  etre  regus,  et 
mis  en  etat  de  subsister  de  leur  travail.  On  projetta  de  faire 
occuper  tout  le  reste  de  1'Isle  par  des  sauvages,  de  quelque  nation 
qu'ils  fussent,  pourvii  qu'ils  fissent  profession  du  Christianisme,  ou 
qu'ils  voulussent  se  faire  instruire  de  nos  mysteres,  et  1'on  etoit 
d'autant  plus  persuade  qu'ils  y  viendraient  en  grand  nombre  qu' 
outre  un  asile  assure  contre  les  poursuites  de  leurs  ennemis,  ils 
pouvoient  se  promettre  des  secours  toujours  prompts  dans  leurs 
maladies,  et  contre  la  disette.  On  se  proposoit  meme  de  les  policer 
avec  le  terns,  et  de  les  accoiitumer  k  ne  plus  vivre  que  du  travail  de 
leurs  mains.  Le  nombre  de  ceux  qui  entroient  dans  cette  association 
fut  de  trente-cinq  ;  Des  cette  annee  1640,  en  vertu  de  la  concession 
que  le  Roi  lui  fit  de  1'Isle,  elle  en  fit  prendre  possession  &  la  fin  d'une 
messe  solennelle,  qui  fut  celebree  sous  une  tente.  Le  quinzieme 
d'Octobre  1'annee  suivante,  M.  de  Maisonneuve  fut  declare  gouverneur 
de  1'isle.  Le  dix-septieme  de  May  suivant,  le  lieu  destine  a  1'habita- 


THE   CONQUEST   OP   CANADA.  357 

At  the  same  time  the  governor  erected  a  fort  at    1641 
the  entrance  of  the  River  Richelieu,  then  called  the 
Iroquois;   the  workmen   employed  at  this   labour 

tion  Frangoise  fut  beni  par  le  Superieur  des  Jesuites,  qui  y  celebra 
les  saints  mysteres,  dedia  a  la  mere  de  Dieu  une  petite  chapelle, 
qu'on  avoit  batie,  et  il  y  laissa  le  St.  Sacrement.  Cette  ceremonie 
avoit  ete  precede  d'une  autre,  trois  mois  auparavant,  c'est  a  dire 
vers  la  fin  de  Fevrier  :  tous  les  Associes  s'etant  rendus  un  Jeudi 
matin  a  Notre  Dame  de  Paris,  ceux  qui  etoient  pretres,  y  dirent  la 
messe,  les  autres  communierent  a  1'autel  de  la  Vierge  et  tous  sup- 
plierent  la  reine  des  anges  de  prendre  1'isle  de  Montreal  sous  sa 
protection.  Enfin  le  quinze  d'Aout,  la  fete  de  1'Assomption  de  la 
mere  de  Dieu  fut  solemnisee  dans  cette  Isle  avec  un  concours  extraordi- 
naire de  Frangois  et  de  sauvages.  On  ne  negligea  rien  dans  cette 
occasion  pour  interesser  le  ciel  en  faveur  d'un  etablissement  si  utile, 
et  pour  donner  aux  infideles  une  haute  idee  de  la  religion  Chretienne, 
— Charlevoix,  torn,  i.,  p.  345. 

In  the  year  1644  Charlevoix  says,  "  1'Isle  de  Montreal  se  peuploit 
insensiblement,  et  la  piete  de  ces  nouveaux  colons  disposoit  peu  a  peu 
les  sauvages  qui  les  approchoient  a  se  soumettre  au  joug  de  la  foi." 
In  1657,  however,  it  was  considered  that  "  les  premiers  possesseurs 
de  1'isle  n'avoient  pas  pousse  1 'etablissement  autant  qu'on  avoit 
d'abord  espere,"  and  it  was  therefore  ceded  to  the  Seminary  of 
St.  Sulpice  in  Paris.  From  that  time  the  establishment  made  a 
rapid  progress,  M.  de  Maisonneuve  still  continuing  its  governor, 
after  it  had  changed  masters.  He  was  a  man  of  ability  and  piety : 
under  his  auspices  the  order  of  "  Filles  de  la  Congregation"  was 
established  at  Montreal  by  Margaret  Bourgeois,  who  had  accom- 
panied the  first  settlers  on  the  island  from  France.  For  the  details 
of  this  admirable  institution  see  Charlevoix,  torn.  ii.  p.  94.  He  speaks 
of  it  with  justice  as  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  New  France. 

"  Jusqu'  en  1'annee  1692,  la  justice  particuliere  de  Montreal 
appartenoit  a  Messieurs  du  Seminaire  de  St.  Sulpice,  en  qualite  de 
Seigneurs.  Us  en  donnerent  alors  leur  de'mission  au  Roi,  a  condition 
que  1'exercice  leur  en  resteroit  dans  1'enelos  de  leur  seminaire,  et  dans 
leur  ferine  de  St.  Gabriel,  avec  la  propriete  perpetuelle  et  incom- 
mutable du  Greffe  de  la  justice  Roy  ale,  qui  seroit  etablie  dans  1'isle, 
et  la  nomination  du  premier  juge." — Charlevoix,  torn,  ii.,  p.  140. 


358          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

were  constantly  exposed  to  the  harassing  warfare 
of  the  Indians,  but  at  length  completely  repulsed 
them.  A  garrison,  such  as  could  be  spared  from 
the  scanty  militia  of  the  colony,  was  placed  in  the 
little  stronghold  for  its  defence.  Although  the 
minds  of  the  fierce  Iroquois  were  fixed  upon 
the  utter  destruction  of  the  French,  and  in  their 
confident  boastings  they  declared  that  they  could 
drive  the  white  men  into  the  sea,  they  indicated 
from  time  to  time  a  desire  for  peace.  Montmagny 
was  compelled  by  weakness,  and  the  difficulties  of 
his  situation,  to  accept  overtures  which  he  could 
not  but  dread  as  insidious  and  treacherous,  and  he 
assumed  an  air  of  confidence  which  he  by  no  means 
felt.  His  native  allies  were  also  eagerly  anxious 
for  the  blessings  of  peace,  and  through  their  means 
an  opportunity  for  opening  negociations  soon  offered. 
The  governor  and  the  friendly  native  chiefs  met  the 
deputies  of  the  Iroquois  nation  at  Three  Rivers  to 
1645  arrange  the  terms  of  the  proposed  treaty.  After 
various  orations,  songs,  dances,  and  exchanges  of 
presents,  peace  was  concluded  to  the  satisfaction 
of  both  parties ;  and  for  the  time  at  least,  with 
apparent  good  faith,  for  the  following  winter,  the 
French  and  their  new  allies  joined  together  in  the 
chase,  and  mixed  fearlessly  in  friendly  intercourse. 

M.  de  Montmagny  was  superseded  as  governor  of 
Canada  by  M.  d'Ailleboust  in  the  year  1647.  He  had 
proved  himself  a  man  of  judgment,  courage,  and 
virtue,  and  had  gained  the  love  of  the  settlers  and 
Indians,  as  well  as  the  approval  of  the  court.  But 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          359 

in  consequence  of  the  governor  of  the  American 
islands  having  recently  refused  to  surrender  office  to 
a  person  appointed  by  the  king,  it  was  decreed  thftt 
no  one  should  hold  the  government  of  a  colony  for 
more  than  three  years.  M.  d'Ailleboust  was  a  man  1647 
of  ability  and  worth,  and  having  held  the  command 
at  Three  Rivers  for  some  time,  was  also  experienced 
in  colonial  affairs,  but  he  received  no  more  support 
from  home  than  his  predecessor ;  and,  despite  his 
best  efforts,  New  France  continued  to  languish  under 
his  rule. 

The  colony,  however,  was  now  free  from  the 
scourge  of  savage  hostility.  The  Indians  turned 
their  subtle  craft  and  terrible  energy  to  the  chase 
instead  of  war. '"'  From  the  far  distant  hunting- 
grounds  of  the  St.  Maurice,  and  of  the  gloomy 
Saguenay,  they  crowded  to  Three  Rivers  and  Tadous- 
sac  with  the  spoils  of  the  forest  animals.  At  those^ 
settlements  the  trade  went  briskly  on,  and  many  of  ] 
the  natives  became  domesticated  among  their  whitaJ 
neighbours.  The  worthy  priests  were  not  slow  to 
take  advantage  of  this  favourable  opportunity; 
many  of  the  hunters  from  the  north,  who  were 
attracted  to  the  French  villages  by  the  fur  trade, 
were  told  the  great  tidings  of  redemption;  and 
usually,  when  they  returned  the  following  year,  they 
were  accompanied  by  others,  who  desired  with  them 
to  receive  the  rites  of  baptism.3 

3  The  kindness  of  the  missionaries  has  been  one  of  the  causes  that 
has  perpetuated  a  kindly  feeling  towards  the  French.  Among  the 
American  Indians  "  a  person  even  in  times  of  hostility  speaking 


360          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

The  most  numerous  and  pious  of  the  proselytes 
were  of  the  Huron  tribe,  an  indolent  and  un warlike 
race,  against  whom  the  bold  and  powerful  Iroquois 
held  deadly  feud  which  the  existing  peace  only  kept 
in  abeyance  till  opportunity  might  arise  for  effective 
action.  The  little  settlement  of  St,  Joseph  was  the 
place  where  first  an  Indian  congregation  assembled 
for  Christian  worship ;  the  Father  Antoine  Daniel 
was  the  pastor,  the  flock  were  of  the  Huron  tribe. 
Faith  in  treaties  and  long  continued  tranquillity 
had  lulled  this  unhappy  people  into  a  fatal  security, 
and  all  cautions  were  forgotten,4  when  on  the 

French  will  find  security  from  the  attachment  of  the  people  to 
everything  that  is  French." — Imlay,  p.  8. 

"  To  do  justice  to  truth,  the  French  missionaries,  in  general,  have 
invariably  distinguished  themselves  everywhere  by  an  exemplary  life, 
befitting  their  profession.  Their  religious  sincerity,  their  apostolic 
charity,  their  insinuating  kindness,  their  heroic  patience,  their 
remoteness  from  austerity  and  fanaticism,  fix  in  these  countries 
memorable  epochs  in  the  annals  of  Christianity  ;  and  while  the 
memory  of  a  Del  Vilde,  a  Vodilla,  &c.,  will  be  held  in  everlasting 
execration  by  all  truly  Christian  hearts,  that  of  a  Daniel,  a  Brebeuf, 
<fcc.,  will  never  lose  any  of  that  veneration  which  the  history  of 
discoveries  and  missions  has  so  justly  conferred  upon  them.  Hence 
that  predilection  which  the  savages  manifest  for  the  French,  a 
predilection  which  they  naturally  find  in  the  recesses  of  their  souls, 
cherished  by  the  traditions  which  their  fathers  have  left  in  favour  of 
the  first  apostles  of  Canada,  then  called  New  France."— Beltrami's 
Travels,  1 823.  The  authority  of  this  passage,  Chateaubriand  observes, 
is  the  stronger,  as  the  writer  is  severe  in  his  condemnation  of  the 
modern  Jesuit. 

4  "  Ce  n'etoit  pas  la  faute  de  leurs  missionnaires,  s'ils  s'endormaient 
de  la  sorte ;  mais  ces  religieux  ne  pouvant  gagner  sur  leurs  neophytes 
qu'ils  prissent  pour  leur  surete  les  precautions  que  la  prudence 
exigeoit,  redoublerent  leurs  soins  pour  achever  de  les  sanctifier,  et 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

morning  of  the  4th  of  July,  1648,  while  the  1648 
missionary  was  performing  service,  there  suddenly 
arose  a  cry  of  terror  that  the  Iroquois  were  ,at 
hand.  None  but  old  men,  women,  and  children, 
were  in  the  viUage  at  the  time ;  of  this  the  crafty 
enemy  were  aware,  they  had  crept  silently  through 
the  woods  and  lain  in  ambush  till  morning  gave 
them  light  for  the  foul  massacre.  Not  one  of  the 
inhabitants  escaped,  and  last  of  all  the  good  priest 
was  likewise  slain. 

During  this  year  the  first  communication  passed 
between  the  French  and  British  North  American 
colonies.  An  envoy  arrived  at  Quebec  from  New 
England,  bearing  proposals  for  a  lasting  peace  with 
Canada,  not  to  be  interrupted  even  by  the  wars  of 
the  mother  countries.  M.  d'Ailleboust  gladly  enter- 
tained the  wise  proposition,  and  sent  a  deputy  to 
Boston  with  full  powers  to  treat,  providing  only 
that  the  English  would  consent  to  aid  him  against 
the  Iroquois.  But  the  cautious  Puritans  would  not 
compromise  themselves  by  this  stipulation.  They 
were  sufficiently  remote  from  the  fierce  and  formid- 
able savages  of  the  Five  Nations  to  be  free  from 
present  apprehension,  and  to  their  steady  and  indus- 

pour  les  preparer  a  tout  ce  qui  pourroit  arriver.  Us  les  trouverent 
sur  cet  article  d'une  docilite  parfaite  ;  ils  n'eurent  aucune  peine  a  les 
faire  entrer  dans  les  sentimens  les  plus  convenables  a  la  triste 
situation  oii  ils  se  reduisaient  euxmemes  par  une  indolence,  et  un 
aveuglement,  qu'on  ne  pouvoit  comprendre  et  qui  n'a  peut-etre  point 
d'exemple  dans  1'histoire.  Ce  qui  consoloit  les  pasteurs,  c'est  qu'ils 
les  voyoient  dans  1'occasion  braver  la  mort  avec  un  courage,  qui  les 
animoit  euxmemes  a  mourir  en  heros  Chretiens."-— Charlevoix. 


362  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

trious  habits  the  plough  was  more  suitable  than  the 
sword.  The  negotiation,  therefore,  totally  failed  ; 
which  was  probably  of  little  consequence,  for  it  is 
difficult  to  perceive  how  these  remote  and  feeble 
colonies  could  have  preserved  a  neutrality  in  the 
contentions  of  England  and  France,  which  was 
impossible  even  to  powerful  states. 
^^fter  a  treacherous  calm  of  some  six  months' 
^  /  />r0^  duration,  the  unhappy  Hurons  again  relapsed  into  a 
fatal  security  ;  the  terrible  lessons  of  the  past  were 
forgotten  in  the  apparent  tranquillity  of  the  present. 
Watch  and  ward  were  relaxed,  and  again  they  lay  at 
the  mercy  of  their  ruthless  enemies.  When  least 
expected,  1000  Iroquois  warriors  started  up  from  the 
thick  coverts  of  a  neighbouring  forest,  and  fell  fiercely 
upon  the  defenceless  Hurons,  burnt  two  of  their 
villages,  exterminated  the  inhabitants,  and  put  two 
French  missionaries  to  death  with  horrible  tortures. 
Then  the  remnant  of  the  defeated  tribe  despaired  ; 
the  alliance  of  the  French  had  only  embittered  the 
hostility  of  their  enemies,  without  affording  protec- 
tion ;  therefore  they  arose  and  deserted  their  villages 
and  hunting-grounds,  wandering  away,  some  into 
the  northern  forests,  others  as  suppliants  among 
neighbouring  nations. 

The  greater  body  of  the  Hurons,  however,  attached 
themselves  to  the  fortunes  of  the  missionaries,  and 
under  them  formed  a  settlement  on  the  island  of 
St.  Joseph,  but  they  neglected  to  cultivate  the  land. 
As  the  autumn  advanced,  the  resources  of  the  chase 
became  exhausted,  and  the  horrors  of  famine  com- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          363 

menced.  They  were  shortly  reduced  to  the  most 
dreadful  extremities  of  suffering ;  every  direst 
expedient  that  starvation  could  prompt  and  despair 
execute,  was  resorted  to,  for  a  few  days'  prolonging 
of  life.  Then  came  the  scourge  of  contagious  fever, 
sweeping  numbers  away  with  desolating  fury.  While 
these  terrible  calamities  raged  among  the  Hurons, 
the  Iroquois  seized  the  opportunity  of  again  invad- 
ing them.  The  village  of  St.  John,  containing  nearly 
3000  souls,  was  the  first  point  of  attack.  The  feeble 
inhabitants  offered  no  resistance,  and,  with  their 
missionary,  were  totally  destroyed.  Most  of  the 
remnant  of  this  unhappy  tribe  then  took  the  reso- 
lution of  presenting  themselves  to  their  conquerors, 
and  were  received  into  the  Iroquois  nation.  The 
few  who  still  remained  wandering  in  the  forests  were 
hunted  down  like  wolves,  and  soon  exterminated. 

The  terror  of  the  Iroquois  name  now  spread 
rapidly  along  the  shores  of  the  great  lakes  and 
rivers  of  the  north.  The  fertile  banks  of  the  Ottawa, 
once  the  dwelling-place  of  numerous  and  powerful 
tribes,  became  suddenly  deserted,  and  no  one  could 
tell  whither  the  inhabitants  had  fled. 

About  this  time  was  introduced  among  the 
Montagnez,  and  the  other  tribes  of  the  Saguenay 
country,  an  evil  more  destructive  than  even  the 
tomahawk  of  the  Iroquois — the  "accursed  fire- 
water;" despite  the  most  earnest  efforts  of  the 
governor^the-fur  traders  at  Tadoussac  supplied  the 
Indians  with  this  fatal  luxury.  In  a  short  time 
intoxication,  and  its  dreadful  consequences,  became 


364  THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

so  frequent,  that  the  native  chiefs  prayed  the 
governor  to  imprison  all  drunkards.  At  Three 
Rivers,  however,  the  wise  precautions  of  the 
authorities  preserved  the  infant  settlement  from 
this  monstrous  calamity. 

1650  in  the  year  1650,  M.  d'Ailleboust  was  worthily 
succeeded  by  M.  de  Lauson,  one  of  the  principals  of 
the  Associated  Company.  The  new  governor  found 
affairs  in  a  very  discouraging  condition,  the  colony 
rapidly  declining,  and  the  Iroquois,  flushed  by  their 
sanguinary  triumphs,  more  audacious  than  ever. 
These  fierce  savages  intruded  fearlessly  among  the 
French  settlements,  despising  forts  and  entrench- 
ments, and  insulting  the  inhabitants  with  impunity. 
The  island  of  Montreal  suffered  so  much  from  their 
incursions,  that  M.  de  Maisonneuve,  the  governor, 
was  obliged  to  repair  to  France  to  seek  succours,  for 
which  he  had  vainly  applied  by  letter.  He  returned 
in  the  year  1653,  with  a  timely  reinforcement  of 
100  men. 

Although  the  Iroquois  had  now  overcome  or 
destroyed  all  their  native  enemies,  and  proved  their 
strength  even  against  the  Europeans,  some  of  their 
tribes  were  more  than  ever  disposed  to  a  union  with 
the  white  men.  The  Onnontagues  dispatched  an 
embassy  to  Quebec  to  request  that  the  governor 
would  send  a  colony  of  Frenchmen  among  them ; 
he  readily  acceded  to  the  proposition,  and  fifty  men 
were  chosen  for  the  establishment,  with  the  Sieur 
Dupuys  for  their  commander.  Four  missionaries 
were  appointed  to  found  the  first  Iroquois  church, 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  365 

and  to  supply  temporal  wants,  provisions  for  a  year, 
and  sufficient  seed  to  sow  the  lands  about  to  be 
appropriated,  were  sent  with  the  expedition.  This 
design  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  other  Iroquois 
tribes ;  the  Agniers  even  tried  to  intercept  the 
colonists  with  a  force  of  400  warriors:  they,  how- 
ever, only  succeeded  in  pillaging  a  few  of  the  canoes 
that  had  fallen  behind.  The  same  war-party  soon 
after  made  an  onslaught  upon  ninety  Hurons,  work- 
ing on  the  Isle  of  Orleans  under  French  protection, 
slew  six,  and  carried  off  the  rest  into  captivity.  As 
they  passed  before  Quebec  they  made  their  unhappy 
prisoners  sing  aloud,  insultingly  attracting  the 
attention  of  the  garrison.  The  marauders  were  not 
pursued ;  they  dragged  the  prisoners  to  their  vil- 
lages, burned  the  chiefs,  and  condemned  the  rest  to 
a  cruel  bondage.  M.  de  Lauson  can  hardly  be 
excused  for  thus  suffering  his  allies  to  be  torn  from 
under  his  protection  without  an  effort  to  save  them 
from  their  merciless  enemies.  These  unfortunates 
had  been  converted  to  Christianity,  which  increased 
the  rage  and  ferocity  of  the  captors  against  them. 
One  brave  chief,  whose  tortures  had  been  prolonged 
for  three  days,  as  a  worshipper  of  the  God  of  the 
white  men,  bore  himself  faithfully  to  the  last,  and 
died  with  the  Saviour's  blessed  name  upon  his 
quivering  lip. 

In  the  meantime  the  expedition  to  the  country 
of  the  Onnontagu^s  suffered  great  privations,  and 
only  escaped  starvation  by  the  generosity  of  the 
natives.  Their  spiritual  mission  was,  however, 


366          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

at  first  eminently  successful,  the  whole  nation 
seeming  disposed  to  adopt  the  Christian  faith. 
But  the  allied  tribes  having  carried  their  insolence 
to  an  intolerable  degree,  and  massacred  three 
Frenchmen  near  Montreal,  the  commandant  at 
Quebec  seized  all  the  Iroquois  within  his  reach 
and  demanded  redress.  The  answer  of  the  haughty 
savages  was,  to  prepare  for  war.  Dupuys  and  his 
little  colony  were  now  in  a  most  perilous  position ; 
there  was  no  hope  of  aid  from  Quebec,  and  but  little 
chance  of  being  able  to  escape  from  among  their 
dangerous  neighbours.  They  laboured  diligently 
and  secretly  to  construct  a  sufficient  number  of 
canoes  to  carry  them  away  in  case  some  happy 
opportunity  might  arise,  and  found  means  to  warn 
the  people  of  Quebec  of  the  coming  danger.  By 
great  industry  and  skill  the  canoes  were  completed, 
and  stored  with  the  necessary  provisions ;  through 
an  ingenious  stratagem  the  French  escaped  in 
safety  while  the  savages  slept  soundly  after  one  of 
their  solemn  feasts.  In  fifteen  days  the  fugitives 
arrived  at  Montreal,  where  they  found  alarm  on 
every  countenance.  The  Iroquois  swarmed  over  the 
island,  and  committed  great  disorders,  although  still 
professing  a  treacherous  peace.  The  savages  soon 
however  threw  off  the  mask,  and  broke  into  open 
war. 

1658  On  the  llth  July,  1658,  the  Viscomte  d'Argenson 
landed  at  Quebec  as  governor.  The  next  morning 
the  cry  "  to  arms  "  echoed  through  the  town.  The 
Iroquois  had  made  a  sudden  onslaught  upon  some 


THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA.  367 

Algonquins  under  the  very  guns  of  the  fortress,  and 
massacred  them  without  mercy.  Two  hundred 
men  were  instantly  dispatched  to  avenge  this  insult, 
but  they  could  not  overtake  the  wily  marauders. 
In  the  same  year,  however,  a  party  of  the  Agniers 
met  with  a  severe  check  in  a  treacherous  attempt  to 
surprise  Three  Rivers ;  the  lesson  was  not  lost,  and 
the  colony  for  some  time  enjoyed  a  much  needed 
repose.  The  missionaries  seized  this  interval  of 
tranquillity  to  recommence  their  sacred  labours; 
they  penetrated  into  many  remote  districts  where 
Europeans  had  never  before  reached,  and  discovered 
several  routes  to  the  dreary  shores  of  Hudson's  Bay. 
In  the  year  1659  the  exemplary  Fran9ois  de  Laval, 
Abb£  de  Montigny,  arrived  at  Quebec  to  preside  over 
the  Canadian  Church  as  the  first  American  bishop.5 

5  The  Abbe  de  Montigny  was  titular  Bishop  of  Petreea,  and  had 
received  from  the  Pope  a  brief  as  Vicar  Apostolic.  The  church  of 
Quebec  was  not  erected  into  a  bishop's  see  until  1670,  when  its 
bishop  was  no  longer  called  titular  Bishop  of  Petrsea,  but  Bishop  of 
Quebec.  "  Ce  qui  avoit  fait  trainer  la  cause  si  fort  en  longueur, 
c'est  qu'il  y  eut  de  grandes  contestations  sur  la  dependance  immediate 
du  Saint  Siege,  dont  le  Pape  ne  voulut  point  se  relacher.  Cela 
n'empeche  pourtant  pas  que  1'Eveche  de  Quebec  ne  soit  en  quelque 
fagon  uni  au  clerge  de  France,  en  la  maniere  de  celui  du  Puy, 
lequel  releve  aussi  immediatement  de  Rome." — Charlevoix,  torn,  ii., 
p.  189  ;  Petits  Droits,  &c.,  torn,  ii.,  p.  492. 

"  When  the  bishopric  of  Quebec  was  erected,  Louis  XIV.  endowed 
it  with  the  revenue  of  two  abbacies,  those  of  Benevent,  and  L'Estrio; 
about  thirty  years  ago,  the  then  bishop  finding  it  difficult,  consider- 
ing the  distance,  to  recover  the  revenues  of  them,  by  consent  of 
Louis  XV.,  resigned  the  same  to  the  clergy  of  France,  to  be  united 
to  a  particular  revenue  of  theirs,  stiled  the  economats,  applied  to  the 
augmentation  of  small  livings,  in  consideration  of  which,  the  bishop 


368          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

The  temporal  affairs  of  the  colony  were  falling 
into  a  lamentable  condition,  no  supplies  arrived^ 
from  France,  and  the  local  production  was  far 
from  sufficient.  Terror  of  the  Indians  kept  the 
settlers  almost  blockaded  in  the  forts,.  an<l~~€uM¥a- 
tion  was  necessarily  neglected. / It  was  proposed  by 
many  that  all  the  settlements  should  be  abandoned, 
and  that  they  should  again  seek  the  peaceful  shores 
of  their  native  country.  Many  individuals  were 
massacred  by  the  savages,  and  two  armed  parties, 
one  of  thirty  and  the  other  of  twenty-six  men, 
were  totally  destroyed.  But  some  of  the  Indians  too, 
began  to  weary  of  this  murderous  war,  and  to  long 
again  for  Christian  instruction  and  peaceful  com- 
merce. The  new  governor  was  at  first  little  inclined 
to  negociate  with  his  fierce  and  capricious  enemies, 
but  influenced  by  the  miserable  state  of  the  colony 
which  even  a  brief  truce  might  improve,  he  at 
length  agreed  to  an  exchange  of  prisoners,  and  a 
peace. 

1662  In  1662,  the  King  of  France  was  at  last 
induced  to  hearken  to  the  prayers  of  his  Canadian 
subjects ;  M.  de  Monts 6  was  sent  out  to  inquire 

of  this  see,  has  ever  since  received  yearly  8000  livres  out  of  the  said 
revenues.  '  A  few  years  before  the  late  bishop's  death,  the  clergy  of 
France,  granted  him  for  his  life  only,  a  further  pension  of  2000  livres; 
the  bishop  had   no  estate  whatever,   except  his  palace  at  Quebec, 
destroyed  by  our  artillery,  a  garden,  and  the  ground-rent  of  two  or 
three  houses  adjoining  it,  and  built  on  some  part  of  the  lands. "- 
Governor  Murray's  Report  on  the  Ancient  Government  and  Actual 
State  of  the  Province  of  Quebec  in  1762. 
Charlevoix,  torn,  ii.,  p.  120. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  369 

into  the  condition  of  the  country,  and  400  troops 
added  to  the  strength  of  the  garrison.  But  these 
encouraging  circumstances  were  more  than  neutra- 
lised on  account  of  the  permission  then  granted  by 
the  new  governor,  Baron  d'Avaugour,  for  the  sale  of 
ardent  spirits.7  The  disorder  soon  rose  to  a  lament- 
able height,  and  the  clergy  in  vain  opposed  their 
utmost  influence  to  its  pernicious  progress.  At  length 
the  worthy  bishop  hastened  to  France,  and  repre- 
sented to  the  king  the  dreadful  evil  that  afflicted  the 
colony ;  his  remonstrances  were  effectual ;  he 
succeeded  in  obtaining  such  powers  as  he  deemed 
necessary  to  stop  the  ruinous  commerce. 

The  year  1663  was  rendered  memorable  by  a 
tremendous  earthquake,  spoken  of  in  a  preceding 
chapter.  In  the  same  year  the  Associated  Company 

7  "  Jusques-la,  les  gouverneurs  generaux  avoient  assez  tenuelamain 
a  faire  executer  les  ordres,  qu'ils  avoient  eux-memes  donnes,  de  ne 
point  vendre  d'eau  de  vie  aux  sauvages;  et  le  baron  d'Avaugour 
avoit  decerne  des  peines  tres  severes  contre  ceux  qui  contrevien- 
droient  a  ses  ordonnances  sur  ce  point  capital.  II  arriva  qu'une 
femme  de  Quebec  fut  surprise  en  y  contrevenant,  et,  sur  le  champ, 
conduite  en  prison.  Le  P.  Lallemant,  a  la  priere  de  ses  amis,  crut 
pouvoir  sans  consequence  interceder  pour  elle.  II  alia  trouver  le 
general,  qui  le  regut  tres  mal,  et  qui  sans  faire  reflexion  qu'il  n'y  a 
point  d 'inconsequence  dans  les  ministres  d'un  Dieu  qui  a  donne  sa 
vie  pour  detruire  le  peche  et  sauver  le  pecheur,  a  agir  avec  zele  pour 
re'primer  le  vice,  et  a  demander  grace  pour  le  criminel,  lui  repondit 
brusquement,  que  puisque  la  traite  de  1'eau  de  vie  n'etoit  pas  une 
faute  punissable  pour  cette  femme,  elle  ne  le  seroit  desormais  pour 
personne....il  ne  consulta  que  sa  mauvaise  humeur  et  sa  droiture  mal 
entendue;  et  ce  qu'il  y  eutde  pis,  c'est  qu'il  sefit  un  point  d'honneur 
de  ne  point  retracter  1 'indiscrete  parole  qui  lui  etoit  echappee. 
Le  peuple  en  fut  bientot  instruit  et  le  desordre  devint  extreme." — 
Charlevoix,  torn,  ii.,  p.  121. 

VOL.  i.  B  B 


370          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

remitted  to  the  crown  all  their  rights  over  New 
France,  which  the  king  again  transferred  to  the  West 
India  Company.8  Courts  of  Law  were  for  the  first 
time  established,  and  many  families  of  valuable 
settlers  found  their  way  to  the  colony.  Up  to  this 
period  extreme  simplicity  and  honesty  seems  to  have 
prevailed  in  the  little  community,  and  it  was  not  till 
then  that  a  council  of  state  was  appointed  by  the 
crown  to  co-operate  with  the  governor  in  the  con- 
duct of  affairs.9  The  king  sent  out  the  Sieur 


8  Petit,  vol.  i.,  p.  24.     Colony  Records.     There  are  no  books  of 
Record  in  the  secretary's  office  before  this  period.     The  old  records 
were  either  carried  to  France,  or  destroyed  at  the  fire,  when  the 
intendant's  palace  was  burnt  down  in  1725. 

"  The  company, '  des  Cents  Associes,'  formed  in  1628,  though  one 
of  the  most  powerful,  according  to  Charlevoix,  that  had  ever  existed, 
with  respect  to  the  number,  the  rank,  and  the  accorded  privileges  of 
its  members,  had  allowed  the  colony  to  fall  into  a  deplorable  state  of 
weakness.  In  1662,  when  it  relinquished  its  rights  to  Louis  XIV., 
the  original  number  of  100  had  diminished  to  45." — Charlevoix, 
torn,  ii.,  p.  149. 

The  East  India  Company  was  erected  by  the  great  Colbert  in  1664. 
This  company,  having  fallen  into  decay,  was  united  with  the  West 
Indian  Company,  which  was  founded  by  law  in  1718,  and  survived 
the  ruin  of  its  projector. 

9  "  Jusques-la  il  n'y  avoit  point  eu  proprement  de  cour  de  justice 
en    Canada  ;  les  gouverneurs  generaux  jugeant   les   affaires   d'une 
maniere  assez   souveraine  ;  on  ne  s'avisoit  point  d'appeller  de  leurs 
sentences;   mais  ils  ne  rendoient  ordinairement  des  arrets,  qu'apres 
avoir  inutilement  tentes  les  voies  de  1'arbitrage,  et  Ton  convient  que 
leurs  decisions  etoient  toujours,  dictees  par  le  bon  sens,  et  selon  les 
regies  de  la  loi  naturelle,   qui   est   audessus  de  toutes  les  autres. 
D'ailleurs  les  Creoles  du  Canada,  quoique  de  race  Normande,  pour 
la  plupart  n'avoient  seulement  1'esprit  processif,  et  aimoient  mieux 
pour  1'ordinaire  ceder  quelque  chose  de  leur  bon  droit,  que  de  perdre 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          371 

Gaudais  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  his  newly 
acquired  dependency,  and  to  investigate  certain 
complaints  preferred  against  the  Baron  d'Avaugour, 
who  had  himself  prayed  to  be  recalled.  The  Sieur 
performed  his  invidious  task  to  the  satisfaction  of 
all  parties ;  he  made  valuable  reports  as  to  the 
general  character  of  the  colonial  clergy,  of  the 
advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the  local  adminis- 
tration of  government,  and  imputed  no  fault  to  the 
Baron  d'Avaugour,  but  a  somewhat  too  rigid  and 
stern  adherence  to  the  letter  of  the  law,  and  the 
severity  of  justice.  The  Baron  then  joyfully  returned 
to  France,  but  soon  afterwards  fell  in  the  defence 
of  the  fort  of  Serin  against  the  Turks,  \vhile,  with 
the  permission  of  the  French  king,  serving  the 
Emperor. 

M.  de  Mesy   succeeded   as   governor,  upon  the 
recommendation  of  the  bishop  of  Canada,  whose 

le  terns  a  plaider.  II  sembloit  meme  que  tous  les  biens  fussent  com- 
munes dans  cette  colonie,  du  moins  on  fut  assez  long  terns  sans 
rien  fermee  sous  la  clef,  et  il  etoit  inoui  qu'on  s'en  abusat.  II  est 
bien  etrange  et  bien  humiliant  pour  1'homme  que  les  precautions 
qu'un  prince  sage  prit  pour  eviter  la  chicane  et  faire  regner  la 
justice,  aient  presque  ete'  1'epoque  de  la  naissance  de  1'une,  et  de 
1'affoiblissement  de  1'autre....  La  justice  est  rendue  selon  les  ordon- 
nances  duroyaume  et  la  coutume  de  Paris.  Au  mois  de  Juin,  1679, 
le  roi  autorisa  par  un  edit  quelques  reglemens  du  conseil  de  Quebec, 

et  c'est  ce  qu'on  appelle  dans  le  pays  la  reduction  du  Code par 

un  autre  edit  en  1685  le  conseil  fut  autorise  a  juger  les  causes 
criminelles  au  nombre  de  cinq  juges...  c'est  sur  le  modele  du  conseil 
superieur  a  Quebec,  qu'on  a  depuis  etabli  ceux  de  la  Martinique,  de 
St.  Domingue,  et  de  Louisiane.  Tous  ses  conseils  sont  d'epee."— 
Charlevoix,  yol.  ii.,  p.  140. 

B  B  2 


372  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

complaints  on  the  subject  of  the  sale  of  spirituous 
liquors  had  been  the  principal  cause  of  the  Baron 
d'Avaugour's  recall.  The  new  appointment  proved 
far  from  satisfactory  to  those  by  whose  influence  it 
was  made.  M.  de  Mesy  at  once  raised  up  a  host  of 
enemies  by  his  haughty  and  despotic  bearing  ;  he 
thwarted  the  Jesuits  to  the  utmost  extent  of  his 
power,  the  council  supported  them,  alleging  that 
their  influence  over  the  native  race  was  essential  to 
the  well-being  of  the  colony.  Various  representa- 
tions of  these  matters  were  made  to  the  court  of 
France,  and  the  final  result  was,  that  the  governor 
was  recalled. 

Alexandre  de  Prouville,  Marquis  de  Tracy,  was 
next  appointed  viceroy  in  America  by  the  king, 
with  ample  powers  to  establish,  destroy,  or  alter  the 
institutions  of  the  Canadian  colony.  Daniel  de 
Remi,  Seigneur  de  Courcelles,  the  new  governor,  and 
M.  Talon,  the  intendant,  were  conjoined  with  the 
viceroy  in  a  commission  to  examine  into  the  charges 
1665  against  M.  de  Mesy.  M.  de  Tracy  was  the  first  to 
arrive  at  Quebec ;  he  bore  with  him  the  welcome 
reinforcement  of  some  companies  of  the  veteran 
regiment  of  Carignan-Salieres.1  He  sent  a  portion 
of  this  force  at  once  against  the  Iroquois,  accom- 
panied by  the  allied  savages ;  the  country  was 
speedily  cleared  of  every  enemy,  and  the  harvest 
gathered  in  security.  The  remaining  part  of  the 

1  "  The  regiment  de  Carignan-Salieres  was  just  arrived  from  Hun- 
gary, where  it  had  distinguished  itself  greatly  in  the  war  against  the 
Turks."— Charlevoix,  torn,  ii.,  p.  150. 


THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA.          373 

regiment  arrived  soon  after  with  the  viceroy's  col- 
leagues ;  a  large  number  of  families,  artisans,  and 
labourers ;  the  first  horses  that  had  ever  been  sent 
to  New  France ;  cattle,  sheep ;  and,  in  short,  a  far 
more  complete  colony  than  that  which  they  came 
to  aid. 

Being  now  established  in  security,  and  confident 
in  strength,  the  viceroy  led  a  sufficient  force  to  the 
mouth  of  Richelieu  River,  where  he  erected  three 
forts2  to  overawe  the  turbulent  Iroquois.3  These 
works  were  rapidly  and  skilfully  executed,  and  for 

2  "  M.  de    Sorel,  a  captain  in  the   regiment   de   Carignan,  was 
employed  on  the  erection  of  the  first  fort,  on  the  same  site  as  the  fort 
De  Richelieu,  built  by  M.  de  Montmagny,  now  quite  in  ruins.     De 
Sorel  gave  his  own  name  to  the  fort,  and  in  time  the  river  Richelieu 
or  Iroquois,  acquired  it  also. 

"  The  second  fort  was  called  St.  Louis  ;  but,  as  M.  de  Chambly, 
captain  in  the  same  regiment,  had  superintended  the  erection,  and 
afterwards  acquired  the  land  on  which  it  was  situated,  the  whole  dis- 
trict, and  the  stone  fort,  which  has  been  erected  since  upon  the  ruins 
of  the  former  one,  have  acquired  and  retained  the  name  of  Chambly. 
This  was  a  very  important  fortress,  as  it  protected  the  colony  on  the 
side  of  New  York,  and  the  lower  Iroquois. 

"  The  third  fort  was  built  under  the  direction  of  M.  de  Salieres, 
the  colonel  of  the  regiment  de  Carignan  ;  he  named  it  St.  Theresa, 
because  it  was  finished  on  that  saint's  day." — Charlevoix,  torn,  ii., 
p.  152. 

3  "  Every  omen  was  now  favourable,  except  the  conquest  of  New 
Netherlands  (New  York)  by  the  English  in  1664.     That  conquest 
eventually  made  the  Five  Nations  (Iroquois)  a  dependance  on  the 
English  nation  ;  and  if  for  twenty-five  years  England  and  France  sued 
for  their  friendship  with  unequal  success,  yet  afterwards,  in  the  grand 
division  of  parties  throughout  the  world,  the  Bourbons  found  in  them 
implacable   opponents." — Bancroft's  History  of  the    United   States, 
vol.ii.,  p.  149. 


374  THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

a  time  answered  their  purpose  ;  but  the  wily  savages 
soon  perceived  that  there  were  other  routes  by  which 
they  could  enter  the  settlements.  In  the  meantime 
M.  Talon  remained  at  Quebec,  collecting  much  valu- 
able information  concerning  the  country  and  its 
native  inhabitants.  He  was  spared,  however,  the 
task  of  inquiring  into  the  conduct  of  M.  de  M£sy, 
for  that  gentleman  died  before  the  news  of  his  recall 
reached  Canada. 

1665  Towards  the  end  of  December,  1665,  three  tribes 
of  the  Iroquois  nation  dispatched  envoys  to  the 
viceroy,  at  Quebec,  with  proposals  for  peace,  and  for 
an  exchange  of  prisoners.  The  terms  were  readily 
complied  with ;  M.  de  Tracy  received  the  Indians 
with  politic  kindness  and  attention,  and  sent  them 
back  with  valuable  presents.  But  the  formidable 
tribes  of  the  Agniers  and  Onneyouths  still  kept 
sullenly  apart  from  the  French  alliance;  it  was, 
therefore,  determined  to  give  them  a  severe  lesson 
for  their  former  insolence  and  treachery,  and  make 
them  feel  the  supremacy  of  France.  M.  de  Cour- 
celles  and  M.  de  Sorel  were  sent  with  two  corps  to 
humble  the  haughty  savages.  The  hostile  Indians, 
alarmed  at  the  preparations  for  their  destruction, 
now  sent  deputies  to  Quebec  to  avert  the  threatening 
storm,  although  some  of  their  war  parties  still 
infested  the  settlements,  and  had  lately  put  to  death 
three  French  officers,  amongst  them  M.  de  Chasy, 
the  viceroy's  nephew.  One  of  the  Indian  deputies 
boasted  at  M.  de  Tracy's  table  that  he  had  slain  the 
French  officers  with  his  own  hands ;  he  was  mime- 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  375 

diately  seized  and  strangled,  and  the  negociations 
broken  off. 

The  two  French  expeditions  found  the  hostile 
country  altogether  deserted,  and  returned  without  1666 
effecting  anything,  having  suffered  great  fatigue 
and  hardship.  M.  de  Tracy  then  took  the  field 
in  person,  at  the  head  of  1200  French,  and  600 
friendly  Indians,  with  two  pieces  of  cannon.  As 
he  was  setting  out  on  the  march,  chiefs  again  came 
from  the  Agniers  and  Onneyouths  to  pray  for  peace 
but  he  would  hear  of  no  accommodation,  and  even 
imprisoned  the  deputies.  The  French  army  marched 
on  the  14th  of  September,  1666 ;  provisions  soon 
failed  in  the  solitary  desert  through  which  they  had 
to  pass ;  in  their  greatest  necessity,  however,  they 
entered  a  wood  abounding  in  chesnut  trees,  whose 
fruit  supplied  them  with  sustenance  till  they  gained 
the  first  village  of  the  enemy.  The  warriors  had 
abandoned  the  old  men,  women,  and  children,  and 
ample  stores  of  food,  and  retired  through  the  forest. 
The  French  found  the  Indian  cabans  larger  and 
better  than  any  they  had  seen  elsewhere,  and  in 
ingeniously  contrived  magazines,  sunk  under  the 
ground,  sufficient  grain  was  discovered  to  supply  the 
whole  colony  for  two  years.  The  invaders  Jbui*nt 
and  utterly  destroyed  all  the  villages,  ^nS  carried" 
"aiTayTas  captives,  all  the  inhabitants  that  remained, 
but  they  could  not  succeed  in  overtaking  the  warriors 
to  force  them  to  action.  They  then  retraced  their 
steps,  strengthening  the  settlements  on  the  river 
St.  Lawrence  as  they  passed ;  when  M.  de  Tracy 


,o  THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

reached  Quebec,  he  caused  some  of  the  prisoners  to 
be  put  to  death  as  a  warning,  and  dismissed  the 
remainder.  Having  established  the  authority  of 
the  West  India  Company  instead  of  that  of  "  The 
Hundred  Associates,"  he  returned  to  France  the 
following  spring. 

The  humiliation  of  the  Iroquois  restored  profound 
peace  to  New  France.  Then  the  wisdom  and  energy 
of  M.  Talon  were  directed  to  the  development  of  the 
resources  of  the  country.  Scientific  men  were  sent 
to  examine  the  mineral  resources  of  several  districts 
where  promising  indications  had  been  observed. 
The  clearing  of  land  proceeded  rapidly,  and  inva- 
riably discovered  a  rich  and  productive  soil.  The 
population  increased  in  numbers,  and  enjoyed 
abundant  plenty  ;  all  were  in  a  condition  to  live  in 
comfort.  According  to  the  perhaps  partial  authority 
of  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  the  progress  in  morality 
and  attention  to  religious  observances  kept  pace 
with  the  temporal  prosperity  of  this  happy  colony. 

Although  M.  de  Courcelles  showed  little  activity 
in  conducting  the  internal  government  of  the  colony, 
which  was  principally  directed  by  M.  Talon,  he 
was  highly  energetic  and  vigorous  in  his  relations 
with  the  Indians.  Having  learnt  that  the  Iroquois 
were  intriguing  with  the  Ottawas  to  direct  their  fur 
trade  to  the  English  colonies,  thus  probably  to  ruin 
the  commerce  of  New  France,  he  resolved  to  visit 
the  Iroquois,  and  impress  them  with  an  idea  of  his 

power, JFor  this  purpose  he  took  the  route  of  the 

deep  and  rapid  St.  Lawrence,  making  his  way  in 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA.  377 

bateaux  for  130  miles  above  Montreal.  His  health, 
however,  suffered  so  much  in  this  difficult  expe- 
dition, that  he  was  obliged  to  demand  his  recall.  ^. 

On  his  return  to  Quebec  he  found  that  several! 
atrocious  murders  and  robberies  had  been  committed  V 
upon  Iroquois  and  Mahingan  Indians  by  Frenchmen, 
which  filled  the  savages  with  indignation,  and  roused-^ 
them  to  a  fury  of  revenge.  They  attacked  and  burnt 
a  house  in  open  day,  and  a  woman  perished  in  the 
flames.  Numbers  of  the  two  injured  nations  and  their 
savage  allies  hovered  round  Montreal,  awaiting  an 
opportunity  for  vengeance.  M.  de  Courcelles,  with 
his  wonted  vigour  in  emergencies,  hastened  to  the 
threatened  settlement,  and  called  upon  the  Indian 
chiefs  to  hold  parley.  They  assembled,  and  hearkened 
with  attention  while  he  enumerated  the  advantages 
that  both  parties  derived  from  the  existing  peace. 
He  then  caused  those  among  the  murderers  who 
had  been  convicted  of  the  crime  to  be  led  out  and 
executed  on  the  spot.  The  Indians  were  at  once 
appeased  by  this  prompt  administration  of  justice, 
and  even  lamented  over  the  malefactors'  wretched 
fate ;  they  were  also  fully  indemnified  for  the  stolen 
property.  The  assembly  then  broke  up  with  mutual 
satisfaction. 

But  soon  again  the  repose  of  the  country  was 
threatened  by  the  Iroquois  and  Ottawas,  who 
had  begun  to  make  incursions  upon  each  other. 
M.  de  Courcelles  promptly  interfered  to  quell  this 
growing  animosity,  declaring  that  he  would  punish 
with  the  greatest  severity  either  party  that  would 


378  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

not  submit  to  reasonable  conditions ;  he  required 
them  to  send  deputies  to  state  their  wrongs,  and  the 
grounds  of  dispute,  and  took  upon  himself  to  do 
justice  to  both  parties.  He  was  obeyed :  the  chiefs 
of  the  contending  tribes  repaired  to  Quebec,  and  by 
the  firmness  and  judgment  of  the  governor,  the 
breach  was  healed,  and  peace  secured. 

At  this  time  a  scourge  more  terrible  than  even 
savage  war,  visited  the  red  race  of  Canada.     The 

_§raall-ppx  first  appeared  among  the  northern  tribe 
of  the  Attikamegues,  and  swept  them  totally  away : 
many  of  their  neighbours  shared  the  same  fate. 
Tadoussac,  where  1200  Indians  usually  assembled 
to  barter  their  rich  furs  at  the  end  of  the  hunting 

-^season,  was  deserted.  Three  Rivers,  once  crowded 
with  the  friendly  Algonquins,  was  now  never  visited 
by  a  red  man,  and  a  few  years  after  the  frightful 
plague  first  appeared,  the  settlement  of  Sillery  near 
Quebec  was  attacked,  1500  savages  took  the  fatal 
contagion  and  not  one  survived.  The  Hurons,  who 
had  been  always  most  intimately  associated  with 
the  French,  suffered  least  among  the  native  nations 
from  the  malady.  In  1670  Father  Chaumonat 
assembled  the  remnant  of  this  once  powerful  tribe 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Quebec,  and  established 
them  in  the  village  of  Lorette,4  where  a  mixed  race 
of  their  descendants  remains  to  this  day. 

4  "  La  chapelle  a  Lorette  est  batie  sur  le  modele  et  avec  toutes 
les  dimensions  de  la  Santa  Casa  d'ltalie,  d'ou  Ton  a  envoye  a 
nos  neophytes  une  image  de  la  vierge,  semblable  a  celle,  que  Ton 
voit  dans  ce  celebre  sanctuaire.  On  ne  pouvoit  guere  choisir  pour 
placer  cette  mission,  un  lieu  plus  sauvage." — Cbarlevoix. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  379 

Even  the  presence  of  the  dreadful  infliction  of  the 
small-pox  and  the  fear  of  French  power  could  not 
long  restrain  the  savage  impulse  for  war.  The  most 
distant  tribe  of  the  Iroquois  became  engaged  in  a 
sanguinary  quarrel  with  a  neighbouring  nation,  and 
took  a  number  of  prisoners.  -The ^governor  immeA 
diately  sent  to  warn  these  turbulent  savages  that  if  ) 
they  did  not  desist  from  war,  and  return  thei/ 
prisoners,  he  would  destroy  their  villages  as  he  haj^ 
those  of  the  Agniers.  This  peremptory  message 
raised  the  indignation  of  the  Iroquois,  they  at  first 
proudly  disclaimed  the  right  of  the  French  to  dictate 
to  the  free  people  of  the  forest,  and  vowed  that  they 
would  perish  rather  than  bow  down  to  the  strangers' 
will:  but  finally  the  wisdom  of  the  old  men  prevailed 
in  the  council,  they  knew  that  they  were  not  prepared 
to  meet  the  power  of  the  Europeans;  it  was  therefore 
decided  that  they  should  send  a  portion  of  their 
prisoners  to  the  governor.  He  either  believed,  or 
pretended  to  believe,  that  they  had  fully  complied 
with  his  demands,  deeming  it  prudent  not  to  drive 
the  Indians  to  extremities. 


380 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

TAKING  advantage  of  the  profound  peace  which  now 
blessed  New  France,1  M.  Talon,  the  intendant,  dis- 
patched an  experienced  traveller  named  Nicholas 
Perrot  to  the  distant  northern  and  western  tribes, 
for  the  purpose  of  inducing  them  to  fix  a  meeting 
at  some  convenient  place  with  a  view  of  dis- 
cussing the  rights  of  the  French  Crown.  This 
bold  adventurer  penetrated  among  the  nations 
dwelling  by  the  great  lakes,  and  with  admirable 
address  Induced  them  all  to  send  deputies  to  the 
falls  of  St.  Mary,  where  the  waters  of  Lake  Superior 
pour  into  Lake  Huron.  The  Sieur  de  St.  Lusson 
met  the  assembled  Indian  chiefs  at  this  place  in 
May,  1671;  he  persuaded  them  to  acknowledge  the 
sovereignty  of  his  king,  and  erected  a  cross  bearing 
the  arms  of  France. 

1  "  On  esperoit  beaucoup  de  la  Compagnie  des  Indes  Occidentales, 
mais  elle  ne  prit  guere  plus  k  cceur  les  interets  de  la  Nouvelle  France, 
que  n'avoit  fait  la  precedente,  ainsi  que  M.  Talon  avoit  prevu. 
Cependant  comme  les  secours  que  le  Canada  avait  regus  les  der- 
nieres  annees,  1'avoient  mis  sur  un  assez  bon  pied,  il  s'y  conserva 
quelque  terns,  et  il  n'est  pas  merae  retombe  depuis  dans  1'etat  de 
foiblesse  et  d'epuisement  dont  le  roi  venoit  de  le  tirer." — Charlevoix, 
torn,  ii.,  p.  161. 


THE   CONQUEST  OF   CANADA.  381 

M.  de  Courcelles  was  succeeded  by  the  able  and 
chivalrous  Louis  de  Buade,  Comte  de  Frontenac; 
the  new  governor  was  a  soldier  of  high  rank,  and 
a  trusty  follower  of  the  great  Henry  of  Navarre ; 
his  many  high  qualities  were  however  obscured  by 
a  capricious  and  despotic  temper.  His  plans  for 
the  advancement  of  the  colony  were  bold  and 
judicious,  his  representations  to  the  government 
of  France  fearless  and  effectual,  his  personal  con- 
duct and  piety  unimpeachable,  but  he  exhibited 
a  bitterness  and  asperity  to  those  who  did  not 
enter  into  his  views,  little  suited  to  the  better 
points  of  his  character,  and  it  is  said  that  ambition 
and  the  love  of  authority  at  times  overcame  his 
zeal  for  the  public  good.2 

M.  Talon,  the  in  ten  dan  t,  was  at  this  time  recalled 
by  his  own  wish,  but  before  he  departed  from  the 
scenes  of  his  useful  labours,  he  planned  a  scheme  of 
exploration  more  extensive  than  any  that  had  yet 
been  accomplished  in  New  France.  From  the 
rumours  and  traditions  among  the  savages  of  the 
far  west,  with  which  the  meeting  at  St.  Mary's 
had  made  the  French  acquainted,  it  was  believed 
that  to  the  south-west  of  New  France  there  flowed 
a  vast  river,  called  by  the  natives  Mechasepe,  whose 
course  was  neither  towards  the  great  lakes  to  the 
north,  nor  the  Atlantic  to  the  east.  It  was  therefore 
surmised  that  this  unknown  flood  must  pour  its 
waters  either  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  or  the  Pacific 

2  "  Le  peuple  adoroit  Frontenac  a  cause  de  sa  bonte." — La 
Potherie,  torn,  iv.,  p.  110  ;  Charlevoix,  torn,  ii.,  p.  246. 


382          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

Ocean.  The  wise  intendant  was  impressed  with  the 
importance  of  possessing  a  channel  of  naviga- 
tion to  the  waters  of  the  south  and  west,  and  before 
his  departure  from  America  made  arrangements  to 
have  the  course  of  the  mysterious  stream3  explored. 
He  intrusted  the  arduous  duty  to  Father  Mar- 
quette, a  pious  priest,  who  was  experienced  in 
Indian  travel,  and  an  adventurous  and  able  rner- 
1673  chant  of  Quebec  named  Jolyet.  The  Comte  de 
Frontenac  gave  hearty  aid  to  this  expedition,  and 
in  the  meantime  he  himself  extended  the  line  of 
French  settlement  to  the  shores  of  Lake  Ontario,4 
built  there  the  fort  that  still  bears  his  name,  and 
opened  communication  with  the  numerous  tribes 
westward  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains. 

The  exploring  party,  led  by  Marquette5  and  Jolyet, 


3  The  Mississipi. 

4  "  Ce  lac  a  porte  quelque  terns  le  nom  de  St.  Louis,  ou  lui  donna 
ensuite  celui  de  Frontenac,  aussi  bien  qu'au  fort  de  Catarocoui  dont 
le  Comte  de  Frontenac  fut  le  fondateur,  mais  insensiblement  le  lac  a 
repris  son  ancien  nom,  qui  est  Huron  ou  Iroquois,  et  le  fort  celui  du 
lieu  ou  il  est  bati,  (1721)."— Charlevoix,  torn,  v.,  p.  287. 

5  "  Le  Pere  J.  Marquette,  natif  de  Laon  en  Picardie,  a  ete  un  des 
plus  illustres  missionnaires  de  la  Nouvelle  France  ;  il  en  a  parcouru 
presque  toutes  les  contrees,  et  il  y  a  fait  plusieurs  decouvertes  dont  la 
derniere  est  celle  du  Micissipi.     Deux  ans  apres  cette  decouverte, 
comme  il  alloit  a  Michillimackinac,  il  entra  le  18me  de  May,  1675, 
dans  la  riviere  dont  il  s'agit  ;  il  dressa  son  autel  sur  le  terrein  bas, 
qu'on  laissa  a  droite  en  y  entrant,  et  il  y  dit  la  messe.     II  s'e'loigna 
ensuite  un  peu  pour  faire  son  action  de  graces,  et  pria  les  homines  qui 
conduisoient  son  canot,  de  le  laisser  seul  pendant  une  demie  heure. 
Ce  terns  passe,  ils  allerent  le  chercher,  et  furent  tres  surpris  de  le 
trouver  mort,    ils  se  souvinrent  neanmoins  qu'en   entrant  dans   la 
riviere,  il  lui  etoit  echappe  de  dire  qu'il  finiroit  la  son  voyage.     Au- 


THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA.  383 

consisted  of  only  six  men,  in  two  little  bark  canoes  : 
at  the  very  outset  the  Indians  of  the  lakes  told  them 
that  great  and  terriMcTdangers  would  beset  their 
path,  and  recounted  strange  tales  of  supernatural 
difficulties  and  perils  for  those  who  had  ventured  to 
explore  the  mysterious  regions  of  the  west.  Heark- 
ening carefully  to  whatever  useful  information  the 
natives  could  bestow,  but  despising  their  timid 
warnings,  these  adyei^urou^meii  hastened  on  over 
the  great  lakes  to  the  north-western  extremity  of 
the  deep  and  stormy  Michigan,  now  called  Green 
Bay.  Numerous  Indian  tribes  wandered  over  the 
surrounding  country,  among  others  the  Miamis,  the 
most  civilised  and  intelligent  of  the  native  race  that 
they  had  yet  seen.  Two  hunters  of  this  nation 
undertook  to  guide  the  expedition  to  one  of  the 
tributaries  of  the  great  river  of  which  they  were  in 
search.  The  French  were  struck  with  wonder  at  the 
vast  prairies  that  lay  around  their  route  on  every 
side,  monotonous,  and  apparently  boundless  as  the 
ocean. 

The  Fox  river  was  the  stream  to  which  the  Miamis 
first  led  them ;  although  it  was  broad  at  its  entrance 

jourd'hui  les  sauvages  n'appellent  cette  riviere  autrement  que  la 
riviere  de  la  robe  noire  ;  *  les  Frangois  lui  ont  donne  le  nora  du  Pere 
Marquette,  et  ne  manquent  jamais  de  1'invoquer,  quandils  setrouvent 
en  quelque  danger  sur  le  Lac  Michigan.  Plusieurs  ont  assure  qu'ils 
se  croyoient  redevables  a  son  intercession,  d'avoir  echappe  a  de  tres 
grands  perils." — Charlevoix,  torn,  vi.,  p.  21. 


*  "  Les  sauvages  appellent  ainsi  les  Jesuites.     Us  nomment  les  PrStres,  les  Collets 
Wanes,  et  les  Recollets,  les  Robes  grises." 


384  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

into  the  lake,  the  upper  portion  was  divided  by 
marshes  into  a  labyrinth  of  narrow  channels;  as 
they  passed  up  the  river  the  wild  oats  grew  so 
thickly  in  the  water  that  the  adventurers  appeared 
to  row  through  fields  of  corn.  After  a  portage  of  a 
mile  and  a  half  they  launched  their  canoes  in  the 
Wisconsin  river,  a  tributary  of  the  Mississipi,  and 
the  guides  left  them  to  find  their  way  into  the 
unknown  solitudes  of  the  west.  Their  voyage  down 
the  tributary  was  easy  and  prosperous,  and  at 
length,  to  their  great  joy,  they  reached  the  mag- 
nificent stream  of  the  Mississippi.  The  banks  were 
rich  and  beautiful,  the  trees  the  loftiest  they  had 
yet  seen,  and  wild  bulls  and  other  animals  roamed 
ill  vast  herds  over  the  flowery  meadows.6 

For  more  than  200  miles  Marquette  and  his  com- 
panions continued  their  course  through  verdant  and 
majestic  solitudes,  where  no  sign  of  human  life 
'appeared.  At  length  the  foot-prints  of  men  rejoiced 
their  sight,  and,  by  following  up  the  track,  they 
arrived  at  a  cluster  of  inhabited  villages,  where  they 
were  kindly  and  hospitably  received.  Their  hosts 
called  themselves  Illinois,  which  means  "  men "  in 
the  native  tongue,  and  is  designed  to  express  their 
supposed  superiority  over  their  neighbours.  Mar- 
quette considered  them  the  most  civilised  of  the 
native  American  nations. 

Neither  fear  for  the  future  nor  the  enjoyment  of 
present  comfort  could  damp  the  ardour  of  the 
French  adventurers ;  they  soon  again  launched  their 

6  Relation  de  Marquette  :  Recueil  de  Thevenot,  torn.  i. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  385 

little  canoes  on  the  Father  of  Waters,  and  fol- 
lowed the  course  of  the  stream.  They  passed  a 
number  of  bold  rocks  that  rose  straight  up  from  the 
water's  edge :  on  one  of  these,  strange  monsters 
were  curiously  painted  in  brilliant  colours.  Soon 
after  they  came  to  the  place  where  the  great 
Missouri  pours  its  turbid  and  noisy  flood  into  the 
Mississippi ;  and  next  they  reached  a  lofty  range  of 
cliffs,  that  stretched  nearly  across  from  bank  to 
bank,  breasting  the  mighty  stream.  With  great  dif- 
ficulty and  danger  they  guided  their  little  canoes 
through  these  turbulent  waters.  They  passed  the 
entrance  of  the  Ohio,7  and  were  again  astonished  at 
the  vast  size  of  the  tributaries  which  fed  the  flood 
of  the  mysterious  river.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
villages  on  the  banks  accepted  the  calumet  of  peace, 
and  held  friendly  intercourse  with  the  adventurers ; 
and  although,  after  passing  the  mouth  of  the 
Arkansas  river,  a  proposition  was  made  in  the 
council  of  one  tribe  to  slay  and  rob  them,  the  chief 
indignantly  overruled  the  cruel  suggestion,  and 
presented  them  with  the  sacred  pipe. 

At  the  village  where  they  were  threatened  with 
this  great  danger  they  were  inaccurately  informed 
that  the  sea  was  only  distant  five  days'  voyage. 
From  this  the  travellers  concluded  that  the  waters 
of  the  Mississippi  poured  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  not,  as  they  had  fondly  hoped,  into  the  Pacific 

7  The  signification  of  the  word  Ohio  is  "  Beautiful  River."  Accord- 
ing to  Bancroft,  it  was  called  the  Wabash  in  la  Salle's  time,  and 
long  afterwards. 

VOL.  I.  c  c 


386          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

Ocean.  Fearing,  therefore,  that  by  venturing  further 
they  might  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards,  and 
lose  all  the  fruits  of  their  toils  and  dangers,  they 
determined  to  reascend  the  stream,  and  return  to 
Canada.  After  a  long  and  dreary  voyage  they 
reached  Chicago,  on  Lake  Michigan,  where  the 
adventurers  separated.  Father  Marquette  remained 
among  the  friendly  Miamis,  and  Jolyet  hastened  to 
Quebec  to  announce  their  discoveries.  Unfortu- 
nately their  enlightened  patron,  M.  Talon,  had 
already  departed  for  France. 

There  chanced,  however,  to  be  at  Quebec  at  that 
time  a  young  Frenchman,  of  some  birth  and  fortune, 
named  Robert  Cavalier,  Sieur  de  la  Salle,  ambitious, 
brave,  and  energetic.  He  had  emigrated  to  America 
with  a  hope  of  gaining  fame  and  wealth  in  the 
untrodden  paths  of  a  new  world.  The  first  project 
that  occupied  his  active  mind  was  the  discovery  of 
a  route  to  China7  and  Japan,  by  the  unexplored 
regions  of  the  west  of  Canada.  The  information 

7  "  La  Chine  is  a  fine  village,  three  French  miles  to  the  south-east 
of  Montreal,  but  on  the  same  side,  close  to  the  River  St.  Lawrence. 
Here  is  a  church  of  stone,  with  a  small  steeple,  and  the  whole 
place  has  a  very  agreeable  situation.  Its  name  is  said  to  have  had 
the  following  origin.  As  the  unfortunate  M.  de  Sales  was  here,  who 
was  afterwards  murdered  by  his  own  countrymen  further  up  the 
country,  he  was  very  intent  on  discovering  a  shorter  road  to  China 
by  means  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence.  He  talked  of  nothing  at  that 
time  but  his  new  short  way  to  China  ;  but,  as  his  project  of  under- 
taking this  journey  in  order  to  make  this  discovery  was  stopped  by 
an  accident  which  happened  to  him  here,  and  he  did  not  at  that  time 
come  any  nearer  China,  this  place  got  its  name,  as  it  were,  by  way 
of  joke." — Kalm  m  Pinkerton,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  699. 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  387 

brought  by  Jolyet  to  Quebec  excited  his  sanguine 
expectations.  Impressed  with  the  strange  idea  that 
the  Missouri  would  lead  to  the  Northern  Ocean,  he 
determined  to  explore  its  course,  and,  having  gained 
the  sanction  of  the  governor,  sailed  for  France  to 
seek  the  means  of  fitting  out  an  expedition.  In  this 
he  succeeded  by  the  favour  of  the  Prince  of  Conti. 
The  Chevalier  de  Tonti,  a  brave  officer,  who  had  lost 
an  arm  in  the  Sicilian  wars,  was  associated  with 
him  in  the  enterprise. 

On  the  14th  of  July  1678,  la  Salle  and  Tonti  1678 
embarked  at  Rochelle  with  thirty  men,  and  in  two 
months  arrived  at  Quebec.  They  took  Father 
Hennepin  with  them,  and  hastened  on  to  the  great 
lakes,8  where  they  spent  two  years  in  raising  forts 
and  building  vessels  of  forty  or  fifty  tons  burthen, 
and  carrying  on  the  fur  trade  with  the  natives.  The 
party  then  pushed  forward  to  the  extremity  of 
Michigan.  Their  friendly  relations  with  the  Indians 
were  here  interrupted  by  a  party  of  the  Outagamis 
having  robbed  them  of  a  coat.  The  French  held 
a  council  to  devise  means  of  deterring  the  savages 
from  such  depredations,  and  it  was  somewhat  hastily 
determined  to  demand  restitution  of  the  coat  under 
the  threat  of  putting  the  offending  chief  to  death. 
The  Outagamis  having  divided  the  stolen  garment 
into  a  number  of  small  pieces  for  general  distribution, 
found  it  impossible  to  comply  with  this  requisition, 
and  thinking  that  no  resource  remained,  presented 

8  See  Appendix,  No.  LXIV. 
c  c  2 


388          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

themselves  to  the  French  in  battle  array.  However, 
through  the  wise  mediation  of  Father  Hennepin,  the 
quarrel  was  arranged,  and  a  good  understanding 
restored. 

La  Salle  now  set  out  with  a  party  of  forty-four 
men  and  three  Recollets,  to  pursue  his  cherished 
object  of  exploring  the  course  of  the  Mississippi. 
He  descended  the  stream  of  the  Illinois,  and  was 
charmed  with  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  banks ; 
large  villages  rose  on  each  side ;  the  first,  containing 
500  wooden  huts,  they  found  deserted,  but  in 
descending  the  river  they  suddenly  perceived  that 
two  large  bodies  of  Indians  were  assembled  on 
opposite  banks,  in  order  of  battle.  After  a  parley, 
however,  the  Indians  presented  the  calumet  of  peace, 
and  entertained  the  strangers  at  a  great  feast. 

The  discontents  among  his  own  followers  proved 
far  more  dangerous  to  la  Salle  than  the  caprice  or 
hostility  of  the  savages.  They  murmured  at  being 
led  into  unknown  regions,  among  barbarous  tribes, 
to  gratify  the  ambition  of  an  adventurer,  and 
determined  to  destroy  him  and  return  to  France. 
They  were  base  enough  to  tell  the  natives  that  la 
Salle  was  a  spy  of  the  Iroquois,  their  ancient  enemies, 
and  it  required  all  his  genius  and  courage  to  remove 
this  idea  from  the  minds  of  the  ignorant  savages. 
Failing  in  this  scheme,  they  endeavoured  to  poison 
him  and  all  his  faithful  adherents  at  a  Christmas 
dinner ;  by  the  use  of  timely  remedies,  however,  the 
intended  victims  recovered,  and  the  villains  having 
fled,  were  in  vain  pursued  over  the  trackless  deserts. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          389 

La  Salle  was  obliged  to  return  to  the  forts  for  aid, 
on  account  of  the  desertion  of  so  many  of  his  fol- 
lowers, but  he  sent  Father  Hennepin  with  Dacan 
and  three  other  Frenchmen,  to  explore  the  sources 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  left  Tonti  in  the  command 
of  a  small  fort,  erected  on  the  Illinois,  which  he, 
however,  was  soon  obliged  to  desert,  in  consequence 
of  the  hostility  of  the  Iroquois.  La  Salle  collected 
twenty  men,  with  the  necessary  arms  and  provisions, 
and  unshaken  by  accumulated  disasters,  determined 
at  once  to  make  his  way  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
down  the  course  of  the  Mississippi.  He  passed 
the  entrance  of  the  swollen  and  muddy  Missouri, 
and  the  beautiful  Ohio,  and  still  descending, 
traversed  countries  where  dwelt  the  numerous 
and  friendly  Chickasaw  and  Arkansaw  Indians. 
Next  he  came  to  the  Taencas,  a  people  far  advanced 
beyond  their  savage  neighbours  in  civilisation,  and 
obeying  an  absolute  prince.  Farther  on  the  Natchez 
received  him  with  hospitality,  but  the  Quinipissas, 
wrho  inhabited  the  shores  more  to  the  south,  assailed 
him  with  showers  of  arrows ;  he  wisely  pursued  his 
important  journey  without  seeking  to  avenge  the 
insult.  Tangibao,  still  lower  down  the  stream,  had 
just  been  desolated  by  one  of  the  terrible  irruptions 
of  savage  war ;  the  bodies  of  the  dead  lay  piled  in 
heaps  among  the  ruins  of  their  former  habitations. 
For  leagues  beyond,  the  channel  began  to  widen, 
and  at  length  became  so  vast  that  one  shore  was 
no  longer  visible  from  the  other.  The  water  was 
now  brackish,  and  beautiful  sea-shells  were  seen 


390  THE   CONQUEST   OP    CANADA. 

strewn  along  the  shore.  They  had  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Father  of  Rivers. 

La  Salle,  celebrated  the  successful  end  of  his 
adventurous  voyage  with  great  rejoicings.  Te  Deum 
was  sung,  a  cross  was  suspended  from  the  top  of  a 
lofty  tree,  and  a  shield  bearing  the  arms  of  France 
was  erected  close  at  hand.  They  attempted  to 
determine  the  latitude  by  an  observation  of  the  sun, 
but  the  result  was  altogether  erroneous. 

The  country  immediately  around  the  outlet  of 
this  vast  stream,  was  desolate  and  uninteresting. 
Far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  swampy  flats  and 
inundated  morasses  filled  the  dreary  prospect. 
Under  the  ardent  rays  of  the  tropical  sun,  noisome 
vapours  exhaled  from  the  rank  soil  and  sluggish 
waters,  poisoning  the  breezes  from  the  southern 
seas,  and  corrupting  them  into  the  breath  of 
pestilence.  Masses  of  floating  trees  whose  large 
branches  were  scathed  by  months  of  alternate 
immersion  and  exposure,  during  hundreds  of  leagues 
of  travel,  choked  up  many  of  the  numerous  outlets 
of  the  river,  and  cemented  together  by  the  alluvial 
deposits  of  the  muddy  stream  gradually  became 
fixed  and  solid,  throwing  up  a  rank  vegetation.9 

9  "  This  is  the  site  of  New  Orleans.  New  Orleans  holding  from 
its  position,  the  command  of  all  the  immense  navigable  river-courses 
of  interior  America,  is  making  the  most  rapid  progress  of  any 
American  city,  and  will  doubtless  one  day  become  the  greatest  in 
that  continent — perhaps  even  in  the  world.  A  formidable  evil,  how- 
ever, exists  in  the  insalubrity  of  the  air,  arising  from  the  extensive 
marshes  and  inundated  grounds  which  border  the  lower  part  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  terrible  malady  that  bears  the  name  of  the  yellow 


THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA.          391 

Above  this  dreary  delta,  however,  the  country  was 
rich  and  beautiful,  and  graceful  undulations  suc- 
ceeded to  the  monotonous  level  of  the  lower 
banks. 

After  a  brief  repose,  la  Salle  proceeded  to 
reascend  the  river  towards  Canada,  eager  to  carry 
the  important  tidings  of  his  success  to  France.  His 
journey  was  beset  with  difficulties  and  dangers. 
The  course  of  the  stream,  though  not  rapid,  per- 
petually impeded  his  progress.  Provisions  began 
to  fail,  and  dire  necessity  drove  him  to  perilous 
measures  for  obtaining  supplies.  Having  met  with 
four  women  of  the  hostile  tribe  of  the  Quinipissas  he 
treated  them  with  great  kindness,  loading  them  with 
such  gifts  as  might  most  win  their  favour.  The  chief 
of  the  savages  then  came  forward  and  invited  the 
French  to  his  village,  offering  them  the  much- 
needed  refreshments  which  they  sought.  But  a 
cruel  treachery  lurked  under  this  friendly  seeming, 
and  the  adventurers  were  only  saved  from  destruc- 
tion by  the  careful  vigilance  of  their  leader.  At 
daybreak  the  following  morning,  the  Indians  made 
a  sudden  attack  upon  their  guests;  the  French, 

fever  makes  its  first  appearance  in  the  early  days  of  August,  and 
continues  till  October.  During  that  era,  New  Orleans  appears  like  a 
deserted  city  ;  all  who  possibly  can,  fly  to  the  north  or  the  upper 
country,  most  of  the  shops  are  shut  ;  and  the  silence  of  the  streets  is 
only  interrupted  by  the  sound  of  the  hearse  passing  through  them, 
In  one  year,  two  thousand  died  of  this  fever.  Since  the  morasses 
have  been  partially  cleared,  its  ravages  have  been  less  destructive  ; 
and,  as  this  work  is  going  on,  the  city  may  hope  in  time  to  be  almost 
free  from  this  terrible  scourge." — Murray's  America,  vol.  ii.,  p.  428. 


392          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

however,  being  thoroughly  on  the  alert,  repulsed  the 
assailants,  and  slew  several  of  the  bravest  war- 
riors. Infuriated  by  the  treachery  of  the  savages 
the  victors  followed  the  customs  of  Indian  warfare, 
and  scalped  those  of  the  enemy  who  fell  into  their 
power. 

As  they  ascended  the  river  they  were  again 
endangered  by  the  secret  hostility  of  the  Natchez,1 
from  the  effects  of  which  a  constant  front  of  pre- 
paration alone  preserved  them.  After  several 
months  of  unceasing  toil  and  watchfulness,  with 
many  strange  and  romantic  adventures,  but  no 
other  serious  obstruction,  the  hardy  travellers  at 
length  joyfully  beheld  the  headland  of  Quebec. 

Immediately  after  his  arrival,  la  Salle  hastened 
1682  to  France  to  announce  his  great  discovery,2  and 
reap  the  distinction  justly  due  to  his  eminent  merits. 
He  was  received  with  every  honour,  and  all  his 
plans  and  suggestions  were  approved  by  the  court. 
Under  his  direction  and  command,  an  expedition 
was  fitted  out,  consisting  of  four  vessels,  and  280 
men,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  settlement  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  thence  establish- 
ing a  regular  communication  with  Canada,  along 

1  "  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  parle  de  cette  nation  comme  d'un  peuple 
puissant,  et  il  n'y  a  pas  six  ans  qu'on  y  comptoit  quatre  mille  guer- 
riers.     Aujourd'hui  les  Natchez  ne  pourroient  pas  mettre  sur  pied 
deux  mille  combattans  (1714)." — Charlevoix,  torn,  vi.,  p.  177. 

2  "  La  Louisiane  est  le  nom  que  M.  de  la  Sale  a  donne  au  pays 
qu'arrose  le  Mississippi  audessous  de  la  Riviere  des  Illinois  et  qu'il  a 
conserve  jusqu'a  present.     C'etoit  en  1'honneur  de  Louis  XIV,,  qui 
regnoit  alors  en  France." — Charlevoix,  torn,  ii.,  p.  436. 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  393 

the  course  of  the  Great  River.  At  the  same  time  he 
received  the  commission  of  governor  over  the  whole 
of  the  vast  country  extending  between  the  Lakes 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  little  squadron  sailed 
from  la  Rochelle  on  the  24th  of  July,  1684,  along 
with  the  West  India  fleet,  and  having  touched  at 
St.  Domingo  and  Cuba  by  the  way,  arrived  in  safety 
on  the  coast  of  Florida. 

La  Salle  was  involved  in  great  perplexity  by  1684 
ignorance  of  the  longitude  of  the  river's  mouth : 
not  having  descended  so  far  in  his  former  expedition 
as  to  be  able  to  judge  of  its  appearance  from  the 
sea,  he  passed  the  main  entrance  of  the  Mississippi 
unawares,  and  proceeded  200  miles  to  the  westward, 
where  he  found  himself  in  a  bay,  since  called  St. 
Bernard's.  Attracted  by  the  favourable  appearance 
of  the  surrounding  country,  la  Salle  here  founded 
the  fort  which  was  to  be  the  basis  of  his  future 
establishment.  But  difficulties  and  misfortunes 
crowded  upon  him ;  the  vessel  containing  his  stores 
and  utensils  was  sunk  through  the  negligence  or 
treachery  of  her  commander,  and  a  great  portion 
of  the  cargo  lost  or  seized  by  the  Indians.  The 
violent  measures  he  adopted  to  compel  restitution 
of  the  plundered  goods,  kindled  a  deep  resentment 
in  the  minds  of  this  fierce  and  haughty  tribe,  the 
Clamcoets  by  name.  They  made  a  sudden  midnight 
attack  upon  the  settlement,  slew  two  of  the  French 
and  wounded  several,  and  whenever  opportunity 
offered  afterwards,  repeated  their  assaults.  The 
tropical  climate,  however,  proved  a  far  deadlier 


394          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

foe  than  even  the  savage,  and  at  length  the  spirit 
of  the  colonists  gave  way  under  accumulated 
difficulties. 

Meanwhile  Tonti,  who  had  descended  the  Missis- 
sippi to  join  la  Salle,  sought  him  in  vain  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  and  along  the  coast  for  twenty 
leagues  at  either  side ;  having  found  no  trace  or 
tidings  of  the  expedition,  he  relinquished  the  search 
in  despair,  and  sailed  upwards  again  to  the  Canadian 
Lakes. 

La  Salle  bore  up  with  noble  courage  and  energy 
against  the  difficulties  that  surrounded  him.  His 
subordinates  thwarted  him  on  every  occasion,  and 
at  length  broke  out  into  a  violent  mutiny,  which  he, 
however,  vigorously  suppressed.  But  when  he  dis- 
covered that  the  settlement  founded  and  sustained 
by  his  unceasing  labours  was  not,  as  he  had  fondly 
supposed,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Great  River,  he 
experienced  the  bitterest  disappointment.  The 
surrounding  country,  though  fertile,  offered  no 
brilliant  prospect  of  sudden  wealth,  or  hopes  of 
future  commerce.  He  determined,  therefore,  once 
again  to  explore  the  vast  streams  of  the  Mississippi 
and  Illinois,  and  to  endeavour  to  gain  a  greater 
knowledge  of  the  interior  of  the  continent.  He 
took  with  him  on  this  expedition,  his  nephew,  a 
worthy  but  impetuous  youth,  named  Moranger,  and 
about  twenty  men.  This  young  man's  haughty 
spirit  excited  a  savage  thirst  of  vengeance  in  the 
minds  of  his  uncle's  lawless  followers;  they  watched 
their  opportunity,  and  in  a  remote  and  dreary 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  395 

solitude  in  the  depths  of  the  new  continent,  la 
Salle  and  Moranger  were  both  slain  by  their  mur- 
derous hands.  Thus  sadly  perished,  in  a  nameless 
wilderness,  one  of  the  most  daring  and  gifted  among 
those  wonderful  men,  to  whom  the  discovery  of  the 
New  World  had  opened  a  field  of  glory.  His  temper 
was,  doubtless,  at  times  violent  and  overbearing,3 
but  he  was  dearly  loved  by  his  friends,  respected  by 
his  dependants,  and  fondly  revered  by  those  among 
the  Indians  who  came  within  his  influence.  His 
greatest  difficulties  arose  from  those  who  were 
placed  under  his  command,  abandoned  and  ungo- 
vernable men,  the  very  refuse  of  society,  and 
amenable  to  no  laws,  human  or  divine. 

It  has  been  already  mentioned  that  la  Salle  had 
sent  Dacan  and  Father  Hennepin  to  explore  the 
Mississippi  on  his  first  return  from  the  Illinois  to 
Lake  Michigan.  They  descended  that  great  river 
almost  to  the  sea,  but  their  followers,  becoming 
alarmed  at  the  idea  of  falling  into  the  hands  of 

3  Charlevoix  thus  speaks  of  the  selection  of  M.  de  la  Sale  by 
M.  de  Seignelay  : — "  II  n'est  point  de  vertu  qui  ne  soit  melee  de 
quelque  defaut :  c'est  le  sort  ordinaire  de  1'humanite.  Ce  qui  met  le 
comble  a  notre  humiliation,  c'est  que  les  plus  grands  defauts  accom- 
pagnent  souvent  les  plus  eminentes  qualites,  et  que  la  jalousie  que 
celles-ci  inspirent  trouve  presque  toujours  dans  ceux-la  un  specieux 
pretexte  pour  couvrir  ce  que  cette  passion  a  de  has  et  d'injuste.  C'est 
a  ceux  qui  sont  etablis  pour  gouverner  les  hommes  a  se  faire  jour 
pour  sortir  de  cette  labyrinthe,  a  degager  le  vrai  des  tenebres 
dont  la  passion  veut  1'offusquer,  et  a  connoitre  si  bien  ceux  dont  ils 
veulent  se  servir,  qu'en  leur  donnent  lieu  de  faire  usage  de  ce  qu'ils 
ont  de  bon,  ils  se  precautionnent  sur  ce  qu'ils  ont  de  mauvais." — 
Charlevoix,  torn,  ii.,  p.  2. 


396          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

the  Spaniards,  compelled  them  to  return  without 
having  perfected  their  expedition.  They  reascended 
the  stream  and  passed  the  mouths  of  the  Illinois 
and  Wisconsin,  and  even  reached  beyond  those 
magnificent  falls  to  which  the  adventurous  priest 
has  given  the  name  of  St.  Anthony.  Continual 
danger  threatened  these  travellers  from  the  caprice 
or  hostility  of  the  Indians;  they  were  held  for  a 
long  time  in  a  cruel  captivity,  forced  to  accompany 
their  captors  through  the  most  difficult  countries 
at  a  pace  of  almost  incredible  rapidity,  till  with 
their  feet  and  limbs  cut  and  bleeding  they  were  well 
nigh  incapable  of  moving  any  further.  After  some 
time  Hennepin  was  adopted  by  a  chief  as  his  son, 
and  treated  with  much  kindness ;  when  winter  came 
on,  however,  and  a  great  scarcity  of  provisions  arose, 
the  Indians  being  unable  any  longer  to  support 
their  captives,  allowed  them  to  depart.  The  Father 
and  his  companions  used  this  liberty  to  continue 
their  explorations  down  the  Mississippi.  After  many 
other  perils  and  adventures  they  at  length  met  the 
Sieur  de  Luth  who  commanded  a  party  sent  in 
search  of  them,  and  with  further  instructions  to 
form  a  settlement  on  the  Great  River.  Hennepin 
at  first  turned  back  with  the  sieur,  but  found  so 
many  obstacles  and  difficulties  that  he  determined 
for  the  present  to  return  to  Canada. 

The  disasters  attending  the  expeditions  of  la 
Salle  and  Hennepin  for  some  time  deterred  others 
from  venturing  to  explore  the  dangerous  regions  of 
the  west,  and  the  government  totally  neglected  to 


THE    CONQUEST  OF   CANADA.  397 

occupy  the  splendid  field  which  the  adventure 
of  those  men  had  opened  to  French  enterprise. 
It  was  left  to  the  love  of  gain  or  glory,  or  the 
religious  zeal  of  individuals,  to  continue  the  explo- 
rations of  this  savage  but  magnificent  country.  The 
Baron  la  Hontan  was  one  of  the  first  and  most 
conspicuous  of  these  dauntless  travellers.4  He  had 
gone  to  Canada  in  early  life,  with  a  view  of  retriev- 
ing the  broken  fortunes  of  his  ancient  family,  and 
had  obtained  employment  upon  the  Lakes  under 
the  French  government.  While  thus  occupied,  he 
became  intimately  acquainted  with  the  life  and 
customs  of  the  savages ;  and  from  his  intercourse 
with  them,  formed  the  idea  of  penetrating  into  the 
interior  of  their  country,  where  the  white  man's 
foot  had  never  before  trodden.  His  actual  dis- 
coveries were  probably  not  very  important,  and  his 
record  of  them  is  confused  and  imperfect ;  but  he 
wras  the  first  to  learn  the  existence  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  of  that  vast  ocean  which  separates 
the  western  coast  of  North  America  from  the  con- 
tinent of  Asia.5 

4  Memoir "es  de  VAmerique  Septentrionale  par  M.  le  Baron  de  la 
Hontan  :  a  Amsterdam.  1705.     For  the  character  of  these  Memoirs 
see  Charlevoix,  torn,  vi.,  p.  408.     They  are  translated  in  Pinkerton, 
vol.  xiii. 

5  The  North  Pacific  Ocean.     The  South  Pacific  Ocean  had  been 
discovered  by  the  Spaniard  Balboa,  in  1513. 


398 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

AN  embittered  disagreement  between  the  governor- 
general,  Comte  de  Frontenac,  and  the  intendant, 
M.  de  Cheneau,  M.  Talon's  successor,  rendered  it 
necessary  to  recall  both  those  officers  from  the 
colony.  The  French  court  attributed  the  greater 
share  of  blame  to  the  governor,  but  the  haughty 
and  unbending  disposition  of  the  intendant  was 
probably  a  principal  cause  of  those  untoward  dis- 
putes. M.  le  Ferre  de  la  Barre  and  M.  de  Meules 
succeeded  them  in  their  respective  offices,  with 
special  recommendation  from  the  king  to  cultivate 
friendly  relations  with  each  other,  and  with  M.  de 
Blenac,  the  governor-general  of  the  French  American 
islands. 

New  France  had  for  many  years  remained  in  a 
state  of  great  confusion,  and  had  made  but  little 
progress  in  prosperity  or  population,  and  now  the 
prospects  of  a  disastrous  war  darkened  the  future 
of  the  colonists.  Various  causes  had  united  to 
revive  the  hostility  of  the  Iroquois,  their  ancient 
and  powerful  foes.  Since  New  York  had  fallen  into 
English  hands,  the  savages  found  it  more  advan- 
tageous to  carry  their  trade  thither,  than  to  barter 
their  furs  with  the  privileged  company  of  France. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  399 

The  falling  off  of  commercial  intercourse  soon  led  to 
further  alienation,  which  the  death  of  an  Iroquois 
chief  by  the  hands  of  an  Illinois,  in  the  territory  of 
the  Ottawas,  then  allies  of  the  white  men,  soon 
turned  into  open  hostility.  The  Comte  de  Frontenac 
had  failed  in  his  attempts  to  negociate  with  the 
savages ;  and  on  the  arrival  of  his  successor,  an 
invasion  of  the  colony  was  hourly  expected.  M.  de 
la  Barre  at  once  perceived  the  dangerous  state  of 
affairs ;  he,  therefore,  summoned  an  assembly  of  all 
the  leading  men  in  the  country,  ecclesiastical,  civil, 
and  military,  and  demanded  counsel  from  them  in 
the  emergency. 

f  The  assembly  was  of  opinion  that  the  Iroquois 
aimed  at  the  monopoly  of  all  the  trade  of  Canada 
by  the  instigation  of  the  English  and  Dutch  of  New 
York,  who  were  also  supposed  to  incite  them  to 
enmity  against  the  French,  and  that  consequently 
nations  should  be  held  hostile.  It  was  also 
believed  that  the  savages  had  only  endeavoured  to 
gain  time  by  their  negociations,  while  they  either 
destroyed  the  tribes  friendly  to  the  colonists,  or 
seduced  them  from  their  alliance^)  With  this  view 
they  had  already  assailed  the  Illinois,  and  it  was 
therefore  the  duty  of  the  French  to  save  that  nation 
from  this  attack,  whatever  might  be  the  cost  or 
danger  of  the  enterprise.  For  that  purpose  the 
colony  could  only  furnish  1000  men  ;  and  to  procure 
even  this  number,  it  was  necessary  that  the  labours 
of  husbandry  should  be  suspended.  Reinforcements 
of  troops  and  a  supply  of  labourers  were  therefore 


400          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

urgently  required  for  the  very  existence  of  the 
settlements ;  and  an  earnest  appeal  for  such  assist- 
ance was  forwarded  to  the  king,  as  the  result  of  the 
deliberations  of  the  assembly.  This  application 
was  immediately  answered  by  the  dispatch  of  200 
soldiers  to  New  France  and  by  a  remonstrance 
addressed  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  who  in- 
structed Colonel  Dongan,  the  English  governor  of 
New  York,  to  encourage  more  friendly  relations 
with  his  French  neighbours. 

While  M.  de  la  Barre  pushed  on  his  preparations 
for  war  against  the  Iroquois,  he  still  kept  up  the 
hope  of  treating  with  them  for  peace  in  such  a 
manner  as  not  to  forfeit  the  dignity  of  his  position. 
In  the  mean  time,  however,  he  received  intimation 
that  a  formidable  expedition  of  1500  warriors  had 
assembled,  ostensibly  to  wage  war  with  the  Illinois, 
but  in  reality  for  the  destruction  of  the  Miamis  and 
Ottawas,  both  allies  of  the  French.  The  governor 
promptly  dispatched  an  envoy,  who  arrived  at  the 
village  where  the  Iroquois  had  mustered  on  the 
evening  of  the  day  appointed  for  the  beginning  of 
their  campaign.  The  envoy  was  received  with  dig- 
nity and  kindness ;  and  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a 
promise  that  the  expedition  should  be  deferred, 
and  that  they  would  send  deputies  to  Montreal 
to  negociate  with  the  French  chief.  But  the  wily 
savages  had  promised  only  to  deceive ;  and  in  the 
month  of  May  following,  the  governor  received  intel- 
ligence that  700  of  these  fierce  warriors  were  on 
their  march  to  attack  his  Miami  and  Ottawa  allies, 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          401 

while  another  force  was  prepared  to  assail  the  set- 
tlements of  the  French  themselves.  He  attributed 
these  dangerous  hostilities  to  the  instigation  of  the 
English. 

The  governor  made  urgent  representations  to  the 
minister  at  home  as  to  the  necessity  of  crushing 
two  of  the  Iroquois  tribes,  the  most  hostile  and  the 
most  powerful.  For  this  purpose,  he  demanded  that 
a  reinforcement  of  400  men  should  be  sent  to  him 
from  France  as  soon  as  possible ;  and  that  an  order 
should  be  obtained  from  the  Duke  of  York,  to  whom 
New  York  then  belonged,  to  prevent  the  English 
from  interfering  with  or  thwarting  the  expedition. 

The  Iroquois  found  the  free  trade  with  the  English 
and  Dutch  more  advantageous  than  that  with  the 
V\  French,  which  was  paralysed  by  an  injudicious 
ijionopoly ;  but  they  were  still  unwilling  to  come  to 
an  open  rupture  with  their  powerful  neighbours. 
They  therefore  sent  deputies  to  Montreal  to  make 
great  but  vague  professions  of  attachment  and  good 
will.  For  many  reasons  de  la  Barre  placed  but 
little  confidence  in  these  addresses :  their  object  was 
obviously  to  gain  time,  and  to  throw  the  French  off 
their  guard.  He,  however,  received  the  deputies 
with  great  distinction,  and  sent  them  back  enriched 
with  presents.  But  a  few  months  after  this,  how- 
ever, a  small  detachment  of  Frenchmen  was  assailed 
by  the  Iroquois,  and  plundered  of  merchandise  which 
they  were  bearing  to  traffic  with  the  Illinois. 

After  this  flagrant  outrage,  nothing  remained  for 
M.  de  la  Barre  but  war.  He  had  received  intel- 

VOL.  I.  D  D 


402  THE    CONQUEST   OF    CANADA. 

ligence  that  the  Iroquois  were  making  great 
preparations  for  an  onslaught  upon  the  French 
settlements,  and  that  they  had  sent  ambassadors  to 
the  Indians  of  the  south  for  the  purpose  of  insuring 
peace  in  that  quarter,  while  they  threw  all  their 
power  into  the  struggle  with  the  hated  pale  faces. 
The  governor  promptly  determined  to  adopt  the 
bolder  but  safer  course  of  striking  the  first  blow, 
and  making  the  cantons  of  his  savage  enemies  the 
field  of  battle.  As  yet,  few  and  small  were  the  aids 
he  had  received  from  France,  and  a  considerable 
time  must  elapse  ere  the  further  supplies  he  anti- 
cipated could  arrive ;  he  was,  therefore,  unwillingly 
compelled  to  avail  himself  of  the  assistance  of  his 
Indian  allies.  The  native  tribes  dwelling  around 
the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  entertained  a  deep  and 
ancient  jealousy  of  the  powerful  confederacy  of  the 
Iroquois  or  Five  Nations,  who  aspired  to  universal 
dominion  over  the  Northern  Continent ;  they, 
therefore,  held  themselves  equally  interested  with 
the  French  in  the  destruction  of  those  formidable 
warriors.  M.  de  la  Durantaye,  who  commanded  the 
fort  on  the  far  distant  shores  of  Lake  Michigan, 
announced  to  his  Indian  neighbours  that  his 
countrymen  were  about  to  march  against  the 
Iroquois,  and  requested  that  all  the  native  warriors 
friendly  to  the  white  men  should  meet  them  in  the 
middle  of  August  at  Niagara.  He  was  not,  how- 
ever, very  successful  in  making  levies,  and  with 
difficulty  led  500  warriors  to  the  place  of  meeting, 
where,  to  his  dismay,  he  found  that  the  French  had 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  403 

not  arrived  :  his  followers  were  not  easily  reconciled 
to  this  disappointment. 

In  the  mean  time,  M.  de  la  Barre  had,  on  the  1683 
9th  of  July,  1683,  marched  from  Quebec  to  Montreal, 
where  he  appointed  the  troops  to  assemble  for  the 
expedition.  No  precautions  to  insure  success  were 
neglected.  He  dispatched  a  message  to  the  English 
governor  of  New  York,  to  invite  him  to  join  in  the 
attack,  or  at  least  to  secure  his  neutrality.  He 
also  sent  belts  and  presents  to  three  of  the  Iroquois 
tribes  to  induce  them  to  refrain  from  joining  in  the 
quarrel  of  those  among  their  confederates  who 
alone  had  injured  him  and  his  nation.  He  arrived 
at  Montreal  on  the  21st,  with  700  Canadians, 
130  soldiers,  and  200  Indians;  his  force  was 
organised  in  three  divisions.  After  a  brief  stay  he 
continued  his  march  westward. 

The  governor  had  not  proceeded  far  when  he 
received  intelligence  that  the  other  Iroquois  tribes 
had  obliged  the  Tsonnonthouans,  his  especial 
enemies,  to  accept  of  their  mediation  with  the 
French,  and  that  they  demanded  the  Sieur  le  Moyne, 
in  whom  they  placed  much  confidence,  to  conduct 
the  negociation.  At  the  same  time  he  learned  that 
the  tribe  he  proposed  to  assail,  had  put  all  their 
provisions  into  a  place  of  security,  and  were  prepared 
for  a  protracted  and  harassing  resistance.  His 
appeals  both  to  the  remaining  Iroquois  tribes  and 
to  the  English  had  also  failed,  for  the  former  would 
assuredly  make  common  cause  against  him  in  case 
of  his  refusing  their  mediation,  and  the  latter  had 

DD    2 


404  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

actually  offered  to  aid  his  enemies  with  400  horse, 
and  a  like  force  of  infantry.  Influenced  by  these 
untoward  circumstances  he  dispatched  M.  le  Moyne 
to  treat,  and  agreed  to  await  the  Iroquois  deputies 
on  the  shores  of  Lake  Ontario.  In  the  meantime 
M.  de  la  Barre  and  his  army  underwent  great 
privations  from  the  scarcity  and  bad  quality  of 
their  provisions ;  they  could  with  difficulty  hold 
their  ground  till  the  arrival  of  the  savages,  and 
such  was  their  extremity  that  the  name  of  the 
Bay  of  Famine  was  given  to  the  scene  of  their 
sufferings. 

The  savage  deputies  met  the  French  chief  with 
great  dignity,  and  well  aware  of  the  advantage 
given  them  by  the  starvation  and  sickness  of  the 
white  men,  carried  their  negociations  with  a  high 
hand.  They  guaranteed  that  the  Tsonnonthouans 
should  make  reparation  for  the  injuries  inflicted  on 
the  French,  but  at  the  same  time  insisted  that  the 
governor  and  his  army  should  retire  the  very  next 
day.  With  this  ignoble  stipulation  M.  de  la  Barre 
was  fain  to  agree ;  on  his  return  to  Quebec,  he 
found,  to  his  chagrin,  that  considerable  reinforce- 
ments had  just  arrived  from  France,  which  would 
have  enabled  him  to  dictate  instead  of  submitting 
to  dictation.  The  new  detachment  was  commanded 
by  MM.  Monterlier  and  Desnos,  captains  of  marine, 
wrho  were  commissioned  by  the  king  to  proceed 
to  the  most  advanced  and  important  posts,  and 
to  act  independently  of  the  governor's  authority. 
They  were  further  instructed  to  capture  as  many 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          405 

of  the  Iroquois  as  possible,  and  to  send  them  to 
France  to  labour  in  the  galleys.  In  this  same  year 
the  Chevalier  de  Callieres,  an  officer  of  great  merit, 
was  sent  from  France  to  assume  the  duties  of 
governor  of  the  Montreal  district,  as  successor  to 
M.  Perrot,  who  had  embroiled  himself  with  the 
members  of  the  powerful  Order  of  St.  Sulpicius. 

In  the  year  1685,  the  Marquis  de  D^nonville  1685 
arrived  at  Quebec  as  governor-general  in  succession 
to  M.  de  la  Barre,  whose  advanced  age  and  failing 
health  unfitted  him  for  the  arduous  duties  of  the 
office.  The  new  governor  was  selected  by  the  king 
for  his  known  valour  and  prudence ;  a  reinforcement 
of  troops  was  placed  at  his  disposal,  and  it  was 
determined  to  spare  no  effort  to  establish  the  colony 
in  security  and  peace.  Denonville  lost  not  a  moment 
in  proceeding  to  the  advanced  posts  on  the  lakes,  and 
at  the  same  time  he  devoted  himself  to  a  diligent 
study  of  the  affairs  of  Canada  and  the  character  of 
the  Indians.  His  keen  perception  promptly  dis- 
covered the  impossibility  of  the  Iroquois  being 
reconciled  and  assimilated  to  the  French,  and  he  at 
once  saw  the  necessity  of  extirpating,  or  at  least 
thoroughly  humbling,  these  haughty  savages.  But 
beyond  the  present  dangers  and  difficulties  of  Indian 
hostility,  this  clear-sighted  politician  discerned  the 
far  more  formidable  evils  that  threatened  the  power 
of  his  country  from  the  advancing  encroachments  of 
the  hardy  traders  and  fearless  adventurers  of  the 
English  colonies.  He  urged  upon  the  king  the 
advantage  of  building  and  garrisoning  a  fort  at 


406  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

Niagara  to  exclude  the  British  from  the  traffic  of 
the  lakes,  and  interrupt  their  communications  with 
the  Iroquois,  and  also  to  check  the  desertion  of 
the  French,  who  usually  escaped  by  that  route, 
and  transferred  the  benefits  of  their  experience  and 
knowledge  of  the  country  to  the  rival  colonies. 
The  North-west  Company  of  merchants  at  Quebec 
earnestly  desired  this  establishment,  and  engaged  to 
pay  an  annual  rent  of  30,000  livres  to  the  crown 
for  the  privilege  of  exclusive  trade  at  the  proposed 
station. 

The  suspicions  of  the  Marquis  de  Denonville  as  to 
1686  English  encroachments  were  soon  confirmed.  He 
received  a  letter  from  the  governor  of  New  York, 
dated  29th  of  May,  1686,  demanding  explanations  of 
the  preparations  which  were  being  made  against  the 
Iroquois — the  subjects  of  England — as  any  attack 
upon  them  would  be  a  breach  of  the  peace  then 
existing  between  England  and  France.  The  British 
governor  also  expressed  surprise  that  the  French 
should  contemplate  erecting  a  fort  at  Niagara, 
"  because  it  should  be  known  in  Canada  that  all 
that  country  was  a  dependancy  of  New  York."  M.  de 
Denonville,  in  reply,  denied  the  pretensions  of  the 
English  to  sovereignty  in  New  France,  and  pointed 
out  the  impropriety  of  hostile  communications 
between  inferiors,  while  the  kings  whom  they  served 
remained  on  amicable  terms.  He  rendered,  however, 
some  sort  of  evasive  explanation  on  the  subject  of 
his  preparations  against  the  Iroquois. 

The  following  year  the  governor-general  received 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  407 

from  the  court  the  notification  of  a  most  important 
agreement  between  England  and  France ;  that,  "  not- 
withstanding any  rupture  between  the  northern  coun- 
tries, the  colonies  on  the  American  continent  should 
remain  at  peace."  Unfortunately,  however,  the  force 
of  national  prejudice,  and  the  clashing  of  mutual  in- 
terests, rendered  this  wise  and  enlightened  provision 
totally  fruitless. 

In  the  summer  of  1687,  M.  de  Denonville  marched  1687 
towards  Lake  Ontario  with  a  force  of  2000  French 
and  600  Indians;  having  already  received  all  the 
supplies  and  reinforcements  which  he  had  expected 
from  France.  His  first  act  of  aggression  was  one 
that  no  casuistry  can  'excuse,  no  necessity  justify — 
one  alike  dishonourable  and  impolitic.  He  employed 
two  missionaries,  men  of  influence  among  the  savages, 
to  induce  the  principal  Iroquois  chiefs  to  meet  him  at 
the  fort  of  Cataracouy,  under  various  pretences ;  he 
there  treacherously  seized  the  unsuspecting  savages, 
and  instantly  dispatched  them  to  Quebec,  with  orders 
that  they  should  be  forwarded  to  France  to  labour  in 
the  galleys.  The  missionaries  who  had  been  instru- 
mental in  bringing  the  native  chiefs  into  this  un- 
worthy snare,  were  altogether  innocent  of  participa- 
tion in  the  outrage,  never  for  a  moment  doubting 
the  honourable  intentions  of  their  countrymen  to  wards 
the  Indian  deputies.  One,  who  dwelt  among  the 
Onneyouths,  was  immediately  seized  by  the  exasper- 
ated tribe,  and  condemned  to  expiate  the  treachery 
of  his  nation  and  his  own  supposed  guilt  in  the 
flames ;  he  was,  however,  saved  at  the  last  moment 


408  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

by  the  intervention  of  an  Indian  matron,  who  adopted 
him  as  her  son.  The  other — Lamberville  by  name 
— was  held  in  great  esteem  among  the  Onnontagues, 
to  whose  instruction  he  had  devoted  himself.  On 
the  first  accounts  of  the  outrage  at  Cataracouy,  the 
ancients  assembled  and  called  the  missionary  before 
them.  They  then  declared  their  deep  indignation  at 
the  wrong  which  they  had  suffered ;  but  at  the  mo- 
ment when  their  prisoner  expected  to  feel  the  terrible 
effects  of  their  wrath,  a  chief  arose,  and  with  a  noble 
dignity  addressed  him :  — 

"  Thou  art  now  our  enemy — thou  and  thy  race. 
We  have  held  counsel,  and  cannot  resolve  to  treat 
thee  as  an  enemy.  We  know  thy  heart  had  no  share 
in  this  treason,  though  thou  wert  its  tool.  We  are 
not  unjust ;  we  will  not  punish  thee,  being  innocent, 
and  hating  the  crime  as  much  as  we  do  ourselves. 
But  depart  from  among  us;  there  are  some  who 
might  seek  thy  blood,  and  when  our  young  men 
sing  the  war-song,  we  may  be  no  longer  able  to 
protect  thee."  The  magnanimous  savages  then 
furnished  him  with  guides,  who  were  enjoined  to 
convey  him  to  a  place  of  safety. 

M.  de  D^nonville  halted  for  some  time  at  Catara- 
couy, and  sent  orders  to  the  commanders  of  the 
distant  western  posts  to  meet  him  on  the  10th  of 
July  at  the  river  Des  Sables,  to  the  eastward  of  the 
country  of  the  Tsonnonthouans,  against  whom  they 
were  first  to  act.  The  governor  marched  upon  this 
point  with  his  army,  and  by  an  accident  of  favour- 
able presage,  he  and  the  other  detachments  arrived 


THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA.  409 

at  the  same  time.  They  immediately  constructed 
an  intrenchment,  defended  by  palisades,  in  a  com- 
manding situation  over  the  river,  where  their  stores 
and  provisions  were  safely  deposited.  M.  d'Orvilliers, 
with  a  force  of  400  men,  was  left  for  the  protection 
of  this  depot,  and  to  insure  the  rear  of  the  advancing 
army. 

On  the  13th  the  French  pushed  into  the  hostile 
country,  and  passed  two  deep  and  dangerous  defiles 
without  opposition,  but  at  a  third  they  were  sud- 
denly assailed  by  800  of  the  Iroquois,  who,  after  the 
first  volley,  dispatched  200  of  their  number  to 
outflank  the  invaders,  while  they  continued  the 
front  attack  with  persevering  courage.  The  French 
were  at  first  thrown  into  some  confusion  by  this 
fierce  and  unexpected  onslaught,  but  the  allied 
savages,  accustomed  to  the  forest  warfare,  boldly 
held  their  ground,  and  effectually  covered  the 
rallying  of  the  troops.  The  Iroquois,  having  failed 
in  overpowering  their  enemies  by  surprise,  and 
conscious  of  their  inferiority  in  numbers  and  arms, 
after  a  time  broke  their  array,  and  dispersed  among 
the  woods.  The  French  lost  five  men  killed  and 
twenty  wounded ;  the  Iroquois  suffered  far  more — 
forty-five  were  left  dead  upon  the  field,  and  sixty 
more  disabled  in  the  conflict.  The  Ottawas  serving 
under  M.  de  Denonville,  who  had  been  by  no  means 
forward  in  the  strife,  with  savage  ferocity  mangled, 
and  devoured  the  bodies  of  the  slain.  The  Hurons, 
and  the  Iroquois  Christians  following  the  French 
standard,  fought  with  determined  bravery. 


410          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

The  army  encamped  in  one  of  the  four  great 
villages  of  the  Tsonnonthouans,  about  eight  leagues 
from  the  fort  at  the  river  Des  Sables ;  they  found  it 
totally  deserted  by  the  inhabitants,  and  left  it  in 
ashes.  For  ten  days  they  marched  through  the 
dense  forest  with  great  hardship  and  difficulty,  and 
met  with  no  traces  of  the  enemy,  but  they  marked 
their  progress  with  ruin ;  they  burnt  about  400,000 
bushels  of  corn,  and  destroyed  a  vast  number  of 
hogs.  The  general,  fearing  that  his  savage  allies 
would  desert  him  if  he  continued  longer  in  the  field, 
was  then  constrained  to  limit  his  enterprise.  He, 
however,  took  this  opportunity  of  erecting  a  fort  at 
Niagara,  and  left  the  Chevalier  de  la  Troye  with 
100  men  in  garrison.  Unfortunately,  a  deadly 
malady  soon  after  nearly  destroyed  the  detachment, 
and  the  post  was  abandoned  and  dismantled.  The 
constant  and  harassing  enmity  of  the  savages  com- 
bined with  the  bad  state  of  the  provisions  left  in 
the  fort  to  render  the  disease  which  had  broken  out 
so  fatal  in  its  results. 

The  French  had  erected  a  fort  called  Chambly,1  in 
a  strong  position  on  the  left  bank  of  the  important 
river  Richlieu.2  This  little  stronghold  effectually 

1  Afterwards  called  Sorel. 

2  The  river  Iroquois,  or  Sorel.  "  Dans  les  premieres  annees  de 
notre  etablissement  en  Canada  les  Iroquois,  pour  faire  des  courses 
j usque  dans  le  centre  de  nos  habitations,  descenderent  cette  riviere  a 
laquelle  pour  cette  raison  on  donna  le  nora  de  riviere  des  Iroquois. 
On  1'a  depuis  appelle  la  riviere  de  Richlieu,  a  cause  d'un  fort  qui 
portoit  ce  nom  et  qu'on  avoit  construit  a  son  embouchure.  Ce  fort 
ayant  ete  ruine,  M.  de  Sorel  en  fit  construire  un  autre  auquel  on 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  411 

commanded  the  navigation  of  the  stream,  and, 
through  it,  the  communication  between  Lake 
Champlain  and  the  southern  districts  with  the 
waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  On  the  13th  of 
November,  1687,  a  formidable  party  of  the  Iroquois  1687 
suddenly  attacked  the  fort;  the  little  garrison 
made  a  stout  defence,  and  the  assailants  abandoned 
the  field  with  the  morning  light ;  the  settlement 
which  had  grown  up  in  the  neighbourhood  was, 
however,  ravaged  by  the  fierce  Indians,  and  several 
of  the  inhabitants  carried  away  into  captivity.  The 
French  attributed  this  unexpected  invasion  to  the 
instigation  of  their  English  neighbours,  and  it 
would  appear  with  reason,  for,  on  the  failure  of 
the  assault,  the  governor  of  New  York  put  his 
nearest  town  into  a  state  of  defence,  as  if  in 
expectation  of  reprisals. 

In  this  same  year  there  fell  upon  Canada  an  evil 
more  severe  than  Indian  aggression  or  English 
hostility.  Towards  the  end  of  the  summer  a  deadly 
malady  visited  the  colony,  and  carried  mourning 
into  almost  every  household.  So  great  was  the 
mortality,  that  M.  de  Denonville  was  constrained  to 
abandon,  or  rather  defer,  his  project  of  humbling 

donna  son  nom ;  ce  nom  s'est  communique  a  la  riviere  qui  le  con- 
serve encore  aujourd'hui,  quoique  le  fort  ne  subsiste  plus  depuis 
longtems.  (1721.)" — Charlevoix,  torn,  v.,  p.  221. 

"  There  is  another  Iroquois  river  marked  on  the  French  maps, 
falling  into  the  Teakiki.  It  received  this  name  from  a  defeat  expe- 
rienced hy  the  Iroquois  from  the  Illinois,  a  race  whom  they  had 
always  despised." — Charlevoix,  vol.  vi.,  p.  118. 


412          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

the  pride  and  power  of  the  Tsonnonthouans.  He 
had  also  reason  to  doubt  the  faith  of  his  Indian 
allies ;  even  the  Hurons  of  the  far  west,  who  had 
fought  so  stoutly  by  his  side  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Ontario,  were  discovered  to  have  been  at 
the  time  in  treacherous  correspondence  with  the 
Iroquois. 

While  doubt  and  disease  paralysed  the  power  of 
the  French  their  dangerous  enemies  were  not  idle. 
Twelve  hundred  Iroquois  warriors  assembled  at  Lake 
St.  Francis,  within  two  days'  march  of  Montreal,  and 
haughtily  demanded  audience  of  the  governor,  which 
was  immediately  granted.  Their  orator  proclaimed 
the  power  of  his  race  and  the  weakness  of  the  white 
men,  with  all  the  emphasis  and  striking  illustration 
of  Indian  eloquence.  He  offered  peace  on  terms 
proposed  by  the  governor  of  New  York,  but  only 
allowed  the  French  four  days  for  deliberation. 

This  high-handed  diplomacy  was  backed  by  for- 
midable demonstrations.  The  whole  country  west 
of  the  river  Sorel,  or  Richlieu,  was  occupied  by  a 
savage  host,  and  the  distant  fort  of  Cataracouy  on 
the  Ontario  shore  was  with  difficulty  held  against 
eight  hundred  Iroquois  who  had  burned  the  farm 
stores  with  flaming  arrows,  and  slain  the  cattle  of 
the  settlers.  The  French  bowed  before  the  storm 
they  could  not  resist,  and  peace  was  concluded 
on  conditions  that  war  should  cease  in  the  land,  and 
all  the  allies  should  share  in  the  blessings  of  repose. 
M.  de  Denonville  further  agreed  to  restore  the 
Indian  chiefs  who  had  been  so  treacherously  torn 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          413 

from  their  native  wilds,  and  sent  to  labour  in  the 
galleys  of  France. 

But  in  the  mean  time  some  of  the  savage  allies, 
disdaining  the  peaceful  conclusions  of  negociation, 
waged  a  merciless  war.  The  Abenaquis,  always 
the  fiercest  foes  of  the  Iroquois  confederacy,  took 
the  field  while  yet  the  conferences  pended,  and  fell 
suddenly  upon  the  enemy  by  the  banks  of  the 
Sorel.  They  left  death  behind  them  on  their  path, 
and  pushed  on  even  into  the  English  settlements, 
where  they  slew  some  of  the  defenceless  inhabitants, 
and  carried  away  their  scalps  in  savage  triumph. 
On  the  other  hand  the  Iroquois  of  the  rapids  of 
St.  Louis  and  the  Mountain  made  a  deadly  raid 
into  the  invaders'  territories. 

The  Hurons  of  Michilimakinac  were  those  among 
the  French  allies  who  most  dreaded  the  conclusion 
of  a  treaty  of  which  they  feared  to  become  the  first 
victims.  Through  the  extraordinary  machinations 
and  cunning  of  their  chief,  Kondiaronk,  or  the  Rat, 
they  continued  to  re-awaken  the  suspicions  of  the 
Iroquois  against  the  French,  and  again  strove  to  stir 
up  the  desolating  flames  of  war. 

In  the  midst  of  these  renewed  difficulties,  M.  de 
Denonville  was  recalled  to  Europe,  his  valuable 
services  being  required  in  the  armies  of  his  king. 
In  colonial  administration  he  had  shown  an  ardent 
zeal  for  the  interests  of  the  sovereign  and  the 
country  under  his  charge,  and  his  plans  for  the 
improvement  of  Canada  were  just,  sound,  and  com- 
prehensive, but  he  was  deficient  in  tenacity  of 


414  THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA. 

purpose,  and  not  fortunate  or  judicious  in  the 
selection  of  those  who  enjoyed  his  confidence.  His 
otherwise  honourable  and  useful  career  can,  how- 
ever, never  be  cleansed  from  the  fatal  blot  of  one 
dark  act  of  treachery.  From  the  day  when  that 
evil  deed  was  done,  the  rude  but  magnanimous 
Indian  scorned  as  a  broken  reed  the  sullied  honour 
of  the  French. 

The  Comte  de  Frontenac  was  once  again  selected 
1689  for  the  important  post  of  governor  of  New  France, 
and  arrived  at  Montreal  on  the  27th  of  October, 
1689,  where  his  predecessor  handed  over  the  ardu- 
ous duties  of  office.  The  state  of  New  France  was 
such  as  to  demand  the  highest  qualities  in  the  man 
to  whose  rule  it  was  intrusted ;  trade  languished, 
agriculture  was  interrupted  by  savage  aggression, 
and  the  very  existence  of  the  colony  threatened  by 
the  growing  power  of  the  formidable  Iroquois  con- 
federacy. At  the  same  time,  a  plan  for  the 
reduction  of  New  York  was  being  organised  in 
Paris,  which  would  inevitably  call  for  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  colonial  subjects  of  France,  and,  in  the 
event  of  failure,  leave  them  to  bear  the  brunt  of 
the  dangerous  quarrel.  M.  de  Frontenac  was 
happily  selected  in  this  time  of  need. 

Impelled  by  the  treacherous  machinations  of  the 
Huron  chief  Kondiaronk,  the  Iroquois  approached 
the  colony  in  very  different  guise  from  that  expected. 
While  M.  de  Denonville  remained  in  daily  hopes  of 
receiving  a  deputation  of  ten  or  twelve  of  the  Indians 
to  treat  for  peace,  he  was  astounded  by  the  sudden 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          415 

descent  of  1200  warriors  upon  the  Island  of  Mon- 
treal.3 Terrible  indeed  was  the  devastation  they 
caused ;  blood  and  ashes  marked  their  path  to  within 
three  leagues  of  the  territory, — where  they  block- 
aded two  forts,  after  having  burnt  the  neighbouring 
houses.  A  small  force  of  100  soldiers  and  50  Indians, 
imprudently  sent  against  these  fierce  marauders, 
was  instantly  overpowered,  and  taken  or  destroyed. 
When  the  work  of  destruction  was  completed,  the 
Iroquois  re-embarked  for  the  western  lakes,  their 
canoes  laden  with  plunder,  and  200  prisoners  in 
their  train. 

This  disastrous  incursion  filled  the  French  with 
panic  and  astonishment.  They  at  once  blew  up  the 
forts  of  Cataracouy  and  Niagara,  burned  two  vessels 
built  under  their  protection,  and  altogether  aban- 
doned the  shores  of  the  western  lakes.  The  year 

3  Charlevoix  says  of  Montreal  in  1721,  "  Elle  n'est  point  fortifiee, 
une  simple  palisade  bastionnee  et  assez  mal  entretenue  fait  toute  sa 
defence,  avec  une  assez  mauvaise  redoute  sur  un  petit  tertre,  qui 
sert  de  boulevard,  et  va  se  terminer  en  douce  pente  a  une  petite 
place  quarree.  C'est  ce  qu'on  rencontre  d'abord  en  arrivant  de  Quebec. 
II  n'y  a  pas  meme  quarante  ans,  que  la  ville  etoit  toute  ouverte,  et 
tous  les  jours  exposee  a  etre  brulee  par  les  sauvages  oupar  les  Anglois. 
Ce  fut  le  Chevalier  de  Callieres,  frere  du  plenipotentiaire  de  Riswick, 
qui  la  fit  fermer,  tandis  qu'il  en  etoit  gouverneur.  On  projette  depuis 
quelques  annees  de  1'environner  de  murailles,*  inais  il  ne  sera  pas 
aise  d 'engager  les  habitans  a  y  contribuer.  Us  sont  braves  et  ils  ne 
sont  pas  riches  :  on  les  a  deja  trouve  difficiles  a  persuader  de  la  ne- 
cessite  de  cette  depense,  et  fort  convaincus  que  leur  valeur  est  plus  que 
suffisante  pour  defendre  leur  ville  centre  quiconque  osoit  1'attaquer." 


"  Ce  projet  est  presentement  execute,  1740." 


416          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

was  not,  however,  equally  unfortunate  in  all  parts  of 
New  France.  Whilst  the  island  of  Montreal  was  swept 
by  the  storm  of  savage  invasion,  M.  d'Iberville 
supported  in  the  north  the  cause  of  his  country, 
and  the  warlike  Abenaquis  avenged  upon  the  English 
settlers  the  evils  which  their  Iroquois  allies  had  in- 
flicted upon  Canada.  Upon  his  arrival,  the  Comte  de 
Frontenac  determined  to  restore  the  falling  fortunes 
of  his  people  by  means  of  his  great  personal  influence 
among  the  triumphant  Iroquois,  backed  as  he  was 
with  the  presence  of  those  prisoners  who  had  been 
so  treacherously  seized  by  his  predecessor,  but  whose 
entire  confidence  and  good-will  he  had  acquired  while 
bringing  them  back  to  their  native  country.  A  chief 
named  Oureouhare,  the  most  distinguished  among 
the  captives,  undertook  to  negociate  with  his  coun- 
trymen— a  duty  which  was  performed  more  honestly 
than  efficiently :  an  exchange  of  prisoners  took  place, 
but  nothing  further  was  accomplished. 

The  northern  Indians,  allies  of  the  French,  had  long 
desired  to  share  the  benefits  of  English  commerce 
'with  the  Iroquois ;  it  had,  however,  been  the  policy 
of  the  Canadian  government  to  keep  these  red  tribes 
continually  at  war,  with  the  view  of  interrupting  the 
communications  of  traffic  through  their  country.  But 
the  allied  savages  soon  began  to  see  the  necessity  of 
making  peace  with  the  Iroquois,  in  order  to  establish 
relations  with  the  traders  of  the  British  settlements. 
With  this  view  the  Ottawas  sent  ambassadors  to 
the  cantons  of  the  five  nations,  restoring  the 
risoners  captured  in  the  war,  and  proffering 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          417 

peace  and  amity.  The  agents  and  missionaries  of 
the  French  strongly  remonstrated  against  these 
proceedings,  but  in  vain  ;  their  former  allies  replied 
by  insulting  declarations  of  independence,  and  con- 
temptuous scoffs  at  their  want  of  power  and  courage 
to  meet  the  enemy  in  the  field ;  their  commerce  too 
was  spoken  of  as  unjust,  injurious  and  inferior  to 
that  of  the  English,  of  which  they  had  endeavoured 
to  deprive  those  whom  they  could  not  protect  in  war ; 
the  French  were  also  accused  of  endeavouring  to 
shelter  themselves  under  a  dishonourable  treaty, 
regardless  of  the  safety  and  interests  of  the  Indians 
who  had  fought  and  bled  in  their  cause. 

When  M.  de   Frontenac   became  aware  of  tl 

r  \ 
formidable    disaffection,   he    boldly  determined  to\ 

strike  a  blow  at  the  English  power,  that  should/ 
restore  the  military  character  of  France  among  th< 
savages,  and  deprive  the  recreant  Indians  of  theij 
expected    succour.     He  therefore  organised   threev 
expeditions  to  invade  the   British  settlements  by  \ 
different  avenues.     The  first,  consisting  of  110  men, 
marched   from   Montreal,  destined  for  New  Yorl 
but  only  resulted  in  the  surprise  and  destruction  of 
the   village   of   Corlar,4  or   Schenectady,   and  the 
massacre  and  capture  of  some  of  the  inhabitants. 

4  "  Corlar  was  the  name  of  a  Dutchman  of  consideration,  who 
founded  the  village  of  Schenectady.  This  man  enjoyed  great  influence 
with  the  Indians,  who  after  his  death  always  addressed  the  governor 
of  New  York  with  the  title  of  Corlar,  as  the  name  most  expressive 
of  respect  with  which  they  were  acquainted." — Graham,  vol.  ii., 
p.  288. 

"  Au-dessus  de  la  ville  d' Orange  il  y  a  un  fort  avec  une  bourgade, 

VOL.  I.  E  E 


418          THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA. 

They  retreated  at  noon  the  following  day,  bearing 
with  them  forty  prisoners ;  after  much  suffering 
from  want  of  provisions  they  were  obliged  to  sepa- 
rate into  small  parties,  when  they  were  attacked 
by  their  exasperated  enemies,  and  sustained  some 
loss.  Many  would  have  perished  from  hunger  in 
this  retreat,  but  that  they  found  a  resource  in 
living  upon  horse-flesh ;  their  cavalry  from  fifty  was 
reduced  to  six  by  the  time  they  regained  the  shelter 
of  Montreal. 

The  second  invading  divison  was  mustered  at 
Three  Rivers,  and  only  numbered  fifty  men,  half 
being  Indians.  They  reached  an  English  settlement 
called  Sementels  (Salmon  Falls),  after  a  long  and  diffi- 
cult march,  and  succeeded  in  surprising  and  destroy- 
ing the  village,  with  most  of  its  defenders.  In  their 
retreat  they  were  sharply  attacked,  but  succeeded  in 
escaping,  through  the  aid  of  an  advantageous  post, 
which  enabled  them  to  check  the  pursuers  at  a 
narrow  bridge.  They  soon  after  fell  in  with  M.  de 
Mamerval,  governor  of  Acadia,  with  the  third  party, 
and,  thus  reinforced,  assailed  the  fortified  village  of 
Kaskebe,  upon  the  sea-coast,  which  surrendered 
after  a  heavy  loss  of  the  defenders. 

To  regain  the  confidence  of  his  Indian  allies,  M. 
de  Frontenac  saw  the  necessity  of  rendering  them 
independent  of  English  commerce,  and  safe  from 
the  hostility  of  the  Iroquois.  To  accomplish  these 

qui  continent  avec  les  cantons  Iroquois,  et  qu'on  appelle  Corlar,  d'ou 
ces  sauvages  se  sont  acco&tumes  a  donner  le  nom  de  Corlar  au 
gouverneur  de  New  York." — Charlevoix,  torn,  i.,  p.  222. 


THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA.  419 

objects  he  dispatched  a  large  convoy  to  the  west, 
escorted  by  143  men,  and  bearing  presents  to  the 
savage  chiefs.  On  the  way  they  encountered  a  party 
of  the  Five  Nations,  and  defeated  them  after  a 
sanguinary  engagement. 

All  these  vigorous  measures  produced  a  marked 
effect ;  the  convoy  arrived  at  Michilimakinac  at  the 
time  when  the  ambassadors  of  the  French  allies  were 
on  the  point  of  departing  to  conclude  a  treaty  with 
the  Iroquois.  When,  however,  the  strength  of  the 
detachment  was  seen,  and  the  valuable  presents  and 
merchandise  were  displayed,  the  French  interests 
again  revived  with  the  politic  savages,  and  they 
hastened  to  give  proofs  of  their  renewed  attachment : 
110  canoes  bearing  furs  to  the  value  of  100,000 
crowns,  and  manned  by  300  Indians,  were  dispatched 
soon  after  for  Montreal  to  be  laid  before  the  governor- 
general.  He  dismissed  the  escort  with  presents  and 
exhorted  them  and  their  nation  to  join  with  him 
in  humbling  their  mutual  and  deadly  foe.  They 
departed  well  pleased  with  their  reception,  and 
renewed  professions  of  friendship  for  the  French — — ^ 

In  the  meantime    the    terrible    war-cry  of  thej 
Iroquois  was  never  silent  in  the  Canadian  settled 
ments.      Bands     of    these    fierce     and    merciless* 
warriors  suddenly  emerged  from  the  dense  forests\ 
when  least  expected,  and  burst  upon  isolated  posts 
and  villages  with  more  or  less  success,  but  always 
with  great  loss  of  life  to  the  assailants  and  assailed,5 

5  "  Golden  relates,  that  during  the  war  between  the  French  and 

E  E  2 


420  THE   CONQUEST   OF    CANADA. 

and  with  great  destruction  of  the  fruits  of  industry. 
These  disastrous  events  caused  much  disquietude  to 
the  governor.  He  called  to  his  counsels  the  Iroquois 
chief,  Oureouhare,  who  still  remained  attached  to 
him  by  the  closest  bonds  of  friendship  and  esteem, 
and  complained  of  the  bitter  hostility  of  his  nation : 
"  You  must  either  not  be  a  true  friend,"  said  M.  de 
Frontenac,  "or  you  must  be  powerless  in  your 
nation,  to  permit  them  to  wage  this  bitter  war 
against  me."  The  generous  chief  was  mortified  at 
this  discourse,  and  answered  that  his  remaining 
with  the  French,  instead  of  returning  to  his  own 
hunting-grounds  where  he  was  ardently  beloved, 
was  a  proof  of  his  fidelity,  and  that  he  was  ready 
to  do  anything  that  might  be  required  of  him ;  but 
that  it  would  certainly  need  time  and  the  course  of 
circumstances  to  allay  the  fury  of  his  people  against 
those  who  had  treacherously  injured  them.  The 
governor  could  not  but  acknowledge  the  justice  of 
Oureouhare's  reply;  he  gave  him  new  marks  of 

Iroquois,  two  old  men  were  cut  to  pieces,  and  put  into  the  war-kettle 
for  the  Christian  Indians  to  feast  on." — Golden,  vol.  i.,  p.  81. 

"  Frontenac  stands  conspicuous  among  all  his  nation  for  deeds  of 
cruelty  to  the  Indians.  Nothing  was  more  common  than  for  his 
Indian  prisoners  to  be  given  up  to  his  Indian  allies  to  be  tormented. 
One  of  the  most  horrible  of  these  scenes  on  record  was  perpetrated 
under  his  own  eye  at  Montreal  in  1691." — Golden,  vol.  i.,  p.  441  ; 
quoted  by  Howitt. 

"  Les  habitans  en  firent  bruler,  persuades  que  le  seul  moyen  de 
corriger  ces  barbares  de  leurs  cruautes,  etoit  de  les  traiter  eux-meme 
comme  ils  traitoient  les  autres." — Charlevoix,  Jesuite,  torn,  iii., 
p.  139. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          421 

esteem  and  friendship,  and  determined  more  than 
before  to  confide  in  this  wise  and  important  ally.6 

But  now  the  greatest  danger  that  had  ever  yet  1690 
menaced  the  power  of  France  upon  the  American 
continent  hung  over  the  Canadian  shores.  The  men 
of  New  England  were  at  last  aroused  to  activity  by 
the  constant  inroads  and  cruel  depredations  of  their 
northern  neighbours,  and  in  April,  1690,  dispatched 
a  small  squadron  from  Boston,  which  took  posses- 
sion of  Port  Royal  and  all  the  province  of  Acadia. 
In  a  month  the  expedition  returned,  with  sufficient 
plunder  to  repay  its  cost.  Meanwhile  the  British 
settlers  deputed  six  commissioners  to  meet  at  New 
York  in  council  for  their  defence.  On  the  1st  of 
May,  1690,  these  deputies  assembled,  and  promptly 
determined  to  set  an  expedition  on  foot  for  the 
invasion  of  Canada.  Levies  of  800  men  were 
ordered  for  the  purpose,  the  contingents  of  the 
several  states  fixed,  and  general  rules  appointed  for 
the  organisation  of  their  army.  A  fast-sailing  vessel 
was  dispatched  to  England  with  strong  representa- 
tions of  the  defenceless  state  of  the  British  colonies, 
and  with  an  earnest  appeal  for  aid  in  the  projected 
invasion  of  New  France ;  they  desired  that  ammu- 
nition and  other  warlike  stores  might  be  supplied  to 

6  "  Oureouhare  mourut  en  vrai  Chretien,  1'an  1697.  Le  mission- 
naire  qui  1'assista  pendant  sa  maladie,  lui  parlant  un  jour  des  opprobres 
et  des  ignominies  de  la  passion  du  Sauveur  des  hommes ;  il  entra  dana 
un  si  grand  mouvement  d'indignation  centre  les  Juifs,  qu*  il  s'ecria, 
«  Que  n'etois-je  la  ?  je  les  aurois  bien  empeche  de  traiter  ainsi  mon 
Dieu.'  The  similar  exclamation  of  the  Frank  monarch,  Clovis,  is 
well  known." — Charlevoix,  torn,  iii.,  p.  332. 


422          THE  CONQUEST  OP  CANADA. 

their  militia  for  the  attempt  by  land,  and  that  a 
fleet  of  English  frigates  should  be  directed  up  the 
River  St.  Lawrence  to  co-operate  with  the  colonial 
force.  But  at  that  time  England  was  still  too  much 
weakened  by  the  unhealed  wounds  of  domestic  strife 
to  afford  any  assistance  to  her  American  children, 
and  they  were  thrown  altogether  on  their  own 
resources, 

New  York  and  New  England  boldly  determined, 
unaided,  to  prosecute  their  original  plans  against 
Canada.  General  Winthrop  with  800  men  was 
marched  by  the  way  of  Lake  Champlain,  on  the 
shores  of  which  he  was  to  have  met  500  of  the 
Iroquois  warriors ;  but,  through  some  unaccountable 
jealousy,  only  a  small  portion  of  the  politic  savages 
came  to  the  place  of  muster.  Other  disappointments 
also  combined  to  paralyse  the  British  force:  the 
Indians  had  failed  to  provide  more  than  half  the 
number  of  canoes  necessary  for  the  transport  of  the 
troops  across  the  lake,  and  the  contractor  of  the 
army  had  imprudently  neglected  to  supply  sufficient 
provisions.  No  alternative  remained  for  Winthrop 
but  to  fall  back  upon  Albany  for  subsistence. 

In  the  meantime  Major  Schuyler,  who  had  before 
crossed  Lake  Champlain  with  a  smaller  British  force, 
pushed  on  against  the  French  post  of  La  Prairie  de 
la  Madeleine,  and  attacked  it  with  spirit.  He  soon 
overcame  the  handful  of  Canadian  militia  and 
Indians  who  formed  the  garrison,  and  compelled 
them  to  fall  back  upon  Chambly,  a  fort  further  to 
the  north.  Having  met  M.  de  Sanermes  and  a  con- 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    CANADA.  423 

siderable  force  advancing  to  their  relief,  they  turned 
and  faced  their  pursuers.  Schuyler  rashly  ven- 
tured to  attack  this  now  superior  enemy ;  he  was 
soon  forced  to  retire,  with  the  loss  of  nearly  thirty 
men.  The  French,  however,  suffered  much  more 
severely  in  this  affair ;  no  less  than  thirteen  officers 
and  nearly  seventy  of  their  men  having  been  killed 
and  wounded. 

The  naval  expedition  against  Quebec  was  as- 
sembled in  Nantasket  Road,  near  Boston,  and 
consisted  of  thirty-five  vessels  of  various  size,  the 
largest  being  a  44-gun  frigate.  Nearly  2000  troops 
were  embarked  in  this  squadron,  and  the  chief 
command  was  confided  by  the  people  of  New 
England  to  their  distinguished  countryman  Sir 
William  Phipps,  a  man  of  humble  birth,  whose 
own  genius  and  merit  had  won  for  him  honour, 
power,  and  universal  esteem.  The  direction  of  the 
fleet  was  given  to  Captain  Gregory  Sugars.  The 
necessary  preparations  were  not  completed,  and  the 
fleet  did  not  get  under  way  till  the  season  was  far 
advanced ;  contrary  winds  caused  a  still  further 
delay ;  however,  several  French  posts  on  the  shores 
of  Newfoundland  and  of  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence 
were  captured  without  opposition,  and  the  British 
force  arrived  at  Tadoussac  on  the  Saguenay  before 
authentic  tidings  of  the  approaching  danger  had 
reached  Quebec. 

When  the  brave  old  Frontenac  learned  from  his 
scouts  that  Winthrop's  corps  had  retreated,  and  that 
Canada  was  no  longer  threatened  by  an  enemy  from 


424          THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

the  landward  side,  he  hastened  to  the  post  of  honour 
at  Quebec,  while  by  his  orders  M.  de  Ramsey  and 
M.  de  Calli&res  assembled  the  hardy  militia  of 
Three  Rivers  and  the  adjoining  settlements  to  rein- 
force him  with  all  possible  dispatch.  The  governor 
found  that  Major  Provost,  who  commanded  at 
Quebec  before  his  arrival,  had  made  vigorous  pre- 
paration to  receive  the  invaders;7  it  was  only  neces- 
sary, therefore,  to  continue  the  works,  and  confirm 
the  orders  given  by  his  worthy  deputy.  A  party, 
under  the  command  of  M.  de  Longueuil,  was  sent 
down  the  river  to  observe  the  motions  of  the  British, 
and,  if  possible,  to  prevent  their  landing.  At  the  same 
time  two  canoes  were  dispatched  by  the  shallow 
channel  north  of  the  Island  of  Orleans  to  seek  for 
some  ships  with  supplies,  which  were  daily  expected 
from  France,  and  to  warn  them  of  the  presence  of 
the  hostile  fleet. 

The  Comte  de  Frontenac  continued  the  prepara- 
tions for  defence  with  unwearied  industry.  The 
regular  soldiers  and  militia  were  alike  constantly 
employed  upon  the  works  till  in  a  short  time 

7  "  It  does  not  appear  that  the  fortifications  of  Quebec  were  of 
much  importance  till  after  the  year  1690,  when  eleven  stone  redouhts, 
which  served  as  hastions,  were  erected  in  different  parts  of  the  heights 
of  the  Upper  Town.  The  remains  of  several  of  these  redouhts  are 
still  in  existence.  They  were  connected  with  each  other  hy  a  strong 
line  of  cedar  picketing,  ten  or  twelve  feet  high,  banked  up  with  earth 
on  the  inside.  This  proved  sufficient  to  resist  the  attacks  of  the 
hostile  Indians  for  several  years." — Lambert's  Travels,  vol.  i.,  p.  39. 

"  In  1720  a  more  extensive  system  of  fortification  was  commenced 
under  the  direction  of  M.  de  Lery." — Smith's  Canada,  vol.  i.,  p.  184. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.          425 

Quebec  was  tolerably  secure  from  the  chances  of 
a  sudden  assault.  Lines  of  strong  palisades,  here 
and  there  armed  with  small  batteries,  were  formed 
round  the  crown  of  the  lofty  headland,  and  the 
gates  of  the  city  were  barricaded  with  massive 
beams  of  timber,  and  casks  filled  with  earth.  A 
number  of  cannon  were  mounted  on  advantageous 
positions,  and  a  large  windmill  of  solid  masonry 
was  fitted  up  as  a  cavalier.  The  lower  town  was 
protected  by  two  batteries  each  of  three  guns,  and 
the  streets  leading  up  the  steep  rocky  face  of  the 
height  were  embarrassed  with  several  entrench- 
ments and  rows  of  "  cheveux-de-frise."  Subse- 
quently during  the  siege  two  other  batteries  were 
erected  a  little  above  the  level  of  the  river.  The 
commanding  natural  position  of  the  stronghold, 
however,  offered  far  more  serious  obstacles  to  the 
assailants  than  the  hasty  and  imperfect  fortifi- 
cations. 

At  daylight  on  the  5th  of  October  the  white  sails 
of  the  British  fleet  were  seen  rounding  the  headland 
of  Point  Levi,  and  crowding  to  the  northern  shore  of 
the  river,  near  the  village  of  Beauport;  at  about  ten 
o'clock  they  dropped  anchor,  lowered  their  canvas, 
and  swung  round  with  the  receding  tide.  There 
they  remained  inactive  till  the  following  morning. 
On  the  6th,  Sir  William  Phipps  sent  a  haughty 
summons  to  the  French  chief  demanding  an  uncon- 
ditional surrender  in  the  name  of  King  William 
of  England,  and  concluding  with  this  imperious 
sentence :  "Your  answer  positive  in  an  hour,  returned 


426  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

with  your  own  trumpet  with  the  return  of  mine,  is 
required  upon  the  peril  that  will  ensue." 

The  British  officer  who  bore  the  summons  was 
led  blindfold  through  the  town  and  ushered  into 
the  presence  of  Comte  Frontenac  in  the  council-room 
of  the  castle  of  Quebec.  The  bishop,  the  intendant, 
and  all  the  principal  officers  of  the  government 
surrounded  the  proud  old  noble.  "  Read  your 
message,"  said  he.  The  Englishman  read  on,  and 
when  he  had  finished,  laid  his  watch  upon  the  table 
with  these  words :  "  It  is  now  ten ;  I  await  your 
answer  for  one  hour."  The  council  started  from 
their  seats  surprised  out  of  their  dignity  by  a  burst 
of  sudden  anger.  The  Comte  paused  for  a  time  ere 
he  could  restrain  his  rage  sufficiently  to  speak,  and 
then  replied,  "  I  do  not  acknowledge  King  William, 
and  I  well  know  that  the  Prince  of  Orange  is  an 
usurper,  who  has  violated  the  most  sacred  rights  of 

blood  and  religion who  wishes  to  persuade 

the  nation,  that  he  is  the  saviour  of  England  and 
the  defender  of  the  faith,  though  he  has  violated 
the  laws  and  privileges  of  the  kingdom,  and  over- 
turned the  Church  of  England :  this  conduct,  the 
Divine  Justice  to  which  Phipps  appeals,  will  one 
day  severely  punish." 

The  British  officer,  unmoved  by  the  storm  of 
indignation  which  his  message  had  aroused,  de- 
sired that  this  fierce  reply  should  be  rendered  to 
him  in  writing  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  chief. 
"  I  will  answer  your  master  by  the  mouth  of  rny 
cannon,"  replied  the  angry  Frenchman,  "that  he 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  427 

may  learn  that  a  man  of  my  rank  is  not  to  be  sum- 
moned in  this  manner."  Thus  ended  the  laconic 
conference. 

On  the  return  of  the  messenger  Sir  William 
Phipps  called  a  council  of  war ;  it  was  determined 
at  once  to  attack  the  city.  At  noon,  on  the  8th, 
1300  men  were  embarked  in  the  boats  of  the 
squadron  under  the  command  of  Major  Walley,  and 
landed  without  opposition  at  La  Canardi&re,  a  little 
to  the  east  of  the  River  St.  Charles.  While  the 
main  body  was  being  formed  on  the  muddy  shore, 
four  companies  pushed  on  towards  the  town  in 
skirmishing  order  to  clear  the  front ;  they  had 
scarcely  begun  the  ascent  of  the  sloping  banks  when 
a  sharp  fire  was  poured  upon  them  by  300  of  the 
Canadian  militia  posted  among  the  rocks  and  bushes 
on  either  flank,  and  in  a  small  hamlet  to  the  right. 
Some  of  the  British  winced  under  this  unexpected 
volley,  fired  and  fell  back,  but  the  officers  with 
prompt  resolution  gave  the  order  to  charge,  and 
themselves  gallantly  led  the  way ;  the  soldiers 
followed  at  a  rapid  pace,  and  speedily  cleared  the 
ground.  Major  Walley  then  advanced  with  his 
whole  force  to  the  St.  Charles  River,  still,  however, 
severely  harassed  by  dropping  shots  from  the  active 
light  troops  of  the  French;  there  he  bivouacked 
for  the  night,  while  the  enemy  retreated  into  the 
garrison. 

Towards  evening  of  the  same  day  the  four  largest 
vessels  of  Phipps's  squadron  moved  boldly  up  the 
river,  and  anchored  close  against  the  town.  They 


428  THE   CONQUEST   OP   CANADA. 

opened  a  spirited  but  ineffectual  fire;  their  shot, 
directed  principally  against  the  lofty  eminence  of 
the  Upper  Town,  fell  almost  harmless,  while  a 
vigorous  cannonade  from  the  numerous  guns  of  the 
fortress  replied  with  overwhelming  power.  When 
night  interrupted  the  strife,  the  British  ships  had 
suffered  severely,  their  rigging  was  torn  by  the 
hostile  shot,  and  the  crews  had  lost  many  of  their 
best  men.  By  the  first  light  of  morning,  however, 
Phipps  renewed  the  action  with  pertinacious 
courage,  but  with  no  better  success.  About  noon  the 
contest  became  evidently  hopeless  to  the  stubborn 
assailants;  they  weighed  anchor,  and,  with  the 
receding  tide,  floated  their  crippled  vessels  down  the 
stream  beyond  the  reach  of  the  enemy's  fire.8 

The  British  troops  under  Major  Walley,  although 
placed  in  battle  array  at  daylight,  remained  inac- 
tive through  some  unaccountable  delay,  while  the 
enemy's  attention  was  diverted  by  the  combat  with 
Phipps's  squadron.  At  length  about  noon  they 
moved  upon  the  formidable  stronghold  along  the 
left  bank  of  the  River  St.  Charles.  Some  allied 
savages  plunged  into  the  bush  in  front  to  clear  the 
advance,  a  line  of  skirmishers  protected  either 
flank,  and  six  field-pieces  accompanied  the  march 
of  the  main  body.  After  having  proceeded  for  some 
time  without  molestation,  they  were  suddenly  and 

8  The  flag  of  the  rear-admiral  was  shot  away,  and  drifting  towards 
the  shore  ;  a  Canadian  swam  out  into  the  stream,  and  brought 
it  in  triumphantly.  For  many  years  the  precious  trophy  was  hung 
up  in  the  parish  church  of  Quebec. 


THE   CONQUEST  OF   CANADA.  429 

fiercely  assailed  by  200  Canadian  volunteers  under 
M.  de  Longueuil ;  the  Indians  were  at  once  swept 
away,  the  skirmishers  overpowered,  and  the  British 
column  itself  was  forced  back  by  their  gallant 
charge.  Walley,  however,  drew  up  his  reserve  in 
some  brushwood  a  little  in  the  rear,  and  finally 
compelled  the  enemy  to  retreat.  During  this  smart 
action  M.  de  Frontenac,  with  three  battalions,  placed 
himself  upon  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river,  in 
support  of  the  volunteers,  but  showed  no  disposition 
to  cross  the  stream.  That  night  the  English  troops, 
harassed,  depressed,  diminished  in  numbers,  and 
scantily  supplied,  again  bivouacked  upon  the  marshy 
banks  of  the  stream ;  a  severe  frost,  for  which  they 
were  but  ill  prepared,  chilled  the  weary  limbs  of  the 
soldiers,  and  enhanced  their  sufferings. 

On  the  10th,  Walley  once  more  advanced  upon 
the  French  positions,  in  the  hope  of  breaching  their 
palisades  by  the  fire  of  his  field-pieces,  but  this 
attempt  was  altogether  unsuccessful.  His  flanking 
parties  fell  into  ambuscades,  and  were  very  severely 
handled,  and  his  main  body  was  checked  and  finally 
repulsed  by  a  heavy  fire  from  a  fortified  house  on  a 
commanding  position,  which  he  had  ventured  to 
attack.  Utterly  dispirited  by  this  failure,  the  British 
fell  back  in  some  confusion  to  the  landing-place, 
yielding  up  in  one  hour  what  they  had  so  hardly 
won.  That  night  many  of  the  soldiers  strove  to 
force  their  way  into  the  boats,  and  order  was  with 
great  difficulty  restored ;  the  next  day  they  were 
harassed  by  a  continual  skirmish ;  had  it  not  been 


430  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA. 

for  the  gallant  conduct  of  "Captain  March,  who  had 
a  good  company,  and  made  the  enemy  give  back," 
the  confusion  would  probably  have  been  irretriev- 
able. When  darkness  put  an  end  to  the  fire  on  both 
sides,  the  English  troops  received  orders  to  embark 
in  the  boats,  half  a  regiment  at  a  time.  But  all 
order  was  soon  lost,  four  times  as  many  as  the  boats 
could  sustain  crowded  down  at  once  to  the  beach, 
rushed  into  the  water,  and  pressed  on  board.  The 
sailors  were  even  forced  to  throw  some  of  these 
panic-stricken  men  into  the  river,  lest  all  should 
sink  together.  The  noise  and  confusion  increased 
every  moment  despite  the  utmost  exertions  of  the 
officers,  and  daylight  had  nearly  revealed  the  dan- 
gerous posture  of  affairs  before  the  embarkation 
was  completed.  The  guns  were  abandoned,  with 
some  valuable  stores  and  ammunition.  Had  the 
French  displayed,  in  following  up  their  advantages, 
any  portion  of  the  energy  and  skill  which  had 
been  so  conspicuous  in  their  successful  defence,  the 
British  detachment  must  infallibly  have  been  either 
captured  or  totally  destroyed. 

Sir  William  Phipps  having  failed  by  sea  and  land, 
resolved  to  withdraw  from  the  disastrous  conflict. 
After  several  ineffectual  attempts  to  recover  the 
guns  and  stores  which  Major  Walley  had  been 
forced  to  abandon,  he  weighed  anchor  and  descended 
the  St.  Lawrence  to  a  place  about  nine  miles  distant 
from  Quebec,  whence  he  sent  to  the  Comte  de 
Frontenac  to  negociate  for  an  exchange  of  prisoners. 
Humbled  and  disappointed,  damaged  in  fortune 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  431 

and  reputation,  the  English  chief  sailed  from  the 
scene  of  his  defeat ;  but  misfortune  had  not  yet 
ceased  to  follow  him,  for  he  left  the  shattered 
wrecks  of  no  less  than  nine  of  his  ships  among  the 
dangerous  shoals  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  govern- 
ment of  Massachusetts  was  dismayed  at  the 
disastrous  news  of  which  Phipps  was  himself  the 
bearer ;  he  arrived  at  Boston  on  the  19th  of 
November,  with  the  remains  of  his  fleet  and  army, 
his  ships  damaged  and  weather-beaten,  and  his  men 
almost  in  a  state  of  mutiny  from  having  received 
no  pay.  In  these  straits  the  colonial  government 
found  it  impracticable  to  raise  money,  and  resorted 
to  "bills  of  credit/'  the  first  paper-money  which 
had  ever  been  issued  on  the  American  continent. 

Great  indeed  was  the  joy  and  triumph  of  the 
French  when  the  British  fleet  disappeared  from  the 
beautiful  basin  of  Quebec.  With  a  proud  heart  the 
gallant  old  Comte  de  Frontenac  penned  the  dispatch 
which  told  his  royal  master  of  the  victory.  He 
failed  not  to  dwell  upon  the  distinguished  merit  of 
the  colonial  militia,  by  whose  loyalty  and  courage 
the  arms  of  France  had  been  crowned  with  success. 
In  grateful  memory  of  this  brave  defence  the  French 
king  caused  a  medal  to  be  struck,  bearing  the  inscrip- 
tion, "FRANCIA  IN  NOVO  ORBE  VICTRIX  :  KEBECA  LIBE- 
RATA. — A.D.,  M.D.C.X.C."  In  thelower  town  a  church 
was  built  by  the  inhabitants  to  celebrate  their  de- 
liverance from  the  British  invaders,  and  dedicated 
to  "  Notre  Dame  de  la  Victoire." 

On  the  12th  of  November  the  vessels  long  expected 


432  THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA. 

from  France  arrived  in  safety  at  Quebec,  having 
escaped  the  observation  of  the  English  fleet  by 
ascending  for  some  distance  the  land-locked  waters 
of  the  Saguenay.  Their  presence,  however,  only 
tended  to  increase  a  scarcity  then  pressing  upon  the 
colony,  the  labour  of  the  fields  in  the  preceding 
spring  having  been  greatly  interrupted  by  the  haras- 
sing incursions  of  the  Iroquois.  The  troops  were 
distributed  into  those  parts  of  the  country  where 
supplies  could  most  easily  be  obtained,  and  were 
cheerfully  received  by  those  who  had  through  their 
valour  been  protected  from  the  hated  dominion  of 
the  stranger. 


END   OP   VOLUME   I. 


LONDON : 
BRADBURY  AND  EVANS,  PRINTERS,  WHJTBFRIARS. 


BINDING  SECT.  NQV  l  ?  1963 


F        Warburton,  George  Drought 
5057        The  conquest  of  Canada 
W37 
v.l 


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