Chapter XLVII: Front Matter (47)

The first of the Jesuit missionaries came to Quebec in 1625,
as stated above, but it was not until nearly seven years later
that they made their way into the heart of the Indian country
and began there their devoted work. "The Father Superior of
the Mission was Paul le Jeune, a man devoted in every fibre of
mind and heart to the work on which he had come. He utterly
scorned difficulty and pain. He had received the order to
depart for Canada 'with inexpressible joy at the prospect of a
living or dying martyrdom.' Among his companions was Jean de
Brébœuf, a man noble in birth and aspect, of strong intellect
and will, of zeal which knew no limit, and recognized no
obstacle in the path of duty. ... Far in the west, beside a
great lake of which the Jesuits had vaguely heard, dwelt the
Hurons, a powerful nation with many kindred tribes over which
they exercised influence. The Jesuits resolved to found a
mission among the Hurons. Once in every year a fleet of canoes
came down the great river, bearing six or seven hundred Huron
warriors, who visited Quebec to dispose of their furs, to
gamble and to steal. Brébœuf and two companions took passage
[1634] with the returning fleet, and set out for the dreary
scene of their new apostolate. ... The Hurons received with
hospitable welcome the black-robed strangers. The priests were
able to repay the kindness with services of high value. They
taught more effective methods of fortifying the town in which
they lived. They promised the help of a few French musketeers
against an impending attack by the Iroquois. They cured
diseases; they bound up wounds. They gave simple instruction
to the young, and gained the hearts of their pupils by gifts
of beads and raisins. The elders of the people came to have
the faith explained to them: they readily owned that it was a
good faith for the French, but they could not be persuaded
that it was suitable for the red man.
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The fathers laboured in hope and the savages learned to love them.
... Some of their methods of conversion were exceedingly
rude. A letter from Father Garnier has been preserved in which
pictures are ordered from France for the spiritual improvement
of the Indians. Many representations of souls in perdition
are required, with appropriate accompaniment of
flames, and triumphant demons tearing them with pincers. One
picture of saved souls would suffice, and 'a picture of Christ
without a beard.' They were consumed by a zeal for the baptism
of little children. At the outset the Indians welcomed this
ceremonial, believing that it was a charm to avert sickness
and death. But when epidemics wasted them they charged the
calamity against the mysterious operations of the fathers,
and refused now to permit baptism. The fathers recognized
the hand of Satan in this prohibition, and refused to submit
to it. They baptized by stealth. ... In time, the patient,
self-denying labour of the fathers might have won those
discouraging savages to the cross; but a fatal interruption
was at hand. A powerful and relentless enemy, bent on
extermination, was about to sweep over the Huron territory,
involving the savages and their teachers in one common ruin.
Thirty-two years had passed since those ill judged expeditions
in which Champlain had given help to the Hurons against the
Iroquois. The unforgiving savages had never forgotten the
wrong. ... The Iroquois [1648-1649] attacked in
overwhelming force the towns of their Huron enemies; forced
the inadequate defences; burned the palisades and wooden
huts; slaughtered with indescribable tortures the wretched
inhabitants. In one of these towns they found Brébœuf and one
of his companions. They bound the ill fated missionaries to
stakes; they hung around their necks collars of red-hot iron;
they poured boiling water on their heads; they cut stripes of
flesh from their quivering limbs and ate them in their sight.
To the last Brébœuf cheered with hopes of heaven the native
converts who shared his agony. And thus was gained the crown
of martyrdom for which in the fervour of their enthusiasm,
these good men had long yearned. In a few years the Huron
nation was extinct; famine and small-pox swept off those whom
the Iroquois spared. The Huron mission was closed by the
extirpation of the race for whom it was founded. Many of the
missionaries perished; some returned to France. Their labour
seemed to have been in vain; their years of toil and suffering
left no trace."

_R. Mackenzie, America: A History, pages 326-332._

"With the fall of the Hurons, fell the best hope
of the Canadian mission. They, and the stable and populous
communities around them, had been the rude material from which
the Jesuit would have formed his Christian empire in the
wilderness; but, one by one, these kindred peoples were
uprooted and swept away, while the neighboring Algonquins, to
whom they had been a bulwark, were involved with them in a
common ruin. ... In a measure, the occupation of the Jesuits
was gone. Some of them went home, 'well resolved,' writes the
Father Superior, 'to return to the combat at the first sound
of the trumpet'; while of those who remained, about twenty in
number, several soon fell victims to famine, hardship and the
Iroquois. A few years more, and Canada ceased to be a mission.
Political and commercial interests gradually became ascendant,
and the story of Jesuit propagandism was interwoven with her
civil and military annals."

_F. Parkman, The Jesuits in N. Am., chapter 34._

ALSO IN:
_Father Charlevoix, History of New France, translated by
Shea, book 5-7 (volume 2)._

_J. G. Shea, The Jesuits, Recollects, and the Indians
(Narrative and Critical History of America,
volume 4, chapter 6)._

CANADA: A. D. 1634-1673.
Nicolet.
Marquette.
Joliet.
Pioneer exploration in the West and discovery of the Mississippi.

When Champlain gave up his work, the map of New France was
blank beyond Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay. The first of the
French explorers who widened it far westward was a Norman
named Jean Nicolet, who came to America in 1618, and who was
trained for many years in Champlain's service. "After dwelling
some time among the Nipissings, he visited the Far West;
seemingly between the years 1634 and 1640. In a birch-bark
canoe, the brave Norman voyageur crossed or coasted Lake
Huron, entered the St. Mary's River, and, first of white men,
stood at the strait now called Sault Ste Marie. He does not
seem to have known of Lake Superior, but returned down the St.
Mary's River, passed from Lake Huron through the western
detour to Michilimackinac, and entered another fresh-water
sea, Mitchigannon or Michigan, also afterwards known as the
Lake of the Illinois, Lake St. Joseph, Lake Dauphin, or even
Algonquin Lake. Here he visited the Menomonee tribe of
Indians, and after them the Winnibagoes. ... The fierce wrath
of the Iroquois had driven numbers of the Hurons, Ottawas, and
several minor Algonquin tribes westward. The Iroquois, like a
wedge, had split the northern tribes into east and west. Sault
Ste Marie became a central point for the refugees. ... Another
gathering place for the fugitives had been found very near the
south-west corner of this great lake. This was La Pointe, one
of the Apostle Islands, near the present town of Ashland in
Wisconsin. The Jesuits took up these two points as mission
centres. ... In 1669 the Fathers Dablon and Marquette, with
their men, had erected a palisaded fort, enclosing a chapel
and house, at Sault Ste Marie. In the same year Father Allouez
had begun a mission at Green Bay. In 1670 an intrepid
explorer, St. Lusson, under orders from Intendant Talon, came
west searching for copper-mines. He was accompanied by the
afterwards well-known Joliet. When this party arrived at Sault
Ste Marie, the Indians were gathered together in great
numbers, and with imposing ceremonies St. Lusson took
possession of 'Sainte Marie du Saut, as also of Lakes Huron
and Superior, the island of Manetoulin, and all countries,
rivers, lakes, and streams contiguous and adjacent thereunto.'
... It was undoubtedly the pressing desire of the Jesuit
fathers to visit the country of the Illinois and their great
river that led to the discovery of the 'Father of Waters.'
Father Allouez indeed had already ascended the Fox River from
Lake Michigan, and seen the marshy lake which is the head of a
tributary of the Mississippi. At last on June 4th, 1672, the
French minister, Colbert, wrote to Talon: 'As after the
increase of the colony there is nothing more important for the
colony than the discovery of a passage to the South Sea, his
Majesty wishes you to give it your attention.'
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This message to the Intendant came as he was leaving for
France, and he recommended the scheme and the explorer he had
in view for carrying it out to the notice of the Governor,
Frontenac, who had just arrived. Governor Frontenac approved
and the explorer started. The man chosen for the enterprise
was Louis Joliet, who had already been at Sault Ste Marie. He
was of humble birth, and was a native of New France. ... The
French Canadian explorer was acceptable to the missionaries,
and immediately journeyed west to meet Marquette, who was to
accompany him. ... M. Joliet met the priest Marquette at St.
Ignace Mission, Michilimackinac. Jacques Marquette, of whom we
have already heard, was born in 1637 at Laon, Champagne, in
France. He sprang of an ancient and distinguished family. ...
On May 17th, 1673, with deepest religious emotion, the trader
and missionary launched forth on Lake Michigan their two
canoes, containing seven Frenchmen in all, to make the
greatest discovery of the time. They hastened to Green Bay,
followed the course of Father Allouez up the Fox River, and
reached the tribe of the Mascoutins or Fire Nation on this
river. These were new Indians to the explorers. They were
peaceful, and helped the voyagers on their way. With guides
furnished, the two canoes were transported for 2,700 paces,
and the head waters of the Wisconsin were reached. After an
easy descent of 30 or 40 leagues, on June 17th, 1673, the feat
was accomplished, the Mississippi was discovered by white men,
and the canoes shot out upon its surface in latitude 43°.
Sailing down the great river for a month, the party reached
the village of Akansea, on the Arkansas River, in latitude
34°, and on July 17th began their return journey. It is but
just to say that some of the Recollet fathers, between whom
and the Jesuits jealousy existed, have disputed the fact of
Joliet and Marquette ever reaching this point. The evidence
here seems entirely in favour of the explorers. On their
return journey the party turned from the Mississippi into a
tributary river in latitude 38°. This was the Illinois.
Ascending this, the Indian town of Kaskaskia was reached, and
here for a time Father Marquette remained. Joliet and his
party passed on," arriving at Montreal in due time, but losing
all their papers in the rapids of the St. Lawrence. Father
Marquette established a mission among the Illinois Indians,
but his labors were cut short. He died while on a journey to
Green Bay, May 18, 1675. "High encomiums of Father Marquette
fill--and deservedly so--the 'Jesuit Relations.' We have his
autograph map of the Mississippi. This great stream he desired
to call 'Conception River,' but the name, like those of
'Colbert' and 'Buade' [the family name of Count Frontenac],
which were both bestowed upon it, have failed to take the
place of the musical Indian name."

_G. Bryce, Short History of the Canadian People,
chapter 5, section 3._

ALSO IN:
_F. Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery
of the Great West, chapters 2-5._

_C. W. Butterfield, History of the Discovery
of the N. W. by Nicolet._

_J. W. Monette, History of the Discovery
and settlement of the Valley of the Mississippi,
book 2, chapter 1 (volume l)._

_S. S. Hebberd, History of Wisconsin under
the dominion of France, chapter 1-2._

CANADA: A. D. 1637-1657.
The Sulpician settlement of Montreal and religious activity at
Quebec.

Champlain was succeeded as governor of New France by M. de
Châteaufort, of whose brief administration little is known,
and the latter was followed by M. de Montmagny, out of the
translation of whose name the Indians formed the title
Onontio, signifying "Great Mountain," which they afterwards
applied to all the French governors. Montmagny entered with
zeal into the plans of Champlain, "but difficulties
accumulated on all sides. Men and money were wanting, trade
languished, and the Associated Company in France were daily
becoming 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 vigor
and success in those times of failure and discouragement. At
Sillery, one league from Quebec, an establishment was founded
for the instruction of the savages and the diffusion of
Christian light [1637]. The Hotel Dieu owed its existence to
the Duchesse d'Aiguillon two years afterward, and the convent
of the Ursulines was founded by the pious and high-born Madame
de la Peltrie. 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 foes. The Associated Company would
render no aid whatever to this important plan, but the
religious zeal of the Abbé 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. At the same time
the governor erected a fort at the entrance of the River
Richelieu," which so far checked the Iroquois that they
entered into a treaty of peace and respected it for a brief
period.

_E. Warburton, The Conquest of Canada, volume 1, chapter 12._

The settlement of Montreal was undertaken by an association of
thirty-five rich and influential persons in France, among whom
was the Duke de Liancourt de la Hoche Guyon. "This company
obtained a concession of the island in 1640, and a member of
the association arrived at Quebec from France with several
immigrating families, some soldiers, and an armament valued at
25,000 piastres." In 1642 "a reinforcement of colonists
arrived, led by M. d'Ailleboust de Musseau. During the
following year, a second party came. At this time the European
population resident in Canada did not exceed 200 souls. The
immigrants who now entered it had been selected with the
utmost care."

_A. Bell, History of Canada, book 3, chapter 1 (volume l)._

In 1657 the seigniority of Montreal was ceded to the Seminary
of St. Sulpice in Paris, where the reins of its government
were held until 1692.

_Father Charlevoix, History of New France,
translated by Shea, volume 3, page 23._

ALSO IN:
_F. Parkman, The Jesuits in North America, chapter 13-15._

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CANADA: A. D. 1640-1700.
The wars with the Iroquois.

"From about the year 1640 to the year 1700, a constant warfare
was maintained between the Iroquois and the French,
interrupted occasionally by negotiations and brief intervals
of peace. As the former possessed both banks of the St.
Lawrence, and the circuits of lakes Erie and Ontario, they
intercepted the fur trade, which the French were anxious to
maintain with the western nations. ... The war parties of the
League ranged through these territories so constantly that it
was impossible for the French to pass in safety through the
lakes, or even up the St. Lawrence above Montreal. ... So
great was the fear of these sudden attacks, that both the
traders and the missionaries were obliged to ascend the Ottawa
river to near its source, and from thence to cross over to the
Sault St. Marie, and the shores of Lake Superior. ... To
retaliate for these frequent inroads, and to prevent their
recurrence, the country of the Iroquois was often invaded by
the French. ... In 1665, M. Courcelles, governor of Canada,
led a strong party into the country of the Mohawks; but the
hardships they encountered rendered it necessary for them to
return without accomplishing their purpose. The next year, M.
de Tracy, Viceroy of New France, with 1,200 French and 600
Indians, renewed the invasion with better success. He captured
Te-ä-ton-ta-ló-ga, one of the principal villages of the
Mohawks, situated at the mouth of the Schoharie Creek; but
after destroying the town, and the stores of corn, which they
found in caches, they were obliged to retire without meeting
an opposing force. Again, in 1684. M. De La Barre, then
governor of Canada, entered the country of the Onondagas, with
about 1,800 men. Having reached Hungry Bay, on the east shore
of lake Ontario, a conference was had with a delegation of
Iroquois chiefs. ... A species of armistice was finally agreed
upon, and thus the expedition ended. A more successful
enterprise was projected and carried into execution in 1687 by
M. De Nonville, then governor of Canada. Having raised a force
of 2,000 French and 600 Indians, he embarked them in a fleet
of 200 bateau, and as many birch bark canoes. After coasting
lake Ontario from Kingston to Irondequoit bay, in the
territory of the Senecas, he landed at the head of this bay,
and found himself within a few miles of the principal villages
of the Senecas, which were then in the counties of Ontario and
Monroe." After one battle with about 500 of the Senecas, the
latter retreated into the interior, and the French destroyed
four of their villages, together with the surrounding fields
of growing corn. "To retaliate for this invasion, a formidable
party of the Iroquois, in the fall of the same year, made a
sudden descent upon Fort Chambly, on the Sorel River, near
Montreal. Unable to capture the fort, which was resolutely
defended by the garrison, they ravaged the settlements
adjacent, and returned with a number of captives. About the
same time, a party of 800 attacked Frontenac, on the site of
Kingston, and destroyed and laid waste the plantations and
establishments of the French without the fortification. In
July of the ensuing year the French were made to feel still
more sensibly the power of their revenge. A band of 1,200
warriors, animated with the fiercest resentment, made a
descent upon the island of Montreal. ... All that were without
the fortifications fell under the rifle or the relentless
tomahawk. Their houses were burned, their plantations ravaged,
and the whole island covered with desolation. About 1,000 of
the French, according to some writers, perished in this
invasion, or were carried into captivity. ... Overwhelmed by
this sudden disaster, the French destroyed their forts at
Niagara and Frontenac, and thus yielded the whole country west
of Montreal to the possession of the Iroquois. At this
critical period Count Frontenac again became governor of
Canada, and during the short residue of his life devoted
himself, with untiring energy, to restore its declining
prosperity."

_L. H. Morgan, League of the Iroquois, book 1, chapter 1._

ALSO IN:
_W. Kingsford, History of Canada, book 2-4 (volume 1-2)._

_E. B. O'Callaghan, editor, Doc. History
of New York, volume 1, pages 57-278._

_J. R. Brodhead, History of the State of New York, volume 2,
ch.3 and 8._

_O. H. Marshall, Expedition of the Marquis de Nonville against
the Senecas (Hist. Writings, pages 123-186)._

CANADA: A. D. 1660-1688.
French encroachments and English concessions in Newfoundland.

See NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1660-1688.

CANADA: A.D. 1663-1674.
Erected by Colbert into a Royal Province.
Brief career of the French West India Company.

"In 1663 the proceedings of the company [of the hundred
associates] became so obnoxious that the king of France
decided upon the immediate resumption of his rights, and the
erecting of Canada into a royal government: Monsieur de Mésy
was appointed governor, and proceeded from France to Quebec
with 400 regular troops, and 100 families as settlers, with
cattle, horses and implements of agriculture. Under the royal
jurisdiction, the governor, a king's commissioner, an
apostolical vicar, and four other gentlemen, were formed into
a sovereign council, to whom were confided the powers of
cognizance in all causes, civil and criminal, to judge in the
last resort according to the laws and ordinances of France,
and the practice of the Parliament of Paris, reserving the
general legislative powers of the Crown, to be applied
according to circumstances. This Council was further invested
with the regulation of commerce, the expenditure of the public
monies, and the establishment of inferior courts at Three
Rivers and Montreal. This change of Canada from an
ecclesiastical mission to a secular government was owing to
the great Colbert, who was, animated by the example of Great
Britain, to improve the navigation and commerce of his country
by colonial establishments. The enlightened policy of this
renowned financial minister of Louis XIV. was followed by the
success which it deserved. To a regulated civil government was
added increased military protection against the Iroquois
Indians; the emigration of French settlers to New France was
promoted by every possible means, and a martial spirit was
imparted to the population, by the location in the colony of
the disbanded soldiers of the Carignan regiment ... and other
troops, whose officers became the principal Seigneurs of the
colony, on condition of making cessions of land under the
feudal tenure, as it still exists, to the soldiers and other
inhabitants." The ambitious projects of Louis XIV. soon led,
however, to a new measure which proved less satisfactory in
its working.
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"The French West India Company was remodelled [1664], and
Canada added to their possessions, subordinate to the crown of
France, with powers controlled by his Majesty's governors and
Intendants in the different colonies." The domain of the
company embraced all the possessions of France in the New
World and its islands and on the African coast. "The company
was to enjoy a monopoly of the territories and the trade of
the colonies thus conceded for 40 years; it was not only to
enjoy the exclusive navigation, but his Majesty conferred a
bounty of 30 livres on every ton of goods exported to France.
... The company was not only endowed as Seigneur with all
unconceded lands, but invested with the right of extinguishing
the titles of seigniories granted or sold by previous
companies, on condition of reimbursing the grantees and
purchasers for their costs and improvements." The West India
Company's management soon showed evil effects, and came to an
end after ten years of unsatisfactory trial. "Monsieur De
Talon, the Intendant, a man of profound views, ... perceived
that it was the natural interest of the Company to discourage
colonization. He represented to the minister Colbert the
absolute necessity of the total resumption of the rights of
the crown; drew his attention to the means of obtaining
abundance of warlike instruments and naval stores within the
colony ... and, in fact, at last prevailed; so that, in 1674,
the king of France resumed his rights to all the territories
conceded to the West India Company, assumed their debts and
the current value of their stock, and appointed a governor,
council and judges for the direction of the Canadian colonies.
... From this period (1674), when the population, embracing
converted Indians, did not exceed 8,000, the French settlement
in Canada rapidly progressed, and as it rose in power, and
assumed offensive operations on the New England frontier, the
jealousy of the British colonies became roused, and both
parties, aided alternately by the Indians, carried on a
destructive and harassing border warfare."

_R. M. Martin, History of Upper and Lower Canada, chapter 1._

ALSO IN:
_A. Bell, History of Canada,
book 3, chapter 3 (volume l)._

_F. Parkman, The Old Regime in Canada, chapters 10-17._

CANADA: A. D. 1669-1687.
La Salle and the acquisition of Louisiana.

"Second only to Champlain among the heroes of Canadian history
stands Robert Cavelier de la Salle--a man of iron if ever
there was one--a man austere and cold in manner, and endowed
with such indomitable pluck and perseverance as have never
been surpassed in this world. He did more than any other man
to extend the dominion of France in the New World. As
Champlain had founded the colony of Canada and opened the way
to the great lakes, so La Salle completed the discovery of the
Mississippi, and added to the French possessions the vast
province of Louisiana. ... In 1669 La Salle made his first
journey to the west, hoping to find a northwest passage to
China, but very little is known about this expedition, except
that the Ohio river was discovered, and perhaps also the
Illinois. La Salle's feudal domain of St. Sulpice, some eight
miles from Montreal, bears to-day the name of La Chine, or
China, which is said to have been applied to it in derision of
this fruitless expedition. In 1673 the priest Marquette and
the fur-trader Joliet actually reached the Mississippi by way
of the Wisconsin, and sailed down the great river as far as
the mouth of the Arkansas; and now the life-work of La Salle
began in earnest. He formed a grand project for exploring the
Mississippi to its mouth, and determining whether it, flowed
into the Gulf of California or the Gulf of Mexico. The advance
of Spain on the side of Mexico was to be checked forever, the
English were to be confined to the east of the Alleghanies,
and such military posts were to be established as would
effectually confirm the authority of Louis XIV. throughout the
centre of this continent. La Salle had but little ready money,
and was surrounded by rivals and enemies; but he had a
powerful friend in Count Frontenac, the Viceroy of Canada. ...
At length, after surmounting innumerable difficulties, a
vessel [the Griffon or Griffin] was built and launched on the
Niagara river [1679], a small party of 30 or 40 men were
gathered together, and La Salle, having just recovered from a
treacherous dose of poison, embarked on his great enterprise.
His departure was clouded by the news that his impatient
creditors had laid hands upon his Canadian estates; but,
nothing daunted, he pushed on through Lakes Erie and Huron,
and after many disasters reached the southern extremity of
Lake Michigan. The vessel was now sent back, with half the
party, to Niagara, carrying furs to appease the creditors and
purchase additional supplies for the remainder of the journey,
while La Salle with his diminished company pushed on to the
Illinois, where a fort was built, and appropriately named Fort
Crèvecœur, or, as we might translate it, the 'fort of the
breaking heart.' Here, amid perils of famine, mutiny, and
Indian attack, and exposed to death from the wintry cold, they
waited until it became evident to all that their vessel must
have perished. She never was heard from again, and most likely
had foundered on her perilous voyage. To add to the trouble,
La Salle was again poisoned; but his iron constitution, aided
by some lucky antidote, again carried him safely through the
ordeal, and about the 1st of March, 1680, he started on foot
for Montreal. Leaving Fort Crèveœur and its tiny garrison
under command of his faithful lieutenant, Tonty, he set out
with four Frenchmen and one Mohegan guide. ... They made their
way for a thousand miles across Michigan and Western Canada to
Niagara, and so on to Montreal. ... At Niagara La Salle
learned that a ship from France, freighted for him with a
cargo worth more than 20,000 livres, had been wrecked in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, and nothing had been saved. In spite of
this dreadful blow he contrived to get together supplies and
reenforcements at Montreal, and had returned to Fort
Frontenac, at the lower end of Lake Ontario, when still more
woful tidings were received. Here, toward the end of July, a
message came from the fortress so well named Crèvecœur. The
garrison had mutinied and destroyed the fort, and made their
way back through Michigan." The indomitable La Salle promptly
hunted down the deserters, and sent them in chains to Quebec.
He then "proceeded again to the Illinois to reconstruct his
fort, and rescue, if possible, his lieutenant Tonty and the
few faithful followers who had survived the mutiny. This
little party, abandoned in the wilderness, had found shelter
among the Illinois Indians; but during the summer of 1680 the
great village or town of the Illinois was destroyed by the
Iroquois, and the hard-pressed Frenchmen retreated up the
western shore of Lake Michigan to Green Bay.-
{366}
On arriving at the Illinois, therefore, La Salle found nothing
but the terrible traces of fire and massacre and cannibal
orgies; but he spent the following winter to good purpose in
securing the friendship of the western Indians, and in making
an alliance with them against the Iroquois. Then, in May,
1681, he set out again for Canada, to look after his creditors
and obtain new resources. On the way home, at the outlet of
Lake Michigan, he met his friend Tonty, and together they
paddled their canoes a thousand miles and came to Fort
Frontenac. So, after all this hardship and disaster, the work
was to be begun anew; and the enemies of the great explorer
were exulting in what they imagined must be his despair. But
that was a word of which La Salle knew not the meaning, and
now his fortunes began to change. In Mr. Parkman's words,
'Fate at length seemed tired of the conflict with so stubborn
an adversary.' At this third venture everything went smoothly.
The little fleet passed up the great lakes, from the outlet of
Ontario to the head of Michigan, and gained the Chicago River.
Crossing the narrow portage, they descended the Illinois and
the Mississippi, till they came out upon the Gulf of Mexico;
and on the 9th of April, 1682, the fleurs-de-lis were planted
at the mouth of the great river, and all the country drained
by its tributaries, from the Alleghanies to the Rocky
Mountains, was formally declared to be the property of the
king of France, and named after him Louisiana. Returning up
the river after his triumph, La Salle founded a station or
small colony on the Illinois, which he called St. Louis, and
leaving Tonty in command, kept on to Canada, and crossed to
France for means to circumvent his enemies and complete his
far-reaching schemes. A colony was to be founded at the mouth
of the Mississippi, and military stations were to connect this
with the French settlements in Canada. At the French court La
Salle was treated like a hero, and a fine expedition was soon
fitted out, but everything was ruined by jealousy and ill-will
between La Salle and the naval commander, Beaujeu. The fleet
sailed beyond the mouth of the Mississippi, the colony was
thrown upon the coast of Texas, some of the vessels were
wrecked, and Beaujeu--though apparently without sinister
design--sailed away with the rest, and two years of terrible
suffering followed. At last, in March, 1687, La Salle started
to find the Mississippi, hoping to ascend it to Tonty's fort
on the Illinois, and obtain relief for his followers. But he
had scarcely set out on this desperate enterprise when two or
three mutinous wretches of his party laid an ambush for him in
the forest, and shot him dead. Thus, at the early age of
forty-three, perished this extraordinary man, with his
life-work but half accomplished. Yet his labors had done much
towards building up the imposing dominion with which New
France confronted New England in the following century."

_J. Fiske, The Romance of the Spanish and French
Explorers (Harper's Mag., volume 64, pages 446-448.)_

ALSO IN:
_F. Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great
West._

_Chevalier Tonti, Account of M. de la Salle's last Expedition
(New York Historical Society Collections, volume 2)._

_J. G. Shea, Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi
Valley._

_C. Le Clercq, First Establishment of the Faith in New
France, translated by Shea, chapter 21-25 (volume 2)._

CANADA: A. D. 1689-1690.
The first Inter-Colonial War (King William's War):
The Schenectady Massacre.
Montreal threatened, Quebec attacked, and Port Royal taken by
the English.

The Revolution of 1688, in England, which drove James II. from
the throne, and called to it his daughter Mary with her able
husband, William of Orange, produced war between England and
France (see FRANCE: A. D. 1689-1690). The French and English
colonies in America were soon involved in the contest, and so
far as it troubled American history, it bears in New England
annals 'the name of King William's War. "If the issue had
depended on the condition of the colonies, it could hardly
have seemed doubtful. The French census for the North American
continent, in 1688, showed but 11,249 persons, scarcely a
tenth part of the English population on its frontiers; about a
twentieth part of English North America. West of Montreal, the
principal French posts, and those but inconsiderable ones,
were at Frontenac, at Mackinaw, and on the Illinois. At,
Niagara, there was a wavering purpose of maintaining a post,
but no permanent occupation. So weak were the garrisons that
English traders, with an escort of Indians, had ventured even
to Mackinaw. ... France, bounding its territory next New
England by the Kennebec, claimed the whole eastern coast, Nova
Scotia, Cape Breton, Newfoundland, Labrador, and Hudson's Bay;
and to assert and defend this boundless region, Acadia and its
dependencies counted but 900 French inhabitants. The
missionaries, swaying the minds of the Abenakis, were the sole
source of hope. On the declaration of war by France against
England, Count Frontenac, once more governor of Canada, was
charged to recover Hudson's Bay; to protect Acadia; and, by a
descent from Canada, to assist a fleet from France in making
conquest of New York. Of that province De Callieres was, in
advance, appointed governor; the English Catholics were to be
permitted to remain,--other inhabitants to be sent into
Pennsylvania or New England. ... In the east, blood was first
shed at Cocheco, where, thirteen years before, an unsuspecting
party of 350 Indians had been taken prisoners and shipped for
Boston, to be sold into foreign slavery. The memory of the
treachery was indelible, and the Indian emissaries of Castin
easily excited the tribe of Penacook to revenge. On the
evening of the 27th of June [1689] two squaws repaired to the
house of Richard Waldron, and the octogenarian magistrate bade
them lodge on the floor. At night, they rise, unbar the gates,
and summon their companions," who tortured the aged Waldron
until he died. "The Indians, burning his house and others that
stood near it, having killed three-and-twenty, returned to the
wilderness with 29 captives." In August, the stockade at
Pemaquid was taken by 100 Indians from the French mission on
the Penobscot. "Other inroads were made by the Penobscot and
St. John Indians, so that the settlements east of Falmouth
were deserted. In September, commissioners from New England
held a conference with the Mohawks at Albany, soliciting an
alliance. 'We have burned Montreal,' said they; 'we are the
allies of the English; we will keep the chain unbroken.'
{367}
But they refused to invade the Abenakis. ... Frontenac ... now
used every effort to win the Five Nations [the Iroquois] to
neutrality or to friendship. To recover esteem in their eyes;
to secure to Durantaye, the commander at Mackinaw, the means
of treating with the Hurons and the Ottawas; it was resolved
by Frontenac to make a triple descent into the English
provinces. From Montreal, a party of 110, composed of French
and of the Christian Iroquois,--having De Mantet and Sainte
Helene as leaders ... --for two and twenty days waded through
snows and morasses, through forests and across rivers, to
Schenectady. The village had given itself calmly to slumber:
through open and unguarded gates the invaders entered silently
[February 8, 1690], and having, just before midnight, reached its
heart, the war-whoop was raised (dreadful sound to the mothers
of that place and their children!), and the dwellings set on
fire. Of the inhabitants, some, half clad, fled through the
snows to Albany; 60 were massacred, of whom 17 were children
and 10 were Africans. ... The party from Three Rivers, led by
Hertel, and consisting of but 52 persons ... surprised the
settlement at Salmon Falls, on the Piscataqua, and, after a
bloody engagement, burned houses, barns, and cattle in the
stalls, and took 54 prisoners, chiefly women and children. ...
Returning from this expedition, Hertel met the war party,
under Portneuf, from Quebec, and, with them and a
reenforcement from Castin, made a successful attack on the
fort and settlement in Casco Bay. Meantime, danger taught the
colonies the necessity of union, and, on the 1st day of May,
1690, New York beheld the momentous example of an American
congress [see UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1690]. ... At
that congress it was resolved to attempt the conquest of
Canada by marching an army, by way of Lake Champlain, against
Montreal, while Massachusetts should, with a fleet, attack
Quebec."

_G. Bancroft, History of the U. S., chapter 21 (volume 3), (pt.
3, chapter 11, volume 2, in the "Author's last Revision")_.

Before the end of the month in which the congress was held,
Port Royal and the whole of Acadia had already been conquered,
having surrendered to an expedition sent out by Massachusetts,
in eight small vessels, under Sir William Phips. The larger fleet
(consisting of 32 ships and carrying 2,000 men) directed
against Quebec, sailed in August from Nastasket, and was,
likewise, commanded by Phips. "The plan of the campaign
contemplated a diversion to be made by an assault on Montreal,
by a force composed of English from Connecticut and New York,
and of Iroquois Indians, at the same time with the attack on
Quebec by the fleet. And a second expedition into Maine under
Captain Church was to threaten the Eastern tribes whose
incursions had, during the last summer, been so disastrous.
... As is so apt to happen when a plan involves the
simultaneous action of distant parties, the condition of
success failed. The movement of Church, who had with him but
300 men, proved ineffective as to any contribution to the
descent upon Canada. ... It was not till after a voyage of
more than six weeks that the fleet from Boston cast anchor
within the mouth of the river St. Lawrence, and meanwhile the
overland expedition against Montreal had miscarried. The
commanders respectively of the Connecticut and the New York
troops had disagreed, and could not act effectively together.
... The supply, both of boats and of provisions, was found to
be insufficient. The disastrous result was that a retreat was
ordered, without so much as an embarkation of the troops on
Lake Champlain. Frontenac was at Montreal, whither he had gone
to superintend the defence, when the intelligence, so
unexpected, reached him from Quebec; and presently after came
the tidings of Phips's fleet being in the St. Lawrence.
Nothing could have been more opportune than this coincidence,
which gave the Governor liberty to hasten down to direct his
little force of 200 soldiers at the capital. The French
historian says that, if he had been three days later, or if
the English fleet had not been delayed by contrary winds, or
had had better pilots in the river, where it was nearly a
fortnight more in making its slow way, Frontenac would have
come down from the upper country only to find the English
commander in his citadel. As it was, there ensued a crushing
mortification and sorrow to Massachusetts. New France was made
much more formidable than ever." The fleet arrived before
Quebec Oct. 6, and retreated on the 11th, after considerable
cannonading and an assault which the French repelled. It
suffered storms and disasters on the return voyage, and lost
altogether some 200 men.

_J. G. Palfrey, History of New England,
book 4, chapter 2 (volume 4)._

ALSO IN:
_F. Parkman, Count Frontenac and New France under Louis
XIV., chapter 10-13_.

_Doc. History of New York, volume 1-2._

_F. Bowen, Life of Sir W. Phips
(Library of American Biog., volume 7), chapter 2-3._

_J. R. Brodhead, History of the State of New York,
volume 2, chapter 12._

_J. Pearson, et al, History of the Schenectady Patent,
chapter 8-10._

CANADA: A. D. 1692-1697.
The first Inter-Colonial War (King William's War):
Abortive plans of invasion on both sides.
French recovery of Acadia.

"The defeat of the expedition of 1690 was probably
attributable to the want of concert on the part of the troops
from Connecticut and New York and those from Massachusetts,
and the failure of the supplies which were sought from
England. ... But there was mismanagement on all hands in the
conduct of the expedition; and it seems to have been
predestinated that New England should not be delivered from
the presence of the French at the north, until time had
wrought the necessary changes which were to render the
conquest of that country available for the promotion of still
more important ends. Hence a new expedition, projected two
years later, and resolved to be prosecuted in the following
year [1693], was attended with the like circumstances of
mortification and defeat. England herself participated in this
enterprise, and ... the government was informed that it had
'pleased the king, out of his great goodness and disposition
for the welfare of all his subjects, to send a considerable
strength of ships and men into the West Indies, and to direct
Sir Francis Wheeler, the admiral, to sail to New England from
the Caribbee Islands, so as to be there by the last of May or
the middle of June at furthest, with a strength sufficient to
overcome the enemy, if joined and seconded by the forces of
New England.' ... Unfortunately for the success of these
plans, the letter, which should have reached Boston by the
first of April, did not arrive until July; and the mortality
which prevailed in the fleet during its stay in the West
Indies was so great that, when the commander-in-chief, Sir
Francis Wheeler, anchored off Nantasket,--bringing himself the
news of the projected invasion,--he had lost 1,300 out of
2,100 sailors, and 1,800 out of 2,400 soldiers.
{368}
All thoughts of reducing Canada were therefore abandoned; but
a plan for another year was settled with the governor, the
details of which were that 2,000 land forces should be sent
from England to Canseau by the first of June, to be joined by
2,000 from the colonies, and that the whole force should go up
the St. Lawrence, divide and simultaneously attack Montreal
and Quebec. Changes in the government of the province,
however, and other causes, prevented the execution of this
plan, whose success was problematical even if it had been
attempted. But if the plans of the English for the reduction
of Canada were doomed to disappointment, the plans of the
French for the recovery of Acadia were more successful. For
the first year after the conquest of that country, indeed, the
French were as little concerned to regain, as the English were
to retain, the possession of its territory; nor was
Massachusetts able to bear the charge of a sufficient military
force to keep its inhabitants in subjection, though she issued
commissions to judges and other officers, and required the
administration of the oath of fidelity. In the course of that
year [1691], authority was given to Mr. John Nelson, of
Boston, who had taken an active part in the overthrow of
Andros, and who was bound thither on a trading voyage, to be
commander-in-chief of Acadia; but as he neared the mouth of
the St. John's, he was taken by Monsieur Villebon, who, under
a commission from the French king, had touched at Port Royal,
and ordered the English flag to be struck, and the French flag
to be raised in its place. The next year an attempt was made
to dislodge Villebon, but without success. ... In the summer
of 1696, Pemaquid was taken by the French, under D'Iberville
and Castine, and the frontier of the dominion of France was
extended into Maine; and by the treaty of the following year
Acadia was receded to France, and the English relinquished
their claims to the country. The last year of King William's
War, as it was long termed in New England, was a year of
especial alarm to the province [Massachusetts] and rumors were
rife that the French were on the eve of fitting out a
formidable fleet for the invasion of the colonies and the
conquest of New York." According to the plan of the French
undertaking, a powerful fleet from France was to be joined by
a force of 1,500 men, raised by Count Frontenac, in Canada,
and make, first, a conquest of Boston. "When that town was
taken, they were to range the coast to Piscataqua, destroying
the settlements as far back into the country as possible.
Should there be time for further acquisitions, they were next
to go to New York, and upon its reduction the Canadian troops
were to march overland to Quebec, laying waste the country as
they proceeded." This project was frustrated by happenings
much the same in kind as those which thwarted the designs of
the English against Quebec. The fleet was delayed by contrary
winds, and by certain bootless undertakings in Newfoundland,
until the season was too far advanced for the enterprise
contemplated. "The peace of Ryswick, which soon followed, led
to a temporary suspension of hostilities. France, anxious to
secure as large a share of territory in America as possible,
retained the whole coast and adjacent islands from Maine to
Labrador and Hudson's Bay, with Canada, and the Valley of the
Mississippi. The possessions of England were southward from
the St. Croix. But the bounds between the nations were
imperfectly defined, and were, for a long time, a subject of
dispute and negotiation.".

_J. S. Barry, History of Massachusetts volume 2, chapter 4._

ALSO IN:
_F. Parkman, Count Frontenac and New France under Louis
XIV., chapter 16-19._

_J. Hannay, History of Acadia, chapter 14._

See, also, NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1694-1697.

CANADA: A. D. 1696.
Frontenac's expedition against the Iroquois.

The war with the "Bastonnais" or "Bostonnais," as he called
the New Englanders, did not divert Frontenac's attention from
"the grand castigation which at last he was planning for the
Iroquois. He had succeeded, in 1694, in inducing them to meet
him in general council at Quebec, and had framed the
conditions of a truce; but the English at Albany intrigued to
prevent the fulfilment, and war was again imminent. Both sides
were endeavoring to secure the alliance of the tribes of the
upper lakes. These wavered, and Frontenac saw the peril and
the remedy. His recourse was to attack the Iroquois in their
villages at once, and conquer on the Mohawk the peace he
needed at Michilimackinac. It was Frontenac's last campaign.
Early in July [1696] he left Montreal with 2,200 men. He went
by way of Fort Frontenac, crossed Lake Ontario, landed at
Oswego, and struggled up its stream, and at last set sails to
his canoes on Lake Onondaga. Then his force marched again, and
Frontenac, enfeebled by his years, was borne along in an
arm-chair. Eight or nine miles and a day's work brought them
to the Onondaga village; but its inhabitants had burned it and
fled. Vaudreuil was sent with a detachment which destroyed the
town of the Oneidas. After committing all the devastation of
crops that he could, in hopes that famine would help him,
Frontenac began his homeward march before the English at
Albany were aroused at all. The effect was what Frontenac
wished. The Iroquois ceased their negotiations with the
western tribes, and sued for peace."

_G. Stewart, Jr., Frontenac and His Times (Narrative and
Critical History of America, volume 4, chapter 7)._

ALSO IN:
_F. Parkman, Count Frontenac and New France under Louis
XIV., chapter 18-19._

CANADA: A. D. 1698-1710.
Colonization of Louisiana and the organization of its separate
government.

See LOUISIANA: A. D. 1698-1712.

CANADA: A. D. 1700-1735.
The spread of French occupation in the Mississippi Valley and
on the Lakes.

"From the time of La Salle's visit in 1679, we can trace a
continuous French occupation of Illinois. ... He planted his
citadel of St. Louis on the summit of 'Starved Rock,'
proposing to make that the centre of his colony. ... At first
his colony was exceedingly feeble, but it was never
discontinued. 'Joutel found a garrison at Fort St. Louis ...
in 1687, and in 1689 La Hontan bears testimony that it still
continued. In 1696 a public document proves its existence; and
when Tonty, in 1700, again descended the Mississippi, he was
attended by twenty Canadians, residents on the Illinois.'
{369}
Even while the wars named after King William and Queen Anne
were going on, the French settlements were growing in numbers
and increasing in size; those wars over, they made still more
rapid progress. Missions grew into settlements and parishes.
Old Kaskaskia was begun in what La Salle called the
'terrestrial paradise' before the close of the seventeenth
century. The Wabash Valley was occupied about 1700, the first
settlers entering it by the portage leading from the Kankakee.
Later the voyageurs found a shorter route to the fertile
valley. ... The French located their principal missions and
posts with admirable judgment. There is not one of them in
which we cannot see the wisdom of the priest, of the soldier,
and the trader combined. The triple alliance worked for an
immediate end, but the sites that they chose are as important
to-day as they were when they chose them. ... La Salle's
colony of St. Louis was planted in one of the gardens of the
world, in the midst of a numerous Indian population, on the
great line of travel between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi
River. Kaskaskia and the neighboring settlements held the
centre of the long line extending from Canada to Louisiana.
'The Wabash colony commanded that valley and the Lower Ohio.
Detroit was a position so important that, securely held by the
French, it practically banished from the English mind for
fifty years the thought of acquiring the Northwest. ... Then
how unerringly were the French guided to the carrying places
between the Northern and the Southern waters, viz., Green Bay,
Fox River, and the Wisconsin; the Chicago River and the
Illinois; the St. Joseph and the Kankakee; the St. Joseph and
the Wabash; the Maumee and the Wabash; and, later, on the eve
of the war that gave New France to England, the Chautauqua and
French Creek routes from Lake Erie to the Ohio. ... In due
time the French began to establish themselves on the Northern
frontier of the British colonies. They built Fort Niagara in
1726, four years' after the English built Fort Oswego.
Following the early footsteps of Champlain, they ascended to
the head of the lake that bears his name, where they fortified
Crown Point in 1727, and Ticonderoga in 1731. Presque Isle,
the present site of the city of Erie, was occupied about the
time that Vincennes was founded in the Wabash Valley [1735].
Finally, just on the eve of the last struggle between England
and France, the French pressed into the valleys of the
Alleghany and the Ohio, at the same time that the English also
began to enter them."

_B. A. Hinsdale, The Old Northwest, chapter 4._

CANADA: A. D. 1702-1710.
The Second Inter-Colonial War (Queen Anne's War):
Border ravages in New England and Acadia.
English Conquest of Acadia.

See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1702-1710.

CANADA: A. D. 1711-1713.
The Second Inter-Colonial War.
Walker's Expedition against Quebec.
Massacre of Fox Indians.
The Peace of Utrecht.